Hannah's eye flicks to meet mine as I step out of the police station. "Finally done with you, hmm?"

"For now." I rub my temples. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, after I dropped off Evangeline at her place of residence, I was in the area and figured you might want some company on your way home."

"...Yeah. But, my parents' house. Everyone moved back there since they have more space."

"Mmhmm." She pushes off the wall and falls in step with me. "So. It's been a while."

A whole host of words cascade into my head, from bitter recriminations to confessions of love, but with the logjam in my mental facilities, I find I can't do more than nod.

"I've managed to get myself fixed up a bit, as you can see." She holds out her right arm for inspection. "Gentaine pays nicely for my support."

"I see."

"I couldn't get a new eye though. Turns out, when you're a prototype unit with only two models and the other one's melted to slag, it's hard to get replacements. The arm was annoying enough, and I had to get Sophia to handle the integration after that verdammt engineering firm screwed me over. Just imagine if I had handed over my eye for them to reverse engineer-"

"I missed you."

Hannah's words fade off and we walk for an entire block before she speaks up again. "Ach, was soll's. I suppose I missed you too."

"I'm glad." I step closer to her, hesitating before wrapping my arm around her shoulders.

She leans in, her expression unchanging. "Well, maybe only a little. After all, I had so much fun getting chased by ELIDs and the remnants of Paradeus and now even the URNC that I hardly had time to think about you."

"Well… I've been thinking about you daily for a decade." I pull her tight for a moment before letting go. "I'm a big dumb human though, so maybe that's just how these things go."

"Ja…" She suddenly grows uncomfortable. "Hadwin, about what happened back in '66-"

"It doesn't matter." I cut her off. "I know why, and I realize it's probably for the best, but let's just leave it as water under the bridge."

She nods. "...It was one of the hardest thing's I've had to do."

"Mm."

We walk in silence for a bit longer, the noonday sun high overhead. People pass us by on the sidewalk, occasionally giving us odd looks, but I ignore them for now.

"How… um." Hannah seems to rethink her words a few times before speaking back up. "How is Gertrude?"

"You'll meet her soon enough."

"About that."

"...Hannah." I lower my voice slightly.

"Hadwin, I'm…" Her face screws up in frustration. "I'm not cut out to be a mother. I think it would be better if Gertrude didn't meet me. I could hurt her by accident."

"She's wanted to meet you since she could talk." I roll my eyes. "And you're not going to hurt her."

"...I might not be able to return her affection, if she has any for me." She looks away. "She's always just been a picture on a screen to me."

I study her face for a bit. "Hannah…"

"I know, I know. Scheisse, I know." She looks away. "I'm not equipped to be her parent. I'm an infiltration doll, not a nanny."

"And you think I'm any better? I'm convinced that if I had left them in Sophia's hands, they might've had a better life than I can offer them." My fingers scrabble for a cigarette pack that isn't there. "As it is, I can only do the best I can."

"...Are you sure she would want to see me?" Hannah asks after a bit. "After all, Reina is her surrogate mother and she spent more time with her than me, and-"

"I told Gerty what you told me when you dropped her off. She's going to be ecstatic."

Hannah nods, and-

No.

Hannah? With a skip in her step?

I must be more tired than I thought.

"Looking forward to it that much?"

She starts. "W-well, she is my daughter after all."

I knock on the front door to my old house, Hannah a step or two behind me.

The door opens after a dozen or so seconds, revealing my mother's worried visage. "Hadwin?"

"Hey mom."

For a moment, she just stands there. Then, slowly, she reaches out and pulls me into a hug.

I close my eyes and return it. "Sorry it took so long."

"See that you stay in contact from now on." She scolds me without letting up on the hug. "The others are all inside."

When she finally lets me go, I walk past her into the house.

"DADDY'S BACK!" Gerty's voice cuts through the cacophony of voices.

All eyes look to mine as my youngest grabs onto my leg, Ollie and Farah not far behind.

"Farah, are you doing okay?" I ask, hand on her head.

"Yep! Auntie Adele and Auntie Star made sure I stayed warm, and when I got to the hospital Grandpa was already there and he made sure the doctors took good care of me."

"That's good to hear. How's Grandpa?"

"Grandpa's fine." Dad chuckles. "Just a bump."

"It was more than a bump!" Mom complains. "The doctor said-"

"Ugh." Heidi raises her head off the kitchen table. "Not again."

"I take it they've been over this?"

Heidi nods before resting her chin on the table with her eyes closed. "Humans are so tiring."

"Everything is tiring to you." Adele snaps.

"It's not going to change." Rose walks over. "Hadwin, what's the status on-"

"This is a party!" Reina exclaims, loud enough to draw everyone's attention. "We're supposed to be having fun!"

"Yeah!" Gerty lets go of my leg and looks behind me for the first time. "...Mommy?"

Hannah freezes in place, her singular eye wide and arms locked halfway between dangling at her sides and folded. "I… ah…"

"Mommy!" Gerty leaps at Hannah, wrapping her arms around the silver haired girl's torso.

Hannah looks at me.

