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Chapter Text

May 27th, 2027, 9:25 AM, Base, Laboratory

It was just the beginning of the day for Yuubari, currently walking to the labs to begin some tests with Akashi. She had woken up an hour and a half ago, and finished eating breakfast, pancakes from the cafeteria. She then headed to Mainz’ coffee shop, Dark Roast Heaven, and picked up an iced coffee to go.

As she was about to unlock the door, she stopped in her tracks as she heard a lot of noises behind it. Then she heard something that no one wanted to hear…

“NYEHAHAHA!! NYAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!”

The cackling laughter of Akashi.

Preparing herself, she cautiously unlocked the door, to only be bathed in a blinding white light, causing her to shield her eyes from the light.

“IT’S ALMOST COMPLETE!!” Akashi exclaimed, rubbing her sleeves together and not hearing the door open behind her.

“Akashi!!” Yuubari yelled to get her attention.

“Nya?” was all she could say before the light shone even brighter, and a cacophony of sounds erupted.

Chapter Text

May 27th, 2027, 9:30 AM, Base, Airfield

Despite the fact that they were KAN-SEN, the girls for the Olympic Talks had decided to travel via plane in order to get there the fastest. Having to prepare for a month off base, the girls had packed quite a lot, ranging from clothing, toiletries, to various knick-knacks, and even cosplay items. Clearly, just the essentials of a diplomatic mission. 

Numerous manjuus and airfield workers were loading the cargo onto the plane, fueling up the plane, making last minute checks, or preparing for the take-off sequence.

Standing on the tarmac, the Commander and Howe were having one last debrief with the team. Well… half of the team.

Vanguard, Reno, and Casablanca had rushed to the plane after arriving at the airfield, wanting to get to California as soon as possible. They were currently having a chat with their pilot, Captain Megan Méndez, about their plans once they arrived.

For Casablanca, it was to get to Burbank and get a tour around the Warner Bros. Studio. She had even purchased tickets online for a Classic tour on June 16th.

For Vanguard and Reno, it was to head to some big conventions, which had decided to start earlier than previous years, starting on June 20th and ending on the 23rd. They planned to cosplay as some of their favorite characters, and go around the convention to meet the actors and buy tons of merchandise. 

“As a reminder, you will be landing at Los Angeles International Airport!” Howe shouted at Brooklyn, Baltimore, Eagle, and Eugen so they could hear her over the plane’s engines. “There, you will meet up with Lieutenant Colonel Russell Monque, and he will help take you and your stuff to the Biltmore! I assume that you have already planned out the living arrangement amongst the seven of you?!”

“Yes, we have already discussed amongst ourselves, and have chosen our arrangements!” Eagle confirmed for the team.

“While this is all the information that we could give at the time, we will keep you all updated if there are any changes to the plan!”

The Commander then tapped on Howe’s shoulder, to get her attention. Once she turned towards him, he handed her his tablet.

“He would also like to remind you that your actions not only reflect you, but all of Azur Lane, so please be on your best behaviour when interacting with everyone along this trip! Whether they be Lieutenant Colonel Monque, the representatives, or any civilians you decide to interact with!”

“Yes, Sir!” the team responded, with Eugen having a grin while saying so.

“The Commander trusts your team to accomplish this mission for Azur Lane!”

“We will get the job done, Sir!” Brooklyn shouted back.

While not completely getting everything she had just said, he still got the important pieces. It was good enough for him to give a salute, before waving them off as they headed towards the plane. Walking away from the plane, the two watched the team take-off, heading to Los Angeles.

“And there they go…” Howe said, finally able to hear herself without the presence of the plane. Turning to John, she asked, “So, when is your sister supposed to arrive?”

“She said the estimated time of arrival should be 10:30, so about an hour. ” he responded.

“Hmm… What to do for the next hour?” she pondered. “We can’t really get much work done in that time… And there isn’t anything special happening before 10:30…”

“Wanna just head to Rosy Bakery until then? ” John suggested.

