June 10, 1999 (continued.)

I slowly turned my head to face her. She stood there looking up at me questioningly.
"Josie....." I started, "Lets go somewhere. There's something I need to tell you."
I lead her out of the stadium to an empty section of the parking lot.
"Josie. I can't keep lying to you. After everything I put you through because of the lie you told for your job. I can't continue this act." I started.
"Sam, what's going on?" she asked.
I took a deep breath, wondering how in the hell I was going to say this. "Don't call me that," I said softly.
She laughed nervously, I could tell she was getting apprehensive, "That is your name, isn't it?"
I couldn't bring myself to answer.
"Isn't it?" she asked again, this time more desperately. Her eyes begged me to tell her that it wasn't true. It felt like a knife being twisted in my gut.
I took her hand gently and began, "I'm not an English teacher. I'm not Samuel Coulson. My name is Michael Vaughn and I'm an agent for the CIA."
"W, what?" she demanded incredulously.
"I know it's hard to believe, and I'm sorry I can't explain much to you. I can't give too many details. Hopefully some day I'll be able to tell you more." I said. I know that I would have been pissed off at an answer like that too, but I had to stick to protocol if there was to be any hope of keeping my job.
"How...how could you do this?" she asked her voice laced with anger and hurt.
"I don't know," I answered honestly, "I had to. But please. Forgive me."
"I have to think.....I just have to think," She said quickly shaking her head. With that she turned and fled the parking lot, not looking at me as she went. I didn't want to let her go like that but I knew that all I could do now was give her time to deal with the shock herself. I guess I should have been worried that she would tell someone, but somehow I knew I didn't have to worry about that. She wasn't stupid.
I stood there for a few more minutes before going back to the stadium to find the others. I got plenty of stares and shouts as I made my way through the crowd. I guess it made sense considering I was part of the main attraction for the evening. I felt like I was in zoo.
I finally found Weiss and crew sitting near the entrance paying around with their cups of soda. It was actually a rather scary thought to see four people who's jobs were to protect the free world acting like little kids on too much sugar. Then again I suppose it isn't any more comforting that the fifth had just lived a scene that was practically out of a romantic comedy. Once they spotted me they asked how it went. I answered the only honest way I could. As well as it realistically could have. Which is....not very well. They expressed their sympathy. To say that I was embarrassed is an understatement. I'd never felt more on display in my life.
We all left later that night and checked into a hotel. I haven't had much to do since then. Weiss and the others got flights back to L.A for next week. I guess they took it as a given that I would stick around here for a while.
I honestly do not know that's going to happen to me now. If I'll ever speak to Joise again. When I'll return to L.A. If Devlin will end up firing me. Right now it seems that I have nothing to do other than wait.

