Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

              “Okay, this is it. Is everyone clear on their roles?” Alex asked one final time, taking the time to look each of them in the eyes as they stood in a huddle in the unfamiliar school parking lot, wanting to see nothing but steely determination and confidence in each face. Gert supposed he might not have exactly seen what he was looking for when he got to her, because his brows furrowed a little and he hesitated. “Gert, you’re good?” He asked, putting her on the spot. Instantly, every head turned towards her and she felt her heart rate rise dramatically. Good? No, she wasn’t good. She was freaking out.

              “Good? Well, that is a pretty big question. I mean, existentially speaking, I—“ She began to ramble nervously, but at least three pairs of eyes were already rolling and Molly was groaning loudly.

              “Gert this is serious, this is our only opportunity. We drove across two states for this.” Alex admonished, and now it was Gert that was rolling her eyes.

              “Yeah, I know Alex, I was there, remember? Right there between the dinosaur and Strongy McSleepsalot here.” She snapped back, nudging Molly beside her as she did lightheartedly, all the while glaring at Alex. But she felt a flush up her neck and cheeks as she hoped no one would notice that she’d purposely left out Chase. Chase, who had climbed into the back seat of the shitty Dodge Caravan they’d acquired, to where Gert had set up camp to be near Old Lace, and sat next to her the entire way, even when it was his turn in the shot gun rotation. Chase, who she’d fallen asleep on more than once, and who’d secretly stroked her hair when he thought she was asleep. Would they notice she’d left him out? Was it weird she’d left him out?

She felt her anxiety begin to spiral at the thought. Everything about Chase gave her anxiety right now, if she was being honest. Her life was already bat shit crazy enough as it was right now, why did she have to add to it by going and losing her virginity to the guy she’d been in love with since she was eight years old? In the middle of all this chaos? She was a masochist, it was the only explanation. She had literally loved him, had waited for him, for over half her life, and she went and chose the end of the fucking world to finally tell him how she felt? And then he didn’t reject her!? She’d gone from the lowest low to the highest high, and then she had to go and ruin it all by blurting out her worst fear, that it didn’t mean anything, and he hadn’t corrected her. So what the hell did that mean? But she wouldn’t have time to find out, because then they went on the run and haven’t been alone to talk about it since, so everything was still up in the air.

Things between them were… well they were super weird. Gert had no idea where they stood, and her brain and her heart seemed to be at complete odds. If she wasn’t completely crazy, she’d think Chase was sending the right signs… he was being sweet, and a little touchy feely, and he slept beside her every night, so that was all good. And yet he hadn’t disagreed when she’d stupidly suggested they were a one-time thing. So that gave Gert anxiety. Because his words and his actions were contradicting each other. Because what if she completely misread the situation, and he didn’t care about her like she cared about him?

She couldn’t put herself out there, make herself vulnerable like that again, unless she was sure. What if she was just a rebound? Gert knew he had had a thing for Karolina before she’d chosen Nico, maybe she was just a hookup to make him feel better? And the hand holding and the closeness… Maybe Chase was just a sweet, touchy feely kind of guy? He had hugged her much longer and closer than should have been necessary in the basement of her home, when they’d met Old Lace. And he’d been into Karolina then. Maybe that’s just how he was?

              “Gert, it’s going to be okay.” Chase said, sensing her rising levels of stress, and she felt his hand reach up to brace the small of her back, rubbing up and down over the silky gown reassuringly. Everyone else was annoyed with her, including her own sister. Leave it to Chase to be the only one to care about how she was feeling. She almost calmed down, almost believed him. For a second. Almost.

              But then she remembered where they were, what they were doing, and then nope, she was freaking out again. How could she be here, doing this… with Chase? “I’m just… I think maybe my talents could better be served somewhere else? I mean, we don’t need two of us as look out, maybe I could help Molly...” She blurted, looking around and seeing different levels of frustration on every face. The worst of which was Alex.

              “Gert, stick to the plan.” He groaned. “Why do you think it’s called a plan? Because we planned it, none of this is new! You need to stay with Chase and look like his date so no one will come and try to dance with him, you guys need to stay on target. We went over this.” He was losing his patience, but Gert didn’t care.

              “No, but, Karolina maybe you want to switch? I’ll seduce the principal, you hang out with Chase on look out.” Gert bargained, doing her best sales voice, trying not to look over at the handsome lacrosse player standing to her right but flashing her eyes towards him anyways, unintentionally. Two weeks ago, she never would have suggested something like this, putting Karo and Chase together, but it wasn’t two weeks ago any more. And things had changed. “I did pretty well at the Pride party.” She added, and Karolina was suddenly nodding, her eyes brightening.

              “That’s true guys, maybe Gert and I could switch.” She agreed hopefully, and now Nico was nodding enthusiastically next to her.

              “I like that plan!” She chimed in, much brighter than usual, and Gert, despite all the stress of the situation, had to bite back a small smile at Nico’s reaction. She couldn’t help it, she shipped them. Karolina certainly hadn’t been happy about getting the role of ‘seductress’ in Alex’s plan but Nico was downright pissed about it. They’d all begrudgingly gone along with the plan at Alex’s insistence at first, but suddenly it was 3 on 3 and Gert felt her hopes rise as the girls took her side.

She’d do anything to avoid being alone with Chase right now. She was so desperate to put off having him reject her, she just wanted to chill in this bubble of time where they sometimes held hands but left it unspoken, where he would always be near her. Because even if the lack of clarity on their relationship was causing her constant anxiety, it was better than outright rejection. So yes, the idea of being alone with Chase and potentially ruining the weird truce or armistice they had going on was not at the top of Gert’s list of things to do, much less being alone with him in a school freaking dance, less than two weeks since the last dance. And pretty much everyone knew how that had turned out by now. But they hadn’t talked about it, and she was terrified of talking about it right now, and doing it in another silk dress at another school dance… she couldn’t think of any worse kind of cosmic symmetry bullshit than that. Like, what the hell, universe, what did Gert Yorkes ever do to make you hate her so much?

              Gert was brought back to the here and now as she saw Alex raise his hands to fist at his forehead in frustration, and Gert thought he was about ready to pull out his extremely voluminous hair. His dedication to the plan was somewhat obsessive and he obviously didn’t appreciate this last minute attempt to change it. He’d been going over it, having people repeat their part, the entire drive. Before that, really. Ever since they’d learned that the school in Seattle that one of the 15 Runaways attended was holding their own homecoming dance in their own gymnasium.

              Using his computer skills, Alex had been spending about every free second he could hacking wifi signals and researching the Lost 15, a name they’d come up with so they didn’t have to keep saying ‘the bunch of kids our parents murdered’. Frustratingly, even to someone like Alex who looked at Firewalls like she’d look at a picket fence, he hadn’t been able to pull up a single meaningful piece of information on any of the victims. It was like they were… ghosts. Sure, they existed, but all they could find was their birth certificates. Everything else, every mark a person should have made on the world… it was all gone. Well, most of it.

              They figured Tina had used her Wizard network to make them disappear. But she hadn’t been perfect, they’d made some mistakes. Maybe they never thought anyone would go looking so closely for these kids… but they’d left behind some clues. These kids couldn’t have left zero impact on the world, after all. And it turns out, one of them, James Young, attended high school from 2011-2013 in a suburb off Seattle. His online school records were wiped, of course, but Alex doubted that they would have tampered with the original hard copies that were stored at the school usually for a decade at least before being disposed of. And wouldn’t you guess what school had a homecoming dance being held in its own gymnasium the following Friday? Did someone say road trip?

              “Gert, no offense, but I think Karolina would be best to…” Alex replied, but trailed off awkwardly at the death stare she shot him. The tension was thick as everyone felt Gert’s fury and froze, knowing Alex had said the exact worst thing. Beside her, Molly softly whistled.

              “Oh because she’s the hottest?” Gert challenged, finally.

              “I just mean—“ Alex tried, but Gert wasn’t going to let him explain. She was opening her mouth to tell him what patriarchal unattainable beauty-standards perpetuating bullshit that was, but to her surprise, Chase spoke before she was able.

              “Shut up Wilder, Gert could do it.” He said in her defence, causing Gert’s heart to flutter just a little because he sounded like he believed it, and he thought Alex was crazy for doubting her. But then his face turned towards her, his eyes searching for her own, and he added, “If she wants.” And did he say that softer than he’d meant it? There was something about his eyes, like they were pleading with her, to say no. To stick to the plan and be his fake-date to the prom. And was that jealousy that burned dimly but visibly in that gaze, at the thought of her seducing someone else? If it was, Gert would never admit it to herself, so it wasn’t like it mattered. But something in his face gave her pause, made her stutter in her train of thought.

              And suddenly all of her conviction to switch roles was gone. She opened her mouth to speak, but once again closed it as she realized that for one of the few times in her life, she was left momentarily speechless. Chase had thrown her completely off her train of thought with one look, what chance did she have slow dancing with him to Billie Eilish? She supposed she’d have to see. And she had to have some confidence in herself. She was Gert Yorkes, after all. Tough as nails and twice as sharp. She didn’t need a man to define her. She was Gert Yorkes, defender of women’s rights, advocate of the proletariat, hater of The Man. Her best friend was a freaking dinosaur. Gert Yorkes was tough. She could handle this.

              She began to nod. “You’re right, I could do it. Because, unlike Alex, some people understand that attraction isn’t solely dependent on stereotypical idealized standards of Western beauty.” She replied, glaring at Alex. But then she looked at Karolina and smiled. “But luckily Karolina is more than just a pretty face. She shines inside and out… not to mention literally. You’ve got this, Karo. Let’s stick to the plan. Besides, I think Alex might burst an embolism if we don’t.” She said, and Karolina smiled a little sadly in reply, appreciating the compliment but obviously bummed she was back to having to distract the principal. Beside her, Nico was back to scowling again.

              “Okay, that wasn’t what I meant at all. I think you’re very pretty, Gert.” Alex said, obviously regretting his choice of words, and Gert rolled her eyes.

              “It’s okay Alex, I don’t require your validation, my self-worth isn’t dependent on whether people find me hot or not.” She shot back, and saw Nico’s scowl budge a little, turning up at the sides.

              “For the record, I think you look smoking hot in that dress!” Molly chimed in, and Gert couldn’t help smiling at that. She threw an arm around her shoulder and side-hugged her, turning her head to smile at her little sister.

              “Aww thanks, Molls!” She replied, trying not to blush or look to her right to see if Chase looked like he agreed or not. The truth was, Gert knew she looked pretty hot. This was the most flattering dress she’d ever worn. Most expensive, too. The rich family they’d “borrowed” their clothing for the night from had excellent taste. It was an unfortunate decision to have to make, hacking a security system to a home while the family was on vacation and stealing their clothes, but they needed to blend in at a homecoming dance and they didn’t have any money to spare. They all hoped they’d be able to sneak the clothes back and no one would be the wiser. Or at least leave some money for dry cleaning, if it came to that.

              “Okay, now that we’ve established my foot is firmly in my mouth, can we get back to the plan?” Alex asked anxiously, and Gert felt a slight wave of sympathy. Maybe less of a wave and more of a tinge. Or a faint breeze. Not much, but enough that it was there. Alex wasn’t a bad guy, he was just intense and focused on making this plan work. And Gert wanted the plan to work, too. They were finally close to the first real clue they’d found since running away. If they could find more about James, they might be able to find out what happened to them. Maybe discover some sort of pattern with the other of the Lost, maybe even link it back to their parents.

              So this mission was important, and as such, Gert resolved herself to playing her part and helping to make it successful. She nodded firmly, and around the circle the others did as well, some saying ‘yeah’ or ‘yes’ aloud as they did. Alex took this in, and his relief was palpable. “Okay good. Can we all just go over it one more time?” He asked, to a few groans.

              “Wilder, we’ve gone over it a thousand times.” Chase moaned impatiently.

              “Humour me.” Alex insisted. “Nico and I are going as dates, and we’ll sneak off as soon as… Karolina?” He prompted, and she rolled her eyes dramatically.

              “Distract the principal.” She replied sullenly, and Alex nodded, then turned to Nico.

              “I’ve got the staff” –they’d recovered it in a dangerous mission right before leaving California—“so I can seal the hallway, or whatever. Maybe unlock the door.” She shrugged, not really sure what they’d be up against. Next to Gert, Molly laughed.

              “Just say ‘Alohamora’.” The 15 year old said, and Gert couldn’t help but laugh, and heard Chase chuckle next to her as well.

              “Okay, Gert, Chase?” Alex continued, ignoring their digression. At his question, Chase seemed to brighten, wrapping his arm around Gert’s shoulders and pulling her towards him. She had to ignore the swooping feeling in her diaphragm, the thrill she got every time she was close to him, because she didn’t want anyone to see her reaction. But God was it hard.

              “Gert and I keep between Karolina and Principal Turner and you guys, warn you if he heads your way.” Chase repeated robotically, probably for the hundredth time, like he was bored already. And yet… his arm was still around her, his fingertips touching the bare skin of her arm intimately instead of hanging limp. This was… so confusing.

              “And I’m the muscle, in case you guys get into some shit you can’t handle!” Molly chimed in, and Gert’s jaw instantly dropped and she turned her head incredulously but once again to her surprise, Chase beat her to the punchline.

              “Molly, language!” Chase admonished, sounding like an annoying older brother, and Gert had to stop herself from melting into a pile of goo right there. One thing that really did it for her was Chase being sweet and protective over Molly. Was that weird?

              Molly rolled her eyes and stared back at Chase in defiance. “I’m 15! And have superpowers, and am with a group wanted for murder and kidnapping, on the run from our evil parents and their psycho ring leader. I think I can say the word shit!” She complained, but Gert just shook her head.

              “Not in my house.” She replied, and Molly looked like she wanted to scream but was also amused, because her cheeks pulled up into a begrudging smile as she shook her head.

              “What house?” She asked in reply, kind of laughing. “We’re living in a minivan.”

              “Not in my minivan.” Gert repeated, correcting herself, and now a few of the group were laughing, and spirits seemed to be rising.

