A New Family

Chapter 9: Meeting

There was no noise coming from Off the Hook's living room, that evening. It was calm and peaceful. There was only silent snoring, and the TV still going on with various ads featuring the more popular brands. Squid Falls' weekly episode had ended an hour before, but by that point, it didn't really matter. Both Leah and Chloe had fallen asleep on their bean bags, after eating every chip inside the bowl Marina had brought for them, Eight holding her frog in her arm. Therefore, they lost half of the episode they were watching. Which wasn't very ideal, of course, but both of them needed sleep after that day.

However, their rest was about to be disturbed by the rather noisy doorbell ringing. Four jumped from her sit, caught off guard, and ended face-first on the floor. Eight, who was more acquainted with it, opened her eyes quickly, awoken by the sudden noise, looking around still half sleeping. 

"Why is your doorbell so noisy? I had a stroke!" Asked Four, holding her nose in a little bit of pain.
"Look, I told Pearl the other day about it and she said she would have given it a look, ok??" Eight replied, trying to defend herself.
They didn't even have time to approach the door though, as Pearl had already dashed out of the kitchen going to answer the door.
"I'm on it!" She screamed, disappearing into the entrance hall. The two agents looked at each other, as Eight shrugged smiling. They started wondering who could have been visiting by that time. It was 8 pm, so it was not very late, but definitely not really early either.

"Maybe Marina convinced the Squid Sisters to come by for dinner?" Eight speculated.
"That's a good guess. Let me go check if what you say is correct, detective Chloe." Four said, jokingly, following Pearl's lead to enter the hallway as well. Eight followed her shortly after. As the two reached the entrance, they saw three figures standing behind Pearl. And all of them were much taller than the rapper, of course. Not that it was hard to be taller than Pearl, to begin with. She was so short. The difference in height was quite hilarious. It turned out to be Marie and Callie, as expected by Eight, and even Captain Cuttlefish, whose presence was surely a surprise, but a well-welcomed one. 

"Hi Marie! Hi Callie! Hi Captain!" Four exclaimed, happy to see them.
"Hello, Agent 4. Seems like you've been doing fine, huh?" Marie said, smiling.
"Hey, hugs and talkin' later, unless you like this hallway a lot?" Pearl and her usual sarcastic attitude. Her talking surely was double the size of her height. The group headed off to the living room, Callie being just as amazed (if not more) than Four when she first entered. 

"This place is awesome!"
"Erm- yes Callie, you say that every time you come here, haha." Marina walked in just as Callie shared her enthusiasm with everyone. The Squid Sisters waved at her, and so did Captain Cuttlefish.
"Good to see you, Craig." Marina said, glad to see him as well.
"Yeah, this old squid's all fine still. But uh- I need to sit down. Too much running and walking today..." The old squid dropped to the couch, sighing in relief. It had been a hard day for him and his nieces, too.

"Marina, can you give me a tour of the house?? Please please pleaaaaaseeee!!" Callie begged, holding both of the Octoling's hands.
"Again?? Seriously, at this point it's like- a ritual of some sort??" Pearl was still not quite used to Callie's way of acting, but she was right. For some reason, every time Callie visited their house, she felt a need to make a mini tour of the whole place. It was...tradition.
"Yes. I want my Tour!" She answered, raising her hands in the air joyfully.
"Alright, alright...come on Pearlie, help me out here."

Pearl sighed and joined the duo, walking beside Marina while also leaving the living room, to show Callie all the rooms of the house, as per usual.
"That's going to take them a while for sure. I am convinced this place has hundreds of rooms..." Marie mumbled. She looked at her grandpa. He seemed to be busy in a discussion with Eight. After all, the two of them were quite close. They had gotten along well since the first day in the metro. Eight especially enjoyed having Captain Cuttlefish around her. He was the first inkling she had met without being mind-controlled by Octavio, and she really looked up to him.

Four, on the other hand, had gone back to sitting on her bean bag, in deep thought. A big, brown, leather couch. Marie walked over to her and sat beside her on the floor. She usually wouldn't do that, but she didn't mind in that instance. Four leaned her head on her shoulder as soon as she noticed her, and Marie put an arm around her neck. Four loved it when Marie did that. There was nothing that made her feel safer than that. The Squid Sisters were the best thing that had ever happened to her.

She was happy to see that Marie didn't appear to be angry at her for calling her "mom". Maybe Eight was right, maybe she was too tired and she hadn't even realized it. 