June 15, 1999

Weiss and the others left for L.A. yesterday. I was just sitting around this afternoon contemplating going out for a jog to take my mind off things when there was a nock on the door. I opened it. It was Josie.
"Josie?" I asked surprised to see her.
"Hi," she said uneasily.
"Hi, umm come on in," I said moving out of her way, "how did you find me here?"
"You sent me the address," she answered.
"No I didn't," I said suspiciously.
"Yes you did. They gave me this at the office," she produced a card from her purse. It was a business card with the address of the hotel on it with my initials and room number written at the top.
"Weiss," I muttered to myself. No doubt he had been the one who sent it to her.
"What?" she asked.
"My friend," I said shaking my head, "Don't ask."
"Oh....okay, well. You see.......after what happened on prom night. I felt terrible. I felt like the most selfish, cruel, arrogant person on earth and then come to find out that it was misplaced this entire time. That I hadn't really been about to destroy a teacher who had done nothing other than love his work......well it was very hard to deal with-" she said. By this time I was feeling very lousy.
"However, we both pretty much did the same thing to each other so it would be kind of hypocritical for me not to forgive you," she said, tucked a stray curl behind her ear, and held her hand out to me, "Josie Geller, Chicago Sun-Times."
I laughed and gently shook her hand, "Michael Vaughn, Central Intelligence Agency."
"It's nice to meet you," she said softly. We stood just looking at each other for a few moments before an awkward feeling started to set in.
She broke the silence first, "So....I don't know if you can tell me, but was the case you were working on about?"
"You're right I can't tell you," I explained regretfully, "I want to be honest with you Josie but if I told you then I'd lose my job, I might even have to face charges for leaking classified information."
She nodded, "It's okay I was just curious because well I've been thinking about it ever since the night of the game, and I just couldn't figure out what the CIA could possibly be investigating in a small high school in Chicago."
"Oh. Well actually that had nothing to do with it, the teaching job was so that I would remain undercover. It's called deep cover. They give you a new name, past, home, career, personal life even," I explained.
She nodded and then looked at me, "Wait you mean....Laura?"
I laughed, "She's my partner at the CIA."
"So you weren't ever dating her?" she asked. Maybe I'm just full of myself but I like to believe that I heard a hint of hopefulness as she asked that question.
"No," I answered. She made no response, simply smiled and gave a shy shrug. I felt like doing the same myself.
It got a little easier after that. We ordered some Chinese food and just sat around talking. Getting to know the each other as who we really are not as two people undercover as a high school student and an English teacher.
"So they really taught you to be a teacher in a week?" she asked surprised after I gave her a general overview of how they prepared me for this op.
"Yeah," I said.
She shook her head, "I can't believe that. I mean you were such a great teacher, you seemed so passionate about what you taught......"
By that time I was practically rolling on the floor laughing. I spent the entire time thinking that I had no idea what I was doing, and now someone who had been a student of mine couldn't believe that I wasn't a real teacher. Lieutenant Dugan would hit the roof if she heard that.
Before I had a chance to respond Josie's name coming from the TV that we had on a news station in the background distracted me. The anchor said something, I didn't catch exactly what and two seconds later an video of the two of us standing in the middle of the stadium kissing came onto the screen. I sighed heavily, "Well I'll keep that in mind since I may be having to search for a new profession pretty soon."
Josie looked at me questioningly, "What do you mean?"
"Well it's just that the CIA generally likes their undercover agents to be inconspicuous, and broadcasting your love life over the entire city doesn't exactly fall into that category," I joked flippantly.
"Oh," she said looking down, "God Sam-Michael! Sorry. It's my fault, I wrote the article......if I'd known I never would have-"
"Don't! You have nothing to apologize for," I said firmly, then smiled to try to lighten the mood, "Besides at least it's only on the local news and not the national."
She laughed and then looked at me seriously again. "What do you mean?" she asked and then paused for a moment, "Where do you live?"
At that point I let loose every cuss word I've ever known in my head. I still can't believe I got through all of that and still hadn't told her that I didn't live in Chicago. If that isn't what you call stupid, I don't know what is.
"Umm, I normally work out of the office in Los Angeles," I admitted finally.
"Oh," was all she said. We looked away from each other uncomfortably for a moment before I forced myself to say something.
"Listen Josie. Obviously that will be a big issue, but we'll figure it out as we go along okay?" I said. She thought for a moment before looking back up at me with a nod and a smile.
We talked a little bit more after that and she left at about 7 o'clock (3 hours ago now). We agreed to meet again in a couple days and she kissed me on the cheek as she left. Obviously we're taking things slow, which is more than fine with me. I think I've made enough rash judgments in this one year to last the next five decades.

June 16, 1999

Devlin contacted me today. As I suspected he found out pretty much everything, and as I suspected he was less than thrilled about it. After two hours of yelling and lectures about my carelessness and irresponsibility the final verdict was delivered. One month's suspension without pay. I know it's supposed to be a punishment, but to be honest I'm almost glad. At least now I have some time to say in Chicago and get this situation with Josie figured out.

