Spy School: Family Ties

Chapter 4

Hale Residence
March 15, 2027
1200 hours

Erica's POV

Ben was getting the stroller ready, and I was packing some light equipment. We were going to go look around the White House area, to see if we could find any clues. I was just about done and I went to get Emma.

Ben was right, she was adorable. Her hair was already growing, and it was raven black like mine. However, I could make out a few brown streaks that looked like Ben's hair. I scooped her up and brought her over to Ben, who was done with the stroller.

We got our stuff and left outside. We were close to the heart of Washington. It was only about a 10 minute walk. We decided to go to a cafe and grab lunch. I ordered a salad, while Ben got a grilled cheese. We both got coffees and we also got a cookie.

It only took about 3 minutes for everything to be done, and we were waiting at a table when the server came over with everything.

"2 coffees, a garden salad, grilled cheese with no meat, and a cookie." She said, plopping everything onto the table politely.

"Oh my gosh!" She cooed. "Your baby is adorable. What's her name?"

"It's Emma," I said calmly.

"Awww, such a sweet name for such a nice girl," she said. She then leaned down and waved her hand. "Hi Emma!" She said excitedly.

I looked over and saw Emma glaring at her. It took everything I had to not laugh, and I could see Ben doing the same.

"Emma, sweetie, that's not nice," I chided. "Smile." I motioned with my face, and she copied me. The server seemed ecstatic.

"Well I really need to do my job, but it was nice meeting you 3," she said as she left. I went back to eating my food and I handed Emma the cookie. I knew she couldn't eat it, obviously, but she looked adorable with it. Emma kept playing around with it and me and Ben looked on with happiness.

We finished our food soon after and headed back on our way towards the White House. It was crowded, as per usual, but there were some areas with less congestions, so we went there. Me and Ben split up, and I stayed with Emma. I rolled her around, keeping my eyes peeled for anyone.

It felt good to be out on a mission again, even if it was a relatively low action one. I could already feel my spy senses kicking in. I felt completely energized and ready. It wasn't that taking time off was bad, but that....

Well, I had wanted Emma. There was no doubt about it. I felt ready to have a kid and I loved Emma more than anything (except for Ben, they were tied). But I hadn't realized how much I would miss spying. It sucked a lot sitting at home when I was pregnant.

Ben was always a bright spot, but after that, it had been a lot. Being back in the spy game felt good.

I had gone in a whole loop. I hadn't seen anything, but a lot of people stopped to see Emma. She smiled at a lot of them, thankfully, and at the others she just stared. I was happy that she hadn't glared at anyone else. I guess she was already learning to control her emotions.

Stop it, Erica, she's quite literally a newborn.

I kept walking around, looking for anything I could find.

Ben's POV

I split up from Erica so we could cover more ground. It was a bright March day. The sun was shining through, but there was still a little bit of snow left on the ground. I cased the area. I couldn't find anything of importance. There was just a lot of tourists, everywhere.

I did my second loop. I saw Erica with Emma, who had gotten the attention of a tourist. I just shook my head and smiled. She was one pretty cute baby. I was about to keep heading on when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

I whirled around, but I saw nothing. I looked around slowly, and I spotted a figure behind a bench. I pretended not to notice them, but when I looked away, I knew they had ran, so I bolted that way.

I ran and fell in behind the figure. They were in extremely good shape. But my adrenaline was pumping. It had been so long since I had chased after someone. I sped up and managed to catch the figure.

I lashed out my arm and grabbed them. I used my momentum to swing ahead of them and then throw them onto the ground. They were wearing a black ski mask.

"Who are you?" I snarled.

"Pull my mask off and find out," she said. There was something familiar about her voice.

I ripped off her mask.

Erica's POV

I had done a few laps with Emma. I hadn't seen Ben. There was nothing suspicious that I could find yet, but I had the feeling I was missing something. I scoured the area again, using my senses as precisely as possible, but I couldn't find anything.

Suddenly, Emma started crying. This was odd. I had just fed her. I picked her up and started to soothe her, rocking her back and forth. I turned to sit on a nearby bench and she just started crying even more. I was confused. Maybe I hadn't read enough on the mother handbook.

I got away from the bench and put her back in the stroller. I rubbed her belly and kissed her on the forehead. That seemed to do the trick and she quickly drifted off into sleep. I went back to look at the bench. Then I saw it.

Something so unnoticeable to the normal eye, but I had caught it. There was a small bracelet under the bench. I leaned over and picked it up. I didn't think this would trigger Emma, but there wasn't anything else around.

It was a friendship bracelet, made of black, blue, and white string. It looked so familiar.

Oh shoot.

I knew who made the bracelet. And I didn't know whether to be happy or not. I put it beside Emma, and then scouted the area. I saw a path leading into the forest. I followed it with Emma in tow.

The paths were not very well kept. There was snow along them as well as mud poking through. I continued through though, hoping I could find Ben.

I soon came to a clearing with an old statue that was half broken. There were a few benches, as well as a small fountain. I walked around it, and I saw Ben.

He was sitting by himself, from the looks of it. I went over to him.

"What's up?" I asked.

He took Emma out of the stroller and cradled her. I sat down beside him.

"I followed someone in a black outfit here. I saw them out of the corner of my eye. I think it's time you meet someone again."

"Well if it isn't the Ice Queen herself," a voice said behind me. "The pleasure is all mine, your majesty."

Who could this mystery girl be? Sorry about the late update, I just had a lot of stuff going on today, but I knew I had to get one chapter out for you guys. You all deserve it 😄😄