              “Okay, are we all ready?” Alex asked after a minute, and the group were now nodding their heads. Yeah, they were ready. It went unspoken what would happen if they got caught. They hoped that the ‘hiding in plain sight’ principle they’d latched to would hold up. They’d checked, and their ‘wanted’ status wasn’t as widely known in Washington, but they’d taken precautions to disguise themselves anyways. Gert was wearing rinse out hair dye, her hair for the night was almost as dark as Nico’s, and she’d ditched her glasses. She didn’t really look anything like herself. The person she saw in the mirror when she was finished getting ready wasn’t really Gert Yorkes, it was an older looking, more sophisticated version of her. Someone Gert actually got a bit of a thrill to dress up as, even if it wasn’t how she wanted to represent herself on a daily basis. And she was hot.

              The rest of them had slightly altered their appearances as well, Nico wiping off the Goth for a night, Karo wearing an up-do and heavier make-up, Alex keeping his glasses in his pocket though otherwise looking like Alex, Molly had agreed not to wear anything pink or with cat ears. The only person that looked the same was Chase, but there wasn’t really much they could do about him. And Gert didn’t want him to look different, if she was being honest. She liked the way he looked, and had jokingly jibed when they discussed potential costumes for him that ‘generic good looking white male’ was the best disguise of them all, and somehow, the group had agreed.

He didn’t have anything to make him stand out or catch notice, unlike the others, other than his good looks. And that might help him and Gert blend in to the crowd of kids from a school they didn’t attend that didn’t know them, better than to make him wear funny glasses or bleach his hair or something stupid. People didn’t usually question good looking people, they tended to be generally accepted as ‘belonging’ no matter what room they stepped into. Gert wouldn’t know, personally, but it was something she’d observed over the years, and she hoped it would be the same tonight.

“Ok, Gert, Chase, you’re first. Blend in, and try to find the principal and scout any chaperones.” Alex directed, and Chase used his free arm (not the one still confusingly draped over her shoulder) to salute to Alex, standing upright like a soldier as he did.

“Ay ay, captain!” He said, and Alex scrunched his eyebrows in annoyance, but didn’t have a chance to respond because Chase was turning Gert away from the group, and began to walk with her through the parking lot and up to the school entrance, where a few people were talking or smoking outside.

As they got closer to the doors, Gert felt herself getting more nervous, and like he sensed it, he used the arm around her shoulders to pull her closer in comfort. Gert wasn’t sure, though, if he was comforting her, or starting up their act, because they were close enough that they were among the students now, and people were noticing them. And this was supposed to be part of the disguise, pretending to be each other’s dates. Just as the confused thoughts began to swirl around in her mind, and her anxiety began to run away with her, he leaned in, whispering in her ear just loud enough to be heard over the now dully booming thrum of the music inside. “I know you don’t need the validation… but I think you look really pretty tonight, too.” He said, and the softness of his breath on her ear, the earnestness in his voice. It was almost too much, and she felt that now-familiar swooping feeling once again, and was very grateful for the steadying arm around her when he leaned down one more time to add. “Beautiful, actually.”

Chapter Text

              Ok… so that was way more intimate than he’d been intending. Shit. Shit. He’d had it reasonably together these past two weeks, why was he suddenly losing all semblance of cool he had? Chase was slightly panicked, having just told Gert she looked beautiful. No, not told. Whispered in her ear. Way, way more intimately than he’d meant to. He was trying not to freak her out, but it just slipped out. Ever since she put on that dress, he’d been finding himself stuttering over words, saying corny stuff and, well, just staring at her. He couldn’t control it. She was always beautiful, always. But tonight, she was just taking his breath away. And with his breath went all his reason, as well. Apparently.

              Before tonight, over the past two weeks, he’d already maybe been using every opportunity he could to be close to her, to touch her as often as he thought he could get away with. He couldn’t help it. He’d sit next to her every chance he got, sleep beside her, take her hand whenever she’d let him. Even just “casual”, “accidental” brushes of his arms or knuckles, as he’d move past her. Every single time he’d get a thrill and it was like he just got off the Tilt-A-Whirl at the Santa Monica Pier. He craved to be near her, craved her touch, all the time now, but tonight he couldn’t keep his hands off of her. Which was a problem. Because they weren’t dating, and Gert wanted nothing to do with him.

              Ok, so maybe that was an exaggeration. She definitely didn’t want nothing to do with him, because she wasn’t pushing him away. At all. In fact, if he wasn’t totally mistaken she really seemed to enjoy the closeness, even if she refused to acknowledge it. Chase wasn’t completely oblivious, he had a pretty good feeling that Gert returned his feelings, at least to a small degree. Maybe she wasn’t using the ‘L’ word inside her head, like he was, with a big ‘L’. But she liked him, at least. With a small ‘l’. He hoped she liked him more, enough to want more between them that is, but he had no way to know because Gert had told him it was a one-time thing, and now she refused to let them be alone together to talk it out.

              But tonight was his chance. They were finally going to be alone together. Well, sort of. But anything they said to each other would be washed away by the loud music and the crowd and would stay entirely between the two of them. Tonight was his chance. His chance to set everything straight. Everything he should have told her the second she suggested something as special as they’d shared be a one-time thing. Because he hoped maybe all they needed was some communication. If he could just say the words right, the ones he’d been repeating over and over again in his head, he thought that maybe he could make her understand how much he actually cared.

So the timing of this mission couldn’t have been better. And yes, maybe he’d suggested that Gert be paired with him as his date, and maybe he did that with it in mind that it would be a perfect opportunity to be close to her, dance with her, but mostly to have that all-important talk with her… but was that so bad? He cared about the mission, he did, but he also cared about Gert. And were ulterior motives such a crime when both motives were important? He could multitask, as long as he stayed on mission and wasn’t making Gert uncomfortable. That was important.

So he’d been excited about the mission, to say the least. All the more so after seeing her come down the curling staircase of their “borrowed” house in that dress. Yeah, he missed her purple hair but she still looked amazing, and this was closer to how it had looked when they were younger. The first time he’d fallen in love with her.

So he’d been counting down the days and hours for this moment, the moment he could walk into a school dance with Gert Yorkes on his arm. Like he should have done back home when he had the chance. And to tell her how he felt. It had been a close one there, it almost all fell apart when she’d gotten scared and tried to back out with that last minute attempt to switch with Karolina. He’d worried, truly, for a minute that he’d pushed too hard and she’d retreat further away from him and he’d be back at square one. But then their eyes connected, and he knew instantly his fears were unfounded.

The way she had looked at him, it made his heart ache and melt and flutter and fall into a thousand pieces, all at the same time. She looked so unsure, scared and conflicted, it broke his heart. But that wasn’t all he saw. If that had been it, he would have encouraged her to switch roles despite how much he wanted to do this with her. Anything to make her more comfortable.

But he did see it, in her eyes… what he was looking for. That spark. There was something in there, an emotion, a feeling for him, a word that started with ‘L’. Though big or small L, he didn’t know. But she wanted to trust him, there was hope in her eyes, mixed in with the fear. They were wide, glassy, vulnerable for a moment, before she’d squinted them down as she regained her balance, and then she was putting Alex in his place and she was back to the Gert he knew so well by now. Smart. Sassy. Razor sharp.

Wilder was such an idiot for ever thinking there was a person in the world that wouldn’t fall head over heels for her, if she graced them with her attention, her beauty and her presence. She probably would have done a better job than Karolina, actually. She was better with words, could hold an adult conversation, and damn was she sexy in her own unique Gert way. So yeah, she could have rocked that job, but he was glad she didn’t. Because he was selfish and wanted her all to himself. And yeah, okay, the thought of her seducing someone else, even some old guy, it filled him with so much burning, blinding jealousy that he thought he burst into flames and turn to ash if he didn’t force it from his mind. So there was that too. Thank God he’d dodged that bullet.

She didn’t say anything, after he told her he thought she was beautiful, but her soft smile of embarrassment, her dimples showing as she tried not to grin too widely, the way her eyes would find his and then immediately dart away… it said everything he needed her to say. She was so cute when she was embarrassed. She never had been good at taking a compliment, but he could tell she was pleased. Chase felt his anxiety about his forwardness slide away as he watched her smile, a small smirk pulling up the corner of his lips.

“You ready, Simone? Time to get in character.” He asked her with a smirk as they got to the door, using the name she’d chosen for her disguise. After some famous feminist, Simone De Bouvier, or something like that. He had no idea who she was, but he’d probably Google her next time he had a chance. Just so he’d have something new to talk to Gert about, and maybe impress her a little in the process. He looked into her eyes and smiled, reluctantly taking the arm that had been wrapped around her and reaching out to grab the big heavy school door. But he paused, waiting for her response.

Gert met his gaze, and smiled back at him, and this time there was no uncertainty in her eyes. She’d once again regained her footing and was Strong Gert again. God, he loved Strong Gert. But he also loved Soft Gert. Ok… maybe he just loved Gert. He tried to ignore the fluttering in his chest and the flare of primal attraction he felt as she pressed her lips together, trying to reign back on her smile as she nodded her head just slightly. “Lead the way, Grant.” She replied with an exaggerated wink, and he laughed at the cuteness of the gesture, and turned away, fighting a wave of attraction towards her, pulling the heavy door open. Suddenly, the dull thumping was gone and they were assaulted with the blasting sound of music from inside.

Gert stepped into the open doorway, and as she passed him, Chase placed his palm against the small of her back to “help her through”, sneaking a quick peek at her from the behind as he followed. God she looked sexy, the way that dress hugged her curves, the peeks of skin as her legs pushed through the slit at the back while she walked, the confidence in which she moved in those heels. Everything about her had his head buzzing right now, she was filling his senses and he hoped not clouding his mind. Because he needed to stay on mission, to have his friends’ backs. But this… this was bad. When he’d suggested this part of the plan, he hadn’t expected himself to be this… this crazy for her.

It was like the second they’d walked into the dance, all of his feelings had been turned up to 11, and the steady booming backbeat of the song thudded Gert, Gert, Gert, in his ears. His heart seemed to pick up the same rhythm, and he could feel it vibrate through his chest and all the way through the body, exciting him in ways it probably shouldn’t. He didn’t know if this was some conditioned response, like Pavlov’s dogs, after what had happened at the last dance, but for whatever reason, he was unreasonably attracted to her in this moment.

When she turned to the left, towards the tickets table, pulling their counterfeit envelopes out of her purse, he followed her like a compass needle following North. He thought that if he was blindfolded, he’d still be able to follow her, so much was he drawn to her. It was almost scary how quickly she had become his True North again, like she’d been when he was younger. He’d known her his whole life, loved her since he was a boy. But he’d spent the past two years running away from the past, from who he was, and for a while it had worked. He’d almost completely locked the part of himself that loved Gert Yorkes away, down in the basement of his mind, with the spiders and other skeletons of his past. But in the last month or so, since everything went down at Alex’s house and they’d found out about their parents, the door to that basement had burst open and with it came a flood of old feelings for his old best friend.

As the students ahead of them left the table and they stepped up for their turn, Chase could feel as much as see that she was getting tense as she waited to see if the fake tickets would be accepted, so he snaked his hand around her waist, feeling the smoothness of the silk once more as he ran his fingers across the small of her back and wrapped them around her hip, pulling her to his side. He leaned over and placed a slow kiss on her cheek, and then turned and smiled his most disarming smile at the awkward looking underclassman taking the tickets.

She looked up at him, mouth agape, and barely looked at the tickets in her hand as she inked up the stamp to give them entry. Beside him, Gert was clearly flustered, and her reaction fueled his smile even more, which was turning into more of a smirk as he kept her pulled right up against him. Hey, they were playing a couple, he had to sell the illusion. No one told him he couldn’t enjoy it a little.

When they were a safe distance away, Gert turned her head to look at him, and she was smiling, but it was a little incredulous, unbelieving, or maybe just confused. “What was that?” She asked, and he shrugged and smiled at her a little smugly.

“Grant loves Simone. Just getting into character.” He explained, flashing his teeth as his smile widened.

She looked up at him, and he could see doubt and confusion in her face, as she replied. “Right. The characters.” She nodded resolutely, like she agreed, but he didn’t need superpowers to read her mind in that moment. She was trying to figure out if it meant something or not, if his feelings were real or it was all an act. It broke his heart a little, that she wasn’t sure, but she would know soon. As soon as they were in position, as soon as a slow song came on, that was going to be his moment. He’d been waiting for this, planning it for days. Any minute now.

Wanting to get a move on with it, he slid the hand that was still around her waist back across her lower back, and without breaking contact trailed it down her arm, taking her hand in his own. Then he leaned in to speak into her ear, “Let’s get eyes on the principal.” He said it as quietly as he could over the loud dance music. But then she turned to look up at him before he had a chance to move out of her space, while he was still so close. Their faces were inches away, and the electricity charged between them as their eyes caught, their mouths already just inches from each other. It reminded him of when she had looked up at him as they danced, the last time. And the moment got just as heated just as fast. He looked down at her lips, then back up at her eyes, desperate to close the distance and kiss her.

The moment stretched on until it broke when the song abruptly changed, and it was like they’d both awoken out of a dream. Chase cleared his throat before turning his head, taking a step away, out of Gert’s personal tractor beam, but keeping his grip on her hand. She cleared her throat as well, turning her head away from him and nodding in agreement. “Yeah, the principal. Right.”

It only took a minute or two of looking. It’s not like they’d find a balding older man in the middle of the room dancing along with the students to Nikki Minaj. He was standing at the edge of the room, just like they’d expected, watching the punch bowl. If they’d been able to afford coms, this is when Chase would have tapped his ear to tell the other guys that they had eyes on Eagle One. But they didn’t, so they just kept their eye on him. The hallway that would lead to his office was luckily on the other side of the room, so all they had to do was stand between him and the doors, and wait for Karolina to show up.

“Well, might as well start to blend in.” He suggested, when it was clear there was nothing more they could do for the mission at that point. And if there was a gleam in his eyes, he couldn’t help it. The way he looked at Gert, there was probably enough heat there to fry an egg, but was there any other way to look at her? Plus, this was the night, hopefully. The night he’d move from the purgatory she’d placed him in. If she returned his feelings and didn’t reject him again, this dance would be every bit as wonderful and memorable as the last one, even if it ended in a very different way. Not that he didn’t want to sneak into an empty room again to ravish her, but this time there was more on the line. They couldn’t be so reckless, even if his mind kept creating scenarios where that could possibly end up happening.