I shrug. "I told you."

Slowly, she moves her arms to hug the small girl.

Gerty buries her face into Hannah's stomach, arms holding onto Hannah for dear life.

I walk over and sit down on one of the couches as the 'party' once more commences.

I thought I would have wanted to talk to everyone, catch up after years of not being able to talk to my dolls or my parents… but no.

Watching Ollie tell stories about what happened in school to his Grandmother and Mother, Gerty clinging to both Reina and Hannah as she talks to them about her computer, and my Dad and Sophia talking about cars while Adele and Star stare at them blankly.

A hand snakes around my arm, and I look down to see Farah holding tight to me.

"Hey, Sweetie. What's up?"

"Nothing." But, she pulls my arm to herself pretty tightly.

I follow her gaze to see Gerty laughing as Reina makes a face and Hannah rolls her eyes.

Oh.

I reach across myself and pat her head. "I miss Aleah too."

Farah buries her face onto my side. "I want my mom back."

"I know." I close my eyes. "Me too."

The couch shifts and I look to my other side to see Star has gotten out of the conversation with my dad. "What's the matter?"

I jerk my chin at where Rose is holding Ollie in her lap, stroking his hair. "Missing Aleah."

"...Oh." Star's lips curl downward, before she stands right back up and crouches down beside Farah. "Hey kiddo."

Farah peeks out. "Auntie Star?"

"Yeah. I know I can't be a replacement for your mom, but would you like me to give you a hug?"

Farah blinks at the doll.

"N-no? Ah, sorry." Star's arms drop slightly.

Farah lets go of me with one of her hands and grabs Star's sleeve. "Thank you for keeping me warm."

Star's face melts into a puddle of happiness.

Adele sits down next to me on my other side. "If she currently doesn't have a mother, I can adopt her."

"Uh, she's not exactly an orphan." I raise my eyebrow at the tall German.

"No matter. I will not allow her to not have a mother any longer."

"Hey." Star glance at Adele. "You can't just claim to be her mother."

"I can, and I did." Adele's eyes half-lid. "Why, are you trying to fill the position?"

"No…" Star hesitates. "Well, maybe."

Farah suddenly bursts out laughing, and we all look down at her as she wipes her eyes on her sleeve. "Auntie Star and Auntie Adele are so funny."

"They are." I agree.

"Hey." Star smacks my leg.

Farah gets up and hugs Star before she can stand up, then walks over to Adele to give her a hug too. "Thank you for warming me up."

"Of course." Adele pats her head. "Anything for my new daughter."

"Hey!" Star gripes.

I can't help but let out a low chuckle. "Alright. Farah, can you make sure Grandpa is alright?"

"Okay!" She lets go of Adele and walks over to the kitchen table where Mom scoops her as she tries to talk to dad, vying for his attention as Sophia tries to continue her own conversation.

"So. What's eating you?" Star sits down on the opposite side from Adele.

"Nothing." I raise an eyebrow. "Why?"

"You've got that look again." She sighs. "Also, it's been a decade. Can't you learn to lie better?"

"Wh-"

"I like him not being able to lie." Adele shrugs. "And I would also like to know what's wrong."

I hesitate, but… I can trust these two. "Well… it looks like I might be kicked out of Sector 3 soon."

Star's mouth once more contorts into a frown.

Adele turns so she can observe my face. "Why?"

"Something to do with murdering a woman." I give them both a wan smile in turn. "And, I've apparently been less welcome than I assumed. I guess I really put people off when I was going crazy back in '67."

"For what's it's worth, I don't agree with Rose's plan." Star leans on my shoulder.

"I do not like it either, though I see how it has been helpful until now. As for the future, I will remain by your side wherever you go." Adele grabs my arm in hers and pulls herself close to me. "If you get kicked out of Sector 3, I will help you find a new home."

Star grunts. "Yeah, what the kraut said."

"Mm." I look at my three kids. "I don't suppose I could convince you both to stay with Farah, Ollie and Gerty?"

"Farh's coming with us." Star states, and Adele nods.

Oh, so they finally agree on something.

"She's only nine. I'm not going to drag her outside the walls." I roll my eyes.

Star grins. "It would hardly be dragging if she wants to come with us."

"We could bring all three of your children with us back to Gentaine's mobile base." Adele nods.

"Mobile…?"

"Er, pretend you didn't hear that." Star sighs. "But yeah, we've got the room and…" Her cheeks flush. "I miss you so much. I want you to come with us again."

Adele just nods.

"...Well, I'll think about it."

The night wears on, and slowly, everyone goes to sleep.

For the first time in a while, I have a happy dream.

A/N:
For now, this is the final chapter of Field Agent 2. I may continue it once I have an idea of how GFL2 goes, but until it's out in english I'm afraid I don't have any idea what's going on.

Back during the FA1 days I had a whole host of people backing me up and helping me with the lore, but since I'm a horrible person and managed to burn every bridge I made, that's no longer the case.

In any case, I leave you with words I wish I could live by;

Love with your heart, use your head for everything else. Take care of each other.

Goodnight.