This one obviously takes place after CoE. Only a few days, in fact.

Mission Impossible:

Get Away With Dating Ivan's Sister

Katyusha was beautiful. She was absolutely gorgeous. She was sweet and polite and fun-loving and everything that was perfect. It made up for the fact the rest of her family was absolutely insane.

Sort of.

Mission: Plan the Date

Before that was confirming that there would even be a date. A lucky run in at the Vargas' restaurant had allowed them both to express their desire of such a thing. Angus had felt like one hundred pounds had fallen off of his shoulders.

Replaced by two hundred. Ivan barely tolerated him being Katyusha's friend, but dating her? Angus had been waiting for Ivan to show up and threaten him or, not even bothering with that, kill him outright. But as it never happened Angus was faced with his next problem. The fact he was actually going to be dating Kat. She was not the first girl he had ever had a crush on, nor was he really that shy when it came to women. Most of his nerves came from her family.

And partly because he kept fearing that she might just think he liked her for her body and not the rest of her as well. Not that she did not have a wonderful figure that Angus found himself fantasizing about (against his will... but what straight man couldn't?), but he really liked her for the fact she was so sweet. She did not treat people differently, she treated everyone with respect and kindness.

Of course, Katyusha did not seem to notice her wonderful figure. Or her wonderful personality. Really, she was an absolute dream.

As this was reality, it was countered by the nightmare of her family. Angus tried not to think about it.

"How 'bout a movie at my house?" he suggested. It seemed too little, but Kat tended to appreciate things just as they were. "I'll make dinner."

"I would like that." Kat smiled. "Is Monday okay with you?"

Angus nodded quickly. "Monday is excellent. Monday's perfect."

Mission: Completed

Mission: Prepare for the Date

This step was probably the easiest of them all. Though Angus agonized about his movie selection, went over to Roy's house to see if he had anything better and ended up borrowing one of Erin's movies of all people (not that Erin watched many movies) and then was stuck wondering what he should make for dinner.

Something warm. It really was too cold this time of year. Angus did not know how anyone could stand it.

But once he had all of this prepared (plus house cleaned and everything looking perfect) Angus realized that all there was to do now was to wait for Monday (which was interrupted by a call to Feliciano's house about some evil cat that would not let him out of the house) and actually have the date with Kat.

Mission: Completed

Mission: Have the Date

Uh oh.

Despite his survival instincts tell him otherwise, Angus went to pick Katyusha up from her house. She answered the door, bundled up in her jacket, smiling, and absolutely gorgeous.

Angus did not care if Ivan killed him now. This was worth it.

"Hallo Angus."

"Ah... er... g'afternoon, Kat." She giggled, taking the step out of her doorway and closing it behind her. "Shall we?"

"Yes." She wrapped her arms around his left upper arm as they walked out into the snow.

"I had to get a stray cat on Sunday."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, wouldn't let Feliciano out of his house. Or Ludwig in... I think he was on his last nerves."

"Poor Feliciano... Is cat all right?"

"She's fine. Little brat is making a mess out of my spare room."

"Oh no!"

"Nah, that's what it's for. I'm just wonderin' what I should do with her."

"You're not keeping her?"

"I can't keep every stray I pick up. My house would be filled with to the brim with them by now. Plus, Ace would go insane. Usually I take a ride with Yao and Muhammad 'to town and drop them off at the shelter."

"Shelter?"

"Don't say it like that, m'gal! A no-kill shelter. I would never have the heart to drop 'em off otherwise."

"Of course! I'm sorry..."

"Nah, don't be."

She let go of his arm as he rummaged through his pockets, pulling out his keys and unlocking the door. He heard her call out his name and he turned around just as a snowball hit his arm.

"We cannae le' ye 'ave the lassie, cuz!" Roy called out as Brian handed him another snowball.

"You're kiddin' me." Angus stared at his two cousins. Not for long, however. Manner dictated he take Katyusha out of the cold, but his honor dictated that he beat up Roy for hitting him with a snowball.

"Ye'll mess it up," Brian agreed with Roy, right before he was nailed in the face with a snowball. Angus turned to see an apologetic Kat.

"I... figured we beat them before we go in." She shrugged.

"Bu' we're on yer side!" Roy called, making certain Brian was his shield.

"Sounds like a plan," Angus agreed, picking up some snow.

The snowball fight went on for half of an hour before Maddox and Alfred managed to distract their uncles with a catapulting device (those two were sort of insane) so Angus and Kat finally managed to escape inside.