July 4, 1999

Something strange happened today....well I suppose I should explain what's been going on in the past few weeks first. Josie and I met up again several times. Things are going pretty well. At least I think they are.
We went out to Lake Michigan earlier tonight to watch fireworks over the water. It was a nice night but she seemed troubled and preoccupied the entire time. Every time I asked her what was wrong she shrugged away my questions, saying that she was 'fine'. I wasn't quite convinced, but I figured was imagining it. However, as I was walking her back to her car she suddenly asked me if I could come by her place tomorrow night because there was something she needed to tell me. I told her that I would, and then she left she with a nervous nod.
I can't imagine what she would need to tell me, but I rather wish she would now. I feel like I'm going crazy wondering. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.......
Oh, to hell with this, I'll find out tomorrow.

July 31, 1999

I'm pushing my quota of extreme shocks this year. Anymore and I swear to god I'll probably just drop over dead.
The day after the last entry I went to Josie's apartment like I promised. I barely had a chance to nock before she opened the door. Once we were inside she had me sit down and started pacing around the room.
"I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I can't stand keeping it a secret. I just doesn't feel right-" she started.
"Josie," I interrupted standing up and taking her hands to calm her down, "just tell me. What is it?"
"Well.......first off I'm going to be sent to LA for a while," she said.
I looked her in confusion, "You mean the newspaper is sending you?"
"No," she said, looked down at the floor, and then back at me, "I work for the CIA also."
Of all the crazy things I imagined her saying that was not one that crossed my mind. I stared at her speechlessly a minute. "Excuse me?" I asked with a nervous chuckle.
"It's a secret branch. So secret that they made me sign hundreds of agreements promising not to tell anyone," she said.
I shook my head in disbelief, feeling my lungs starting to hyperventilate. "What?" I demanded. I saw her flinch at my tone.
"I type mission reports in between articles. However last week they insisted that I be sent to an office in Los Angeles for field agent training. I told them it was crazy, I wasn't cut out to be a field agent, but they wouldn't take no for an answer so I'm going to have to go I guess-" she started to explain.
"Josie, Josie," I stopped her and took a minute to get my next question out, "It's very important that you tell me.........what is the name of this branch?
I knew what was coming before she even said it, but all the same it feel like a million years passed before she finally answered in an almost agonizingly soft whisper, "SD-8."

I stepped back away from her as I tried to catch my breath and resisted the urge to throw up.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"We have to get out of here!" I said urgently.
"What?" she asked. I did answer simply grabbed her hand and started dragging her out the door behind me. I probably was scaring her to no end, but right then I couldn't think about anything other than getting her out of there. If Josie was working for SD-8 there was a good chance her apartment was bugged. A good chance they had just heard everything we said.
"Wait! What's going on?!" she demanded.
"I'll explain later, just give me your keys," I said. She looked at me bewildered, but reached into her purse and handed them to me. I ushered her into her silver Buick and raced around to the driver's side. I tore away from the curb and speed away. I had no idea where I was going, anywhere was okay as long as it was far away from there. I rounded a corner and started down a deserted ally before pulling over to hit the breaks.
"Sam, tell me what is going on here!" Josie said.
I looked at her, not even caring that she had called me 'Sam' by accident. I took a deep breath before turning to her and answering, "SD-8 is not part of the CIA."
"Yes it is. It's a covert branch of the CIA," she denied and then hesitated before asking, "Isn't it?"
Her eyes were begging me to tell her that I wasn't serous. That this wasn't a nightmare coming true. I felt a lump in my throat knowing what I had to say next, "They're part of a black market espionage organization. They tell all but their most top ranking agents that they are part of the CIA."
Before she got to say anything we were both startled by my cell phone ringing. I picked it up, "What?"
"You want to tell me just what the hell is going on Mike?!" Weiss's voice demanded.
"Weiss?" I asked confused, "What are talking about?"
"We just received intel about a hit order sent to SD-6. For a Josie Geller," Weiss said.
I swore, "Listen Weiss contact our Chicago office, tell Barnes to get our team assembled, and get on the first flight you can. I'll explain everything once you get here."

