CIA Academy of Espionage

Washington, DC

Nathan Hale Administration Building

December 18th, 2015

1100 hours

Catherine POV

'Alex, why?' I thought as I put my head in my hands, feeling myself blush not just from the embarrassing innuendo, but also from the implied compliment.

'At least he still thinks I've still got it. Hmmm, now that I think about it, so does he, especially since he's been working out more. I feel the urge to—' I felt my face heat up even more as I stopped myself from thinking those thoughts. It really wasn't the time!

'That's true,' my mind said. 'You have other priorities now. Besides, I think that little party five days ago when you arrived was quite nice. In the afternoon too, you naughty girl! It's a good thing the walls are thick in his office...'

'NO! BAD BRAIN! BAD BRAIN! NONE OF THIS!' I screamed internally.

I must've been redder than a Queen's Guardsman.

I suddenly felt a buzzing in my pocket. I pulled out my phone to see two messages: one from Cyrus, oddly, and one from Cynthia, my psychologist friend at MI6. I made sure that Ben was distracted by Alex, who was telling a story about the time he caught Cyrus off-guard with his good cooking. I remember that one. It was shocking, to say the least.

I unlocked my phone and read the messages. Cyrus was going to be arriving today at the apartment due to his mission finishing up ahead of schedule, and he wanted to spend more time with us. Further, he would be with us at the apartment, rather than somewhere else for the duration of his stay.

I looked at Cynthia's response. Her hypothesis was that Ben had a nightmare disorder (providing that he wasn't getting a normal amount of sleep, which seemed to be true). She also believed that there was a chance that he had some sort of PTSD from being tortured by SPYDER, and when it was confirmed that his family was murdered, it just made things worse.

She advised several techniques, including comfort measures, relaxing pre-sleep hobbies, offering reassurances, and simply discussing the dream. I kept it in mind as I considered what could be done this Christmas break.

As if responding to my thoughts, my phone began ringing. It was Erica.

'I suppose she's calling about living arrangements, since she's staying with us this Christmas,' I thought.

I turned towards Ben and Alex. "Boys, I have to take a call. I'll be back soon!"

They nodded and gave me a thumbs up. I left the room, pressing the "talk" button.

"Hey, Mom," said Erica.

"Erica, darling. Good morning. How are you?" I asked.

"I'm okay. Listen, is Ben anywhere near you?"

"Well, he and your father are inside the room I'm standing outside of, so yes. But he isn't close enough to hear my conversation, in case that's what you're asking."

"Oh. How's he doing?"

"He's alright."

"Did he get a good night's sleep after what happened?"

"After what happened?" I asked suspiciously.

"Mom, I know Ben nearly took his own life," she said sadly.

My eyes widened. "Erica Hale, explain yourself this instant."

"I was looking at the moon and the stars from my window—it's kinda relaxing, you should try it—when I saw Dad running from Armistead Dormitory to the administration building. Considering the fact that Ben was MIA from dinner and we couldn't find him anywhere, I felt something was up. So I set up an observation point and looked into your office. I also had bugged every staff member's office for security reasons, and only Professors Mason, Woods, Hudson, Bowman, Weaver, Crandall, and Simon have found them and disabled them."

"You have got to be kidding me," I sighed.

"I decided that Zoe, Mike, Chip, and Jawa deserved to know about the situation. They're some of Ben's best friends after all. We witnessed everything from the time he awoke, to when he prepared the gun, to when you and Dad stopped him, to when Ben explained everything, to when you all fell asleep."

"Darling, I sometimes think you're too smart for your own good."

"Maybe so, but the five of us have been working out a plan."

I mock-gasped. "My daughter? Working with other people? Queen Elizabeth II must be dead!"

I could practically hear her rolling her eyes while I chuckled. "That joke sucked, Mom. We all know that lady will be on the throne for all eternity. Yes, I worked with Ben's friends. They understand him better than anyone. We've come up with a plan to try and cheer him up. Zoe has called it 'Operation Holiday Cheer,' or as Chip and Jawa have called it, 'Hotel Charlie.' Before you ask, yes, they decided to reference the NATO Phonetic Alphabet for the second name."

"Ah. Well, both names seem on the nose, considering the season. What did you have in mind?"

"Zoe suggested a Christmas and New Year's party with everyone: you, me, Dad, Grandpa, those four, and Ben."

I grinned. While I was a little angry with Erica for spying on us and getting the rest of Ben's friends in on the act, I was extremely proud of her for working with other people and coming up with a plan to help Ben.

"That's a very sweet thought, dear. I suppose you're planning on adding a romantic part for you and Ben?" I teased.

"MOM! I do not like Ben that way!" she almost screamed.

"Please, Erica," I scoffed. "I'm your mother. I know when you're lying. And don't worry, your father approves too, and Cyrus won't be a problem," I joked, but I was also serious. I wanted my OTP to happen!

"Mooooooom!" she groaned.

"We all ship it! BERICA4EVER!" I fired back, laughing.

"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?" she shouted.

"Ask your friends!" I responded in a sing-song voice.

"I—ugh, fine! But no, there is no 'romantic part' as you put it."

"Sure there isn't," I said sarcastically. "But anyways, what does this party entail?"

"I think it might be better if one of them explains," she responded. I could hear her walking and opening a door, and four new voices could be heard clearly.

"Zoe! Give Mom a sitrep!" she ordered.

