Cynthia was currently in a very good mood. It had been three weeks now since the dodo mission, and so far life was going well at Prehistoric Park; or at least, as well as life ever could be expected to go. The animals were largely doing well and the park's preparations for opening day were remaining on track. And there was also so far no drama unfolding amongst anybody.

It was this last fact Cynthia was most grateful for, especially since it meant she had more time to both focus on her work and spend with her friends. And considering her rough start, she was glad of the friends she'd now made since. At that moment, she was currently on lunch break. And she just so happened to be sharing a table with Yolanda and Alice, with whom she was now sharing a rather amusing story of an embarrassing situation involving Drew that had unfolded back in their high school days at a pool party held by one of Cynthia's squadmates.

"Seriously?" Yolanda asked, her eyebrow raised in equal parts surprise and curiosity at what Cynthia had just now mentioned. "Drew actually did that?" "Yep," Cynthia said, nodding her head. "You heard correctly. He proclaimed that he always landed on his feet, jumped off the diving board and faceplanted on the floaty… sinking it as he did so."

Alice raised her eyebrow, seemingly rather disturbed by this new information she'd just learned. "That's… stupid." Cynthia snorted. "Understatement of the year. It was pretty idiotic – that was one of the only times Leon and I ever actually agreed on something during that time of our lives. It was completely stupid."

"I can imagine," Yolanda said. The young veterinary assistant turned her head, a thoughtful look on her face as she glanced towards another table in the staff cafeteria; a table that, as Cynthia soon realized when she looked in the same direction Yolanda was looking, was where an amused Jack and an unenthusiastic Leon were sitting.

"You know Cynthia," Yolanda then said. "That moment in which you and Leon were both mortified over Drew's drunken incident at that party doesn't necessarily have to be the only time you'll ever agree on something." She looked to Cynthia. "I mean, surely it couldn't hurt for you to try to befriend him here at the park?"

Cynthia sighed, shaking her head side to side. At this point, she was no longer even surprised that Yolanda had asked such a question. After all, ever since she'd first befriended Yolanda and Alice, the former had held continuously high hopes of her successfully befriending as many people her age at the park as possible, Leon included. "Thanks for the reminder," she stated noncommittally.

Yolanda playfully slapped Cynthia on the shoulder. "I'm serious Cynthia," she said, chuckling good naturedly afterward. "With the way you've been working to better yourself ever since that incident with the sandstorm, I'm sure he'd be willing to at least try to let you be his friend if you gave him the option for such."

Cynthia sighed, "Let me remind you, again, Yolanda, that it's not that simple."

"Who said it has to be?" Alice asked. She nodded her head. "After all, as much as I may not necessarily always approve of how Drew expresses such, he's not wrong in his philosophy that sometimes the most challenging tasks can lead to the sweetest rewards." She took a brief glance in Leon and Jack's direction. "Not to mention I've talked with Leon recently, and he at the very least is now able to tolerate you. You gotta admit, that's a pretty decent step up from hating your guts."

Cynthia sighed, "Well thank the Lord for small mercies I suppose."

She looked towards where Leon and Jack were sitting. "Seriously though, I'm honestly lucky that I've even got that small mercy to be thankful for. It bears repeating; he and I got on spectacularly poorly back in school. Sure, he's been able to keep things professional around me in the times we've interacted so far since I first came to work here; but with the way I behaved around here prior to that sandstorm, I wouldn't be surprised if I gave him plenty of reason to believe I was no different now than I was back in school."

Yolanda winced, clearly remembering how bossy Cynthia had been towards her and several other staff on the day of the lythronax mission. "I'll admit," she said, reluctantly, "I can't disagree with you there." Cynthia nodded, directing a meaningful look towards Yolanda. "As you shouldn't," she said. "Honestly, knowing him, Leon was probably hoping for me to end up getting fired after he found out about what happened on the day of the lythronax mission."

And indeed, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense in her mind for Leon to have held such a view. And worse, as she couldn't help but privately admit, it was entirely likely that he'd have been right to do so. For she knew herself well enough to be well aware how, if it hadn't been for her getting humbled by her near-death experience in the sandstorm and Jack's attempts at understanding, it was entirely likely she would have just doubled down. That was certainly how she'd tended to behave whenever she'd gotten in trouble back in school after all, especially prior to meeting Drew.