“I see no reason not to, the cookies I baked today should still be—” Howe was saying before she was interrupted.

“SHIKIKAN-SAMA!!!”

Jumping up from the sudden shout, John and Howe turned around to see Jintsuu and Thüringen running towards them from the gates.

“What seems to be the problem? ” he asked them once they were within reading distance.

“No time to explain! Let’s go!” Thüringen exclaimed, before grabbing his wrist and essentially carrying him back out of the field, Jintsuu following quickly behind.

Not wanting to be left behind, and not wanting John to be injured, Howe quickly chased after them to see what the sudden need of him was about.

Chapter Text

May 27th, 2027, 10:20 AM, Town, Rosy Bakery

“Mm! This croissant is delicious!” Volga loudly declared to Dunkerque, who was standing next her with a beaming smile.

“Hehe~ Thank you, Volga. This was a new dish I’m experimenting with,” Dunkerque explained to her. “It’s nothing special, really.”

“Still, the croissant had the right amount of flakiness and crunch, and with the chocolate inside of it adds sweetness,” Volga entailed her flavour adventure, squealing after she remembered the chocolate.

“Do you think I need to add or change anything else?”

“Nope! I think it’s perfect as it is.”

“Well, thank you for sampling this new delicacy. Maybe you can stick around for another test?”

Before responding, Volga checked her phone to see the time was 10:21.

“Sorry. I’d definitely want to, but there’s something I need to do in a bit. Maybe next time, yeah?”

“Sure thing,” Dunkerque said as she waved Volga off.

Heading down the streets, Volga made her way to the airfield. She was planning to see her “little brother”, the Commander, and a new arrival to the base, his sister.

While the Commander had not told anyone else besides Howe that his sister was arriving today, certain people found out. These were the self-proclaimed “Big Sisters” of his, who using their “Big Sister Intuition” learned about the coming of her. While that may seem like a scary ability for these people to have, it is still rudimentary. It couldn’t tell them everything about anyone, that had to be learned the old fashion way, and it doesn’t allow them to ease-drop on conversations, not that any of them wanted to do that. Still a powerful ability for them to have, nonetheless.

After a small trek out of town and into the airfield, she saw that the Commander was nowhere to be spotted. She was about to start searching the hangars or the ATC tower, when she saw a small passenger plane coming in for a landing.

Throwing her previous objective out of her mind, she patiently waited as the plane made its landing, and taxied towards Hangar 3. As Volga made her way over there, the plane came to a stop, and the engines began to power down. Afterwards, a few manjuus pulled a ramp for the door, and opened it.

Stepping out was a woman with long, black hair that faded into brown as they neared the ends. Her skin was the same tone as the Commander’s, but she had light-brown eyes compared to his void-black. She wore rounded rectangular glasses, a white sundress, and a straw Stetson with a black band around it. She carried a red backpack around her shoulder, and pulled along a black suitcase behind her.

Man, the sun’s hella bright; much better than the weather back home, at least , the woman thought to herself. Then she looked down, and spotted what appeared to be a bunch of chickens walking into the plane with cleaning equipment.

A mixture of confusion and awe flooded her mind as she made her way down the ramp. At the bottom, she scanned the area for John, but only saw Volga waiting patiently with a big smile etching her face. The first thing she noticed about her was the color of her hair.

That’s a nice color, maybe I should dye my ends like that , she pondered. Then she looked at the outfit she was wearing, and balked at how she was remaining this calm in this weather with that outfit.

What kind of clown-show are you running, Bro?

“Welcome, Comrade!” Volga cheerfully greeted her. “Welcome to Azur Lane! You must be Comrade Commander’s sister. Tell me, what is your name?”

Seriously? You’ve been here for two months now, and you haven’t told anyone my name, Bro?

Then she encountered a problem…

Fuck. If John isn’t here, how am I supposed to communicate with anyone?

She had to think quickly, she didn’t want to look like an asshole for ignoring her question.

