Rei Ayanami was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the front door open and then close again. Staring off into space, lost in her own little world, she wasn't sure what to make when she saw a young boy, six years old she guessed, before her. "Let's play." The boy grabbed Rei by the hand and tried to pull her along. Rei simply looked at the boy blankly, taking in his features. Not that he took any notice of Rei's reluctence. "Come on, come on," he pressed, still tugging at Rei's sleeve. It was evident that simply ignoring the boy would not work, so Rei switched tactics and instead took to staring him down, her blood red eyes boring into his brown ones, hidden behind his similarly colored froppish hair. That made the boy pause for a moment, staring back at Rei. "Don't you wanna play?" he asked.

Rei thought the question over for a moment, not really wanting to spend time with the boy but at the same time not wanting to be rude, wanting to somehow make living here work. She looked up at the ceiling, wondering why Nancy hadn't heard yet, and allowed herself to be dragged to her feet. The boy tried to lead her outside, but instead Rei went up the stairs, ignoring the boy for a moment and seeking assistance on how to handle the matter. "Miss Nancy," she asked tentatively, peering into her room.

Before she could say anymore the boy ran in to the ex commando. "Mommy!" he called out.

"Hey champ." Nancy crouched down and hugged the boy warmly. Rei looked at the two dumbfounded, never guessing for a minute Nancy had a son. Nancy looked up to explain. "This is Lucian," she told her, ruffling the boy's hair. "My pride and joy. Lucian, meet Rei...what was your last name again?"

"Ayanami." Rei tried to force a friendly expression. "Hello," she said to Lucian. "You have a son?" she asked Nancy.

"Also a couple of dogs in the back yard." Nancy gave Rei a smile. "They really are a girl's best friend." A shrug, before she added "I prefer them to diamonds at least."

"Now we play?"

Rei focused her attention onto Nancy, looking for her advice on what to do. "Yeah," she said, letting him go. "We'll all play. You too Rei."

Rei wasn't sure how to react for a moment. On the one hand she had no real interest in spending time with Lucian, and wanted to have as little to do with either him or Nancy as possible so she could concentrate on what needed to be done. On the other hand though, Nancy was trying to intigrate her into the family. And she realised that the reason she was so cold was because she did not want others interfering with her duties. But what were her duties now that she was here, she wondered. She doubted the military or police would take her in, and there was the matter that giant bio organic mecha like she piloted were apparently not in existence here. And it wasn't as if Nancy was pushing her to do something horrid, at least not by normal standereds. To Rei however the prospect of looking after a young child or being a part of a family seemed more horrifying than risking life and limb defending the world.

"C'mon," Nancy said, interrupting her thoughts. "I'll help you along." Rei ignored the temptation to sigh and instead followed along as Nancy and Lucian engaged in animated discussion.

"So how was school?" she asked.

------------------------

Travis thought he had escaped from Interpol for now and made his way to a phone booth where he dialed a number. He waited for what seemed like forever before a groggy voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Travis answered, "it's me." Before the voice on the other end could answer he added "Don't use names, remember the phones have ears bro."

"Yeah."

Travis waited a moment while Leon woke up properly. "They're after me again," he said, referring to Interpol.

"Right." Leon tried to think about what else could be done. "What did you do to have them after you the way they are?" he asked, suddenly suspecious.

"Dunno. They want to make me their bitch is best answer I can come up with."

"They're trying to force you to work for them?" Leon asked. "I got onto the government about it, not sure what else I can do from here."

"Did you find out anything?" Travis asked after a moment, feeling he should at least see how his brother was.

"Yeah, we did." Leon explained how the base was completely changed around, and how there was a science team there.

"Really?" That got Travis thinking in a new and unexpected direction, but he knew he couldn't become sidetracked. "I wonder if that has anything to do with Rei." Before Leon could reply Travis said "I'd better make sure I'm in the clear. Tell Rebecca I called, okay? Take care." With that Travis hung up and continued on his way, a new plan being set into motion.