{Dominic}

I couldn't stop laughing when I heard what 32401's new party trick was.

Sergeant 22 frowned. "What's so funny? I don't think it's funny as matter of fact I think it's pretty cool that she can do that! I wonder if it has something to do with whatever new ability she's developed?"

I stopped laughing. "Maybe I don't know? Since we can't get close enough to evaluate her, we can only speculate for now. Unless…"

She raised an eyebrow. "Unless what?"

"Unless Uncle 42's new device is up and running finally," I said.

Sergeant 22 tilted her head. "New device?"

I nodded. "Yup, but I can't explain much about it right now though."

Uncle 42 was indeed building a new device to see if any of his experiments have gained a new ability and force them to show it to him. If it works then he could use it on 32401 and force her to show her new ability to us.

Honestly, I want to be on scene when that day comes. I gave 32401 one more year of freedom and I intend to stick to that. One year is exactly ten months away, so I can wait until then.

***

{Emily}

"Emily! Get your head in the fight already!" Anna scolded after throwing a punch that connected with my jaw. I landed on my back on the ground and stayed there trying to catch my breath. Anna went over to me and helped me get to my feet and I dusted myself off.

"Sorry about that, can we call it quits for the day?" I asked, "I just can't seem to focus for some reason."

"Are you still worried about trying to figure out how to take Dominic down?" Anna asked.

I shook my head. "No, I don't think that's it. I just can't seem to focus on anything today. Maybe it's because I've been on edge a lot lately?"

She shrugged. "Don't know but you might want to fix that soon. Because if you can't concentrate on fighting, that's not good. I hope you have focus in the next gunfight you do because-"

I cut her off, "Yes I know, I know."

I sat down at a nearby bench and grabbed a towel and wiped myself off. At that point, I was rather frustrated because I really had no idea why I couldn't focus today. I mean I know I've been on edge trying to figure out how to take Dominic down along with how to push my new ability past its limit.

But then something else occurred to me, the other reason why I've been out of focus lately. I've noticed that I've been rather grumpy because the other day during training with Anna I almost destroyed a punching bag for no reason! Not to mention I've snapped at Toby a couple of times for no reason and that could mean only one thing… My cycle was getting ready to start and it makes perfect sense to me considering my cycles are usually around the end of the month anyway.

I sighed, "You know, I think I know what might be wrong with me."

Anna tilted her head. "What is it?"

I groaned, "My cycle is coming up soon."

"Oh," Anna said. Her eyes went wide and she nodded. "Ooooh! Yeah that makes perfect sense! You've been really grumpy lately and that usually starts happening about a week before your cycle. So you and Toby might want to cool it on the sex for the time being!"

Even though I felt my face turn red, I rolled my eyes. "You do realize that I'm taking birth control right? So no worries because right now I don't think it's a good idea to get pregnant."

Anna nodded in agreement. "Alright let's get going, the sooner we get home, the sooner you can rest."

I shook my head. "I'm not tired, I just can't focus. Although, when I actually do start my cycle I probably will be more tired." I sighed, "We better get going before I decide to start destroying another innocent punching bag!"

She laughed, "Yeah let's go you know what they say, you break it you bought it!"

I chuckled and with that, we gathered our stuff and left the fighting area and went back to my apartment.

***

As soon as I got home before I even sat down I took a shower, changed my clothes, took some medicine and crashed on the couch. Then I thought about checking my phone and rolled my eyes when I saw that I had fifteen missed calls and ten missed text messages from Toby.

I called him and after the first ring he picked up, "Hey there!"

"Hey, why didn't you answer my calls?" Toby demanded, "Anna told me you were finished with training. Are you okay?"

I chuckled, "I'm fine Toby. I just got out of the shower and I'm crashing on the couch right now."

"Oh really?" Toby said, "What are you wearing?"

I snorted. "Seriously? I'm just wearing regular pj's."

Toby pouted, "Aww come on! Haven't you heard of something called phone sex?"

I choked because I've heard of phone sex before. It's mostly describing sex while on the phone.

He laughed, "Judging by the sound of your reaction, you've heard of it haven't you?"

I nodded. "Yes I have but I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that yet. I mean we've had sex in person… It just seems like it would be a little… Awkward…"

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Toby burst into laughter and he was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.

"That's not funny!" I growled.

He stopped laughing and cleared his throat. "Okay, okay I'm sorry, I just find it rather odd and funny that describing sex over the phone to you is awkward. But then again, if there's someone around you while you do that, then yeah I can see where it would be awkward. But if you're not with someone then it wouldn't be as awkward, but that's just my opinion."

"Oh, I see…" I said. At that moment I was kind of at a loss for words.

Toby cleared his throat, "Judging by the silence you have no idea what to say. That's okay, we don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

I smiled. "Okay then."

After that we spent most of the night talking about random things and I actually fell asleep on the phone because we were talking so much. Good thing I had my phone on the charger most of the time.

***

{Toby}

I noticed that Emily's been rather grumpy off and on lately I figured it might just be because she's been on edge because of Dominic. But I talked to Anna about it and she suggested that it might be because Emily's getting ready to start her cycle soon. When you think about it, that makes perfect sense. That's how my ex-girlfriend's were when they were on their cycle so why would it be any different for Emily?

I didn't have to figure out exactly when Emily started because she announced it to me when it happened. She ran to the bathroom at work and asked for some pain medicine because of cramps. I told her that she could go home early from work but she's stubborn so she refused to do that. When she refused to do that she didn't complain about cramps after she took the pain medicine.