I took Josie to the Chicago office. She slept for a while on the couch in one of the waiting rooms, but my mind was too busy to sleep. I spent most of the time either pacing or sitting in one of the seats re-living the day's events inside my head.
Weiss and Barnes arrived in the early hours of the next morning. Barnes immediately launched into an interrogation about why I had asked to have our entire team assembled after the mission has been called off. Once I explained everything simply stood there silently. Finally Barnes turned to Josie.
"You work for SD-8?" He asked doubtfully. I didn't blame him, even though it's not how an agent is supposed to think, Josie kind of person no one would ever suspect was involved with one of the top enemies of the United States.
"Yes," She answered quietly, "They told me they were part of the CIA. I had no idea-"
"It's alright," Barnes cut off her explanation, "You're safe now Miss Geller, and The Agency will see to it that you stay that way. Now we're going to have to get a statement from you."
Barnes called someone up to take Josie's statement, got in touch with the director of the Chicago office who wanted to meet with him immediately, and gave Weiss and I the job of filling in the rest of our team as they arrived.

After his meeting with the director he briefed everyone. They had decided to move on SD-8 immediately before they had a chance to relocate their headquarters. After the briefing Barnes pulled me aside and told me they wanted me in as they questioned Josie, which made me very glad. I knew it would be much easier for her to have someone she knew there. They started by showing her pictures of predominant Alliance members to see if she recognized any.
She looked at the photos and shook her head, "I don't know. I was hardly ever around any of the SD-8 members all I did was type up the reports and they would send someone to my office to pick them up."
The other agents visibly sighed and exchanged annoyed looks. "Any information you can give will help us," I said giving her an encouraging look.
She looked back at the photos before finally stopping on one, "Him! I know him he runs SD-8. I see his name on the reports all the time."
One of the agents took the photo and held it for everyone to look at, "George Wadmore....son of a bitch."
I knew Wadmore from our reports on SD-6. He was a high ranking officer. Not at all surprising that Sloane picked him to run SD-8.
"What about the SD-8 office?" another agent asked.
"I've only been down there once when they first recruited me. It's in the basement that's really all I know." Josie answered.
"Was there a lot of security? Surveillance cameras? Guards?" Barnes asked.
"Yes," Josie nodded.
"What about employees? How many would you say you saw in the office while you were down there?" someone else asked.
"I don't now.....probably around a hundred," Josie said.
"And how long ago was that?" They asked next.
"Almost a year," she answered.
"Great! And they've grown since then without a doubt!" Barnes muttered and then sighed, "Okay, we're moving on the Chicago Sun-Times office tomorrow. We'll do it during the lunch break so there will be less of a chance of civilians getting involved."
"Wait a minute, you're going to try to take SD-8?" Josie jumped in.
"That's right Miss Geller," Barnes said as he and the other agents made their way out of the room.
"What about Gus and Anita?" she asked.
Barnes stopped for a moment and then turned to me. "This is your problem, Vaughn, you deal with it!" he snapped before slamming the door behind him.
I sighed and turned to Josie, "I'll figure something out, I promise."
She nodded, "I trust you."
I didn't know what to say so I nodded back and slowly left to join Barnes and the other agents who were strategizing.
"So good of you to grace us with your presence, Vaughn. Perhaps you have some brilliant ideas on how we can move on SD-8 without offending your girlfriend?" one of the agents taunted. The others laughed in response.
I was about to leave when suddenly it hit me. "I might," I said.

