FicWad

At dawn Julius awoke. He was not only worried but also blinded by the sun shining brightly on his face. "It's March" he said a bit disgruntled. He decided to do some yoga to cheer him up. It worked quite well... he was fit, the wireless headphones Scarlett gave him worked well and it was a nice warm day. He was in the middle of salamba shirshasana when the door was opened in a rush. Supposing it was Delilah he stayed in his position. "Hey, De ... already got up?"

"Good morning" a voice said. "I am here to start my training, Sir."

He nearly tipped over and quickly got up to fix his shirt which had slipped up in the upside-down position. "Oh, hey, Prosper, wasn't it? Ah, yes, well, training..." He was lost for words. "Ah, you can join me if you want."

"If you think it's appropriate, Sir." she said in a military stile.

"Ah, and don't call me 'Sir'. I'm Julius, right?" He smiled at her having found back to his normal behaviour. As he saw her take measures to do the headstand as well he intervened. "Oh, I don't think you'll be able to do so right away ..." he said. In this moment she fell to the floor without even having achieved an upside-down position.

"We'll start with some breathing exercises ..." He saw her rolling her eyes. "Yes, it has to be."


Delilah woke up an hour later and found the others in a strange position.

"For the uttanasana you have to reach out - oh, hi Delilah!"

She pursed her lips looking down on the girl wearing a red tracksuit in Julius arm. Julius looked at her in suspense. She could not hold it back any longer - and burst in laughter. "You realise how funny that looks?"

The others laughed as well though Prosper sounded a bit shrill. "You wanna go jogging?" Delilah asked.

"Shopping would sound better..." she said grinning when she got up moaning a little.


Julius met Delilah at breakfast. "Where's Proserpina?"

"Still under the shower I suppose" Delilah answered. "She's not trained up at all ... but she has a strong will, that helps a lot."

"Hm..." Julius said.

"It wasn't so bad after all, I suppose?" Delilah asked smirking. "What will we do in the morning? I thought some theory would be good so she has time to relax..."

Julius choked. "Relax? With you lecturing her about TNT? Big fun..."

"Hey" Delilah kicked him in the side grinning. "Daddy's little daughter has to learn something, okay?"


In the months that followed Proserpina turned out to be really bright - captivating logic and an unbelievable memory, her IQ had to be at least 140. She developed as well an interest for sports and martial arts. Her delicate figure changed into a well trained body. In her free time she would go shopping with Delilah or learn Filipino, Gaelic, Finnish or Kyrgyz with her.

Delilah however had started regarding their protégé who made herself at home under their wings with suspicion. Whenever she talked with Julius they just talked about her. She even had started calling her 'poser' in her mind. She was too good to be real. Whenever she touched the subject Julius would block.

"No, she's just a smart girl, what's wrong about that? Okay, she's talking in a strange manner but firstly she's pubescent and secondly her parents died she has to digest that somehow..."

"Looks more like repressing..." Delilah said. "Besides we don't spend time without her anymore."

"Oh, I never knew it was so important to you..."

"It isn't! Well, yes, it is, we need to do some researches, do you want Ursula and Emmet to try to find anything?"

"If you want my opinion: that would take ages!" Proserpina had turned up standing next to Delilah. "Although they are of course trying to, they will never be able to find out anything - unless by travelling to Greece or by finding Ms. Kertsfield. I would do so. But -" she smiled evilly. "- like this I have at least the chance to train her up a little."

Julius looked at her proudly. He had taught her much about martial arts and her progresses made him glad. Proserpina left for the gym. "She even thinks like you" he told Delilah trying to convince her.

"That's exactly what makes me uneasy" but she had no time to explain as Ursula turned up.

"Did you see that brat of yours?" Ursula asked.

"Yes, she went to the gym - training." Julius grinned at her annoyance.

"Oh, just wait. She thinks she can beat me but she'll see what that leads to..." she strode forward but Delilah held her back.

"If you harm a hair on her head..."

"Don't you dare threatening me!"

"We do" Julius said. "And now go and see whether you can beat her."

"Actually I should feel sorry for you" Ursula began. Julius did not understand. What was she driving at? "Branded as babysitters ... how will you ever be able to do a mission again?"

"We are on a mission, if you want to know." Delilah growled. Ursula laughed affectedly and walked away her hips swinging Scarlett-like

"Do you think she's right?" Delilah asked when she was out of earshot.

"We're definitely doing the right thing" Julius said walking with her to the gym as well. "Imagine Prosper being educated by Emmet ... she could teach him some lessons..."

"Yes but it'll take time to get off the ground again when it's over... all right, we still have training and so on but still ... and who knows how long this assignment will last?"

"They grow up so fast..." Julius said.