“Sure, uh huh. Good idea.” She agreed, nodding her head distractedly as she got locked in his heated gaze. Chase could tell she was chewing on the inside of her cheek, something she’d been doing since she was a little kid, whenever she’d be unsure or worried. Why was every damn little thing she did so adorable? And when did he fall so hard for her? He smiled at her reaction and turned his body to face her, still holding the hand he’d taken, the one he never wanted to let go of ever again, and offered his other to her as well.

“May I have this dance?” He asked her, formally with a slight bow, just as the music changed again. This time it was slower, Chase didn’t know the artist but the melody was soft and lilting and all around him, people were transitioning from the fast music to the slow, partnering up and putting arms around each other. The timing couldn’t have been better.

“Simone would never turn down a dance with Grant Carrey.” She replied with a smile, taking the hand he offered her and curtsying just slightly as she did. Chase’s smile turned crooked as he used that hand to twirl her around once, bringing her close up against his chest, before he twirled her out, and then back into his arms once again to gently rock to the music. She seemed a little flustered by the twirl, which was kind of the entire point. All part of his plan. He used the move to pull her in closely, holding her hand up next to their shoulders, the other around her hip where it was oh so tempting to let it slide down but he kept it in place, cradling her against him as he rocked her back and forth to the music.

“And what about Chase Stein?” He asked after a while, softer than he’d meant to, pulling back just far enough to see her reaction. “Would Gert dance with him?” He added, and watched as the emotions flashed across her face. Shock, shyness, fear, happiness, and something more. Something hotter. She bit her lip nervously before the smile spread and she nodded shyly before tilting her head to the side.

“I mean, yeah, if he asked. But we’re not Gert and Chase tonight, right?” She asked, unsure, but a bright glimmer of hope bubbling up in her wide eyes.

“What if I want to be?” He asked her in reply, and he held her shocked gaze until it softened and another shy smile appeared on her lips.

“Chase, I—“ She started, but then her eyes moved away from his suddenly, looking at something over his shoulder. “Karolina’s in place.” She said, and Chase wanted to curse her timing. He turned them in time to the music, just a little so he could see as well. Karolina was doing her whole Bambi thing with those big blinking eyes, and the Principal was already taking notice. He was turned towards her, smiling, and as they watched he began to pour her a glass of punch. “That was fast.” She remarked, sounding much like the usual Gert he knew, and Chase chuckled.

“So would you still rather be over there, doing that instead?” He asked, as Principal Turner laughed far too hard at a joke that probably wasn’t even funny, reaching out to touch Karolina’s shoulder lightly as he did. Karo lifted her glass of punch to her mouth in that moment, shrugging his hand away, and Chase didn’t blame her. What a creep. He was lucky it wasn’t Gert or he’d probably end up getting decked. But Karo could handle herself, and if she couldn’t, well, that was what he was there for. Or Molly. He just hoped she could keep him engaged in conversation long enough that they could get the files and get out before it had to come to that.

“Oh hell no! Thank-you for saving me.” Gert laughed, and it was infectious, so Chase laughed too.

“You’re very welcome. I’m glad you were able to read my ‘don’t do it’ eyes.” He replied, and Gert nodded.

“Loud and clear. Though I don’t think Karolina would be very happy you stopped me.” She admitted and he wobbled his head in agreement.

“Maybe not, but do I suck if I don’t care?” He asked, and Gert snorted a laugh, like she’d been caught by surprise, and it made him smile.

“Maybe so!” She laughed. “But I’m not judging.” She added, and he laughed.

“Good, because I hold your opinion in high regard you know.” He said, but he took the edge off the intimate truth of his words by saying them jovially. Gert still looked at him, though. Sharply, her laughter fading away. Like she was trying to figure him out, find out what his game was. Didn’t she know by now there was no game? Wasn’t it written all over his face that he was totally and completely in love with her?

“I guess she ended up being the right person for the job.” She said, changing the subject like she didn’t know how to respond, looking back over at them. Karo was truly doing a bang up job, she looked like she had Turner wrapped around her little finger.

“I still think you could have done just as well.” He replied, and Gert looked back at him and smiled. “Better, probably.” He added, and her smile widened.

“Let’s not push it, feminism isn’t a competition.” She replied with her usual attitude, but the smile on her face betrayed her happiness with his words. After a pause, Chase took her hand that he was holding next to their shoulders and placed it around his neck, then lowered his own to join the other and wrap around her waist, and Gert’s smile softened as he did. Chase took a deep breath, preparing himself for what came next.

“The truth is, I may have had ulterior motives for wanting Karolina on Turner duty.” He admitted, his voice soft and his eyes earnest. She squinted back at him with skepticism, a shy smile playing with the corner of her lips. Like she wanted to be happy but she wasn’t sure yet.

“And that would be?” She asked, trepidation evident in her voice, and this was it. He stepped in closer, pulling her right up against him, eliciting a slight gasp. But almost right away she melted into him and he felt her arms wrap on his neck, and she laid her cheek on his chest. Chase snaked his hands farther around her, holding her closely as he moved their bodies to the beat of the music. When they were settled, he answered her.

“Because I only wanted to dance with you.” He spoke softly, bowing his head to whisper into her ear. He could feel her hot breath on his neck, and it seemed to hitch at his words. She lifted her head to look at him, and she was right there, just like she had been on that night they ran away, alone in that room. But unlike last time, he couldn’t kiss her now. Oh God how he wished he could, the heat that was coursing through his body in this moment, he thought he could hear his pulse in his ears even over the music, it was so intense. But he couldn’t let them just kiss again without first telling her how he really felt. That’s what they’d done last time, and everything had fallen apart after. That couldn’t happen again. It couldn’t. Chase didn’t know what he’d do if it did. He was going to get a yes or a no. He thought he could live with rejection, but he couldn’t live in the purgatory he’d been in for any longer. He needed to know.

She was staring up at him, her eyes boring straight into his soul as she looked for answers in his gaze, and damn, did he try to give them to her. “Oh…” Was all she said, a whisper he could barely hear over the noise in the gym. “But…” She continued, but Chase interrupted.

“Gert, we need to talk…” He said, and inexplicably, despite all the signs he was sending her, he saw a flash of worry cross her face. That’s when he realized that the words he’d used… usually if someone said them, there wasn’t something good to follow. And Gert was Gert. She was prone to worry, and skeptical until the last. Shit. He’d planned this talk so carefully, why hadn’t he thought of that before? He opened his mouth to correct her, to ease her worry, to tell her all the things he’d planned. The perfect words. And then the music changed. Again. God damn it!

Suddenly there was a deep bass pounding, and people around them were moving faster and the room became instantly five times as loud, and he’d have to shout for her to hear him at all. So for the second time tonight he’d been interrupted and it was really starting to piss him off. His mouth twisted with annoyance as he looked around, and when he looked back at Gert, she shrugged at him and then flashed him a smile. She seemed a little more relaxed, and he had a feeling it was because she could go back to avoiding him, avoiding talking, and that made him a little sad.

“Let’s get some punch!” She shouted over the music, and he nodded, still sad, but then felt his spirits rise tremendously as Gert reached forward and took his hand, leading the way. When they arrived, Chase dipped the ladle into the punch bowl and poured out two cups, trying to be low-key about making eye contact with Karolina, who was still standing with Turner nearby, as he did. She nodded at him, subtly, to let him know she was okay, and he nodded back, before looking away and turning back to Gert. Karo was doing an amazing job, Turner was still exactly where she’d found him, engaged in some sort of flirty conversation, far away from his office, where hopefully Wilder and Nico would get to any minute, if they weren’t already there stealing the files they needed.

But that just reminded him he was running out of time. Because once they got the records, the whole group was getting out of there, and if he hadn’t had his chance to talk to Gert yet, he would lose it entirely. Gert was bopping her head to the beat a little as he handed her the cup, and she smiled and shouted “thanks!” over the music. Chase smiled back, despite his worry, because he couldn’t help but smile in return when she looked at him like that. They moved around the edge of the room, halfway between Karolina and Turner, and the door, and scoped out the crowd.

“Do you miss it?” Gert asked after a minute or two, leaning over, close, so he could hear her, then gesturing out at the room. She meant all of it. High school, dances, normalcy. The honest answer was mixed. He did and he didn’t. He had hated what he had become, those last years before they’d reconnected. So he didn’t miss that at all. And high school was bullshit, so fuck that. But he missed his parents, despite everything. He missed not being on the run. Regular showers. But all in all?

“Nah.” He replied. “It feels like a million years ago. And there’s no point missing it, there’s no going back.” He replied honestly, and she nodded, looking up at his face with a slight frown.

“That’s very true.” She agreed, looking back out over the crowd. “There’s definitely no going back to the way things were.” She said, trailing off. Chase barely heard her, but he did, and he nodded, before switching his cup to his other hand and reaching down to lace his fingers between hers and squeeze, causing her to look back up at him.

“And honestly, I don’t think I would if I could.” He told her, as softly as possible over the din, and he watched as the corners of her lips pulled up as she interpreted his words. Correctly, he hoped. Because there was no going back to their old life, sure. But there was also no going back from what happened between them at the dance. And he wouldn’t want them to, even if they could. “Gert...” He said, though it came out too quietly, just a breath, a prayer, and there was no way she heard him. This was the worst possible time, why the hell couldn’t they just play another slow song? But she saw his lips move, and she knew he’d said her name. Her lips parted as she took in a breath, and once again her eyes were searching his.

“Gert, I—“ He started, louder this time, turning to face her, but the room was still too much to overcome. Sneaking a look at Karolina, who seemed to have the situation under control, he tugged Gert’s hand just a little. “Hey, do you want to get some air?” He asked, knowing this was against the rules, abandoning their post, but not knowing what other option he had. The DJ refused to play another slow song it seemed and he thought he would burst into a thousand pieces if he didn’t get the chance to speak to her. Soon. Now.

She only hesitated for a second, her eyes darting towards Karolina and then the door, calculating if it was a risk she could justify, before she nodded with a shy but excited smile. “Yeah, okay.” She agreed, and Chase felt his heart soar and his entire body buzz with anticipation. This was it! He smiled brightly at her before taking the rest of his punch in one gulp, then holding out his hand for Gert’s cup. She hadn’t finished but didn’t seem to mind abandoning it to go somewhere quieter with Chase. And that had to be a good sign… right?

Chase felt his heart begin to race and a floaty feeling of butterflies in his stomach as he tried to figure out what to do with the cups. He could hardly think straight, he was so excited, so full of anticipation. His head darted back and forth as he looked for a table to place them on or even a garbage can, finally spotting one in the corner. He held up his finger indicating he’d just be a minute, then he pointed over at the garbage can, and Gert nodded. “I’ll be right back!” He shouted over the music, before reluctantly turning away from her.

It was everything he could do to keep from running there, Chase was so impatient to get on with this conversation. He thought he could probably fly, if he wanted, he was that happy. Happy to be here with her, happy to have had so much opportunity to be close to her tonight, but most of all, happy to finally be able to clarify how he felt about her. And unless he was completely insane (which was always a possibility, with his father), he thought she was going to say yes, when he asked her to be more.

Yes, she had been avoiding him. Avoiding being alone with him, avoiding the talk. But he thought… hoped… that that was all just because she was scared. Because he had hurt her, when he’d pulled away and started hanging out with assholes these past two years, and she didn’t trust him anymore. But he was going to work on that. He’d spend the rest of his life regaining her trust, if he had to. And it all started here, tonight.

He quickly arrived back at Gert’s side, smile wide, and ready to go. She had watched him, the whole way, and knowing her eyes had been on him had given him a thrill. This was it, this was their moment. Taking one last look at Karolina, who still seemed to be doing fine, he prepared to ask her if she was ready. He didn’t think anything in the world could burst the happiness bubble he had right now. It didn’t matter if the music changed, he wasn’t relying on that this time. He was taking matters into his own hands. His destiny was his own to write, not some stupid DJ’s. He was going to take her hand, and lead her out to where no one would interrupt them.

Or so he thought. But the universe just wasn’t that good to Chase Stein. Why would he have ever believed otherwise? It was like being dunked in a bucket of ice water, when he realized what was happening, when, for the third time tonight, they were interrupted. And this time it wasn’t just some stupid music. Music they could escape. They were escaping. But Chase couldn’t escape as he looked up, and up, and up at his newest problem. A tall, very good looking, pierced and tatted guy with dark hair and spacers in his ears had approached them. And did he say tall? And good looking? Quickly Chase felt the icy feeling change and flare red hot with jealousy, as the guy stopped before them, looking directly at Gert.

“Gert? Gert Yorkes! It is you!” He enthused, before pulling Gert away from Chase and into his arms for a tight hug that lasted way too long. Chase felt something roar and growl in his chest, coming to life with a fury and a fight that surprised him, but he was too frozen to know what to do with the feeling. Instead, he watched in shocked silence as the hug (eventually) ended, and Gert stepped back (thank God) and looked at the guy. She was squinting, looking hard, like she was trying to place his face, when suddenly her eyes shot open wide and her mouth turned to an ‘O’ before broadening in a toothy smile as she squealed and then pulled him in for another hug. Meanwhile, Chase concentrated on not passing out or bursting into flames on the spot as he watched, unable to look away, like he was watching a car wreck. What. The hell. Was happening.

Finally, after what might have been an eternity spent in a fiery hell, the second hug ended. When they pulled apart, however, Gert kept her hands on the guy’s arms, just above the elbows, as she looked up at him, and Chase felt his eye twitch. “Andrew, I had no idea you went here!” She practically sang, and all at once Chase had a flashback, and it was the ice water all over again. No. It couldn’t be. Not Andrew Fletcher.

But it was. Now that he remembered, he could see it clearly. He was about two feet taller, his skin had cleared, he’d acquired some ink, and ditched the braces. But it was him. Andrew fucking Fletcher. Gert’s middle school boyfriend. The guy that had asked Gert to the spring dance an hour before Chase had been planning to at lunch, and then ended up dating her for two whole years before moving away. And here he was, years later, in a random suburb outside Seattle, at this very dance, all glown up, looking like what Chase assumed the textbook definition of Gert’s perfect man would look like. Edgy and cool and all the stuff Chase wasn’t. Andrew fucking Fletcher. The beast in Chase’s chest roared once again and the ice was once again replaced with fire, as Chase cleared his throat and stepped closer to Gert, wrapping his arm around her waist, and he glared up at what Chase now saw as the competition.

