Yuri awoke with a start. His eyes popped open. He was not in his bed or his apartment. Resisting his body's urge to bolt upwards, he slowly came to a sitting position. His head ached terribly. He could not tell if it was a hangover or from the bump on he received. Both fed into each other raising his pain exponentially.

His fingertips gently moved over his throbbing cheek. Glancing at the first aid kit still sitting open on the coffee table, he took out a square bandage and carefully taped it over what he knew would be a giant purple bruise on his cheek.

Standing up as quick as possible without making himself dizzy or causing himself any further discomfort, he stepped into his shoes. Keeping his heels up to avoid making noise on the hardwood floor, he practically ran on his tiptoes to the door. Upon leaving the apartment, rather than slamming the door behind him, he carefully closed it.

At least the woman really had meant him no harm and genuinely only wanted to help him. Yuri exhaled in relief resisting the urge to lean against the door. Instead he headed for the front of the apartment building before any of the other tenants could see him lurking on her doorstep.

Pausing for just a second, he glanced back. 1A was in three inch tall brass letters on the white door of her apartment.

Louisa Eleazor, apartment 1A, he repeated inside his head, twisting the doorknob to exit. He needed to keep moving. He still had to stop by his apartment to shower and change. He couldn't be late for work. His boss would already be questioning him about how the night went.

~\'/~

Yuri was opening his locker when the Lieutenant entered. He inhaled deeply to prepare himself for the inevitable interrogation. He wished he had never mentioned he was going to visit Yor to celebrate her marriage.

"Looks like last night didn't go too well," the man stated rather than asking. "I guess you got wasted and started a fight with her new husband. You really should stop drinking so much."

"I don't remember much," Yuri grumbled, hanging up his jacket. "I just couldn't bear seeing my dear sister with that terrible man."

"Is he really that bad? What makes him so terrible?" he asked, opening his own locker.

Yuri scrambled to find the reasons to hate Lloid, besides the obvious, in his muddled memory of last night's events.

"Well, he's not that bad I guess," he begrudgingly admitted. "But Yor deserves better. I'm pretty sure that guy is a spy. He was just too good to be true. He was too smooth, knew all the right things to say. Something's not right. I'll lock him up as soon as I can to free Yor."

The Lieutenant exhaled a longsuffering sigh.

"Do you have any proof? Did you place any bugs while you were there to get evidence?"

He did not! When the realization hit Yuri, his stomach sank to his toes. He had been so drunk, so angry, he forgot to plant the bugs he had brought with him. He already knew he wanted that man out of his sister's life so he had come prepared to gather the evidence he would need.

"Shit," he muttered, resisting the urge to punch the locker.

But if he did bug the place what would he hear? The idea of having to listen to that man whispering sweet nothings to Yor, expressing his desire with passionate kisses, and worse...have sex with her.

Yuri covered his mouth with his hand to hold back the bile when he became violently nauseated at the thought of listening to his sweet, innocent sister being ravaged by Lloid Forger. This time he gave into the desire to hit something, slamming his locker door and banging his head against the metal to knock those thoughts out of his brain.

"Did you beat yourself up last night too?" the Lieutenant inquired calmly, lighting his cigarette. "You need to put your perceived family crisis aside, detaching your thoughts from your sister."

Perceived family crisis? It is an emergency! Detaching my thoughts from Yor? Impossible, Yuri thought bitterly slipping off his civilian suit pants. He kept his mouth shut because he knew better than to talk back to his superior officer.

"Clear your damn mind of all that bullshit. You don't need any distractions to keep you from concentrating on capturing spies that endanger our country and our freedom." The man paused, taking a drag from his cigarette. "Your goal is to capture Twilight, specifically. He's a slippery bastard, and I need you in top form."

Yuri pulled on his uniform pants and stuffed the tail of his shirt inside. His boss just did not understand how important his sister is to him. She meant everything to him. She was the one who loved him and protected him his whole life. He would return that favor now.

"Catching Twilight is the best thing you can do to protect your sister. You can worry about dealing with her husband later."

"Understood, Sir." He sighed with resignation, putting on his hat.

I know my main objective not only at work but in life right now is to capture Twilight. But I swear, Lloid Forger, if you make my sister cry, I will kill you.

~\'/~

Louisa sighed seeing the brown folder sitting in the middle of the green blotter on her desk in her office at Eden Academy.

Already?, she thought. It was only the second day of school. She had hoped to have more time to prepare before any child would need her help.

Hanging her black trench coat on the wooden coat tree beside her door, she walked over to her desk. After sitting her trusty black tote bag on top of the row of filing cabinets behind her desk, she sat down.

FORGER, ANYA: read the name on the tab of the folder. She opened it up. New student. Kindergartener. Age 6. Father: Lloid Forger, psychiatrist. Mother: Yor Forger, civil servant employed at Berlint City Hall.

