A/N Okay, at this point, if you haven't read my other fanfic "Olive's Last Partner" yet, you really should go do that NOW before reading this chapter. Even if you have already read OLP, I would suggest you go read it anyhow to refresh your memory. :) Below is the URL to it on Fanfiction.net (or go to the external link in the tags section), and NO, YOU DO NOT NEED AN ACCOUNT TO READ IT, YAY!

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10928479/1/Olive-s-Last-Partner

Of all the things Otto might have expected to happen today when he got out of bed this morning, getting tackled and nearly smothered by a giant green blob was not one of them.

Neither was it necessarily something he'd expected to happen when he came up with the plan to ambush it in the purple star boiler room. In all honesty, as he unscrewed and opened up the side of the piping, he kinda-sorta hoped its size would make it less frisky than a normal Blob, and it would just drop out and slither down nicely for him to Shrinkinate. Instead, he nearly got swallowed whole.

The thick, oozing green mass stifled his cries of dismay.

And, as he struggled to fight his way out, it also muffled the ensuing commotion next door.

* * * * *

Half an hour earlier, Oscar had been in Ms. O's office offering advice on which juice box flavor to stock up on next ("Fruit punch is the best flavor, sure, but it's been months since you've ordered the mango passion fruit...") when the call came in.

"Hold that thought," Ms. O said as she picked up the phone receiver. "Go for O...Agent Owen, you—...Owen, stop! Use your words, what happened...? It's what?! ...Alright, I'll send help as soon as I can. See if you can close off the main pipe until we get it out... Uh-huh, thanks for letting me know." She hung up and immediately grabbed a juice box.

Uh-oh. That means something's REALLY wrong. "Ms. O, what's going on?" Oscar asked.

Ms. O shook her head. "Something very bad has happened," she said heavily. "Owen says he's found something big and green in the Mechanical Rooms' main piping. He doesn't know what it is, but it's clogging the pipe and it's growing." Grabbing her remote, she aimed it at the screen behind her and pulled up a live blueprint of headquarters, then highlighted the lower basement floor and its pipe network.

Immediately Oscar noticed a green dot in the orange triangle section of the main pipe. On the map it looked small, but sure enough it was steadily growing longer. "Big and green and growing...?" he frowned worriedly and adjusted his glasses. "Oh, no. It's not a Blobisite, is it?"

"Don't ask me! But whatever that thing is, it needs to be stopped."

"Heh, no kidding! I wrote about these things in the Odd Squad newsletter last winter. At best it can disrupt our heating and cooling systems, but at worst it could burst a pipe or even a boiler—"

"Yes, I get that!" Ms. O cut him off. "Right now, I need you to go down to the orange triangle room, open up the piping, and see if you can get it out. Do you think you can do it yourself, or are you gonna need backup?"

"Um, that depends," Oscar replied over his shoulder as he headed for the office doors. "If it really is a Blobisite, then yeah, I may need a couple agents for backup. B-but lemme take a look at it first, and I'll call you if I do need help!"

Sure enough, when he got down to the orange triangle room, climbed up on his stepladder, and unscrewed a section of the metal piping, the big green thing clogging the main pipe was none other than a Blobisite. Worse, as Oscar quickly noticed, it was too big for him to force out and use the Shrinkinator on by himself. "This doesn't look good at all," he muttered grimly. About to reach for his badge phone, he was surprised to find it already ringing. "Yello!" he answered.

"What's happening?"

It was Ms. O. "We've got a Blobisite, just like I thought," he stated. "It's too big now for me to handle alone, so if you could send someone to help, that'd be—"

"That's what I thought," she interrupted. "Right after you left, I went ahead and called for Agents Olive and Otto. I've briefed them and they're on their way now."

She sent Olive? Oscar tensed a little. He hadn't worked together with her for over a year now, and things hadn't exactly improved between the two of them. Sure, she and Otto were definitely one of the best teams on the squad, and he'd been happy to have their help before with the Hydraclops and the Oscarbots. Still...Oscar knew very well that today was August 4, and he was almost certain Olive remembered, too. He wasn't sure he would be able to stand the extra withering looks of disgust she'd be sending his way, not even by putting on a big fake smile. "Ms. O, a-are you sure? I mean, one or two of my scientists would be p-perfectly fine, heh...hello? Hello?" He sighed. Ms. O had already hung up on him. Come on, Oscar, look on the bright side. It's not like I'll be left alone with her or anything. Exasperated, he looked down and fumbled to clip his badge back on his labcoat.