Andrew. Fucking. Fletcher.

Chapter Text

              “Nico, she looks like she’s doing fine. Let’s go.” Alex moaned, and probably for the hundredth time today Nico rolled her eyes at him. Alex acted like he was the only one who understood the situation they were in, how important this mission was, and it was really starting to piss her off. Her parents were murderers, too. He didn’t have a monopoly on that. And it’s not like his sort-of girlfriend was currently being hit on by a creepy middle aged man.

              Not that Nico and Karolina had discussed their relationship. But it was pretty clear they were more than just friends, what with the kissing and the cuddling and the sleeping together every night since they’d run away. She wasn’t sure if Alex had caught on yet. If he hadn’t he was pretty oblivious, but if he had he hadn’t said anything yet. Not that she cared what he thought. She actually didn’t give a shit what Alex Wilder thought anymore. Ever since she found out he lied to her about Amy, and then he was the only one against saving Karolina after Jonah took her, he… well, he wasn’t dead to her. But it had been a close call. And it would take a long time to repair their relationship, and even if they did, it would never be the same.

She’d actually been blossoming feelings for him, before she’d learned of his betrayal. But that was over now. Thank the Goddess. Because now she was free to explore things with Karolina, which she hadn’t even known was a possibility before. And talk about an upgrade. Karolina, who would light up a room even without the ability to turn into a swirling, glowing rainbow galaxy. Just thinking about her made Nico feel lighter than she had in years, since before… Well, she didn’t want to think about that. She couldn’t think about it, without getting angry. And these days, a lot of that anger was directed at Alex. Because he knew something was up, and he didn’t tell her.

But she couldn’t afford to be overly pissed off right now. She needed to stay on mission, and she needed the staff to listen to her when she commanded it. It seemed to respond to a calm mind much better than an angry one. She thought that was why Tina had been able to grab it from her, that night at the construction site. She’d been too emotional. It still made her flare with rage at the thought. Because maybe if she’d been able to hang on to it, Karolina would never have been hurt, never have been taken. But she shoved those thoughts aside for another time.

“Fine.” She snapped at Alex in response. In all fairness, he was right. Karolina was doing great, not that anyone would doubt that she would, though Nico still wished Gert was in her place. And thinking of Gert… “But first we need to check on Gert and Chase.”

“I’m sure they’re fine. We’ve got to go.” Alex replied anxiously, but Nico didn’t need his agreement. She pushed past him and stomped farther into the gym in search of the two clueless lovebirds. There was no way she was leaving Karolina alone with that creep without knowing Gert and Chase had her back. Her eyes scanned the crowd dancing in the center of the room, but frustratingly she couldn’t spot them. This probably would have been a lot easier if Gert had been sporting her signature purple hair, but it was darkened for the evening making her stand out a lot less. She guessed that was the point, but that didn’t make it any less vexing. Because Alex was right, they needed to get a move on.

“Where are they!?” Nico shouted at Alex over the music. He had reluctantly followed her, and was doing his best to help her but was pretty much useless without his glasses.

“They’ve got to be here, they knew the plan.” He replied, just as Nico’s eyes caught on Gert’s knock-out red gown, along the side of the room near the entrance. Nico and Alex had literally walked right by her, that’s how different she looked tonight. Nico relaxed for half a second before she took in the rest of the scene. As she watched, Chase returned to her side, looking handsome as ever in his generic black suit with white oxford shirt, with no tie and the top button undone as usual.

As she watched him, she couldn’t help but smile, despite her current overall state of anger and frustration. The boy was in love. Nico doubted he knew how obvious it was, but it was. Especially since he’d confirmed his feelings for Gert to her that day at the thrift store, after they’d gone on the run so unexpectedly. His eyes practically turned to hearts as he looked at Gert, and she wasn’t much better. But the two of them hadn’t talked things out yet, and Nico hoped they would soon. Because honestly, as adorable as it was to watch, the fact that they both refused to acknowledge something that was so obvious to everyone else was annoying as hell. And if she was being hypocritical, considering her and Karolina hadn’t defined their relationship yet either, well… whatever. She was allowed to judge others while simultaneously disregarding her own advice. America was built on shit like that. Shut up.

She was just about to turn away, head to Principal Turner’s office with Alex, when something caught her eye. It was Chase’s abrupt demeanor change that alerted her, his eyes had widened, his shoulders broadened, his chest puffed out and the lovesick smile completely washed away. Nico followed his gaze and saw a guy approach them. No, he approached Gert. He was tall, and even from here Nico could tell he was hot. She could see the spacers in his ears from here, and a tattoo peeking up from under his collar. Damn. Who was that guy?

And suddenly he was hugging Gert, and Nico’s jaw dropped. “I see Chase!” Alex called out unexpectedly, pointing in their direction, reminding Nico that he was still there with her. She’d almost forgotten about him, the drama before her was so interesting. “SHIT!” He added, spitting the word in anger laced with panic as he noticed Gert pull away from the Mystery dude beside Chase. “That isn’t good. We gotta go, Nico!”

“What? Why? I want to see what happens!” Nico complained, but Alex was tugging on her arm, pulling her forcibly from the room. She reluctantly followed, but kept her head turned and her eyes on her friends the whole way. As she watched, Gert smiled widely as she seemed to recognize the guy, and pull him forward into another hug. Beside them, Chase looked completely heartbroken, frozen, and before her eyes she watched his jealousy light like a flame in his eyes and instantly he looked like he could explode at any second.

And suddenly Nico realized why Alex was panicking and pulling her out in a rush. Because if shit went wrong, if Chase went berserk on Mr. probably-in-an-indie-band and hit him, or got kicked out, or worse, sent to the principal’s office… the mission could be completely ruined. And she couldn’t let that happen. So she turned away from the trainwreck before her and followed Alex as quickly as she could.

He stopped pulling her the moment he realized she was following on her own, but when they rounded the corner into the second corridor, they almost tripped as they came to a sudden halt, seeing no less than three couples pressed up against lockers, making out. They both froze, looking at each other, before looking back down the hallway before them. They needed to pass, and quickly, preferably unnoticed, to the next connecting hallway. That was where they would find Turner’s office. But if they just ran past all these kids, someone was probably going to notice them, and they couldn’t afford to be followed.

So thinking on her feet, and swallowing back the bile that threatened to rise in her throat, Nico plastered a big fake smile on her face, and took Alex’s hand. She started to giggle, like he’d said something funny or maybe she was a little drunk, and turned her body towards him flirtatiously as she led the way. Alex, to his credit, seemed shocked and frozen for only a second or two before he started playing along. They were going to blend in. Be cool. Get past all these annoying as fuck idiot teenagers that were forcing her to play this stupid game with Alex when she’d really rather not.

But Nico was nothing if not a team player. So she leaned in close, put her head on Alex’s shoulder, and giggled dutifully as they stumbled past the couples, none of which seemed to even notice they were there. When they were finally past the last of them and around the corner to the principals’ office, Nico checked to make sure they were clear before practically jumping away from Alex to separate from him as quickly as she could. He coughed, clearing his throat awkwardly before quickly shaking it off and hurrying to the principal’s door. “Damn it!” He spat, in a frustrated whisper-shout, as he turned the knob and found it locked.

“Let me handle it.” Nico scoffed, pushing him aside and pulling her staff out of her oversized purse. She scrunched her eyes against the brief sting of the barb, but she was understanding of the staff’s need for a blood sacrifice. Such power should never come at no cost. But before she knew it, the pain was gone and the head of the staff lit up as the shaft lengthened. She loved that part. It was so satisfying.

When it was ready, she almost told the staff to ‘open door’, but she paused, her mouth quirking up in a smirk as she remembered Molly’s words from earlier. Instead, she said aloud, “Alohamora!” Her smile widened at the satisfying ‘click’ of the lock unfastening, and the door silently swung open. She’d been suspecting that the staff responded less to her words and more to her thoughts, and she was happy to see she’d been right.

“Nice.” Alex acknowledged from beside her, before stepping through the doorway and into the darkened front office. “Now seal it up.” He commanded, not bothering to look back as he confidently strode forward into the room, and he’d have come off as way more of an asshole if she didn’t know how focused he was on succeeding at this mission. It really was the most important thing. They needed this. They couldn’t just be running forever. They had to be doing something. Anything. And right now it seemed that discovering whatever they could about the Lost 15 was about the best thing that they could be doing. So she didn’t bite back with a sarcastic attack, she just did what he asked.

“Seal it up!” She instructed, and the staff did the rest. The door swung shut as silently as it had opened, and she heard the click of the lock, before a barrier grew out of a single transparent pentagon that multiplied thousands of times to coat the walls, ceiling and floors. When she was satisfied that the room was both safely locked and soundproofed, she walked over to where Alex was rifling through a filing cabinet. “All done.” She announced, and he looked up at her briefly to nod before continuing to sort through.

“So who do you think that guy was?” Nico asked him. She’d been bursting to talk about it. It wasn’t just every day that hot mysterious rocker-looking guys appeared out of nowhere and hugged Gert close like some sort of long-lost love.

“I don’t know, but I didn’t plan on it, and I’m trying not to freak out about it right now.” He replied, not taking his re-spectacled eyes off the files as he urgently rifled through them. “I don’t think this is the right filing cabinet. Let’s try in there.” Alex added, gesturing towards a closed door to either Turner or his Vice Principal’s office. Nico opened the door for him and they continued to look around. There was a small bank of filing cabinets in the corner of the room, so they both moved over there, and Nico persisted.

“Do you think he was just some random that wanted to dance? I mean, Gert did look hot tonight.” She asked, trying to figure what the hell she had witnessed.

“I have no idea. I’m just worried that Chase is going to end up killing that guy before we can find the file.” Alex replied, fingers flying as he flipped through manila folders. He had a good point, Chase had looked like his entire world had shattered, the last time she saw him, which was pretty dramatic in retrospect, but Chase was a pretty passionate guy. Prone to really high highs and very low lows. She didn’t want to blame the Victor Stein in him, because Chase deserved so much better than that. His father was a monster, and Chase was nothing like him. But he did love with his whole heart, and he gave everything his all. Whether it was lacrosse, or pretending to be a total douchebag for two years, he fully committed to everything he did. And he’d been fully committed to Gert since at least the night they’d run away, if not before.

“He totally might.” She replied. Then pausing to think about it as she helped sort through the cabinet next to the one Alex worked on, she continued. “He looked like he was going to turn into the Hulk. But I think Gert knew him? The guy. It looked like she recognized him.” She added, and Alex looked up at her, a fearful look stricken across his face.

“What?” He asked with wide eyes.

Nico shrugged. “I mean, that’s what it looked like.” She replied, not really knowing why Alex was reacting so weirdly.

“No…” He said quietly, like his mind was trailing off, his eyes looking off into a distance that wasn’t there. “No no no, no no no…” He added, mumbling to himself as he now desperately flipped through the files. Then he let out a frustrated groan before slamming the drawer back into the cabinet. “They’re not here!” He shouted, making Nico glad she’d added the soundproofing part to her spell.

“Alex, calm down. It’s going to be okay.” Nico said, furrowing her eyebrow, wanting to take a step back to distance herself from his manic energy. Alex was full on freaking out.

“God! You don’t know that Nico! We have to find that file, now.” He said angrily, both fists tugging at the hair at his temples as he looked around the office.

“You’re right, I don’t know that, but freaking out isn’t going to help. Look there’s two more doors we haven’t tried. Let’s try that one.” She said, nodding across the room and out the doorway where she saw a windowless door in the corner of the main office. He seemed to calm a tiny bit at this, and followed her out of what she was pretty sure was the vice-principal’s office.

“You’re sure she recognized him?” He asked, as Nico held out her staff towards the door.

“Open up.” She instructed, and when the door swung open, she looked at Alex. “Yeah, I think so. Who do you think it is? And do you think he knows we’re wanted for murder?” She asked, her face slackening at the thought. Why the hell hadn’t she already thought of that? She’d been focussing on the teenage drama of it all rather than thinking about the real threat this guy posed to their entire group. They could literally go to jail, or worse, if Jonah found them before the police did.

“What I’m worried about is worse than that.” Alex replied, stepping into the room and flicking on the light switch. He practically sagged in relief as the entire room appeared to be lined with filing cabinets, dozens and dozens of them. Old trophies and piles of books and files topped them, and a few out of season holiday decorations strewn about. This was the records room. It had to be. What they were looking for was in here, or it wasn’t anywhere.

“How can it be worse than being caught?” She asked as she stepped to a cabinet and found the drawer locked, so once again she used her staff to unlock to whole lot of them, then pulled the drawer open and began to sort through.

Alex looked up at her, his eyebrows scrunched down like he was angry, or thinking, or some combination of the two. “Didn’t Andrew Fletcher move to Seattle the beginning of freshman year?” He asked, and Nico’s eyes widened as she looked up from the files and stared at the wall, memories flashing back. Andrew Fletcher, aka the guy Chase hated more than anyone else on the planet. Nico could still hear Chase’s voice clearly from all those years ago, complaining about the guy constantly, any time Gert wasn’t there to put him in his place for it. He’d never admitted it back then, but they’d all known he was jealous. Because Gert and Chase had always been ‘Gert and Chase’, until Andrew came along and suddenly it was Gert and Andrew. Chase had never admitted it, but they all knew how in love with her he was, even from a young age.

“You don’t think it could be…” She said, looking over at Alex. He looked up at her and gave her a hopeless shrug.

“With our luck?” He asked in return, and she slumped, looking back at the files.

“We’re screwed.” She said, flipping through. They were currently wanted for a murder they hadn’t committed. If things out there went wrong, they could pretty soon be wanted as accessories to a real murder. But… maybe they were just being dramatic? “But… Chase knows how important the mission is, right? How high the stakes are?” She asked after a minute, then closed the drawer she was working on, realizing the records were too current and she tried one a few cabinets down.