Wait… Mama told me something like this would happen!

She then dug into her backpack, looking for something to help with this conundrum she’s found herself in.

Where is it? Maybe I left it in my suitcase? Ah! This will have to do for now…

She then pulled out a book, and handed it to Volga; cover side down accidentally. Turning it around, Volga saw that it was a sign language dictionary. Looking back to the Commander’s sister, she was making a sign with her hand.

Without opening the book, Volga said, “Oh! ‘S’, yes?”

Blinking at the response, she was not expecting for someone to already know sign language upon her arrival besides John.

Did you plan for this, John?

Recovering from this blessing, she nodded and continued with the rest of her name, Samantha.

“Ah, ‘Samantha’. Welcome! I’m Volga, and I’m one of Comrade Commander’s Big Sisters here.”

Big sister? Is this a kink of your’s?

“Unfortunately, I do not know the whereabouts of Comrade Commander. Until then, let me give you a tour around the town. I’m sure Comrade Commander would have done this if he was here.”

With a nod, Samantha followed Volga out of the airfield and into the town, still carrying her stuff behind her.

Upon entering town, she saw that it was almost a picture-esque image of what a small town out in the country was like. Small buildings that only reach two-stories maximum. Plenty of walkable paths with a larger road for a car or two. It was your idealistic depiction of a small, quiet town; something she could get used to.

As they walked the road, Volga pointed out various different establishments of the town, but there was one that she was dying to show Samantha.

“And here is my favorite place in town, Rosy Bakery!” Volga gleefully declared, with some drool coming out of her mouth just remembering the croissant she had a few minutes ago. “Oh! Are you hungry? That flight must have been long, and the meals mustn’t have been good, yeah?”

Before she could respond, Samantha’s stomach did all the talking for her as it growled.

“That seems like someone’s hungry. Come on, let Big Sister Volga treat you to some delicious confectionaries,” she said, opening the door alerting Dunkerque to their arrival.

“Oh? Back already, Volga? With someone new I see?” she stated her observation.

“Comrade Dunkerque, this is Comrade Commander’s sister, Samantha!” Volga cheerfully proclaimed, Samantha just waving at her.

A gasp could be heard from one of the booths.

“She’s here?!” the voice cried out. A moment later, the dark dog ears of Atago peered up, and she turned towards the pair.

“Ah! Comrade Atago! Coincidence of seeing you here.”

“Please, come sit with us,” she hurriedly suggested.

Doing as suggested, Volga and Samantha made their way to where Atago was sitting. Once there, they saw that Takao was also seated, directly across from her sister. Both of them had already been served before they arrived.

“Samantha. This is Atago, another of Comrade Commander’s Big Sister, and this is Takao, Atago’s big sister.”

“Konnichiwa (Hello),” Takao politely greeted herself. “It’s an honour to meet a relative of Shikikan-sama.”

“Please, sit next to Onee-chan, will you?” Atago asked her.

Must. Resist. Urge. To pet!

Before she could move, Volga had seated her next to Atago; while she sat next to Takao. Once they did, Dunkerque moved over to them, with a menu in one hand, and a notepad in the other hand to take their orders.

Handing the menu over, she asked, “So, Samantha. What brings you here to our little base?”

First having a quick glance at the front of the menu to see if anything interested her, she then spelt out her reason for being here. While the other three couldn’t understand what she was saying, Volga was luckily there to translate for her.

“She said that, ‘she’s here because her brother invited her to celebrate her birthday’,” Volga told the others.

“Oh my… please forgive your Onee-chan for not being prepared to translate sign language,” Atago dramatically pleaded.

“Atago. Son'nani doramachikku ni naranaide kudasai. Kore o yosoku dekiru hazu ga arimasen (Atago. Don't be so dramatic. There's no way you could have predicted this),” Takao lightly scolded her sister.

“Rirakkusushitekudasai, Takao. Kanojo wa watashi ga tada asonde iru koto o shitte iru to omoimasu (Relax, Takao. I think she knows I'm just playing around).”