"Big Brother, this is Air Unit. Our target is in sight, en route to the Sun-Times office,"
"Copy that," Barnes replied. That was our queue to get ready. The tech guy moved to the computer and started his work.
"Rosalind, this is Boy Scout," I said into my earpiece.
"I'm here," Josie answered nervously.
"Wadmore is coming now, do not let him see you until you are both inside the building," I instructed.
"Okay," she answered.
Weiss switched off the microphone on his ear piece and motioned for me to do the same. Once I had, he leaned over and whispered to me, "For the sake of your career, man, I hope this works."
I glared at him and turned my ear piece back on, but I knew he was right. Even though Barnes accepted my idea it didn't make it any less risky.
We were waiting in a van in the parking garage. The tech guy would hack into the security system and disrupt the video feed to SD-8 so that we could get in. There were three teams, ours in the parking garage, one on the other side of the building, and one on the roof. Once Wadmore arrived the first two teams would go in, and we could follow Wadmore down to the SD-8 facility by a micro transmitter placed on his clothing. Which is where Josie came in. My idea was that if the CIA allowed her to go inside and get her friends out before we made our move then she would plant the transmitter on Wadmore.
I was nervous. Even though she would be far away from the combat it was dangerous, especially since SD-8 was on the look out for her, but once I told her about it she insisted on going through with it to help her friends. I should have known I guess. She doesn't think she's brave, but she is more so then she knows.
About ten minutes later Josie came back on the comm. again, "Okay he's coming."
"What? I haven't had a chance to get into the system yet!" the tech guy said.
"Wait! It's okay it's just my assistant Merkin," she said.
The tech guy switch the picture on the screen to the front security camera.
"Holy shit! Are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" Weiss exclaimed. Unfortunately, I was.
"That's Wadmore's nephew," Courtney muttered beside me.
"Listen, Rosalind, you're going to have to avoid Merkin when you go inside," I said.
"Yeah I heard," she answered with no emotion in her voice.
"Alright! I'm in! Here we go!" the tech guy announced.
"Big Brother, this is Team Two, the target is entering the building," one of the other agents reported as Wadmore came onto the screen.
"Copy that. Move in," Barnes ordered.
We left the van and went strait in the door that lead to the security office. The security guards instantly jumped up demanding answers. We handcuffed them and took them back to the van.
"Team Two is in," I reported.
"Same here," one of the agents from Team One answered.
"Okay, I just put the transmitter on," Josie said into my ear.
'Are we getting the signal?' I mouthed to the tech guy. I gave me an affirmative thumbs up.
"Good. We're going to switch you to radio silent now, so turn off your ear piece but leave the microphone on," I instructed.
"Okay," she answered and did as told.
"Team Two, stand by," Barnes ordered.

As we waited I listened intently to what was happening on Josie's end. At first there was nothing but footsteps
"Josie! Hey! What happened to you? I haven't seen you all morning. What's going on?" another female voice said loudly.
"Well, actually I have to tell you something," Josie answered.
"What?" the other woman asked eagerly.
"Um....not here. Lets go out to lunch and I'll tell you everything."
"Hey Geller," a male voice said snidely, "Nice of you to show up finally."
"Listen Gus, I'm sorry but Anita and I were just about to go to lunch. You should come with us."
"No thanks,"
"No come on! Come with us!" the other woman protested.
"I don't feel like it,"
"You have to!" Josie said a little too desperately. I mentally winched. "I have some really important news that I have to share with both of you," she recovered.
"Can't you just tell us here?" the man asked impatiently.
footsteps
"No, no I can't. So lets just get in the elevator and-"
footsteps stopped
"Geller, what is going on here?"
"Hello," a third voice interrupted, "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."
pause
"No Merkin, we're just leaving" Josie answered, her voice shaking.
I quickly search the monitors. I found Josie and her co-workers on one standing in front of an elevator with Wadmore's nephew across from them. This was not good.
"Big Brother, this is Boy Scout, do you need me right now?" I asked.
"No, we're still standing by," Barnes answered.
"I'm going to assist Rosalind," I said and switched off my ear piece before he could protest.
"I'll come with you," Courtney offered.

