Agents and Operatives

by KnighteWolfe

A preview of what is to come. Chapter 4 isn't finished yet but its still being worked on.

2. Chapter 2

Totally Spies

Agents and Operatives

Chapter Two

The clock on the wall was showing three a.m. when the black painted civilian Kaman Seasprite helicopter flared out for a landing on the WOOHP Headquarters rooftop helipad. With its running lights dimmed to their minimum the only thing the pad crewman saw was the helicopters' outline. Waving his lit wands and getting the attention of the flight crew, he guided the helicopter in to its spot before crossing his arms and signaling for the pilot to shut down his engine. Seconds after receiving a quick flash of the pilots' position lights in acknowledgment, the whine of the engine and the slapping of the rotor blades changed as the engine spun down and the blades slowed. Once the blades had stopped and the only sound the pad crewman heard was the whining of the auxiliary power unit, he felt it was safe enough for him to approach the aircraft. As he approached the cabin, the side door came open and the crew chief tossed out three black duffle bags and three hard shell weapons cases. As the last case was hitting the ground, the pad crewman heard a muffled snarl.

"Dammit, be very fucking careful with those weapons! Yeah they're unloaded but for Pete's sake, still be careful with them!"

"Calm down man, calm down. He's just as exhausted as we are and he's ready to get home!",came another voice from inside the dark cabin.

"Yeah, yeah I know but sometimes it chafes my hide when people don't appreciate other peoples' stuff.", retorted the first voice.

"Chill out dude. Our mission was successful. We offed the main threat and caught his right hand dude. Although I think he may have a concussion after you slapped him so hard with that sap. You know that the bosslady wanted this guy alive and not too badly hurt so the boys and girls of interrogation could slip him a few cc's of sodium pentothal and find out everything he knows. It wouldn't surprise me if Trigger Zero reprimanded you again.", stated a third voice from further back in the cabin.

The helipad crewman just shrugged his shoulders and continued on with his job. He recognized the three voices; they were one of WOOHP's better assassination teams and went about his business. If his bosses wanted him to know more about the conversation, they'd tell him when his rotation as helipad staff was over and he returned to his main job as a field analyst. Doing a visual inspection of the aircraft, he noted that it was time to take this particular Seasprite offline so some of its radar avoidance black paint could be reapplied and the light bulbs for the running lights be replaced. They looked dimmer than usual.

Approaching the cockpit, the crewman saw that the three members of the assassination team had disembarked and had picked up their equipment bags before heading to the elevator that would take them to the locker room where they could change out of their raid suits and grab some coffee. Coming up on the right (pilot's) side of the chopper, he waited for the flight crew to finish their postflight checks and climb out. While he waited, the crew chief caught up to him and discussed some minor repairs that were needed for the passenger compartment. He wrote them down on his clipboard and informed his airborne opposite number that this helo was going to be taken offline.

"Good, I think the pilots have a few gripes about this bird as well. Check with them and get back with me. On my way down, I'll inform the mechanics to break out the tools so they can start work the minute you get it down there.", replied the crew chief as he lifted a cigarette pack from one of the pockets of his grey flightsuit and shook out a smoke.

The ground crew guy shook his head when the chief offered him one then pointed him in the direction of the smoking zone over on the far side of the pad. The chief thanked him and walked in the direction indicated. He knew that there was a railed walkway that ran around the edge of the helipad but was below the level of the landing zone. Back at the aircraft, the ground crewman was able to catch up with the flight crew and together the three started talking about the status of the aircraft as the flight crew did their own walkaround inspection.

"As we were approaching the extraction zone, I noticed that the exhaust temperature was a bit high. I wasn't sure so we babied it on the way back. Hopefully it isn't a major gripe. But I know that the mechanics will wanna take care of it.", stated the female aircraft commander as she took off her flight helmet and let the breeze blow through her shoulder length hair.

"Yeah, I saw that as well. Plus some of the instruments were reading low. We got a low oil pressure light on approach to the pad. The crewdog noticed it and informed us via the intercom system.", added her male co-pilot.

The ground crewman nodded as he made some more notes on his clipboard before handing it over to the pilot so she could initial it for the records department. She initialed the documents and agreed with the pad crewman's decision to take this helicopter off of flight status for an extended maintenance period. With that finished, the pilot sent her co-pilot off with a copy of the paperwork to put in the head of the organization's air operations department to inform him that one of the WOOHP Seasprites was gonna be hard down for maintenance. Another copy of the report would find its way into the files of the maintenance crew while a third copy was headed to Jerry and a fourth copy was kept in the helipad operations office at the far corner of the pad. The fifth and final copy of the report would stay with the aircraft and be added to its flight history folder.

"Do you'll think they'll give us the upgraded J-series engines this time? I'm hoping so, this is my favorite bird and I want it to be ready when it gets back from maintenance.", asked the pilot as she followed the pad crewman towards the office and locker rooms in the squat concrete block sitting directly across from the helicopter.

"I dunno. I'll see about bribing those guys downstairs to do the engine upgrade while its offline. I'll also try to pump the boss for the glass cockpit upgrade as well. You never know. And don't worry; I already got you penciled in as pilot in command for the post-maintenance check flight."

"Oh good, I can't wait for that. How long do you'll think it will take?"

"Hmm it may take upwards of five months before she'll be finished and ready for the check flight. We've got to order the parts and get them here and the guys downstairs gotta strip that bird of yours down and prep it. That will probably take at least two to three months by itself. . I know the ops manager has been campaigning for some bigger fuel tanks for the 'sprites to increase their range. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll install some on this bird, once again you never know. Until then I think that several of the Dauphins and a couple of the tilt-rotors will be flyable. I also know that a Jayhawk, a Sea King, and a Huey will be coming back online. I know you're qualified to fly all of those so you'll get to choose. Confidentially, the Huey has some seriously upgraded engines. She'll be online by tomorrow afternoon. If you act quickly I can pencil you in for the post-maintenance check flight for that bird as well."

"Really, what's the rumors on that one?", asked the pilot with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"Maintenance shack rumor is that with its upgraded engines, this Huey's gonna be an aerial hot rod; even more so than usual. Already some of your peers are angling to be the first one to pilot it. If you want in on that battle you might want to get here early."

"How early should I get here?"

"Why don't you arrive around five thirty for a brief and a six fifteen or thereabouts launch. If I know the grease-monkeys, they ain't gonna release that chopper any earlier than five fifty-five just to be sure everything is on the up and up. That way you can get your inspection and preflight done and five minutes after it reaches the roof you can be off and flying, much to the chagrin of the others."

"Hmm, sounds good. The next pilot up can check out the Jayhawk. I want that Huey!"

The pad crewman grinned and nodded and as they approached the line shack on the pad, he waved goodbye at the pilot and returned to his post at the night desk so he could be there for the next covert helicopter landing. A quick glance showed he only had three more hours of his shift to go. Starting up another pot of coffee, he leaned back and turned the volume of the air to air radio up so he could hear the next in range call. The flight schedule posted on the desk next to the handset had three more flights scheduled to come in before his shift was over. He settled in for the long wait.

Monday 7:30 AM Beverly High School Student Parking Lot

Sam, Clover, and Alex stared in askance as they saw the line of girls standing near the student parking lot. Many of the girls seemed to be waiting for something while it looked like the others were there to check out what was going on. There were some guys there as well. Alex turned to Clover and commented on the crowd.

"It looks like Mandy struck again and blabbed about the new students arriving today. Hell, many of the girls out there are single and want to be the first ones to meet Dominic and the others. I'd hate to think about what's going to happen when they arrive."

"I know and I had hoped that this time, Mandy would have tried to at least keep it somewhat quiet. Heck, if she hadn't been at the cookout Saturday, we might've been able to sneak them in under the radar. The school gossips are going to have a field day with this.", agreed the blonde with a frown on her face.

Sam nodded in agreement and pointed out the guys grouped around the stairs to the student parking lot as she maneuvered their car into a vacant space near the front of the lot. Clover turned to Sam before she cut the engine off and gestured at an empty spot over by the motorcycle parking area. When the redhead looked that way, she saw that three motorcycle spots were left and quickly tumbled to her friends' idea. Reversing the convertible and moving it over to where Clover had pointed out the empty space, Sam beat a few of her classmates. Ignoring the feminine middle finger prominently extended her way; she shut off the car and climbed out. Next to her, Clover propped herself up on the door while Alex sat on the tonneau cover for the ragtop. Crossing her arms, Sam indicated the guys along the railing and commented on that crowd. None of those gathered there looked particularly friendly.

"Hey, it looks like some of the guys want to check out the competition. I hope that they don't decide to start anything.", commented Sam.

"Yeah, the majority of those guys are on the football team. I see a couple of the basketball players and three of the soccer team. Oh yeah, Tommy Kurtzmann is there as well with some of the baseball team. I definitely want to see what his reaction to Dominic and friends will be.", added Clover.

Alex just nodded in agreement. With classes starting in about thirty minutes, the three spies knew they had about fifteen minutes before they had to make their way to their first class of the day. Sam had Advanced Chemistry; Alex had English comp while Clover had History. They would meet after first period on their way to the cafeteria for a quick bite before going to their shared Algebra class. The plan had been for Alex and her friends to meet Dominic and his friends before school and show them around before dropping them off at the office so they could get their class schedules. Once first period was over, the trio of spies was going to meet up with the guys and show them where their classes were. All the time they were hoping to avoid Mandy. Unfortunately, Mandy had negated that plan and now they were wondering what to do. As they talked, Sam looked up and spotted their nemesis heading their way. As usual, Mandy was dressed to the peak of perfection in the best fashions money could buy. This time, she was wearing slim black jeans with a short sleeve white silk shirt covered by a black cashmere sweater vest to set it off. On her feet were some high dollar Italian flats that fit her dainty feet perfectly. On her right wrist was a diamond tennis bracelet with a matching analog watch on her left.

One thing about Mandy, she knew about fashion and knew how to use it to her advantage. She looked at the three girls gathered around the convertible and snorted. Clover had on a pair of electric blue Capri pants and a short sleeved blouse. On her feet she had a pair of cross training tennis shoes. Sam was wearing a pair of black denim jeans and a blue denim shirt with a rhinestone pattern on the shirt pocket. She had on some high top tennis shoes to help her keep her footing in the chemistry lab. Alex was wearing a sleeveless yellow blouse and a pair of dark khaki pants with some suede calf-length boots. Together they looked quite fetching but compared to Mandy the girls' outfits were more subdued.

Seeing that her nemesis was on the prowl, Clover sniffed in disdain before ignoring her altogether. The long-haired teen narrowed her eyes and made a cutting comment about rudeness before shifting her attention to Alex. As Mandy's dark eyes narrowed in on her, Alex did her best to stand up to their laser-like intensity. Giving a little shrug of nonchalance, Alex waited for the question she knew Mandy was dying to ask.

"So Alex, do you think that your new friends are coming or did you just hire them to spite me?", asked Mandy.

"Mandy use your head for more than a hat rack for just a second willya! Why would Alex do something as heinous as that to spite you? You do that well enough on your own. Besides, your quarrel isn't with her, it's with me so back off you spoiled brat!", snapped Clover as she shot an angry glance at Mandy before returning her attention to other things.

Alex sighed in relief as Clover grabbed the verbal upper hand in their ongoing petty competition; she really didn't want to get dragged into it this time, although at other times she would've been more than happy to jump in. For her part, Sam agreed with her friend but didn't comment. She was busy catching up on some studying and surreptitiously checking the time. Noticing that it was getting closer and closer to time for bell to ring, Sam saw that if her and her friends were to wait any longer they might be late for class themselves and that irked Sam a bit, she hated being late for anything. Turning to Alex she asked a question.

"Didn't you try to call them last night and remind them about the necessity of their being on time for their first day of school, Alex?"

"Yeah, I tried but nobody answered. Late yesterday I went by to see if they were at home but the house was dark. They might have gotten off from work waay late and just didn't answer the phone. Want me to try and call D.C.'s cell?", replied Alex as she reached into her purse.

"Yeah, see if you can reach them. Don't be worried if they don't answer, they might be on their way and you know how the highway patrol are about people driving while chatting on their cell phones.", stated Sam.

"The boys also might not answer if they're on their bikes. Just looking at those machines of theirs and one could see that they would be a handful to ride if one hand was busy answering the phone.", added Clover.

Mandy gave her annoying laugh and was about to comment when she saw Alex cock an ear to one side and listen as she brought her phone up to make the call. Grinning in relief, she replaced the pink flip phone and offered up a beauteous smile. Reading their friends' thoughts and now becoming aware of the approaching noise themselves, Clover and Sam high-fived each other. Lithely swinging herself over her closed door and dropping to her feet, Clover dusted some imagined specks of dirt from her pants and grabbed her book bag from the back seat next to Alex. Alex rotated her legs to the drivers' side and slid out ending up standing next to Sam. For the moment she left her small duffle bag sitting on the back seat floor and leaned back against the car with one leg bent at the knee and her foot propped up and resting on the gleaming red paint job. Sam scowled a bit but let it go when she saw what Alex was unconsciously attempting to do.

With her leg situated as it was, Alex's pants tightened against her athletic legs giving the illusion that they appeared tighter than they actually were. As Sam continued to observe, Alex lifted her arms and drew her blouse tighter against her chest thus emphasizing and accenting her bust without being obvious about it. Inwardly Sam grinned at Alex' attempts to make her already attractive form even more appealing.

"Alex may not know it and definitely won't admit too it but she actually outdoes Clover with that pose. What makes it more interesting is that she doesn't even know that she's doing it. Damn girl, you're getting good at this seductive siren stuff.", mused Sam as she closed her textbook and grabbed her own backpack from the vehicle.

Mandy didn't miss the interplay between her rival and Sam and wondered what was going on. She knew it had something to do with the guys she had met Saturday evening but wasn't sure what exactly it was it did with them. Putting one hand with its delicately manicured fingers on her hip, Mandy turned to her two friends and lifted an eyebrow in question. Shrugs greeted her unasked question and she faced back forward and caught Alex's position shift. Knowing Alex as she did, even Mandy was impressed with her new found skill at looking more appealing than she actually was.

"Whaddya know, Alex has unconsciously learned from Clover about body language and is making it work for her. Even I have to admit that with her trim form from playing soccer, she pulls that move off better than I can. Crap, this raises the level of competition even higher. I don't know what I'd do if that redheaded amazon Sam gets her act together. With her height and natural gracefulness, she will present even a greater threat to my popularity than either Clover or Alex. And with them already being popular of their own accord, I see a shift in the popularity polls within the coming future."

Mandy scowled at the thought running through her mind. She was about to turn and leave the trio with her lackeys in tow when her ears caught the high pitched whine of motorcycle engines. Glancing at the three girls gathered around the car she saw looks of anticipation on their faces. Something clicked and she realized that the new students almost the entire student body at Bev High had been waiting for (due to, in no small part of her spilling all to some of the other -less popular- girls at school) were about to make their long awaited appearance.

As the quartet of girls waited, the sound of buzzing engines got louder and crescendoed to a nearly earsplitting roar. Sam nodded to herself as she checked the time. Alex caught the gesture and asked about it.

"The boys know they're running late and are trying to make it here on time. They must've guessed the time and sped up. I don't think they expect this audience though.", answered the tall redhead as she lifted an arm and waved it in the direction of their schoolmates.

Alex could see what Sam meant. The crowd must've heard the bikes themselves or noticed that the girls had shifted their attention towards the parking lot entrance. Among the male athletes gathered in the crowd a rumble of conversation had commenced but was soon cut short by a sharp glance from baseball team captain Tommy Kurtzmann. Returning her gaze back towards the parking lot entrance, Alex adjusted her position a bit and waited. She and the rest of the crowd didn't have to wait long.

The first of the new students to appear became visible and Alex felt her heart start to race. In her vision she saw the graphite colored helmet and something just told her that it belonged to Dominic. Right behind him was the gold helmet of Justin. Sucking Justin's exhaust fumes was Sean's red helmet as he tried to maneuver his R6 to the inside of the Gixxer 750. JT. wasn't having it and cut off the inside line. However, that move cost him the little bit of the ground he had gained on D.C.'s Daytona 675. A collective gasp went up from those gathered as the rider of the grey bike leaned it so far over his left knee scraped ground as he entered the parking lot. A huge sigh of relief arose when the grey bike returned upright without a wobble and some of the other bikers nodded in appreciation. They had just seen an elitist whose skills outdid their own.

D.C. eased off his throttle and lifted his face shield up as he looked over his shoulder as his two friends made the turn. Sean's rear tire smoked as it started to slide and Sean gathered it up before losing it in a low side slide off. Since his 750 was on the outside of the 636, J.T. had eased up before making the turn, thereby going wide to allow his partner the extra room. Seeing that if he hadn't relinquished his line, the R6 and the Gixxer would have had an impressive meeting (much to the detriment of their riders), Justin eased up and didn't make as much of an in-extremis turn as Sean.

Once his two friends had pulled into the parking lot and slowed down, D.C. returned his attention to the spaces ahead. Coming around a turn at about ten miles an hour, he saw a trim figure waving her arms in an attempt to get his attention. Lifting his left hand from his handlebars, D.C. returned the wave. As he got closer to the girls Dominic noticed that they had parked their car next to the three remaining motorcycle parking spots. Toeing the bike into neutral, he used the remaining momentum to pull in. Pulling the brake lever with the first three fingers of his right hand and pressing his right foot down on the brake pedal, D.C. brought his bike to a halt next to Alex. Putting down his kickstand, he shut the British three cylinder machine off and doffed his helmet. Next to him, Justin and Sean were pulling in and repeating his moves. By the time he had ran a hand through his perspiration soaked hair, his partners were standing beside him bickering good-naturedly with each other. D.C. joined in the friendly insult session before slapping J.T. and Sean on their backs and turning his attention to Alex.

"Yo, what's up?", he asked as he took his backpack off and placed it on his bike.