Lost his balance.

Yelped and made a wild grab at the pipe to keep from falling.

Accidentally grabbed the Blobisite.

Got spit in the face when the creature angrily slammed into the side of the pipe.

And forced himself to act like his normal, chipper, erudite self as the door hissed open and in ran Olive and Otto.

* * * * *

Finally, with one mighty shove, Otto threw the Blobisite off of him and gasped in a breath of air. Panting, he pulled himself to his feet.

His jaw dropped.

Every inch of the floor was covered in writhing green goo.

But at the moment, there was an even bigger problem. The muffled sound of a sloshing echoing roar made him look up, and to his horror Otto discovered that the last of the Blobisite was about to fall out of the pipe. And after that...

Not wanting to think about what would come next, Otto sprang into action. In a flash he grabbed the section of piping he'd removed, leapt to the top of the stepladder, and slammed it into place just as the last of the Blobisite slipped out, taking with it a blessedly small trickle of—orange juice? But there wasn't time to speculate. Immediately he felt the pressure of rushing liquid against the metal piping in his hands, and hurriedly screwed it back into place. Relieved, Otto sank into a sitting position on the ladder and began to pull out his Shrinkinator.

And that's when he heard the eerily quiet screams: "Otto! Let us out! We're trapped and it's flooding!"

Suddenly it dawned on him that in the background there had been a muffled roar through the cement walls that entire time. Now, horrified, he put two and two together and realized what was happening to Olive and Oscar in the orange triangle room next door.

My partner's going to drown.

"OLIVE!" Overwhelmed by dread, Otto nearly dashed out then and there, but his cry had disturbed the Blobisite. The green mass started shifting around even more violently and nearly toppled over the ladder. Otto looked at it, then up at the wall. Torn between dangers. Which one to take care of first?

"Hang tight, Olive," Otto whispered with a gulp. "I'm sorry, but this can't wait."

With that, he fired his Shrinkinator and began the agonizingly long process of reducing such a gigantic creature into something small enough to not be a threat. All the while hoping and praying he wouldn't be too late.

* * * * *

I thought you never cared.

Silly me.

You always cared.

All this time

you

always

cared.

How could I have been so wrong?

* * * * *

Bucket in hand, Otto tore out into the hallway and skidded to a stop in front of the door with the orange triangle.

It was unlocked. He could go in there right now and save them.

But through all the layers of terror and worry and panic, a crucial shard of logic made its way through his mind: You can't open the door without a plan for stopping the orange juice from flooding headquarters.

So I'm helpless?! Otto wanted to scream back. Frustrated, he fought the panicky paralysis about to freeze him to the floor and dug in his pockets for something, anything, that could have the slightest hope of getting them out safely.

His hand closed around the Freezerayinator.

* * * * *

I thought you might never forgive me.

Boy was I wrong.

All I had to do was talk to you.

Just like Opal said, and now I know

you

still

care.

I won't ever let you go again.

* * * * *

The whole thing was over in six minutes.

Weary, yet invigorated somewhat after laughing hysterically over how stupid Olive and Oscar had been to assume the door sealed itself shut without even checking, the trio trudged out of the Mechanical Rooms hallway and up to the main headquarters foyer.

Up to Ms. O's office, where they told her what Otto believed to be the whole story.

Back down to the locker rooms and the showers, where en route Oscar whipped out a camera and took selfies of their utterly (and now laughably) bedraggled appearances.

To the tubes and back home for a hard-earned time off from work—in Otto's case, by way of a bet-winning trip to the Donut Room. After all, of all the things he'd expected to happen today, saving his friends' lives was not one of them.

Which is why Otto never noticed how something had changed between Olive and Oscar.

For the first time since he'd known them, they were treating each other like old friends.

Friends, and so much more.