While those two were having their talk, Samantha had another look at the menu. Scanning the items, she showed the menu to Dunkerque and pointed at the strawberry cheesecake and water. Volga, meanwhile, asked if she could get a few more chocolate croissants.

Confirming their order, Dunkerque walked back towards the counter in order to retrieve their items.

Now left to watch the two sisters speak in their native tongue, the urge to pet Atago’s head was getting unbearable.

Did you have to deal with something like this, John?

Atago’s ear then twitched, a thing it does whenever she senses someone wants to touch her ears.

“Ara~ Would you like to touch Onee-chan’s ears?” she said, leaning over to Samantha, ears pointing openly at her.

Hesitating slightly, Samantha eventually planted her hand on one of Atago’s ears.

Soft…

She then started to rub it, gently.

The action caused pleasure to course throughout Atago’s body, falling into a dog-like bliss trance. Out of pure instinct, she started to rapidly tap her foot on the ground, and leaned further into the rubbing.

Cute…

Sometime after this had begun, Dunkerque arrived back with plates of their orders, placing them on the table.

“Volga,” she asked the Northerner. “How come she’s with you, and not with her brother?”

“Well… When I arrived at the airfield, I didn’t see Comrade Commander anywhere. I was about to go search for him, but that’s when I saw her plane make its descent.”

“So what do we do with her for the time being?” Takao jumped in.

“Well, I thought about taking her around the town…” Then something hit Volga that she neglected to ask. “Oh! Samantha! How long will you be with us?”

Without stopping her assault on Atago’s head, she raised a full hand, indicating she would be staying for five days.

“Plenty of time for her to enjoy her time here,” Dunkerque ascertained.

“But let’s focus on the now,” Takao commented. “Let’s finish up on our meals, then we should start to give her a tour. While we’re doing that, we can ask if anyone has seen Shikikan-sama.”

“Right,” Volga agreed, taking a bite out of her croissant after saying so.

Chapter Text

May 27th, 2027, 10:59 AM, Town, Main Plaza

“Thank you, and please come again!” Dunkerque greeted them off.

The party, consisting of Samantha, Volga, Takao, and Atago, left Rosy Bakery, having finished their treats. They would have left earlier, had Atago not become addicted to the pats, wanting to be petted as soon as Samantha finished her cheesecake.

The four of them planned to head over to Godly Fashions, a clothes store co-owned by Victorious.

“From there, we should head to the—” Takao explained the course of action.

*CRASH!*

A loud and sudden crash from down a street caused them to halt in their step. Looking down the way, they saw a different group running. This group consisted of Akashi, Yuubari, Jintsuu, Thüringen, Howe, Enterprise, Akagi, Kaga, Duca degli Abruzzi, and the Commander sprinting out and into the main plaza.

Of particular note, Akashi and Yuubari were currently mixing flasks of different colored liquids into each other, and carrying a large cylindrical device.

“Akashi! When this is over, we’re going to have some words!” Howe scolded her.

“Here it comes!” Duca degli Abruzzi warned the others.

Out of the street, a large shadow casted out of it.

“Atago! Volga! Prepare to defend Samatha! Get her back into Rosy’s!” Takao commanded them, forming her rigging and drawing her blade. Afterwards, the two formed their own riggings, and escorted Samantha back inside Rosy Bakery.

As the shadow came closer, the being responsible for it was soon revealed. A giant Meowfficer…

What the fuck?! Samantha boggled at what she was seeing.

Earlier that day, Akashi was conducting an experiment on the Meowfficer, Soup, to see if she can increase the effectiveness of their furry friends. She planned to do this by giving them a cocktail of mysterious liquids, and then shooting them with a laser once they drank it. However, she hadn’t properly balanced the mixture, so when Soup was hit with the laser, they instead grew to twenty feet tall, and busted out of the lab.