"Not much, just wondering when y'all would get here. As it is, it's almost time for the bell to ring.", replied Alex nonchalantly while stretching her arms and sliding her raised leg down to the ground and crossing it with its khaki encased twin.

Alex watched as Dominic's eyes strayed down at her slim legs and came back up to her chest before returning to her eyes. Seeing that he was a bit affected she suppressed a grin. Behind her, Alex could here Clover chastising Sean for his recklessness. Sean was replying that he knew what he had been doing. A light slap was heard just before Alex recognized the sound of Clover's giggling. Right beside her, she could hear Sam and Justin conversing about his class choices. Sam was making suggestions and Alex snickered as she heard Sam angling to get J.T. in a few of her classes. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw Mandy fuming at the fact that she was being ignored. Taking a small pleasure in that, she studied D.C. a bit more as he zipped the part of the bag holding his helmet closed and hitched the thing up on his right shoulder as if it weighed no more than a feather.

D.C. turned his attention back to Alex and saw that she was observing his movements. Wearing a pair of slate grey jeans and a light blue shirt covered by a black leather vest, D.C. gazed around and saw the peanut gallery of students watching him and his buddies. Taking in the obvious looks of pure lust cast their way by the girls gathered around and indifferent to the looks of others, Dominic snorted. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Alex turn lithely and bend over to reach for the bag resting on the floor of the car. He allowed a quiet growl of male appreciation slip out as his eyes followed her khaki-covered backside. Bent over as she was, Alex stifled a chuckle as she heard Dominic's reaction to her movements. Turning around and lifting her bag to her shoulder in one flowing movement, Alex caught D.C.'s face as it returned to its usual expression. Slipping him a coquettish wink, she exulted in the slight spot of red that appeared on his cheeks and as quickly disappeared.

"Damn, she caught me. Alex either knows or suspects I was daydreaming about her, awww hell. I'm gonna hear about this for days to come.", thought D.C. as he resettled his bag on his shoulder.

Feeling a bit left out of all the tentative steps of seduction being played out in front of her, Mandy tapped a foot on the asphalt in anger. She was just about to cut in with a snide remark when the bell rang and the gathered masses exploded into a frenzy trying to get to class. Growling deep in her throat because her chance at infringing on the burgeoning relationships was again denied, Mandy whirled on her heel and stomped off. With one last look, her friends followed meekly behind her.

On the other side of the car, Clover had monitored Mandy's aborted insult and grinned evilly. Mandy had just lost some major points in their eternal popularity competition. Smirking in her victory she strolled from her position on the passenger side of the car with Sean in tow. Tuning in to the conversation, she could hear J.T. and Sean teasing D.C. about something minor.

"You owe me twenty bucks Sean! I told you he would notice her and try to play it off.", trumpeted J.T.

"Nah, I don't owe you anything! You had inside information and that makes the bet null and void!", returned Sean.

"Don't even play like that, Sean. If you'd have had the inside information you would have used it to your advantage as well. And for your own information, I didn't have the inside on that. I'm just more observant about things than you are!", Justin shot back with a grin taking the sting out of his words.

Clover turned to Sean and asked him what this was about a bet. As they rapidly walked to the stairs from the parking lot to the hallway, Sean answered her with a grin gracing his features.

"Justin and I made a bet on old stone face's reaction when he saw Alex. I bet that he would react to her appearance first. Justin bet that when she moved he would react. I had the edge till I saw Alex lift her arms and stretch her legs out. Even if he was the coldest man alive, there was no way Dominic wasn't going to react to that. Alas I lost and I'll have to pay up later but its okay, I've been on a winning streak lately. So its of no consequence.", commented Sean as he took the first step.

Ahead of the four teens and with Alex a step behind him, D.C. snorted in amusement as he heard the friendly bickering dissolve into spontaneous laughter. He was going to add in his own comments when his eyes caught sight of a familiar figure standing at the top of the stairs.

Thomas Kurtzmann glanced down at the young man carrying the bag on his shoulder as he approached the top step. As the features became more distinct, he thought back to the last baseball season. When he glanced down again, the guy in front of him wasn't wearing his jeans and shirt combo, he was dressed in the dark blue and grey of an opposing high school and was facing him sixty feet six inches away. Tommy remembered pitching his opponent a screwball with the bases loaded and his team in a dire situation. He frowned as he remembered the bat coming around to meet the ball. Tommy cringed at the tinging sound the aluminum bat had made when it connected with his pitch and sent it out of the park. He shuddered in reflex as he watched the ball reach the apex of its climb and start to drop behind the fence four hundred and twenty-five feet away to thump on a passing car.

Tommy groaned as one batter ended his fame as one of two high school pitchers to never give up a grand slam in a game. Tommy also remembered the sickening thump of ball meeting protected skin and the accusing glance thrown his way when a few innings later he intentionally threw at a batter for the first time in his high school baseball career.

For his part, Dominic remembered the pain when the 97mph fastball thrown by this guy hit his forearm guard with enough force to bruise the arm underneath. Even now, he unconsciously rubbed the spot where the contact had been. On many occasions since that day D.C. fantasized about what he would do to the guy if he ever met him in person or on the field again. His actions ranged from beating him up to being magnanimous and letting the matter drop as a dead issue. In the end, D.C. decided to let things happen as they happen and flow with it.

Tommy glanced at Dominic and saw him rubbing the area he had bruised back then and his shoulders slumped in disgrace. He knew he shouldn't have thrown that pitch but he'd been furious and had lost his cool. Deciding to salvage something from this (all the while expecting to be knocked on his ass), Tommy reached into his own bag and pulled out the guilty ball from that game (he had picked it up after the game and kept it as a reminder to not loose his cool again). Tossing it up and down in his hand as he waited for D.C. to clear the top step, he ran through dozens of scenarios in his mind about what he was going to say. Tommy was surprised when the first words out of his mouth weren't the ones he had decided on.

"How's the arm?"

Dominic looked sharply at the pitcher saw that his words were sincere and decided to reply in kind. Maybe they would get past this since they were going to be playing on the same team this year.

"It's okay. No permanent damage."

"That's good. Here catch, I think that belongs to you.", stated Tommy as he underhanded the ball to D.C.

D.C. caught it with the arm the ball had bruised and glanced down. The ball looked innocent as it sat in the palm of his hand. Only a fellow baseball player, and more specifically a fellow pitcher, could appreciate this little sphere that when thrown at speeds approaching a hundred miles an hour and over became a possibly deadly unguided missile.

"Nah, you keep it. You'll need it to practice with for the upcoming season.", replied D.C. as he returned the ball with a grin.

Tommy caught it and offered up his own grin. He was about to say something when D.C. just held up his hand.

"Don't worry. What's in the past is in the past and needs to stay there. I got over it a long time ago. You need to do the same.", D.C. stated by way of explanation.

Tommy nodded and held out a closed fist. Dominic bumped it with his own and watched as his fellow pitcher left for class. Behind him D.C. heard a snort and surmised that it came from Sam.

"Now that all the male-bonding bullshit is done, you three need to get to the office pronto and get your class schedules, while we three need to make tracks for our own respective classes."

A chorus of groans and protests from Clover, Justin, and Sean met Sam's ears. D.C. just smiled and backed her up. Turning to face Alex, his eyes softened as he could see her expression. Resting a hand on her shoulder, D.C. let his thumb run over Alex's collar bone in a subtle caress and jerked his head in the direction of the classrooms. Leaning closer and bending down, he told her to go ahead and go to class.

"We'll be okay. Go ahead; you don't want to be late. I know you and the others want to go with us to the office but to do that now would be a detriment to your learning experiences. Besides, we'll figure out the way to the office on our own."

"Well okay. If you say you'll be alright", stammered Alex.

"We'll be alright. And we'll see you at lunch. Now get going woman!", stated D.C. with a grin.

Alex returned the grin and dashed off in the direction of her English Comp class. Sam and Clover followed their friend for a bit before breaking off and heading to their respective Advanced Chem and History classes. Dominic watched the girls run off and saw his two partners glancing wistfully in the same direction. Wrapping one arm around Justin and the other around Sean, he put them both in a pair of friendly headlocks.

"Now what's this I hear about you guys making a bet on me? I wanna hear all about it.", growled D.C. as he tugged both of his friends in the direction of the office.

Even though all three boys were in exceptional shape, there was nothing that Justin or Sean could do to wrangle out of the headlocks and resigned themselves to be towed along till D.C. decided to let them go. The hallways echoed with the sounds of their pleas and D.C.'s laughter as they went on their way.

A couple hours later Alex, Sam, and Clover met up at their respective lockers and talked about the events of the morning so far. Dialing in the combination on her lock, the blonde opened the locker and placed a couple of textbooks inside while Alex leaned against her own locker and Sam stood in front of the pair with her arms crossed. Clover finished what she was doing and pulled her head out of the locker and turned to Sam.

"I wonder where the guys are. I wish we'd gone ahead and risked being late for class and found out which classes they were going to have.", stated the blonde as she ran a hand through her hair.

Yeah, I know Clover but we couldn't risk it. We'll just have to roll with the punches. They did say they were going to meet us for lunch anyway, you can ask Sean his class schedule then.", replied the red head.

Alex nodded and was about to change the subject when a familiarly annoying laugh echoed from around the corner. The three spies shared long-suffering looks and waited for what kind of insults Mandy was going to heap on them this time. Curiously Mandy's voice didn't seem to be getting closer. Her locker was only a few lockers away from Clover's and she knew that her rival would usually be here around this time. This site had been the site of many a showdown between Mandy and Clover as well as being the site where they were usually WOOHP'ed to Jerry's office without warning.

Clover looked at Sam and shrugged her shoulders. She couldn't make out what her rival was saying. Seeing the look on Sam's face it was obvious that Sam didn't know either. The blonde and the redhead turned to their black haired friend to see if she could hear what was being said. They were about to ask Alex about it when they saw the look on her face. Alex was concentrating but she wasn't concentrating on Mandy's voice, she was concentrating on other voices that were answering Mandy. It took her a second to recognize them but when she did an absolutely feral look came over her and she made her way around the corner with the heels of her boots hitting the floor with an angry clacking sound coinciding with each step. Sam looked at Clover and arched an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I dunno but let's go find out before she gets herself in trouble."

Sam nodded and together they walked around the corner after Clover closed her locker. They weren't more than fifteen paces around the corner when they suddenly stopped. There standing in the hallway with an increasing look of malice distorting her normally easy going expression was Alex. Alex was looking at what could be described as amusing if D.C. and his friends weren't gathered around the prime subject.

It seemed that one of Sam's reporters for the school newspaper had gotten wind of the three new students and had decided to interview them about their views on their transfer to Beverly High. The reporter had missed her chance in the student parking lot due to the crowd already gathered there. She'd been waiting for them as they approached their new lockers and had started to interview them. A small crowd had gathered and Mandy, not one to pass up on free publicity, with her usual grace and aplomb had bullied her way to the fore. D.C had just turned to face the reporter and photographer with his arms outspread as if to ask what she wanted. Whereupon seeing her chance, Mandy had flung herself in his arms like some damsel in distress. Before he'd realized what was going on, Mandy had wrapped her arms around his neck and that was when the photog had snapped the picture. It was just seconds after the picture had been taken when Alex had came upon the tableau and stopped short.

D.C. had just answered a question and was about to confront Mandy about her actions when he caught a glimpse of Alex over Mandy's head and cut himself off. Seeing the expressions that flitted across her brown face, D.C. realized that he had to act quickly to avert a catastrophe in the hallway. Brusquely pushing Mandy away to the angry growls from some of her admirers, he took a step in Alex's direction but stopped when she stalked past him without as much as a word. Close behind her came Clover and Sam with confused looks on their faces. They didn't know what Alex was going to do and that worried them.

For her part, Alex was feeling an emotion for Mandy she had never felt before. A full on rage was boiling in her gut and all Alex wanted to do was wipe the smug look off of Mandy's face with her bare hands. Alex didn't know why she felt this way but she just knew that she did. And to her it felt good, damn good! Pushing past D.C. and ignoring his words Alex stomped right up to Mandy. With a fist clinched beside her, Alex waited for Mandy to take notice. When the other teen started to turn in her direction, Alex brought her fist back and was bringing it forward. Behind her, Alex heard Clover shout.

"Oh Shit!! Alex, Don't do it!!"

With inches left to go before her fist made contact with Mandy's face, Alex rejoiced in the look of pure unadulterated fear she saw in the other girls' eyes. Just shy of her fist making full extension contact, Alex felt someone grab her wrist in a secure but non-hurtful way. She struggled against the force being exerted and slowly felt her will to pummel Mandy fade. Turning to see who had kept her from making the biggest mistake of her eighteen years, Alex focused her attention on the hand that held her wrist. Masculine, dark skin, small scars from who knows what; with those critical thoughts running through her mind Alex followed the hand and arm with her eyes and refocused on their owners face.

"Why am I not surprised? Why'd it have to be him?", thought Alex as the incandescent rage flowed through her once again.

When he had grabbed her wrist Dominic had felt the tension fairly dancing in the nerves below her skin and knew that she was seconds away from committing a major blunder. He gave her a chance to calm down and focus on his face. D.C. knew the moment Alex recognized his face. The tension she had felt fading just seconds before, again set in and her eyes flared into the white hot rage he recognized from earlier. Once he saw the hatred light up her eyes, Dominic braced himself for what he knew was coming. Before he could get his empty hand up to block, something exploded against his cheek with the force of a small nova and for the first time in eighteen years alive he saw stars during the middle of the day..

The hallway had gone silent at Alex's reaction so the sound of her hand smacking against his cheek resonated around the gathered crowd. Clover and Sam slid to twin stops with identical gasps and looks of astonishment flitting around their faces. In their time as friends neither of them had ever seen Alex as angry as she was at that moment. Even Mandy was stunned by the force of Alex's slap as it detonated across D.C.'s cheek and rocked his entire six foot two and a half inch; two hundred and thirty-five pound frame like a gust of typhoon wind blew a delicate flower. In the silence that followed the only words spoken were the ones by D.C.

"You feel better now?"

The softly spoken words jarred Alex back to the present as if she was waking from a nightmare. Looking around in a daze she saw that everyone in the hallway was staring at her in amazement. Confused at the attention, Alex wondered what was going on. When her sense of touch informed her that her wrist was being held, she turned to see who it was that was holding her wrist. Upon recognizing D.C. she started to ask for him to clarify what was going on when she saw the beginning of the bruise on his face. To her it looked suspiciously like handprint. She was going to question him about it when in her peripheral vision, Alex saw her other hand.

It was poised as if from the follow through from a slap.

At that moment the implications at what had just happened became clear; somebody had slapped Dominic. All that flew through her mind in a millisecond and what had been nagging at the back of her mind coalesced into a thought of pure dread. So unnerved and ashamed at what she had done, Alex never felt her wrist drop from D.C.'s grip. Lifting a trembling hand to her lips as she took in the damage that she had caused to his handsome face, Alex backed up until she couldn't stand to be in the same area as her lapse in judgment. Once she was far enough away, she turned and took off to go hide from the shame of her actions. Sam and Clover took a few steps in chase but stopped when D.C. spoke in an emotionless yet commanding voice.

"Let her go. She needs to be alone to work this out. Sam, Clover don't worry about her, she'll be alright."

"But D.C, we've gotta find her before something else happens.", protested Clover.

"I said let it go. Things heal, bruises fade; we'll get over it."

"Dominic….", started Sean before he was brusquely cut off.

"Sean, I said let it go. And I meant let it go. It's of no consequence.", snarled D.C. as he whirled on his friend fast as lighting.

Seeing the look in D.C.s eyes and knowing that once he said he wanted something dropped, he meant it, Sean let his shoulders slump. Glancing at J.T. in resignation, he slowly shook his head. Turning to his new locker, Sean continued with his task of putting his books up. Clover tried to change his mind but Sean shook his head again.

"Clover, if Dominic says to drop it, he means drop it. And if he says everything will be alright all you can do is trust that everything will be alright. I know you don't like his reaction but that is the way he is and we'll just have to trust his instincts."

Clover continued to protest but Dominic tuned her out and letting his cool gaze drift over those who had witnessed the altercation. He kept the look locked on his face until the crowd had dispersed leaving him, Sean, and J.T. alone in the hallway with Clover, Sam, and the instigator of the entire mess. Ignoring Mandy for the moment, Dominic placed his new books in his locker and closed it. Reaching into the pocket of his jeans the teen pulled out his class schedule and perused it intently. Sean and J.T. took one look at their friend with his head bent down over the small rectangle of paper and hurried their preparations. When they were done they quickly left the area with Clover and Sam in tow. Justin tossed a rapid farewell over his shoulder.

"We still on for lunch, D.C? If we are then we'll see you then."

A grunt was his only response.

Left alone in the hallway with Mandy, Dominic waited without saying anything. It was a tactic designed to make people say something to fill the silence. Mandy had been caught out by Alex's reaction and was still trying to get her breathing under control. Alex's loss of control had scared her nearly out of her wits.

"It was only by the grace of god that Dominic was there to stop her. Her fist had been seconds away. If Alex had connected, I don't think anyone would have been able to stop her in her state of mind. I guess I'll consider myself lucky and take advantage of this while I can.", mused Mandy.

Thanking her lucky stars for the save, Mandy reached out to properly thank D.C. Her hand was halfway to its target when his voice stopped her cold and sent a chilling blast down her spin.

"Never. Do. That. Again! And never presume to touch me in that or any similar manner Mandy. Next time I won't stop her. Remember that.", D.C. stated with a cold finality.

And with that, the boy turned on his heel and stormed off in the direction of his class leaving Mandy to fume at his dismissal. Gritting her teeth and scowling in the direction D.C. had gone, she whirled on her friends and muttered under her breath.

"If he thinks he can make me feel like Jimmy Jackass, he has another thing coming. I'll destroy him and his friends along with Clover and her two friends. I'm the undisputed queen of this school and I Will. Get. My. Way!"

