Worry (open)

[AUDREY ANNABELLE APPLEBY]

Audrey lost her worry stone. For the average person, it was really nothing. It was just some rock with an indentation and smoothed out so it was easier for a thumb to glide over it. For Audrey, however, it was her source of keeping her hands busy. It was handy and portable, always there for her, until she lost it. Now, she had nothing. It wasn’t very pretty for Audrey when she nothing to fiddle with in her hands. She was currently ripping and tearing at her already short nails as she walked down Fifth Avenue. She was going to have bloody tipped nails if she didn’t have something soon.

She first got her worry stone in a little boutique along this street. One of her fellow agents suggested getting something pocket-sized so she could carry it with her wherever she needed something. She secretly thought that people were getting slightly grossed out by her nasty nails with the hangnails and the ragged tips. There was no way she was going to be asked to go undercover at the prom or whatnot, unless they got press on nails for her or figured out mini cones to put around her wrists like dogs wore.

She passed storefront after storefront trying to find that one boutique she found years ago. She stopped picking at her nails once she ripped into her nail bed and it burned a bit. She brought her hand up to her mouth and she sucked on the injured finger as she continued walking. Her eyes darted across the street. She was always on alert, even if she wasn’t on a mission. She didn’t want to get ambushed by an enemy behind her back, especially with all of these botched missions she’d recently gone on.

She was getting close to what she remembered the store being, right in the middle of the street. She pulled her finger out of her mouth as she looked at the storefronts before she stood right in front of an abandoned one. That was her store, but it must have closed without her knowing. She silently swore as she stuck her hands in her jacket pockets, trying to prevent any more nail injuries. She sighed as she looked up and down the street. No one else looked like they were going to carry worry stones among their designer clothes. After reluctantly admitting defeat, she turned on her heels and walked back down the street.

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

Having arrived at Fordham with nothing but a few pairs of ill-fitting clothing from the Salvation Army or Goodwill, Cole had been in desperate need of a new wardrobe. Kids in state care didn't exactly need to put on the nines all that often, but in her new role, she'd need to be able to blend into almost any social situation, and that would require not looking like she was practically homeless -- unless, of course, the op called for that.

But frail-looking little white-blonde girls were better for playing the part of daddy's little princess or at least a child with parents who could afford to dress her in more than hand-me-down rags. And so it had been time to go shopping.

Cole had been looking forward to it at first, but then the exercise had dragged on and on. Of course she couldn't just be handed a credit card and sent out to the stores alone. Even if she was a capable thirteen year old, that was bound to raise some eyebrows. Then again, she'd tried to convince them that she could spin a tale of being a poor little rich girl, spoiled with money but neglected by parents who worked too much. But in the end, she'd lost that debate and so had been saddled with a handler -- or a babysitter, the way she saw it -- while they worked their way through the shops.

Even with an adult in tow, the shopping spree had been fun. For awhile. Too soon Cole started to realize she was nothing but a giant Barbie doll for the adults to parade around. Her opinions were overlooked as her handler and the shopkeepers decided what would look 'adorable' on her (Lord how she loathed that word), and then shoved her into a change room with her arms full of overpriced ruffles and lace.

At least it wasn't all ball gowns and ruffled underwear (who the hell thought to put ruffles on underwear), and Cole had managed to get a few decent outfits out of the trip, things that she might actually wear without wanting to shoot herself in the head. The first thing she'd noticed, as they'd ventured into the boutiques along this exclusive shopping strip, was how much better rich people clothes fit than the off-the-rack stuff she was used to. And not just because all her old clothes tended to be a size or two too small or too big.

Eventually, however, she'd reached her breaking point. While her handler was busy with the shopgirl, Cole had taken advantage of the momentary break in constant fawning and attention and had slipped outside. She couldn't completely disappear, as tempting as it was. She didn't want to get into too much trouble. But she just needed some goddamn air. She couldn't breathe in that store, there was so much rich perfume in the air.