Due to her size, Soup saw them all as play toys, hence why they were currently chasing them. A game of cat and mouse if you will.

“Akashi! Yuubari! Is it ready?!” Enterprise said, launching a squadron of Hellcats to distract the rampaging Soup.

“Almost!” Yuubari confirmed their status. The two of them were in the middle of creating another mystery cocktail, this time aimed to return the Meowfficer back to normal.

“Akagi! Thüringen!” Howe hollered to them. “The Commander wants you two on the right! Kaga! Jintsuu! Duca degli Abruzzi! On the left!”

Following their commands, the two teams waved off to their respective sides. From there, they unleashed a large volume of firepower, essentially pinning Soup to her location.

“It’s do-nya!” Akashi exclaimed, “We need Soup to drink it, nya!”

“Enterprise!” Thüringen shouted at her. “You’ve gotta do it! You’re the only one who can accurately aim for it!”

“Right,” she confirmed, grabbing the flask from Akashi, and preparing to aim it down Soup’s gullet.

While she was waiting, Soup was swatting down the fighters swarming them, knocking many out of the sky despite having stumpy arms. One of the fighters that was hit, started careen towards the Commander, who managed to dodge out of the way before it could hit him. But another one was heading for him again, and he didn’t have time to get up to dodge it. Luckily, Howe was there to shoot down and explode the fighter before it could get close.

Eventually, Soup was in the correct location, their mouth wide open, and distracted by the fire she was taking from their sides. That gave Enterprise the window she needed to fire the flask from her bow towards Soup’s mouth, with them swallowing it whole.

“Akashi! Now!” the Eagle Union carrier called out to her.

On cue, Akashi pointed the device, it being a portable laser of the one back at the lab, and fired it at Soup. With the liquid drank, and the laser blasting, Soup slowly began to shrink in the air. But seeing as this was an exact same laser that started this mess, it wasn’t properly calibrated, and so Soup was shrunk smaller than their normal height.

Once Soup’s height was “stable”, the Meowfficer started to fall out of the sky, but was caught by Duca degli Abruzzi. The little cat immediately started to rub against her while in her grasp; the light cruiser giving gentle headpats in return.

With the fighting done, most of the team fell to the ground, exhausted from this whole ordeal in the morning. The only exceptions were Akashi and Yuubari, who walked over to Duca degli Abruzzi to see if she was fine; along with Soup.

“Shikikan-sama!” Akagi worriedly ran towards him once she saw him drop to his knees. “Are you alright? Are you injured? Do you need anything?”

“The Commander is fine, Akagi,” Howe spoke for him in a stern tone. “He’s just tired, like the rest of us…”

“But—”

“Akagi, please. Like what Howe said, I’m just tired. No need to worry about me. ” the Commander reaffirmed Howe’s words.

“Yes, Shikikan…”

“Come on, Akagi,” Kaga said walking behind her. “Let’s go get that dress you ordered before this whole thing kicked off. I’m sure Victorious is still patiently waiting for us.”

“You're right!” she exclaimed, dashing off to Godly Fashion. “See you later, Shikikan~!”

“I’ll keep an eye on her. Enjoy the rest of your day, Shikikan-sama,” was all that Kaga said before walking to where sister had run off to.

“Now. Where’s that cat? ”

Meanwhile, over by the entrance of Rosy Bakery, Samantha’s group were standing there, trying to understand what had just happened. As they were doing that, Jintsuu and Thüringen walked over to them. Jintsuu was fanning herself down, while Thüringen was dusting off her clothing.

“God, we need him to approve of any experiments she does…” Thüringen commented, to which her friend nodded in agreement.

“Jintsuu. Thüringen.” Takao called out to them. “What caused this?”

“Akashi…” was the only thing Jintsuu said, but it was still enough for everyone except Samantha to understand what had occurred. She then noticed Samantha.

“Takao, who might this be?”

“This is Shikikan-sama’s sister, Samantha-san!” Atago spoke first.

