Sorry for the delay! I've been working on future plot points from time-to-time, but before I knew it it's been three months lol

Fiona's first meeting with Yuri is scheduled for three weeks later. Before that happens, she wants to see Yor a few more times to discuss Yuri. Though Fiona would much rather not rely on that woman, there are no other leads. Even if the siblings are more distant now, not everything from their youth will be different. Hearing about Yuri's childhood from the one who raised him could provide some clues.

Half an hour after entering the Forger home, Fiona secludes herself in the bathroom and is ready to fight for her life. She has to admit; Yor is a much more cunning person than she imagined.

Fiona reflects on how things escalated to this point.

Thirty minutes earlier

"Hello, welcome to our home!" Yor says with a wide smile on her face. Standing next to her is Anya, who appears much less excited to see Fiona than her mother, and their dog, Bond. Fiona has never been trained to be able to interpret dogs, but it almost looks as if Bond has an expression of pity aimed at Fiona. Yor looks down and gives the little girl a small nudge. "Anya, say hello. This nice lady works with Loid and and is the one who brought back your belongings."

"Hello." Anya says curtly with narrowed eyes. If Fiona didn't know any better, she would think that Anya finds her unpleasant.

"Loid isn't here right now. He's playing golf with- uh, I'm not sure actually…"

"The director." Fiona answers, knowing full well that Loid will not be here. Officially, she can say this is because of WISE's policy for agents to avoid unnecessary contact. The real reason is she still has not given up on trying to pry the position of wife from this woman if there is an opening, something that is for his own good. He will not be here to save her this time.

"Ah, you're right! The hospital director. Of course you would know, you work with both of them."

Hmph. A real wife would know these things. Fiona removes her coat and places it on the coat rack. "If there's nothing else, do you mind if we start now? I only have about an hour until I need to go run an errand." Though not as much as Loid, Fiona's schedule is also consistently filled to the brim with missions and today is no exception.

"Before we do, I baked some snacks!" Yor gestures towards the coffee table. Fiona then sees an assortment of cookies scattered on a large plate. "Feel free to have some. Even though you've come here several times, I haven't been able to offer you anything but tea until now."

"Thank you." Fiona steps closer towards the table.

"Anya, do you want to stay here and eat some cookies?"

"I have homework to do. Maybe I'll have some cookies later." Anya then walks towards her room. Her side eyed glare doesn't go unnoticed by Fiona, but the latter pretends that it does. Fiona has better uses of her time and brainpower than trying to read a child's mind.

Yor smiles at Anya's trail until she closes the door. "She's working hard these days."

I would hope so, considering the fate of Operation Strix relies on her. She should have multiple stellas if she were truly working hard. "That's good to hear." Since Yor went out of her way to prepare this setup and play the good host, Fiona should properly play her role as a guest. She grabs one cookie and pops it in her mouth.

It all goes wrong from here.

From the first bite, Fiona can tell both the texture and the taste are completely wrong for a cookie, but still swallows as a gesture of good faith. This proves to be a complete mistake. A few seconds later, her whole immune system feels compromised. She sits down on the couch in the living room to rest. Before Yor can even bring the tea, the pain has become unbearable. Fiona rushes to the bathroom to forcefully eject what she just ate.

After approximately 15 minutes in the bathroom, Fiona still feels greatly weakened.

She just tried to poison me… Is she aware that I'm trying to take Twilight away and removing me from the picture because of that? I let my guard down… Fiona attempts to recover as quickly as she can, or else Yor will come and finish the job. Her body is facing the closed bathroom door, ready to pounce the moment it opens.

She doesn't let her focus waver even as seconds of waiting turn into minutes. A few minutes later, a soft knock come from the other side of the door along with Yor's voice. "Um- are you okay in there? You've been in the bathroom for quite some time."

Back to the present

Whose fault is that? Is she trying to get me to let my guard down again by continuing the innocent act? It won't work. Fiona clutches the soap dish in her hand (the best makeshift weapon she could find) a little tighter as the doorknob turns. No turning back once it opens…

Anya's voice is heard from the other side and Yor lets go of the door knob. "Mama!"

