Hey! So, this chapter is original for the most part, with some canon content at the end. I wanted to build Sean's character a little more, specifically his relationship with his mother.

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Chapter Four

The Decision.

Sean's Apartment-4:00 PM

Sean was almost surprised to see his mother's car outside their apartment. Almost. With her having worked late so many nights, he wasn't even sure if he recognized it as hers at first.

But there was no mistaking the bumper sticker depicting the Golden Gate Bridge for anything other than hers.

His mother was born and raised in San Francisco and apparently, wanted a piece of that with her, even though she had long moved away from there.

He'd never been to the city himself, though his mother suggested they go there at least fifteen times.

But his work at W.O.O.H.P was so demanding at times that a vacation was often the last thing on his mind.

Since he wasn't a field agent, he couldn't even go there on missions.

Not that it bothered him.

Or so he kept telling himself.

He kept thinking back to Sam, Alex, and Clover shunning him back at school.

True, he did help his boss deceive them and he knew they would likely not be interested, but he didn't care whether they became spies or not.

For the past three years, his interactions with people his age were limited mainly to new recruits, who he would likely never see again, so he didn't bother becoming attached. And yet, there was something different about these girls. Something... he didn't know.

At the very least, they were nicer to him anyone at Beverly High ever was. Especially Mandy, Caitlin, and Dominique.

He would never forget when he met her at freshmen year.

She'd been held back a year in middle school, so he took that as a sign that she struggled with her grades.

It wouldn't be until later that he learned it was a sign that school was not among her priorities, which included shopping, dating, popularity, and in at least Sean's mind, making everyone around her feel inferior.

But he was naive and took pity on her. And tutored her in subjects she... fared less than well in. In other words, everything but cheerleading.

In the long run, this was a mistake.

When she attempted to cheat at the end of freshmen year, she decided he needed to be punished. On the very last day of the year, he found himself standing in the doorway of Miss Scrich's office which had been filled entirely with plastic cups. At first, he didn't know who was responsible for it and why. Until that is, he saw Caitlin and Dominique smiling in smug satisfaction the rest of the day.

From that day on, he avoided Mandy like the plague. But she still set his teeth on edge, especially with the way she'd treated his new friends.

They're not your friends, he reminded himself. They don't want to be. And he couldn't blame them.

After all, if someone had tricked him like he had tricked them, he'd probably have the same reaction.

Turning the knob to his apartment, Sean was greeted by a kind, familiar voice.

"Sean, is that you?" his mother called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, Mom!" he called back.

He entered the kitchen to find his mother leaning over the stove, the smell of food cooking filling the air.

His mother, named Rachel, was a beautiful woman with a face that showed the fatigue from fifteen years of taking care of a young boy by herself.

Still, it was easy to see where Sean got his sandy blond hair and sparkling blue eyes from. But he couldn't blame her for looking so tired. She was only 18 when he was born, or so she'd told him.

"How was school, sweetheart?" she asked looking up from the stove.

Sean didn't want to say anything, the events of the day still replaying.

"It was okay, I guess," he said, somewhat bitterly.

"That bad, huh?"

He nodded.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm making your favorite."

Sean smiled. "Fettuccine alfredo?"

"With shrimp."

Sitting down, Sean felt grateful. If there was thing his mother knew how to do best, it was making him forget his troubles. At least, for a while.

Until she would inevitably ask what happened.

Chewing his food slowly, he hoped to avoid discussing it.

But those hopes were soon dashed.

"So, are we gonna talk about it?" his mother asked.

Sean nearly choked on a piece of shrimp.

"About what?" he questioned back, fighting it down with a sip of water.

She stirred around the pasta on her plate.

"I'm your mother, Sean. I can tell when something's bothering you."

There really was no fooling her. It was a good thing she never asked questions that weren't related to school, otherwise she'd have known about W.O.O.H.P and him being a spy the very same day joined.

He told her the truth. Well, part of it anyway.

"I messed things up with them," he confessed.

"This was my first chance at friends since middle school, and I flopped it."

She smiled. "Well, they don't really know you. Maybe if you gave them more time-"

"They don't want to talk to me, Mom! I'd be surprised if these girls want to be in the same room as me!"

"Well, you never know."

She looked at him, giving a smile as reassuring as he could tell she could give.

"People can surprise you."

Sean leaned back in his chair. "So, you don't think they'll stay mad?"

She shrugged. "I don't think you know teenage girls as well as you think. They're not always that petty."

He scoffed. "Tell that to Mandy."

"You know, I never liked her," his mother added with disgust.

At that time, her cell phone rang. She answered it.

"Yes? What? I'll be right over."

She snapped the phone shut and rose from the table.

"That was the hospital," she explained. "One of the nurses called in sick so they need me to fill in."

She found her purse on the kitchen counter, and digging out her keys, she made her way to the door.

"You know the drill?" she called back into the kitchen.

"Homework finished by 8:00, in bed by 10:00," he replied.

She nodded. "I'll be back later tonight. Love you!"

"Love you too!"

The door closed, and once again, Sean was alone.

He considered his mother's words, hoping she was right.

Perhaps the girls would come around to him and to being spies. Though admittedly, he didn't care much about that last one.

But considering the way they walked off, that seemed unlikely.

Getting up to do the dishes, as he did every night when his mother worked late, he turned on the radio that his mother sometimes listened too. Maybe some music would help him get his mind off of it.

Sadly, it was not the case, and Sean found himself singing softly along to the song that seemed to appropriately match his mood.

"In my hour of need, I truly am indeed alone again, naturally."

The music was interrupted by six rhythmic chimes that Sean had heard a few times since he'd joined W.O.O.H.P

Turning off the radio, Sean opened his wallet and an image of a blonde girl wearing a black and white horizontal striped jumpsuit popped up on the screen.