Courtney and I quickly made our way through the halls.
"Oh really?" I heard Merkin say. With that I moved faster. We got to the hall adjacent to where the elevators where and pressed ourselves against opposites sides of the walls.
I heard two more sets of footsteps beside us. Courtney motioned with her head and nodded. A couple minutes later a man in a charcoal suit appeared in the door way. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun and aimed it in front of him.
I reached forward and grabbed the muzzle of his gun. It startled him just long enough for me to knock him out with an elbow. Behind me Courtney leapt out and kicked the second guy onto the floor. We turned just in time to see Merkin pulling a gun from his coat pocket. I kicked it out of his hand, and Courtney hurried over to handcuff him.
"Is everyone alright?" Courtney asked Josie and her co-workers. They stood staring in shock for a couple seconds before nodding slowly. I flipped my earpiece back on just in time to catch the sounds of shouts and gunfire. Courtney noticed my expression.
"What is it?" She asked and then turned her own back on.
"gunshots Security team caught on before we got in- break hold steady! break Big Brother is down, repeat Big Brother is down more gunshots and shouts."
"Boy Scout this is Team Two do you copy?" Weiss's voice shouted into my ear.
"Yeah, I hear you," I answered.
"SD-8 caught us before the order was given to go in. Barnes is down. Team Three is still waiting," he yelled quickly.
"Do you think we should abort?" Courtney asked.
My mind raced, everything was so out of hand. "No. If they get away now then we'll never be able to shut them down," I shook my head and then said into the earpiece, "have Team Three move in!!!"
"There's two coming your way," Weiss told me.
"Josie, take them inside that office there. Crouch under the desk and stay away from the door, " I instructed. She nodded and lead her two friends into the nearest office. Courtney and I follow and crouched on either side of the door just out of sight. We heard as the footsteps became more and more audible as they neared us. Once one of them walked into the door way Courtney swung her leg out and took the guy right off his feet.
I went for the second one. I managed to get his gun out of reach for both of us. He fought back and was more skilled than me, but I think I did pretty well. After he got a couple very painful hits at me I managed to pull off a kick in just the right way to knock him backward onto the floor. Unfortunately, however, it worked more to his advantage, giving him enough time to pull a second pistol out of his belt. He aimed it straight for me and fired before I even had the chance to get to him.
I bullet hit my vest hard and sent me tumbling back into the wall. I groaned lightly as my head it the floor. In front of me there was the sound of a hard impact then a body falling to the ground. When I looked up Weiss was standing in the doorway, having knocked out my attacker. Courtney had successfully restrained hers as well.
I used the file cabinet next to me to pull myself up into a standing position. The three of us listened in silence until finally someone spoke, "This is Team Three. We've secured the SD-8 facility,"
Weiss and Courtney visibly let out sighs of relief. I'm sure I did too.
"Mike, you are the luckiest son of a bitch in the world!" Weiss said and clapped me on the shoulder.
"Call Devlin, tell him the mission was a success, and get in touch with the public relations department, tell them we'll need a press statement," I said then flipped off my comm and let the exhaustion of the past few days sink into me.

August 1, 1999

After the operation was over we trucked the agents we'd taken prisoner to the FBI facility, brought those who needed it to the hospital, and took care of the press.
I was rather in a daze so I probably wasn't much help to Josie and her friends, but our trauma unit took care of them. The medics insisted that I spend the night at the hospital. So I spent last night writing everything down. The nurse caught me just at the end of the last entry, so she took away the lamp next to my bed and filled me full of sedative.
I was passed out until about 11 this morning. I was released right away, went back to my hotel just long enough to take a shower and change, and then went strait to the office.
I knew that I would talk to Josie myself. I owed her that much at least. When I got to the interview room she was already in there with Gus and Anita, all three looked tired and bedraggled. They probably had an even worse night then I did.
As I opened the door and stepped into the room Josie stood and looked at me. I looked back then closed the door and went over to sit down in the chair across from them. Josie sat as well. I took a deep breath and then began.
"My name is Michael Vaughn, and agent with the Central Intelligence Agency," I explained. Both looked at me incredulously but did not say anything, "An enemy of the United States, was working out of your office,"
"You're kidding right?" The curly haired man, Josie's boss asked.
"No, I'm not. The CIA has been working to uncover this stop this enemy and it's operatives-" I explained.
"Wait a minute is that what every thing was about all this time?" The woman, Anita, asked indicating to me and Josie.
"No," I said, a little too quickly, "We only recently learned of the connection to the Chicago Sun-Times Office."
"So exactly what do you mean by enemy of the United States?" Gus asked.
"I cannot go into details. All your allowed to know is that the threat to your office has been taken care of. This is top secret classified information and absolutely cannot be disclosed under any circumstances," I said firmly.
"Mr.......Vaughn was it?" Gus said, "I may be a reporter, but even I know when to keep my mouth shut."
I simply nodded. I turned to Josie after a minute, "Can I speak with you in private?"

