Ships Ahoy!

The Rejected

Warning: this is one of the sadder chapters I've written, I think. Also we've got some stuff from "The Queer" returning, so sorry if that's not your cup of tea.

Christmas Eve was here before anyone knew it. Odd Squad still had work, of course, but the atmosphere at headquarters was buzzing with anticipation for the upcoming holiday. Agent Otto, brand-new to the squad and still not quite ten years old, was probably the friskiest. Impatient for the holiday to begin, he couldn't understand how his partner could be such a workaholic as not to even stop and smell the candy canes—until he spotted Santa Claus himself in the Lab, realized just why Odd Squad went to work on Christmas Eve, and suddenly loved his job even more.

And in fact, behind her cool facade, Olive was just as excited for both the festivities and whatever important role she might play in helping Christmas of 2013 to be the best yet. (Which, as everyone knows, turned out to be finding and regrowing nine tiny reindeer and delivering presents with Big Red himself.) Not even the mention—and thankfully not the appearance—of Oscar was enough to dampen her spirits as Santa shrank the spaghetti bike and slipped it into his sack. No, even when she later noticed him going to great pains to help Ms. O get back on the nice list, Olive refused to allow herself to feel any less than the true Christmas Spirit. Just as every single other agent on Odd Squad was filled with it right now.

Every agent, that is, except for Agent Oz.

Since his accident on October 11, Oz absolutely hated holidays. All they did was remind him just how invisible he was—both literally and figuratively.

First of all, since he'd invited her family over the year before, it had been Octavia's year to host Thanksgiving dinner. Which meant she had to admit to her family that her partner and lifelong best friend had "...um...changed..." Needless to say, the entire meal was made awkward when the grownups kept starting at his disembodied voice, attempting to hand him plates of food and missing his hands entirely, and in general forgetting he was even there. And although Octavia staunchly denied it, Oz could tell that she was embarrassed by the whole ordeal.

Halloween was even worse. Due to complications arising from how he'd become invisible (and because he refused to wear a bedsheet), Oz decided to go trick-or-treating without a costume. Big mistake. Octavia kept having to explain to every homeowner that yes, there was an invisible person holding the floating candy bag and yes, that's where the mysterious voice was coming from. Ten houses in, Octavia asked Oz if it'd be alright for her to go home and change into her other costume, instead of her Odd Squad uniform that she'd worn for his sake. Oz agreed to wait for her, but eventually gave up when the better part of an hour passed and she didn't return. Instead, he spent the rest of the night attempting to trick-or-treat by himself, ringing doorbells and holding out his bag, only to undergo the following exchange a gazillion times over: "Trick or treat!" "Is anyone there?" "Trick or treat!" "Hello? Is anyone there?" "TRICK OR TREAT!" "Hello? Is anyone..." which concluded when the person shrugged and shut the door. Every. Single. Time.

(It was only later he found out from Oscar that Octavia hadn't bailed on him, but had accidentally locked herself in the attic and spent the night trapped there, unable to call for help. Which didn't make Oz feel any better—after all, how come she hadn't told him herself?)

So now that it was almost Christmas, Oz wasn't exactly the most optimistic person in headquarters. Back on day of the accident, Octavia had sworn up and down his invisibility wouldn't change a decade's worth of the relationship they had created, insisting he would always be her own dear Oz. Yet over the past ten and a half weeks, he had noticed several signs seeming to point the opposite direction. Her eyes and body language were more distant than he'd seen from her, and she acted much more absent-minded than he'd ever known her to be. But only, Oz was convinced, if she knew he was close by. It didn't help that his permanent invisibility was such an advantage for certain cases, and he kept getting assigned solo missions that dragged him away from his partner more and more often.