“I hope so.” He said, slamming a drawer shut and moving to the next one. “I’m sure he won’t do anything stupid. I’m just worried they’ll be too distracted to keep an eye on Karolina.” He added, and once again Nico’s eyes widened. She hadn’t thought of that. She’d gone straight to murder in her head, because hyperbole was her natural setting, but this was a lot more likely. With Gert and Chase distracted by maybe-Andrew Fletcher, there was no one to let them know if Karolina failed, or worse, if she succeeded too much and Principal Turner would try to take things back to his office. Nico’s blood boiled just at the thought, even though she knew that Karolina would never allow that creep to take it that far. She just couldn’t stop her brain from catastrophizing.

Swallowing back the anxiety, Nico narrowed her eyes and doubled down on her focus on the files before her. “Let’s just hurry up then.” She replied, and Alex grunted his agreement as he continued to manically flip through folders, and Nico did the same. Looking down, she saw a date on a particularly fat file for a kid named Kurt, and she didn’t even have time to wonder if that was a disproportionately popular name in this area. Instead, she focused in. 2015. She was getting closer. Hurry, Nico. She urged herself, as she closed the drawer, turning to the bank of cabinets to her right. Hurry.

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              Gert didn’t know what reality she was living in right now, but it certainly didn’t feel like her own. Because in what world did Andrew Fletcher just show up out of the blue, at some random school that fate had brought them to, two feet taller and a whole lot hotter than he’d been when he left in freshman year? This was crazy! This was awesome. Except, it was also really, really bad.

              Andrew had been liking some of her insta posts, off and on for the past year or so, so she’d already been vaguely aware of his continued existence, out in the world beyond Brentwood. And sure she’d creeped his page a few times, though he mostly posted aesthetic stuff he’d taken on his retro SLR that he probably developed in his own basement dark room. He seemed like that kind of guy. His only picture of himself was his profile picture, an Andy Warhol-esque shot taken in a mirror. It wasn’t much to go by, but it was enough to let her know he wasn’t the scrawny, awkward kid that had left for Seattle when they were fourteen anymore.

              And now here he was. Without thinking, Gert had pulled him into a hug, just shocked to see him and honestly completely forgetting the entire reason she was there for a few seconds. For a regretful moment, she’d forgotten about Simone, forgotten about the mission, forgotten she was wanted for murder and someone recognizing her was pretty much the worst case scenario. She forgot all of it, and was just really excited to see an old friend.

              But that was stupid. She was stupid. It just took her a minute to realize it. “Andrew! I can’t believe it. You, you look so—you’ve definitely grown up.” She said, searching for words awkwardly, distracted by his good looks, before realizing her hands had lingered on his arms around the elbows, and she dropped them immediately, wishing she had pockets to shove them into. He just smiled in return, and shrugged.

              “I hit a growth spurt the summer after freshman year.” He replied with a charming smile, but it faded as his eyes moved away from her face and fell on Chase, who had stepped up beside her, clearing his throat and looking back at him. Oh crap, she’d forgotten about Chase! How was that even possible? She supposed she’d been a little dazzled by the complete hottie Andrew had turned into. But that was just a normal human response to being around extremely gorgeous people. She knew, because she had to deal with it every time she looked at Chase. Chase, the guy that was currently wrapping his arm around her waist with tension roiling off of him, making her a little nervous.

              “Oh, you were so close, Gert. If only he’d stuck around one more year, all that time you spent with the pipsqueak would have paid off.” He said, an edge to his voice that carried even over the music. Gert was too shocked to respond, and her eyes moved from Chase to Andrew, wishing she could shove all the words back inside Chase’s mouth.

              As she watched Andrew’s face, she saw recognition flare up and a dangerous smile replace the friendly one that had been there before Chase had interrupted them. And suddenly Gert remembered how much these two had hated each other in middle school. And then she remembered the moment she and Chase had been having before Andrew arrived. They’d been about to go outside to talk. Chase couldn’t stop touching her. It had all been happening, and then Andrew showed up. Shit. “Chase Stein.” Andrew greeted him, his smile smug. “It’s been a while, man.” He added, holding out his hand confidently. Chase had no choice but to shake it, but there was something off about it, and Gert wondered if they were squeezing harder than necessary, by the looks on their faces.

              Gert thought she could cut the tension with a knife. What the heck was happening? Whose life was this? Was Chase Stein jealous? Over her? She had to say something, this was way too awkward. She thought she was going to have an anxiety attack if she didn’t say something. Anything. “So you remember each other!” She said inanely, and both guys looked at her. Chase was scowling slightly, and Andrew’s smile was charming though his eyes were sharp.

              “Yeah, we’re old friends, don’t you remember?” Chase asked, and he seemed to be reigning in the surprising show of anger he’d displayed, replacing his scowl with a polite but dangerous smile. What was it with these guys and these creepy-as-hell Patrick Bates smiles? But she was glad to see Chase getting himself under control. She didn’t need that macho chauvinistic bullshit behaviour in her life. Though, there was a small, tiny part of her that found the way he had acted a little bit of a turn on. But she’d never admit that to anyone, ever. Under any circumstance. But yeah, maybe tough-guy Chase was a little hot. She’d still prefer sweet, caring, soft Chase any day of the week.

              “So what are you guys doing here?” Andrew asked, using the plural tense but looking only at Gert. There was something in his gaze, it had suddenly turned hotter since Chase had shown up, more intense. Gert felt herself blush, and she hoped it wasn’t visible in the dim lighting. And the last thing she wanted was for Chase to notice, but she couldn’t help it. She felt awkward, Andrew was hot like basically every singer in every band she’d ever been attracted to, and when he looked at her like that, she couldn’t help but respond. But she didn’t feel anything for him, obviously. She didn’t even know him anymore. It was purely a biological, psychosocial reaction. And if she was being honest, it was already starting to piss her off.

              “Oh, we…” She stammered, turning her head to look at Chase. His eyes met hers, and she could swear she saw something in there, unspoken. An apology, along with a slight frown pulling down the corner of his full lips. But then the look was gone, and he turned back to Andrew.

              “My cousin goes here, we were visiting my aunt and uncle. They thought it would be nice if we came along.” He lied, and Andrew’s eyebrows raised slightly as he considered this information. Gert tried her hardest not to wince. As far as lies went, it was not the best one.

              “So you two, you’re… together?” He asked, looking quickly at Chase before settling back on Gert.

              Gert froze for a second, but then blurted out the word “No.” just as Chase’s arm around her waist pulled her in and he said “Yes.”, nodding his head confidently. Gert’s eyes widened, her mouth opening slightly in shock as she whipped her head to look at Chase. He met her eyes with his own gaze, and she felt it intensify as his brows furrowed just a little, his lips pressed together, and he nodded just a hair.

              Still in shock, she turned her head slowly back to look at Andrew, who looked off-put, but he had a wry determined smirk on his face as she opened her mouth to correct herself. She was going to say ‘yes’, like Chase did. It… it seemed like Chase wanted her to say yes. And that’s all that really mattered, in everything, really… Chase. He was all that mattered. Her mind shot to the conversation he wanted to have with her, privately, away from the loud music, and she felt a flipping in her chest. Was he about to say what she hoped he was about to say?

              So, still more than slightly shell-shocked, she opened her mouth to say ‘yes’, because she wanted to find out what Chase was going to say. Needed to. And Chase wanted her to say yes. Except Andrew interrupted her. And she was still too caught off-guard to do anything about it. “No?” He asked, focusing on Gert’s response and not Chase’s. “Great, then how about one dance. For old time’s sake?” He added, smiling at her disarmingly while reaching for her hand, not waiting for an answer. He pulled her away from Chase, whose hand fell away from her hip with a sting, leaving her longing for his touch.

              She wished she would just say no, to pull her hand from his, but she was still too frozen to really say much of anything. She just followed along, turning her head to look back at Chase, who was standing there, arms down at his sides, watching her be led away from him with sad eyes, his lips parted in a frown. She should be mad at him. He’d acted like an alpha-asshole from the second Andrew had shown up. But looking at him now, with those eyes… she couldn’t find it in her heart to be mad. And all she wanted was for his hands to be on her again.

              So she turned back to Andrew, feeling the imprint of Chase’s gaze still pressing upon her heart, impatient to get on with this dance. One dance. That’s all she had to get through. And then she’d be back to Chase. She couldn’t believe she’d been so excited to see Andrew just minutes ago, when now all she wanted was for him to get the hell out of here so she could get back to Chase’s side.

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Well, tonight was going terribly. This was… terrible. How had tonight gone so terribly? Chase just kept asking himself variations of that question as he watched Gert be led away from him, looking back with those inscrutable glassy eyes. If he didn’t think he was just some sort of delusional asshole by this point, he would have sworn there was longing and regret in her look. But there wasn’t, because he was.

He’d been such a fool, to think he could plan such an important conversation down to the minute detail. He wasn’t capable of speaking so eloquently, for one. Secondly, he’d been crazy to ever think the universe would be so good to him. All he wanted was for Gert to know he loved her. The rest was up to her. She either loved him back, or didn’t. But he needed her to know, though he obviously was desperate for her to love him back. He’d even take like, he could work on the love part. But he wanted her to want him, the way he wanted her.

He’d thought she did. He’d thought she felt the same. But then Andrew showed up. And okay, sure, maybe something as small as a stranger from the past showing up shouldn’t throw him so completely off the rails as this was. And okay, Gert hadn’t done anything for him to be mad at, anything even to make him doubt she had feelings for him. Logically, Andrew was just some guy from the past, Gert was being nice to him, she didn’t like him. Any feelings she had for Chase wouldn’t disappear the second a new guy showed up.

And yet Chase hated him. He couldn’t help it. He’d always hated Andrew Fletcher. He’d secretly been a dick to Chase, going all the way back to fourth grade when Chase had beaten him in the invention convention. He’d held that grudge for years, and Chase was privately convinced that the only reason he’d even asked Gert out that morning in seventh grade was because he’d known Chase was planning to ask her to the dance at lunch. And he’d never given up at opportunity to rub it in Chase’s face. When Gert wasn’t around, that was. Whenever she was there, he was as sweet as pie, and he’d do anything he could to make Chase look like an asshole for not liking him. God he hated him.

And now he was dancing with her. His hands were on her body, he was leaning in and speaking into her ear, and did the lighting in the room just turn red or was that just the raging jealousy that burned in his heart, colouring his vision? Chase could hear the pounding of his own pulse in his ears as he watched, fists clenched at his sides, and he counted the seconds until the song would change, until he could stride over there and interject, take Gert back into his own arms. Where she belonged. So he focused on that. Just one more song. And he willed himself to calm down, not to look like some jealous asshole even though that was entirely what he was.

And so he watched, and waited. And unfortunately, Chase found his mind completely transfixed, a singular focus that made up the entirety of his consciousness. Gert. And his jealousy over the guy that was dancing with her. Which was unfortunate, for multiple reasons. Primarily, because he had a job to do. And had he the presence of mind, he would have remembered that his entire reason for being here was to keep an eye on Karolina. But that was so far from his mind right now it wasn’t funny. The other reason it was unfortunate was because it was entirely unnecessary. He should know by now that she had feelings for him. He did know. And yet here he was.

As he watched them, Andrew spun Gert out, before spinning her back in and Chase seethed in anger, turning his head away for a moment, not able to watch. And that’s when he saw it. If he’d been a second later he would have missed it, but fate, or God, or the Goddess, or something had his back because he hadn’t missed it. He’d missed what came before, but he saw as Karolina reared back away from Turner, lifting her arm and swinging it. He felt the sting of the slap from here, even from across the room and over the music. Chase’s jaw dropped for a moment as he tried to process what he was seeing, as Karolina took a step back, holding her hand up to her mouth and looking regretful.

Turner was holding his cheek with his left hand. He stared at Karolina, goggle-eyed, frozen for a moment, before he stood up straight, stepping away from her. Indignant. Even from here Chase could feel the anger behind his reaction, and suddenly his brain jumped into action. It was like the world turned to slow motion, as he saw Turner begin to stomp past Karolina. Towards the door. Towards his office.

Shit! God damn it! How had he let himself be so caught off guard? He shouldn’t have let himself get so distracted! The mission was the most important thing, and if they got caught, well… he didn’t want to think of that. So he had to think fast. Figure out a plan. He had to stop Turner from getting to his office, from finding Alex and Nico before they’d found the file and left. But how?

His eyes scanned the room. He had to stop him from leaving, even though he was rushing in the direction of the door. Luckily, he’d been on the opposite side of the room, and the crowd had thickened in the last ten or fifteen minutes. He saw him frustratedly dodging teenagers as he tried to move past them quickly, but it was a lot like a salmon swimming upstream. Good. That gave Chase at least a few more seconds to come up with a plan. Distraction. Distraction. His eyes searched frantically, before landing on Gert and Andrew, dancing by the edge of the crowd, and suddenly a plan crystalized.

Chase rushed over to them, any intention to wait until the song changed long since wiped from his mind, and he placed a hand on each of their shoulders, wrenching them apart. He tried not to look at Gert’s outraged reaction, mouth open in an appalled snarl that showed her teeth, her eyebrows scrunched down over narrowed eyes, but he couldn’t help it. Beside her, Andrew looked like he was ready to punch Chase. Good. It was working already.

“Chase!” Gert shouted at him, both a question and an exclamation.

“What the fuck, Stein!?” Andrew added, and Chase had to swallow the satisfied smile that wanted to bubble up as Gert turned her outraged look towards Andrew, not liking his angry reaction.

“No time to explain.” Chase said, turning to Andrew. “Punch me!” Chase urged, but not surprisingly, Andrew just stood there like an idiot, staring at him, slack jawed. Not understanding how urgent this was, that he needed to do it now. Chase glanced at Turner, who was getting closer to where they stood, and he wished he could just punch Andrew’s stupid face. It would be so much quicker and efficient, to just do it, rather than trying to convince Andrew to with no explanation. But Chase didn’t think Gert would forgive him easily if he did it himself. Plus, Andrew was a dick, but he didn’t deserve to be sucker-punched in the face. Not yet at least.

“What?” He asked, and beside him, Gert was back to looking at Chase like he had two heads.

“What!?” She echoed.

“Just do it! Come on, you gotta do it now. Just punch me.” Chase stammered quickly, using his hands to mime a punch to his own face, but infuriatingly, Andrew continued to stand there obstinately.