"Hmmm," she hummed pensively.

Her father is a psychiatrist but no specific place employment was listed. Private practice maybe. She had never heard of him in any of the medical circles she gravitated in. How interesting.

"Yor? What an unusual name."

Then it hit her like a truck. Yor! That was the name the odd stranger from last night kept saying. She shivered involuntarily upon recalling how he had cried out his sister's name in his sleep. Yuri might have a form of an Oedipal Complex, possibly because his sister served as a surrogate parent to him.

Louisa shook her head to clear her mind. She could ruminate over the man she met last night and his issues another time. It struck her as a freakish coincidence she would run into Yuri Briar in such an unusual manner then have her first student case waiting on her desk tie back to him albeit in a roundabout manner.

"Hmmm," she hummed again, looking over the rest of the information on the one page document.

On her first day of school Anya Forger punched little Lord Damian Desmond right in his smug face. Louisa snickered. Immediately she felt guilty and cleared her throat. She should not be laughing at that poor child. He was largely ignored by his parents, especially his father. His older brother Demetrius is the favored child, the shining star and prince of the Desmond family.

Back to the file. Anya received a Tonitrus Bolt. Only one? That should have been an offense worthy of at least three of the lightning bolt demerits. Obviously Professor Henderson has a soft spot for this particular child lowering her demerits to one. She did not care to question why. Gaining his favor was not an easy task.

"Good morning, Miss Eleazor," Professor Henderson greeted her from her open doorway.

"Good morning," she returned, glancing up at him.

Despite his advanced age, somewhere in his mid sixties, he took excellent care of himself. He jogged every day before classes began. He kept his long gray hair pulled back in a neat ponytail and painstakingly groomed every hair of his extensive facial hair into place. He always dressed in a formal three piece suit. His coat even had tails on it. He used a monocle and cane. Very elegant.

"Would you care for some tea?" he inquired, bringing in the silver serving tray already prepared.

"Of course I would," she replied, moving her lamp and pen holder to make room for the tray. How could she say no? That would be rude and ungrateful.

"I am sure you are wondering why you already have a case on your desk," he stated matter of factly while pouring her a cup of tea.

"You're a mind reader, sir," she said, taking the saucer balancing the full cup on it. She appreciated the way he liked to get right down to business.

"I just wanted you to be aware of this young lady. I am afraid she might be in need of your services in the very near future. She is exceedingly rambunctious and might have a few...behavioral issues," he explained.

Who wouldn't want to punch that spoiled little brat Damian Desmond in the face?, she thought then chided herself about her lack of maturity and objectiveness as a therapist.

"I have a great respect for her father," he said, raising his cup to his lips.

Louisa suddenly remembered her tea. While waiting for him to continue, she dropped two sugar cubs into the steaming brown liquid. She was careful not to bump the sides of the cup while stirring.

"Her education is incredibly important to him. He made it clear in the interview what it meant to him that his daughter attend this academy and become an Imperial Scholar." He sighed, placing his saucer and half empty cup on the corner of her desk. "I am afraid that child might need a little bit of assistance to reach her father's expectations."

"I'll be glad to help any way I can," she promised him, taking a sip of her tea. The hot liquid burned her tongue but she refused to react to the pain, giving him a smile when he glanced at her.

"Good. I am so happy to hear that Miss Eleazor." He pulled a gold pocket watch from his vest to check the time. "Well, I should be going. Class starts soon."

When he looked down at the tray, she quickly said, "Don't worry about this. I will take care of it. Thank you for the tea, Professor Henderson."

"Ah, so elegant, my dear," he complimented her.

Louisa could feel her face warming as she blushed with pleasure. The old man reminded her of her grandfather, and she rather enjoyed receiving such a high compliment from him.

"Good day," Professor Henderson bid her politely, turning on his heel to leave.

"Have a wonderful day, Sir."

~\'/~

Yuri sat in his office spacing out, thinking about Yor when he should be going over the open files of possible leads sitting on his desk. His mind strayed to the women he met on the train station platform. She looked so much like his beautiful sister. His fingertips went to the back of his head gingerly touching the stitches. The muscles in his abdomen tightened when he remembered the unexpected sensations she had stirred inside of him when she pulled his hair.

Picking up the thick handled mug, he took a big gulp of his coffee in hopes that would clear his mind. He gazed at the pictures laying on his desk. They were the ones he had used to confront Jim Hayward with his treasonous actions. The man had given him nothing useful.

"Where did she say she worked? A prestigious school?" Yuri asked himself out loud in reference to the Good Samaritan.

There was only one prestigious school that he knew of right off hand and that was Eden Academy. If she worked there, a background check would have been run on her. He picked up the phone.

