Base- Somewhere out in the middle
of the Pacific Ocean

12:00 am UTC -10:00

The man in charge of the phone calls stared at the phone in his hand, and his eyes were wide and filled with shock because he had no idea that was going to happen. "Bloody hell?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Why was it that easy to get him to come without giving him any information?"

He sighed and moved a hand through his hair and across his face before he shook his head, pursing his lips in annoyance, before he made a phone call to someone he thought would be able to help ease some of the confusion that he was feeling.

The phone started to ring and ring, and Rondey leaned forward and placed his hands on his desk while he stared at it. His heart skipped a beat before it started to pound harder and faster in his chest while he stared at it, willing the person to answer it because he had no idea why she wouldn't.

Oh, Gods, please let her be safe, he silently prayed and bit the inside of his lip. Why is she no-

The phone stopped ringing when the person answered, and there was a small sniffle in her voice. "This is Julia," the girl said when she answered the phone. She cleared her throat when her voice cracked. "Is everything ok, Sir? Why are you calling me when you have to wait for the others to call you?"

"I have only one person left to call me, Miss Redden," Rodney said, trying but failing to hide the concern in his voice. "Now, are you ok? What is wrong? Why do you sound so upset?"

The girl, Miss Julia Redden, cleared her throat again. "It's nothing, Sir," she said, and he had a feeling that she shook her head while she grimaced. "Please, forgive me for making you worried about me. I didn't mean to. I was surprised at how easy it was to have him leave without having to ask you any questions."

His heart broke for the girl that lost someone close to her, and he cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. "Must I remind you that you aren't supposed to be falling in love or being in a relationship with them, Miss Redden?" he asked and raised an eyebrow in question, and if he was close to her, then he would be giving her a pointed look.

Miss Redden cleared her throat to hide a chuckle, and he had a feeling that she shook her head. "No, Sir," she said, her voice barely above a whisper and cracking, and his heart broke more for her. "You do not have to remind me that I can not fall in love or be in a relationship with them." She took a deep, shuddering breath and released it with a soft and shaky whoosh. "But that doesn't mean he hasn't become a close friend to me, especially since he has been working on my family's farm for years."

Rodney cleared his throat and slowly nodded. "I know," he said and cleared his throat some more while he shifted in his seat. "Now, do you know why it didn't take long for him to decide that he was leaving and coming here?" he asked, changing the subject. "Do you have anything to do with it?"

"No, Sir," Miss Redden said and chuckled, and he raised an eyebrow in question but stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. "I did not do anything to sway him to do that. I was trying to keep him to stay put so that he could listen to what you had to say, but he didn't want to and decided that he was done talking on the phone the moment he had to wait for you to answer it." There was a small smile in her voice that he could pick up on, and he couldn't help but smile.

"But doesn't he have any questions about what is going to happen to him and everything?" Rodney asked, still confused about his whole ordeal, in which he had thought he would have to have some conversation with the man from Texas.

"He does," she confirmed, "but he said that they would probably be answered as soon as he went there, which is why he decided to leave when he did."

"Did he ask you anything?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir," she replied. She paused and sighed, and he had a feeling that she shook her head with a small chuckle in her voice. "Well, no, not really."

Rodney raised an eyebrow higher in question, and a small frown appeared on his face. "Oh?" he asked. "And what is it? Is it a "yes," or is it a "no," Miss Redden? What questions did he ask you?"

"Well, he asked me to take care of his girl," she said with a chuckle in her voice, and he had a feeling that she blinked back some tears that wanted to fall from her eyes.

"His... girl?" Rodney asked and narrowed his eyes, biting back a small scowl. The hair on the back of his neck stood at attention, and his whole body grew tense when he thought about Victor being in a relationship with someone else. "What do you mean by that, Miss Redden?"

"I am talking about my, well my family's dog, Masey, who loves him a lot and then his truck. He wants me to keep an eye on them so if there is a chance that he can go back home to Texas, then he will be able to use his truck, especially since he had basically built it from the ground up."

"Hmph." He pressed his lips into a thin line before he cleared his throat. "Did you ever give him a reason to believe that he would be able to go back home?" he asked, even though he had this feeling that she didn't but had to ask because of protocols.

"No, Sir," she said, confirming his suspicions. "I do not know if he knows that he will be able to come home or not. I know that he hopes that he will be able to, but he doesn't know. I haven't told him anything."

"Good," he said before he cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. "Now, that is all for now, and I have to get ready for this phone call. Excuse me, and I will talk with your father whenever he comes to check in on things. Have a nice rest of your morning, and get some sleep."

Miss Redden chuckled softly and he had a feeling that she nodded. "Of course, thank you, Sir."

And with that, and without another word, Miss Redden hung up the phone to go ahead and do what she was told to do, leaving Rodney to set the phone down into its cradle and lean back in his seat.

"Well, Mr. Henson," he said to no one while he became lost in thought. "I believe that you are going to be a strange but accepting person as to what is going on around here." He pressed his hands together and tapped two of his fingers together while he placed his hands against his mouth. "Let's see if that will last once you start everything or if that is some sort of ruse you had cooked up for all to see."

If only one could hope...