Hey guys, I was looking forward to write this chapter! I hope, you're as satisfied with the reunion as I am. Tell me what you think!
"Neri, Mera, it's so good to see you again," Lena said while hugging the both of them tightly. She wore her hair shorter now and her grey dress was casual, yet elegant. The girls had changed into ORCA uniforms after their swim.
It had been a warm welcome on both sides with a lot of hugging and smiling. Although the news of the leak put a damper on the reunion with all of them, he couldn't stop grinning.
"You, too, Lena," Mera replied while Neri just beamed at her.
Lena retreated, then took the hand of a pretty dark-haired woman to pull her closer. She was the only non-familiar person in the room. Even Jason hadn't seen her yet.
"This is Anja," Lena said with a happy smile, "my fiancée."
"Hi," Anja said and shook each their hand, smiling shyly. "It's nice to finally meet you. I heard so much about you."
"Funny," Brett replied. "We didn't hear one thing about you. I had no idea you even had a girlfriend."
"I told Jason," Lena responded and all heads turned in his direction. Brett lifted his eyebrows.
"In case, you haven't noticed," Jason said calmly and shrugged, "there has been a lot of other stuff going on."
"Yeah, but you definitely should have told us about your hot friend and her hot girlfriend," Mick complained. He wiggled his eyebrows and winked at Lena and Anja.
Vanessa smacked the back of his head.
"Ouch!"
"I thought, you two are not dating anymore?" Froggy asked carefully.
"We're not," Vanessa replied. "But that doesn't mean I can't put him in his place when he's behaving like an idiot. Which he does most of the time."
Mick rubbed his head and grimaced. "Yeah, well, she's right," he said and grinned, pointing with his thumb in Vanessa's direction. "And I only got through my exams with her help."
"You're a mechanic, right?" Lena wanted to know.
Mick nodded. "Yeah, with my dyslexia I was never much of a bookworm and I guess it was kind of a big disappointment for my mother, that I wouldn't go for economics. But pulling engines apart and putting them back together – that's definitely Mickey's thing!"
Vanessa rolled her eyes but did a poor job to hide her smile. Even though they weren't an exclusive couple anymore, Jason knew they still cared about each other – so much that they were still hooking up sometimes.
"Your hair looks beautiful, Vanessa," Neri noticed and approached Vanessa to take a lock into her hand. Her hair was still ruby red but instead of the frizzy locks, it covered her shoulders now in shiny silky curls.
Vanessa blushed. "Thank you," she murmured. "Are there any news towards the breaking and entering of the database?" she asked Froggy to obviously change the subject.
Froggy took a quick look at the device in his hand and shook his head. "No, H.E.L.E.N. is still on it."
"At least, they're not trying to interrogate us anymore," Mick commented.
Jason frowned. "What?"
"Yes," Lena replied, "then the leak was detected, the government sent some agents. They seriously thought we had something to do with that."
"As if we would tell now after keeping the secret for years," Mick said, rolling his eyes. "But luckily, they went for Vanessa first."
"Were they mean to you?" Neri wanted to know.
"They tried," Vanessa responded drily.
Froggy chuckled. "Let me guess: you made them cry?"
"After ten minutes," Vanessa responded with a smug grin. "Their own fault if the government sends their newbies to deal with us."
"Isn't she just remarkable?" Mick stated and leant his head on Vanessa's shoulder.
"Oh, shut it," she replied but blushed, clearly flattered, and made no effort to shove him away.
"You haven't changed one bit," Mera said, "and I'm so grateful for that!"
"Where is Cass?" Neri asked.
"She's on duty on the bridge," Brett told her. "That reminds me: I gotta go soon and join her. Dave is a real pain in the ass lately. But we will be back for dinner, I promise!"
"So," Mick said slowly after Brett had left the room, "you went to the Oceanplanet? Shoot! I wanna know everything!"
Jason exchanged a look with Neri and Mera. "I thought Brett already told you about the encounter with the rebels and our theory towards the synchronium."
"He gave us the short version," Lena responded. "But you can't just leave us with the big picture! You've been on another planet! How was it like to be in a frozen state?"
"Weren't you scared to walk into the rebel base?" Froggy asked.
"How does the landscape look like?" Vanessa wanted to know.
"What did you eat?" Froggy asked.
"Would you leave the poor guy alone?" Mick interrupted and put an arm around Jason's shoulder. "The man just came out of cold sleep. He can only answer the most important questions." He dragged Jason a little away and bent his head closer as if planning a conspiracy. "How were the girls? - Ouch!"
Promptly, Vanessa had smacked him hard. "You're an idiot!"
Mick let go and rubbed his head.
"In case you haven't noticed," Jason said, wondering how Mick could still have hair at the back of his head, so often Vanessa must have slapped him by now, "I have a girlfriend."
He exchanged a smile with Neri and she took his hand.
"Well, took you two long enough to become official," Froggy commented. "Even back then I could tell you have feelings for each other."
"Burning question: does the sex work the same way?" Mick asked Jason and ducked quickly away from Vanessa.
"It does," Mera replied instead for which Jason was very grateful. "We have the same reproduction system and are anatomically similar to humans. But we can only get pregnant once a year and we certainly don't bleed."
"Oh, that would be a mess," Lena nodded.
Froggy hid his face in his hands and Mick looked disgusted.
"Thanks a lot for that picture," he murmured.
Mera shrugged and winked at Vanessa who grinned.
"You had it coming!"
"Jase," Mick whined, "a more pleasant picture, please?"
"Nope," Jason said relentlessly, "I certainly won't talk to you about my sex life."
Or to be exact the non-existent one.
The grip on his hand tightened and he met Lena's gaze. He was sure to be successful in his endeavour for a neutral expression but Lena had always had a way to look right through people.
And right now he felt x-rayed down to the core.