“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, Stein, but—“

“JESUS CHRIST, FLETCHER. JUST DO IT!” Chase screamed, his anger rising as he could see Turner just about twenty feet away, trying to move past a group of kids.

“So you can charge me with assault, not likely.” Andrew responded, and Chase rolled his eyes to the ceiling, trying to collect himself for an instant before he narrowed them and shot a menacing look at the other male.

“Listen to me, Fletcher. If you don’t punch me—RIGHT NOW—I’m going to have to hit you.” He threatened, his voice as low and frightening as he could make it but still have it carry over the music. He meant it. Andrew was giving him no choice. This was on him, not Chase. And so he wound his arm back, watching Andrew’s eyes go wide, and beside him, Gert’s went even wider.

“Just hit him!” She shouted, causing Chase to pause, and both guys looked at her in surprise.

“Gert? What the hell?” Andrew asked, but Gert’s eyes were looking past him, and Chase knew she’d seen Turner. She suddenly understood what was happening, why Chase was behaving like this. And he wanted to sag with relief, but he couldn’t. They weren’t out of the woods yet.

“Just do it! Don’t ask questions.” She urged, but still Andrew just stood there dumbly. Not helpful at all. So Gert rolled her eyes back dramatically, before settling them back to look at Andrew with derision. Chase loved seeing her look at him like that. That was the last thought he had before it happened. “Fine, I have to do everything, it seems.” She said.

And then she turned towards Chase, using the momentum of the turn to swing her fist, connecting it solidly into Chase’s jaw. And he didn’t even have time to be impressed, to wonder who had taught her to throw such a great punch. Because he was out before he even hit the floor.

Blackness.

Chapter Text

              Everything was happening so quickly. Gert felt the explosion of pain in her fist and the reverberation rang all the way up her arm and into her shoulder. She watched as Chase was knocked backwards, his eyes rolling back in his head. And she waited for the panic to set in. She knew it was coming. She was fully un-medicated and prone to anxiety attacks, and the mission was about to be ruined and they were potentially going to be caught and maybe get killed and she’d just punched Chase in the chin... Any second now, the music would become unbearably loud, her heart would start racing, and she’d feel that tightness in her chest. Then her vision would become blurry, and she’d get the uncontrollable urge to run away.

              It was going to happen, she knew it, so she watched in horror as Chase fall to the ground, and waited to fall apart at the seams. To crumble under the pressure. Any second now. Because that was just what she did. When things got crazy, Gert panicked. She knew that about herself. So… why wasn’t she? She waited for the panic to set in, but it just… didn’t. She felt awful hurting him, sure, and she knew things were about to get messy, absolutely. The thing that was surprising her was that normally by this point she’d be crumpled up, repeating mantras to herself to keep from losing her mind. But now? It was like her brain was clearer than usual. She wouldn’t go so far as to say that things were moving in slow motion, it was just that she had more awareness of what was going on around her. Her senses felt sharp, she felt alert. This was the opposite of panicking.

              It took her a moment to accept her reaction as real, to feel sure that she wasn’t going to pass out or crumble under the pressure, but when it hit her, the realization that she was ok, the relief was incredible. Because this situation was bad enough without shutting down. And so instead of closing her eyes and focusing on her breathing or counting backwards from 10, she simply cringed as she watched Chase crash to the ground, and she hoped he hadn’t been further injured in the process. But, she told herself, usually when people were fully limp, they could hit the ground without much injury. And Chase had been knocked cold.

              And then, at that realization, despite the gravity of the situation, despite the sheer amount of shit they were likely in, an incredulous smile spread across Gert’s face. Wow, she thought. She’d just knocked out Chase stein! And not by accident, with like a door or an awkward elbow or something. On purpose. With her fist. Even Brandon hadn’t done that, and he’d tried, on multiple occasions. Those self defense classes she’d taken had seriously paid off, apparently! She turned to look at Andrew, her eyes wide, psyched on feeling proud of herself, and she spoke before she really even absorbed the horror on his face. “Did you see that?” She asked in wonder, shaking her sore hand and smiling, still shocked and impressed with what she’d done, and Andrew’s look of horror twisted into one of bewilderment.

              “What—“ He started, then stopped, and Gert’s smile faltered. It wasn’t a question, he’d meant to say more but it looked like his brain had frozen for a moment, mid-sentence. Gert opened her mouth to try to explain, when his brain seemed to re-start and he rounded on her. “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!?” He shouted at her in question, and now people were looking, shuffling over to see what was happening, forming a circle around them. Gert was thankful for this newfound confidence and clarity of mind, because normally she’d be freaking out from claustrophobia in a situation like this. She normally hated crowds. A part of her mind wondered briefly if this was the adrenaline from the punch, or maybe some of Old Lace’s predator instincts leeching through their psychic bond, that was giving her this strength under pressure, but whatever it was, she wasn’t going to question it, she was just going to go with it.

              “Andrew, listen to me, you can’t tell them our names.” She said suddenly as the thought popped into her head, disregarding his question, looking him straight in the eye, realizing this was no longer the time for jokes or smiles. If the plan had worked, Turner would be over here any second, and if Andrew revealed their identities, they could be in a hell of a lot of trouble.

              “Gert, what the HELL?” He asked again, ignoring her, tearing his eyes away from her to look down at Chase. “Tell me what’s going on, now.” He demanded, looking back up at her, and Gert fought back a wave of annoyance. Why the hell was Andrew even here, anyways? Who had invited him? To think she’d been so excited to see him, what had she been thinking? Now all she could think of was how much she wished he’d never appeared. If she never saw him again in her life, she couldn’t possibly care less. She wished she could just push him aside and go fuss over Chase, to make sure he was okay, but she had to prioritize. The mission plan had just gone up in flames, and she needed to mitigate the fallout as best she could before she could tend to Chase. She needed to give Alex and Nico every possible second to get the files and get out.

              “Andrew please!” She shouted, reaching out to grab his arms, to force him to face her, to listen to her. “I’ll explain everything later-“ –that was a lie—“But right now I need you to promise not to say my name. I’m Simone, that’s Grant.” She instructed, but she didn’t think he really heard a word she was saying. The crowd around them were shouting, jeering, riled up and excited by the action. Some were chanting the word fight, fight, fight. And then suddenly a wave of ‘oooohs’ started up, and the circle parted to let Principal Turner through.

              “WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?” He demanded, stepping into the open space, and Gert looked back at Andrew with pleading eyes.

              “Simone.” She repeated, begged, and thought she might have seen a spark of acknowledgement, buried deep beneath the shock and confusion in his eyes. And then, she turned away, ignoring the principal, knowing she didn’t have much time, and she knelt down to hover over Chase. She needed to know he was okay before she could keep going. She needed to.

Leaning over him, Gert placed one palm against his chest, near his heart, and when she felt the steady beat, she reached forward to cup his cheek with the other, brushing her thumb over his cheekbone. As she did, his eyes fluttered open, blinking uncomprehendingly at first but quickly finding her face, and she watched as recognition returned to them. Gert smiled at him, and despite his obvious pain, Chase smiled crookedly back at her.

              “Nice punch, babe.” He said with genuine admiration, wincing a bit as he tried moving his jaw, and Gert’s smile widened with pride.

              “Thanks, I took a class last year.” She said with a shrug, facetiously casual despite their perilous position, and he winced again as he chuckled in reply. Behind her, Gert could hear Turner trying to calm down the crowd, and she knew she didn’t have long.

              “I think it paid off.” He said, weakly, and she wouldn’t have been able to hear him if she hadn’t been so close. “You really rocked me.” He added, closing his eyes for a second, and Gert’s smile twisted down into a frown of worry.

              “Are you ok?” She asked quickly, aware of movement behind her.

              “Will be…” He croaked, but then his eyes turned serious as they found hers again. “Gert…” He said softly, reaching up with one hand to place over the one she still held firmly over his heart. His eyes were soulful and the one word conveyed so much, it sent shivers throughout her body. It was an apology, a prayer for forgiveness, and it felt beseeching of her. It tugged at her spirit and she couldn’t help what she did next.

              “Simone.” She whispered in correction, and some part of her mind registered that behind her, Turner was demanding she stand up to face him, but she ignored him and somehow the noise and movement of the room around her had dampened, faded to a hum, as she looked into Chase’s eyes. Everything else just melted away. And then, on impulse, she leaned forward, closing her eyes, and placed a soft, slow, kiss on his full lips. When she pulled back, she opened her eyes again and was unbelievably relieved to see a smile of wonder on his face, despite his bruised jaw.

              But they didn’t have time to talk about it (as usual). Gert didn’t even know what it meant, other than she’d kissed him and he’d smiled. Maybe he thought they were still in character? Simone and Grant? She had just reminded him to use the pseudonym… But to Gert, that kiss wasn’t pretend. That came from her. Not Simone. Fuck Simone. Well, not fuck her. She still needed her for a little while longer, to protect their identities while they figured out a way to escape. Which reminded her…

              “I’m sorry about everything that happens from here on.” She whispered quickly in his ear, before pulling back and shouting loudly, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him a little. “Baby! BABY ARE YOU OK!?” She wailed dramatically, and Chase stared back at her with wide, shocked eyes, obviously taken aback by her abrupt change in demeanor. “Oh thank GOD!” She fake-sobbed, pulling her face down to his chest to fake sob once or twice more, before rearing back and screeching, beginning to pummel his chest with slaps and punches. She tried to pull her hits, make them look worse than they felt, and she hoped she succeeded, for poor Chase’s sake.

“HOW DARE YOU, GRANT!?” She sobbed and screamed, continuing to lay slaps across his chest dramatically, hoping that Turner would pull her off of him soon. Thankfully, she felt her arm being yanked back after a few seconds, and she allowed herself to be pulled off of him, all the while sobbing. “How could you do that to me!?”

As she got to her feet, the principal turned her away from Chase, who was now slowly rising onto his elbows, and as she turned, she caught Andrew’s eye. He looked shocked and completely confused, and Gert broke character for a flash of an instant, narrowing her eyes to make sure he remembered what she’d told him. Don’t say their names. But then she was back to being a wailing Simone, distraught over finding out that Grant had cheated on her. Or that was the backstory she was going with, at least. She hoped she wouldn’t need it for long.

“Young lady! What is --Calm yourself!” Turner shouted, and his voice carried, as Gert noticed that the DJ had turned the music off. It was suddenly eerily quiet, as the entire student body had turned their attention to the drama unfolding before them. Good. Gert thought. She hoped Karolina was slipping by them all and racing to get Alex and Nico. As soon as they were free, Gert and Chase would have to… they’d have to…

Shit. This had all happened so fast, she hadn’t really had a chance to think much past this point. What the hell were they going to do? Run away? They were pretty good at doing that already, lots of practice, but… was that going to work? They were in a crowd, and Turner would likely be on them like glue, and he’d probably call the cops… Shit.

The only thing she could think to do was stall. Drag this out as long as possible to stop Turner from calling the police. Buy every possible second she could for the rest of them. What else could she do? So she breathed in deep, and channelled every guest on Maury Povich she had ever seen. This was going to get messy.

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              Ok so tonight wasn’t exactly going as planned. How could she have let this happen? Karolina thought she had it handled! She had Turner wrapped around her little finger, and she was keeping him far away from his office, clearing the way for Alex and Nico. She was rocking it. Until suddenly she wasn’t anymore… She liked to think it wasn’t her fault, but really, it was. She lost her focus as he’d been going on about something stupid and boring, a motorcycle he’d recently gotten, for way too long. He was trying to impress her. Trying to being the operative term. Trying and failing.

First she was thinking about how nothing could impress her less than knowing this balding middle aged man had bought a Harley during his mid-life crisis. And she didn’t give a shit about motorcycles, anyways. Why did guys always do that? Brag about macho stuff that no one but them cared about, like that would impress anyone. But then her mind started wandering, as he went on about engines and licenses and stuff, and she started thinking of Nico on a motorcycle. And suddenly Karolina was a lot more into motorcycles.

She was having a pleasant daydream, nodding along at whatever he said, but thinking about riding down the highway, her thighs hugging Nico tightly, her arms around her waist, as the wind ripped through their hair and they’d be free, riding off into the sunset. It was a really hot daydream, actually, and she was getting a little carried away with it. So she was completely caught off guard and a lot unhappy to be interrupted when Turner had placed his warm, sweaty hand on her arm, squeezing suggestively.

She hadn’t even heard what he said, had zero context, but she was instantly pulled from her daydream and her eyes widened as she was forced back to the here-and-now and she realized who it was that was touching her. It wasn’t even a sexual touch, but it was unwanted, and there was something about thinking about Nico and opening your eyes to some creep squeezing your arm. The transition was too abrupt, and Karolina’s first instinct was to slap the guy. So she did. And she regretted it instantly.

Any other circumstance, she wouldn’t have regretted it for a second. Creeps deserved to get slapped. But in this case… she really should have held back. For the team’s sake. And damn was she feeling shitty about her choices as she called after him, apologizing, trying to chase him down as he retreated through the crowd towards the exit. If she’d just been paying attention to his boring story, she wouldn’t have gotten so surprised when he touched her and she probably wouldn’t have slapped him, and he wouldn’t be heading to his office this very second. It was all her fault. She was too distracted. She just couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Nico, and that was a problem when they were on a mission.

Gosh, she thought as she started to fall behind him as a group passed in front of her, she hoped Gert and Chase would be able to warn the others of her screw-up before he got there. And she prayed that by some miracle, they’d already gotten the file and she hadn’t let down the entire Lost 15, not to mention her friends. And she tried not to think of the worst case scenario. Getting caught. If that was her fault, Karolina didn’t know what she’d do. She probably wouldn’t have long to worry about it, though, because they’d all be dead. Jonah had some powerful people under his influence, and she didn’t think they’d last very long if they ended up in Police custody.

So it was with an insane amount of relief that Karolina saw Turner veer from his path towards the door, heading instead towards some sort of ruckus in the crowd. She could see a large group forming, and she couldn’t believe her luck. A minute later, when she finally made it through the crowd to where she could see what was happening, she realized it wasn’t actually luck, and instead it was Gert, saving her ass. She was causing a distraction, and in that instant Karolina resolved to pay her back, in any way she could. Because what Gert was doing… it was above and beyond the call of duty.

