It was the end of the challenges and Nicandro was looking for Gretchen who was trying to avoid him by the looks of it. He finally managed to find her walking around the camp. As she walked behind a building, Nicandro came up to her from behind "Hello."

Gretchen turned around and saw who it was. "You?"

Nicandro smiled and leaned his elbow on the wall "Missed me? You are trying to avoid me, walking so fast around this place. You could get lost you know."

Gretchen said "And is that a bad thing? If I get lost, you get to rescue me. That's all you boys are interested. You want to save the girl to look cool. Then what would you do? Ask the girl out."

Nicandro said sarcastically "That was exactly my plan. How did you know? Oh no. I am busted." He then chuckled and said seriously "You are not the kind of girl who wants rescuing Otherwise you will ask for it. What you need is some fun. Chill out. Your team did ok. You run away from social situations. I get it. You don't like to meet new people."

Gretchen crossed her arms over her chest and said defensively "You couldn't be more wrong. I am pretty social actually."

Nicandro said "Really? Then why are you running? This place is safe. No one can touch you here. I know you have many bodyguards and also your cousins in the other teams are looking out for you. But here you are all alone. You don't want to be protected. You want to protect yourself because someone let you down in protecting someone close to you... Maybe?" He stopped there. He saw how he made an impact on her. She balled her hands into fists... She walked to him.

Gretchen stood right within inches of him "Who told you?"

Nicandro was looking at her with a strange look "Who told me what?"

Gretchen looked at him with an unreadable expression "Don't play with me. Who told you about my parents?"

Nicandro raised an eyebrow "Wait. What? Oh crap. Was I right? No one has told me anything about your parents."

Gretchen pointed her finger at him and touched his chest "Don't play games. Who told you?"

Nicandro was shocked. He had made a statement based on observation and by the looks of it he was right. His grandpa O'Neil always called him wise guy. He had said being observant was a trait from his father. Nothing escaped his eye. He decided to be honest as Gretchen was getting more worked up "Well. I don't lie to you Gretchen. I don't know anything. I took a guess based on how you act. I am sorry if it's true. I mean it..." He then looked down at her finger that was still touching his chest "Your first touch on my heart. You just touched my heart." He looked up and winked.

Gretchen took her hand down and didn't know what to say back to him. He was quite a handful. She thought about her answer as she stared him down. She was thinking about whether to trust him or not. She said "You don't need to say sorry. It's not your fault. I should say I am sorry. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." She then turned around and then Nicandro walked around her and stood next to her walking alongside her "Look. You never need to say sorry to me. But I would appreciate it if you listened to anything else that I said to you beside you know ... that point..."

Gretchen stopped walking and turned to him "What else did you say? You said I need to chill out."

Nicandro said "Exactly. Stop walking by yourself. You don't need to run away from people. Even if you don't trust them. The challenges are over. Now we are networking. I like you to come back and have some fun. We might even leave the camp shortly. You won't want to be missing and you don't want to be missing out on fun."

Gretchen said "If I am missing they will find me. This place has cameras. I prefer to be alone right now."

Nicandro said "Come on. Consider this the best time of your life, the one you are living right now, it will only get worse later..."

Gretchen said "What?"

Nicandro said "My grandpa always says this. But it only makes sense when you hear him say it. Look I can tell you have been through a lot. I am not going to ask you about your parents or anything even though I could ... I leave you time. If you wanted to ever tell me, you will. I won't tell any one. For now I just want you to relax. That's rule one at our camp."

Gretchen raised an eyebrow "Really? That's not our rule one."

Nicandro said "Well. Taking care of our health is number one. Having fun is part of the training. If we don't enjoy it we better not continue. Let's go. Meet new people. I will introduce you to some girls. My cousin Lavinia is nice. She can introduce you to some of the good girls she knows and you guys can form a group maybe and do social activities."

Gretchen said "I met her already. Lavinia the shooting angel. That was what the boys called her. She is very attractive you know. The boys couldn't stop talking about her... while her boyfriend wasn't around..."

Nicandro said "They can watch but can't touch unless they want a taste of Arc's wrath." He then cleated his throat "You know. You are attractive too. You are like sunshine walking in. You have brought sunshine into our dark and grim camp. I mean it. That's the first thought I had."