Mandy's two friends looked at the light in Mandy's eyes and shuddered. The battle between Mandy and Clover just took a turn for the worse. They knew that Clover was going to retaliate and they weren't looking forward to Mandy's answering salvo. With a worried look at each other, Mandy's two friends followed her down the hall to their next class.

It was lunch time at Beverly High and most of the gossip rocketing around the cafeteria was about the arrival of the three new students and their impact on the female members of the student body. Additional gossip in the lunchroom was about the raging temper shown by Alex towards Mandy. Those in the know (i.e. the popular student clique) figured that it wouldn't be long before Clover retaliated and they were speculating on what kind of form that expected retaliation would take.

At their usual table Clover and Sam were digging into their five star meals while J.T. and Sean looked dubiously on. The boys had been astonished that what was on their plates was what was actually on the menu.

"Y'all really eat this well at lunch every day? Sheesh, at our old school this would be what the teachers would eat while us students dealt with 'mystery meat' spaghetti. Here you have real spaghetti and Swedish Meatballs, I can't believe it.", stated Sean.

"Me either and you can go back multiple times, a true buffet style lunch; D.C.'s gonna flip out! At our old school the only way you could get seconds was if you paid for another lunch.", added J.T.

Clover and Sam grinned at each other as they ate. Clover turned to the two guys and simply stated.

"This is Beverly High School, baby! Here we do things with style!"

Justin and Sean just shook their heads and ate more of the delicious pasta and the thick sauce that covered the huge Swedish meatballs. The quartet ate for a little while longer before they tumbled to the fact that the noise level had decreased and was steadily going down as everyone glanced at a new arrival. Ignoring the murmurs that surrounded him, Dominic gazed around the cafeteria and spotted his friends before grabbing a tray and making his way in their direction. Setting his tray of food down on the table, D.C. settled his big frame into the chair next to Justin and with a subdued greeting started to eat. While he ate, D.C. was aware that Sam was staring at the fading red mark on his cheek.

"It's okay Sam; I've been slapped harder than that. Although out of the numerous slaps I have received since I've been in school that one ranks up there with the hardest slap I've ever received. It'll heal. Give it a couple of days and you'd never believe that I'd been slapped.", said D.C. with a chuckle.

Caught out, all Sam could do was shake her head and marvel at his resilience. The five teens ate together with a minimum of conversation. Outside the cafeteria Alex gazed longingly at her friends and wondered if things had changed between them because of her actions that morning.

"Things won't ever be the same now.", Alex muttered to herself.

"If you keep hiding out here instead of going in there, you'll be right Alex. But if you go in there with your head held high and not let the murmurings of others bother you, then things will go back to being the same between you, Clover, and Sam. If they're your friends like they have been, they'll accept this new facet of your personality and move on. I don't know what the thing is between you and him but I do know that Mandy, as her wont when it comes to her and Clover, saw an advantage and took it. She suspects your feelings for him even if you don't know for sure yet and in doing what she did saw a chance to strike at Clover through you.", stated a voice behind her.

Alex turned around and saw Tommy Kurtzmann, the star pitcher of the baseball team, leaning against the cafeteria's exterior wall with his hands behind his head. He wasn't looking directly at Alex but he could see her out of the corner of his eyes. Embarrassed to be heard talking to herself, Alex's face turned a bright red. She stammered a bit but Tommy just shook his head and pointed into the cafeteria.

"Just go in there acting like nothing happened and everything's normal. See how long the gossip will last. D.C.'s already let it drop and doesn't hold you responsible. He knows or is learning that Mandy's a snake and will do anything to advance her own cause. Why do you think she told the majority of the girls at school about him and his friends? Mandy was angling to step right in to a relationship with them that would boost her image. If she hadn't done it with D.C., she might have tried to take Sam's place next to Justin or Clover's place next to Sean; although I think that if she ever attempted that, Clover would hand Mandy her head. Don't let this little incident ruin the burgeoning relationship you have with him. Into every relationship a little rain must fall. This will only make your relationship stronger. And if it doesn't at least he knows that you have a strong left hook.", stated Tommy with a humorous lilt to his voice at the end of his statement.

Alex was curious about his statement and asked.

"Oh, he and I have third period advanced French together. Did you know that he speaks French almost fluently? Dominic seems like a cool guy. I can't wait till baseball training starts. Dominic, Justin, and Sean will be incredible assets for our team."

She nodded in agreement and watched as Tommy walked off. Deciding to take her chances and follow the advice given, she rolled her shoulders back and straightened her posture. She replaced the frown the graced her face with a regal, queen-like smile and made her way through the door. With steady footsteps, Alex got her lunch and headed for their table. Ignoring what was being said by the others in the cafeteria, Alex made her way to the seat next to D.C. Settling in, she listened as the conversation she had interrupted restarted. Seeing the cautious looks from Clover and Sam, Alex waited before turning to Dominic and asked to see his class schedule. Studiously ignoring the fading handprint on his face she glanced at the slip of paper in her hand and commented on a couple of his classes.

Across the table, Sam and Clover were listening in and when D.C. and Alex started a discussion of their own both girls breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was back to normal. Returning their attentions to the J.T. and Sean (both of whom had 'I told you so looks on their faces') they continued their four way discussion about some inconsequential stuff. As their four tablemates became more animated and joking and paid less and less attention to his and Alex's conversation, D.C. reached a hand out under the table and took a hold of Alex's hand. Giving it a slight squeeze and running his thumb over her knuckles. Releasing her hand, Dominic brought his hand back on top of the table and took a hold of his cup and raised it to his mouth for a drink.

It had taken all of her skill to not jump when under the table she had felt D.C. take hold of her hand and give it a squeeze. When she felt the roughness of his thumb run over the back of hand she felt as her actions from earlier had truly been forgotten. When the bell rang ending the lunch period, many of those in the cafeteria saw that Dominic and Alex had gotten a little bit closer together. They weren't an 'item' per se but those in the know guessed that it was just a matter of time before the star of the women's soccer team and the new student were officially going steady. And some people couldn't wait till that moment. It looked like it was going to be one hell of a relationship. Many of their classmates believed that the burgeoning relationships between Alex, her friends, and the three new guys (whose names were just starting to circle the campus in tidbits of gossip) would last past high school and far into the future.

"I wear my sunglasses at niiight, so no one can see into my eyes. I wear my su-un-un-unglasses at niiight!! I wear my sunglasses at night to block out the hypocrites and parasites!!", sang J.T. as he walked out of his last period English Comp class with Clover half a step behind him.

He waited for Clover to make her way to his side before heading in the direction of his locker to pick up his helmet. As they walked, Clover and Justin talked about their friends; unspoken agreements between them to let what happened between Alex and Dominic earlier fall by the wayside. After hearing Justin's singing (which was okay but Clover preferred Sean's voice to Justin's'), the blonde was more than ready to hook up with Sean. Approaching Clover's locker, J.T. and Clover saw that Sean, Alex, and Sam were already there. Like his buddy, Sean was singing but Clover didn't recognize the song. Greeting the others while opening her locker, Clover didn't bristle when Sam gently-but subtly-edged her out of her position next to Justin with her hip. She knew that she would have done the same thing if Sam and Sean had been the ones arriving instead of her and Justin.

"Where's D.C., I thought he would be with you two since the three of you had debate class together?", asked Clover as she closed her locker and leaned against the locker bank.

"He would've if he hadn't impressed the debate teacher with his knowledge in certain areas. When class ended, she all but begged him to join the debate team. Dominic said he'd think about it and get back to her. Personally, I think he'd be perfect for the debate team. He would be my best competition in the National Forensics League. Dominic is good, damn good.", answered Sam while watching Clover and Sean unobtrusively sliding closer to each other.

"How good is he, Sam?", asked Alex. She'd been watching the interplay between her friends and felt a slight flash of jealousy rampage through her.

"Alex, Dominic is so good that he would make a great lawyer. As you know in debate class we're doing a mock trial. Since both Sean and D.C. are new they sat out and listened to what had been going on till today. It took all of fifteen minutes before D.C. understood enough and asked to join the trial as one of the attorneys. When we took a short break, Dominic joined the defense team and discussed the case with them for a bit before sliding into a chair at the defense table. Once the break was over, Janine Carson asked if D.C. could replace her as the lead defense attorney. Since I'm playing the judge, I saw no reason not to let him to do so. I believe it was a big mistake on my part. Up till that point the mock case looked like a lock for a finding of guilty. Dominic jumped in and proceeded to tear the case made by the prosecuting team apart. In the end the mock trial ended on its sixth day with the addition of one person. Ohhh I can't wait till I face him in our next mock trial. It's going to be a good one. I think that the professor is planning on having the entire school witness that one with the principal presiding.", stated Sam.

Alex nodded and closed her locker. She had been the first one to arrive at the lockers and had exulted when Mandy had passed by looking to see if Alex was demoralized by events from earlier. Alex hadn't said anything and had only offered her a grin before proceeding to ignore her entirely. Waiting by their lockers for about five minutes before Sean and Sam showed up from debate class, Alex had organized her homework so she could get right to work on it when she got home. Listening to Sam and Clover, Alex had a sudden thought and groaned. Today was the day they had to report to WOOHP after school for this 'special training' with agents from another department. Sam caught her groan and questioned her about it.

"Remember what you told me about today after I got home Friday night?", answered Alex.

Sam looked questioningly at Alex for clarification as she found herself trying to remember when Alex flashed her x-powder before slipping it back in her purse. Like a million volt lightning bolt, clarity hit Sam and she nearly groaned aloud.

"Aww damn, I forgot about the special training that Jerry mentioned we were going to undergo to day. And if I forgot, I know Clover's forgot as well. Now how do I remind Clover without blowing our cover?", thought Sam furiously.

An idea came to her in a flash. Sam just hoped that Clover would catch on. Digging in her own purse, Sam pulled out her own x-powder and passed over to Clover.

"Hey Sam, I've got my own compact why're you passing me yours?", asked Clover in confusion.

"I got that new foundation powder you wanted to try."

"What new foundation, Sam? I don't need any new foundation powder. I'm happy with what I already have."

Alex dropped her head and Sam stifled the groan that was welling up in her throat. Clover could act like a typical blonde on occasion. Granted it worked well when they used it on missions but now wasn't the time for her slip into her blonde naïveté mode. Thrusting the compact in Clover's direction Sam tried again.

"Clover you told me on Friday you wanted to try this new foundation, X-Powder by your favorite cosmetics designer Jer-Ray."

Clover was confused and it was beginning to bother her. Sam usually wasn't this pushy. She seemed intent on handing Clover her compact. Behind Sam, Clover could see the strained looked on Alex's face and wondered why. Justin and Sean were standing around with bemused expressions on their faces at the situation. Mentally going over Sam's words, Clover rearranged them in her mind to get them to make some kind of since. Glancing at Sam once again, she saw the compact in Sam's extended hand and idly pushing it aside for the moment, Clover kept on thinking about Sam's words.

By the look in her blue eyes, Sam and Alex could see that Clover still didn't get what Sam was trying to say without blowing their cover. Mentally devising all sorts of torture for Clover's one track mind when it comes to guys, Sam and Alex were seconds away from losing it. Seeing Clover glance at the compact in Sam's hand once again, Alex was appalled when Clover started to open her mouth and say something.

Clover was still trying to wrap Sam's words around in her mind when she glanced once more at the small object in Sam's hand. It looked a bit familiar and she started to comment on it.

"Say, Sam isn't that your…?", Clover started but trailed off when she saw Alex's frantic shaking of her head causing her short black hair to bounce around.

It was then Clover realized what her friends were trying to tell her. Sam had been trying to remind Clover about the x-powder call from Jerry on Friday night without blowing their cover in front of the guys. Feeling sick at what she had very nearly done, Clover visibly wilted much to Sean's surprise.

"Oh Shit!!!! We Have Special Training Today at WOOHP Headquarters!! That's What Sam Was Trying to Tell Me. And I Forgot!! Oh Damnit!! And I Nearly Blabbed About the X-Powder!! Double Dammit, Sam's Gonna Skin Me Alive!!!", thought Clover as she wondered what her next move was going to be.

Sam just about cried when she saw the understanding in Clover's eyes. The blonde had recognized the x-powder (and nearly blown its cover). Letting her friend take the compact into her own hands, Sam waited to see how Clover would react. Clover's next words told Sam how her friend was going to play it.

"Oh yeah, Jer-Ray's new foundation powder. I forgot about that. Isn't he giving out some more samples at his office today?", Clover weakly replied.

"Yeah, you were telling us yesterday how much you wanted to get some of your own and Sam told you about the free sample giveaway today.", chimed Alex as she sighed in relief.

"Okay, meet me after cheerleading practice and we'll make it shopping spree."

Clover sighed as her friends said okay. She still saw the fire in Sam's eyes promising retribution for forgetting and then nearly blowing it and knew she had a long night ahead of her. Thankfully she was saved as a whistling Dominic strolled up from around the corner where his own locker was.

D.C. had been approaching from the end of the hall when he heard Sam first start talking about compacts and foundations and stuff. Being the guy he was he didn't know half of what was being talked about between the girls, however his well-trained ears had caught the barely noticeable tinge of stress and panic in Sam's voice. Settling in just around the corner and out of everyone's direct line of sight he listened to the conversation and figured out that whatever Sam was talking about she was trying to get Clover to remember it without J.T. and Sean tumbling to the discussion going on right under their noses. A quick rustling sound had confused him for a moment before he identified it as a rapidly shaken head. Narrowing his eyes as he guessed that one of the girls was doing the head shaking to warn Clover not to say what she was about to; D.C. listened harder but couldn't figure out the gist of the conversation. Deciding to make his appearance, D.C. took a few silent steps down the hallway to give the impression that he hadn't been eavesdropping. Re-approaching the intersection, Dominic started to whistle and made his steps echo around the corner. He was sure that Justin and Sean would recognize his footsteps. Taking a step around the corner, Dominic allowed his gaze to flow over the gathered teens as if nothing had happened. In that seconds gaze, he saw that Sam and Alex were trying to rearrange their facial features into studied nonchalance while Clover looked as if she had suddenly gotten sick.

"I wonder what caused the sick expression on Clover's face?", thought Dominic.

D.C. was about to greet the others when he felt a vibration against his side where his cell phone hung. Plucking it from its side clip-on holder, he saw that he had a text message. Flipping open the phone, he checked the message. What he saw didn't make him particularly happy. Sean and J.T. saw the look on Dominic's face change from a subtle grin to a forced one and knew that the message wasn't particularly good. With sideways glances with each other, they wondered what Dominic's family wanted this time. Justin took a step towards D.C. and lifted an eyebrow. D.C. saw the raised brow and answered the question it implied.

"The colonel's dropping in around ten tonight. He wants to see the house, check on me to make sure that I'm alright so he can tell mom dearest, and he wants to talk about my future. Specifically a certain part of my future.", stated D.C. as he eased to a halt a few steps away from Alex.

"What part of your future does he specifically want to talk about?", asked Sean as he shifted his book bag to a more comfortable position on his shoulder.

D.C. took in the looks of the three girls and replied in a different language. The raised eyebrows of both J.T. and Sean told D.C. that they understood. Sean rattled off a quick query in the same language but D.C. shook his head quickly. He'd talk about it when they were at home away from the girls. Switching back to English, Dominic changed the subject. Clover tugged on Sean's shoulder and asked him about D.C.'s reaction.

"Oh, it's just that D.C. and his dad don't particularly see eye to eye on some things. D.C. also knows that when his dad said he drop in, he meant it literally and that has him worried."

"Why does it have him worried about his father dropping in?"

"Clover you aren't listening. When I said that the colonel was literally dropping in, I meant it. The colonel is going parachute into our backyard around ten this evening."

"Oh, I see.", replied Clover even though it was readily apparent that she didn't.

Sean turned to Justin and Dominic and caught the tail end of a quick conversation.

"Static line or HALO?"

"You know the colonel. He says HALO or nothing as usual."

Justin winced before looking at his watch. He turned to Sean and tapped the instrument strapped on his wrist. Sean looked and swore. He was going to be late for practice. Turning the corner and sprinting off, Sean stopped at his locker for a second to drop his bag in before heading for the practice field. Two steps behind but at a more sedate pace came Clover. She knew that she was going to be late for cheerleading practice but if things ran true to form, Clover also knew that Mandy would have them spending more time watching the team practice than actually practicing. Alex and Sam followed their friend. They usually would wait for Clover to finish practice before heading home. Sam used the time to get some of her homework done while Alex just hung out. With Justin and D.C. with them though, the two didn't know what to do. D.C. saw the dilemma and looked at Justin over Alex and Sam's head.

"Snackage run?", he queried.

"Snackage run!", Justin replied.

"Race ya?"

"Sure, why not. What're the stakes?'

"Oh, I'll think of something."

D.C. chuckled and turned back towards the lockers. Alex caught his movement and asked about it. His answer deflated her a bit but she shrugged it off.

"Oh we're going to go grab a bite to eat. And I figure that you and Sam want to talk amongst yourselves for a bit. So J.T. and I will leave y'all to it so we don't hear anything embarrassing. Don't worry will be back in enough time to hangout with y'all till the end of football practice. Then the three of us have gotta go to work. The boss has us on desk duty today so we gotta be on time."

Before letting him go, Alex gave D.C. a quick hug then stood next to Sam as the two of them watched both boys walk back down the hallway. Once they had disappeared from sight, the two girls turned around and continued on their way to the field. Sam was already mentally editing a report about Sean's first practice with the team and what it could mean for this football season.

Three hours later Alex and her friends were walking through the passageways of the WOOHP Building on their way to Jerry's office. When they entered the head spy greeted them as he usually did before a mission. After a few minutes of catching up Jerry made a call and told his spies that the head of the department that they were training with would be right them. A few minutes later, Natasha Michelle Simonov entered the office.

