Chapter Three - Oscar's house-11:30am

"How bad was it, Babe?" Oscar asked, meeting her at the door.

"You are not going to believe this," she told him as the moved toward the sofa. "Your replacement - it's Steve."

"Well, that couldn't have been a pleasant conversation."

"Actually," she said, "It wasn't too bad. He was very...civil."

"And what happened?"

"Nothing yet. Not for a day or two. He said I will probably be disciplined somehow, didn't say how, but I'm not fired. I told him I quit."

"Babe," Oscar said gently, "You can't do that. You're way too good, and you love it so much -"

"No, I love you. And after the way they treated you -"

"Which I deserved and I'm ok with," Oscar said quietly.

"Anyway, let's just say my feelings toward that place aren't as warm as they used to be."

Oscar held her very close and gazed into her eyes. "And your feelings toward me...still warm?"

"Nope...blazing hot." The short distance between them closed into a deep, passionate kiss. Clothes seemed to unbutton themselves and Oscar lifted Jaime up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom. He laid her gently in the center of the bed, stretched out next to her, and the day's troubles melted away.

OSI Director's Office-2 days later-9am

Steve paced back and forth across the floor of his new office. He'd rehearsed what he was going to say - what he had to say - but now that she was seated in front of him, waiting to hear her fate, it was so much harder than he'd expected.

"The Secretary wanted me to fire you." Jaime nodded wordlessly. "But this is solely my decision; I want you to know that."

"Ok..."

"If I let you off with a warning or a simple reprimand, I'll be accused of favoritism and you'll probably have a very unpleasant meeting with the Secretary -"

"Steve...Colonel - I'm as much at fault as Oscar. If he had consequences, then I should too."

"In the eyes of the agency, the fault is entirely his. But you made a grievous error in judgement and showed a severe lack of ethics and common sense. And you're right; there are consequences. There have to be." He looked out the window, his back to Jaime, as he prepared himself. Inwardly, his heart was breaking twofold. First, she had chosen someone else and not him; and second, he'd cut off his good flesh-and-blood arm to not be in this position.

Jaime sat quietly and waited. She was ready.

"Jaime, I'm going to give you two choices," he told her. "I will either suspend you for six months, without pay, and a permanent reprimand in your file..."

"Or..." she prompted, wanting to get it over with.

"Or - I will accept your resignation, with the stipulation that you not be sent to the Island, on the grounds that, because of your bionics, you are unusually capable of keeping yourself out of danger."

"Ok, then I'll -"

"I'm not done. With either choice, you would still see Rudy twice a year. If you were to leave the agency, you'd have to see him at his Colorado complex and not at a government facility, but either way it would still be at government expense, of course." He took a deep breath and then continued. "Jaime, I want you to take 24 hours to really think about this before you give me a decision."

"Thank you," she replied. "But that's not necessary." She reached into her coat pocket, removed an envelope and handed it to Steve. "It's my resignation."

"Jaime -"

"Uh-uh. It's my turn now, Colonel. Oh - I guess it's Steve again, now that I no longer work for you. I can't in good conscience work for an agency that could punish two people for falling in love, no matter who they are."

"I'm really sorry to hear that."

"Anyway, I do appreciate your keeping me off the Island. Thank you for that. I do have to go now - someone's waiting for me."

"Oscar?" Steve asked, trying not to sound jealous.

"I no longer have to answer that. Goodbye, Steve."

Steve turned again to the window, unable to answer. He saw her as she walked down the sidewalk, past the reflecting pool and to the curb. His bionic eye zeroed in as she got into Oscar's car, so he saw the embrace, saw the kiss that seemed to go on forever, and saw the happiness that lit both of their faces.

Oscar, old buddy, I just hope you realize how truly lucky you are.

END