Gretchen could hear his sincere voice. He wasn't like other boys. For some reason she trusted him. He didn't need to brag much but he was quite wise and mature. He was cocky though. She could see why. He was good at everything. His scores showed he hardly had anything to prove. She asked "Why are you staying here when you could walk out? Your scores are very good. I read your profile too on the display boards. There is nothing you and your friend Arc haven't achieved. Why do you stay here? What's the motivation? Don't you miss home?"

Nicandro said "I don't miss home. I have a mission to accomplish here."

Gretchen said "What's that?"

Nicandro said "Well. It's a personal mission. Very personal." He leaned close "I was looking for a girl you see... And now I have found her..."

Gretchen took a step back "Stop flirting."

Nicandro straightened up "Yes ma'am." He pointed to the direction they had come from "Look. The fun things will start soon. We party well here. We are strict but we do relax too. Let's go back. If you don't like it then go wonder off and make no mistake. I will find you." He then winked and walked away.

Gretchen watched him leave. He gave her space which was a relief. She felt her cheeks heating up. Him saying how he looked for a girl sounded quite serious. She had felt the heat as he had stared into her eyes stating wordlessly that she was his. That was it. He didn't even need to say anything and he still got the message across.

But what impressed her was how he respected her privacy. He hadn't asked further questions. She sighed and tried to not think of it much. She had been through a lot. She was the only girl in her family too. There was so much pressure to stay alive. She started to run in the direction of the camp trying to clear her head. She ran past Nicandro who stood watching her. She shouted at him "Don't run after me or I am running back."

Nicandro chuckled "Fine. I will walk then." As he was admiring her, he saw from far Arcangelo walking out of the communications tower. Something was up. He walked towards him and Arcangelo came into a halt "What do you want?"

Nicandro shrugged "I want the truth. What's going on? Even Lavinia noticed something was up. She told me to check on you. She didn't want to ask. I want to ask because I have to put up with your temper at the halls of residence tonight... Come on. I won't tell anyone. Just tell me what's up."

Arcangelo said "My parents's divorce is getting annulled and a lot is happening that. That's what's happened." He then walked away.

Nicandro started walking with him taking steps slowly "Wow. Congrats man. That's great then if the divorce is annulled. Your father can get closer to my uncle Vincenzo and their business relationships can go back to normal. Why are you down then? You say a lot is happening... Is it as bad as the divorce?"

Arcangelo said "Worse. Much worse."

Nicandro said "Alright... I see ... Are you going to tell me or I am supposed to guess... It must be pretty bad that you say it's worse than the divorce."

Arcangelo didn't say anything.

Nicandro said "So what are you going to do?"

Arcangelo said "What am I going to do? I am going home..."

Nicandro didn't expect to hear that "Woah. I didn't think you would do that. How bad is it?"

Arcangelo turned to Nicandro "Are you going to help me? ... to go home tonight for a visit?"

Nicandro shrugged "I can't drive you home or accompany you to drive illegally if that's what you are asking. My father will make me see death. The last time he got angry with me, I could see angels and clouds in front of my eyes. I swear."

Arcangelo said "No. I am not talking about breaking out of here. They don't let us home unless we graduate or it's a mutually agreed vacation and parents need to sign it. My father won't sign it. I didn't even bother ask. We need to go near my house for the social things we do."

Nicandro looked at him "You want to see your father so bad? If you want to see him just ask him. He has been asking to have you back if you promise not to kill your brother. Isn't that right?"

Arcangelo turned "You don't understand. This is not about seeing him."

Arcangelo said "You sure as hell don't want to see your mother. I am pretty sure your father doesn't want you to see your mother just in case you blow up."

Arcangelo turned to Nicandro and gave him a disapproving look "It's about my sister. She wants to meet my mother. I want to make sure she can... I have to break into my father's house..."

Nicandro said "You make no sense my man. You say your parents' divorce are annulled. Then you say you are going back even though you never wanted to go back. Now you say you want to break into your house so your sister can see your mother. Why not go through the front door? I am sure your father will be ready to welcome your sister with milk and cookies. You might be kept away from your mother but she won't be."

Arcangelo stopped walking and said "Enough Nic. It's not that simple. My father doesn't want us to see our mother... Neither of us. Mike, me or Maria. None of us can see her... I didn't ask him because I know the answer is no. You know me. I take what I want when I need it badly. I don't ask for it."

Nicandro asked "Do you want to see your mother?"

Arcangelo said "My sister wants to see her. There is nothing I won't do for my sister. Are you going to help me make the arrangements or not?"

