A/N: Final part. :P Did I mention I did a ridiculous amount of research for all this? British people are weird. :P Don't blame me for all the crappy British speak, I did my best. :P As for all the atrocious switching between past and present, I tried to fix it, but I done failed. :P I don't know how I got that so screwed up. I think it was originally past but then I switched to present without realizing and didn't know how to fix it. XD Everything about this is awkward, LOL.

In any case, super short chapter 'cause it's not finished. XD Enjoy :p

Watching

As Rhonda comes into sight, sitting on the couch with Curly twined around her, Astrid pulls me beside her as she addresses her, not wasting a second, "Rhonda, I commend you on the party and thank you for inviting me. Brainy does as well." She nodded to me, used to having to speak for me.

I add something this time, though, for once not finding doing so bothersome, "Yeah, it was fun."

Astrid looks pleasantly surprised for a split-second before it's gone and she's back to business, smiling at Rhonda. "Well, yes, but though it was a lovely evening, we simply must dash."

"Astrid," Rhonda glides up from her seat, the name coming like butter off of her lips. She smiles almost lovingly. I still find this part of these gatherings a tad creepy. "Oh, of course, darling, tea and crumpets and all that, right? Perhaps with the queen?"

Astrid's eye twitches slightly. It's the smallest of things, hardly noticeable, but I always see it when it happens. I watch for it. I think it's hilarious. "Right, right, tea and crumpets and oh, it's been such a jolly good evening!" She coughs, the faintest and almost unintelligible utterance of "what crap" hidden betwixt it. I hide a smile.

Rhonda giggles, delighting in the accent accompanying these words. "Oh, darling, we simply must do this again sometime." She starts leading Astrid away to the door with a hand to her back. Astrid lets go of my wrist when this happens, and I stare at them wandering away, incredulous at her complete ignoring of me. Sharing a quick look with Curly—though I don't know why, as seeing that manic twinkle there always sends a shiver down my spine—I run quick to catch up with them.

Walking behind them, my ears pick up Astrid's words, "Uh, sure, Rhonda. I'm sure we will be doing that." I can almost hear her thoughts being whispered into my head, the slow, quiet uttering of, I won't have a choice, will I?

Rhonda's response is immediate, "So glad you agree!" Once the door is open and she's standing there holding it open for her, grin apparent, she waves a hand and says, outrageously, "Well, pip pip cheerio and all that rot!"

Astrid stops immediately at hearing this, her world no doubt coming to a crashing halt, just as mine does. I instantly find I have to slam a hand over my face to keep from dying out laughing right there.

Astrid stays this way for a second or two more, stalk-straight and no doubt frozen faced, though I can't see her expression. Then, she turns to Rhonda, nods her head, and says stiffly, "Right… gov'na." And then she's out the door in a flash.

My feet take on a mind of their own and I chase after quick, out the door and down the street after her, laughing as loudly as my lungs will let me. I hear Rhonda close the door behind us, and that's right about the time when Astrid stops and I crash into her back.

Astrid stumbles forward and I throw my arms out to grab her before she falls.

After a second of mentally checking that we're not dead, Astrid bursts out in a shout, "'Pip pip cheerio and all that rot'? Seriously?"

Laughter thundering out of my chest, I grip her tighter without thinking and let my head fall flat on her back. "Well at least the dreaded wrinkle didn't appear!"

Whether or not she hears me, I don't know. "Tea and crumpets with the queen? Oh, yes, and I'm so sure she'll be off baking cakes with the president!"

I chortle out, "Gov'na!"

"To think the stereotypes are truly this bad! It's astonishing! Where do you get these outlandish ideas?"

Shrugging, and practically crying into her back by this point, I wheeze out, "Uh, I don't know…"

Sigh escaping her, she steps out of my arms and turns around. "Please, calm yourself, Brainy. Much like every other conversation with Rhonda, I now must begin the repression process."

Stumbling slightly, and still wheezing a little, my inhaler appears almost out of nowhere in my hand and I take a swig of it. Once that's taken care of, I resume my laughing, loud and boisterous with my hands on my stomach.

She just sighs and crosses her arms, waiting for me to be done.

Instead though I fall to the ground completely, rolling on my back left and right in hysterics.

Finally, I begin to hear her joining in, her chuckle light and airy before gaining in sound. Before either of us know it she's leaning against the building with giggle after giggle soundlessly falling out of her and I'm still rolling around on the sidewalk at seven o'clock at night howling with laughter.

After what feels like an eternity and I'm just starting to feel myself needing my inhaler again (at this rate I'm going to need a new one within the week, and my parents are not going to be happy), we fall into a smiling silence.

She is the first to speak (as usual, I can't help but think with renewed amusement), "Meanwhile Curly is sitting there grinning like a bloody imbecile."

I laugh, twisting my head slightly to look at her with gleaming eyes behind thin glass. "He's under her spell, don't blame him. I knew Curly before he met Rhonda and would you believe that he was actually perfectly calm?"

Her eyes snap to me in an instant, ablaze with mirth and her grin stretching from here to Idaho. "Was he really?"

I nod, sitting up on the concrete with my hands on my knees, grinning up at her. "Yep. A perfectly normal, blend-into-the-background type of person."

"Ha," she says simply, eyes flicking away with a grin. Then she looks at me again, still leaning against the building with her legs stretched out, hands clasped together excitedly. "Oh, oh, have you noticed how every time Rhonda calls someone 'darling,' he's actually jealous?"

Eyes widening, I look at her, grin still in place. "You noticed?"

Rolling her eyes, she says merrily, "Oh, please, how could anyone not? That ever present spark of madness flares so bright I feel I may go blind before the night is up." Sighing with a hint of melodramatics, she crosses her arms and shakes her head. "And to think night time is often when I have my tea with Queen Elizabeth scheduled." Shaking her head more seriously now, she looks down at me and quirks her mouth to the side. "You want to know the saddest part to all this? I don't even like tea."

Snickering, I reach over and teasingly tug on her dress. "British and don't like tea? Preposterous!"

She laughs, batting my hand away. "Oh, I know, I'm terrible."

It suddenly occurs to me we're actually having this conversation, and after I confessed to something I'd ever told anyone before. I have to ask, "Astrid, is it just me, or do you have a soft spot for watching as well?" I can't help the slight tenseness that tags along with these words. It hadn't occurred to me before, but it seems like that really is what she's getting at with all this.

It takes a moment or two for it to appear, but then it comes, a benign smile with the hint of ruefulness. "Perhaps. I'm not sure you can so much call it watching, as I just kind of randomly notice these things. But I do think on them a lot. I find them amusing. Fascinating, as well, as you said. I have been around a lot, met a lot of people. But I never get too close to them." Her eyebrows furrow slightly, eyes unfocused with thought as her voice drops lower. "I suppose I do kind of watch them, don't I? They're like science projects or something. Food for thought." Shaking her head, she looks down at me and smiles. "I was shocked to hear you say all you said. I don't think you're weird. Humanity is interesting, right?"

My eyes softening slightly, I quietly respond, "Yes. Yes it is."

NOT SO FIN