Upon entering the office and seeing the three spies, Natasha didn't bat an eye. She had known who and what they were when she saw them at the cookout. To her the girls looked capable enough of working within the parameters of the training they were about to receive. However, she wasn't as sure that they would do what needed to be done if they were ever called on to work with her wet work teams. Natasha was confident that neither of the girls would recognize her from the cookout two days previous. Her hair had been in a different style then and she had thickened her accent to the point where they had been barely able to understand her. In addition, Natasha had made herself appear younger than she actually was with a little help from her vast experiences out in the field. Turning to Jerry, she spoke.

"So, Jerry these are the spies that I've heard so much about. They don't look like much to me. According to the files you've sent me they seem capable enough. Granted their youth is an asset since in our line of work youth can be a big plus.", stated Natasha matter of factly.

"Yes Natasha, these are my spies and the top undercover agents in WOOHP. Well next to your 'Foxfire' team, that is. But you must consider the different missions my agents and your operatives are sent on. I daresay that compared side by side, Foxfire team and my spies are equal in abilities. Its just the missions that I have your department do are a far cry from the missions my spies participate in.", stated Jerry in his cultured English accent.

Natasha nodded in agreement. She knew that capture missions were inherently more dangerous than some of her departments' assassination missions. But dems da breaks, it's always been easier to eliminate an enemy than capture him and bring him back for incarceration. Leaning against Jerry's desk she listened as Jerry explained about the training exercises to come.

Sam was beginning to get a bad feeling in her gut as she listened to Jerry expound on the training that they were going to participate in. Ever since the older woman had walked in Sam had got the feeling that this Natasha had done things for the organization that were better off not talked about. It wasn't something blatant per se; it was more of the nonverbal cues that Natasha gave off. First of all, Natasha walked like a cat. When Natasha moved it was more like she was stalking her prey than walking normally. Wracking her brain to try and remember if anyone she knew walked that way, with a minimal amount of energy wasted; Sam had a short burst of memory from back when she and the girls had just started performing missions for WOOHP. It was maybe their third or fourth month and they had just finished their training on observing those around them. The three had entered the office to see Jerry about something and he had came from around his desk to prop himself up on the edge like he occasionally did. Jerry had walked the same way. Nowadays that trait had all but disappeared but it sometimes showed up when he was stressed about a mission.

The second thing that Sam had noticed was that no matter how she walked, her right hand never strayed too far from her side. That alerted her that Natasha had something concealed there. Sam didn't know what it was but she could guess. Some of the agents at WOOHP did the same thing and on one occasion Sam had inadvertently seen such a concealed weapon when the gust of wind had blown open another field agents' jacket and she had gotten a glimpse of the big pistol sitting in a leather holster under his left arm.

The third and final thing that peaked Sam's uneasiness about Natasha was her smile. Natasha's smile never met her eyes. Her eyes always appeared calculating and observant. With a start, Sam realized where she had seen some of the similar traits that Natasha was exhibiting recently. J.T., Sean, and D.C. walked and smiled the same way. The three guys always walked on the balls of their feet and their smiles rarely reached their eyes. Even when Justin directed a smile her way, it rarely reached his stormy seagreen eyes.

Hearing the last of Jerry's short lecture, Sam returned her attention to Natasha and Jerry. Natasha was explaining something.

"For the sake of security, you three won't get a full briefing until we get to my office. At that time you can ask all the questions you want and I'll answer the ones I can without violating security to the best of my ability.", stated Natasha before turning her attention back to her boss.

Jerry nodded then addressed GLADIS.

"GLADIS, password two five niner delta golf omega, distribute the girls their gadgets for the training exercise."

The gadget lending and disbursing inventory system acknowledged and a ceiling panel above Jerry's desk opened obediently. From the open panel, three heart shaped backpacks appeared before each teen held by two of GLADIS' metal appendages apiece. As Sam and her friends accepted the bags, GLADIS went through what was contained within.

"For this training, you will be issued your basic mission gadgets that you would usually receive on an actual mission. Other necessary gadgets will be issued from my subsection program in Ms. Simonov's office. Also for the purposes of this training your usual red, green, and yellow spy suits have been replaced. Ms. Simonov will explain the reason for his change in detail in her office.", state the female sounding mechanical voice of Jerry's GLADIS program.

Alex and the others accepted their packs and thanked GLADIS for issuing them. Situating the bags on their backs, the three girls turned back to Jerry when he called them.

"Good luck spies. I'll be waiting to hear from you once your training session is over. Ms. Simonov, I'll be waiting for your report on the feasibility of your suggestion by the end of the week."

Natasha nodded and promised that he would have it. He also reiterated his warning from Friday when she had brought her plan up with him. The three spies observed the cryptic exchange before Natasha exited Jerry's office and made her way towards a bank of elevators. At the elevator bank, Natasha pressed a button and a cover slid back and revealed a small keypad. Hiding the keypad with her body, the older woman punched in her password before turning to the three girls standing behind her.

"Sorry, but in my department we're very conscious of security. Once you enter our department area you'll have to spend a few minutes getting cleared. Jerry's password upstairs cleared you so that our entryway systems would recognize you. However to advance past the front desk you have to submit to a bio screen examination that will program your retinal patterns, speech patterns, and biomedical patterns be allowed. I'm sorry to see that this exam does include a physical where you will be asked to disrobe and be examined. Don't worry, the exam room is very private and my own personal doctor will conduct that part of your physical. Its okay, I have to go through the same thing every month."

"Why do you have to go through the same process every month if you are the department head?", asked Clover.

Before Natasha could answer, their ride arrived with a subdued chime. The four women climbed aboard the elevator and Natasha keyed in her code again. As she did so a panel next to the floor indicator buttons quietly slid open and their escort reached into the pocket of her suit coat and withdrew a key. Placing the key in the spot provided she gave it a twist. The elevators computer beeped in acknowledgement and another voice announced their destination after closing the elevator doors. As the elevator began to move, Natasha turned to her charges and answered Clover's question.

"As you know Clover, your body as well as mine goes through complex chemical and physical changes each month. The sensors in my department are programmed to register my biorhythms on a monthly basis due to these changes. All of my female operatives have to do the same thing. Those changes change little parts of my body and as such are themselves a security device."

"How so?"

"If me or any of my female agents were kidnapped by organizations hostile to WOOHP, those organizations would most assuredly try to get into our most secure files by slipping in a doppelganger. They wouldn't take into account the changes in a woman's body chemistry from month to month. Not taking that into account and not knowing about our security system here those hostiles - or packages as we refer to them in my department - would be out of luck if they tried to infiltrate a double. Our security systems computer would detect them in a heartbeat and after capturing them we'd kindly turn them over to Jerry and his men after interrogating them on the whereabouts of our missing person."

Sam was following along the explanation pretty well since her background in chemistry had touched on that topic. She had winced, as had Clover and Alex, when Natasha had mentioned the monthly changes in a woman's physiology. As she listened and nodded in agreement to the explanation, Sam asked a question.

"What about the males in your department? Don't they have to go through the same type of exam?"

Natasha smirked as if she was taking revenge on the guys who made fun of the females' exam in her department.

"Yeah they do and their examination is worse than ours. Their physical exam is a bit more intrusive. And you know how guys are about intrusive examinations. They can get quite violent about them."

Alex, Sam, and Clover nodded. They suspected about how intrusive a guys physical can get. In their three years of high school, the three spies had heard some of the male athletes at Beverly High get apoplectic whenever a physical was hinted at. Letting the rest of the elevator ride pass by in silence the spies were still caught a bit off guard when it jerked to a hard stop and unbalanced them inside the small cube. Even Natasha tried to regain her balance and she'd been expecting the jolt. Before the doors opened, Natasha told her charges one more thing.

"Once you pass through these doors into this high security area, you cannot and emphasis the 'cannot' tell anyone about what goes on down here. The only person you could even talk about it without compromising our security is Jerry. And he doesn't have a need to know every little thing about what goes on here. Another thing, in my department people are not called agents like you're used to. Their called operatives or operators. Please remember that."

The teenaged trio glanced at each other and nodded. When their heads stopped moving, the elevator doors slid open quietly and they followed Natasha as she made her way across the floor. Along the way, the three heard their escort answering and asking questions. One thing they noticed was that no one used her real name, preferring to either call her boss or Trigger- Zero. When asked about it, all Natasha would say on the matter was that it had been one of her code names when she'd been in the field.

Natasha led the way towards a set of big burly looking men by a table standing with their hands crossed in front of them and wearing sunglasses and dark suits. As they approached, the one on the right took a look at the girls and raised a hand. In a surprisingly soft voice he made a request.

"Ladies, please put your bags on the table for inspection and step back."

The trio looked at Natasha and she nodded in confirmation. Reluctantly, they placed their GLADIS issued bags on the table and did stepped back as they had been told. Once the bags were on the table, dark suited guy number two stepped up and examined the contents of the bags rapidly and thoroughly. When he was finished, Dark suited guy number one (according to Clover's murmured sentence) stepped back and handed the girls their bags. Satisfied that none of their stuff in the bags compromised security or safety, he lifted his hand to his ear and made a quiet call. Sam heard a door unlock and watched as Natasha commenced walking towards a door that the muted lights in the area had concealed. Sam turned to her friends.

"If they hadn't unlocked that door we would've never seen it. Down here they take security seriously in this department. I wonder what kind of work they do for WOOHP?", asked Sam sotto voice.

"I don't know but whatever it is, I have a feeling that this training is in preparation for one of their missions instead of one of ours.", stated Clover.

"Yeah, I mean did you see those two gorillas that searched our stuff. They were big but the one who did the searching was competent and I bet that when he and his partner move they move like anything but gorillas. And did you notice that everyone in this department moves rapidly but without wasted motion? It's like a gathering of cats or wolves or something.", added Alex.

Her two friends nodded as they followed Natasha through the newly revealed door. Once through that opening a woman in a white lab coat lifted her head from where she had been studying some files. Seeing her boss and three others, she pointed towards another door.

"Follow the boss through that door and place your belongings on the table provided. Once you've done that, strip to your skivvies and I'll be along shortly. That means you too, Natasha.", said the doctor in a ringing alto.

For the first time since they've known her, Natasha looked at a loss for words. She tried to stammer something but the doctor cut her off.

"I've been going over your medical file boss and its close enough to that time that I decided to go ahead and get your exam done and the security systems upgraded with your new readings at the same time as I took care of these ladies. It'll be easier getting done today and not having to worry about it later when its time. That should make all of our jobs easier. Besides Foxfire just came through about an hour or so ago."

"Really Kimberly, and pray tell why did they come through here?", asked Natasha.

"They returned from their latest mission very early this morning and skipped out on their after mission exam. You know that after that other mission awhile back, Foxfire Lead had that wound that dropped him in intensive care and hid it from you. When you found out you ordered them to go through their after mission exams the minute they got into the building. I found out about it earlier and tried to call them to come in, but you know those three."

Natasha scowled; she was going to have a little talk with her three operatives about ignoring procedures.

"Yeah, I know those three better than anyone in the organization. Foxfire would sell their own grandmothers to the devil if it meant that they didn't have to go through pre and post mission exams. I'll deal with them before the evenings' out, okay?"

Doctor Kimberly nodded and watched as the four women left for the exam room. Returning her attention back to the files at hand, she finished updating the ones about those Foxfire guys and replaced them into the file cabinet. Picking up the four remaining files, she rose from her seat and headed for her next subjects.

In the exam room, Alex, Sam, and Clover watched as Natasha took off her suit and took a seat on one of the chairs provided. Doing as they had been asked by the doctor and stripping to their underwear after dropping their bags on the table, the three girls waited for the doctor to enter and commence their exam. When the doctor entered, Natasha requested that her exam be taken care of first so that the girls could see how it was done. Kimberly agreed and reached into her pocket.

Alex had gazed around the room on entering and had spotted the security camera sitting in the corner. She was about to protest when she saw the red recording light go out and heard a voice through a hidden speaker. The static-filled speech told her that whoever was speaking was using a voice changer.

"Security camera shut down, recording in exam room two ceased for privacy."

As the three spies watched, Natasha submitted to her exam. She had been right, the exam was very thorough. Doctor Kimberly checked everything and everywhere and compared it to her notes in Natasha's file. When it was time for the girls' examination, the doctor pressed a button and a keyboard slid out from the desk. Beside it sat a microphone. It became apparent what the microphone was for when the doctor began her examination of Sam and started speaking into the device. Natasha explained.

"Kimberly is speaking directly to the secure file part of the computer system. She's giving her observations. Those observations will be added to file when she programs it into the computer. Next time you come down, you won't have to go through this mess again. However if you're training takes longer than a month, you'll have to submit to this again next month. I know it sucks but like I said, we're very security conscious here."

It took a little over two hours to finish all of the exams and once the doctor left the room with her files, Sam and the girls wasted no time in replacing their clothes and grabbing their bags. Natasha waited for them to finish then lead them out of the exam area. Back in the main room, she turned down one of the corridors and headed for a nondescript door at the end of the hallway. Turning the knob, she tossed her keys on the bookcase next to the door and headed for the executive chair behind the desk. Taking a seat, she indicated that the spies do the same thing. Running her hands through her hair and sighing, she pinned them with a gaze that spoke wonders and finally gave up the name of her department.

"Welcome to WOOHP's 'DILJO' Division, ladies. And I hope you learn and enjoy the training you are about to commence. Although there will be times during this training you'll call me every name in the book and then some.", said Natasha expansively.

The three spies blinked as one then turned to each other and talked among themselves. As expected, Sam took the lead and asked the question Natasha knew was coming.

"DILJO Division, what's the DILJO Division?"

"The DILJO Division is the most secretive of all departments in WOOHP. If you haven't figured it out yet, DILJO stands for 'Dirty Little Jobs. Ladies you've just entered the world of WOOHP's black ops and wet work."

"Black operations and wet work, what are those?", asked Clover.

Sam who was mentally putting things together in her mind figured it out and explained to her friend. As she did, the queasiness she'd felt earlier came back ten times as strong as before. She looked at Alex and saw by her expression that Alex had figured it out as well. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to have fazed Alex as it did Sam.

"Clover, black operations are operations so controversial that they are never mentioned to anyone. Not even those in WOOHP. To know about these operations you have to have a high security clearance. And as the head of WOOHP, Jerry has the highest clearance there is.", answered Sam.

"I kind of figured that out already Sam. I mean with all the security we've had to go through it was very obvious. What I'm talking about is this 'wet work' Natasha mentioned. Does it mean that we're going to spend a lot of time around water or something like that?", exclaimed Clover.

Sam was about to elaborate but Alex cut her off.

"Clover, 'wet work' is the laymen's terms for assassination. DILJO specializes in making problems disappear. Permanently disappear. The Dirty Little Jobs Division is WOOHP's assassination department.", stated Alex.

"Meaning?"

"What that means Clover is that whereas in your missions you've brought back the enemy alive. In ours, the enemy is permanently eliminated.", came Natasha's cold voice.

Clover finally understood and it made her think about the ramifications of that one phrase. Before anyone could say anything in the silence that followed, the intercom on Natasha's desk went off. She answered and allowed the girls to listen in.

"Boss, Foxfire is about to start their training exercise in subbasement seven. Do you wish to observe?"

"Yes, pipe the video to my office. I'll observe from here with my guests. They need to see this as well. My guests will be participating with Foxfire later in their training. Right now I want them to get a feel for Foxfire's teamwork."

"Yes ma'am, is there anything else you need?"

"Yeah, have the armory send three training weapons to my office. I need the armorer to go over those lasers with my guests. And have Shelly the supply lady grab my guests' measurements from the doc. These three need DILJO specials. When Shelly gets those, have her place them in three empty lockers in the female dressing area. My guests will be there shortly. Oh yeah, please bring my tea tray and four mugs. I think my guests are going to need it.", stated Natasha.

"Yes ma'am everything's being taken care off. Once I get the locker combinations from Shelly I'll bring them in for your guests. The armorer will be there with the training lasers in fifteen minutes."

Natasha thanked the faceless voice and shut off the intercom. Rotating her chair, she pressed a button on one of the armrests. As the chair rotated to face the back wall, a monitor slid noiselessly down from its stowed spot in the ceiling. Natasha pressed another button and the screen came alive.

On the monitor was an overhead view of several rooms. Each room had two or more guards either standing guard or making rounds. The spies recognized it as a floor of a building although they didn't know where that particular building was located. Natasha started to explain about the scenario.

"In this scenario, Foxfire has to infiltrate the building and eliminate the head of an enemy organization. In the real mission my team made a few mistakes but was able to complete their mission. Here they are redoing the mission to try and figure out where they made their mistakes. Once they find those, they will meticulously go over them so that if they are ever activated for a similar mission, they'll recognize the mistakes and be able to avoid them."

The three girls nodded and started to follow the action on the screen. Seeing that they were having a hard time following the progress, Natasha gave a couple of verbal commands. One command shifted the playback on the screen to her desk. The next command changed the viewing perspective from two dimensional to three dimensional. The three spies sighed in relief as everything on the screen became a bit clearer with the shift. Sam and the girls could follow the action a bit better as they watched the rooms, guards, and the Foxfire guys projected up from a projector buried in Natasha's desk.

For the next few hours Sam, Alex, and Clover observed Foxfire in action as they reran their mission several times as they found and analyzed each mistake they had made during the actual mission. During all of this observation, the supply department delivered the weapons Natasha had requested. Natasha went over the weapons (which were highly modified Laser Tag style-rifles) and the departments' version of the spies' mission suits. When Natasha was sure that the spies knew their equipment down pat, she sent them to the locker room where they could put on their suits and the vests that went with the rifles and prepare for their introduction into the world of wet work.

"And remember girls, Foxfire will be observing you as you go through your scenario. Once you've either succeeded in your objective or failed, Foxfire will debrief you as you change in the locker room. For your privacy, Foxfire won't be able to see you. In addition, both your voices and theirs will pass through a voice changing device so that neither team will recognize the voices of their opposite number..", said Natasha as she watched the three spies make their way out of her office.

