Orange Crush

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Disclaimer: I own nothing. Much to my dismay

Last chapter. After nearly a year. Well, it's been fun, folks. Let's hope I give a satisfying enough conclusion…

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A quick about turn, and Rachel sighed. Yet another room with nobody inside.

"Andy, when I find you, are you ever going to catch it from me." She muttered under her breath. Pivoting on one heel, she turned and promptly crashed straight into Jake.

The male CO stumbled backwards, but retained sufficient presence of mind to right himself. Rachel had no such luck, and took a backward tumble, landing (rather painfully) on her rear end.

"Ow…" Hastily, she clambered to her feet, not wanting Jake to see her in that sort of position. Dusting off a pants leg, she glanced curiously at him.

"So… what brings you to this part of the HQ?" She asked. Jake shrugged in response.

"Andy parted ways with his cell a while back. I'm helping him snoop 'round for it." Jake folded his arms. "What about you, sister? Why brings you to this dive?"

Rachel swallowed. She wasn't about to tell Jake that she had lost her way looking for the simulation training centre. "Um… I was… I was looking for Andy. I thought I saw him around here…"

Jake frowned. "Doesn't ring sound. Andy should be digging 'round the other end for his cell."

Rachel shrugged and headed towards the doorway. "Well, I saw him. And when I find him-" She stopped. The door was now closed. Walking over hurriedly, she leaned over and pressed hard. Yes. It was locked.

She wrenched angrily at the handle, knowing it to be futile. Meanwhile, Jake came up behind her, curious. "It's locked?"

"Yes… somehow." Rachel tossed her cap to the floor and slumped down on a nearby chair. "This really isn't turning out to be a good day." She mumbled to herself.

---

Nell crooked a smile. "Remote locking devices…" She remarked.

"Gotta love 'em." Lash finished the thought for her.

Nell glanced sideways at the madcap inventor. Lash is starting to grow on me. She thought to herself.

Now THAT'S a scary thought

Meanwhile, Andy sat back in his seat, idly watching the proceedings through the various security cameras.

---

"So... now what?" Rachel huffed as she folded her arms. Jake shrugged.

"Call maintenance, tell 'em to waltz their way over here and crack the door." Jake shrugged. "No big."

"I would, but maintenance has the day off, remember?" Rachel shook her head. "In fact, most of the ground crew has the day off. Nell convinced me they've been working hard enough that they deserve a break!"

"Nell! Just call her! She should still be around the stomping area!"

"Great idea, Jake!" Rachel brightened up as she dipped her hand into her pocket… only to pull out her sister's cell phone.

"Oh… right. I was supposed to find and return this to her." She muttered as she let it slide back into her pocket. Then she glanced up. "What about-"

"I'm supposed to be looking for Andy's cell phone as is." Jake sighed and walked over to the bench. "Scoot over, 'kay?" He asked, and Rachel obliged.

"Well, maybe he's found it already. Try calling him."

Jake shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt, I guess." Digging out his own cell, he flipped it open and began dialing.

---

"Andy?"

"Yeah, it's set to silent." The boy mechanic took his cell phone and dropped it carelessly on a nearby table.

"Now, we wait." Nell nodded with satisfaction as she leaned over to observe the pair more closely. Jake had apparently just given up trying to contact Andy, lifting the phone from his ear with a shrug of helplessness.

"Wait?" Lash complained. Her personality did not lend itself well to patience. "Wait how long?"

"As long as it takes, my dear." Nell said, grinning. "As long as it takes."

She's starting to scare me. Lash though to herself.

---

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"So…"

"Hn?" Jake glanced up. "Yeah, Rach?"

She sighed. How to go through with this? "You know… the other day… the incident in the lift…"

Jake frowned. "What incident?"

Rachel's eyes widened. "What incident! The one where you… where you…" Okay, so she didn't have the clearest view on what had happened, but something had gone down. "When you did… something…" Ugh. This wasn't turning out at all like she had hoped. "And I ended up on your lap! What was that all about?"

Jake glanced back down at the ground, silent. Finally, he roused himself and looked back to Rachel. "I was just trying to get you comfortable." He said. "After, you falling asleep on my shoulder might have hurt your face."

