Perry was feeling more than apprehensive about this but he dutifully took his girlfriend into the cells. Georgia was awake now, and she actually snarled at Perry as he passed.

"Hi Georgia," he said quietly.

Georgia just snarled again. "Well, if it isn't the betrayer. The traitor. The breaker of hearts. The destroyer of trust."

Pansy was confused as to why Perry was just standing there and taking the name calling. Usually he would lash out at this dog and make sure she never did it again. But since Perry was just standing there, Pansy decided to take matters into her own hands. She hit the glass with her fist and snapped, "Don't talk to my boyfriend like that!"

Georgia put on a mock-surprised face. "Oh, well, since your authority is so much higher than mine with your status as Perry's boyfriend, I guess I better concede defeat."

Pansy may have been emotional and prone to jealousy but she definitely was not stupid. She recognised the sarcasm easily. "My authority isn't higher than yours because I'm Perry's boyfriend, my authority is higher than yours because I'm an OWCA agent and you're just some animal who's being used by their owner."

Perry winced and covered his eyes with his paw. "Why did you have to say that…?"

"What's she going to do?" crowed Pansy. "She's in a cage."

Georgia suddenly leapt at the glass and barked at Pansy, who didn't show any signs of fear except for the fact that she took a step back from the glass. "Sit!" commanded Pansy, jabbing her finger at Georgia.

With a look that was half-smug, half-sneering, Georgia padded on all fours back to her bed and leapt onto it. She curled up and lay down, facing away from them.

Perry gently took Pansy's wrist and led her down the corridor towards Portia's cell. He looked inside and found Portia lying in the exact same position as she had been yesterday. If he hadn't known about the interrogation, he would have assumed that she just had not moved in over twenty-four hours.

He knocked on the glass. "Portia?"

"What do you want?" snapped Portia, not moving her head.

"I want you to talk to me," Perry replied, putting both his hands on the glass. "That's what I really want. But right now, I've brought someone for you to meet."

Portia's head turned, she gave Pansy the briefest of looks, and turned her head back. Pansy felt insulted by this. "Excuse me, I am Perry's boyfriend."

This actually got a reaction out of Portia. She shot up like she'd been stung and stared at Perry. "What?"

Pansy folded her arms and gave Portia a mock-friendly look. "That's right." She made Perry link arms with her. "We're going out. Boyfriend/girlfriend. An item. A couple."

Portia continued to stare at Perry, who was getting a little uncomfortable under her glare. "It's true," he offered. "We're going out."

"For how long?" Portia whispered.

"Two years now," Pansy replied smugly.

Portia clutched her chest and stared at the floor in shock. "So while I mourned you and missed you, for one whole year, you were dating this…this…platypus!"

Perry felt a stab of shame in his gut but he pushed it away determinedly. It wasn't his fault that he was trying to move on; he hadn't known that Portia had thought he was dead and he hadn't thought that he would ever see her again.

Portia's reaction to Pansy made Perry feel a little angry. "Why do you care?" he snapped. "You said you feel nothing for me now. Why do you care who I'm going out with?"

Portia apparently didn't hear him. She lay on the bed on her back again and ignored Perry.

Pansy couldn't believe that Perry could ever have had feelings for this pathetic platypus. "You're not good enough for him, you know that, right?"

"Quit while you're ahead," muttered Perry, nudging Pansy.

But Pansy pressed on: "You clearly don't—or didn't—love him enough because you don't respect his life choices. Perry and I are on the same side and we're more compatible, so we're a better match."

"Maybe shut up now," Perry muttered.

But Pansy delivered the final blow: "Besides, Perry could never love such a pathetic platypus like you."

Portia suddenly shot up and managed to rip her bed off the wall. With an angry yell, she flung it at the glass, making Perry drag Pansy backwards in fright and fear. Luckily, the glass was strong and it didn't show any signs of being damaged.

Perry quickly dragged Pansy down the corridor. "You really shouldn't have said that."

"But it's true." Pansy dug her heels in and forced Perry to stop. "What is your relationship with her?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Perry tried to continue walking again but Pansy stopped him again.

"You're going to tell me."

"I don't have to tell you anything."

"What are you afraid of?" demanded Pansy. "What are you so afraid of that you can't even tell your girlfriend where you met that girl?"

"Portia and I were both members of ARCHANGEL, okay?" Perry snapped suddenly. "We fought alongside each other for five years. Her company was the only thing that kept me sane when ARCHANGEL's handlers hurt me and pushed me way past my physical limits. The only thing we had was each other, apart from my two other friends, and we thought we loved each other until one day ARCHANGEL pushed me too far and I ran away from my old life and away from Portia, who I never thought I would see again."

There was a pause as the two platypuses gazed at each other.

"You never told me you used to fight for ARCHANGEL," said Pansy, frowning.

"I was trying to forget my past and move on," Perry said. "Leaving ARCHANGEL behind was the best decision I ever made, even if that decision was technically made for me. The problem is that I really do care about you, Pansy, but Portia was my childhood best friend and first love. My brain knows I can't be with both of you but my heart doesn't want to accept it."

"Well, until you sort your heart out, I think we should break up."

"What?" gasped Perry.

Pansy didn't look happy either. She grimaced. "Look, Perry, I just think that you're more likely to choose correctly if there's no bias. Even though I get jealous easily, I only want you to be happy. I do believe that you'll be happiest with me but I don't want to force you to make your decision too soon. Do you understand?"

Perry nodded sadly. "I do understand."

"I will wait for however long you need to decide that I'm the right one for you," Pansy said, making a stab of irritation hit Perry's stomach. "But for now, I'm going to go home."

Perry nodded again and watched her leave. It kind of irritated Perry that Pansy had the arrogance to believe that Perry was automatically going to choose her, but he had to admit that there was a real possibility of him choosing Pansy over Portia, especially since the latter hated him. Especially now. Taking Pansy to see Portia had clearly been a mistake.

Or had it been?

…

Who do you hate more: Portia or Pansy? XD XD