Thankyou to everyone who reviewed, I might not post for a few weeks because
I have to study for exams, believe me I would rather be writing the next
chapter.
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"Why were you brought into Section?"
"Most of the people here are criminals, they came from having a life-long prison sentence, Section One faked their deaths and they were brought in to work off their crimes against humanity"
"Oh"
"I was brought into Section from jail, I was convicted of murdering a cop, I didn't do it but it doesn't matter much now, even if I was given a choice to leave I wouldn't"
"Michael?"
"Yeah"
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Personal relationships between operatives are forbidden, but they allow ours, because of the time they wasted trying to split us up, every time they tried we came closer together not further apart"
"So there was a lot of opposition?"
"Yep, still is at times"
"I've been their, my friends didn't like me dating Angel, they all wanted him out of my life, I ran away and for months Angel looked, he found me on his own, when I asked how all he said was 'if I was blind I would see you' I love him more then life itself and yet no-one understood, don't have to worry about it anymore" Buffy said the last part a little sadly.
"When I was first brought in, Michael told me to think of Section One as my family, to think of Madeline as my mother, I didn't at first but then I realised that Section One was like my family, a dysfunctional one but a family anyway"
"That was what my friends were like, they were like brothers and sisters to me and Giles was like a father, they must have been devastated when I left, Angel said that Giles went back to England shortly after I left, Willow and Xander blamed each other, I just wish I could tell them that it was not their fault"
They sat down for a while, each pondering their own thoughts.
The door to Buffy's room opened, in stepped Angel followed closely by Michael.
"How did the check-up go Angel, anything broken this time?"
"No, but I aggravated an old injury"
"Which one?"
"The one involved with Acathla"
"That was my fault, if I would have waited a few more minutes."
"I could have killed you, when I think of what I did."
"Angel, it was all my fault"
"You were only defending yourself, you were too young to have to go through everything I put you through, I don't blame you for hating me"
"Angel I was selfish if we had never."
"Then Spike would have killed us all"
"You don't know that"
"I lived with him for a while, I know his mind well enough to know what he is thinking"
"But still that doesn't change the fact that it was my fault, I put you through hell"
"Yeah, I been to hell and back again, wasn't the first time, Drusilla did it once just for fun"
"Really?"
"Still have the scars"
"I'm sorry"
"Not your fault"
"We're going around in circles"
"You're right, it's no-ones fault, agreed?"
"Agreed"
After their mutual agreement Angel pulled Buffy into his arms and kissed her breathless, suddenly Buffy broke off the kiss a looked at Angel with shock written all over her face, still standing in his arms.
"What's wrong?" he asked
"I just remembered that Nikita and Michael are in the room and they heard everything" she whispered in his ear
"Do you think we should tell them the truth?"
"They'll think we're loony-tunes, I don't think they will believe us"
"True, so what should we tell them?"
"Nothing for the moment at least"
Turning around in Angel's arms, Buffy looked at Michael and Nikita with a smile and said "I hope I can get a copy of that"
"Huh?" Nikita said
"A copy of our performance, you have us on camera"
"What camera?" Michael asked feigning indifference
"The one that's mounted over in the right hand corner of the room near the bed"
"You have a meeting with Madeline scheduled at 5:30 up first tomorrow morning then training with Birkoff in comm" was all Michael said as he and Nikita left the room.
***The next day***
Madeline's Office 5:30am
"Hello, please sit down"
Waiting for a reply when none was given Madeline continued on "Do you know why you are here?"
"In Section or in your office?"
"Which would you like me to answer"
"Both"
"And if I say I will only answer one"
"Then I'd want you tell me why we are in your office"
"I thought you might like to get a few discrepancies cleared up"
Over the next two hours Madeline explained to Buffy and Angel, how and what Section One was, what it was capable of doing.
She also explained what terms like abeyance, cancelled, close-quarter standby and the types of missions they might be expected to perform like cold mission, hot mission, valentine mission, blood-cover etc.
