#soupbroth

Eloise rolled over at the sound of her alarm, tiredly slapping a hand around her phone until she managed to dismiss the alarm. The new silence felt less peaceful than before, now shattered by the disturbance the alarm had caused, and she let out a disappointed huff.

“Work day?” Water hummed from beside her, one arm still loosely wrapped around her waist.

“Yeah.” Eloise took a moment to absorb the warmth of her bed, before finally giving in to the fact she’d have to actually get up now. “Alright, here we go, I guess.”

She pushed herself up into a sitting position, yawning almost immediately after and suddenly regretting the late night. Next to her, Water giggled at her antics.

“I thought it was the big day today,” she said. “You’re not excited to finish your last mission?”

“I am, I am, I just -” Eloise stopped for a moment to grumble at her alarm as it started ringing again. “Jeez, does this thing ever shut up?” She squinted at it and turned it off again, hopefully this time so that it wouldn’t just be snoozed. “Yeah. I guess it’s exciting. It’s just - ugh, I wish I got a lie-in as a reward or something.”

“Get up, silly,” Water laughed.

After one last, long, reluctant stretch, Eloise leant down to give the other a kiss and then finally pushed back her blanket to get out of bed. As she picked through her drawers for something suitable to wear and then stumbled her way through brushing her teeth and hair, Water dozed off again, which Eloise found herself envying very much, thank you.

When she was fully changed, she headed into the kitchen to make a quick breakfast and was surprised when Water ducked out next to her.

“What, a girl can’t make a little coffee?” Water said in lieu of an explanation.

She picked out two mugs from the drying rack and set them out on the counter, taking out the actual ground coffee beans and the fancy French press they’d been given for their anniversary rather than just the instant coffee stuff Eloise would use on work mornings. Eloise watched as she methodically poured the coffee and water into the French press, measuring them carefully by eye and then turning to get some milk as it started to soak.

That was the moment she realised she’d been so busy watching Water she’d forgotten to actually make her own breakfast. She grabbed two eggs and a bowl and got to work, grinning when she heard the radio turn on from on top of the microwave.

Once she had a mostly-well-shaped omelette on the pan, sizzling away in the grey light of the morning, she felt two arms wrap around her from behind.

“I really miss you when you’re off on your missions,” Water murmured, and Eloise could feel her sleepily tuck her head into her neck. “Do they really need you to have a fake house and everything?”

“Well, the other option is you having to move house every other week with me.”

“I could do that! It could be fun!”

Eloise shook her head but laughed all the same. “Cleo definitely wouldn’t let me actually bring you with me.”

“That’s not fair,” Water grumbled. Eloise flipped her omelette over idly, relieved to see the other side hadn’t burnt. “She gets to stay with her girlfriend.”

“I’m ninety percent sure that’s just because Gem also works with her, and I’m also fairly sure they’re not dating.” At least, Eloise thought they weren’t. It was really hard to tell what was going on at that office - she was usually on the field, anyway. “Besides, you get to get a break from me now and then!”

“Hmph.”

Water let go of her waist so that she could go and pour out the coffee, but she looked thoughtful as she moved around the room, putting the finished mugs of coffee on the table as she passed. When she got back to Eloise, she put her hands on her hips with an air of defiance.

“Now that you’re getting promoted, you’d better demand a few less missions,” she said firmly.

“I’m seeing a future of paperwork ahead of me,” Eloise replied with a small chuckle. “Don’t worry, there’s a lot less moving about for me now that the probation stuff is over.”

“Good.” Water stepped forward to steal a quick kiss before turning back to set the table. “Now, are those omelettes ready?”

“Yep!”

Eloise distributed the omelettes between them and went to clean up the dishes in the sink.

“Don’t bother!” Water called from where she was already sitting at the table. “I can clean up later, let’s at least enjoy breakfast.”

Well, she was hardly going to complain about having a little less work to do. She sat down and started eating, almost forgetting about work and they slowly became immersed in light conversation about something Water had heard about the new couple that had moved in a floor above them.

Eventually, topics moved back to Eloise’s work.

“So, is Cleo going to miss getting to boss you around a bit?” Water asked, a small smile on her face. She’d already met Cleo once or twice, and the pair had gotten on swimmingly. They’d even gotten to the point of exchanging stories about Eloise, which the latter had found especially alarming.