"Anya? What is it? Do you need to use the bathroom? It's occupied right now."

"She's still in there?"

"Yes. Women occasionally take a long time in the bathroom for various reasons... I'll tell you about them when you're older."

"If you say so." Anya says with a clearly disinterested tone. "Are there still cookies left?"

"Yes, a lot. Do you want some?"

"I will have some!" Anya's small steps sound on the ground as she walks. After a few seconds, Anya opens her mouth again. "Mama, where are they?"

"Oh! I moved them from the coffee table to the counter. I'll go get them, they're close to the knives."

Fiona remains forgotten in the bathroom, not that she minds. What she does mind, however, is how the events might develop from here. She wouldn't… poison a child to get to me, would she? The key to Operation Strix?

Fiona slowly and apprehensively opens the bathroom door. She wonders if she will have to perform CPR when she sees Anya munching on a cookie. Instead, the little girl looks… fine? "Better than usual." Anya comments.

…Better than usual? The confused Fiona doesn't know what to think anymore. How can someone's cooking be that bad? If that's better than usual, her worst could very well be as toxic as the most deadly poisons.

"Do you want more?" Yor picks another one up to hand to Anya.

Anya aggressively shakes her head. "Nope! You're still a bad cook."

"Oh… okay." Yor dejectedly puts the cookie back.

Anya looks over at Fiona with the latter still trying to interpret what is going on. The little girl gives the spy another strange look, though this one different from the one at the entrance, before leaning down to pet Bond. Anya then turns back to Yor and opens her mouth. "Uncle Yuri's been eating your food since you've both been little, right? And he likes your food?"

"Yes, that's right?"

"Maybe you made Aunt Fiona stuck in the bathroom, just like that time with Papa. She's out now so we can ask her." Anya then points toward Fiona.

"Um- are you alright?" Yor asks with a concerned expression. "And is what Anya said true? It's okay if you want to tell me the truth."

The more Fiona tries to comprehend the situation, the less things make sense. Then, another thought hits her. Maybe Yor's actually an assassin and successfully made her brother immune to poison, and is now doing the same with Anya. This potential job also explains her ludicrous strength, such as when she managed to slice the tennis ball into smithereens with one swing.

This thought survives two seconds in her head before Fiona forcefully shuts it down. If she were an assassin, Twilight surely would know and report about it. She works in city hall and was chosen to be his wife randomly… that kind of story only exists in fairy tales.

Though Fiona still has trouble processing it, she has no choice but to believe Yor is really that bad of a cook.

"I'm okay now. It could be an allergic reaction, or the spicy food I had before I came here," Fiona begins, but then frowns as to why she's still avoiding the topic. If she doesn't say the truth, Yor may get the wrong idea and prepare her more food now and in the future. "Actually, what your daughter said is correct. I believe your food strongly upset my stomach."

"So Anya was right… Sorry, I know I'm a bad cook. I'm trying to improve and I've even been getting lessons from a coworker."

"I'm sure you tried your best." Fiona backhandedly comments.

At least her adventure here hasn't been completely fruitless. Yuri has been eating her food for years, showing that 1) his taste in food is most likely impaired, if he even still has any taste buds left and 2) any laxative or poison attempt in the future will most likely not work.

Fiona grabs her coat and begins putting her feet into her boots when she hears Yor call out to her. "Leaving so soon? We haven't even talked about Yuri yet."

"Unfortunately, I have several appointments and errands to run so I have to go now."

"Oh, you did say you were on a tight schedule. I'm sorry again that things turned out the way they did… Feel free to stop by again!"

"Thank you. I'll come by again if I see an opportunity." As if I would ever risk exposing myself to that so-called food again.

This chapter was supposed to have the 'date' between Fiona and Yuri too, but that scene ended up being way too long and I still can't figure out how to end it! I will say it's about 80% done except for the aforementioned closure, so look forward to the next chapter~