“Oh my… Well I’m sorry this is the first thing you have to see upon your arrival.”

“Is this a normal occurrence?” Samantha signed out, with Volga translating for them.

“Depends…” Thüringen answered. “But I’m sure you would love to talk with your brother right now. However…”

Over by the Commander…

“What were you thinking?!” Howe angrily questioned, expressing the Commander’s bafflement. “You know how dangerous those lasers are, Akashi! And conducting this experiment without oversight from anyone else?!”

Placing a hand on Howe’s shoulder, the Commander took the lead this time.

“Akashi, due to your actions today, I’m barring you from conducting any new experiments. Any tests you will conduct will need to be approved by me, and supervised by two of your counterparts in the lab. You will also have your budget decreased for the next four months unless you’ve proven that you can be handled alone. Am I made clear? ”

“Yes, Shikikan-sama…” Akashi said, defeatedly.

“Now come on, let’s look at the damage Soup did. ” he said walking back down the path of carnage left by the Meowfficer.

Back with the others…

“... It would seem he will be busy for the next few hours,” Thüringen calculated. “We will ensure that the Commander is aware of your arrival.”

“In the meantime, I assume you three have already planned something for her?” Jintsuu questioned the three KAN-SEN with Samantha.

“Yes, Comrade Jintsuu,” Volga spoke for the group. “We planned to take her around town. Show her what can be gained from each of the venues”

“Good.” Then she noticed that she was carrying around luggage. “When you encounter a maid, please have them take Samantha’s items to Shikikan’s house.”

“Of course!”

“It was nice meeting you, Samantha. Until we meet again,” she bid them farewell as she and Thüringen headed towards where the Commander was going.

You’re going to have to answer a lot of questions, John…

Chapter Text

May 27th, 2027, 7:34 PM, Base, Commander’s House

Sitting on the porch of the John’s house was Samantha, a sketchbook in hand while looking out to the ocean. She had been toured throughout the town by Volga and Atago with Takao casually following them, providing a sort of security.

Along the tour, they encountered Charybdis, and asked her to take Samantha’s stuff back to the house. Readily agreeing, she took her luggage, walked into a bush, and disappeared. At first, she was really concerned that she had just gotten robbed, but John’s “Big Sisters” reassured her that they would see them back at the house. Sure enough, when they ended the tour by stopping at the house; upon entering, Samantha saw her stuff had been placed near the foot of the staircase.

That had been an hour ago…

She was patiently waiting for her brother to arrive back, to finally greet him after not having “talked” to him in quite a while. While she waited, she decided to do some sketches of the scenery, or what had just happened in the morning.

Looking down the path leading up to the house, she saw him, John, walking alongside another person. She saw her before. She was always next to him, speaking for him, and helping him after that battle. Who was she?

Over by the two, John and Howe had a very hectic day, given what Akashi had put them through. After the incident, the two assessed the damage done, calculated reparations, assigned manjuus and workers on fixing the damage, and had to haggle with Akashi what the reduced budget amount would be. On any other day, this could have been something he could have let by, just another day at the base. But it had to be on the day when his sister arrived, hadn’t it?

Whoever this Murphy guy is, is going to pay… John half-jokingly thought to himself.

“What a day… huh, John?” Howe said, clearly fed up with what today had brought them.

He only nodded, too tired to write back at the moment.

“You really need to start delegating some of this work to others, like Jintsuu or Thüringen. They are more than happy to help you out. It will be for the best.”

John just responded by locking hands with Howe, raising it up to their faces, and nodded.

“Well… I do hope your sister had a better time than us…”

“I think that’s her up there. ” he wrote out, pointing to the front of the house.

Looking towards the house, Howe saw a woman in a white dress, glasses, and sketchbook in hand looking back at them.

“I’ll try to translate the best I can if she does sign language, but it might be difficult with this exhaustion, and I might forget, too. ” John gave her a heads-up.

Finally making it to the porch, the two siblings looked at each other for the first time in quite a while. Howe noticed a small height difference between them, around a four inch difference with John being the taller one.