Rachel had turned about five different shades of red at that statement. "I… fell asleep? On your shoulder?" She squeaked.

Jake nodded. "Uh-huh. I thought that my shoulder might have been to uncomfortable a pillow, so I moved your head to my lap."

---

"Red as a tomato." Nell pursed her lips.

"Is that a good sign?" Andy glanced up from the magazine he was reading.

"Probably." Nell glanced around the room. "Is there any way to get a better audio feed?"

"Yeah, yeah, keep your hat on." Lash leaned over the keyboard, typing furiously.

"- that's all? And you expect me to believe that?" Rachel's voice abruptly cut through the darkened interior of the security station.

"Done." Lash nodded with satisfaction and leaned back in her chair, hands clasped behind her head. "Easy work for a genius like me."

Nell rolled her eyes and returned to observing.

---

Jake frowned. Why was Rachel getting so flustered? "Yes, that's all." He shrugged. "You say it like it's odd that I'd want to make sure you're comfortable or something."

Now it was Rachel's turn to jerk back, eyes wide. "Nonono!" She babbled. "Not like that! Of course you'd care for my personal… uh… my, um, comfort, and…" She covered her eyes with one hand. "Yeah… you, um, you know what I mean."

Jake nodded.

---

"They're just sitting there." Nell grumbled.

Lash grinned. "Well, I could pump the room full of aphrodisiacs…"

"Pass." Nell drummed her fingers impatiently on the console. "But why won't they just say it? We're giving them alone time…"

Andy glanced up from the mag. "But isn't that the problem? They like each other, sure, but they're terrified of the other not returning the feelings, which is why they've refused to talk about it."

"True…" Nell tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"We should have had a 3rd party mediator tell each other the truth, anyway." Andy returned to the magazine.

"Huh." Nell folded her arms, lips pursed in thought. "Lash, can you reverse the audio so we can communicate with them?"

"No problem! The room was used for briefing anywhere, so the speakers should still be intact." Lash drew out several nanobots from her pocket. "We'll need these to reconfigure the wires!"

"Just… just be careful." Nell sighed. Then she turned to Andy. "You know, if I were to reveal to Rachel that I was behind this whole thing…"

"She'll get mad." Andy grinned. "I've seen you when you're mad, Nell. I wonder what your sister is like."

Nell shook her head. "Nothing pleasant comes out of those sessions, of that you can be assured. I'm going to have to find some way to do things more… subtly."

---

Rachel leaned against the wall, staring miserably at the opposite end of the room. "So what are our options?"

"Wait until tomorrow, when Maintenance trips back in. That, or Andy snags his cell phone, and then I can hook up with him and tell him to let us out." Jake shrugged elaborately. "It's not cool, but we can't do much about it, so-"

krrkkl hissssssssssssss bip!

"-chel? Rachel? Can you hear me?" Nell's voice suddenly resounded through the room. Rachel started, glancing around the emptiness.

"Rachel, if you can hear me, answer!"

"…Nell? Sis?" Rachel folded her arms. What was going on?

"Oh, thank goodness! We found you, then. What room are you in?"

Rachel tensed up. She had absolutely no idea, but to admit so would mean questions would be asked about her sense of direction, or lack thereof. She shot a sideways glance at Jake.

"We're, in, uh… in…"

"Sheesh, you were supposed to come bring me my phone, and you got lost. I always told you your bad sense of direction would make trouble for y-"

"Whoa!" Jake glanced over. "Rach has a lousy sense of direction?"

"Oh, Jake! You're there too?" Nell's voice sounded surprised. "Ugh, if only I had a video feed, I could find you two easily…"

Rachel, meanwhile, had her head buried in her hands. Jake knew. Jake knew. It was all over!

"…Jake? Is there a reason Rachel has gone completely silent?"

She raised her head and glared at the empty nothingness of the rest of the room. "You told him." She snapped.

"What about your lousy navigational skills? Get over it." Rachel heard Nell sigh. "I know, I know, you have a crush on Jake and don't want him to see you in a bad light-"

"NELL!" Rachel's agonized cry rent the air.

