You should probably reread chapter 9 because I added to it since I missed an entire paragraph. Oops, so sorry 😬. Sorry it took a while! This is what his jacket looks like but with a green "B" to the right on the chest.

Erica's House
Living Room
8:00 AM
Monday
June 15th

Erica's POV:
I yawned as I laid next to Ben, cuddling on the couch. I was so glad that after all these years, Ben still loved me and kept trying to "thaw" me. If he hadn't, I wouldn't have been laying next to him as an official couple. I looked up and smiled at him. I wouldn't change a thing about him, I mean, he's perfect! Oh, I remembered his birthday was the 16th, and it's the 15th. I couldn't believe I forgot. I'll text Zoe and Mike to help me plan something special while he's at the gym, basketball, football, and soccer. 

Wow, he does a lot. I thought. As much as I wanted to go and watch him, I wanted to plan something special for his birthday. Eh, he'll have more practices. Bzzzz... What the heck? We both got a text at the same time, which seemed normal, except for the fact that only a few people had my number. 

"Cyrus." I mumbled. Meet me at St. Smithen's. Principal's Office. I have an important job for you. 75 minutes. DON'T be late. -K. K stands for Klondike which he put in case anyone else read it, they wouldn't understand. It's also his code name. Dang it grandpa! I have plans! Arghhhh!

I could tell Ben was worried Cyrus would kill him if he found out about us, even though I told him not to because him hurting Ben would hurt me. Since his goal was for me not to get hurt, he wouldn't touch Ben. He gulped. 

"Man, you used to listen way more before we were dating. Should we go back to being single?" 

Immediately he yelled, "NO!!! I love you and we just started dating. You can't break up with me yet!" I almost laughed. 

"To be honest, I don't want to break up either, but you never listen anymore. Stop worrying about him. I'll protect you like I always have. If I tell him that him hurting you would hurt me, he wouldn't think about touching you. But, if you hurt me intentionally or betray me like Josh, he still won't kill you. Because I will. But I'm not too worried about it, because I fully trust you and know how loyal you are. It's one of the main reasons that I care about you so much. Now, let's go." He blushed, probably happy that we're together and I just said I cared about him and trusted him. He paused. 

Lemme guess, now he's bummed we can't celebrate his birthday or go out. Actually, he seems to have forgotten about his birthday, so I'm not gonna remind him.

I said, "Stop complaining, and focus, this is how we met and the world is more important than a few dates. They can wait and so can you." 

"I know, but I was really looking forward to couple time. By the way, I know that Catherine knows, but who are we telling, if anyone?"

 "We can figure that out in the car. Let's take mine. Here, you drive." I said, tossing him the keys. He nodded. 

"Go change, and grab some supplies in case. Mav's still asleep and Mike's on his way to watch him. He thinks I just wanted a dog and named it Maverick. I didn't tell him about us though." 

About 5 minutes later we had our suits and utility belts on. We even had 4 backpacks, 2 of weapons, one for each of us, and 2 of things like clothes and toiletries, also one for each of us. We hopped in the car and drove to Spy School. 

We decided to tell anyone we knew we could trust like Zoe, Mike, and my family. 

We got there like 40 ish minutes after he texted us, making us half an hour early. Meaning we had a few minutes to get there before we were "late." So by Cyrus' standards, we were right on time, so far. I had gotten cold in the car, and he gave me his jacket. At first I just held it and looked at it. 

Awwww... he wants me to wear his letterman jacket since I'm cold. He's so sweet! Man, I love him. I put it on after some arguing to make sure he wouldn't get cold without it, and smiled as he put his arm around my shoulder. It was a little big, but instantly I felt better and warmer. I realized my life had pretty much became a rom-com. 

I told him I hadn't actually sent it yet, so he supposedly didn't know. It occurred to me once again that even though I'm two years older than him, he's now a little bit taller than me. 

We walked in and grandpa said something I didn't expect, "You're late lovebirds!" He said it with a sneer, clearly upset I had a boyfriend. 

Ben almost instantly piped up and said, "Actually, we aren't lovebirds, and we got here 30 minutes and 37 seconds early. So 15 minutes and 37 seconds early according to you." 

Dang it, he knows! 

"Fine, but how stupid do you think I am. You 2 are clearly dating and here's how I know. She's wearing your letterman jacket, you had your arm around her when you were on your way up, and you still do, I know that you bought a dog to share, I know why you two bought the color cars you did and more. Need I go on? I didn't think so." 

I blushed. How could I be so stupid? 

"Grandpa, I know that you think relationships get in the way, but I've been happier with Ben than I ever was before. Are you sure you're not just saying that because of Grandma?" He was clearly surprised. 

"Er...ummm...No!" He said, his voice quivering. 

"Grandma?" Ben asked. I forgot that he didn't know. 