"Any questions?" Madeline asked the shocked looking pair.
"How can you do this? You treat people like pawns in a game" Buffy said, disgust colouring her voice.
"You don't care about the people, it's the end result that Section is looking for, everything else is not important" Angel said knowingly.
"Birkoff" Madeline said turning away from the pair.
"Yes Madeline" came the reply through the intercom sitting on the end of Madeline's desk.
"I'm sending Buffy and Angel down to you, evaluate their computer skills then send me a report"
"The Sanderson mission is about to be debriefed"
"Buffy and Angel are to sit in on the debrief, that is all" Madeline said ending the conversation.
Turning to the couple she told them to go to comm for their evaluation.
Buffy and Angel arrived in comm to see Nikita teasing Birkoff.
"Mr Birkoff, Madeline sent us down"
"Just call him Birkoff, it goes to his head if you call him mister" Nikita said teasingly
"Funny" Birkoff answered sarcastically
"I thought so, I'll be in Michael's office if you need anything" Nikita said before walking away
"So Birkoff, what are we going to be doing?" Buffy asked
"Well, I guess you could do a workup of an old simm, see if you get the mission parameters and everything right, but you'll have to wait because there is a briefing in about 5 minutes and Madeline wants you to sit in on it" Birkoff answered a bit bored.
"Ok" Buffy said a little confused as to what was going on.
"Come on" Birkoff said "We can get to the briefing early" he continued, getting up and walking over to the briefing table and sitting down.
A few minutes later Buffy, Angel, Birkoff, Walter, Nikita and Michael were waiting in the briefing room for Operations and Madeline to arrive and lead the briefing.
Madeline appeared and looked over each of them before saying that Operations was detained at Centre and Madeline would be leading the briefing in his place.
The briefing started as any other, showing the face of their target, two of the tables occupants recognised him immediately but they wisely kept quiet about it, when Michael asked for weaknesses, Madeline looked at Michael and Nikita, she opened her mouth to speak but Nikita beat her to it saying "Let me take a wild guess, he likes tall blondes?" she said sarcastically.
"Yes, the younger the better" Madeline replied
Everyone at the table except Buffy and Angel paled at what Madeline's words meant.
"Madeline, you can't be serious, she's only just arrived, she's had no training for valentine missions, she's had no training for anything" Walter argued
"This came from above us, we have no control over it and yes we are aware that Miss Summers has had no training" Madeline replied
"What does this have to do with Buffy?" Angel growled
"Angel, chill, I'm sure they'll explain" Buffy said calmly
All eyes turned towards Madeline.
"You will be going in teams of two Michael your with Nikita, Angel your with Buffy"
"Why am I going?" Buffy asked
"Miss Summers, you are going to be on this mission to attract the target"
"What do I have to do?"
"Get the targets attention, as soon as you're sure you have it, leave through the back door make sure he's following you, the van will be waiting in the alley"
"So basically I'm the bait?"
"Yes"
"I've never been bait before, might be fun"
"I'm glad you feel that way"
And the briefing continued.
At the end Madeline instructed everyone to collect their panels and see Walter for tactical, Michael, Nikita, Buffy and Angel were to see Madeline about wardrobe.
Everyone left the briefing room and each headed off in their own directions.
Buffy followed Angel to his room and sat down on the bed next to him
"Angel I have something to tell you that I'm pretty sure your not going to like"
"What's wrong?" he asked patiently
"Hang on a sec I'm getting rid of the audience" Buffy jumped off of the bed and spotted the camera mounted near the bed, pulling it out she thoroughly checked the room, smashing every camera she found before sitting back down next to Angel.
"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"
"Ok, but I'm afraid"
"Of what?"
"That you won't love me anymore if I tell you, in fact I'm sure of it"
"Buffy, you know I will love you forever, nothing will change that"
"How can you be so sure?"
"Buffy I loved you from the first time I saw you, and I always will"
"Even after everything I've done?"