But of course, events had conspired had allowed her to cast aside her initial angry mindset and start putting in the necessary effort to improve her standing without having to be prompted into doing so by anyone else and had even gone so far as to actively work to befriend other people instead of letting herself remain content with just knowing the other staff members as mere acquaintances. And while she had a feeling that Leon would probably always distrust her, it still hurt a little.

"Well even so," Yolanda stated. "I still think it can't hurt for you to at least try to start anew with Leon. I mean, sure you two didn't get along very well, but I'd say you're probably better than you were." "Yeah," Alice agreed. "I mean, you've made friends – people respect and like you now. It wouldn't hurt to try and patch things up." She directed a brief glance towards where Jack and Leon were still seated.

Cynthia briefly winced, gritting her teeth and clenching her eyes shut in embarrassment at the reminder of that less than flattering title that Leon had thought appropriate to refer to her by prior to the infamous sandstorm. "Let me remind you that he's still got an elephant's memory," she stated, taking a brief glance of her own towards where Leon and Jack were sitting. "Regardless of how I'm behaving now, my past negative history with him isn't something he'll just forget at the drop of a hat. And considering just how poorly I handled my interactions with him back in school, I can't really blame him for not being in a hurry to forgive and forget all that either."

"That doesn't mean he's not incapable of accepting that you've changed now," Yolanda stated. "Granted, he may not be guaranteed to pay attention to stuff that doesn't immediately qualify as something he finds personal interest in, but he can be surprisingly perceptive about what goes on around him when he really wants to be. And with that in mind, who's to say he hasn't taken notice of how different you seem to be now from the type of person you were before you almost got killed by that sandstorm?" She nodded her head again. "Not to mention the fact that, as far as I can tell, he's hardly the weak willed wimp you knew him as back in school anymore, so there's less likelihood he'd turn you off from being his friend in that regard."

Alice nodded in agreement. "We won't force you into trying to befriend him if you really don't want to," she stated. Then she placed a companionable hand on Cynthia's shoulder. "But at the very least, please do think it over. I mean, like we've already established, he probably has every right to still be unhappy with you after how poorly you got on back in school. But as far as I can tell, the Cynthia that I know, and the one that the majority of the park staff these days know, just simply isn't looking like the one he says he knew back in school. And considering the main objective of this park is to rescue animals from the past and bring them back from extinction so they can have a second chance at existence in the future, maybe he'll be willing to let his old enmity with you just be a thing of the past in favor of allowing himself to be a part of the new future that you're now actively working to make for yourself. I mean, Adrian's already allowed himself to do as much. And at this point, I think we can all safely say the same about Drew. And we all know how Leon always likes being included in stuff with those two."

And at that, Alice and Yolanda both turned their heads away from Cynthia to resume their lunch, with Cynthia now remaining silently in thought as she kept her gaze focused on where Jack and Leon were seated, the former calmly eating while the latter seemed to be silently thinking to himself. Would it really be possible for her and Leon to befriend each other? She'd always believed the possibility to be a lost cause – Leon didn't forget and only occasionally forgave. But now, with what Alice and Yolanda had told her in mind, she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps attempting to befriend Leon wouldn't be so hopeless after all. 'They certainly do bring up valid points,' she thought to herself. 'Maybe I should take a stab at mending bridges with Leon and giving him a chance to allow us to be friends.'

She then shook her head and resumed eating her own lunch. Now was hardly the time to focus too strongly on the possibility of her being able to befriend Leon. After all, she would almost certainly have more important things to worry about. And besides, this was something that she would need a little extra time to think over.

. . . . .

Three days later, Cynthia felt very determined as she went for a walk through the park while on break, searching for Leon. At this point, she'd finally made her decision. She was going to find Leon and start making a serious effort at properly befriending him. 'Here's hoping I'm not too late,' she thought to herself as she continued walking through the park towards where she had a strong suspicion she'd be most likely to find Leon.

