Since she's been at the Camp, Alice's days have all begun to blur together. There's plenty of excitement, sure – the excitement never really stops at Camp X – but it's always the same. However, since Tom Cummings has arrived – and despite her irritation towards the newcomer – she has to at least admit that he's brought with him a new form of excitement. The ladies in the radio room didn't always get to see the new agents; the agents were often too busy training outside or in any of the various training rooms to be brought into the radio room. But since Tom arrived, his background in written and audial propaganda have him in Duncan's office a fair bit – which means that very often, he's passing through or waiting in the radio room.

Today, Alice is intercepting on a lazy day of messages, which means that she's able to pay her work half the attention. The other half is listening to the blond American tell a crowd of female radio operators about his work back in Virginia as he waits for Duncan's orders. The girls are completely enthralled – and understandably so. He's an amazing storyteller, Alice will begrudgingly admit. And she isn't blind – he's a handsome, handsome man. Tall, slender, but entirely fit – she'd have to be completely daft to think he was unattractive. Perhaps if he dialled down the ego, he'd be tolerable, she thinks to herself.

He's currently telling them about a radio broadcast that he scripted that had been sent out across America – she rolls her eyes as he pretends to be humble about it.

"400 men in one day," he says, "that were suddenly ready to serve, if need be, because of one convincing radio broadcast."

The girls all sigh in awe, and Alice rolls her eyes, glancing across at Eleanor, who looks back at her, amused. Alice looks down at her work as the conversation continues.

"All because of your radio broadcast," one of the girls points out, and Alice looks up to see Tom attempting to look sheepish as he brushes off the compliment.

"I was just doing my job," he quips, and Alice has decided that she's done being amused by the display, and wants nothing more than for them all to leave the room.

"Tom."

The room goes silent as a voice calls out sternly from the doorway, and Tom sits up straight, turning towards the voice. Alice has to hide her smirk as Duncan solemnly motions for Tom to follow him.

"Ladies," Tom says with a nod of his head in parting. He stands up from where he's been resting against the desk, and as he passes Alice, he bows his head with a smirk. She stares back evenly, not reacting, before he continues out the door to where Duncan has disappeared.


Alice stands in Duncan's office days later, nodding as he rattles off all the tasks for the day and any information he thinks she needs to know. She scribbles away, but her hand stops midsentence as he adds one last afterthought.

"… and we've sent Mr. Cummings over to Camp 30 to speak to a Luftwaffe prisoner. We think this guy has intel on a couple Luftwaffe headquarters in France that could be useful for our agents. If Tom can make him talk, the amount of intelligence we'd receive would be incredibly helpful for the Allies."

Alice is still paused, pen in midair. Duncan doesn't seem to notice as he scribbles something of his own onto a paper pad on his desk.

"Sir?"

She says it in the form of a question, and Duncan looks up with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, Mrs. Campbell?"

She pauses before blurting out, "You sent him to Camp 30 already? With all due respect, he's only been here two weeks, sir."

Duncan stands up straighter, and Alice wishes she hadn't said anything. But instead of scolding her like she expects him to, he says, "You should hear the guy, Alice. I've never met someone even half as charismatic. No one has been able to get this prisoner to talk, and I wanted to see if Tom could. I know it's a bit of a risk of ruining good intelligence, but I think this time it's worth the early risk. I really think he has the ability to do it."

Alice nods slowly, moving to place her hands behind her back. "Yes, sir."

Duncan moves to look at the big map of Europe that's beside his desk, his back to her. "Tom was nervous," he says absentmindedly, and she wonders if he's just talking out loud to himself. "Didn't want to mess anything up for us. The kid doesn't realize the talent he's got." He pauses, scratching his jaw before turning back to her, seemingly coming back from his reverie. "You're dismissed, Sergeant."

Alice nods again before adding a brisk, "Sir." She turns, and heads out the double doors.

As she walks towards the record room to grab some information on a Nazi soldier they were in the middle of investigating, the conversation with Sinclair runs through her mind. She found it strange that Tom had been so humble to Duncan about his skill with words. It was interesting, since the humbleness was coming from the same man who just the other day had been bragging about his work back in the States; the man who appeared to be Mr. Confident in all aspects of life. She couldn't help but wonder if the humbleness was genuine or not.