Nicandro said "Alright. Why not? I will help you. But I wish I knew what's up with your father. So divorce is no longer happening. What about mike? I know you said your mother was actually trying to convince him to leave her and join you guys on your father's side but he never listened. So it makes me wonder if it's your mother that actually doesn't want to see you. Not your father..."

Arcangelo said "That's not my concern. I don't care any more about what my mother wants. I care for what my sister wants."

Nicandro nodded "I know. I can see that clearly. So do you want michangelo in this plan?"

Arcangelo nodded "That's what my sister wants. She was pretty upset. She was even crying. I hardly have ever seen her cry. She wants all of us to see our mother as soon as possible. I don't want to see her but my sister and mike will want to. I see if I can get Leandro to get Michangelo to join us. He is meant to be at my father's house but in a different building. In the main mansion. My mother is held in a medical facility we have on site. I asked my father about where she was exactly. He didn't know I would show up."

Nicandro said "I still can't connect any of this. You want to get your siblings in to see your mother at a medical facility but you won't see her. It makes no sense. Surely she must be ill to be there."

Arcangelo sighed "She is ill. She is dying."

Nicandro was shocked "What? I am so sorry. I had no idea. I shouldn't have brought it up that she must be ill. Can I tell Lavinia. I would hate for my cousin to not know this. She wanted to know why you were acting how you were today."

Arcangelo said "I don't need sympathy."

Nicandro said "It's not that. My cousin would give you privacy. She would want to know... Alright I make sure we end up near your family home with the outings. I insist and I will tell Lavinia to insist on voting to go there. If all squadron leaders vote for it, we go. How is that? But come on Arcangelo. I am your friend. I don't judge but I think you must think about this. You say your mother is not doing too good and you don't want to see her. Yet you want your siblings to see her. Why not just join your siblings?"

Arcangelo said "In the past few weeks I would have liked to talk to her and question her about what she did and why she did it. Michangelo called me up and said my mother staged the divorce and what lead upto it so we are not around to see her die or rather not ever find out she is dead. My mother wouldn't have disputed the last custody fight my father was throwing at her. She would have let mike back into my father's care. I would have liked to talk to her. But now ... I am mad at her. I wanted her to suffer but now she already is suffering and ... has been suffering... I am mad at her for deceiving our family and hiding secrets. How can someone be your family and lie to you, play games with you for so long? ..."

Nicandro said quietly "I am sure she didn't mean to hurt you..."

Arcangelo said "Hurting is not my concern. Families don't do what my mother did. It makes me wonder... Were we ever a family to begin with? Did she ever love my father?"

Nicandro said "Look. I am very sorry about what's been happening. I am here for you as a friend. Just like how you have been there for me... All I know is, a mother's love is stronger than you think. It does things that may make no sense. Your mother thought she was protecting you. Otherwise she wouldn't have done what she did. I am blown away myself. Your mother having the courage to make it look she was cheating on your father ..."

Arcangelo said "I don't think she thought it would turn out so big. She thought quietly she can leave. No wonder she got Stefano Rosario to protect the guy who kissed her. People think he is dead. He has new identity and free apparently. That made my father convinced that she was cheating on him. Why else would she protect that guy? So it all blew out of proportion. She could just sit down and tell us she is not well. She wanted us to hate her and forget her. She just wanted to buy a plane ticket and disappear forever from our lives. That was her plan."

Nicandro said "You have a very caring mother Arcangelo. She went through all these lengths so you don't see her suffer. You still don't want to see her? I know you are best to be kept away from mike and your mother because you can go mental on them. Your rage has no bounds but ... now that you know the truth you can't be mad."

Arcangelo said "I can't get over what she did. She lied to us. I won't hold back if I see her."

Nicandro said "Is that it? You are worried you might hurt her by saying what you think of her? I know you are pretty controlled. You won't hurt her with your words unless .... you mean it... The question is do you mean it .. when you say you are still mad at her? After the truth coming out, do you still truly mean it? One way to find out. Meet your mother. I am sure Mike will hold you back if you went berserk on her... Just go man. Just go." He then pointed to his watch "Let's go talk to the officials about where to go for socials. Some bowling and dinner perhaps at your father's club that's across the barbed wire heavy protected walls. Good luck breaking through your father's security alone.... I am only kidding. I will help you break in. Leandro is the man for the job. I am pretty sure his father designed your father's security system."