On the Second Day of Christmas, my I-Man gave to me…

Darien ran his key card through the slot, wincing slightly from that simple motion. The idea of playing solo basketball the day before had come back to bite him, literally. Thanks to a cement court he now sported a few new scratches and a couple of jammed fingers.

Rubbing them, he stepped gingerly into the neon lit Keep. "Claire? Lab Rat here for his shot!" Only the bubbles in the fish tank responded. "Keeper?"

Flipping the light switch he walked further, alarmed to find the Keeper absent. Like an automatic reaction, he checked the nearly filled snake tattoo, and the watch on top of it. He wasn't late, and he wasn't early, for once, he was right on time, but where was Claire? Turning around he was about head for The Official's office, but stopped a foot from the door. "Come on, Man, you're being paranoid!" Running his hand through his hair Darien did a one eighty and quickly found residence on the requisitioned dentist chair to wait.

He ended up waiting nearly half an hour.

When the metal door slid open and the Keeper entered, Darien started from the chair only to stop short. "Claire-"

"Sorry I'm late Darien, it's been a busy morning" Claire interrupted, moving quickly to the fridge for the counteragent. Darien sat motionless, a look of perplexity and disbelief etched across his face. The Keeper barely seemed to notice as she hurriedly prepped his arm for the shot. She was dressed in jeans, high-top running shoes, a shirt, a sweater, and a thick jacket with heavy gloves hanging from the pocket. Five times too warm for San Diego and completely unClaire like.

"Going somewhere?" Darien asked wincing slightly from the pinch of the needle, it certainly wasn't as smooth a shot as it usually was.

"Um um." Claire looked at him then, hesitantly meeting his soft brown eyes. "My friend's taking me skiing."

"Oh, up north?" Darien asked trying to sound casual while fighting desperately with the renewed bout of loneliness.

"Well, in Utah." She said then, grinned at his startled reaction, and let out a small insanely girlish giggle, adding, "He's flying us there in an hour." Suddenly all traces of her uncharacteristic glee vanished as she acutely noted the scratches on his arm. "Darien? What happened? Are you all right?"

"Ya, ya. It's no biggie." He brushed it off, instantly feeling guilty for replacing her look of bliss with one of worry. He feigned a smile, pushing at her gently as he rose from the chair. "Go, it's nothing, you have a plane to catch!"

"Well, if you're sure," she replied still doubtful, but soon the smile was returning and the look of excitement in her eyes was enough to warm Darien's own feelings. "I'll see you in a few days, Darien," She exuberantly proclaimed, and suddenly embraced him in a tight hug, murmuring, "Be good!" in his ear.

All too soon she was gone without another question towards his well being, or his weekend, his supposed visit to his aunt, or otherwise. Once again alone with the other lab animals, Darien sighed.

He was making his way back through the halls of The Agency when he heard the deep-throated voice of The Official reverberating down the empty hallways. Darien slowed, surprised to find his boss at work, and obviously his usual roaring self.

A small smirk curled at Darien's lips and he was tempted to go saran wrap to find out what The Official was yelling about this time, but the fear of getting caught and being put to work despite having the week off was stronger. On soft feet he made a quick escape.

Or almost. Darien rounded the corner not expecting anyone to be on the other side and ran straight into a woman who nearly lost her grip on the large stack of files she was carrying.

"Oh, sorry!" Darien quickly apologized then, suddenly grinned. "Hi, I don't think I know you, my name's Darien."

"Rena," she quickly answered returning a hesitant smile but refusing to look up at him. She made to continue on around him, but he stopped her with a small frown.

Darien wasn't sure what was up, but the feeling of familiarity was growing on him. "Hey, do I know you?"

"I don't think so," She replied her soft French accent showing through as she flashed him a full smile this time. "I'm just here as a temp, for the holidays."

"Oh, okay." Darien watched her continue down the hall, obviously heading to The Official's office. Not a place he'd like to follow and so shaking off the peculiar feeling, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and moseyed on out of the building.

"I'm sure the appointment with the Senator can be rescheduled for tomorrow, today being Boxing Day after all-" A man of medium build and similar speech to Rena continued as he held a day planner in hand and went down the list.

"Shut up Pierre!" The Official snapped, pointedly turning from the man to gaze out the window of his office.

"Excuse me?" Pierre questioned genuinely startled.

The Official scowled and grumbled out several unintelligible words before he sighed and replied. "Just wait. I'm thinking!"

"Oh, sorry, sir," Pierre replied, but unlike Eberts who would stand patiently still, Pierre leaned against the edge of the desk, still flipping through the book in his hand, making the occasional mark and murmur under his breath.

Fighting the urge to kick the newly acquired and thankfully temporary assistant from his office, The Official finally calmed enough to answer, "No, I'll visit with the Senator and find out what he wants." Anything to get away from Pierre! Oh why oh why did I give Eberts the week off! The Official thought gloomily.

He was about to turn away from the window but an odd sight caught his attention. A scruffy looking man was in the phone booth down the street. Normally, this back alley remained empty, but since the man wasn't looking towards their building The Official paid it no more mind.

Down the alley, Arnaud impatiently tapped on the phone box waiting for the connection to go through. With substantial more control this time he's been able to convince the dispatcher he was who he was and was finally being forwarded to Stark.

"Hello, Arnaud, what can I do for you?" Jared Stark answered, his smooth voice coming through as sickenly calm as usual.

Arnaud wasted no time in demanding, "Where were you yesterday?"

The Swiss-German could practically see the scowl forming on the office man's face. "I was out. What is it?"

"Oh, nothing much," Arnaud replied acidly, "I noticed a couple of old friends from Quebec were in town and thought you might like to know."

"Why would I care about a couple Canadians?" Stark retorted even more annoyed now for being disturbed.

Smirking, Arnaud told him, "These two are some of FQM's best, and word is the FQM have been dealing a lot lately in some pretty high tech experiments. Some of which were rumored to be involved with Chrysalis I do believe, although I don't know how."

The line was quiet for a moment, then Stark questioned in a low voice, "Do you know where they are now?"

"Yes, in fact, I do." A sour expression creased Arnaud's face as he turned to look up at the building. "Interesting enough, I trailed them to The Agency."

"The Agency? Don't you think it's a bit unwise for you to be there right now?"

"Oh don't worry about me, Stark!" Arnaud sarcastically bit out then hung up. Still regarding his 'mortal enemy's place of occupation, he gingerly felt the thin mask that turned him into a stranger. Scowling deeply, he left. He'd find out what the Free Quebec Militia's interest was in the Agency, and then he'd use it for himself!

…Two Foreign Spies
And Arnaud in a Telephone Booth