Chapter 13: Honey Pot

Alex:

"I am so, so sorry for this," Ella said to Alex, under her breath. She then walked right over to a man sitting in one of the airport chairs. He was middle-aged, perhaps in his 50s. He had graying-brown hair and a set of very familiar green eyes. He was balancing a cane across his legs. Alex wondered who he was and how Ella knew to walk right over to him. However, he knew better than to ask questions.

Ella began speaking in a very hushed tone. Alex was unsure of the language, but it sounded Semitic. Hebrew? Arabic? It didn't really matter. The man responded in a nearly identical tone in the same language. Alex could tell that their conversation was growing quite heated and was about to jump in when suddenly Ella just laughed and hugged the man.

Alex was beyond confused but has always felt like he was about two steps behind with everything about Ella. The mystery surrounding her both frustrated and excited him.

The man got up and began walking out of the airport. He walked with a limp and relied decently on the cane. Rather than going through customs like a normal group of people, the man simply led them into a side room and out of the airport.

This whole situation was weird, and Alex was really starting to wish he knew the language they were speaking. He made a mental note to ask Ella. The two of them would have quite a lot of downtime in their next mission and having something to do wouldn't hurt.

Soon, they were in a black SUV with tinted windows. It was not the most subtle, but Alex supposed it would do the job. Alex assumed it was bulletproof. The man that they had followed out to the car sat in the driver's seat, despite his limp, and Alex and Ella sat in silence together in the back seat. They pulled out of the airport parking lot and drove for about half an hour. There was some traffic, but nothing unbearable.

They got to the official CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Alex was confused as to why they were being so conspicuous. It was just one more really weird event in a really weird week. Ella and the man from the airport, who Alex deduced was likely more than just a driver for the CIA, led the way to an office towards the back of the building.

Ella walked right in without even knocking. She looked visibly annoyed that she had to be here at all. To Alex's surprise, he actually knew the man sitting behind the desk.

The three of them were greeted by a booming voice. "Agent Cornell, Ella, Alex, how wonderful to have you here," Joe Byrne, the Director of the CIA, greeted them.

"Agent Cornell?" Alex questions.

"Oh, yeah," Ella sighed, "Turns out you're not the only one who has a family of spies. Alex, meet my Dad. Dad, Alex."

"...Your dad?" Alex stammered. It would honestly explain a lot. Ella's dubious and secretive connections with the CIA. Her seemingly unlimited knowledge of Stuff She Should Not Know. The hug at the airport. Hell, they even had the same green eyes.

Ella nodded. "Anyways, Dad, Byrne, it's been lovely catching up after this long week away from home," Ella said after barely speaking a word to either of them, "But Alex and I have a mission to get to. Keys?" Agent Cornell sighed but tossed Ella a set of car keys anyways. He clearly wanted to say more, but his daughter was quite obviously not in the mood. "C'mon, Alex, we're going shopping!" she declared, leaving the room. Oh well. It's not like Alex was upset to leave the head of the CIA. He jogged to catch up with her.

Two weeks later, the two of them are in Austin getting ready for the first day of their mission. The past two weeks had been a blur for Alex. Between mission prepping with Ella, getting briefed on his cover story, flying down to Texas, and setting up their shared apartment, he was pretty exhausted.

Their apartment was decently sized. It came furnished, thankfully, and had two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen/dining room combo, and a living room. Alex and Ella had filled the time by exploring the city, memorizing their cover stories, and Ella had even begun teaching him Arabic, which he had eventually learned was the language she and her father were speaking at the airport. Ella herself had been switching between teaching herself Dari and Portuguese. The combination had seemed strange to Alex, but again, he knew better not to question Ella's motives. Alex had met a lot of multilingual people in his lifetime, but he had never met anyone who had an ear for languages quite like Ella.

Alex adjusted his tie in the mirror. He felt so old and corporate. His dress shirt was baby blue and he wore a graphic tie with school buses on it. He felt lame, but he would be teaching 4th-and 5th-grade level maths and knew he should look the part.