She's at her desk later that afternoon when Tom walks in, fresh off his excursion to Camp 30. To her surprise, he heads straight for the office, no stops or smirks for anyone as he passes. She can tell he's focused, a file folder under his arm. Alice watches as he disappears into the other room, closing the door behind him. She wants to know if he had succeeded in finding anything out, but she forcibly suppresses her curiosity and gets back to work.

It's at least an hour before Tom leaves Duncan's office again. Alice glances up at the sound of the doors swinging, and she can see Tom's lean silhouette walking down the hall through the glass. Duncan exits his office soon after and heads over to her.

"Look at this."

Duncan hands her the report, and she can tell he's pleased. She begins to scan the first page, and she can hardly believe her eyes. Exact coordinates, names of important people, important towns. The soldier had given everything to Tom, and the information had all checked out to be accurate. She hates to admit it, but - she's impressed. She's really impressed.


The next morning, Alice, Krystina and Sinclair stand in his office, going over training regimes and information on all the recruits at the Camp.

"Krystina, what's the progress on your groups?" Duncan asks.

"Jack, Sheila, James and Carol are having a bit of trouble communicating. Their latest times for a mock rescue mission were pretty slow - they're having trouble deciding on courses of action. I think we need to single out a leader who can take charge, sir. I would suggest Sheila."

Krystina continues to ramble off about the different agents and their teams, Duncan nodding and scribbling as she speaks. When she's done, Alice chimes in about the agents she's been observing.

"Aurora, Neil, Rene and Harry have been coming along nicely. They work well together and have all received near perfect scores on intelligence tests. So far, they're all doing well in physical training, though Harry has had much less since he's busy in here with the machines. Neil, Rene, and Aurora, though, could hit a target blind, and Neil is above the rest when it comes to hand to hand."

"What do you think about putting Tom with them?"

Alice pauses to think about what she's seen from the man, then nods. "I think that would be best, sir," she responds affirmatively. "We've got the brain, the brawn, the actress, the leader. All we need is the words man, and Tom's clearly it. With this latest stint at Camp 30, he's shown what he can do."

Duncan thinks for a moment. "He'll need to be put through some physical training before they're sent into the field, however."

Alice hums in agreement. "According to the records, he passed most of the physical tests, with average scores. He's quite physically fit." She clears her throat, ridding herself of the image of the handsome blond man before continuing, "With some practice, I think he could develop well."

Duncan nods, and she can tell he's thinking it through. "Very good. That will be all. Thank you, ladies."

Both ladies murmur a 'sir' before turning to leave the room. As they head out of Duncan's office, Krystina turns to Alice.

"You really think Cummings has it in him? I haven't seen much of him, but he seems like more of a talker."

Alice shrugs, lifting a hand to push away a strand of hair that has fallen out of her updo. "He is a talker," she confirms, "but like I said, I think with a bit of training, he could be as good a well-rounded agent as the rest of them."

Krystina nods slowly. Alice can tell the other woman has something more to add, and she waits for her to speak again. "He's quite handsome," Krystina finally says with a smirk. Alice raises her eyebrows, and Krystina shrugs. "Just an observation."

"He is," Alice confirms hesitantly. She waits as Krystina stares back at her with a knowing smirk on her lips, before the other woman gives her a nod and turns on her heel to walk away. Alice stands there for a moment, confused, before shaking her head and heading back to her desk.


Hello! Sorry for the late posting, guys - my computer was in the shop until Wednesday! Hopefully this chapter makes up for it! I'm quite proud of the way this story is progressing, and I hope you guys are enjoying it. Don't worry - there will be lots of Tom soon!

I know some of you ship Krystina x Tom, and I apologize but in this story there is no love triangle! Krystina is simply a friend and coworker of Alice's who can acknowledge a handsome man when she sees one, hehehe.

Thank you all for your lovely comments so far - you all rock! Please spread the word and as always, comments are always welcome!

xx, Leslie