She was so busy as she was carefully and gently swinging the door shut so that the bell hanging over it wouldn't jangle too much, even using her other hand as a buffer to provide some resistance and keep the movement smooth, that she hadn't even noticed she'd stepped right out in front of another girl. She wasn't completely unobservant, though, and quickly looked over as the movement caught in her peripheral vision. "Sorry," she muttered as she stepped in nearer to the door, trying to get herself out of the way.

[AUDREY ANNABELLE APPLEBY]

Audrey took her time as she walked back down the street. She was using this shopping excursion as an excuse to not do her homework and the faster she returned from it, the sooner she had to start on that torture. She didn’t even understand how homework didn’t fall under the Eight Amendment. To her, it was cruel and unusual punishment. It was just busy work to measure her intelligence and Audrey was one that did not do well on tests. It was going to be a miracle if she got into college in a few years.

She thought she was walking down the sidewalk a little too fast, even though she was weaving in and out of people to avoid a collision. So she decided to step closer to the store windows and take her time peering in them, like she was window shopping. She didn’t window shop, however, more than she watched the people inside the stores among the fancy clothing. She was a keen observer and always the first to recognize something unusual on missions. She could tell that in this one particular shop, there was a man shopping with his mistress judging by the lack of a ring on her important finger while he had his. There was a shifty teen in the back corner of the store that looked like she lifted a pair of earrings and now was nervously shifting around seeing if anyone saw. But Audrey saw, but she wasn’t going to rat the girl out, since there was a security camera trained right on her.

Audrey tore her eyes from the store as she glanced at the next one. Two adults talking and a young girl who looked completely disinterested in the entire situation. Audrey glanced around the shop a few more seconds before she decided that there was nothing of interest in it for her as she walked forward.

And just at that moment, she almost ran right into the girl that was in the shop moments before. She stuck her hands out to brace herself for a collision, but it never happened as the girl took a step back after muttering a quick apology.

“It’s okay,” Audrey said, quietly, but loud enough to be heard over the bustling streets. She glanced at the door the girl entered out of and then back down to her. She was younger and more fragile from what Audrey gathered. Audrey pulled her hands back and started playing with her fingers, popping them, since they didn’t want to be in the confinements of her jacket pockets any longer. “So is that…” she said as she glanced back at the door one more time to look at the adults talking. The person she assumed to be with the little girl didn’t look like they were related. She looked back at the girl and decided to stay on the safer side of the conversation. “Is that the person you’re shopping with? The one talking to the cashier?”

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

In moving so quickly to avoid a run-in, Cole let go of the door and allowed it to shut on its own for those last few inches. She winced at the quiet 'thud' that it made when it met the door frame, but at least she'd managed to avoid ringing the bell like she'd feared. Squinting through the glass without touching it, she saw to her relief that neither adult seemed to have noticed her absence. Hopefully it would take them awhile to decide upon her next outfit, and then a little longer yet to realize she wasn't just in the change room or the back of the store.

Figuring that she had at least a bit of breathing room now, Cole allowed her attention to drift back to the older girl, looking up at her through those pale blue eyes. She didn't smile immediately, and that few second's hesitation made the expression seem a bit false, like it had come to her as an afterthought to be polite. Which, well, it had.

Idly she tugged at the short sleeve of the light pink blouse she was wearing, finding it shorter than she was used to. It was new, as was the pleated grey skirt she was wearing, and the matching knee socks, although they'd so far let her keep her battered running shoes on. The shoe store was next. She wasn't entirely sure whether the new clothes had been paid for yet, but... it wasn't technically stealing since she wasn't planning to take off, right?

Cole glanced back again through the shop window as Audrey pointed out her handler and the shopkeeper, not entirely able to hide her impatience and annoyance with the two of them. "Yeah, she's my..." she paused just ever so slightly, trying to think of what to call her. "...nanny," she ultimately decided, figuring that sounded a bit more grown up than 'babysitter', and probably worked better as a cover story while they were shopping at these high end boutiques.

"She's an idiot," Cole added in a fit of impulsiveness, deciding to get out some of her frustration while under the guise of this supposed cover. But her tone didn't really sound angry, more like she was resigned to the fact that the world was populated by idiots and assholes.