I said, "Well, grandpa fell in love with one of his friend's sister. His friend was also a spy, named Max Henry. His sister was beautiful and smart. She was a super good spy too. Her name was Jillian Henry and she was 3 years younger than him. Soon they fell in love and got married. Not long after they had Alexander. But one day, 30 years later, she randomly went missing. Grandpa searched and searched, but he never found her. He was so hurt that he decided to never let emotions in, because all it had done was cause him pain and suffering. So that's why he never shows emotion, to the best of his ability, of course. That was 30 years ago. She'd be turning 69 next week, if she wasn't missing or worse, dead." 

"Oh. I'm so sorry Cyrus. I had no idea." Ben whispered. 

"It's not your fault kid. Anyways, back to the mission. We found good intel about where she was taken. Here." He sniffled a little as he handed us a folder with the words 'FOR YOUR EYES ONLY' stamped on the front. "The CIA thinks they finally found her. Please, Ben, Erica, I miss her more than you can imagine. Please, find my wife and bring her home." He cleared his throat. "And of course, if you tell anyone how emotional I just got, I'll have to..." 

"Kill us?" He asked. 

"How did you..." 

Now I interrupted, "It's because I tell him that all the time. And before you ask, I'm not telling you why I told him that." 

Cyrus closed his mouth before saying, "Fair enough, now. We found out she was held in California, Florida, or Hawaii. We know it's one of them because we found samples of plants only found in those states. Where would you like to try first?" I glanced at Ben as he was lost in thought. 

"Oh no!" He yelled scaring us. 

"What!?!" We yelled. 

"I think that it's a last operation attempt before we catch all their leaders. They're not going down without a fight. They kidnapped her years ago, but they know how important she is to you, so they let it slip that they had her, planning to trap us." 

I quickly understood, "Yeah, you're right. Whenever we get info from anyone, it's usually because Spyder let it slip to trap us. So where are they really, Ben?" 

"I'm not sure yet. Let's play along until we get more info ourselves, and so I can figure out the rest of their plan. We go to Florida, then California, and then we go to Hawaii. They don't know we know it's a trap, so let's use that to our advantage. Once we go to Florida, they think they have us. But someone comes in and saves us. Then we go to the others, because they think we know they're all traps. But we go anyways, implying we have no idea. We don't talk about this at all after we leave here. They might hear us, ruining our whole plan. Sound good?" 

Nice thinking kid!" 

"Yea, good job Ben!" 

"Looks like one more mission to take out Spyder and finally bring Jillian home. And there's no one I'd rather have on it." Cyrus said. 

"Can I name it?" Ben asked. 

"Sure, you deserve it. After all you've done and you saw a trap that we both missed. Not to mention, you gave me hope. So, thank you." 

"No problem. How about Operation Phantom Phoenix. Cuz it sounds really cool." 

"Sure." 

"Sweet!" He said. "Looks like Operation: Phantom Phoenix is officially a go! Cool!" 

"We'll leave in a month after everything is prepared." Grandpa said. 

Whew! We can celebrate Ben's birthday before we leave! Yesss! 

"Catherine, Alexander, and I are coming along with you two. Would you like Mike and Zoe to come as well?" Ben looked at me, saying it was my choice. 

"Sure, they've improved and the more the merrier." I joked. 

Ben looked happy but so did I; he asked me even though he had an opinion! 

"Okay, I'll contact them and brief them. You are dismissed." We stood up and went to leave when Ben asked if I wanted to drive, reminding grandpa about the two of us. "I'm sure you can tell, Ben, but if you hurt Erica, I will personally find you and teach you a lesson." Ben winced. 

"I understand sir. Don't worry." 

"Oh, that's right." I pulled out my phone and sent the recording to him. "I woke up to Ben saying this next to me. I think you should hear it; it's really sweet." He nodded and his expression changed. 

"What did you say?" 

"I heard him saying that when I woke up next to him?" 

"You woke up next to him? Why? You have a guest room, not to mention a bunch of others. Why did you wake up next to him?" He said, his voice rapidly raising. 

"Oh, yeah we were watching a movie on the couch but we fell asleep next to each other." Ben said calmly. "Nothing bad, sir. Just our first date; watching "The Princess Bride," that is." 

Grandpa smiled, "Now that's what I like to hear! That sounds reasonable." I breathed a sigh of relief. 

I remembered my promise to Ben so, I told Cyrus not to hurt Ben, kill Ben, etc. because I care about him and it would hurt me. He nodded. "You should probably get going, Ben. Practices start soon, and I know how you like to go to the gym for an hour before to warm up and work out." Ben looked uneasy, which was the reason Cyrus said this, to remind him that he could find him and knew what he normally did. I just rolled my eyes. 

"Let's go." 

We walked back to the car with his arm around me again, but I felt that I was being watched. So did Ben. We looked up to the principal's window and saw Cyrus looking at us and motioning that he would be watching us. Ben shuddered. 

"Remember what he said, he won't hurt you." I said reassuringly as we got in the car. We drove home with the radio on, both of us singing along. 

WOW! 402 views! Man, I just made this for fun and it's doing pretty well. Thank you everyone! Okay so I have a few chapters laid out, but it will take a while to write and update. I'll do my best. Shouldn't be over a week.