I took her into the next room and closed the door behind us. "Okay, Gus and Anita do not know enough to be in danger. They will have to go through security section to make sure, but they should be fine to go back to their normal everyday lives after all of this is over."
Josie nodded hopefully, "Okay that's good."
"Yes,"
"But what?" She asked looking at me suspiciously.
I sighed. I hated what I knew I had to do. "Your situation is a little more complicated though," she gave me a look that encouraged me to explain, "SD-8 was part of a much bigger organization called The Alliance. The Alliance has resources all over the world, and they have your name. They make many of their profits posing as the CIA as the did when they recruited you. They will not allow witnesses who know the truth about who they really are to remain alive, so for as long as The Alliance is still around it will not be safe for you to go by the name Josie Geller."
She looked at me for a minute then shook her head nervously, "Well that's impossible. I can't just go by a fake name.........everyone I know already knows what my real name is."
Slowly the realization dawned on her. "I have to go away......don't I?" she whispered softly.
I nodded. I watched as her eyes filled with tears. She turned away so that I wouldn't see her crying and stared though the glass at her friends. I wished there was something I could have done, but there really is nothing much you can say to comfort a person after telling them that they have to leave their life as they know it behind.

August 10, 1999

I'm back in LA now. Well actually no I'm not, I'm in a hotel in Nevada right at the moment. Everyone flew back to LA, last week. Once I was out of debriefing I made sure everything was in order for Josie to start the Witness Protection Program. Her new residence is somewhere in Wyoming. A small town, inconspicuous, unheard of, unknown.
I could have had someone take her there, but I kind of wanted to myself. I don't think we spoke at all until we arrived. I pulled up in front of the safe house and shut off the car. Josie shifted in her seat, looked at me for a moment, and then spoke, "It doesn't feel like the end does it?"
I sighed. I had been trying to shut out all of the memories of what we had between us but I was failing miserably, "No it doesn't."
"Maybe we'll have our ending someday," she suggested.
"You think so?" I asked, not feeling anywhere near optimistic.
"Well like Shakespeare said, 'We know what we are, but know not what we may be'" she said.
I looked at her and chuckled wistfully. Even though she had no turned out to be exactly what I thought she was, she was still the same Josie Geller as when I was a teacher who was inappropriately falling for a student. I cupped her cheek and then leaned over and kissed her like on the night of the baseball game.
After we separated we didn't say anything, she simply slid out of the car and started up the driveway toward the house. Once she was inside I started the engine and turned back toward LA.
It's about midnight, pacific time, now. I don't really have anything to do so I guess I'll just try to get some sleep before I have to get back on the road tomorrow.

August 12, 1999

Exactly one year ago today. I walked into Devlin's office and was given the deep cover mission on Chicago. Exactly one year ago when all of this started.
I got back yesterday night. I took a side trip just far enough to pick up Donovan from my mom's, before arriving back at my place. Once we were I home I fed Donovan and then went strait to bed. This morning when I woke up, I didn't go into work. I spent today unpacking and just sitting around mostly. Weiss has called a couple of times, but I let the machine pick up.
I know he's only concerned, I just don't feel like talking to anyone right now------

August 12, 1999 (LATER)

The last entry was interrupted when Devlin called me on my cell phone. He told me that he wanted to see me this afternoon for a meeting. I didn't want to go in, but his tone of voice told me that I had no choice. So I went in.
When you think about it it's really amazing how things changed in such a short amount of time. Two months ago he was threatening to fire me, and now...........he's promoting me. Yeah you heard right. The meeting was to offer me a position as Junior Officer, for 'taking incentive during the raid on SD-8's facility'. He didn't mention the fact that I never would have found SD-8 if it hadn't been for my relationship with Josie. Apparently the end is satisfying enough for him to overlook the means.
I thought about it for a while but then decided that I would take the Junior Officer position. It's mostly desk work; which is fine with me. This particular mission really wore me down...........in more ways than one. I feel like I still might want to do field work, I just am not sure. Who knows? Maybe some day the right time will come along for me to go back into active duty. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

THE END