Fortunately, as it turned out not too long after she finally reached her destination at Ice Age Mount, Leon was indeed exactly where she'd been suspecting he'd be. More specifically, he was standing at a balcony style viewing area for the cave lion paddock, watching Simba and Nala as they lounged about on a large rock within the very centre of the paddock. The sight of the two Ice Age big cats relaxing peacefully in their paddock was enough to honestly bring a smile to her face as she briefly paused in her movement and watched from her current vantage point from not too far behind where Leon was standing. It was no secret how lions were amongst Leon's favourite animals of all time. And with this in mind, working with Simba and Nala had to be a dream come true for him. She then shook her head to clear her thoughts. Now was not the time to think about frivolous matters. Right now, she had an important talk to have with Leon. 'Here goes nothing,' she thought to herself before she then resumed her walking, a confident and determined smile on her face.

"Hey there Leon."

Leon briefly tensed up at the sound of her voice, and then turned his head in her direction. Cynthia nodded her head. "Nice to see you appear to be doing well with the cave lions," she said as she moved slowly towards Leon before finally coming to a stop directly next to him. At this, Leon thought to himself as if carefully considering what Cynthia had said. "Thanks," he eventually responded before nodding his head and looking back towards the cave lions. "They really are quite spectacular to watch." Cynthia chuckled, "I'm sure they are." She then hung her head, "Though admittedly, the lions aren't exactly the primary reason I've come to talk to you." Leon turned his head back towards Cynthia, his eyebrow raised and his eyes slightly narrowed warily. "And just what might exactly that primary reason actually be?"

Cynthia sighed. 'No turning back now,' she thought to herself as she shook her head side to side, before then turning around to fully face Leon and looking directly into Leon's eyes. "Look Leon," she said, "I know how much you probably would have preferred I not be here." At this, Leon let out a silent 'oh' and nodded his head. Clearly, he was starting to have a good idea where this was going. "You could say that," he admitted. Cynthia nodded her head, "And for what it's worth, I'd like to sau I really am sorry about how things went." She then lifted her finger as if to forestall response from Leon, "Now let's just be clear, I'm not saying you're completely innocent in this whole mess. As much as you don't like hearing as much even now, all the people who called you a hanger-on weren't wrong to say so." Leon gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, working with all his willpower to keep his cool, "I guess there's really no point in denying that anymore is there?"

Cynthia nodded. "And furthermore," she continued, "as much as you may have accepted that Drew didn't return your feelings, we both know that a small part of you resented that fact." Leon sighed and hung his head, "Too true."

"Glad we both understand each other."

Cynthia nodded her head, and then took a deep breath to keep herself calm. Now that she'd gotten all the negative stuff she wanted to say out of the way, it was time for her to swing the pendulum back to more positive territory. "All that said though," she then said before directing an apologetic look towards her ex-boyfriend's best friend and former crusher, "I'll admit that I could have handled things better. For one thing, I probably should have been somewhat more empathetic towards you in how Billy, Fiona, and all the other popular kids at school viewed you."

Leon shrugged. "Eh it's alright," he stated. "I mean, as much as I didn't appreciate you treating me like an intruder, I guess I can't really deny anymore that I probably shouldn't have waited as long as I did before I finally started really putting in serious effort at improving myself."

At this, Cynthia couldn't help but let a slight smile of relief come onto her face. 'Well at least he's willing to accept the truth in my statements about how he was back then,' she thought to herself. So far, things were currently appearing to unfold a lot better than she'd expected. Then Leon directed a meaningful look at Cynthia, "I'm gonna be frank. What you just said? You're absolutely right."

He nodded his head, "I know it's been years since our last interaction prior to the day you first arrived here at the park; but I remember things… so yeah. And even when you were starting to clean up your act, part of me just couldn't help but feel that that it was a little too good to be true."

Cynthia chuckled, "Yep, that's me, Cynthia the schemer." But even as she said this, a small part of her couldn't help but mentally wince – even for all her suspicions, it still stung a little. Leon sighed, "However, I have to admit you've improved. And as I hear you ended up demonstrating om the kentrosaurus mission, you can be quite the team player when you and the people you work with all happen to be on the same page. And as much as I personally find it surprising how quick Drew's been to forgive you, it seems that I ought to do so too. I mean, if anything, I'm sure that, if there's nothing else that could be truly guaranteed to get us on the same page, it's how much we both care about Drew."