Oh, but little she knew.

The two of them looked in silence at the TV. An AD Sponsoring Wahoo World

"Come to Wahoo World and have the best time of your life..." Four said, repeating the script of the AD. 

"Eat, Explore, and have fun on the 27 different attractions we have to offer. For families, couples, and even pets..." Marie added.

"Wahoo World! The fun never ends!" They said that at the same time, as the AD came to an end and the channel switched to something else. They both started laughing. How many times had they seen the Wahoo World AD to remember it by heart? It was way too recurrent...

"How was your day, Four?" Marie asked, now turning her attention towards her.
"It was...okay, I guess. Could have been better." Leah answered, not looking the happiest she had been. Marie knew her young agent well enough to be certain that something had happened.

"Something's Wrong, Four?" 
"Yeah well, uhm...nothing serious, don't worry about it."
"Don't lie to me, Four, I'm pretty sure it wasn't something so irrelevant. Friendly reminder that  I'm the one that made a factopedia about you..." She joked. Four giggled, turning back to a happier state.
"Well...it's about Jessica."

Of course it was about Agent 3. How couldn't she realize it herself? 
"What's up with her?" Marie asked, caressing her back. 
"She said she had a job to do, and...she pretty much called me a "Immature and incompetent Agent"... I'm a bit angry at her, i can't deny that, but I'm also...worried. I am so much worried for her. I hope she's fine." She admitted, silently sighing.
Marie frowned. As if Agent 3 hadn't done enough for that day. She must have had offended Agent 4 prior to the metro mission, during their hanging out session. Marie couldn't really forgive her for doing that, regardless of what she had going on in her life. Insulting Agent 4 was going way too far.

"Ah, you know her. When she loses her cool she says things she doesn't mean. You're a brilliant Agent, Four, don't worry. It's just an obvious fact. You saved my cousin, and...me too, we could say...". Leah smiled, heartened by her words, and hugged her tightly. She wanted to comfort her as much as she did.


 "These lyrics rock, Mr. Cuttlefish!" Chloe exclaimed. Craig had given her a paper with a few words from a rap song he had been working on. She was pleasantly surprised to see that he was certainly improving a lot.

"Thank you, Agent 8. I wasn't talking nonsense when I said I had quite the rapper in myself!" The old squid boasted, proudly. Agent 8 admired and looked up to him. His positivity, his charisma, his strength, and his beliefs...she wanted to be like him. And she wanted to be like Off the Hook too. She kind of wanted to be like all of them, in all honesty. They were all great examples.

"How was your day, anyway?" He asked while putting his paper in his backpack.
"Oh, today was fine. Four and Three kind of had some beef, but I'm sure they'll be on good terms again in no time."
"Ah, yes. Agent 3. Well, she sure will, now that she's momentarily lost her position as Agent."
Eight looked at him surprised, left speechless by the statement. She wasn't sure if he was serious or not.
"You're kidding." 
"Oh, i'm serious! She needed a break, but she didn't want to get one herself, so I served her a 2 month long one on a silver plate."

"Woah...-HEY! FOUR! DID YOU KNOW THAT THREE WAS FIRED??" Eight slightly raised the tone of her voice to get Agent's 4 attention. Four had the same reaction she had. With wide eyes, she turned to Marie and looked at her in disbelief.
"Were you aware of this???" Marie shrugged, nodding.
"I was there when it happened. That's why I told you that and Callie would have been gone for the day. We had a mission with Three and Gramps, Three snapped and...you know the rest."
"Oh wow..." Four looked in a random direction, shocked. Three had been fired. Hard to believe.

"This...actually happened, then."
"You two can't say I took the wrong decision though. I think we can all agree on the fact she was in need of some time for herself, hm?"

As much as Eight wanted to disagree, she just couldn't find a reason to. Cuttlefish was right. Jessica needed a break, and actually, she had been in need of one for a very long time. Maybe it wasn't that bad. Maybe Three would have taken the decision to pass more time with her and Four. That would have been awesome. Unless the break took a negative toll on her, that is...

"I hope she'll be fine..." Eight murmured.
There hadn't been much talking after that conversation. Every once in a while, Eight would try to break the silence, only for it to come back shortly after. Everyone's attention would eventually turn to the TV and the show that was going on: Squid's Kitchen. That was until Callie stormed into the living room, making a LOT of noise.