Pulling her attention back from the plate glass, she let her gaze flicker down to the other girl's fingers, drawn by the sound of the cracking joints. "Someone once told me that will give you arthritis," she noted in a voice free from judgement. At least until she added, smirking just faintly, "Of course, they were an idiot too."

[AUDREY ANNABELLE APPLEBY]

Nanny? Audrey looked back up at the store at the adult and then back down at the little girl. They didn’t look related at all, so a nanny was a plausible explanation. She looked her over, stopping at the edge of her skirt, not seeing the ratty shoes she had on before she believed the lie. She nodded her head as she looked back up at the little girl. She felt like the one dressed like a slob compared to the little girl in the dress. However, Audrey didn’t think she was that bad in her black boots, dark jeans, a t-shirt advertising some rock band nobody heard of before, and her black leather jacket.

She didn’t suppress a chuckle as the girl went on a rant about her Nanny being an idiot. She glanced back up at the lady in the store and smirked. “I can see how she’s an idiot,” she said as a smirk crept up onto her lips. “They just don’t make them smart anymore, do they?” Audrey couldn’t help but think that police officers were also idiots as well, especially the number of times she was brought home by them.

She immediately stopped popping her knuckles as the little girl made a comment about arthritis and stuck her hands back into her pockets. She started toying the lining with her fingers as she chuckled a bit. “I don’t want to risk it,” she explained for her sudden change. “Bu is everyone you meet is an idiot?” She smirked as she raised her eyebrows at the girl. “Do you think I’m an idiot?” She looked around the street, wondering if anyone was watching her. She did a quick scan up and down the street, but didn’t see anything out of the usual before she looked behind the girl into the store. She pressed her lips together before she looked down at the little girl. “Do you know if they sell worry stones in there?” she asked as she raised her eyebrows. “I lost mine and I’ve been trying to replace it. I can’t really get by without it.” She looked back into the store and sighed. It was pointless. There was no reason why a high end store would sell something like that. She was better off carrying something else portal, but she didn’t know what.

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

If Cole really had been the sort of spoiled little girl she was pretending to be, she probably wouldn't have thought much of the other girl's outfit, truth be told, but as it was, she hardly noticed, except to idly think how much she'd rather be wearing something like that. She wasn't really a tomboy, and she didn't object to dressing up in sweet things if that helped her get further ahead, but that didn't mean she didn't feel like an idiot being dressed up like a chinadoll. She just knew it was a necessary evil.

"She must be radiating idiocy if you can tell from out here," Cole snarked in a deadpan way, before glancing again towards the window with a bit of a smirk. "But I don't know if they make them stupid or they turn stupid after awhile." She considered that, seeing both options as equally possible. There must be stupid babies in the world, but there seemed to be far more stupid adults. Which would suggest that something changed along the way. Then again, it all worked out the same in the end, didn't it.

Cole gave a quiet little snort of laughter as the other girl pointed out how everyone was, in her esteem, an idiot. "Not everyone, but most..." she replied with a shrug, before tilting her head slightly to one side and considering the other girl for a long moment, trying to decide if she did think she was an idiot as well. "Not so far," she finally concluded, seeming to take the question seriously.

She then turned thoughtful again, this time trying to remember if she'd seen any worry stones in the shop. "If they do, they'd be up the front by the jewelry," she replied, not sounding too hopeful. "They had some stuff made of stone, but I don't know if they were for worry..." She wasn't entirely sure what a worry stone looked like, but the ones she'd glimpsed had seen more decorative than intended to calm a person down. Hell, the price tag would probably give most people a heart attack.

"What do they look like?" She wasn't usually so ready to help other people, but so far, she had nothing against this girl, and besides, this gave her a ready excuse to linger outside longer. The older girl's company was far preferable to her 'nanny's.

[AUDREY ANNABELLE APPLEBY]

Audrey smiled at the little girl as she continued ranting on and on about the idiocy of the people around her. She glanced up at the nanny through the store window. Part of her wondered if this little girl was supposed to behave like this at home. Then again, it was good to let loose once in a while, especially if this girl was in a stuck up home that Audrey thought her to be in. She couldn’t help but chuckle as she tore her eyes away from the nanny and looked down at the girl. “I think it’s both,” she said in response to the girl’s statement, even if it wasn’t asking for an answer. “I’ve seen some really stupid looking babies and some of the kids in my elementary school were stupid too.” She smirked at her next statement, wanting to get her favorite topic off of her chest. “But I think some of them just grow into being stupid and then those stupid people turn into police officers.” It was no secret that Audrey hated local law enforcers, which was why she shifted away from the other store as a couple of cops pulled up to arrest the shoplifter. Somebody else did get her, just as Audrey predicted.

