Piece by Peace

There was nothing really bold about what Tracy was wearing. This was pretty much what she usually wore. She throws on a coat that pretty much covers most of what she had on, up.

It was a quick cab drive to the Hunter HQ location in New York. It was basically an old office building. The guard at the security desk looks up from his crossword puzzle and seeing Dysis and Tracy he sighs and puts his paper away "Can I help you two?" he asks.

Tracy nods "My name is Tracy Marsh and I would like to talk to someone about a young girl named Cassia." she says, that same determination in her voice.

The guard raises a brow, then looks to Dysis "And you are?" he asks.

"Dysis Myers." The young man said. "I'm here with Tracy because we live under the same roof."

The man at the desk types something on his computer "oh that tracy marsh..." he mumbles "dysis myers, huh..?" he picks up the phone and dials "Sir? There's a Tracy Marsh and Dysis Myers here to see you about the girl with the book." he says "Yes sir. I'll send tgeir files right away." he hangs up the phone and holds a couple of visitor passes "Third floor, last door in the back of the hall." he tells them.

Dysis gratefully took the cards before giving Tracy's hands a reassuring squeeze. "If you're ever nervous at all, I'm right with you."

Tracy accepts his hand and returns the squeeze with her own tiny hand. She was hella nervous and she wasn't afraid to let it show, because she knew Dysis would comfort her and, she had to admit, she really like it when he provided an anchor for her.

They get to the office at the end of the hall and Tracy knocks. There was silence on the other side "Yeah! Come on in." calls a voice.

On the other side was a middle aged man. He was bald, quite built and dressed all in black "Come in, come in..." he says as he pulls out another chair so both could sit "My name is Director Anthony Sharp, I head up the New York branch of the Hunters." he says, offering a hand to each of them.

Tracy gently shakes the man's big hand "Please take a seat." he says "So, you're here to try and get Cassia back, huh?" he asks. Tracy just nods, feeling very nervous by the man's immense size "I have to tell ya, I'm almost inclined to grant this request. Cassia is quite the handful. Rejecting every place we put her..." he says as he looks at Cassia's file.

He looks over the file "However, there's a Massive elephant in the room that we Need to talk about..." he says. Tracy knew this was coming and squeezes Dysis's hand again, needing his support now.

Dysis knew this was coming and while he could be there for support, it was Tracy they needed to hear from. He gave her hand a ressuaring squeeze back as if to say 'you'll be fine'. He'd interject here and there if need be since he did live with them but it was important they found Tracy mentally sound enough on her own.

That didn't mean he couldn't talk at all. "You're referring to the time she attempted to end her life. Rest assured she's recovered and checked out so there won't be anything like that again. We can answer any questions or concerns you do have."

Sharp looks over Tracy, who seems to shrink under his scrutiny "Miss Marsh, would you be willing to wait outside for a moment?" he asks "I would like to have a word with mister Myers alone." he says.

Tracy nods as she stiffly gets up and robotically walks out of the office. Sharp raises a brow "She seems like a sweetheart, but way too nervous." he mumbles.

He focuses on Dysis "To business." he says "As you can see, we, the New York branch of the Hunters, aren't nearly as big or well equipped as the Tokyo HQ. We need good people. Now, I just read your file amd I see that you're on permanent leave. Now, I would like you to join us here. We could certainly use a man of your talents for when things go sideways..." he explains.

Then he sighs "I'll even sweeten this deal. If you join us, I'll give custody of Cassia back to miss Marsh, no questions asked." he says. Dysis could likely see that this didn't sit well with him, using a kid as a bargaining chip, but that would also tell him that Sharp had little other option in this case.

Dysis didn't like the idea either. At the same time though, as much as he'd loathe to admit it at the moment Sharp being in charge had all the cards. Whether Cassia would be returned to Tracy again or not would be up to them. "If I join, do I Have to be on the front lines with field work? Joining full time with the schedule that comes with, never mind the danger sort of defeats the point. I'll do what I have to though."