“I guess,” she said. “Then again, I think I’ll still be working in the same department anyway, so she’ll probably end up teaching me a few more things there by chance.”

Water nodded a little to herself. “That’ll be nice. Familiar, right?”

The thing was, Water had always worked at the local theatre as one of the main musicians, playing the lute and singing a few ditties during plays. She was pretty popular for Shakespeare plays, and never really worked outside of the four walls of the theatre. So whenever Eloise would try and fail to skirt around exactly what she had to do as part of her job, Water would also try and fail to understand what actually happened in an office. It ended up in a feedback loop that Eloise found pretty amusing, all things considered.

After a while, she glanced at her watch and yelped.

“I need to go!” she said, and Water chortled at her panicked expression.

“You’ve got time.”

Eloise stuffed the rest of her omelette into her mouth and said with a very muffled voice, “I want to be early for my first day!”

“It’s not your first day, and -” Water stopped, tsked, and reached out to wipe a little toothpaste from the corner of the mouth. “You will be perfectly fine. You already know everyone there, right?”

“I guess.”

“And they know you, and they know that you work hard. So no matter what - even if you’re a little late sometimes - they’re not going to get too mad. Got it?”

It was beginning to become clear why exactly all the performances at Water’s workplace ended up running so late, but Eloise took the reassurance anyway.

“Got it,” she said, and drank her coffee at a moderately less rushed rate. “See you later. Love you!”

“Love you too,” said Water.

Grabbing her last few things, Eloise headed to the door and turned one last time to give Water a tight goodbye hug. The latter made a little ‘oomph’ sound that endeared Eloise very much, before they finally parted ways for the day.

-

Today, Eloise had a very simple task.

All she had to do was hand in her paperwork - fully signed and approved by almost everyone - and then pack up her current workspace. It wouldn’t take too long, she figured, and hopefully she could finish early and surprise Water by getting back only a little after lunchtime.

The first thing she did was grab a coffee from the machine next to Cleo’s desk. For the most part, the machine would work well enough, though there were some days that it just seemed to spit out plain water and gurgle awfully until Eloise whacked it a few times on the side.

Which isn’t something she’d usually do to a machine, for the record. It was only because Cleo had told her to!

Today, however, the coffee machine behaved just fine, and Eloise was waiting for it to finish when she caught sight of the odd piece of paper lying in the small space between Gem and Cleo’s desks. Or she thought that was Gem’s desk, at least. She was always sitting there when Eloise was around, so surely it had to be, right?

The point being, there was an odd piece of paper on her desk, lying right in front of someone who was very willing to test her skills in finding hidden codes and the like in light of her upcoming promotion.

After checking that she was alone, Eloise picked up the paper and squinted at its perfect blankness. Both sides seemed perfectly pristine, but there was a slightly odd smell to it that tipped her off to exactly what might be hiding here.

Coffee abandoned in the machine, she raced out of the room and straight towards the labs.

The labs were an odd sort of outer wing in the agency, sticking out of the main building like a head peeking out of a rectangular tortoise shell. When Eloise arrived, they were almost entirely empty, plain and white and sterilised as always. She slowed down a bit as she reached them, unsure of what exactly might be on the floor and not wanting to risk slipping. Knowing her luck, she very well could.

Once she found a lab that had been left open, she burst inside and tried to recall all her chemistry-related training. There had to be a Bunsen burner somewhere around here - aha! Setting up the burner and grabbing a box of matches, Eloise steeled herself for what could either be an exciting revelation or a huge disappointment.

The flame was lit. The paper was set on the gauze. She leant down to peer closely at the blank sheet, heart thumping in exhilaration, and waited.

And after a long, tense moment, a faint script began to make itself visible on the paper. She transcribed it as quickly as possible, picking up some nearby pen and paper without regard for the neatly plotted graph she’d just disturbed. There was some very exciting code-cracking going on here.

The writing was definitely encrypted, judging purely by the odd placement of consonants. Eloise vanished from the labs for a second to grab one of the deciphering devices she’d been given by Cleo when she’d first arrived, before typing the words into the screen and waiting for the plaintext to generate. It appeared after mere seconds - apparently it hadn’t been anything too complicated. It was a cipher that was certainly intended to be decrypted without knowing the key.