At this, Cynthia nodded in agreement, a warm smile forming on her face. "Can certainly agree with you there," she then said. "I mean, I may not be in love with him anymore, but I still care about him; and I'm sure the same can be said about you. And it's like I've told him myself, he'll almost certainly self-destruct or get himself killed sooner or later if he doesn't have someone around to at least try to rein him in." Leon chuckled, "Well it's like they say, it takes a village to raise a child. Welcome to the village." Cynthia snorted in amusement, "Is that a joke I hear?" Leon let a proud grin come on his face, "Jack's been teaching me."

A small pause ensued between the duo, with Leon seemingly thinking to himself as Cynthia remained standing nearby and nodding her head with a small smile of pride on her face. 'I'll admit,' she thought to herself. 'This whole talk's really gone loads better than I was expecting...'

"Hey Cynthia?" Cynthia raised her head to face Leon directly once more, "Yes?" Leon rubbed the back of his head, "Is it okay if I get some stuff off my chest? Because I think it's been long enough."

Cynthia thought to herself, and then nodded. 'I suppose I owe him that much,' she thought to herself. She looked back to Leon, "Sure." Leon took a deep breath, "I wasn't really comfortable with Drew skipping your grandma's funeral – I mean, I understood that they hated each other, but… he shouldn't have done that. I just never told him. As cowardly as that sounds, I didn't want to rock the boat." Cynthia sighed, and then ruefully nodded in acceptance, "Not really – you've never really been good with conflict. You were the same when his uncle died – and I got a bit paranoid about all that time he spent with his cousin. Remember that?", to which Leon nodded.

Looking at her for a few minutes longer, Leon took a deep breath, and then hung her head. "And… you know the story how we broke up?" Leon nodded his head, "Yes. Yes, I do – Drew told me not long after we met up again and I'm sorry – for both of you." A pause, before Leon quietly continued, "He does regret it, you know – letting you slip out of his fingers. On some level, he blames himself for that – because I think he knew he could be better."

At this admission, Cynthia recoiled in surprise, before she sighed, "Why am I not surprised? It wasn't all his fault, you know." She sighed. "By the end, it just got too frustrating – having to mind him, having to deal with his always expecting me to just automatically drop everything I was doing for his sake and never allowing me the same courtesy, constantly wanting me to make sacrifices for him without ever making any for me. There was no before and after." She then winced and looked awkwardly towards Leon. "I'm sorry," she then said, "I'm sure I probably sound like a bigtime whiner right now, saying all these mean things about your best friend within your earshot..."

Leon shook his head, "I get what you're saying." Cynthia raised her eyebrow, "Say what now?" Leon sighed, "Look, I wasn't there to actively see it all unfold. But I know how much of a handful Drew can be. I know how he sometimes seems to expect us to pull out all the stops for him without doing the same for us. I understand where you're coming from." He turned his head to look behind him as if checking to see if anyone else was watching or listening in, and then he looked back to Cynthia. "Can you keep a secret? I really don't want to risk Drew hearing this." Cynthia nodded her head, now feeling quite intrigued, "I'm listening."

Leon nodded, "Well to start, as much as I've...well...idolized Drew, there was always this small part of me that kind of resented him. On some level, I think I wanted to be him." Cynthia nodded her head, "I see. I take it those feelings never went away?" Leon sighed, "Not exactly; I'm not entirely sure if Drew's the kind of person I necessarily want to be anymore." Cynthia's eyes widened, "Really? Why's that?" Leon hung his head, "Well to start, whenever he dragged us on something, at least Drew was asking us to do stuff with him. 'All for one and one for all' and all that. But now?" He shook his head, "Now I can't help but notice just how often Drew's trying to avoid responsibility – he's trying to get other people to handle the things that don't really interest him. I mean, why did he even bother to take the position of manager if he didn't want the paperwork?"

He then clenched his hands into fists, a narrow eyed glare briefly forming on his face, "On a related note, I've also noticed how, for a guy who's technically supposed to be our friend, he's also awfully willing to drag us into trouble on missions. 'All for one and one for all…'" At this, Cynthia winced, already having a good idea what Leon was talking about. "The torvosaurus and velociraptor incidents seem to spring to mind. Let me guess, there's at least one small part of you that's still cheesed off over those incidents?"