A shocked silence descended upon the room. Finally, Nell cleared her throat. "I'll work on getting a visual feed so I can find where you are."

Then there was the sound of the line being cut off.

---

Nell pumped a fist into the air. "If that doesn't do it, nothing will!" She crowed.

Meanwhile, Andy rolled his eyes and bit into the sausage bun he had brought along with him.

---

Don't LOOK at him, Rachel. Just… DON'T.

Of course, the one thing she dreaded the most was also the pathway through which eternal bliss and satisfaction (or at least that was one's view of it) lay, but at the moment Rachel didn't feel much like gambling. At least not insofar as this was concerned.

Why couldn't they have built this thing with more windows intact? Then I could just take a flying leap out of one and never have to deal with this sort of humiliation ever agai-

A hand landed on her shoulder, causing her to jump. Slowly, dreading every second of it, she turned around.

Jake was smiling. Okay… that was probably a good sign. Smiling meant he wasn't going to get mad at her for being in love with him.

But it still left open the possibility that he was going to laugh in her face. Somehow, she didn't think her fragile psyche could bear the pain of his rejection-

So caught up was she in her thoughts that it took her a full two seconds to realize that she was being kissed by Jake.

Suffice it to say that her mind was in turmoil, but if one was to attempt an extrapolation, a fair summary of her mental processes of that exact instant would be

HOLY CRAP!

---

"Don't they need to come up for air sometime?" Andy inquired.

"Shush, you." Nell grinned.

---

Finally, Jake pulled away. "So, you have a crush on me?"

Rachel didn't answer immediately, not because she didn't want to, but mainly because her entire body felt like it had been transformed into a substance not too unlike warm marshmallow. It was a rather pleasant experience, but it rendered her partially unable to respond to stimulus.

Thus, in response, she merely nodded.

Then she felt Jake embrace her, and she proceeded to go weak at the knees. It was probably a good thing that was already sitting down, else she might have been in danger of crashing to the floor.

click

"Rachel? I couldn't find your location, so I activated an unlocking signal sent to every door in the complex. At your own leisure, make your way to the command centre, and I'll be there waiting for you. Don't forget my cell phone."

click

Then there was just silence in the room, the two COs in there hugging each other tightly.

---

"And then you decided to throw a party." Rachel mock glared at Nell, who nodded and took a long drink from her glass.

"Uh huh. Of course I'd want to celebrate my dear sister finding a boyfriend!" Nell grinned. "And of course, since my Master Plan proved successful, I fear your waked wrath turning upon me a lot less." Then she frowned. "Speaking of which, I should probably warn Jake about some of your antics when you get mad."

"NELL!"

"Kidding, kidding." Nell chuckled and took another sip. "Andy's occupying Jake's attention right now, anyway."

---

"So you pretended to lose your phone?" Jake shook his head. "Made me crawl across half the compound too."

"Sorry about that, but hey! I helped you hook up with Rachel!" Andy was grinning as he piled his plate high with food. "You should be thanking me!"

Jake merely rolled his eyes.

---

"Alright, now, Andyzium, refill my glass!" Lash held out her cup, gesturing towards the bar as a signal for the Oozium to complete the latest task assigned it.

"Get it yourself." The mimic of Andy replied as he stuffed a chicken wing down his throat, bones and all. After which he proceeded to walk off.

Lash frowned and walked over to the bar herself. "Maybe I shouldn't have programmed a personality into it, after all." She mumbled to no one in particular.

She wasn't going to make the same mistake with the Nellzium, no sirree.

---

Rachel tapped Jake on the shoulder, smiling uncertainly as he turned around to face her.

"Want to… I mean… um, do you want to have a dance?"

Jake grinned. "Sounds groovy."

And so they did.

---

Nell leaned back at the sidelines of the dance floor, a contented smile on her face.

A contented smile, incidentally, that was mirrored by that of her younger sister.

"Nell?" Andy showed up, a plate of food in tow. Following her gaze, he grinned as he saw Jake holding Rachel close to his body.

"We did well, didn't we, Nell?"

"We did, Andy." Nell closed her eyes.

"We did."

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And so it ends. Thanks for reading, everyone! It's been fun!