The laughter of children and the giggles and squeals of girls playing volleyball on the beach mingle with the soothing sounds of the surf and seagulls. Kelly and Alex lie stretched out on beach-chairs, soaking it up, cool drinks in hand, smiling indolently behind dark glasses in the bright, cheerful sunshine.
"Kel, do you ever feel…?" begins the brown-skinned agent, smiling over the top of the metal-framed shades at a passing cutie. Their young, fit bodies, showing lots of skin in skimpy suits, are drawing their fair share of attention from the opposite sex, and the two of them are no slouches at flirting either.
"What? I'm trying to relax, here," grumps the white agent, rapidly becoming the pink agent in the noonday sun.
"Relax. Hmph. Burn, more like. Shouldn't you be paying more attention to that delicate skin, Millicent? I've got some suntan oil in my…"
Kelly nervously rubs wrists still raw from being shackled to the wall, knowing the real cause of the partnerly concern, warmed by the sentiment but shrugging it off gently. "Ah, you're just jealous of my healthy glow."
A black eyebrow rises. "Oh, lovely. Nothing like a little medium-rare burn to get the ol' circulation going…"
"I am engaging in the fine art of silent seduction, which is something you would know nothing about."
"Mm-hmm," comes the amused chuckle, "and that's why your conquests…"
"I swear, I swear, if you bring last week up one more time…"
"You know, most people wait for a half hour before realizing they've been stood up. You, it took…"
"If I remember correctly," whines Kelly aggrievedly, "I told you I was also waiting for our contact, who…" Alex shudders. Kelly turns onto one side, eyes concerned. "What?"
"I don't know…" The tone is hesitant. "I was just thinkin'… Do you ever feel like we're in the wrong life, or in the wrong dimension or something?"
"Oh boy, you've been watching too much Star Trek again, haven't you?"
"No, really." The brown eyes fix on the long-lashed hazel ones. "Sometimes I get the feeling that if you just flipped a switch… Don't you ever feel like we should be different?"
Kelly flops back onto the beach chair, turning onto her stomach and undoing her bikini top to get an even tan on her back. She shoves her hair out of the way and smiles at her partner. "If you ask me, Ernestine, you've just been out in the sun too long."
Alex shakes her head, looking round at the beach and perfect cloudless sky. "Like we took a wrong turn somewhere. Weird."
Then she shrugs it off, and leans back with her Coke in the beach chair again, smiling at her partner. Kel's right, she's imagining things. It's all the stress of the missions, that's all it is; great to have some downtime. Lazing around in the sun with the wonderfullest friend in the world – could life be any more perfect?