"Alright Natasha, we understand and we'll try to do our best.", Sam answered for her friends.

Natasha's only response wasn't verbalized. All she did was just gaze at the teenagers with an expressionless face. Alex involuntarily shivered as she watched the door close; cutting off the glacially cool look the head of the wet work division gave the trio. Turning to the blonde and redhead next to her, Alex indicated to Sam that she was ready. Sam nodded and the trio of girls followed their escort to the locker room where they would change into their outfits for the training.

Over in the men's locker room, the members of Foxfire were changing out of their blacksuits and into their everyday street clothes. The team leader was sitting on the wooden bench running through the center of the locker room pulling up a pair of casual socks. He had finished his shower and was watching J-Dawg's agents run through the scenario he and his team had just finished. For beginners they were actually doing pretty good. The trio of girls had already avoided several of the mistakes him and his team had made during the actual mission. However they still made other mistakes. Right now the tall redhead was inadvertently about to lead her team into a well planned ambush by the defensive security forces. He grimaced as he remembered that during the actual mission he'd almost done the same thing. But a last minute change had allowed them to successfully avoid the ambush and set up a counter ambush behind the bushwhackers waiting to shred his team.

"Yo, bossman, think we should give 'em a heads up on what they are about to walk into?", asked Foxfire Two as he entered the locker room running a towel through his damp hair.

"What do you thing? Did we have advance warning of that ambush?", snarled the team leader as he buttoned up his shirt.

Foxfire Two shook his head in negation and ignored the look cast in his direction from his team leader. Foxfire Lead seemed to be on edge. Ever since the beginning of the training, the leader had taken every chance he could to denigrate the abilities of their counterparts. He did give them credit were credit was due, they were good but he doubted that their teamwork would be the same if real lead was flying through the air over their heads. Stopping in front of his locker he turned and greeted the third member of their team as his hand twisted the dial to the locker's integral combination lock. He'd memorized the number the first day they had been assigned their lockers and hadn't changed the combination like his teammates had done to their lockers.

Once the locker door was open, Foxfire Two reached in and grabbed his anti-perspirant from the top shelf and applied it where it was needed. Donning a polo shirt while keeping his eye on the monitor on the wall he made a few comments about the agents running through the training.

"Damn, they walked right into that ambush. I wonder how they'll get out of it without taking a few hits.", he muttered as the guards on the screen sprung their ambush.

"Yeah, now they'll have to break contact and make their way to the objective by another route.", added Foxfire Three.

Out of the corner of his eye, the team leader watched as his third team member nodded in agreement as he stepped into his jeans. Tightening the laces on his boots, the leader closed his locker and rose from the bench. Deciding to head up to the lounge and grab a bite before beginning the after mission debrief for the other team, Foxfire Lead headed for the door at the far end of the locker room.

"I'm going topside to grab some snackage. Gimme a buzz and let me know how they're doing. I'll catch the conclusion of the exercise up in the lounge. Plus I gotta do some studying for school if I want to be able to ace that test tomorrow. Crap, our first day and the prof is already giving me the classes previous weeks' homework so I can get caught up. I hope that the JROTC supply office gets my uniforms right.", said the team leader.

"Hahahah, they can't help it since you're a big guy. I doubt that they've ever had cadets of your size. At least they had our uniform sizes and we were able to pick up ours after school today.", joked Foxfire Three.

The team leader grinned. His two companions were shorter and slightly skinnier than he was. Flipping his teammates an affectionate middle finger he exited the locker room and headed towards the short flight of stairs. He was hungry; maybe the guys could grab a pizza on the way home.

Wiping some of the sweat that her exertions had brought on with the back of her black glove covered hand; Sam glanced around the corner and observed the group of guards at the far end of the hallway. The five looked as if they were expecting her and her team and had their weapons pointed down the hallway in their direction. It was just her luck that she couldn't be seen as she was down on the floor minimizing her silhouette. Nodding once to herself, Sam pulled head back and murmured to her teammates about the situation.

"Great, just friggin' great; we can't go forward because they're waiting for us ahead. We can't go backwards because of the units we've bypassed are still searching for us and it'll be no time before they sniff us out. Any questions on how we're going to get out of this SNAFU'ed situation?", grumbled the redhead.

"No solutions that I can see at the moment.", answered Clover while rubbing her shoulder with her free hand.

Sam looked at her blonde friend and shook her head. Clover was still suffering aftereffects from the last firefight they'd gotten into when Alex had inadvertently tripped a trap. The laser beam had hit Clover a glancing blow but her bodysuit electronics had immediately sent a stunning pulse up her arm that caused it to stiffen up and be unusable thus reducing Clover's effectiveness.

"Dammit Natasha, you coulda warned used about that. I mean, when it happened after Alex got hit, we could've chalked up to a defect in the suits but now with Clover getting hit, it changes everything. I hope I never have to feel what she's feeling.", fumed Sam as she looked around the corner again.

Thinking of her third teammate, Sam whirled around and wondered what the most loquacious member of the team was doing. Alex hadn't said a thing since she finished her cursing after they narrowly avoided another ambush. Looking at the dark haired and caramel skinned teen, Sam started to get incensed when she saw Alex gazing at the ceiling with a thoughtful look in her eye. The tall teen was about to explode when Alex suddenly murmured to herself.

Alex had been studying the area since they'd first gotten there about a minute before after escaping a pursuit team that'd been sicced on their tail after a failed counter-ambush the spies had set up. Contrary to what Sam was thinking, Alex had listened to the conversation between her and Clover while mentally checking her observations. She'd winced internally as she'd caught a glimpse of Clover rubbing her shoulder and remembered when she'd gotten hit by an errant laser beam. Only in her case, Alex had been hit in the stomach and the electronic system in her suit had caused her to cramp up so bad that she'd executed a forward tumble into a hard wall that had knocked the breath out of her for a short bit of time.

"A few inches lower and I'd been able to tell Sam and Clover that I was no longer a virgin.", came the thought unbidden in Alex's mind.

Turning to her two friends, felt the first glimmer of a plan form in her mind. Trying to stifle the grin that was threatening to break out over her face (correctly guessing that if she let that smile through, both Clover and Sam would beat her. Repeatedly), Alex motioned the blonde and the redhead closer.

"If we can't go forward, and can't go backward, why don't we just go over the opposition?", Alex said while pointing her index to the ceiling.

Clover and Sam looked at each other with identical confused expressions on their faces before returning their attention to the dark haired girl in front of them. Their expressions told Alex that she needed to explain herself before they bashed her about the head with the butts of their weapons.

"I've been studying the ceiling for the past few minutes and noticed that the ceiling patterns are the same regardless of where we are. There are differences but their so minute you wouldn't notice them if you weren't looking. However in this hallway, the pattern difference is noticeably visible from the other hallways. Yes there are some similarities but the main differences are visibly different.", Alex started before Sam cut her off.

"And we need to know this, because? Alex as if you hadn't realized it yet, we are in deep shit! We've got an ambush team ahead of us around this corner and who knows how long it'll be before those fucking pursuit team bastards finally get their shit together and track us here. Not to mention the roving security teams who're probably setting up something behind us. Explain the reason we need to know about the bloody mindedness of that bastard interior designer who came up with this design now, Alexandra!"

Clover gasped at the rising tone of frustration in Sam's voice. Sam rarely cussed that bad unless she was really frazzled at situations that skewered her usual calmness. Rotating to face the target of Sam's ire, Clover was shocked. Alex usually caved under Sam's anger when it was this pronounced, this time Alex was looking cooler than a cucumber in Siberia in the middle of a hundred degrees below blizzard with driving snow. Alex's only reaction was a slight pulsating vein in her forehead.

"It's Alexis and if you'd let me continue I'd have explained the reason why, Samantha. Now if you'll shut the hell up for a moment, I can get us out of this.", came Alex's icily cold response.

Clover almost jumped when Alex turned in her direction.

"Clover, since you're the lightest out of the three of us and you're a cheerleader, we need you to jump straight up and grab onto the ledge I believe is just behind that ceiling panel. Wait till after Sam and I get the attention of the group around the corner. We'll start a short firefight with 'em. When we start shooting, you take out that panel and scramble into the space I believe is there. Once you're situated give us a call and we'll withdraw and join you. Do you think you can do this?"

"Umm hello… thought much? Alex what if you're wrong?", criticized Sam.

"If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong dammit! But right now it is the only option open to us!", Alex snarled in response to Sam's criticism.

The two girls growled at each other for a moment before Clover jumped in and brought them back to the mission at hand.

"Sam, Alex cool it. We've got other problems than bickering with each other right now! I'd hate to agree with Alex on this Sam, but she's right; her plan is the only option we've got left. Don't get cocky Alex, your plan is the only thing we can do but you needn't have snapped at Sam like you did. If you two are having problems between you, settle them later. Right now we've gotta get out of this.", stated Clover as she brought the laser rifle to her shoulder and prepared to shoot out the panel.

Alex and Sam glanced at each other and nodded. A new respect was growing between them. They'd acknowledge it later but at the moment they had a job to do. So after some last minute directions, Alex and Sam made their way back to the hallway corner. At the corner, Sam got back down on the floor to look around at the ambush up ahead. Since Alex was faster than her, Sam would scatter a volley of shots in the direction of the barricade to get the guards heads down. When she deemed the guards were occupied enough, Alex was going to dash across the junction and drop into a position similar to Sam on the other side. Together the pair would create a small crossfire to keep the enemies occupied just enough for Clover to shoot out the ceiling panel and execute her jump into the shaft. Once in the crawlspace, Clover planned to make her way to one of the rooms along the hallway (preferably a locked one) grab another ceiling panel, make her way back to the hole in the ceiling and give her two teammates a call on the comm system.

When Alex and Sam received the call from the third member of their trio, Sam was going to intensify her fire so Alex could make it back across the junction. Once Alex made it back across to Sam's side, she was going to take over for Sam in keeping the guards busy to allow Sam to scamper down the hall to Clover and jump into the crawlspace. Once Sam was situated in the crawlspace, Alex would toss one of the flash bang grenades in the direction of the barricade then break contact and join her two friends where Clover would place the new ceiling panel over the hole to disguise their escape route. After the panel was in place and adjusted to look natural, the three spies would make their way in the direction they needed to go.

In the lounge where the leader of Foxfire was dropping into one of the comfy chairs, the WOOHP assassin watched the video feed from the exercise area. His teammates had kept him apprised of the girls' situation. He'd been impressed with how quick it took them to figure it out. During the actual mission, it had taken him and his guys an action packed seven minutes to figure it out. Granted they'd been under heavy fire from several guards firing assault rifles and light machine guns from behind a large barricade. The only thing that had saved the lives of Foxfire team that time had been their ample supply of fragmentation grenades, their expert marksmanship, and the fact that the panel they chose to evac through was in a little alcove right off the hallway they booby trapped with a white phosperous grenade, a thunderflash grenade, and a fragmentation grenade.

"Impressive. Very impressive, they worked their way through their small confrontation and executed their hurriedly conceived plan to escape.", thought the leader of Foxfire as he watched Alex's shapely rear end disappear through the entrance in the ceiling.

Up in her office, Natasha nodded to herself as she saw what the girls had planned. Pulling up a map of the crawlspaces in the exercise area, she saw that the one the girls were presently in came to another junction several hundred yards away from the avoided ambush. Natasha also noticed that the crawlspace junction where the girls were headed had a direct line to their target. She was mentally congratulating the girls for their lucky when the direct phone line from Jerry's office started to ring. Natasha looked at the ringing phone with a sense of dread. There was only one reason Jerry would be using that line to call her. And it wasn't a good one. With a ball of ice in her gut, the head of WOOHP's "Dirty Little Jobs' Division answered the call.

"DILJO Division, Trigger Zero speaking."

"Trigger Zero, its J-Dawg. We've just received a Top Secret report from one of our informants."

"Go ahead."

"The Tortoise has come out of hiding. In eight months he's setting up a weapons auction in Monaco. We believe that he is auctioning off something bigger than his usual stuff. Intel says that he's gotten his hands on one of our 'special' backpacks. Our mission is two-fold: the recovery of that backpack and the elimination of the Tortoise. Inform Foxfire. They'll be the point team for this mission."

"Copy that. Sir, we need a name for your team of spies."

Jerry thought for a moment before answering. He figured that with what they were going to have to set up to get close enough to the Tortoise to eliminate him, the name that popped in his mind would fit.

"Trigger Zero, call them Ice Dancer. Individual codenames to follow: Sam is Ice Dancer Antigone, Clover is Ice Dancer Aphrodite, and Alex is Ice Dancer Anemone. I'll let you decide how to implement a plan to eliminate this problem. One more thing, send Foxfire to the island. Assign them three weeks under the hands of Seductress. Once they return, send Ice Dancer. They'll need to learn if WOOHP is going to pull this off."

"Copy that. DILJO One, out."

Natasha hung up the phone and turned to her computer. Opening its locator program, she asked it to find the three members of Foxfire. When she saw where the three guys were, she sighed.

"I should've known where they'd be. Every time they finish in the exercise area, the lounge is the first place they go after changing. Geez, they need to stop being so predictable. In our line of work, to be predictable is fatal."

Picking the phone handset up again, Natasha dialed the extension for the lounge. The phone rang twice before Foxfire Lead answered.

"Dazzman's, You Kill It, We Grill It Top Secret Lounge and Road Kill Grill! Whatcha havin'?"

"Give it a break, asshole. We've got a major problem!

"What's the problem boss?"

Natasha sighed again. If she knew her best team of assassins, they'd want to go after the target this instant. Unfortunately, right now was definitely not a good time for them to go charging off like they did in their old freelancer days.

"J-Dawg just issued a new contract. Highest priority 'shoot on sight' contract with addendums."

"Who's the target on the contract?"

"Tortoise.", answered Natasha after taking a deep breath.

There was complete silence on the line for a long time before the leader of the team asked for details.

"Not too many, Tortoise came out of his shell to announce an auction. Then he retreated again."

"Okay, Auction time and location."

"Monaco, eight months from tonight. One more thing."

"Go ahead."

"You'll have an assist on this mission. That comes straight from the top."

There was some general grumbling and cursing as her guys realized that their protests just got sidetracked. Foxfire Lead asked the obvious question.

"Who'll be our backup?"

Natasha winced as she heard the acid in the team leaders' voice. The bastard was going to try and play coy with her. She stifled the urge to chastise him over the line (it wasn't secure enough for that). She counted to ten before answering.

"No backup, but you'll have an assist. Quit playing word games with me. You'll be assisted by Ice Dancer."

More silence on the line. She knew that her three charges didn't know who the hell she was talking about. Before they could ask about this new team, she gave them their orders Jerry had given her.

"Foxfire, you're to report to Seductress on the island for the standard three week assignment. You know how much this mission means to Seductress; do not dally in your training. Antigone, Aphrodite, and Anemone will go through training on the island once you're returned. You have eight months to prep your gear. We'll start planning the operation next week. That is all. Last thing, the use of Freelancer designation is authorized.", stated Natasha before hanging up.

In the lounge, the members of Foxfire looked at each other with intense gazes. They knew what the elimination of the Tortoise meant to Seductress. They knew it all too well. Foxfire Lead turned to his teammates.

"For this mission, you know where our first stop is, guys."- Foxfire Lead

"Yeah, we need to go there anyways. It's been a long time since we last saw Snowcat."- Foxfire Two.

"We'll meet with Snowcat before we leave tonight. You know we're gonna have to tell Seductress and you know how she'll feel?"-Foxfire Three.

The other two members of Foxfire nodded before the team leader spoke again.

"It can't be helped. We'll report to the island next Monday."

His two friends nodded in agreement. With one last look at the monitor and the progress of the training mission going on, the three members of Foxfire Team left the lounge. At the door, the leader of the team muttered one thing to himself.

"I hope Ice Dancer will be up to the challenge, even if I don't know who they are.", said D. C. James to the empty lounge.

It was Thursday afternoon and Dominic was finishing up with his washing of the Sean's Audi and his Mitsu. He was prepping the FTO for his date with Alex later and had decided to wash and wax his car so that its metallic blue paint shimmered in the light. Sean had been taking a break from his studies when he saw D.C. pull his car out to be washed. He'd caught up to his partner and asked D.C. if he didn't mind washing the Audi while he was at it. D.C. said it was no problem and told him that he'd have it cleaned up by the time he was supposed to be heading back to the field house to study some tape of Beverly High's football upcoming opponent

"Hey Sean, you got your gear ready for Monday? You know we'll be leaving immediately after school, right? Bosslady managed to get the PBY set up to take us to the island.", remarked Dominic as he finished drying off the dark metallic blue, right hand drive vehicle in front of him.

"Natasha got the Catalina? Wicked cool!!! It's been a long time since we cruised out to the island in such style! Oh yeah, I think I'm gonna like this."

Dominic cast his friend a telling glance and Sean quieted down. He knew just as well as D.C. that the guys from Snowcat would want him to not take things so lightly. Snowcat had been the last to go after Tortoise; actually they'd gone after his boss and completed that mission. However the Tortoise had figured out that WOOHP had had a hand in his mentor's assassination. Somehow, Tortoise found out the identities Snowcat and had set up a well-though out plan to take care of them. The plan had worked but it had nearly been derailed when it became apparent that at the time Snowcat was working a mission with Belladonna, the team that the Seductress had been a member of. Unfortunately, Seductress had fallen in love with Snowcat Leader and the relationship had shown positive signs of leading to a marriage even though the two had broken one of DILJO's most hallowed regulations for joint operations. The Tortoise covertly inserted himself into the target's retinue and one night caught Snowcat Leader and Seductress together in a compromising position. The Tortoise had knocked out Seductress by hitting her in the back of the head with his pistol. While Seductress had been unconscious, the Tortoise hogtied her and Snowcat Lead and kidnapped them both. As he was doing this, the other two members of Snowcat were on their way to rescue their leader and Seductress with the other two members of Belladonna running back-up.