When asked about the worry stone, she pulled her hands out of her pocket so she could describe the little stone. “Well, it’s a small rock,” Audrey said as she stuck her pointer finger and thumb out and laid it on top of one another in a shape of an oval. “And it’s smooth and polished and there’s a little indent in the middle.” She moved one of her hands to show where it would be in case it wasn’t obvious before she moved her hand to mimic her rubbing a worry stone. “And it’s used to rub your thumb over it whenever you’re worried or nervous or just need something in your hands like me.” She sighed as she stuck her hands in her pockets as she looked back into the store. “I doubt they have them here,” she said as she slumped her shoulders in defeat. “I got my last one in a tourist boutique. I don’t think they have any here. It’s too…” Audrey searched for the word, trying to find something that would insult the little high-class girl in front of her. “It’s not the type to look like they carry them.” She pressed her lips together as she looked up and down the street, thankful that the police officers were already gone. “I’ll figure something out.”

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

Playing a spoiled little princess was kind of fun, Cole was discovering, even if it was so different from her own upbringing. She'd never been spoiled a day in her life; in fact she'd seldom been given much of anything at all, except for ill-fitting hand-me-down clothes or tattered dolls (and those had usually immediately met a grin fate at her childish hands). She tried to imagine what it would be like to be this girl who was sent to buy things on Fifth Avenue with a nanny in toe and an unlimited credit card. The only part she could really wrap her mind around was the idea that this little girl's parents didn't have time for her either. She pictured her father to be some boring businessman always on the phone, and her mom would be like those ladies on TV, always more worried about her hair and nail appointments and where the yappy dogs were than her daughter's well-being. Oh yes, and they definitely had yappy dogs, Cole decided. Two. And Princess Cole hated them as well.

She gave her head a little shake, disguising it as merely getting her cornsilk hair out of her eyes, as she realized she was getting carried away with her cover story. She wasn't really undercover. She was just chatting up some stranger, some other girl who didn't seem completely objectionable, so that she could avoid going back inside. That didn't require made-up yappy dogs and a father with a huge cell phone bill.

"Yeah, definitely both," she agreed with the other girl, smirking wryly. "But do you think the stupid kids get stupider when they get to be adults?" That bore thinking about. Did everyone start from a certain point and just slide downwards? Maybe if you started out smart enough -- and Cole included herself in that category -- you could avoid being a complete idiot by the time you were thirty. She wrinkled her nose at the sight of the police officers, otherwise maintaining a straight face but keeping a watchful eye on them in the window's reflection. "The worst of them all," she concurred in a lower voice, although she wasn't sure what the spoiled little rich girl would have against the men in blue... but she just couldn't bring herself to defend the cops.

Clasping her hands behind her back and balancing on her toes, she listened as the older girl described the worry stone, trying to picture it in her mind. "Oh yeah, I think I've seen those," she mused. "Not here, though. These are just necklaces and things like that, I think." She tried to think of the type of place that might have them, even if she still wasn't sure why she was so keen to help. It must have just been an excuse to kill more time, she figured. "Maybe try some place, you know... poorer?" She couldn't think of a better term to describe it. "But not too poor." Strange that both the super-rich and the super-poor tended to turn to drugs to easy their worries.

[AUDREY ANNABELLE APPLEBY]

The stupid question stumped Audrey for a bit. Yes, there was stupid kids and stupid adults, but was there a chance to avoid being stupid? Was there a chance to actually smart up and avoid the fate of being a stupid adult, like a police officer? Audrey didn’t know. “I guess there’s a slim possibility,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. “But sometimes it’s hard to avoid fate, you know?” Audrey knew about fate quite a bit, sometimes believing that losing her parents at such a young age was all because of it.