"Yeah", Leon nodded his head. "And even that's not all," he then admitted before directing a firm look towards Cynthia, "And I'm worried about where it's going to end – what's he going to do that gets him killed? Or somebody else killed?" He then hung his head, "Or, even worse, what would happen if even I were to end up reaching my limit with him? I mean, you know I put up with a lot of shit from him… and I'm wondering on where it is going to end. And the possibility of me reaching the point I've had enough? That scares me."

Cynthia nodded her head, a look of clear sympathy on her face. As much as she'd not really gotten on with Leon, she knew that he'd been a good friend to Drew – something which still hadn't changed. And she could understand why the idea of him reaching the point where he'd had enough would scare him so much. 'He and I really do have more in common than I thought,' she thought to herself before taking a deep breath, "About what you said about Drew regretting what happened… I didn't know that. He must really trust you to share it with you." She then placed both her hands on Leon's shoulders as if to try to reassure him, "And, if you're worried, let me just say that there's a big difference between then and now. Back then? You and I were both acting separately – I don't think we trusted each other enough to not be. But now? Now we're both on the same page… and we also have a lot more people to help u."

Cynthia then smiled warmly, "And maybe that's why Drew asked you to come here – to remind himself, every day that he can be better than he is now. And, if he does cross the line, ou'll still have Adrian, the Denhams, Yolanda, possibly Colette, maybe Alice's three buddies in the research division." She then let an amused smirk come on her face, "And, by the way, people are starting to talk about you and Yolanda…" At this, Leon couldn't help but briefly snort and allow a slight blush to come on his face as he swiftly realized the implications, "She's not my girlfriend," he stated in a low tone of voice. "Not yet," Cynthia said, under her breath, a cheeky grin on her face. Leon snorted, "Let's just agree to disagree for the time being." He then nodded his head, "Nevertheless, thanks." He smiled, "What you said to me? I think I really needed to hear that stuff more than I realized." Cynthia chuckled, "Hey, what are friends for?" Leon thought to himself. "It feels kinda weird," he then admitted, "The two of us referring to each other as friends." Then he nodded his head and smiled, "But you know what? I do believe I could get used to it."

Cynthia chuckled again, clearly taking Leon's statement in stride, before extending her hand, "So...we cool?" Leon chuckled, and shook it, "Frosty." The two shook hands, feeling like a weight had been lifted. And at that very moment, Cynthia chuckled, "You know, you've gotta admit this little meeting was way overdue." Leon snorted, "You're certainly not wrong there. Believe me, we've had enough feuds."

After finishing the handshake, Leon checked his watch. "Hoowee, look at the time," he then said before looking back to Cynthia. "Looks like I should probably be getting back to work." Cynthia nodded in understanding, "Same." She turned around and started walking away. "For what it's worth though," she then said as she turned her head to briefly look back at Leon while walking off towards wherever she now needed to go, "I really am happy we can perhaps now finally be friends." Leon nodded his head, flashing Cynthia a thumbs up in the process, "Right back at you. See you around."

And at that, the two parted ways to get back to work, the hatchet now well and truly buried and their former conflict defanged. And neither of them could have been happier for it. After all, as ironic as it may have been in their line of work, some things truly were better off left in the past.

A/N: Basically, this chapter was sort of a compromise between me and my co-author – he had the idea for Cynthia and Leon to have a whole arc where they learned to kind of get along with each other. However, my issues with it were twofold – firstly, it felt very similar to Jack and Leon's arc and, secondly, I'd always kind of had the idea to sideline Leon a bit +But I liked the idea of the two having a discussion to establish that Drew's always been a bit of a dick and to build up his arc in Phase Three.

Most of this discussion will have relevance to Drew's arc in Phase Three, considering the situation we're putting Drew in – and the situation we're putting everyone in. The whole point with Matthew Pike is to put Drew in an Ace Rimmer situation – this guy who's everything he wishes he was (but is painfully aware he isn't) shows up and just starts stealing the show.

So this knocks Drew sideways a bit – the Novum higher-ups have decided, rather high-handedly (with even Theodore's support), "Yeah, you're going to have this guy watching over your shoulder whether you like it or not". So this causes Drew to backslide into old habits a bit… with an added chip on his shoulder over this guy who he sees as having stolen his limelight.