“MY COUSIN!? REALLY GRANT!?” She heard Gert wail, and Karolina snorted back a laugh. “DID YOU SLEEP WITH MY TWIN SISTER, TOO?” She added, and Karolina had to leave, because laughing felt inappropriate given the situation she was in, but she didn’t think she could stand there and listen to that performance without cracking up. Plus, Gert was stalling. That was the only explanation. Karolina needed to get to the principal’s office to warn them… now. Her time on Turner duty was over.

And so she ran. As quickly as she could in 4-inch heels that were two sizes too small, which wasn’t nearly quick enough. But eventually she got there, though she had no idea how far behind Turner may be. She assumed that Gert and Chase would be hauled off to the principal’s office any minute now, so she really wasn’t very happy when she found the door locked, though she could see light inside. And there was a strange muffled noise as she shook the door. She was considering blasting the door with her light when she realized what was happening… Nico had put a shield up. And it wasn’t down yet. Which meant they were still inside.

Desperately, Karolina started pounding on the door, hoping they’d be able to hear her from inside. “Nico! Nico! He’s coming! Let me in! Alex? Nico!” She pleaded as she pounded on the door, hoping to God (what God, she wasn’t sure of anymore, since her entire Religion and world-view had so recently been shattered) that no one could hear her.

Thankfully, whichever God had heard her prayer, had listened. Because a moment later, she saw the barrier melt away and the opaque glass turned clear, and Karolina couldn’t help the swell in her chest as she saw Nico on the other side of the door. She looked so beautiful, though worried, and she scrambled at the lock, letting Karolina in out of the hallway.

The moment the door opened, Karolina burst through, crashing into Nico and holding her tight in an embrace. “I’m sorry! I screwed up! They’re coming!” Karolina warned as she pulled away, and watched as Nico’s eyes turned from worried to terrified.

“We haven’t found it yet!” Nico groaned, and quickly turned to run into an adjoining room, where Karolina followed. The room was windowless and full of filing cabinets, and Alex was tearing through one, a panicked look on his face, as she entered.

“We’re dead. We’re dead!” Alex said to himself as he feverishly flipped through drawers, and Karolina wondered if he was too frazzled, if he was even able to absorb any of the information he was reading at this point. And her heart sunk. This was her fault. They’d lost. They were all going to be caught. And probably killed. All because of her.

Karolina felt about as low as she’d ever felt, in that moment. But sometimes, when you’re at your lowest, that’s when the most brilliant ideas hit. Karolina’s eyes lit up as she experienced one of those great ideas. “The staff.” She said to herself, quietly, before perking up and looking at Nico. “The staff! Nico use the staff!” She urged, and Nico looked confused for about a second before she rolled her eyes, throwing her head back in annoyance.

“WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?” she moaned, before holding the staff out before her, pricking her thumb to activate the eye, and when it was ready, she spoke. “Where’s the file?” She asked clearly, and they waited a tense moment to see if it worked. For half a second, Karolina’s heart sank as she thought they had failed, but then they heard a rumble, and all of their heads snapped towards a filing cabinet in the corner that had started to shake. Like something was trying to get out.

Without preamble, Alex rushed to the cabinet, opened the drawer and a thin blue folder shot straight into the air, startling Karolina. Alex was so focused, however, it didn’t even phase him. He just snatched the folder out of the air, and opened it immediately. “James Young, that’s him!” He cried, and he turned to them, finally smiling. “I can’t believe it!” He said, his relief palpable, as he started to read through the file. But Karolina couldn’t let them celebrate long, and certainly not relax.

“Alex we don’t have time for that, we have to get out of here. Turner’s coming.” Karolina warned, and Alex snapped the file shut, his serious expression returning as he nodded in understanding. He tucked the file into the back of his pants, held by his belt, and let his suit jacket fall over it, obscuring it in case they were caught.

“Let’s get out of here.” Nico said when he was ready, and they all turned and left the records room. Alex hit the light as they left, and then the light to the main room as Nico opened the door to let them out into the hallway. But she was only two steps out the door when she came barreling back inside, crashing into Karolina and Alex who were trying to leave closely behind her. “Close the door!” She whisper-screamed, and Karolina swung it quickly, but Nico shot her foot into the doorway to catch it. “Quietly!” She hissed, and carefully closed it the rest of the way. “They’re coming!” She added, and Karolina and Alex went pale.

And sure enough, a second later, they could hear Gert’s voice carrying clearly, echoing down the hall. “DON’T pull that bullshit! We aren’t even identical! Did you even use protection!?” and then another voice, a guy’s voice, but Karolina didn’t recognize it. “I don’t have anything to DO with this! Why am I in trouble!?” and then there was Chase “It was a mistake, baby! You know I only love you!”

Even though Karolina knew the stuff they were saying wasn’t real, it was still hard not to just stand there and listen. But the voices were getting louder the closer they got, and Alex was the first to break the trance. “Quick, in there!” he urged, placing his hands on Karolina and Nico’s shoulders, pushing them towards an adjoining office. They only just barely made it inside with the door shut when the light in the main room came back on.

“This is your last chance—“ That was Turner’s voice. The three of them had hidden behind the desk in the dark vice-principal’s office, but the sound carried very well. “You can tell me your real names, and your parent’s phone numbers, or I am going to be forced to call the police.” He demanded sternly.

“My name is Simone De Beauvoir!” Gert retorted indignantly.

“Right, and his name is Grant Carrey.” Tuner replied, his tone dripping in sarcasm. “It sounds to me like someone with good taste in movies and a knowledge of feminist history to me.” He replied skeptically.

“No, my—wait… you know Simone De Beauvoir?” Gert asked, taken aback.

“YES, and it’s not you, so tell me your real name or tell it to the police. It’s your choice!”

“You were right, you definitely would have been the better choice.” That was Chase, breaking character. Probably speaking to Gert.

“You know my name, I’m Andrew Fletcher, I don’t have anything to do with this, Principal Turner. Please, can you let me go, my parents are going to kill me.” The mystery guy replied. Except he wasn’t a mystery to Karolina anymore. Andrew Fletcher!? That Andrew Fletcher!? Her jaw practically hit the floor and she turned to Nico with wide unbelieving eyes, but she seemed like she already knew.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you about it later” She whispered, and Karolina nodded.

“You clearly know these two, Andrew, so unless you want to give me their names, I’m going to have to insist you stay.” Turner replied, and there was a long, tense silence that followed. Karolina held her breath, once again praying to an unknown God that he wouldn’t say anything. It seemed to drag on, and on, before finally Andrew spoke again.

“No, sir.” He replied, and Karolina, Nico, and Alex all let out a held breath together, sagging in relief.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, Mr. Fletcher.” Turner admonished.

“I don’t know either.” Andrew replied, angrily. Karolina imagined he was glaring at Gert and Chase, who had probably asked him not to tell Turner their names. Or threatened him not to, probably with violence. One of the two, Karolina honestly didn’t care which one it was, as long as he didn’t rat them out.

“Well in that case, the three of you can think about it as you wait in here while I wait for the police to sort this out. There’s no windows, so don’t get any smart ideas.” Turner said, and then there was the sound of footsteps, and a door opening and then shutting, and the click of a lock.

“He’s got them in the records room.” Alex whispered, and Karolina groaned in annoyance. She’d only been in the room a minute, but it was sealed like a drum, windowless and locked from the outside. She could hear Turner on the phone now, in the room that separated the vice principal’s office from the records room, calling the local police department, and she felt her heartrate begin to rise. He didn’t seem to be leaving the space that separated them from Gert and Chase, so she didn’t know how they’d be able to get to them. Or worse, how they’d be able to get out themselves.

“What are we going to do?” Karolina asked.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” Nico replied.

“But how? Turner’s in the way.” Alex asked, and Nico seemed to be thinking.

“The window, we’re on the first floor, we can get out the window.” She replied, and Karolina couldn’t help but nod her agreement. That was a great idea.

“But what about Gert and Chase?” Alex reasoned, and Karolina felt her heart sink because, damn, that was a good point.

“Should we knock Turner out?” Karolina asked, holding up her fingers in the shape of a gun, thinking about her light power. But Alex was shaking his head.

“No way. Too many variables. Even if you set your phasers to stun, he could get hurt, or he could remember seeing you go Rainbow Bright before you knock him out. It could make everything worse.”

“Fine, then what’s your suggestion?” Karolina retorted, annoyed. She really thought she could pull it off.

“We go with Nico’s plan. Out the window. We can’t risk being here when the cops get here. We’ll regroup outside and come up with something. I don’t know what, but…” He was interrupted by the sound of Turner’s voice loudly calling to the three that were locked inside the records room.

“I just got off with the phone with the man at the local department, they’re sending someone over, they’ll be here in ten minutes.” He said loudly, so they could all hear, and Alex looked at Karolina, then Nico.

“We’ve got to get out of here. We’ll figure something out, we can’t lose this file.” Alex said urgently, and without waiting for agreement, he started crawling over towards the windows. Karolina sighed. She didn’t like the thought of abandoning Gert and Chase, especially after they’d saved her ass with their distraction. She really thought she could probably get him in a sneak attack, if she really tried. But the operative word there was probably. She didn’t want to take that risk. Turner may be a creep, but as far as she knew, he was just an innocent guy, and it was true. She didn’t have the best grasp of her powers yet, and if she miscalculated, she could kill him.

And so she followed Alex. He had risen slowly, unclasped the two latches at the top, and eased it open, stopping and waiting any time it would creak. Luckily, no alarms had sounded, so all that was left was to carefully climb out, and then they could regroup and come up with some sort of plan. Then all they had to do was rescue Gert and Chase, without getting caught. In the next ten minutes. Easy, Karolina thought, as she stepped up to the window frame and silently lifted one leg over the sill.

…Not.

=========================================================================

              Molly was tired. And hungry. And bored. That’s all she could think of as she sat there, doing everything she could to keep her eyes on the school and not daydream. She’d been waiting in the driver’s seat of the van (not that she could drive it) and cursing each of her brothers and sisters individually and in very creative ways, for not letting her come along. That’s how she was thinking of them now, as brothers and sisters. Because they were more than just friends, now. They were family. A family that she currently hated.

              “How long are they going to take!?” She asked Old Lace, and the Dinosaur replied with a ‘boof’ of air out her nostrils and a grunt, before going back to this kind of whine she’d been doing for the past five or ten minutes.. She seemed like she really wanted to get out and stretch her legs, but there was no way Molly was letting her out without Gert here to make her come back. Lacey might like Molly, but she didn’t listen to her. “I’m sorry girl, I can’t let you out!” Molly apologized for probably the hundredth time already, feeling bad.

              “But if you want to be mad, be mad at them. This wasn’t my plan.” She continued, “And seriously, if they don’t come back soon, I might starve to death.” She added, groaning. Old Lace ‘boofed’ again and Molly smiled. The Deinonychus had wedged herself as far forward in the van that she could, between the two second row seats, her head stretching forward to rest on the center console. Molly absentmindedly petted her, enjoying the coolness of her scales. Then suddenly, she had an idea.

              “Hey, can you keep an eye on the school for a minute, Lacey?” Molly asked. “I think we have some snacks in the trunk!” She added brightly, thinking of the fruit snacks she’d made Chase buy her at the store earlier. Her mouth watered a little at the thought. “I’ll be right back.” She said, “Stay. Here.” She warned, shaking her finger at the dinosaur like she was a dog. Old Lace ‘boofed’ again and Molly took that as a ‘yes’, so she shrugged and turned to open the door. She was just turning around to close it behind her, to head to the trunk and dig for her Scooby-Doo fruit snacks, when Old Lace crashed through the door.

              “Aaaaah!!” Molly screamed in surprise, as she was knocked aside and Old Lace exited the vehicle and stood to her full height, seemingly stretching. “What the hell, Lacey!?” She cried, but Old Lace just whined and grunted urgently, and then she ran a few steps towards the school, stopped, and looked back at Molly, before grunting again. When Molly didn’t move or respond, Old Lace grunted again, exhaling through her nose sharply and turning her head to look at the school, before turning back.

              “What is it, did Timmy fall down a well?” Molly asked rhetorically, to which Old Lace responded with a resounding ‘boof’ before turning bodily towards the school, then stretching her neck around to look back at Molly.

              “You could have run away by now, if you wanted to…” Molly said, trying to figure out what was up with Gert’s prehistoric pet. She clearly wanted something. “Do you want me to follow you?” She asked hesitantly, and Lacey bowed her head with an enthusiastic ‘boof’, before turning her head toward the school.

              “I don’t know… are you sure, girl? Because if you’re just messing around, we could get everyone in a lot of trouble…” Molly asked, hesitating. But In her heart, she had a very strong inclination to follow the dinosaur. She didn’t know why, she just thought she should. And Molly had always been inclined to follow her gut. So, throwing caution to the wind, she decided to follow her. And Old Lace led her, to where, Molly supposed she’d find out shortly.

===================================================================================

              Chase was having a hard time dealing with all the things that were happening inside him right now. His pulse was racing, his breathing was shallow, and his eyes darted around for something to focus on in the new room as the heavy door clicked shut behind him, but all they wanted to see was her. He was completely amped up on adrenaline, fear, apprehension, and lust. He couldn’t help it, he was so ridiculously turned on right now, it was absurd.

              It had started when he’d first seen her in that dress, earlier in the day. It had escalated as the mission began, when they’d entered the dance that stirred up so many memories of their last dance. Then he’d been able to finally start touching her, dancing with her, being close to her. And then she had punched him, and god, why did that make everything so much worse? By the time he’d come back to his senses, Gert was a screeching banshee, giving everything she had at Chase (Grant, actually) and Turner, making a complete scene of herself. And why was that such a fucking turn-on? He didn’t think he’d like it if she always behaved like that, or if she always punched him in the face. But tonight? It was doing things to him. Seeing her take control of the situation like that, let go of all her inhibitions…

              His eyes raked across the room, just vaguely taking in the filing cabinets and old Halloween decorations, until he found Gert. She was breathing heavily, looking just as amped up and ready to fight as he did. And the second their eyes connected, he couldn’t help himself, he launched himself at her, reaching out to pull her face to his, and kissed her with a passion he had never experienced before, not even the first time they’d kissed.