"Berlint City Hall, Dominic speaking."

"Hey, Dominic, I need a favor," he said.

"Sure thing, pal. Need me to check up on Yor?"

"Not today, but...how is she?" he inquired, unable to stop himself.

"She seems a little bit upset. She says she's a terrible wife because she doesn't know how to cook."

That son of a bitch! How dare Lloid Forger criticize her cooking! It's damn delicious! I only went to the emergency room once with food poisoning, he thought, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the coffee mug. Thank goodness for it's utilitarian and clunky design or he would have shattered it.

"Actually," Yuri began, remembering his present mission, "I need you to find a file on someone. Louisa Eleazor."

"A woman? Yuri, are you interested in someone?"

NO! Most certainly not! I could never be interested in another woman!, he wanted to yell, offended by his friend's careless assumptions.

"It's about time you found a girlfriend. You don't have to worry about Yor anymore now that she is married," Dominic said.

"I will always worry about, Yor," Yuri corrected his friend. "Especially since she is married."

"Hey, want to meet for lunch? I can bring you the file on your mystery woman then. You can look it over, but I have to bring it back."

"Sure thing. Thanks, Dom."

"See ya at the Sandwich Shop."

~\'/~

Yuri sat at an outside table along the waist high fence barrier separating the restaurant seating from the pedestrians on the sidewalk. He had already ordered a sandwich and a cup of coffee. Both sat untouched on the table. His head swung anxiously from left to right in search of Dominic's fluffy dark blond hair. Not seeing his friend yet, his leg vibrated impatiently.

"Hey, Yuri!" Dominic yelled.

Yuri's head swung to the left toward the voice with such intensity he almost gave himself whiplash. He stood up to greet his friend coming toward him with a manila folder in his hand, the Berlint seal emblazoned on the front.

Dominic would make a horrible spy. Discretion did not exist in his vocabulary. Maybe that was why he liked him so much. There was not a secretive or deceitful bone in his body.

"I'll go inside and grab something real quick," he declared, preparing to turn to go in the restaurant door.

"You should give me the folder first," Yuri suggested keeping his anxiety in check. The Lieutenant was right. He needed to calm down. But it was difficult knowing his sister could be in danger.

"Ah, you're right," Dominic agreed, bypassing the door to meet his friend. "I would be in big trouble if I spilled something on this."

You're probably going to be in big trouble for taking this out of the building, Yuri thought, accepting the folder from him. Dominic was a good and true friend.

"I'll be right back," he said, turning to go back to the door.

Yuri sat down and opened the folder to find out more about this Louisa Eleazor. Born at Berlint General Hospital, she was raised right here in the city proper. Her father is postmaster at the Berlint Post Office. Her mother is one of several department managers at the Central Mall. Impressive. She worked part time at the cinema while putting herself through college because her parents did not support her choice of study.

Determined. Independent. Despite her parents objections, she is proud of her profession. She also knew how to handle herself quite well with him. She had not been afraid or intimidated at all by him. Her stitch work was on par with any practiced surgeon. These were a few things he could respect and admire about her.

"Tell me," Dominic said, sitting down across from him. "What's the deal with this Louisa woman?"

"I'm not sure yet," Yuri replied honestly. He continued to read the information: her address, her educational history from elementary to graduate school, her medical credentials. The counseling position at Eden Academy is her first 'real' job.

There was a telephone number listed too which he scribbled down on the little notebook he had slipped into the pocket of his civilian jacket when he changed to go to lunch. He could not very well meet Dominic dressed in his Secret Service Police uniform. The key word to his true identity and career was SECRET.

Single. Never married. Age twenty-four. Older than him, but younger than his sister. If his interest in this woman was not strictly business (the business being saving his sister from Lloid Forger) he might think he had a thing for older women. He cleared his throat and straightened his tie.

Perhaps Louisa Eleazor could prove to be useful to him. He could play on her fear of being an old maid. There was also the rampant mistrust of women with no attachments of being possible spies since they had no family of their own to take care of.

What if he pretended to have a girlfriend to make Yor jealous? Or better yet a fiancée? Maybe seeing him with another woman would show Yor the error of her ways, that she could lose him for good to someone else. Then she would leave that man and come back to him. They could be a happy family again - just the two of them.

~\'/~

Louisa went straight home at six after the students were taken care of for the day. Part of her duties entailed staying on campus until every child was seen safely into the custody of a parent or caretaker to go home or shuffled off to the dorms to be supervised by the Dorm Parents there.

She was exhausted. She had not been able to get much sleep last night. Today thoughts of Yuri Briar kept sneaking into her mind, distracting her. It was everything she could to concentrate on her work going through the children's records.