“John,” Samantha signed out.

“Samantha,” John equally returned the gesture.

“It’s so good to see you again!” she spelt out before bringing him into an embrace. Well to be more accurate, she had wrapped an arm around his neck, and brought him down to her level. “How’s my Big Johnnie doing?”

“I’m doing fine, Tiny Sammy.”

“Hey! What did I say about using that nickname?”

“You started it!”

While Howe couldn’t tell what they were saying, she knew they were having a sibling squabble, seeing that they were aggressively gesturing with their hands. She found it somewhat amusing to watch a “silent” argument.

After that bit, John switched from sign language to writing, saying, “So Samantha, I’d like to meet Howe, my first friend here, my secretary, and my girlfriend. ” After writing out that last part, he moved his hand, and interlocked them with Howe’s

“Greetings,” Howe cheerfully waved.

Visibly gasping, Samantha moved over to reach her sketchbook and wrote back, “My God, John! We leave you here for two months, and you’re already dating?! ”

“Hehe~ Well, we hit it off quite quickly…” the battleship blushingly said.

“Wait until Mama hears about this! ”

A small amount of dread entered John’s head as he thought about the relentless questions he would get once she got the news.

“Anyways. I trust that your stuff is here? ” he asked.

“Yes, a maid named ‘Charybdis’ took my stuff, walked into a bush, and my stuff is here now. ”

“I will have to thank Charybdis later. ”

“You called, Master?” a voice called out from the left of the house. Looking over there, Charybdis had made her presence known, walking around the corner of the house. Samantha jumped after hearing her voice, but the other two remain calm with the appearance of the maid.

What the hell?! Why is she here?! How does she know we were talking about her?! Samantha thought to herself, questioning what kind of circus John is in charge of.

“Not exactly, Charybdis. ” John replied. “ But since you’re here, thank you for taking my sister’s stuff back here. ”

“No problem, Master. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Not that I can think of. ”

“Oh! Charybdis!” Howe called out to her. “Can you tell George that I’m going to be a little late coming back home?”

“Of course!” was all she said before curtsying and walking back around the corner.

“Anyways, let’s go inside, I’m exhausted. ”

Once inside, John told Samantha where she would be sleeping, the upstairs’ guest room, and asked if she wanted something to eat. She declined, wanting to be in her room for a while to recollect her thoughts after witnessing the madness of the base.

“I think she took that better than I was expecting,” Howe commented, sitting in the living room.

John moved over to where she was sitting, shoulder-to-shoulder with her. He then turned on the tv, and changed to the music channel from before. This time, a peaceful violinist was playing for them.

“Yeah, but it could have gone better. ”

“True, but I think it’s better that she gets all the crazy stuff out of the way before her birthday.”

Nodding, John laid his head on top of Howe’s, both still feeling exhausted.

“So, John. What do you plan for your sister?”

“I was thinking she could get to see some of you all, see what I have to deal with. Afterwards, I want to plan something for her birthday, do you think you can help me with it? ”

“Sure. What is it?”

“Not now, she’s still in the house. ”

“Alright…”

“Hey, are you hungry? ”

“Mm… not really…” Howe replied back, her tiredness on display through her words. The two just sat there, leaning against each other. Occasionally, John would have to slightly shake Howe to make sure she didn’t fall asleep. While he would like to have her over for the night, he thought that would be a little too fast for them.

“As much as I would like for you to stay here longer; I think it’s about time you head back home, wouldn’t you agree? ” John asked, noticing Howe drifting more and more to sleep.

“Yeah…”

Helping Howe up, John offered to walk her back, but she declined. With a kiss to her forehead, he waved her off, sunlight having faded sometime ago.

Now feeling his own exhaustion, John sluggishly went to the bathroom to clean himself up, changed into a t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants, and hit the hay. Before succumbing to the sweet embrace of sleep, John occupied his mind with what he can show Samantha.