But Audrey decided that she liked this little girl a lot. So what if she was probably a spoiled brat and an heiress to a multi-billion dollar company? Anyone who agreed that police officers were the worst kind of people was okay in Audrey’s book. And thankfully, the men in blue arrested the shoplifter quickly. She was pretty sure that she was going to tear into her nails more if they stuck around .They just made her nervous and she stuck her hands back into her coat pockets and toyed with the lining of it once more.

Audrey raised her eyes when the little girl mentioned about seeing worry stones, but not here. That was good, Audrey didn’t really want to walk into a stuck-up store like this little girl and her nanny were in. For one thing, pink, frills, and all of that girly crap was not Audrey’s cup of tea. She looked down the road as she scanned the stores and the people. She couldn’t help but feel like she was being watched, but then again, the foot traffic on the sidewalk picked up. People did have wandering eyes at such unusual scenes, like two girls from completely different walks of life talking to one another. “I think I can find a poorer store,” she said with a little smirk, showing she wasn’t offended by the girl’s choice of words. She probably didn’t know better, since she looked more than a few years younger than Audrey was herself. She looked down the street once more, noting which stores might carry her beloved worry stones. “I’m Audrey by the way,” she said as she looked down at the little girl. She just realized that they didn’t introduce each other and they had been talking for quite a while.

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

Cole hadn't really intended to stump anyone, but she was sort of impressed that the older girl bothered to give some real thought to what had been just sort of an idle wondering. Her eyebrows lifted a little at the response, not skeptical exactly, but weighing it over in her mind before making a ruling. Then she shrugged slightly, allowing the possibility, but granting that it was slim indeed. "Yeah, tell me about it," she muttered about fate, in a way that maybe didn't quite suit the spoiled little princess act. Then again, did poor little rich girls feel trapped in their lives of privilege? Perhaps Princess Cole was being dragged down by the demands of prep school and the expectation of parents who couldn't even be bothered to take her out shopping. Yes, that sounded about right.

Cole watched the reflection in the glass, breathing a little more easily once the police had hauled away the shoplifter -- although from her perspective, she didn't know exactly why they were accosting the teen, although she could more or less put it together. Stupid, she thought to herself. These weren't good stores for shoplifting. Sure, stuff was expensive, but they weren't busy enough, and the employees probably got paid enough to actually give a crap if someone took something. Cole wasn't exactly an expert on the matter, but she wasn't a complete stranger to it either. And, with all things, getting away with stealing meant being smart about it, in her opinion.

Cole couldn't help but notice they were garnering some attention as well, but since she wasn't doing anything wrong, wasn't even on an active mission, she wasn't too worried about it. Let them stare if they wanted to. "Cole," she replied, giving Audrey a little smile, and nodding in acknowledgement of the proper introduction. "I'm Cole, I mean," she elaborated, realizing that rich girls probably had better manners than that. "It's nice to meet you."

Being poor herself, she obviously hadn't meant any offence by the 'poorer' comment, but of course, there was no explaining that here and now. Instead, she just grinned a little and shrugged again. She couldn't think of a better term to describe it, really. And frankly, she'd much rather be shopping in a poorer store herself. "Or some place with a lot of tourists," she added. But not rich ones, was the unspoken addendum.

[AUDREY ANNABELLE APPLEBY]

Maybe this little girl was a little more real than Audrey expected from first glance. Maybe her life wasn’t as happy-go-lucky, as suggested by her answer. Then again, it could have been rich people problems that Audrey didn’t understand. And she wouldn’t understand them unless she got lucky with whomever she married, which seemed to be an unlikely case.

“It’s nice to meet you, Cole,” Audrey said, tucking that name into her brain for later. It was one of the many memory tricks they taught her at the CIA. She may have had eagle eyes, but they were worth nothing if she couldn’t recall details at the drop of a hat. But, even though Audrey wouldn’t admit it, that name kind of caught her off-guard. She was expecting a Princess or Paris or some other name that sounded like it would better fit a rich, spoiled rotten girl than the name Cole. Cole seemed a little too down to earth than what this little girl was in front of her. Maybe the rich were a little more relatable then she thought.