"Clover?" he asked, surprised. "Uh, why are you in prison stripes?"

Clover looked ready to explode.

"Don't play dumb with me, you two-faced little creep!" she complained

"My credit cards turned on me and you tell that old bozo Jerry that this has his fingerprints all over it!"

Sean widened his eyes. "What are you talking about? And where are Sam and Alex?"

Sam's voice shouted from somewhere off screen.

"I'm still wringing out my hair from my computer exploding!"

Then Alex.

"And I think I'm the first person to lose a fight to a tumbleweed."

Sean's face was blank. Then angry.

"Okay. I think I know what's going on here. And this after I told him it wasn't a good recruiting method."

Clover looked more impatient than before.

"Don't worry, girls. I'll connect you to Jerry so we can fix this."

He pushed a few buttons on the wallet, then the screen split in half, with Jerry on the bottom portion of the screen sitting at his desk. Clover, however, was still fuming in a cell in an unknown location.

"Hello, Clover," he greeted as if her circumstance were in fact better. "So lovely to hear from you."

"Hey mister!" Alex shouted angrily. "Save what you're selling for someone who's buying!"

"Yeah!" Sam agreed. "We know what you and your sneaky organization are up to! Making our lives miserable so we'll be spies for you!"

Jerry looked nervous.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he argued. "It's against W.O.O.H.P policy to interfere with civilian's lives."

"Hypocrite," Sean coughed.

"Regardless, I'd be happy to help out of your current situations."

"Oh, no. Jerry don't say what I think you're going to-"

"Provided you help me as well."

Sean facepalmed. "Yup. He said it."

"I can't believe it!" Clover cried. "We're being blackmailed by a bald geezer!"

Jerry rubbed his head insecurely. "That's balding. And trust me, you won't regret your decision."

"Decision?!" Sean and Sam exclaimed in unison. "What decision?!"

As if on cue, the kitchen window opened, a long wide vacuum chute sticking out from it.

Before he could even blink, he was sucked up through the window.

He instantly knew where he landed. He was standing at Jerry's right-hand side in a W.O.O.H.P jet.

How Sam, Alex, and Clover got there, he decided he didn't want to know.

"Right now," Jerry began "It's time to start your official W.O.O.H.P training."

Clover stood up. "This is so bogus! You're actually forcing to be spies?"

"I told him it wasn't a good idea to recruit new agents this way," Sean defended. "Not that he listened, apparently."

"Exactly what kind of training are we talking about?" Sam asked.

"Perhaps I should let Sean explain," Jerry replied.

But Sean had other ideas.

"Oh no," he said. "Not this time. They didn't agree to this, so neither do I!"

Jerry looked at him in shock.

"In fact, after what you just pulled, I quit!"

He turned away from Jerry and the girls, gasps coming from the latter three.

"Are you sure?" Jerry asked.

Sean didn't even try to mask the bitterness of his next words.

"Absolutely."

But a tear rolled down his cheek as he said it.

"I deceived them once. I won't make them do something they don't want to."

Jerry sighed. "I understand completely, Sean. I'm just disappointed to lose an agent of your caliber."

Then he turned back to the girls. "As for them, I suppose you're right. I can't force them to join any more than I can force you to stay. A shame, really. I was considering promoting you to field agent. As I understand it, that is what you wanted. But I guess it wasn't meant to be."

Sean remained still.

"Anyway, I'll drop you and the girls off in Beverly Hills."

"Wait!" Sam shouted.

Sean turned back to face her.

"You don't have to do that."

Sean's head lifted a little higher.

Clover stood with Sam. "Even though I have literally no idea why someone want to be a spy, we see how important it is to you."

"Yeah!" Alex agreed. "And you were, like, the only one at Bev High nice to us!"

Sean smiled sadly. "Thanks, but I'd rather lose a dream than lose a friend."

"Well," Sam countered. "Now you don't have to lose either."

She stepped closer. "Count us in, Jerry."

"What?!" Sean and Jerry asked in unison.

"You heard me! We'll do it!"

Though caught off guard by the girls' sudden change of heart, Jerry cleared his throat as if nothing had happened.

"Well, in that case, Sean do you still want to resign?"

Sean looked at Jerry, then Sam, considering.

He didn't think they'd forgive him so easily, but would they be willing to go through with this?

He took a deep breath. "On second thought, forget I even mentioned it."

Sean dried his eyes, happy to do that himself.

Jerry smiled. "Well, now that that's cleared up, perhaps you'd be willing to supervise their training?"

Sean nodded as Jerry stepped away.

The teen cleared his throat.

"Anyway, Jerry may think you have what it takes to be spies, but in the end, that's up to me, not him. Over the next 48 hours you'll be instructed in extreme martial arts, high-tech weapon and equipment use, and super-secret surveillance techniques. In short, it'll be challenging, grueling, and extremely demanding."

The girls were silent for a while.

Finally, Alex spoke up.

"So, what's the upside?"

"Well," Clover said, swooning. "We do get to see Tad in a flight suit."

Sean sighed. Clover's boy-crazy nature was going to get on his nerves. He just knew it.

"Speaking of suits," he said. "I have something for you."

He pressed a button on the wall of the cabin.

All at once, a pink curtain separated him and the girls. On the other side, he could hear mechanical whirring and the occasional cry of complaint.

When the curtain rose, all three girls were each dressed in a white tank top, dark grey pants, and black combat boots.

"These are your spy uniforms. Well, the ones you'll be wearing for training, anyway. Now, if you're ready, let's get started."

Minutes later, the plane door opened, letting all four teenagers jump out, a W.O.O.H.P parachute strapped to each of their backs.

Though Sean didn't know how this training would go, he could only hope these girls lived up to Jerry's expectations.