The four WOOHP assassins had caught up with Tortoise as he was making his way back to his yacht and took him under withering fire. Tortoises' bodyguards returned fire and in the ensuing firefight, the guys Snowcat had all been killed while the women of Belladonna were seriously wounded. Tortoise had executed the leader of Snowcat in front of Seductress. It had a chilling effect on her, when she and the rest of Belladonna recovered, her two teammates resigned from the agency. Seductress had stayed with WOOHP and did a few solo missions while waiting to be assigned to a new team. In the end, the Seductress stepped away from active operations to run the WOOHP special assassination training camp on an unmarked privately owned island that Jerry had been very successful in keeping quiet from the rest of the organization.

Even though she was retired from active field work, Seductress kept up on what was current and was always on the lookout for information about the Tortoise as she trained WOOHP agents in special abilities. D.C., Sean, and J.T. had been sent to the island early on in their WOOHP careers for training to prep them on how to avoid feminine wiles (and female assassins) while on assignment. Seductress also taught female field agents in the art of seduction and how during undercover assignments they could use seduction to their advantage.

Foxfire also had a bone to pick with Tortoise for his murder of Snowcat. The Snowcat guys were the ones who had inadvertently given the boys their official nickname: Foxfire. At the time of their deaths, the guys of Snowcat and the boys of Foxfire had been the best of friends and more importantly Snowcat had trained Foxfire in the many different ways of teamwork.

"Yeah Sean we all know you love that PBY. Seductress still ain't gonna let you pilot it, though. Just don't forget that Snowcat wants us to get their justice for them. Our job once we leave the island is to take out the Tortoise once and for all.", D.C. reminded Sean.

Sean nodded while rubbing his hands in anticipation of his trip in the big old amphibious aircraft with its radial engines. It was one of the few things that WOOHP had that he wanted for himself. Dominic chuckled to himself as he finished the wax job on his car. Buffing out the last few bits of wax with the buffer, the six foot two and a half inch assassin walked into the garage and unplugged the power tool before returning to the side of the FTO and grabbing the bucket of dirty water and rags that he'd used to wash both cars. Walking over to the industrial sink in the garage, D.C. dumped the dirty water into the sink. The rags he'd used to wash the cars fell out into the bottom of the sink. Placing the pail on the ground, he turned on the faucet so the rags could be rinsed out before they were tossed into the washing machine.

"Hey Sean, when did J.T. say he was going to be back. I wanted to ask him if I could borrow one of his Polo shirts for my date tonight?", commented D.C. as he made his way over to where Sean was leaning over the handlebars of his Tiger.

"Nah, I don't know what time he said he was going to be back. Last time I saw him, he was headed out to go pick up a pizza and some movies. Justin mentioned earlier that Sam is coming over for a bit to hang out."

D.C. nodded as he took off the sopping wet t-shirt he'd been wearing. Dominic didn't know where Alex planned to take him on this date so he wanted to be dressed for whatever, whether it was hanging out at the mall, eating in one of the many upscale restaurants of Beverly Hills, or just cruisin around town. After his J.R.O.T.C. class, Dominic had run into Alex by their lockers. She'd asked him a few questions before skipping off to join Sam and Clover for something he wasn't privy too.

Tossing a wave over his shoulder at his friend, Dominic went inside. He had a shower to take and a closet to raid. Sean returned the greeting and continued futzing around with his trail bike. Clover had invited him to a trail ride Saturday afternoon and he wanted his bike to be ready. The last time the Tiger had been ridden was when Sean and his buddies had gone out to Bolan family ranch for a little R & R.

While Dominic was headed upstairs to his room to grab his clothes for the evening, Sam and Clover were trying to help Alex find something to wear. The dark skinned teenage soccer star was a bit frazzled. Ever since they had gotten home from school (WOOHP training had been canceled for the evening), Alex had been going through her closet as well as Sam and Clover's looking for something to wear.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit! Dammitalltohell and back! I don't have anything to wear for my date tonight! Maybe I should just cancel tonight and go out with D.C. some other time!", Alex fumed.

Clover and Sam looked at each other and shrugged. This was something new and old at the same time. Usually it was Clover freaking out while Sam and Alex looked on and offered suggestions. Clover was finding this a tad bit funny since it wasn't her acting out of character.

"Alex, take it easy and calm down. Did you have any specific place you wanted to take Dominic to that requires you dress up or what?", asked Sam as she idly flipped through a fashion magazine that had been haphazardly tossed on the oak dresser earlier.

"Yes, no, I don't know. I just want this evening to be special. I mean, it's our first official date and I don't want to ruin it by dressing too casual.", replied Alex as she threw herself down on her bed.

"Well why don't you call and ask Dominic what he's wearing. At the same time you can find out what he likes and tailor the evening appropriately.", replied Clover as she did some leg lifts.

Alex cast Clover a dirty look. She wanted D.C. to be impressed and surprised. Calling and asking would ruin everything and he wouldn't be as surprised as she wanted. Sam agreed with Clover that Alex should call but she also agreed that calling wouldn't be in Alex's best interest either. The outcome of her evening was banking on Alex keeping Dominic out for an extended period of time while hoping Clover decided to either go shopping or 'run into' Sean at the field house. Taking everything into account and wanting to avoid some potentially embarrassing questions, Sam suggested that Clover call Sean and get him to spill the beans about what D.C., planned to wear.

"And hopefully, one or the other will be astute enough to ask the other their plans for later this evening. Thus enabling me to enjoy my evening with Justin, roommate and distraction free.", thought Sam in a wickedly selfish way that was unusual for her.

Clover grumbled a bit but called anyway. To Clover, if helping Alex get closer to Dominic meant that she got ahead of her arch nemesis in the popularity polls at Bev High, then the blonde would help every chance she got. Dialing the number from memory, Clover waited for Sean to answer.

"Hiyas dahling, how's it goin over at the house of the hottest babes on campus?", crooned Sean as he answered the phone.

Clover grinned self-consciously to herself when she heard Sean's voice. She loved it when he tried to do impressions (he wasn't that good at them but she laughed nevertheless).

"Everything's going fine. Sam and I are just hanging out trying to help Alex figure out what to wear for her date with Dominic. She can't seem to pick anything even though she has a closet full of clothes.", Clover returned while ignoring the dagger-like look Alex sent her way.

"Oh I see. D.C.'s having the same problem however, he can't decide whether or not to steal either one of my polo shirts, one of Justin's polo shirts, or wear one of his own banded-collar shirts. I'm trying to convince the big oaf that his triple-pleated charcoal black slacks would look better with either of his long sleeve dark red banded-collar shirt or his teal mock turtleneck shirt. When I suggested he wear his coral colored button-up shirt, I received his glare of promised death. At least with the red shirt, he can wear his black vest.", commented Sean.

Clover listened intently to her intended while gazing at the clothes still left hanging in Alex's closet. One particular dress caught her eye and she snapped her fingers to get the attention of her two friends. When Alex and Sam glanced in Clover's direction, she pointed at the dress in question.

Alex followed Clover's pointing finger and looked dubiously at the dress in question. It was a dark red short-sleeved dress Alex had purchased on a whim over the summer. She'd forgotten her original justification for buying the dress in the first place and had consigned it to the closet where it sat in its plastic cover forgotten until Clover had seen it hanging forlornly in its bag. Realizing the reason why Clover was pointing at that particular dress, Alex shook her head negatively. She suddenly recalled why it had been forgotten. Alex didn't want to wear that dress for just a simple date; she wanted to wear it for a special occasion.

Clover glared at Alex and continued pointing at the dress. Alex continued to shake her head no.

"Oh come on Alex. It's a nice dress to wear. You want this date to be a memorable one and that dress would be a good way to remember.", Sam chimed in.

"No, Sam. There's a reason I don't want to wear that dress. I want to wear it for a special occasion. A very special occasion.", grunted Alex angrily.

"This is a special occasion. There isn't any other occasion that could be more special than this."

"Yes there is!", replied Alex emphatically.

"Really, what occasion could be more special than this one?", asked Clover as she depressed the 'mute' button on the phone so Sean couldn't overhear the conversation.

"Clover!", shrieked Alex as she gave her blonde friend a significant look.

The look on Clover's face showed that she didn't understand why her friend was getting all riled up about wearing the dress. And what was this about Alex saving it for a special occasion. Clover didn't understand the reasoning behind that one either. What could be more special than Alex's first date with one of the three hottest guys in school? Clover didn't know and asked only to receive a glare that could've curdled milk at a thousand paces from her soccer playing, dark-haired friend. Frustrated that Clover still wasn't getting it and not about to mention what she meant by 'special occasion' out loud, Alex cast Sam a look that said 'please get Clover out of my room before I commit first degree premeditated murder and kill her with my bare hands'. Sam nodded her head in agreement and took the phone handset away from Clover; much to the latter's annoyance. Thanking Sean for what little bit of help he could give, Sam hung up.

"Come on Clover, let's go. Lets' see if there's something in my closet Alex can wear for her date. I believe I might have something a bit better.", said Sam as she made to leave the room.

"But Sa…aam! Why do we have to check your closet when there's such a perfect outfit in hers?", whined Clover as she sat up.

Sam just shook her head in exasperation, reached down, and grabbed Clover by the ear, effectively pulling the shorter, lighter girl to her feet and ending the conversation. Pushing Clover out the door, Sam looked back at Alex. She was curious herself about what kind of special occasion Alex could be talking about. Looking back over her shoulder, Sam asked Alex about it. Upon hearing Sam's question, Alex nearly snapped and was looking for a shoe to throw in Sam's direction.

"Oh come on, Alex, you can tell me. Why are you saving that dress for a special occasion and what kind of special occasion are you saving it for?", asked Sam as she stepped across the threshold.

Realizing that Sam wasn't going to let her off the hook as easily as Clover did, Alex muttered to herself before hesitantly answering the question in such a low voice that Sam almost didn't hear it.

"I'm saving it for a special occasion because, Ms. Nosy, it's easy for me take off! Now does that answer your question?", muttered Alex.

Understanding dawned on Sam's face as she realized what Alex was alluding too.

"Oh, 'THAT 'special occasion'!"

"Yes, 'that' one! Now Get Out! And Sam; don't tell Clover! If our blonde friend ever found out, I'd never hear the end of it! Especially since what happened a few months ago.", answered an embarrassed Alex.

Sam had the grace to look a bit sheepish as a fresh tinge of red spread across her face. She knew exactly what incident Alex was referring to. A flash of memory from that night came to her unbidden and she turned an even deeper shade of red before hurriedly making her excuses and rapidly retreating from Alex's room. Once she was sure her two friends were nowhere in the immediate vicinity of her door, Alex slammed the door closed. If she was this frazzled trying to find something to wear, she wondered how bad she would be when it came to the actual date!

Throwing herself on her bed, Alex crossed her arms and rested her head on them. She hated having to let slip to Sam why she had bought the dress in the first place. It wasn't a subject Alex preferred to dwell on. Yes she was still a virgin and she was damn proud of it. It was the one thing she'd promised her mother a few years before when she'd first broached the subject of staying with her friends while her parents moved to another country. At the time, Alex didn't mention that living alone together with Sam and Clover would help hone their teamwork as WOOHP agents (hell, she couldn't even mention to her parents that she was a spy), she just told her parents that it would be better if she started and finished high school with her friends. At first her father hadn't been too happy, but eventually he came around to the idea.

"Mom, so far, I'm keeping my promise to you and daddy to wait until I'm married. But, just being around Dominic is like being around an eternal rainbow. I'm sooo tempted to break that promise. I've only known him and his friends for a few days, but he's everything I could want in the man I want to marry someday. Out of all the guys I've seen and dated, Dominic is the only one where I felt a raging jealousy by his interactions with another woman. Even when Mandy pulled similar stunts to guys I've liked before, I've never felt the rage I felt that day. Am I falling in love with Dominic even though I barely know him?", ran the thoughts in Alex's mind.

Making a decision, Alex turned over and reached for the phone next to her bed. Dialing a long string of numbers, Alex waited for her call to go through and connect. When it did and she recognized the voice that answered, Alex took a deep breath and asked a question she'd never had to ask before in her life.

"Hello mom, I need your advice on something., can you help me?"

The street lights in the neighborhood were just starting to come on when a midnight blue Mitsubishi FTO pulled out into the street. Going a few houses down, the dark paint gleamed with the shine only a fresh hand wash and wax could create as it quietly made its way under the lights and pulled into the driveway of its driver's intended destination.

Dominic Calvin James, attired in his charcoal triple pleated slacks, a long-forgotten dark gold banded collar shirt he'd found hiding in closet in the basement armory, a storm grey brushed leather vest, and a pair of black leather Giorgio Brutini dress shoes his dad had had custom made for him a few years before, shut off the 2.5 liter turbocharged and intercooled engine and climbed out of the vehicle. Making his way up the walk to the door, he checked the time on the black pocket watch (a gift from his younger sister on his seventeenth birthday) and saw that he was a few minutes early.

"Oh good, I thought I was gonna be late when I couldn't find a shirt to wear.", the teen muttered to himself as he reached the door and pressed the doorbell.

A minute or so after the chimes from the doorbell died down, the door opened to admit D.C. Stepping through the doorway and into the foyer of the villa, he saw that Sam had been the one to open the door. Smiling to his red-haired hostess and giving her a brotherly hug, Dominic allowed Sam to lead him further into the expansive villa.

"Hi Dominic, you're right on time. Alex will be down in a minute or so. She had some last minute things to take care of. Please have a seat. Would you like anything to drink while you wait?", asked Sam in what was obvious to Dominic as a ploy to get him to answer in the negative.

Deciding to slightly screw up Sam's quick getaway, Dominic nodded and asked for a glass of water. He stifled a chuckle as Sam's too wide grin faltered a bit as she realized that he'd seen right through her act.

"It's okay Sam, I know that you're trying to head over to our place and meet up with J.T. Don't worry, he's waiting for you and he's rented a few good movies he thinks you'd enjoy. Oh yeah, I snuck this away from him when he wasn't looking. I hope you enjoy it.", joked D.C. as he handed Sam a long black leather covered case with the elegantly rendered name of a very reputable jeweler embossed in gold script on the top.

Sam saw the name and her breath caught. Gently accepting the gift from Dominic the red haired teen opened the box reverently. Her hand went to her throat as her eyes came to rest upon the gold filigree necklace resting on the soft grey felt. At the end of the necklace a respectably sized ruby glittered in the dim light. Sam realized that the red stone scintillating in the light precisely matched the color of her hair when it caught the light of the sun during the day.

D.C. watched as a tear started to well up in Sam's eye. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out an embroidered maroon handkerchief he handed to Sam with an admonishment to not start to cry.

"It would ruin your pretty face and I'd rather not have Justin threatening bodily harm because I made you cry. He's already going to be miffed that I swiped this from him and gave it to you before he could.", chuckled D.C., as Sam hastily dabbed at her eyes with the offered piece of cloth.

Sam nodded and promised not to tell Justin what his partner had done and retreated to the kitchen to retrieve the requested glass of water. When she returned with his glass, Dominic thanked her and turned his attention towards the window as he sipped. Careful not to spill any on his clothes, he was lost in thought and didn't hear the soft footsteps as Alex started to make her way down the stairs. It was only the hint of Plumeria wafting through the air and a quiet cough from Sam that alerted him to the fact that his date had arrived. Dominic turned from the window to see Alex as she made her appearance.

When he caught his first glimpse of Alex, the hand holding his glass of water stopped in mid-motion.

Alex was wearing a knee length short sleeved dress in black velvet with sequins around the neckline. The sequins glinted in the light and cast scintillas of light across the room as they glimmered. Alex had her hair done up in a different style than usual and somebody had woven a strand of small diamonds through her short black hair. As she continued down the stairs gracefully and elegantly, Dominic continued to drink in her appearance. A brief satin-like shimmer confirmed that Alex was wearing skin tone pantyhose on her athletic legs. Nearing the bottom of the staircase, Dominic saw that his vision of beauty was wearing black, closed-toe heels that emphasized her long legs and made her look taller than her five foot nine inch height. The heels also made her already curvaceous posture even better.

With his mind taken over by how beautiful Alex looked, Dominic didn't notice when Sam stepped up and gently took the half full glass out of his hands to keep him from dropping it and spilling the water all over the carpet. He unconsciously released his grip on the glass and didn't even register when Sam made her exit into the kitchen. As Alex approached his position, D.C. found that he couldn't speak a word because his throat felt as if it had closed. It only opened when Alex stopped right in front of him and asked what he thought.

"My god Alex, you look beautiful! Exquisitely beautiful.", he murmured as she stepped into his arms.

"Thank you, Dominic.", she relied demurely before pressing a feather light kiss to his lips.

His senses went haywire when he tasted her lips. To Dominic they were like a refreshing life-giving rain providing a sustenance that would never disappear. He was disappointed when she stepped back to take in his appearance.

For Alex, Dominic's appearance made her heart beat faster and faster. The grey slacks wrapped around his legs as if they were trying to restrain the long, well-muscled, and toned limbs. The shirt brought out the color of his eyes and hid the slender muscular frame underneath. His vest draped from his broad shoulders as if it had poured over him while hot and had solidified when it came in contact with his body heat through the lightweight rayon shirt, its dark color complemented by the pocket watch chain hanging from the right front pocket of the vest.

Drinking in each other's appearance, both Dominic and Alex were surprised when a light flashed behind them. Unconsciously reacting, it took a second for D.C. to realize that the flash he saw wasn't from the business end of a weapon but from the digital camera Sam was wielding to take their picture.

"Gotcha, now both of you'll have a good memory from this date. Just let me get a few more pictures and I'll be out of your way.", commented Sam with a smile.