I could tell that she wasn't feeling well, but I didn't want to argue about sending her home for the day because knowing Emily it would be pointless to do so. After work today, I gave Emily a ride back to her apartment and asked Anna to come pick up her car because she almost passed out on me at work.

I frowned when I looked over after I heard Emily moaning in pain in her sleep. Once I got to her apartment, I nudged her on the shoulder to wake her up. "Emily, we're at your apartment, time to wake up so you can get in and go back to bed."

Emily slowly opened her eyes and groaned, "Alright I'm getting up. I don't like it, but I'm getting up."

I chuckled because she looked like a little kid who didn't want to get up and get ready for school. But I don't blame her. If I were her and I was in a lot of pain I wouldn't want to move around too much either.

I got out of the car and gave her a hand to help her get up. She almost fell over because of being in pain but I caught her just in time. I was starting to get a little bit concerned because she seemed a little bit disoriented when I caught her. I picked her up and carried her bridal style up her apartment and when I got inside I placed her gently on the couch. Once I gave her a pillow and covered her with a blanket, I called Anna to see if there was anything else I could do for her to help ease her pain.

"Aww that's cute!" Anna said after I asked her what I could do. "But when it comes down to Emily a lot of times she just wants to be left alone. You know the old saying that goes, don't poke the sleeping bear?"

"Let me guess, Emily's the sleeping bear?" I asked.

Anna laughed, "Yup!"

"Lovely…" I said.

"But, if you want to stay there and help her out with Red and other things, that's up to you," Anna said. "I've done that before just to keep her company."

"Oh," Then I thought of something, "Is there anything specific that Emily likes to eat when it's that time of the month?"

"Well she likes to eat chocolate and pickles for some reason," Anna responded.

I grimaced when I heard about the pickles. "Okay her eating chocolate makes sense but pickles? Seriously?"

Anna chuckled, "Yeah I know right? I asked her about that and she always tells me that just likes pickles. Everyone's different on what foods they like, but I guess."

"Alright I'll probably stick around and help out with Red and take care of him while Emily sleeps," I said.

"Alright then, talk to you later, bye," Anna said.

I hung up the phone and sighed. Right after that Red came up to me barking. He seemed kind of antsy so I grabbed his leash and took him out for a walk. I took him for a twenty minute walk and when I got back, I found Emily wide awake sitting on the couch watching Tv.

As soon as I closed the door Emily looked in my direction and smiled.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked.

"Better, but I don't really feel like doing anything much still," Emily replied.

I nodded. Before I went over to the couch Red ran up to Emily and put his head on Emily's lap. She smiled and pet him on his head. I went over to the couch and sat down next to them.

"So are you hungry?" I asked, "Because I can make you something to eat or we can order out if you want?"

"Okay we can order some food," Emily said. "For some reason, I'm craving Chinese food!"

I laughed, "Okay then."

So I ordered Chinese food and I made sure to order from a bakery that was just around the corner to get Emily some chocolate. We didn't really do much after we ate except watch Tv and talk about random things. When it got to be late out I was getting ready to leave when Emily stopped me. I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Can you stay with me tonight?" Emily asked.

I nodded. "Sure I can do that. Anna did tell me that you like to be alone when it's that time of the month for you-"

"That's true, but I want someone to be with me this time," Emily said.

I shrugged. "Alright then."

I sat down on the couch again and had Emily cuddle up to me and eventually she fell asleep. When she fell asleep I took her to the bed and placed her under the covers. After I did that, I made myself comfortable and laid down on the couch and went to sleep.

***

{Red- Emily's Dog}

Emily has no idea how many of Dominic's people are watching her and her boyfriend! Here I am another lab rat from A- Circle Labs macerating as a dog just to keep watch on Emily under Dominic's orders. True, Emily did get an actual puppy but when the puppy got older Dominic managed to switch the actual puppy out with me. Dominic told me that Emily's real name is 32401 and I should use that name when I'm checking in with him and giving him updates about Emily.

I'm actually one of Dominic's personal lab rat and my name is Lab Rat 40441 but Dominic wants to report to him as Red 87. He got the idea from 32401 when he saw one of her books she wrote using the pen name Red 87 to publish them.

I started macerating as a dog after the first year of 32401's escape from A-Circle. Honestly, I have no idea why Dominic didn't bother to capture her then, but I guess he just wanted to wait back and see what happened to her on her own. From what he's told me, Dominic's going to capture 32401 at the end of the year.

Over the five years that I've been with 32401 I started to fall for her and started to become even more overprotective of her than I should be. My heart broke when I found out that 32401 got a boyfriend. Dominic gave her the go ahead to date the guy, not like it would have mattered if she had his permission or not to date him. But regardless if 32401 was dating anyone, I kept doing my assignment to the best of my ability.

Today when I sensed that 32401 was in heat, I was kind of glad that her boyfriend decided to stay and help take care of her. However, I did try to comfort her a little bit by staying beside her and resting my head on her lap so she could pet it and feel comforted by it.

Before her boyfriend left for the day, because he was her boss he made sure to tell her that she had the day off. But I know 32401 a lot better than he does and she'll probably at least try to work on her stories, that is if she feels okay. Usually the first two days of her cycle she's so worn out she can barely do anything.

Of course I reported what was happening to 32401 to Dominic as usual and what she doesn't realize is that Dominic's eyes and ears are everywhere! Even her pet dog is watching her every movement and giving details to Dominic.