"Always"
_______________________________________________________________
"Why were you brought into Section?"
"Most of the people here are criminals, they came from having a life-long prison sentence, Section One faked their deaths and they were brought in to work off their crimes against humanity"
"Oh"
"I was brought into Section from jail, I was convicted of murdering a cop, I didn't do it but it doesn't matter much now, even if I was given a choice to leave I wouldn't"
"Michael?"
"Yeah"
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Personal relationships between operatives are forbidden, but they allow ours, because of the time they wasted trying to split us up, every time they tried we came closer together not further apart"
"So there was a lot of opposition?"
"Yep, still is at times"
"I've been their, my friends didn't like me dating Angel, they all wanted him out of my life, I ran away and for months Angel looked, he found me on his own, when I asked how all he said was 'if I was blind I would see you' I love him more then life itself and yet no-one understood, don't have to worry about it anymore" Buffy said the last part a little sadly.
"When I was first brought in, Michael told me to think of Section One as my family, to think of Madeline as my mother, I didn't at first but then I realised that Section One was like my family, a dysfunctional one but a family anyway"
"That was what my friends were like, they were like brothers and sisters to me and Giles was like a father, they must have been devastated when I left, Angel said that Giles went back to England shortly after I left, Willow and Xander blamed each other, I just wish I could tell them that it was not their fault"
They sat down for a while, each pondering their own thoughts.
The door to Buffy's room opened, in stepped Angel followed closely by Michael.
"How did the check-up go Angel, anything broken this time?"
"No, but I aggravated an old injury"
"Which one?"
"The one involved with Acathla"
"That was my fault, if I would have waited a few more minutes."
"I could have killed you, when I think of what I did."
"Angel, it was all my fault"
"You were only defending yourself, you were too young to have to go through everything I put you through, I don't blame you for hating me"
"Angel I was selfish if we had never."
"Then Spike would have killed us all"
"You don't know that"
"I lived with him for a while, I know his mind well enough to know what he is thinking"
"But still that doesn't change the fact that it was my fault, I put you through hell"
"Yeah, I been to hell and back again, wasn't the first time, Drusilla did it once just for fun"
"Really?"
"Still have the scars"
"I'm sorry"
"Not your fault"
"We're going around in circles"
"You're right, it's no-ones fault, agreed?"
"Agreed"
After their mutual agreement Angel pulled Buffy into his arms and kissed her breathless, suddenly Buffy broke off the kiss a looked at Angel with shock written all over her face, still standing in his arms.
"What's wrong?" he asked
"I just remembered that Nikita and Michael are in the room and they heard everything" she whispered in his ear
"Do you think we should tell them the truth?"
"They'll think we're loony-tunes, I don't think they will believe us"
"True, so what should we tell them?"
"Nothing for the moment at least"
Turning around in Angel's arms, Buffy looked at Michael and Nikita with a smile and said "I hope I can get a copy of that"
"Huh?" Nikita said
"A copy of our performance, you have us on camera"
"What camera?" Michael asked feigning indifference
"The one that's mounted over in the right hand corner of the room near the bed"
"You have a meeting with Madeline scheduled at 5:30 up first tomorrow morning then training with Birkoff in comm" was all Michael said as he and Nikita left the room.
***The next day***
Madeline's Office 5:30am
"Hello, please sit down"
Waiting for a reply when none was given Madeline continued on "Do you know why you are here?"
"In Section or in your office?"
"Which would you like me to answer"
"Both"
"And if I say I will only answer one"
"Then I'd want you tell me why we are in your office"
"I thought you might like to get a few discrepancies cleared up"
Over the next two hours Madeline explained to Buffy and Angel, how and what Section One was, what it was capable of doing.
She also explained what terms like abeyance, cancelled, close-quarter standby and the types of missions they might be expected to perform like cold mission, hot mission, valentine mission, blood-cover etc.