There was a little bit of an issue, though.

This was not in a language she could understand. It looked a little like Spanish, but she’d taken French as part of her training, so that was a bit useless.

After considering for a moment, she remembered the existence of online translators and pulled out her phone. She copied out the text from the decryption device to her screen and then read through the approximate translation the website she was using spit out.

“‘Sister,

“‘Let it be known first that I have no wish to engage in your spy games. I’m uninterested in meddling with authorities, as long as they are uninterested in meddling with my business. It seems, however, that I am now a point of interest to your agency. If you choose to release me, I can tip you off to whatever information you may require.

“‘Consider this offer, at least for me. And if you have time, release my cellmate too. We have unfinished business I’d like to attend to outside of this agency’s prison.’

“Well, that’s not ominous,” Eloise said, finishing the translated and decrypted letter and picking it back up off the gauze. As she did, the writing began to fade and the paper turned blank once again.

Wait. If the writing could disappear again…

“Oh my gosh,” she whispered to herself. “Did the plan work? Is that how that breakout from the holding cells happened?”

Which begged the question: who was the prisoner’s sister? Had she really let them go? And did that mean there was a traitor amongst their midst?

Stunned by this new information and with nowhere else to turn but the person here she trusted most, she turned off the Bunsen burner, tucked the paper back into her pocket, and left to try and find Cleo.

-

There was something of an issue in terms of exactly how much of this Eloise had actually been permitted to investigate - that is, none of it. The moment she began her narrative to Cleo, the other sighed deeply and glanced automatically to the coffee machine, where Eloise’s abandoned coffee still sat.

Even without the second coffee of the day, though, she was bursting with excited energy, and rushed her way through her entire story, finally finishing by showing her almost-ex-mentor the translation on her phone.

“So? What do you think it means?” she asked.

Cleo read the message, and then closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s too early for this.”

“This could be really urgent! What if there’s a double agent here?!”

“There’s no double agent,” Cleo said calmly. “Alright, this is on me for leaving confidential documents laying around. This is something we’ve sorted out with the person the letter was written to, and we decided we could let their sister out without consequence in return for the information. It was pretty important intel.”

“Oh. So it’s all okay?” Was all of that cipher-cracking for nothing after all?

“It’s all okay. But good work!” Cleo added, giving Eloise a proud little pat on the head, to the latter’s mixed elation and embarrassment. “You did well. Now, have you handed in your paperwork?”

Eloise gasped, the one actual task she had today suddenly returning to her. “Oh, shit!”

-

Finally, after clearing up her things and storing them in a spare closet in preparation for getting her new assigned desk, Eloise picked up her finished documents and headed off-site to the office she was meant to hand them in to. She arrived just before her usual lunch slot, and knocked on the door to the head office - labelled ‘Bagi’ - just as people began to leave the building to go out for their lunches.

The door opened to reveal a woman with hair split into dark brown and white, spilling around her shoulders from under a crocheted beanie. Despite the crisp suit she was wearing, she seemed immediately friendly, small smile lines in the corner of her eyes crinkling as the door opened fully.

“Hi,” Eloise said, recovering from her brief stunned observations. “I’m here to hand in my forms, for the end of my probation period?”

“Right! You’re Eloise?”

“That’s right,” she said, relieved that things seemed to be going smoothly.

“Great, come on in while I get your things signed,” Bagi said, waiting for Eloise to enter before closing the door behind her.

Her office was mostly covered in various ongoing cases, with desks covered in paper and interspersed with various plants. On one of the walls was a Brazilian flag, and it was at that exact moment that things clicked in place.

“You’re the sister!” Eloise blurted out, and then slapped a hand on her mouth.

Bagi froze, before turning slowly. “What about a sister?”

“Sorry, I’m just -” She cut herself off. “Do you have a sister who just escaped from prison?”

“Why do you ask?” Bagi asked, eyes narrowing.

“Well, I found this note,” Eloise began, pulling the folded up note from her pocket, “and when I figured out what it meant, it turned out one of the prisoners in our holding cells may have been trying to ask for uh - for a release?”

“What exactly are you accusing me of?”