Professor Henderson had inspired her to collect information on other children who could possibly be "in crisis" and need extra attention to nip a burgeoning issue in the bud before it became a problem.

Damian Desmond's folder had been added to the the pile that had been disturbingly big. She already knew a little about his older brother and general family history. Seeing him standing alone with no one beside him in the class picture made her heart ache for him. Poor kid. He had been handed everything in the world on a silver platter except what he really needed: his parent's time, attention, and love.

Louisa dragged herself to the front door of her building after nearly falling asleep on the train ride home. With the key poised and ready to slip into the lock and make her way to a well deserved hot bath, she froze when she saw a present sitting on her doormat.

There was a single peach colored rose wrapped in green tissue paper propped against a bottle of wine. There was a note sitting like a little white tent on the welcome mat in front of the offerings. A peach rose, not a commonly gifted color, was used to express gratitude.

"Huh, could it be..."

She stepped forward, placing her tote bag on the floor so it would not swing around and hit her in the head. She had almost suffered a concussion and been knocked down a time or two by the heavy bag when she forgot to lower it from her shoulder before bending over.

Picking up the note, she unfolded it to read it out loud.

"Thank you for your kindness last night. Please take these tokens of my gratitude. Here is my number should you like to call me. Regards, Yuri Briar."

How presumptuous. She discarded the note into her purse.

"I most certainly would not like to call you, Mr. Briar."

Louisa unlocked her door then picked up the bottle of wine and the rose. These, however, she would take and use, accepting his gracious gifts. She dropped her purse on the table and kicked off her shoes.

In the kitchen, she uncorked the bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. A rich burgundy. Lovely. After swirling the dark maroon liquid in the glass, she held it up to her nose to take a whiff. Mostly fruity, cherry, with a light floral note. She picked up the rose and sniffed it to make sure she wasn't smelling its sweet scent. It was delightful though. Taking a sip of the wine, she was impressed with its smoothness and lack of bitter tannins for a dry red wine.

"Well, Yuri Briar, you're a real wine connoisseur. I should have guessed you weren't sloppy drunk off of cheap swill last night," she murmured to herself, taking another sip.

She tore the tissue paper from around the rose, tossing it in the trash can. On her way to the bathroom, she breathed in the delicate scent of the flower.

Turning both faucets wide open, she started her bath. Ripping the petals off the rose, she sprinkled them over the water rising in the tub. She could enjoy breathing in their scent, relish their beautiful color by watching the petals floating on the surface while luxuriating in her bath.

Then the telephone rang.

"Dammit," she growled. She turned off water. Though agitated her relaxing night had been interrupted, she answered the phone with a melodic and sweet, "Hello."

"Miss Louisa Eleazor?"

Oh, no! She recognized his voice even if he wasn't slurring his words.

"Yes?"

"This is Yuri Briar."

"Oh, Yuri!" she exclaimed as if happy to hear from him. "So nice to hear from you. How are you feeling? How's your head?"

Yuri could detect the tenseness in her voice. She wasn't fooling him. She was NOT happy to hear his voice.

"I'm good. Thank you for your help. Other than a headache, I've been quite well today," he informed her using all of his acting talent to maintain a polite tone.

"That's good to hear. Oh, I should thank you as well for those lovely presents. The wine is simply divine." She forced a giggle at the unintentional rhyme, but rolled her eyes at herself. She detested women who acted like insipid morons to flirt with men.

Yuri chuckled as well. Oh, brother, he thought at her fake laughter and pathetic attempt at flirting.

"The rose was beautiful as well. I was just getting ready to take a bath so - "

"Would you do me the honor of allowing me to take you to dinner Saturday night?" he blurted like a nervous teenage boy asking for his first date. Actually, if she accepted, this would be his first date.

Yuri could absolutely kick himself. Once again, he allowed his emotions to get the best of him. That was not smooth or impressive at all.

"Uh..." Despite his weirdness and awkwardness, Louisa found herself wanting to say yes. She was curious. Her curiosity had often gotten her into trouble.

Yuri needed her to say yes to set his plan in motion.

"We could go see a movie after dinner."

Louisa bit her lip to hold back the gasp of surprise. Somehow he found her weakness. She developed a deep appreciation and love of movies while working at the cinema for six years to pay her college tuition.

"Okay. You choose the restaurant and make the reservations. I'll choose the movie. Deal?"

YES!, his inner screamed triumphantly.

"Sounds good," he returned, keeping his voice even. "I'll call you Friday night with the time and place."

"Looking forward to it. Good night, Yuri."

"Good night, Louisa."

Yuri sat back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his head and a smug grin on his face. Phase one of his multiphase plan was a success. If she had turned down his invitation, that would have ruined everything. He had no alternative to this particular plan if she had said no. Phase two would begin on their date.