"Any questions?" Madeline asked the shocked looking pair.
"How can you do this? You treat people like pawns in a game" Buffy said, disgust colouring her voice.
"You don't care about the people, it's the end result that Section is looking for, everything else is not important" Angel said knowingly.
"Birkoff" Madeline said turning away from the pair.
"Yes Madeline" came the reply through the intercom sitting on the end of Madeline's desk.
"I'm sending Buffy and Angel down to you, evaluate their computer skills then send me a report"
"The Sanderson mission is about to be debriefed"
"Buffy and Angel are to sit in on the debrief, that is all" Madeline said ending the conversation.
Turning to the couple she told them to go to comm for their evaluation.
Buffy and Angel arrived in comm to see Nikita teasing Birkoff.
"Mr Birkoff, Madeline sent us down"
"Just call him Birkoff, it goes to his head if you call him mister" Nikita said teasingly
"Funny" Birkoff answered sarcastically
"I thought so, I'll be in Michael's office if you need anything" Nikita said before walking away
"So Birkoff, what are we going to be doing?" Buffy asked
"Well, I guess you could do a workup of an old simm, see if you get the mission parameters and everything right, but you'll have to wait because there is a briefing in about 5 minutes and Madeline wants you to sit in on it" Birkoff answered a bit bored.
"Ok" Buffy said a little confused as to what was going on.
"Come on" Birkoff said "We can get to the briefing early" he continued, getting up and walking over to the briefing table and sitting down.
A few minutes later Buffy, Angel, Birkoff, Walter, Nikita and Michael were waiting in the briefing room for Operations and Madeline to arrive and lead the briefing.
Madeline appeared and looked over each of them before saying that Operations was detained at Centre and Madeline would be leading the briefing in his place.
The briefing started as any other, showing the face of their target, two of the tables occupants recognised him immediately but they wisely kept quiet about it, when Michael asked for weaknesses, Madeline looked at Michael and Nikita, she opened her mouth to speak but Nikita beat her to it saying "Let me take a wild guess, he likes tall blondes?" she said sarcastically.
"Yes, the younger the better" Madeline replied
Everyone at the table except Buffy and Angel paled at what Madeline's words meant.
"Madeline, you can't be serious, she's only just arrived, she's had no training for valentine missions, she's had no training for anything" Walter argued
"This came from above us, we have no control over it and yes we are aware that Miss Summers has had no training" Madeline replied
"What does this have to do with Buffy?" Angel growled
"Angel, chill, I'm sure they'll explain" Buffy said calmly
All eyes turned towards Madeline.
"You will be going in teams of two Michael your with Nikita, Angel your with Buffy"
"Why am I going?" Buffy asked
"Miss Summers, you are going to be on this mission to attract the target"
"What do I have to do?"
"Get the targets attention, as soon as you're sure you have it, leave through the back door make sure he's following you, the van will be waiting in the alley"
"So basically I'm the bait?"
"Yes"
"I've never been bait before, might be fun"
"I'm glad you feel that way"
And the briefing continued.
At the end Madeline instructed everyone to collect their panels and see Walter for tactical, Michael, Nikita, Buffy and Angel were to see Madeline about wardrobe.
Everyone left the briefing room and each headed off in their own directions.
Buffy followed Angel to his room and sat down on the bed next to him
"Angel I have something to tell you that I'm pretty sure your not going to like"
"What's wrong?" he asked patiently
"Hang on a sec I'm getting rid of the audience" Buffy jumped off of the bed and spotted the camera mounted near the bed, pulling it out she thoroughly checked the room, smashing every camera she found before sitting back down next to Angel.
"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"
"Ok, but I'm afraid"
"Of what?"
"That you won't love me anymore if I tell you, in fact I'm sure of it"
"Buffy, you know I will love you forever, nothing will change that"
"How can you be so sure?"
"Buffy I loved you from the first time I saw you, and I always will"
"Even after everything I've done?"
"Always"