Spy School: Ever After

Reconnaissance

Erica's POV

Ben shouted, "Catherine!?, at the same time I shouted, "Mother!?"

"Yep, it's me!" my mother exclaimed.

"How'd you know we were here?" Ben asked. I blushed because of the way he was confused. Dammit truth serum.

"Darling. You blushing just proves my point even more." now my mother's teasing me! Great, just great!

"Mom. Me and Ben still want to know how you knew we were here. Not the fact that you ship us."

She sighed then said, "I guess you're right darling. Can we talk about it over some muffins and tea?" 

"Fine Mom. Only, if you promise to stop saying embarrassing things like that." I said and tried to make a show of being annoyed. It didn't go very well for me.

"Very well, but last I checked. My car isn't big enough for you two to fit in that position." she joked. That's when I remembered that Ben had been carrying me for the last 15 minutes. I jumped out of his grasp a little too quickly and not to mention, my face was a bright red.

Now Ben started laughing and said, "Erica. I'm sorry, but your mom is right. Plus, you look adorable when you blush!" Then his eyes went wide when he realized what he said.

"Oh my." my mother said flatly. That's when I punched Ben in the shoulder and gave him what I thought was a cold glare. 

"Erica... I'm gonna say it now... when you're blushing, that glare gives the exact opposite effect that you want it to."

"Ugh. I give up! Can we just get in the car? And talk about how my mom knew we were here?" I'm tired of this. Truth. Serum. Is. The. Worst.

"Yes, we can darling."

*time skip cus I'm lazy*

"So you're saying the CIA wanted you to be backup for us in case something went wrong?" I asked.

"Yes, it was just out of the blue. They wouldn't even tell me why!" my mom exclaimed. As she said this Ben looked like he had something to say but then didn't. My mom sensed this before I could ask. "Benjamin? What's troubling you?"

"Oh... well... you see... the reason they called you out of the blue was because I asked them to ask someone to be our backup... Please don't kill me Erica!" he said fearfully. 

"The only reason I'm not killing you right now is because you're too cute and adorable." 

"Has the truth serum seriously still not worn off?" he teased.

"Oh no." I said. As I said this Ben gave Catherine a devious look. 

"Darling."

"Yes Mom?"

"How about you and me go do some 'mother daughter bonding time'." This was her way of saying lets go do some recon without anyone else know. Except. Under this truth serum, my emotions are much easier to read.

"Erica?"

"Yes Ben?"

"What are you actually doing?" he asked.

"We're going to go do some recon where we assume the enemy is hiding." I said flatly. 

"Which is where?"

"The middle of the city."

"How come?"

"Simple, because of the fact that they were in New York and weren't trying to be cautious. We can only assume that they wanted us to think that they were in New York, and when they learned we hadn't died from the plane exploding. They did't hesitate to come to us and try to capture us." Even though I was under the truth serum, still, he still looked to my mother for confirmation.

"She speaks the truth." my mother stated. 

"Okay then. What are we waiting for?" he asked.

"I'm sorry to say this Ben, but. You can't come." I said wistfully.

"Oh... okay." Awwwww... I feel so bad. He looks so dejected. 

"Erica... You zoned out. What were you looking at?" he asked. Oh no.

"Uh... Erica?"

"Yes Ben?"

"What were you looking at?" Thankfully it was then my mom gave him a look that clearly meant 'don't push it'.

"Alright Catherine." he said. "You can drop me off right here."

"Wait!" I yelled.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna stay with you." I said while blushing. Then for what felt like hours was just silence, even though it was really just about 30 seconds. "Are you gonna speak?"

"Oh, yeah sorry about that." he replied.

"Alright lovebirds, I'm going to go do some recon." my mom said as she drove off.

Ben's POV

I swear I just saw Joshua staring at me. I may have been imagining it, but yet again, it looked really real. 

"Are you gonna speak?" Erica asked as I saw Joshua fade away into the distance.

"Oh, yeah sorry about that." was my only answer. 

"Alright lovebirds, I'm going to go do some recon." Catherine said as she drove off.