"Again with the military lingo! You've been learning it from Ben!" shouted Jawa in a sing-song voice.

I heard the sound of a slap, accompanied by a small yelp of pain and a smattering of laughter.

"SHUT UP, JAWA!" she yelled.

"Erica! Play nice!" I scolded.

"Yes, Mom," she sighed. "Here's Zoe."

I could now hear Zoe's cheerful voice. "Hi, Catherine!"

"Hello, Zoe! How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well, all things considered. You?"

"I'm fine. Is Jawa all right?"

"I think he'll be okay. If he can survive a few rounds straight with the wall of meat known as Chip, he can definitely take a whack on the head from Erica. Plus, it wasn't even full force!"

"Oh my goodness," I sighed. "Nevermind that. What's this plan of yours in 'Operation Holiday Cheer?'"

"Okay, so the 25th is in one week. We've been considering some activities. We're not using a hard-set itinerary. We just have a list that we're going to adapt as necessary. Heck, the most defined days are Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve!"

"This sounds interesting..."

"It's a pretty good plan, if I do say so myself! Mike actually came up with most of this stuff."

"I'm not surprised. He has known Ben longer than any of us."

"Yep! We're finishing up the final touches now!"

"This is great, Zoe! I just have one more addition, but don't tell Erica," I said with a grin.

"Berica?" she asked, sounding excited.

"Berica," I confirmed.

She let out a little squeal of happiness. "Yes! How are we going to play it?"

"Not sure yet. Let the rest of the group know, then think of some ideas and then we'll figure it out. Remember: Berica cannot know!"

"Gotcha! Should Ben know that we know about... well... what happened early this morning?" she asked hesitantly.

I thought about it for a moment, before deciding.

"No. We can't make this obvious, either. He's only opened up to Alex and I. This is the sort of thing you have to bring forward on your own. We cannot and will not pressure him unless he's in imminent danger. The same applies to you children."

"I understand, Catherine. Shall we go over the rest of the details?"

"Yes, let's do that."

It took another half-hour for us to discuss the whole plan, after which I said hi to everyone else and hung up.

I walked back into the room to see Ben sitting at the counter, eating a plate of food while Alex was still cooking eggs. Ben turned towards me and waved.

"Hey Catherine! Everything okay?" he asked.

"Don't worry, dear. Everything's fine."

"Cath! You're up!" Alex said as he gave me my plate.

I thanked him and set my breakfast on the counter. Alex was plating his breakfast when I signaled for him to go outside.

"Ben, Alex and I have to talk about something. Can you give us a minute?"

He simply gave us a thumbs-up, as his mouth was full of food. Once we were outside the break room, I explained everything to Alex.

He thought about it before finally speaking: "I think it can be done. The apartment is certainly large enough. The main thing is that we need to have at least one person with Ben at all times, but we'll have to make it as natural as possible."

I nodded. "Problem is, there are only two bedrooms, a sofa, a couch, and a reclining chair in the apartment. We only planned on us and Erica originally, with Cyrus staying somewhere else. Now, if we follow the children's plan, we'll have all nine of us in the apartment. And I don't think Cyrus is keen on sharing."

"What if we had the kids in the living room, the two of us in one bedroom, and Dad in the other?" Alex suggested.

"That could work. We'd have to tell them to bring sleeping bags and such. I'll text Erica."

"Great. Now, how do we get Ben in on this?"

I pondered his question, then replied: "Well... why don't we tell him that we've been planning this for a while? But since he and his friends are stuck here due to various reasons, they're all invited!"

"It's definitely a plausible excuse! Although the big question is whether or not he'll be able to handle interacting with others."

"We'll have to ask. By the sounds of it, the kids' plan is reliant on them being there."

"What if it falls through, and he'd rather not do it?"

"That is likely, in which case, we'll have to improvise and make sure the children are aware."

"Alright. You ready?" he asked.

I nodded. "Let's go tell him."

We went back into the room to see Ben sipping on some tea. Most of his food was finished.

"Ben?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Well... Alex, Erica, Cyrus, and myself had planned to spend some time together during the break. Since you, Michael, Zoe, Jawa, and Chip are all staying here on campus, we decided to invite you all. They all accepted. Would you like to join us?" I asked nervously.

He stared at me for a moment. "Catherine... are you sure you want me there?"

"Absolutely," Alex and I replied simultaneously.

Ben was silent for a few moments before nodding hesitantly.

"We want to stick with you, Ben. But we won't force you to hang around others if you don't want to," Alex said reassuringly.

He shook his head. "Thanks, Alexander, but I'll join you guys. I guess I might need it," he replied as he looked down at his tea.

I reached out and grasped Ben's left shoulder, trying to make him understand that I didn't want him to do this if he didn't think he could handle it. Thankfully, he put his hand over mine and looked up at me with a small smile, indicating that he was okay with this.

"I'll be okay, Catherine. Now, maybe you guys should eat? We can't do anything if you've both collapsed from hunger."

Alex and I chuckled before sitting down with our plates. Hopefully everything would go according to plan...

"Come, Watson, come!  The game is afoot!"

- Sherlock Holmes

What does the plan entail?  Will the team be able to execute it properly?  And how will Ben fare throughout this whole affair?

I'd like to have the next chapter up within a week, but it's more likely to be within 1-2 weeks since the real world for me has gotten quite hectic.

As always, I'm happy to answer your questions if you drop them in the comments.

Until we meet again.  Stay safe!

- ADF-2