Ella, on the other hand, was wearing a white dress with large sunflowers on it. She had matched it with a cream cardigan and white platform heels. She had a ton of jewelry on, as well as a noticeable scowl. Alex chuckled at her. "Have I ever mentioned how much I hate wearing a dress?" She grimaced. Despite her obvious annoyance, Ella did not appear to be very uncomfortable. Alex figured after all of her years in espionage it took more than a dress and 3-inch heels to rattle Ella. Underneath her dress, he could see the beginnings of her fake pregnancy belly. According to the mission, she was only about 16 weeks along. He hadn't seen the fake belly up close, and he was just fine keeping it that way.

The two of them piled into their shared car, and tiny yellow Prius. It was literally the least inconspicuous car on the planet, but that was likely planned. Alex noticed it matched the sunflowers on Ella's dress perfectly.

"Alex," Ella said after a few minutes. Alex took his eyes off of the road to look at her. It had taken him a few days of driving around the expansive Texas deserts to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. "What I'm about to say is purely business, as I have zero desire to get caught."

"What's up, Ella?" Alex raised an eyebrow. He was surprised to hear her use his real name, seeing as they were only about 10 minutes from Truman Elementary school.

Her expression was unreadable. "So you know how we're supposed to be fake married-well, of course, you know that you're not stupid-" she trails off for a second, "Anyways unless we're at home in the apartment we need to make sure we act like it. This is a tiny town," she gestured around, referring to West Lake Hills, the tiny suburb of Austin where they were living and "teaching," "And I would really hate to get caught because we weren't careful enough."

Alex had a glint in his eyes. "Ella Cornell, are you proposing that we still be fake married even when not in school?"

Ella scowled, crossing her arms over her stomach. "Okay, okay I didn't mean it to sound stupid. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page, that's all."

"Ella," Alex says softly, trying to lighten the mood. He didn't want to be in a fight with his friend/fake wife/mission partner on the first day of school, "I'm all in. All we need to do now is come up with the most embarrassing pet names we can. I dub thee…'Honey Pot,'" Alex laughed.

Ella cringed, but it was clear she was back in a better mood. "Ugh, okay fine. And you will be…'Dreamboat.'" Alex laughed and was glad that two embarrassing nicknames later, the two of them were back on track.

A few minutes later, Alex walked Ella to her desk in the main office. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and whispered "See you at lunch, Honey Pot."

When the school day had finally ended, Ella met Alex in his 2nd-floor classroom. She sat cross-legged on top of his desk while he erased the whiteboard. "So, Allen, Dreamboat, how was your first day?"

"Not bad," Alex smiled softly, "Mostly introductory stuff the first couple of days." Alex was careful to conceal his British accent for a Southern one. It was almost starting to become second nature. Ella smiled and looked down and waggled her toes, shoes strewn on the floor in front of her. She had gone to a nail salon the afternoon before and got them painted white with a matching set of acrylics. She opened her mouth to reply when she was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Uhhh, come in?" Alex said.

The door opened and revealed Theresa Jensen, the other 4th-and 5th-grade maths teacher from right next door. "Hey folks, don't mean to interrupt, but I was gonna invite you all to a little gathering at my place tonight! Truman is like a family, and we'd love to get to know you both!" Alex and Ella glanced at each other awkwardly, as tonight they had already made plans. It was a date of sorts-they were going to sneak into the principal's office to see if they could find anything relevant. However, Alex had yet to understand the reaches of good old-fashioned Southern Hospitality. "I'd really appreciate it if y'all could come," Theresa continues, "It'll be great for you to meet everybody and there will be pounds of appetizers and desserts as well as an open bar," she glances over at Ella's stomach, giggling, "And of course Coke as well. Come on, y'all, it's a tradition!"

Alex and Ella exchanged defeated glances. They weren't getting out of this one easily. Ella sighed. "Fine by me, Dear," she addressed Alex.

"Sounds good, Darlin'," Alex was barely able to make out the words before Theresa squealed and wrote down her address.

Once in the car, Ella narrowed her eyes. "We are not staying a minute more than two hours. After that, I will simply be too pregnant and tired." Alex silently agreed.

Short chapter! It's fun to mess around with different viewpoints and I am a very busy person, so many chapters will be short like this heh.