After surviving a terrible ambush on her safe house in Syria, Hetty was so shaken up, Keane didn't feel like they should stay in Syria much longer. So, they managed to sneak away and get to where Nell and Eric were staying in Japan.
While Hetty was grateful for the RNR, it didn't mean that her problems were going away. Sleeping was a big problem because of the bad dreams. And after 1 incident of shrieking 'Make it stop!', she was almost too afraid to try and sleep without sedatives.
Thankfully, Nell convinced her to not go down that route, but it was a close call.
After a month, Hetty was starting to feel a bit better. But she knew she was going to have to leave again eventually to complete her mission, and she wasn't feeling too good about it.
1 night, Eric had woken up and had gone to the kitchen to get a drink of water when he saw Hetty was also up.
'Whoa! Um, hey! Everything okay?' He awkwardly asked.
'Nice to see your bizarre taste in pajamas still stays the same after all these years.' Hetty replied, pointing at his polar bear jammies.
'Oh! Um yes, I love how I look, and I don't want to change it. But enough about me. What's up with you? Anything you need or something?'
'Just trying to get sleep, and dealing with this splitting headache, and thinking of when times were simpler. When we all worked together and had stable homes, and when I didn't looks o awful in the mornings.'
'Yeah, you do look a bit ragged. (stern look). In the best sense, mind you!' Eric nervously said.
'That's okay. I know I'm old and ugly, no need to tiptoe around it. There's something that's been heavily on my mind the past few days, I've just got to say it: I need help with my mission.' Hetty replied.
'Well okay, what kind of help? Nell and I can handle anything.'
'Before I say anything further, you must understand: This mission is dangerous and mostly classified. And it takes place in a dangerous country. It's nothing like any of your video games, it's war, and it's all awful. Do you understand all this?'
For a moment, Eric looked like he was going to wet himself. But then he bravely said that he understood.
'Good. I'm going to try and get back to sleep now. Tell Miss Jones I want to talk to both of you in the morning.' Hetty said while getting up.
'Got it. And Hetty…'
'Yes?'
'You're not ugly. And if we have to go with you to Syria, we'll do everything we can think of to make sure you're safe.' Eric replied.
Hetty smiled at his kindness.
The next morning, Hetty told Nell and Eric the kind of technical help she was going to need, along with many supplies. They agreed to it all, and then had to tell Hetty she had nothing to be sorry over. In fact, they admitted to have been missing working for her for some time!
After a few hugs, Hetty prepared to return to Syria, nervous, but confident that with much needed help, she would survive to the end and would get to go home to her family.