              They might have gotten carried away with it, like they did last time, if it wasn’t for a horrified scream by Andrew, who Chase had completely forgotten about in that moment of complete animal attraction. “EUGH!” He wretched. “Seriously, what is wrong with you two?!” He added, and only then did Chase reluctantly pull away from the girl he loved so much, the body he wanted so much, and he panted a little trying to catch his breath, his eyes still on Gert, who was mirroring him.

              He wanted to hit Andrew so badly, to shut him up. To remove him from this situation. He was so unwelcome it was hard to accept his presence. But Andrew hadn’t given their names up, and that was worth something. So Chase kept his fists to himself, instead focusing all his passion and attention on Gert. It was best just to ignore him.

Gert looked like she was ready to throw more punches at any second as well, as she glared back at him, breathing heavily. She was probably being ravaged by the same heightened levels adrenaline as he was, stirred up by the punch, kept alive by the screaming match they’d been in for the last 10 minutes, and possibly made worse by the damn passionate kiss they’d just shared, and she looked like she wanted to keep fighting. And Chase couldn’t help it, he smiled. Because this was a face of Gert’s he didn’t get to see very often. And he loved all her faces. But Fight-Club-Gert was a sight to behold.

But smiling was the wrong choice. Gert’s face twisted indignantly, and as she opened her mouth, Chase prepared to have her wrath turned upon him one more time. And he tried not to get too turned on by it. “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?” She screamed in question, standing just a foot or two away from him, taking one hand, wiping her wet mouth, and looking at it before back up at him.

“What was what?!” He questioned back defensively, because fighting was kind of fun right now, and he didn’t think he had much option, he was so worked up.

“Why did you just kiss me like that!?” She demanded, and Chase felt the flush rise up from his collar just at the mention of that kiss. It was still doing things to him, so it was easier to focus on Gert, and to let his frustration out in an argument.

“What do you MEAN why did I kiss you like that!?” He demanded right back. Somewhere beside them, Andrew cleared his throat, but they both ignored him, both of their eyes so focused on the others they may as well have been connected by laser beams as they panted and shouted at each other.

“I mean why did you do it!?” She asked, her frustration and passion and adrenaline seeping into her words.

“Because I LIKE YOU, you dumbass!” He shouted in reply, equally frustrated that she didn’t already know that, because seriously…had she been paying zero attention? He was so goddamned in love with her he imagined it was as obvious as if he’d had neon signs declaring it publically.

“You LIKE me?!” She challenged back, her voice loud and confrontational, and Chase took a step forward into the space between them, his shoulders rolled forward and hands tightened fists.

“OBVIOUSLY!” He shouted, practically in her face. “I like you A LOT.” He added, so frustrated and angry but also relieved to finally have that off his chest. Why was he still fighting with her? He didn’t know. But it was cathartic, and neither of them seemed to be able to stop. For some reason, his words seemed to shock Gert for only a second, and they she was right back in it.

“Yeah, well I like YOU a lot too!” She shouted back at him, like it was a competition and she was not to be beaten. If Chase hadn’t been so committed and sucked into this “fight” they were having, he’d have laughed. But if Gert wanted a competition, she had one. Chase wasn’t captain of the State Championship-winning lacrosse team because he wasn’t competitive.

“OH YEAH? Well I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, so beat that.” He added, and watched as Gert’s eyes widened before narrowing in focus.

“Well I’m DEFINITELY SURE I’m in love with you, take that!” She retorted, taking a small step toward him as she did. She was wound up as tight as a drum, and Chase thought she might burst at any second. And he was kind of hoping to see it. So he kept pushing.

“Yeah, well… I’ve loved you since middle school, so I win!” He challenged back, smiling tightly and smugly as his shoulders rose and fell with his panting breaths. He was barely a foot away from her, and he would have been intimidating to anyone else, the threatening posture he had, the way he lurched over her. But she was standing her ground, she’d squared her shoulders and was glaring back at him defiantly.

“No you didn’t!” She denied, and Chase narrowed his eyes.

“Yes I did!” He replied. He wasn’t going to back down now. Plus it was true.

“What the hell Chase!? I’ve loved YOU since middle school! Why didn’t you say anything!?” She shouted at him.

“Ummmm… we dated in middle school, Gert…” Andrew interrupted, and both Chase and Gert’s head snapped toward him at the same time.

“SHUT UP ANDREW!” They both shouted, their voices combining, and his eyes widened and he took a step backward, knocked back by the united front of their wrath. Chase felt a little bad for him, he thought they were probably a true sight to behold in this moment. They were both completely undone, and it really would be much better if they were alone. Because all the cards were finally on the table. Gert felt the same about him as he did about her! His heart wanted to soar, he wanted to sing, he wanted to cry, but the heat of the moment and their fight also made him want to fuck. And that would be a little awkward with Andrew here, not to mention with the cops showing up any minute.

But Chase couldn’t help himself. He wouldn’t let it get that far, but he had to kiss her again. He had to. It wasn’t his fault. It was a biological imperative. But he didn’t have to make the move, because this time it was Gert launching herself at him, closing those scant remaining few inches between them, and crashing her lips into his. They kissed with a passion that Chase didn’t know he’d ever feel again, it was so all-consuming, it felt like it shouldn’t be allowed. It was almost too much. But he also thought if they ever stopped he might die. So Andrew was really lucky he didn’t get punched in the face, when Chase felt himself getting forcibly wrenched away from the girl he loved. From Chase or Gert, Andrew was in equal amounts of danger.

“That’s ENOUGH!” Andrew screamed, loud enough that his voice cracked, loud enough to momentarily shock Chase, and Gert next to him, to cause them to freeze rather than fight back. Silence fell upon the room as they stood in a triangle, Andrew moving his eyes between the two of them, his expression showing how completely fed up he was. And Chase had to admit, he may not like Andrew, but honestly, he couldn’t blame him for being pissed off.

After a tense moment that dragged on, Andrew spoke again, attempting to return a semblance of calm to his voice, but it came out wrong. Too calm, very off-putting. “Now please, Gert, explain what’s—“ But Gert interrupted him with a sharp “Shhhhhhhh!”

“Don’t say my name!” She hissed, a loud whisper and looking back toward the door, wondering if Turner could have heard. Probably not aware that they had been saying each other’s names in passion since the door closed behind them. Screaming them, actually. But Chase wasn’t about to correct her right now.

“WHY NOT!?” Andrew yelled in frustration. “The cops will be here any minute, I’m going to be in so much shit, you remember my mom. Give me ONE GOOD REASON—“ But once again Andrew was interrupted. This time, however, it wasn’t by Gert.

*CRASH*

It was like a bomb had gone off in the back of the room. The sound that accompanied the impact was deafening, and there was dust and small debris that filled the air. Chase’s first instinct was to grab Gert and pull her close, and as he did, she reached up to cover his eyes as she pressed her face into his chest. They stayed like that, still, for a moment, his eyes squinting shut against Gert’s hands. But after a few seconds, he moved his head and carefully opened his eyes, needing to see what the hell had just happened. Were they under attack? He couldn’t see anything at first, but soon the dust cleared and they could see a large hole in the wall of the room.

And in the hole, barely visible through the dust, was the shadow of a girl with wild curly hair standing proudly with her hands on her hips, and as he watched, the hulking form of an overgrown Velociraptor stepped into view beside her.

=============================================================

The shock had been intense. Gert had been so full of passion, emotion, fear, and anticipation, she’d been off-balance already, but then there was a crash and the lights went out and the room had shaken, and for a moment, Gert had wondered if they were under attack. And then Chase had pulled her into his arms and her brain wanted to think about that, only that and nothing else, but she couldn’t think about that right now. So she forced herself to focus on the bomb that had just gone off on the other side of the room. Or whatever it had been.

It took Gert a good long second to figure out what she was looking at, as she peered through the smoke. There was a silhouette of a person, dimly lit from a hole in the wall behind, but she couldn’t make out who it was. It wasn’t until Old Lace stepped into view that her brain started moving again and it started to make sense. Molly. It was Molly—She’d knocked the wall down—she’d saved them!

“Molly!” She cried, rushing forward, and as she did, Molly rushed into the room to meet her, colliding with her in a massive hug. Gert coughed a little, having run right into the dust cloud, but she didn’t care. They were safe, they’d been rescued, the police wouldn’t be able to get them which meant Jonah wasn’t going to be able to make them disappear and go “ultra”. Oh, and there was the not-so-small-and-actually-earth-shattering news that Chase apparently loved her. So all a sudden, despite all the craziness and awfulness that had happened this evening, things were amazing. So yeah a little dust in the lungs was a small price to pay.

“How?” Chase asked, crossing the room to join them.

“It was Lacey!” Molly explained excitedly, pulling away from the hug and reaching out with her hand to pat the dinosaur’s head. Old Lace pushed her head back against Molly’s hand, enjoying it, and Gert smiled despite not understanding what she meant. “She wanted me to knock down the wall so I did and there you were!” Molly added brightly, like that explained everything. But she was so excited, so proud of herself, that instead of getting mad, an unexpected smile spread on Gert’s face. Seeing them, two of the loves of her life (not counting Chase) being a team even without her there to help… it was touching. And much appreciated, given the bind that she and Chase had been in.

Even if she should be mad that Molly had abandoned her post… and freed the pet deinonychus that only listened to Gert… and knocked some random wall of a school down because a dinosaur told her to do it… Even if all of those things were against the rules and displayed a serious lack of judgement, even if she should really say something, Gert decided not to as she felt a swell of pride for both Molly and Old Lace, and she couldn’t help but pull both of them in for another hug.

“Is that a dinosaur!?” Andrew interrupted, a second later, his voice aghast, and Gert almost jumped in surprise, she had completely forgotten he was there. She looked over at him, and then at Old Lace, and then back at him. Crap, how was she going to explain this? He was still standing near the door, and Chase had moved towards Gert and the others, so he was all alone on the other side of the room. She didn’t really know what to say, so she opened her mouth, thinking she’d think of something, but before she had a chance, they heard Turner from the other room.

“What was that!?” They heard him shout, his voice muffled through the door, and Gert’s eyes went round. At that same time, Molly let out a huge yawn, and Gert also realized they probably only had moments before she’d pass out on the spot.

“We need to get out of here.” Chase said from beside her, reading her mind, and she felt his hand find her own, his fingers lacing between hers, and she did her best to ignore the swirling, fluttering feeling in her chest. Even in life or death situations, it seemed his effect was not lost on her. He tugged on their connection, pulling her towards the new hole in the wall, as they heard Turner fumbling with the door. But he couldn’t open it. Andrew had stepped in front, and was leaning back with all his weight, staring at the three Runaways (and their dinosaur) with a look of painful confusion, frustration, but also wonder.

He’d bought them a few seconds, which Gert would be eternally grateful for, but suddenly she felt the urgency of the situation press upon her. They needed to get out of here. As she turned to leave, she heard Andrew’s voice and she paused, allowing Old Lace, Chase, and Molly exit before her. “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on here?” He asked weakly, and suddenly Gert felt a little bad. She could only imagine what she’d be thinking, if she were in Andrew’s position. She wished she could explain, she really did. But instead she just sighed and shook her head before turning and stepping over some bricks on the way out. Just before she was clear, she turned back and got one last look at her old boyfriend and gave him an apologetic look.

“I’m going to be honest with you, Andrew… no.”

======================================================================

They’d been driving aimlessly for hours, not willing to go back to their borrowed house to return their clothes until they were totally sure that no one was following them. But Chase had no problem with that. In fact, he hoped they’d continue to drive all night. He wanted to stretch this moment into infinity, to live in it forever, and if that wasn’t possible, at least remember this feeling forever.

Because this was the most perfect feeling he’d ever felt. It was a warm glow of contentment, a rightness, that lit him from the inside and he felt for the first time in his life an optimism and happiness that he’d previously have dismissed as impossible. It was a lot of things. It was their mission’s success (despite some speed bumps along the way), it was the fact that the team was all together, safe. It was the relief of not getting caught. But mostly… almost entirely… it was Gert.

She was cuddled up against his chest, asleep, her cheek pressing against his heart, and Chase was holding her in his arms, occasionally kissing her hair, or brushing it from her face. But this time was different than the last times. Because before, on their drive to Seattle, everything was still unsaid. He didn’t know if it was wanted so he’d held back, and his joy of being close to her had been dampened by self-doubt. But now he knew she loved him back and everything was right in the world and Chase never wanted to let go of her, or to stop kissing her, ever again.

And he supposed they’d gotten a little carried away with it, when they first got back to the van. Molly had made retching noises in disgust as they’d made out in the back seat, making a show of moving up to the front of the van, asking loudly “Are you guys going to always be this disgusting from now on?” as she went.

Gert had laughed into their kiss and replied “Pretty much, Molls.” Barely pulling away from him, and going right back to kissing Chase afterwards, making his stomach flutter and his chest glow because she seemed so sure about him. The rest of their crew had groaned or made their own barfing noises, but they went completely unnoticed by Chase and Gert, who were wrapped up entirely with each other. Plus, those guys were just jealous.

Since Molly had sat in the shotgun seat to give them space, they were alone on the back bench (aside from Old Lace’s tail that took up half the seat) and eventually Gert had fallen asleep. Chase had alternated between watching the streetlights pass out the window, and leaning around to watch Gert’s peaceful face as she slept, petting her absentmindedly as she did. Normally in these quiet contemplative moments, Chase was prone to depressive thoughts. All the years of abuse and self-doubt would bubble up, when there were no distractions for his mind to drown them out with. But now? He couldn’t summon a negative thought if he even tried. It was just pure bliss, at least for this tiny bubble in time.

Sometime into the drive, Alex took a highway off ramp that looped around tightly and the force of the turn caused Gert to stir. She snuggled in closer, almost her full weight pressing against him with the centrifugal force, and Chase was more than happy to bear it. He couldn’t think of anything more wonderful that the feeling of her body pressed against his, her weight holding him down, anchoring him to this world and everything that is good in it.

And what was good, was Gert. And his new, found family. But mostly Gert, no offense to the others. And sure, he’d been planning this night for the past week, thinking of every word to say, and none of it had gone properly. Every plan had failed, every planned word had come out wrong, hell the only romantic rival he’d ever had had shown up out of nowhere just to screw with him. But it had still been the best night of his entire life.

Because Gert loved him, and nothing else would ever matter.