“Oh! Nothing, sorry, I mean -” Eloise tried, before shaking her head rapidly. This was not going well. She hurriedly continued, “I mean, apparently it was cleared up anyway so if it is you then I’m not saying you did anything, I just had a moment of realisation because it was written in Portuguese and I think - I mean, Brazilians speak Portuguese, right? But it’s nothing bad! It’s just - I was just connecting the dots.”

After a moment of tense silence, Bagi sighed. “Yes, that’s me. I didn’t really want any rumours to spread about me.”

“Oh, no no, it’s just me being nosy.” Which wasn’t that much of an assurance, Eloise realised, but this entire conversation had already been a total mess.

“It’s fine,” Bagi said. “It’s not a secret, just something I don’t want people to mention much. Moving on - do you need that form signed?”

She indicated the documents Eloise was still clutching, and the latter quickly handed them over. For a few minutes, they stood in somewhat awkward silence as Bagi flicked through the documents to check everything was there and then signed something at the very end.

Eloise took the opportunity to glance at the case on the closest wall, tracking the movements of a masked thief across the country. She wasn’t even aware that the operations of the agency extended that far.

“Alright,” Bagi said, interrupting her thoughts. “All done. Anything else?”

“Nothing really!” Eloise paused. “Well, one thing. Uh - good luck, with your sister?”

Bagi smiled a little. “Trust me, it’s not luck I need with that one. But thank you.”

Now that everyone was done, Eloise could only think of how hungry she was and how much she wanted to get home to Water. She followed Bagi as she led the way to the door and opened it.

“Headed home now?” Bagi asked as Eloise tightened her coat around herself and stepped outside.

“Yep! I want to surprise my wife.”

“That’s sweet,” said Bagi. She smiled a little fondly to herself. “I might go say hi to someone myself this lunch. It’d be nice to surprise her with something other than a bullet wound.”

Eloise wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was that what the future looked like for her and Water? She hoped not. Maybe she’d follow Water’s advice and ask for less field work after all.

With a final goodbye to Bagi, she headed off down the street, intent on catching the next train home.

-

“El?!” Water exclaimed, and Eloise engulfed her in a hug.

“Surprise!” she yelled.

From in her arms, Water giggled and squeezed back. “You could have warned me you were coming, at least. I would’ve made lunch for you too.”

“Don’t worry, I picked up some pizzas on the way back,” Eloise grinned. “I figured today’s worth celebrating!”

“Because of your promotion?”

“Because I’m home early!”

Water chuckled.. Then her smile softened, and she pulled the other down slightly to guide her into a slow, sweet kiss. When they separated, both were just a little pink.

“Pizzas it is, then,” Water said affectionately. “Come on in, it’s chilly out.”

Eloise kicked her shoes off the moment she was inside, and instantly felt more at home. The radio was still playing from the kitchen, though the song was a lot less energetic now that the morning rush hours were over. She was home. She was breathless, for a second, at just how much she loved this little place.

Dropping her bag and pizza off just inside the entrance, she swept Water into an impromptu dance across the living room, suddenly filled with overwhelming excitement. The other half-yelped in surprise but went with it, following her steps as best she could while also trying to figure out what was going on.

“Isn’t it great?!” Eloise said. “I can’t believe this is my life!”

“What happened at work?”

Eloise spun Water around and caught her after a spin or two. “There was some coded message, and it was just gossip. It was literally just gossip. It’s ridiculous! I love my job.”

“You’re so silly,” Water teased, before escaping the dance just long enough to grab the pizzas and take them into the kitchen. “Go put a movie on or something, I’ll heat these up and get some drinks.”

“Anything for you, beloved!”

“Just get it done,” Water laughed.

Still humming along to the radio, Eloise picked out a worn DVD - Singing in the Rain was a classic, okay? - and started setting it up. She had it all ready and just starting by the time Water was back with the pizza boxes and a few cans of beer, and collapsed back into the sofa and stretched out her arms to receive the other.

There was something just lovely about curling up with the person she held dear more than anyone else in the world and knowing they had all day and all night and all of their lives with each other. It was just them, and this warm room, and the singing of an old film, and a few pizza boxes lying open in front of them. No amount of missions could take this simple joy from her.