Unseen Scenes—Book One, Chapter Three (Nat Version) (Patreon)

“How long do we have to wait out here?” Mason huffs, leaning away from the sunshine shining unimpeded through the glass walls of the station.

Felix peers around the doorway. “Not long. Agent [Surname] is just talking to them now.” He glances back over his shoulder to Mason. “You wanna make an impressive entrance, don’t you?”

“I don’t want to go in there at all,” Mason grunts back.

Nat swipes a hand through her hair with a sigh. “How about we at least make a friendly impression?”

The darkened frown on Mason’s face doesn’t give much hope of that.

“Let’s go,” Ava states, ignoring the ongoing conversation as she stands taller. “Agent [Surname] is almost ready for us.”

The group follow obediently behind the Commanding Agent as she makes her way to the Detective’s office. Nat has to duck to make it inside, and half wonders how Ava managed to fit her solid mass through the narrow doorway either.

Felix, of course, bounces inside with a spring in his step and anticipation gleaming in his bright eyes.

Nat doesn’t dare to see how Mason slinked into the room.

"Detective, I'd like you to meet my team: Unit Bravo,” Rebecca says as soon as the group have managed to cram themselves into the room.

The Detective’s gaze flashes over the group in quick inspection, and Nat has to hold back a smile as she wonders just what assessment they’ve made about them all.

Strange that she seems particularly interested in what they would have to say about her.

She brushes away the thought and lets the smile onto her face instead in gentle encouragement.

“Welcome to Wayhaven. I’m sure you’ll settle in just fine here,” they say in surprisingly cheerful greeting.

At least that’s a good start…Nat keeps the smile in place as the optimistic thought settles in her mind.

“Thank you, Detective [Surname],” Nat offers when none of the rest of the group say anything in return. "If everyone is as welcoming as you, I'm sure we'll be most happy here."

A grunt sounds from Mason.

Nat struggles to keep the smile in place, but it only brightens as the Detective focuses back on her. Not an unpleasant reaction, but certainly unusual, and not one Nat has experienced in a while.

Those first stirrings of instant attraction.

Well, at least on her side…

The idea is driven away as the Detective’s hand takes hers in a firm grip and shakes it.

“And you are?” they ask

"My name is Natalie Sewell, but I prefer Nat,” she replies without hesitation.

Once again, the Detective falls quiet in silent examination, though Nat can’t tell what must have prompted the scrutiny. But she’s certainly not going to complain at having the Detective’s full attention for a while longer.

When the Detective has finished, they draw away their hand.

Nat pushes hers into her pocket, enjoying the tingle of their touch for a moment before it fades.

The rest of the introductions go just about as Nat expected them to, Felix doing his best (and succeeding, as always) to be as charming as possible, Mason being so hostile that it’s a surprise he hasn’t been kicked out, and Ava…well, Ava being Ava.

But the Detective took it all in their stride.

Nat smiles and allows her gaze to catch the Detective’s again.

This could be much different than I was expecting…

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This is obviously only if you're doing N's route, but that initial attraction was always there.

Not like A's insta-love :D But those stirrings were definitely flickering...

It's so weird going back to write these as the character's were in Book One! Everyone's really grown with have the MC around, hehe!