Renewed Hope for Operation Strix!

Chapter 1: At Wits End! Conflicting Feelings!

Loid's P.O.V

He can't for the life of him, understand why his 'daughter' just could not grasp what he was saying. Granted she is 6-years-old, but even then...his daughter surely couldn't be this bad at studying. It feels terrible of him to think poorly of the girl, but after having explained the questions several times in many different ways, surely he has a small right to have a little freedom to vent his frustrations privately in his thoughts.

If things do not improve soon, Operation Strix will be doomed. The handler will only be willing to accept so many set backs, she will eventually want to have his head if they don't begin producing results soon.

Could Anya be traumatized from the bus hijacking still? Perhaps he should have had her see a proper psychologist-other than himself-, going through something like that could definately affect any childs grades. At least the event had somehow managed to improve Anya's and the youngest Desmonds relationship to some extent...so plan B is still on the cards for now, although their relationship could be considered to be on thin ice still.

As if sensing his silent frustrations, Anya suddenly looks up at him from the coffee table. Those adorable green eyes began glistening with yet to be shed tears, her bottom lip jutting out in a worried and frustrated pout.

"Papa, I'm sorry...I swear I'm trying! Papa must think Anya is dumb...maybe Sy-on boy is right...maybe Anya is a stupid uggo after all!" She begins to cry, her tiny hands trying to brush away the fresh tears from her face as she hiccups.

"What?! No of course not Anya! Some people just struggle with studying more than others, it doesn't mean you are dumb or stupid. You getting into Eden Academy is more than enough proof that you are a bright and intelligent girl Anya, especially when you really put your mind to things" he says trying to placate the crying child before him. However, her face remains the same as if she struggled to believe his words.

It is in moments like this, that makes him torn about how to approach Anya, sometimes it was like she can see straight through him, the girl was eerily perceptive at times. As twilight, he feels the need to be stern with her, be more logical and detatched. That part of him knew he shouldn't be getting too attached to this young girls role of being his daughter. She is after all not his actual daughter, and as much as it secretely pains him, he knew that this family was not going to last forever. Just until the end of Operation Strix, and then it's on to the next mission. Like always.

Thats how he is supposed to be dealing with things, but ever since the bus hijacking a few weeks ago and his breif moment with his 'wife' Yor, something in him changed. The fear and panic that he felt at knowing Anya was in danger, and that he wasn't there to protect her. As much as he tries to deny it, all of those feelings were real.

She had a bomb around her neck for crying out loud! Although through digging through the police and SSS records he managed to get a hold of, the 'bomb' was deemed inactive. However Anya had no way of knowing that, and his heart genuinely aches for  her. It made him wanna wrap her up in a wooly blanket and never have her out of his sight again, that is what he feels as Anya's father Loid Forger, but that was all a facade, supposed to be anyway...now he wasn't so sure anymore.

Suddenly, the sound of a door slamming shut brings him back to reality. He looks around the living room a little stunned to find it empty. Anya has seemed to have run off to her room, leaving her textbooks and homework scattered on the coffee table.

He sighs as he begins to pick up the sheets of questions the two of them had been going through together, they barely managed half a page. There hasn't been much improvement with Anya's penmanship either...it's as messy as it always is, even for a 6-year-old. He sighs solemnly as he begins gathering Anya's homework to place them in a neat pile.