“Somewhere with a lot of tourists?” Audrey looked up and down the Avenue and noted the tacky souvenir shops that had the I Heart NY shirts for sale in the windows. However, some of them looked very seedy and Audrey preferred not doing her business with them. For all she knew, they stole merchandise off the back of trucks. She was able to narrow it down to a couple of shops as she turned back to Cole. She glanced inside the shop once more to see the adults were talking. What was so interesting to them that the nanny didn’t notice that her charge snuck out of the shop? Then again, Cole didn’t look like she wanted to go back into the store and be around them any longer.

“Do you want to join me?” Audrey asked as she pulled a hand out of her jacket pocket to point down the street. “I think there’s a couple of good shops down there I can try. That is,” she said as she quickly glanced into the shop to still see the adults in conversation, “if your nanny doesn’t mind, but she hasn’t missed you so far. Do you think a couple more minutes will kill her?”

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

Things were never as simple as they seemed, Cole had learned, even when people weren't all undercover and pretending to be who they weren't. Maybe it was all right if her made-up rich girl persona wasn't entirely consistent. What real person was? Cole had never even really known anyone as rich as she was pretending to be, and while it was easy to assume they had no problems that money couldn't solve, even just pretending to be one of them was making her realize that maybe wasn't always the case.

Of course, she wasn't exactly dripping with sympathy either, since she figured it was a lot better to have a lot of money and problems, than to have no money and problems.

It occurred to her too late that maybe she should have given a false name, but then, Cole wasn't really so specific that this other girl could track her down even if she tried... And why would she try? Besides, Cole wasn't even her real first name, so if Fordham had left any official records to find, no doubt the girl would show up as Sunshine instead. Would that have been a better rich girl name? Cole doubted even crazy rich people would have been as weird as her mom.

She shrugged as Audrey repeated her suggestion as a question. "Didn't you say you got yours at a tourist place? Maybe you'll get lucky twice." Cole had no idea if it was a standard thing for tourists to buy or if it had just happened to be in that particular shop due to a quirk of the owner, but chances seemed better than searching these hoity-toity high end shops.

Cole's eyebrows went up a little as Audrey invited her along to check out some of the other stores. She looked like she wasn't used to other people actually wanting her around... that was a true in real life as it was in her cover story. The seedy-looking shops didn't bother her in the least, although she figured they might bother the princess, and she used that to cover for her hesitation. Truth was, she had to debate if it was worth the risk of getting caught out by Fordham, who would probably be a lot angrier with her than a rich girl's nanny.

But screw them. She wasn't their slave, just their employee, right? That's what she tried to tell herself anyway, as she put on a grin and nodded in agreement. "Let's see how long it takes her to notice," she suggested a bit mischievously, figuring she'd use that to cover her ass if and when it came down to it -- why were they sending her out with handlers who were too busy discussing the colours for fall than paying attention to what they were actually doing?

[AUDREY ANNABELLE APPLEBY]

Maybe she’d get lucky twice. Audrey could only hope. Then again, it was by chance she stumbled across that little boutique that carried those worry stores. If she was lucky enough to stumble across them again, she was going to buy ten of them. She was not going to be taking any more chances with finding them again in case she lost one again. It was a nasty habit that she somehow got herself in and she didn’t really know how to stop. So it was better for her to rub her thumb across some little smooth piece of rock than picking and tearing at her nails.

Then she caught the expression on Cole’s face. Either she wasn’t used to spending time with people or she thought that Audrey was a complete idiot and below her. Audrey didn’t know. She didn’t know how to read people most of the time. All she knew was suspicious behavior and that was about it. And that thought reminded her to give another glance up and down the street. Nobody tailing them or wanting to attack them, which was good.