Ace's ears perked up from where she lay in the front hallway. Kat knelt down to pet the dingo of whom simply decided things were not that interesting and went back to sleep.

"I'm sorry 'bout that," Angus said apologetically, trying very hard not to watch the water droplets fall from Kat's hair. She turned her head toward him, a bright smile on her face.

"Not at all! It was fun!"

Finally feeling relaxed, Angus went to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate. Out of their coats, the two sat on the couch and watched the movie he had painstakingly picked out. She leaned up against him and he put his arm around her shoulders without a second thought.

By dinner his mind should have been conflicted between thinking that he had just been overreacting before, nothing was going to go wrong and as nothing had gone wrong yet, something was about to happen. As it was, Angus was feeling too good to think beyond the second one, so when he heard Ace's teeth snap together a few times and a loud knock on the door it took him a few moments to react.

"I'll be right back," he promised Kat as he went to the front door, opening it to see the last person he ever wanted to see ever. Ever.

"Vhere is Kat?" Ivan demanded. Angus found himself floundering for words.

"What?" Probably not the smartest thing to say, he thought in retrospect as Ivan glowered at him. "Why do you ask?" Even stupider, Angus. Nice going.

It was right when he heard Ace let out a short bark and the scamper of nails against the ground. Angus turned right as the cat darted past him, attacking Ivan's leg.

Everything was quiet except for the sound of hissing as she dug her claws into Ivan's left pant leg. Ivan stared down at the cat, expression changed to one of slight surprise.

"I'm sorry Angus! I heard scratching, I forgot cat was in spare room!" Kat apologized though tears, breaking out into a small smile as she saw Ivan. "What brings you here, brother?"

"Cat." It took Angus a moment to realize Ivan was not talking about his sister, but was looking back down at the feline who no longer was trying to destroy his leg. Rather, she was now simply attached to it. Ivan stared down at the cat for a while longer before looking back at her. "Ve're going."

"Why?" Kat asked, aghast.

"We're just having dinner." Whether that would help his case, Angus was not certain. The look on Ivan's face said 'no'.

"'Cause I don't vant you here," Ivan responded to her question, putting a hand on Kat's shoulder. "Now–"

"Ivan! Leave me alone!"

Ivan did not respond immediately. Neither did Angus. Kat's outburst caused them both to loose the ability to talk.

"I am having dinner with Angus," she continued, tears flowing down her cheeks. "We are finishing eating, I am kissing him, and then I'm going home! Please stop stopping me!"

"But..." Ivan coughed out. "But you... vhu..."

Kat burst into sobs and buried her face into Angus' chest. Angus unconsciously wrapped his arms around her. "Shh... it's all right..." Still somewhat shocked, he looked back over toward Ivan, who now looked depressed.

"Don't... don't cry, Katty," Ivan said haltingly. "I'll go. Don't cry..." Katyusha tried to say something, but all that came out was more sobs.

"It's all right Kat, Ivan's not angry..." Angus looked up at the taller man. You better not be angry... Ivan gave a quick nod as if scared to not be so. "See? It's okay."

"Have good time!" Ivan squeaked (Squeaked? Seriously?) before he left. Angus reached out and shut the door, warm air once more encircling them. He was not certain what just happened, but the native Australian was beginning to think it might be good. 'Might be', because it could not be good while Kat was crying.

"Kat...?" he asked nervously. She brought her head up from him, looked at him for a moment before she blushed.

"I meant surprise you," she murmured, looking down.

"What?" Angus asked, but he could not say anything more because she kissed him.

They went to finish their dinner. Angus was pretty certain that asking her for another date was the right thing to do. And she accepted.

The worst thing about all of it was that it took them so long to get to here.

Mission: Success? Success!

Yeah, poor Feliciano. Because he was not talking about Ludwig at all, Kat. You silly girl.

Yes, Angus' owns a dingo. The family is weird like that. His father sent it to him and Angus freaked out as somehow Ace got all the way through customs without being stopped, put in quarantine, or anything. It was a once in a lifetime experience, the echidna was caught when that trick was tried a year later. Angus' dad does a lot of illegal things. Because of that Angus has learned to be a law abiding citizen and not go to jail.

My computer does not think echidna is a word. Fail.

The main reason I wrote this was to show that Ivan finally has given in, his older sister has finally stood up to him, and that Ivan now owns a cat. Yes, Ivan took the cat with him. A very bitchy cat.

This was also supposed to be sweeter, but I choked on the sugar.