"Yeah, I'll be out of your way and on my way over to see Justin!!", went the selfish thoughts in Sam's mind.

Bringing the camera back to her eye, Sam gazed through the viewfinder. What she saw peaked her interest about what she and her friends didn't know about the new men in their lives. Dominic had unconsciously but firmly pushed Alex behind him and stood as if he was protecting her. Sam thought that was just natural, what wasn't natural is that in addition to pushing Alex behind him, Dominic's right hand had flew to hip as if he was reaching for something located there.

"Where have I seen that kind of movement before? Its not a natural reaction to the light from a camera's flash. It's as if he's not reacting to the camera flash itself. It seems he's reacting to a similar flash from his past. What produces a flash similar to a camera?", thought Sam as she waited for Dominic and Alex to rearrange themselves into a photo-friendly pose.

Once everything was alright, Sam took several more pictures of the couple before they departed. The red head even managed to take a picture of Alex and D.C. sharing another kiss as their chariot pulled out of the villa's long curving driveway. However, Sam couldn't get Dominic's reaction out of her mind. As she prepared to lock up the three story house and head over to hang out with Justin, she wondered why D.C. would react that way. She also wondered where she'd seen such a reaction before. It would be hours later in the midst of her movie marathon with Justin when it would come to her where she'd seen that kind of reaction before.

Mindless of her red headed roommates' late night ruminations, Alex waited as Dominic opened his car door for her once they left the house. She was surprised at first when Dominic lead her around what she thought was the driver's side of his car. It became clear when he explained it as she climbed in and settled her body into the crème' colored kangaroo leather bucket seat that melded around her sinuous proportions.

"It's a right hand drive car my mom had imported from Japan a few years back. I love driving it because it's different. You should see the looks I get from other drivers on the highway when they realize that I'm on the wrong side of the car as I pass them at speed.", commented Dominic as he climbed into the car on the right side and buckled his seatbelt.

Once they were situated in the car and D.C. was sure that Alex was securely -but not too tightly- buckled in, Dominic inserted his key in to the ignition, depressed the clutch with his left foot and started the engine. Alex nodded to herself as the mellow sounds of the well taken care of engine burbled to life with a low grumble of restrained power. Opening the moonroof, Dominic shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the villa's driveway. Once out on the street, he pointed the car in the direction of the city and shifted the two door sports coupe into first gear. Within minutes, he was up to fourth gear and the car was cruising sedately as it left their neighborhood behind.

Once they were out on the open road, Dominic turned on the radio. Alex listened as an unfamiliar song came through the upgraded sound system. Alex appreciated the fact that her date wasn't one of those guys and girls who only cared about bass in music. Her ear could tell that although there was more than enough bass to bust his subwoofers, Dominic preferred to listen to the entire range of music coming through his radio and CD player. The highs and lows could be heard and weren't drowned out by the bass.

Closing her eyes and letting the music wash over her, she wasn't surprised that the song was being sung in Japanese.

"Well he does seem to be a man of the world, why should I be surprised if he listens to music from other countries. I wouldn't be surprised if he even understood the lyrics.", thought Alex as she reached back and placed her black clutch purse on the back seat.

Curious about the music, Alex asked what the name of the song playing was. Dominic's answer intrigued her a bit.

"Oh it's from a favorite show of ours. Sean, Justin, and I are all fans of anime. Between the three of us we have a nice, well-cared for collection. This song is the opening theme song to a series called 'Revolutionary Girl Utena'. It's not too fast paced and to me the music is relaxing. I also listen to other kinds of music. I'm partial to classical and some R & B when I drive at night with the moonroof open.", answered D.C., as he followed Alex's directions to a very exclusive restaurant.

Half an hour later, the couple was being shown to their table. Alex had already called ahead and made reservations for two and had requested a secluded, dimly lit table with an outside view. As the tuxedo-clad (and professional) maitre'd led them to their requested table, a waiter lit the pair of tall red tapers in the candelabra with a flourish. Alex and Dominic applauded as the waiter bowed before striding off to perform the same ritual at another table.

Being the gentleman he was (and using manners taught him by his own family as well as beaten into him by Seductress), Dominic pulled out Alex's chair before the maitre'd could and allowed Alex to seat herself before gently pushing back under the table. Making his way back around to his side of the table, the teenager seated himself.

"Would you like to order from our wine list, sir? Our establishment carries a substantial selection of wines and champagnes in our well-stocked and monitored wine cellar.", asked the maitre'd as he deposited a pair of menus on the table.

Alex glanced at Dominic and he could see the tinge of worry in her eyes and read her non-verbal question.

"Not at this very moment, kind sir. The lady will decide at a later time.", commented Dominic as he gazed intently into Alex's dark eyes.

The gentleman nodded and bowed once before departing their table to take care of some other arrivals. The two teenagers watched him stride off with a graceful step. When another well-dressed waiter placed a matched set of crystal glasses of water on their table, they returned their attention to each other. Dominic took a sip from his glass and waited for the question he knew was coming.

"Dominic do you know what could've happened to us if you'd said yes and he'd checked our ID's and found out we're underage? We'd have been in real trouble.", hissed Alex.

The flickering light cast intriguing shadows on Alex's face as he watched and weighed his answer. Dominic figured that if they had ordered wine or champagne; the maitre'd wouldn't have checked their identification to see if they were of legal age. He figured that since they carried themselves with a maturity beyond their years, they were mature enough to drink.

"My dear Alex, you needn't have worried. He asked because he guesses that we're mature enough to handle ourselves. Its part of his job to make un-informed guesses like that about his customers. Around the world, others of his profession have to make snap judgments about guests within seconds of meeting them. The maitre'd judged us the way he did because of the way we carry ourselves.", answered Dominic.

Alex thought about that for a minute. To cover up her thinking, she reached for her cup of water and took a sip. Replacing the glass on the table she asked Dominic another question. His answer surprised her.

"Alex, take a glance around the room at the other patrons; then look at the mirror to our left and tell me what you see. That will give you your answer."

Casually gazing around the restaurant and observing the other patrons, Alex couldn't see much of a difference in the other couples and her and Dominic. Gazing at the mirror at their reflection, she still couldn't figure it out. All she saw in the mirror was the reflection of a well dressed couple out for a romantic dinner. Alex mentioned as much to Dominic and was annoyed to see him shake his head.

"Alex, Alex, Alex you're not seeing the big picture. You're looking but you're not observing. There is a difference between the two. Look at how everyone else in the room is carrying themselves and compare that to how we're carrying ourselves."

"I am, Dominic, I am but I'm not seeing it. Please elaborate on your meaning."

"Alright but before I do, answer me this: if we'd have came in here behaving like we do at school or at home, do you think the maitre'd would have asked the question he asked?"

'No, but that's explainable, our behavior would've been different. He would have known we're underage because we'd have been acting like typical teenagers.", answered Alex as she gazed at Dominic over the top of her menu.

"Exactly. Now trying observing the other patrons again and tell me how we're acting in comparison to them."

Alex did so and this time she was able to understand what Dominic was talking about. The maitre'd had asked them about the wine list because her and Dominic weren't acting like teenagers. They were acting like the adults around them so he assumed that since they were acting like adults they must be adults. She told her date as much as felt very satisfied when he nodded in concurrence and smiled. Dominic's smile filled her with a warmth she'd rarely felt from any other guy in her life. It made her feel like she was on cloud nine. She returned his warm smile with one of her own.

Staring into her grey eyes D.C. felt like he was beginning to get lost. He was falling, falling hard and he knew it. The flickering of the candles shimmered as their dancing was reflected in her grey orbs. Reaching across the table and gently taking a hold of her hand, Dominic held it and gently caressed her soft skin (verily amazed at its softness) with his thumb. Again he felt the flash of electricity he remembered from that first slow dance and how fast it had come and gone but had left them connected them on a much higher level than before. This time the electricity between them was way stronger and lasting much longer and their connection felt as if it was getting deeper and deeper.

In their mind's eye the two teenagers saw that there was only one resolution for this relationship and they were headed in that direction faster than ever. The moment was broken when a waiter cleared his throat and asked if they were ready to order. The last image that each saw in their subconsicousness before their contact was broken was images of tangled sheets and sweat soaked bodies. For Alex, her mental image of resolution showed her somewhat of an epilogue where she was wearing a white dress and carrying a bouquet of flowers. She was quick to grab on to this image although later she wondered what it meant.

"Does it mean that he and I are destined to be married sometime in the future?", thought Alex as she lay in bed later that night.

For Dominic the images were stronger. Intermixed between the loving moments were times of worry and shear terror. He saw that somewhere along the way, the two of them were going to be separated by something greater than either of them. The last image he saw before turning his attention to the patient waiter was one of him lying in her lap drenched in blood. Dominic couldn't tell if the blood was his or hers but the image scared him deeply, so deeply it seared his soul.

Across the room at another dimly lit and secluded table, a lone woman watched the interplay between the two with great interest. Countess Teresa de Aquitaine rubbed her gloved hands together as she watched the young couple. She knew the young gentleman in the dark gold shirt, knew him very well indeed. She'd beaten a lot of his present day manners into him when he was younger. There were other things she'd taught him but Teresa refused to acknowledge them at the present time.

Standing five foot eleven and a half inches tall and wearing a floor length, long-sleeved satin dress in a soft wine color and wearing a matching hat with a fishnet veil over half of her face, Countess Teresa radiated seductive and erotic sensuality with her distinguished height and her willowy, perfectly and naturally proportioned body. From the dainty wine-colored satin open toed high heel shoes to the long brown hair that reached down her back, Teresa was a dream walking. Very few men knew that the lovely countess used to be one of the top ten deadliest assassins for the super secret agency WOOHP.

As the Seductress, Teresa and her Belladonna teammates Temptress and Siren successfully assassinated over five hundred known and unknown enemies of WOOHP and free countries everywhere. When she retired from active fieldwork, Seductress looked back over her long career and was satisfied with every successful mission undertaken back Belladonna.

"Ah, it seems that my beloved's prodigy is falling hard for his companion.", stated the twenty-six year old veteran assassin.

She watched as the young couple placed their order and allowed their waiter to retrieve their menus. She took a delicately small bite of her grilled mahi-mahi followed by a sip of an exquisite red-wine she knew was hidden deep in the restaurants' wine cellar and only served to those guests in the know. Placing her knife and fork on the table, Teresa crooked a finger and one of the waiters assigned to her table obediently stepped over and leaned down. Asking the waiter to retrieve the maitre'd, the young man stepped away to do her bidding. Crossing her hands in front of her face and leaning forward, Teresa continued to observe the couple. She was so intent on her observations that she didn't hear the waiter return with the maitre'd in less than two minutes.

"Yes Countess de Aquitaine, is everything to your liking?", he asked as he leaned down next to her.

"Yes it is Napoleon, everything is fantastic as usual. My compliments to the chef.", answered Teresa in her husky voice.

"I'll be sure to pass that on to Chef Richard. He always appreciates compliments from lovely guests like you. Is there anything else countess?", asked the grinning maitre'd.

"Yes there is, Napoleon what can you tell me about that couple at that table there?", asked Teresa as she indicated the couple in question with a well-manicured finger.

Napoleon glanced at the couple the countess indicated and shrugged his shoulders.

"I believe they're just a young couple enjoying a romantic dinner tonight. They seem rather young but I believe that they carry themselves appropriately, unlike most young adults these days. It was odd that the gentleman chose not to order any wine or champagne right away. He stated that the young lady would decide later. Oh well go figure, I can't denigrate them for their taste."

Teresa nodded in agreement. The couple had caught her particular interest when she happened to glance up and catch a part of their conversation. An expert lip reader as trained by WOOHP, she figured out that the discussion was about their age and his choice to let his date decide later. Correctly figuring that Napoleon the maitre'd didn't guess their ages, Teresa decided to play a joke on him.

"Napoleon, serve them a bottle of the same wine I'm having. Inform the gentleman that it is with my compliments. And inform them that I wish them a happy start to their relationship."

"As you command, Countess de Aquitaine, I will see to it immediately.", stated the maitre'd as he turned to go.

"Oh, and Napoleon."

"Yes madam."

Teresa motioned for him to lean closer then turned and said something to him sotto voce. It pleased her to no end to watch the man's face go nearly white in horror. When he lifted his head to protest, Teresa cast him an imperiously cold look and went back to enjoying her meal. Accepting her quiet dismissal with all the grace he could muster, Napoleon the maitre'd hurried away. He did not want to anger the countess. She was a regular patron as well as a part time shareholder in the restaurant. Napoleon had heard rumors about what happened to those who angered Countess Teresa de Aquitaine. Some were never heard from again.

Napoleon also thought back to the one time he'd inadvertently ran into the countess away from the restaurant. The countess had been with two of her friends on a very rare shopping trip and the trio was wearing slacks and blazers. It hadn't occurred to him at that moment that it was a day that was too hot to wear such accoutrements. It was when he was in the store shopping for a Valentine's Day gift for his wife that he'd just happen to look up from the jewelry counter and catch a glimpse of the countess as she accidentally brushed past a display that lifted up her coat. He'd nearly gasped in fright as he saw what was nestled under the countess' right arm.

There had been a soft leather shoulder holster nestled securely under her arm. Resting comfortably in the holster (or so he thought) was a gawdafully big automatic pistol. At that moment, Countess de Aquitaine must've felt that she was being watched and casually glanced around the store. When her eyes fell upon the off duty maitre'd, he'd seen her one visible eye go from warm and friendly to glacially cold and threatening. With a subtle shake of her head, the countess told him that if he ever mentioned to anyone what he'd seen, retribution would be mercilessly swift. Nodding back in a frightened manner, he vowed to forget he ever saw what he did. He started to look at her friends but another subtle shake of her head warned him off. Turning away from the trio, Napoleon guessed that the countess preferred to not let anyone know about her friends.

A few minutes later, as Dominic and Alex were enjoying the last of their appetizer and having an enlightening conversation that was making their burgeoning relationship stronger and bringing them closer together as they learned more private details about each other, the couple looked up as they heard the maitre'd give a slight cough to gain their attention. Dominic started to glare at the man but realized it wasn't working when the only open reaction to his expression was an arched eyebrow. Letting his temporary bought of anger subside, the teenager noticed the gentleman in the white waistcoat standing slightly behind and to the right of the restaurants charge de affairs.

"What's the sommelier doing here?", thought D.C. as he glanced at his date and saw that she wasn't comprehending the scene either.

D.C. wondered if Alex actually knew who the sommelier was and what he did. He sure knew, that was one of the things that Seductress had had beaten him and his two friends over the head with-repeatedly-during their original training on the island. Dominic mentally grinned as the thought of what she did for an apology flitted quickly through his mind like a crack-addicted hummingbird. Dominic hurriedly quashed that thought as he gazed through the flickering candle at that stunningly beautiful young lady sitting less than three feet across from him. Clearing his throat, Dominic gave leave for the maitre'd to speak with a simple nod of his head.

"Pardon my interruption sir, madam but one of our regular patrons wish for you to enjoy this gift and asked me to have the wine steward bring it over. I believe it is a favorite of hers. ", answered Napoleon with a short bow and indicated that man standing behind him.

The steward stepped up and presented the bottle to the couple and then stepped back and placed the bottle in a bucket of ice to chill. Alex and D.C. watched as the steward rolled the bottle between his hands and pulled a corkscrew out of his pocket and applied it to the sealed bottle. Working the implement with the rapidity of long experience, the steward soon had the wine opened and poured a little in to a glass and presented it to Dominic.

D.C. shook his head and indicated that the steward should present it to his companion.

"The lady will taste.", stated Dominic.

Lifting an eyebrow in her beloveds' direction, Alex accepted the glass cautiously. Remembering some of the manners taught to her when she was younger, Alex closed her eyes and gave the wine a sniff and nodded in appreciation. Next she took a very small sip from the proffered glass. Her eyes shot open as the full flavor of the wine exploded in her mouth like a volcano. Nodding again, she handed the glass back to the steward and answered his unasked question with a smile.

"Please."

The steward nodded once and offered her his own smile before he quickly filled two fresh wineglasses and placed them on the table in front of the teens. Once his duties had been discharged, the wine steward bowed and left the table. He had other bottles of wine to deliver. The wine steward was followed by the maitre'd as he finished his soliloquy and returned his attention to the growing crowd of customers at the front of the restaurant. D.C. watched the man move with his purposeful yet regal stride before he sensed he was being observed by a professional.

Keeping his movements as natural as possible, D.C. reached down and took a sip of his wine. Glancing around the room over the rim of the glass, D.C. tried to find out who was scrutinizing him and his date so closely. Across the table, and misunderstanding the look in her date's eyes, Alex batted her eyelashes coquettishly at her companion. She grinned as Dominic caught the flutter and a corner of his mouth quirked in amusement. He was still trying to figure out who was observing him when their food arrived.

The waiter placed a plate of Chicken Kiev and scalloped potatoes in cheese sauce before Dominic. Alex had a well done steak and grilled shrimp sharing space with some sautéed onions on her plate. Both teens allowed the waiter's assistant to whisk their nearly empty salad plates away from the small table to allow room for their entrées. A small basket of freshly baked buttered dinner rolls was placed in the middle of the table with a dish of extra butter.

Alex gazed at the repast before her in anticipation. She'd heard great things about the steak in this particular restaurant and wanted to try it herself. Lifting her eyes to the man sitting across from here, she stifled a chuckle as she saw him grinning at her obvious delight. Before she could comment on it, Alex watched Dominic pick up his wine glass and hold it up in preparation for a toast. Lifting hers to meet his, she wondered what his toast was going to be. When she heard his quietly spoken words, Alex nearly had to grab the napkin folded across her lap to wipe her watering eyes.

"To us. May we eternally be together."

"Yes, to us. May we be together for eternity."