Audrey knew it was probably wrong and rude in a hundred different ways, so she had to choke back the laugh after Cole made that suggestion. Well, Audrey saw it more as a challenge towards the unsuspecting nanny and store clerk. She glanced up at the two adults again to see they hadn’t missed their Cole the entire time they were in conversation. She chuckled as she shook her head. “Challenge accepted,” she said with a smirk as she put her hands back in her pockets. She started playing with the lining again as she nodded her head towards the shops she wanted to check out. “C’mon, let’s start the clock now. Got a bet how long until they notice?” Then she turned on her heels after giving the adults one last look before she started walking down the street. She probably shouldn’t have done this, since Cole probably could have gotten into major trouble with her nanny, but Audrey didn’t care. She just needed more excuses not to do her homework. She glanced a couple of times behind her to see if Cole was still coming before she turned and entered the first shop on her list.

[SUNSHINE COLE IRIS]

Cole, of course, had no idea if they'd have any luck in the tourist shops along the strip, but she wasn't too concerned either way. She didn't really suffer from much anxiety; if anything, she felt numb more than anxious most of the time, even in worrisome situations. So she simply couldn't related to how bad it could get, nor did she realize how much it affected Audrey. She certainly wasn't hoping against their luck, since she really had nothing against the older girl at this point, but she wasn't going to get worked up about it either. They'd find them or they wouldn't. Just like she'd either get in trouble or she'd get away with things. The only way to find out was to do it. Usually trouble found Cole, but it wasn't like she didn't make it easy for it.

But really, she was annoyed that her handler had turned out to be so indifferent. Sure, Cole could handle herself and had objected to a babysitter in the first place, but still. The woman's indifference signified to Cole just how little Fordham cared about any of them. She was there to keep Cole in line, not to keep her safe. Well, on that point she'd failed, and the girl felt like making sure she became aware of just how lousy a job she'd done.

So Cole grinned again and shrugged her shoulders as Audrey chuckled at the idea. At least this way she'd get something more interesting than new clothes out of the deal. "Well, I've been out here for awhile now already... I'll say twenty minutes," she guessed. She really had no idea. This woman was supposed to be observant, but clearly that wasn't the case. But Cole figured she needed to sound confident, since the woman was supposed to be her nanny and she'd know her better than the child spy knew this strange handler.

Her worn shoes scuffed along the sidewalk as she trailed along after Audrey. She went to shove her hands into her pockets as well before realizing with some annoyance that her fussy new clothes didn't seem to have any. So instead she ended up crossing her arms loosely over her stomach as she sauntered along.

After casting one last look back over her shoulder at the clothing boutique, she ducked into the tourist shop behind Audrey and paused to take a look around. "God, there's a lot of crap in here," she noted, not bothering to keep her voice down for the sake of the shopkeep.

[AUDREY ANNABELLE APPLEBY]

Twenty minutes. Audrey couldn’t help but smirk a little bit. She wanted to see if they could make it to twenty-one minutes. Just that extra minute in Audrey’s mind showed how incompetent the nanny was, especially if she wasn’t missing her charge after all this time. Maybe it would show her to be a little more careful and observant. If Audrey were a nanny or babysitter, she would never let that happen. She had too sharp of eyes to let something small like her charge slip by happen to her.

Audrey had to hold her breath as she entered the store. She hit a wall of perfume or incense. She didn’t know which one it was, but it really stunk. She quickly stepped further into the shop to only find it stunk even more. She had to hold back a gag, but that seemed a lot easier than when Cole made her comment. Audrey had to choke back a laugh as she glanced over at the storekeeper, who looked clearly insulted by Cole’s comment. Audrey, however, wasn’t going to disagree. Even though it probably as crappy as Cole made it out to be, there was still a lot of tacky things that Audrey herself considered useless.

Of course, there was the standard I Heart NY shirts that Audrey never understood. They were popular in her hometown for whatever reason, but she always wondered why New York always got the love. Indianapolis wasn’t that bad. Then again, Audrey might have been a little biased. She sighed, trying not to breath too much as she weaved her way through the store. It was tight squeeze and she swore the shopkeeper put everything in her inventory out on the floor. A couple of times Audrey had to make sure not to knock over the miniature statues of Lady Liberty.

“Do you see anything?” she asked as she glanced over shoulder at Cole. Audrey was just seeing the tacky souvenirs that were common to any tourist shop. Shot glasses. Statues. T-shirts. Overpriced water bottles. She just wanted her worry stones. The faster she could buy her worry stones, the faster she could get out of this stinky shop.