* * * * *

The next day, after hearing the doorbell ring, Oscar was greeted at the front door of his home by a girl so different from the one he'd known the past year.

Looking at each other, they had to laugh. On their day off, neither had felt like wearing anything but sweats and T-shirts after yesterday's ordeal. They laughed even harder when a curious little bunny hopped out through the doorway and sniffed at Olive's flip-flop-clad feet. Oscar quickly scooped up the tiny animal with a "No no, Oscar Junior, let's let Olive get inside the door first!"

Not too long after, the two of them were sitting on an area rug in the middle of the living room floor, petting any bunnies that happened to hop by. They had a lot to catch up on. "So how long ago did you first figure it out?" Olive began, after a few minutes of awkward small talk. "Y'know, that you liked me."

Oscar's cheeks turned bright pink, which Olive thought looked adorable. "Look...I'll be honest, but it was pretty much from the start. Y'know, like I said yesterday, the moment I met you I wanted to help you any way I could, and it didn't take long before I figured out—um, what that meant. W-what about you?"

Olive chuckled. "It took me a little longer. I don't think I finally admitted it to myself until about two years into our partnership, right about when you started leaving. I don't know, it was sometime after that case with Nadia and the mystery box, and sometime before that overseas one we got called to in Tara, Ireland."

"The one on Raloo Farm where the cabbages all turned into zombies?"

"That's the one." With a pointed look she added, "The last case you and I actually solved all the way through together."

Oscar bit his lip and looked away guiltily. "Yeah..."

"Hey." Olive reached out and turned his chin so he was facing her again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You know I forgive you, now that we've told each other everything. And..." now it was her turn to blush, "I'm really glad I don't have to hate you anymore. I like liking you better."

That made Oscar smile. "Heh, well, I like liking you better, too," he said with a wink.

This earned him a look of disapproval from Olive. "Y'know, Oscar, I really don't think being a flirt suits you all that well. And I have a feeling I'm going to say that again in the future, too."

He pursed his lips in that awkward little way she loved. "Did Oda and Odalis just tell you that to make you feel better?"

"Maybe...?" After a bout of laughter, Olive was suddenly thoughtful. "I do miss them, though. After Otto and I became partners, there was just no time anymore to see them, and before I knew it they'd transferred. They helped me through a lot of stuff those four months, yeah. But I guess do have a partner now to be my best friend." She took his hand and squeezed it. "And I've got you, too."

Oscar turned from pink to red, but he didn't let go or look away. God, her eyes are so beautiful, he thought, losing himself in their gold-flecked brown. I missed them so much. But I missed her more.

Which reminded him...

"You say your partner is your best friend? So...in the past eight months, you never...y'know, felt anything for him?"

Olive pursed her lips and then shrugged. "I guess that's a fair question. Not really, no. I mean...I considered it, sure, but neither Otto nor I have ever really seen each other that way. He's my best friend, like I said." Secretly, Oscar thought it was cute how embarrassed this was making her. "Okay, can we stop talking about this now? You already know how I feel about you, and I don't need you getting jealous."

Oscar couldn't resist a nose boop, which made her giggle. "Deal!"

Later, after an hour's worth of explaining things to each other from over the years, and then deciding to watch and relax to a movie and picking Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Olive's choice, not Oscar's), the two could be found dozing on the couch, their heads resting on each other's shoulders, grasping each other's hand tightly, bunnies sitting contentedly in their labs.

"Hey, Olive?" Oscar murmured sleepily at one point, "You know there's a word for that, right?"

"A word for what?"

"Getting tired of the same worries and fears for years and years."

No reply. Olive had fallen back asleep. Chuckling, Oscar decided that wasn't such a bad idea. "It's called Altschmerz."

A/N Yay, they finally made up! Also, another HUGE thank-you to darkspectrum for the stunning fanart above of "Olive's Last Partner", which I thought only fitting to include in this chapter for you all to see. :)

Now for a reminder to anyone participating in the Contest, there's only a few days left to submit your entries! And even though I said the deadline is July 30 (my birthday fyi ;) ), I will also accept any submissions on July 31, partly so it goes until the end of the month, but also because one of the OS cast members has a birthday on that date. Anybody know who it is??? :D