.


The next day

The pounding sound was getting old. Chip slowly opened his eyes and waited for the world to come into focus. Gradually his mind clicked that the pounding was someone knocking at the door, his door. The sunlight through the window was awfully bright as he made his unsteady way down the stairs and to the front door.

"Lee? What time is it?"

"It's ten am. You look like hell buddy!"

Chip pushed the door wide open and proceeded to stagger to the couch. Water bottles, both empty and full, decorated the coffee table along with a bottle of aspirin. As he flopped down on the couch he asked, "Did you get the licence plate of the truck that hit me?"

Normally, opening a bottle of aspirin was a simple task but this morning it was presenting a slight challenge. His efforts were finally rewarded and Chip swallowed the little pill, while reaching for one of the bottles of water. He glanced up as Lee closed the door behind him and sat down on the nearby chair. The blond noticed what was in Crane's hand.

"What's with the picnic basket, Yogi Bear?"

"I went into the office this morning to grab some paperwork and Ryan was there. After she chased me out of the office saying I should get a life outside of work, I said I was going to go and check on you. You seemed to disappeared last night and I wanted to make sure you were doing ok after, you know."

"Ryan was in the office this morning?" Chip knew how he felt; he couldn't imagine having to drag himself to the office this morning. "Wait, its Saturday, what was she doing there on a Saturday, and what does that have to do with the picnic basket?"

"Apparently O'Brien is going to run a marathon and Ryan agreed to help him train, so the two of them go running every Saturday morning when he's here. She had to stop by the office because she left her runners there."

"She was going running? I was with her last night and I don't think I could make it off this couch anytime soon and she's running," Chip chocked out.

"She was a ray of sunshine this morning, buddy. When I said I was coming over here she said the basket was a care package for you. She was going to drop it off after their run, but if I was heading this way she thought you could probably use it sooner rather than later. She also had your dress uniform from last night dry-cleaned this morning," he added as he laid the clothes on the couch.

It was at that moment Chip realized he wasn't wearing the same clothes he went to the party in.

Lee asked the obvious question, "What happened to you last night? The last time I saw you, you were out on the balcony."

Chip paused a moment trying to determine if he even knew the answer to that question. He opened the picnic basket to find a thermos of vegetable soup, a bottle of water, a bottle of aspirin and a note.

"Well?" asked Lee as he eyed the contents of the basket that now adorned the coffee table.

"Well," Chip tried to recount the events of last night to Lee as best as he could.


"If I didn't know better Ryan, I'd say you've done this before," said Chip as the door to the alley closed and Chip and Ryan made their way to the parking lot.

"I've had to attend a lot more social events on behalf of the institute than you have. I'm sure our resident secret agent man Crane will tell you, always have an exit strategy. The Admiral hates these events as much as we do, so it's my job to know all the ins and outs. Do you really think he stays to end of all these events?"

Morton had never thought about it before. Had the Admiral pulled a few Houdini's of his own during Institute functions? The two rounded the building into the parking lot and got into Ryan's red Mustang.

The journey wasn't long and they pulled up to a little shop in a part of town Chip had not been to. Chip followed her up to the door where she knocked. The sign was dark but he could still make out the name, Nitelife. The store was dark and Chip doubted it was even open. Someone peaked through the curtain, then the lock clicked and they opened the door.

"Rye, it's so great to see you! What brings you here? Oh it doesn't matter come in, come in both of you," welcomed the short brunette.

Chip and Ryan walked into the clothes shop while the brunette closed and locked the door behind them.

"Chip, this is my good friend Chantel and this is her clothing store. Everything here is one of her original designs. Chantel, this is Chip, he works at NIMR with me," introduce Ryan, "I was hoping we could maybe get a wardrobe change Chantel?"

"Anything you need, hon. I was waiting for you to drop by, I have the perfect outfit for you."

Chantel was a bubbly person and quite friendly thought Chip. This was the first friend of Ryan's he thought he had ever met. She handed Ryan a medium sized box and directed her to the first change room.

"What about you?" she asked Chip.

"What about me?"

Ryan yelled through the door, "I'm taking Chip out on the town, he needs some cheering up. I trust you can find him something appropriate."

"You just come with me dear," Chantel smiled as she pulled Chip to another change room.

"I don't know about this," stammered Chip and he followed Chantel.

"Trust me, Chip, she knows what she's doing," yelled Ryan.

Chip put on the clothes Chantel had picked out for him. He stopped and looked in the mirror. She had selected a pair of dark black jeans and a blue shirt. He stepped out of the change room to have Chantel tell him how great he looked. Apparently, the shirt brought out the glacial blue of his eyes. While the two waited for Ryan to finish putting herself together they engaged in some small talk.

"So you're a work friend of Rye's?" Chantel questioned.

"Yes. We' have worked together for years at the Institute. Have you two been friends long?"

"Ya, since we were teenagers. We use to perform together. She's an awesome friend and one hell of a girl."

"Performed together?" Chip knew there were many things he didn't know about Ryan's personal life, and based on what he did know, there was little that could surprise him, but this took him by surprise.

"Ya, we did a couple of ballets together. She was really good, probably could have done it professionally, but you know Rye . . .That looks so good Rye!"

Chip looked over to see that Ryan had come back into the room.

"What do you think?" she asked doing a little turn for her audience.

"It's absolutely perfect, hon!" commented Chantel.

Gone away was the little black dress to be replaced by a sleek sparkling silver sleeveless shirt with black leather pants and high heeled boots. Her hair was untied and now fell loosely framing her face.

Wow was the only thing that came to Morton's mind and he just nodded with Chantel's assessment.

"Just put it all on my account Chantel, and I'll pick up our other clothes tomorrow," Ryan offered as she did one last twirl in the mirror. Chip and Ryan started to make their way to the door.

"Don't worry about it, it's on the house Rye. You two just have fun." Chantel winked at Morton as he exited the door.


"So, Ryan snuck you out of the party and bought you that outfit you have on now from some trendy store?" asked Lee.

"Yep."

"Well your night already sounds better than mine."

"That's just how it started."


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