Sharp holds a hand up "Now hold up I don't want you to feel that I'm trying to leverage you in to active duty." he says "With or without me, she still has a chance of getting Cassia back. All I'm saying is, you scratch my back I'll scratch yours." he explains "And no. Unless things really go sideways, you'll be behind a desk." he says.

Dysis was quite for a bit, thinking about it. "I'll tell you what. I'll talk to my girlfriend about it first and if they're ok with it, you have a deal."

Sharp nods as he looks over to his computer "That's up to you. In the mean time, I'll schedule miss Marsh the first interview to begin her evaluation." he says as he takes out a card, writes something down on it and holds it out to Dysis "And with that, I'd say our business, at least for today, is concluded." he says as he stands and holds out his hand "Thank you for coming in, mister Myers."

Dysis shook his hand, but he was thinking. "One more thing before I go. Give me a honest answer, if going through the normal channels how likely do you think chances are Cassia will be allowed back?"

Sharp frowns a bit "Truthfully? They're slim, but not completely zero." he says "It all depends on what the Evaluation Proctor's say. If they say No, than I gotta deny custody. But if they say Yes, Than Cassia's yours to take of once more." he explains.

Dysis didn't say anything at first. "I don't want to leave anything to chance and its too important to Tracy. So I'll go along with that deal of yours."

Sharp stands and holds out his hand "Give me a day to sort out the paper work and I'll have one of my agents bring Cassia to you guys." he says with a smile.

Dysis shook the other man's hand. "I'll be in touch."

He left after that to go find Tracy waiting outside of the room. "Good news, Cassia will be back to us soon. The trade off is working for them, but Only doing office and background work. I won't be doing anything dangerous."

Tracy's face seemed to be burning when Dysis comes back out. After he explained things to her, she nods slowly "Y-yes, I know..." she mumbles "Th-that door isn't very thick... I, I heard your whole conversation..." she says, feeling a little guilty for eavesdropping. She looks Dysis in the eyes "Did, did you mean what you said in there? That I'm your g-girlfriend?" she asks.

Dysis gently took her hand into his. "Of course. I wouldn't just say that just because. I kinda thought it was obvious with how we act around each other."

Tracy's blushes a cute shade of pink "B-but we... I, I thought..." she stammers, all embarrassed, but ends up squeezing his hand "Y-yeah... I'm your g-girlfriend." she says as she snuggles up close to him as they start out of tue building.

Dysis was going to enjoy this for as long as he could and when he could, he knew from experience how fragile things could be. "So. What did you want to do now? Just see where the day takes us?"

Tracy shakes her head "No. I need to head to the university and try to re-enroll." she says "And maybe... look for a part-time job..." she mumbles "I, I want to be a positive role model for Cassia." she says "N-not, like before..." she mumbles, hanging her head low.

Dysis gave her hand a gentle squeeze again. "You want to do that? Then please be kinder to yourself. It's easier said then done, but wallowing on what you did won't let you help Cassia in the way she needs you for.  You made a grave mistake, but you're still here, I'm here and not going anywhere. That means you have more then enough time to shape things as you want them to be."

After the two of them head to the state university, Tracy spends about a half hour talking to the head mistress, who accepts Tracy back with no drama, though Tracy suspected that it was because of Dysis being so easy on the eyes.

With that all taken care of, all that was left was to clean the apartment and make it ready to welcome Cassia back.

Tracy looks around the young girl's room, then to Dysis "Um, there are only two rooms in this apartment..." she points out "Since we are g-going to, uh, be l-living together... d-did you want to look for a bigger place?" she asks, stammering over her words. She didn't even Want to think of the sleeping arrangements when Cassia gets back.

It was cute when she got flustered like that, but right now she needed more assurance. "I'm perfectly fine either way. To me its more how comfortable you are with things, so if you want a bigger place that's what we'll do."

Tracy thinks for a bit "M-maybe... we can, stay wh-where we are... at least for a little bit." she mumbles, which was her cute way of saying she was fine with sharing a room.