The cut glass crystal wine glasses chimed as their edges were touched together, as the couple holding the glasses stared deep into each other's eyes and felt warmth neither had felt before when in the company of others. After taking her sip, Alex gently placed her glass on the table and started to lean forward. Dominic mimicked her move until their lips came together over the center of the table. The electricity that had passed between them before returned with a new ferocity. Together the conjoined lips blazed an incendiary path for their owners towards the ultimate realization. On the table the two plates of recently arrived food sat forgotten as Alex and Dominic strengthened their relationship by abandoning all their previous reservations and just living in the present for each other.

Across the room Countess Teresa de Aquitaine sighed and reached into her memories. She thought back to when she was young and in love and she thought about the man who she had been prepared to give up everything in her life so she could spend forever in his warm embrace.

"My dear Sterling, if only you could see your protégé today. He's found what we had found. This lady will help him during his hard times. I hope that he and his lady can find a way to end up better than we did. Maybe good things do happen to assassins like us.", ran the thoughts in the mind of the seductress as she remembered her one and only love.

Bringing herself back to the present, she again beckoned one of her waiters forward. Giving him some quick instructions, she waited to see how things were going to work out.

Besides, her dessert of fresh ripe raspberries drowned in both white and dark chocolate was delicious.

Back at the lair of the Foxfire assassination team, Sam and Justin were cuddling on the couch as they watched another movie. This time they were watching a romantic movie that Sam had wanted to see and Justin had just about refused to rent. In the end, Sam had gotten her way (she could be very persuasive when she wanted to as J.T. had found out), and for every typical 'guy' movie he'd previously rented, Sam had picked two typical 'chick' flicks. She'd also developed a fondness for Justin's car as she'd ridden with him to pick up the other movies and he'd shown her how fast he was willing to go when he chose to.

"I only really put the boot to it when I just need to get as far away as possible to think.", Justin had commented as they were rocketing along the highway at about ninety with the top down and the wind rushing through their hair.

For her part, Sam had felt entirely safe and comfortable strapped in to the leather seat with the Takata harness. She'd watched with an increasing interest as her blonde haired companion confidentially flicked through the gears with relative ease. As they'd pulled into the driveway at the house that had been-unofficially- dubbed 'The Lair', Sam had asked J.T. if he could teach her how to drive like he did and he'd answered that he would when he got the chance. But her hopes were dashed when he told her that she wasn't going to drive his car until he was definitely sure she could handle the power it produced.

Now as they sat on the couch covered with a blanket and watching the credits for 'Titanic' roll by, Sam reached out and grabbed a handful of popcorn. Taking the kernels singly and in pairs and popping them in her mouth, she asked whose turn it was to eject the disc.

"I think it's your turn this time, Sam. I've ejected the last three.", answered J.T. as he stretched his arms.

Sam pouted a bit before relenting. She'd wanted to watch Justin (or to be more specific, his backside) as he made his way up to the DVD player and ejected the movie contained within.

"Aww okay, I'll get up and put another movie in. What should we watch this time?", asked Sam as she slid out from under the blanket (and J.T.'s casually draped arm that had coincidentally came to rest on her shoulders) and made her way up to the entertainment system.

Before answering, Justin watched Sam's sinuous movements and felt his heart start to speed up. He fought the natural reaction that followed but almost lost it completely when in the dim light he was able to make out a thin line under the jeans, Sam was wearing. Clearing his throat so his words wouldn't come out in a froggish croak (and shifting the blanket a bit so his reaction to her full-figured frame wasn't noticed), Justin asked her to insert the disc that had been sitting on the top of the machine when she'd first arrived. Sam grimaced as she saw the name of the movie.

"Scarface?? Why Scarface?", asked Sam.

"Because it's a damn good movie. Hell, it's a bloody great movie. I believe as well as Dominic and Sean do, that every guy should at least see that movie once in their lifetime if not out and out buy it. It's wicked cool. The three of us have even been to house where some of the movie was filmed. Granted it was only for a delivery but we still got to see it."

"Oh really, well then love, what other movies do the three of you think every guy should at least see once in their life?", asked Sam coolly.

"Well, in addition to 'Scarface' there's also 'Full Metal Jacket', 'Gone in Sixty Seconds'-both versions-, 'Top Gun', and 'Harlem Nights'.", answered Justin as he choose to ignore the tone in Sam's voice.

"I see. In other words, movies where there is a lot of explosions, gunfights, car chases, dogfights, etc are movies the three of you think your fellow men should see at least once in their life?"

"Well, yeah. Don't you agree?"

"I believe my two friends and I are gonna have to change your perception. ", commented Sam as she inserted the requested movie with a sigh.

Once the movie was in and the player had started, Sam returned to her spot underneath Justin's arm. Distracting him with a bit of a wiggle as she snuggled closet to him, Sam reached out and casually snatched the DVD players' remote from his hand. To Justin's consternation, she refused to return it. Even when they tussled around under the blanket for possession of the prized remote, Sam did not relinquish the precious device. Emerging from under the blanket, Sam turned around and looked as Justin made his way out from under the cover. Making sure he was watching, she undid the top two buttons on her shirt and slipped the remote inside her bra.

"Now try and get it. If we're gonna watch this movie, I'm holding the remote so you can't keep rewinding your favorite parts.", stated Sam as she backed towards the TV.

"And what if I do succeed in grabbing the remote from where you have it? What then?", replied Justin.

"Well will just have to see what happens and flow with it."

"Even if flowing with it means a resolution that could be detrimental to the both of us?"

Sam thought about Justin's words for a moment and realized the implication of what he was saying. It took a second for her to get her heartbeat to get back under control but she managed to do so. Knowing that the only resolution to a continued wrestling match for the remote involved things that were better not thought about at this point in their burgeoning relationship, Sam framed her reply.

"If the resolution to this tussle for the remote heads in that direction, we may need to step back from each other for a moment. Although I wouldn't mind the resolution you're referring to, lets just wait till we're both ready for that resolution."

Justin nodded in agreement and returned to his seat. Sam joined him a few seconds later once he was situated and comfortable. Before retrieving the remote and pressing play to start the movie, the redhead leaned over to her companion and murmured something in his ear.

"If our wrestling match for the remote had continued in that direction, I would've preferred it to take place in a room far more conducive to that kind of environmental stimulation."

"I see. Maybe next time we won't have to wrestle for the remote to reach that kind of resolution.", he returned quietly.

Sam turned a bright red as the implication of Justin's words hit home. Her embarrassment faded a little bit as the rest of his words penetrated the fog that was clouding her mind. She realized that he was guaranteeing a next time.

"And next time, I'll be attired more appropriately for the occasion.", mused Sam as she snuggled closer to Justin's warmth and watched the opening credits roll by.

At the Beverly High Field House Clover was searching for Sean in the crowd of football players, who were catching up on weight training, watching tape of their opponent, getting checked out by team medics, studying, or just relaxing and bonding with their teammates. Early in her search, the blonde had spotted her arch nemesis chatting up a couple of the defensive linemen and she'd shaken her head.

"Does she ever give up? Jeez Mandy, give it a rest. These guys don't need your flirting and teasing right now.", muttered Clover to herself as she continued her search.

Clover had walked through the field house twice and was about to give up her search when she ran into Tommy Kurtzmann, the captain of the baseball team.

"Hey Tommy, what's up. What are you doing here; you're not on the football team?", Clover had asked.

"Oh hi Clover, what's up with you? I'm here getting something out of my baseball locker. At the end of the season last year I left it in my locker and worried about it all summer. I've been trying to get in here to get it since the beginning of the school year but keep getting caught up in other stuff. Tonight Sean was able to slip me in under the radar or a few minutes for me to retrieve what I left. ", replied Tommy as he hurriedly stuffed something in his front pants pocket.

"I see. Speaking of Sean, have you seen him lately?', asked Clover.

Tommy shook his head in negation and Clover's spirits dropped.

"I've searched the entire field house and I can't find him. Where could he be?", Clover said to herself.

"Why don't you try the roof? He may be up there. I've heard rumors that he sometimes goes up there to clear his mind after practice.", suggested Tommy.

The way his voice sounded made Clover curious and she turned to face the athlete. Immediately she saw that his attention wasn't on her. Tommy's attention seemed to be on a crowd of players over by the lockers. Clover watched with interest as Tommy's eyes narrowed as he made out what was going on. Following his intense gaze, the cheerleader turned. As usual, the center of attention was Mandy and she seemed to be doing her usual. Before she could turn and thank Kurtzmann for his suggestion, the baseball player headed off in the direction of the disturbance at a rapid pace.

Clover watched Tommy and was a bit surprised when the baseball player grabbed Mandy by the arm and literally dragged her out of the field house. What surprised her even more was that Mandy was allowing it; something Clover thought was out of character for her spitfire rival. Unfortuntaly, Tommy's high-handedness wasn't going down well with the players, Mandy had been flirting with and they followed the baseball player with mayhem in their eyes. They stopped two steps from the door when somebody cleared his throat loudly and caught the attention of everyone in the room.

Sean Lyons had been studying the film of the opposing team's defense in peaceful solitary contemplation when some of his teammates started to arrive. He dealt with the gathering crowd as best as he could before making his departure for the hot tub. On his way he inadvertently bumped into Kurtzmann and helped him inside so he could get what he'd left. After spending twenty minutes soaking in the hot tub, Sean had dressed and headed for his favorite place. He'd stretched out on the roof as the field house filled up. Over the banter, he'd heard Mandy's annoying laugh several times.

Rested and ready to head home, Sean happened to be coming downstairs from the roof when he witnessed the scene between Tommy and Mandy. Knowing that the guys Mandy had been flirting with weren't going to take that from the star of the baseball team, they'd proceeded to follow the couple and threaten the pitcher with bodily harm. Since the pitcher was going to be a teammate in the spring, Sean couldn't allow him to get hurt and had gotten everyone's attention.

Since he was one of the captains of the football team (and the one nobody wanted to mess with) and the main captain for the upcoming game, everyone heeded the unspoken command in his eyes and the noise in the field house died down. Pointing at the transgressors and waving them forward, Sean started to speak.

"I don't know what you guys were planning to do but I could possibly guess. You're lucky that I came down when I did. As long as I'm one of the captains of this team, I will not tolerate the intentional harm of another student in this school, male or female. If any of you even think about hurting another athlete for this school, I can assure you that I will hunt you down and put you out of action. I am serious as 9mm brain surgery. If you want to test me about this be prepared to sit out the remainder of the season due to injuries sustained in a locker room 'accident'. Some of you have already found out how tough I am. Those of you, who have, please inform those of us who haven't exactly what I can do. Now get back to work.", stated Sean in a coldly calm tone of voice.

Waiting for the gaggle of guys to break up and the mumbling and grumbling to subside, Sean spotted Clover and jerked his head at the door. He wanted her out of the field house as soon as possible. Frightened, Clover nodded meekly and made her way to the exit. Once outside, she waited for Sean to show up. When he did, she started to speak but stopped when he whirled on the player standing by the door.

"What did coach tell you about letting females into the field house like that? I don't care if she's the damn student body president; you are not to let any females into the field house on Thursday night without an escort. Tonight you didn't just fuck up once, you fucked up twice! In my book, two fuckups like that means you royally screwed the pooch! From now until the end of the season, if I find out that you've fucked up like this again, I'll request that you be benched for the game if not the rest of the damn season. Don't ever let it happen again!", snarled Sean as he grabbed the player by the front of his shirt and lifted him to the tips of his toes.

"But….but…..but…..", stammered his scared teammate.

"But nothing! If I hadn't been here, some serious shit could've happened that would have screwed entire team. Start thinking with your brains instead of your balls, it'll keep you out of more trouble. Now get back in there and write the coach a letter explaining what you did and place it on his desk. If you're lucky, he'll let me decide what to do with you."

"Okay, I'll do that."

Sean released the teen and changed his malice filled expression to one offering advice.

"In the future think before you act Scott, especially with Mandy. She's the undisputed queen of the school and she thinks it gives her special privileges. Mandy needs to learn that she can't always get her way.", advised Sean in his usual easygoing tone of voice.

"Yeah, okay, Sean thanks a lot. I'll remember that.", answered Scott in a voice full of relief.

Sean nodded and watched as the younger player headed inside the locker room to take care of the task given to him by his team captain. Mentally preparing himself for what he had to do next, the quarterback turned towards Clover. Feeling a bit calmer, Clover allowed herself a sigh of relief and started to move and comment on Sean's handling of the problem. His raised hand cut her off.

"What I told young Scott about not letting any females into the field house on a Thursday night goes for you as well, Clover. Coach wants us to concentrate on the next nights' game on Thursdays, he told the team captains that on Thursday' nights the field house is off limits to females unless they have an escort. Mandy's been flaunting that rule and getting away with it. As you saw tonight, it almost cost her more than she could afford. I've also heard that you've flaunted the rule a few times in the past.", started Sean.

"Yeah I have but its not the same.", answered Clover.

"Dammit Clover, yes it is. You don't know how dangerous it can get in there. Against one guy, maybe two you could hold your own. But against a whole team, even you would fall. Trust me on this and keep the other cheerleaders away on Thursday nights until the season ends. Things will have eased up by then."

"What about Mandy, you know she's going to try and slip in again."

"Let Tommy handle Mandy. He can handle her and it would be best if you didn't remind either of them about tonight."

Thoroughly confused about things, Clover allowed Sean to take her hand and gently lead her away from the field house. Minutes later, she found herself riding in the passenger seat of his Audi as he headed over to a burger joint to grab a bite to eat. In her mind, Clover pondered Sean's words. She shivered when what could have happened if neither Tommy nor Sean had been there to cool things down before they could get out of control. Sean noticed Clover's shivers but said nothing as he wheeled his car into a parking spot.

"Like Scott, Clover needs to start thinking before acting. She needs to realize what the consequences could have been. Not just for her or Mandy but for the school in general and the team in particular. If things had gone awry tonight, and either of them had been hurt, the entire team would've paid for it. Whether in the injuries I would've caused or in the sanctions the school would've been hit with.", thought Sean as he helped Clover exit his small car.

Since the air had gotten a tad bit chilly and Clover was still shivering, Sean opened his trunk and pulled out a lightweight jacket he kept back there and draped it over her shoulders. Clover smiled warmly at him and took a hold of his arm. Right now, she needed his strength to calm her nerves.

"Thanks. I needed that.", she commented quietly.

"It's no problem, Clover. I've always kept an extra jacket in the trunk just for situations like this.", he answered.

Clover hummed to herself for a bit before taking Sean's arm and wrapping it around her shoulder. It made her feel warmer and she could feel the tension from the incident in the field house fading away. The couple entered the place and headed up to the counter where they ordered from the menu. Minutes later the two were seated and enjoying their food and drinks.

The establishment in question was a weekend hangout for students from Beverly Middle and High Schools as well as the local junior and senior colleges. It often times overflowed with an abundance of students and the staff was exceptional. Many of them were students at the local high schools and colleges as well. Clover told all of this to Sean as they consumed their meal.

"Really, I thought the place to hang out was the mall."

"It is. During the week this is the place to hang out. The mall is the hangout on the weekends. Around the Hills there are several fast food places like this one where we congregate. Sam, Alex, and I prefer the sushi place over by the mall though. Its atmosphere is more relaxed. By the way, can you tell what's going on between Mandy and Tommy?", asked Clover as she dipped some of her fries in ketchup.

To cover his unease at being asked that question, Sean took a swig from his large soda. He'd stumbled onto the secret earlier and Tommy had begged him to not tell anyone after explaining the situation. Sean had been skeptical for a minute until an unusually quiet Mandy had told him that the explanation he'd been given was the absolute unvarnished truth. Not wanting to loose the trust placed in him, Sean had agreed to keep the secret if only he could tell Dominic and Justin. Tommy and Mandy had glanced at each other before nodding in agreement.

"Clover, that's something you'll have to ask them about and right now neither of them will tell you anything.", Sean finally answered.

"Oh come on, Sean. You've seen firsthand what Mandy is capable of and you trust her to keep whatever word she's given you? You don't know her that well. Mandy's a snake and will do anything to give herself a leg up. Whatever it is right now, the minute she gets tired of Tommy, she's going to break his heart and I'll be dammed if I let her do that to a good guy like him.", retorted a snarling Clover.

"Maybe, the arrogant, uncaring Mandy you've known all these years is not the true Mandy on the inside, Clover. Have you ever thought of that?", replied Sean quietly and calmly.

Actually she hadn't and his words stopped her next tirade just as it was about to spill from her lips. Looking questioningly at the man across from her, Clover let the matter drop for now. She did want to know the real deal about Mandy and Tommy before graduation. Sean observed his date as he continued with his chicken sandwich. Clover was chewing on her bottom lip as she tried to figure out what he meant. It was obvious to Sean that Clover had never taken that into account in her vicious rivalry with Mandy.

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was a fistfight between the two somewhere in their past. Clover and Mandy seem to hate each other's guts for the oddest of reasons.", thought Sean as he finished his meal.

Clover decided to let the matter drop for now but she planned to bring it up at a later date. She also vowed to corner Kurtzmann at school one of these days and get the true story about him and Mandy. For her rival to give up that easily and allow somebody to actually pull her away from her adoring throngs, something must either be wrong with Mandy or there's a real quiet relationship somewhere.

Lost in thought, Clover didn't notice when Sean swiped several of her fries. When she caught on to the thievery Clover grabbed his wrist as it made another foray to her side of the table.

"Hey, those are mine! Leave them alone. You ate all of yours!", growled Clover in mock anger.

"Sorry, you looked so lost in thought that I figured that you wouldn't mind me 'borrowing' a few of your fries."

"You 'borrowed' nearly the entire damn plate of my chili cheese covered fries, Sean! I wanted to enjoy those slowly!", pouted Clover.

"Don't worry, Clover baby. I'll make a big platter of my special chili-cheese covered fries on Sunday just for you, dollface."

Clover laughed as Sean tried to imitate a gangster from the 1930's and failed miserably. Once she finished her laughing fit, the cheerleader finished her burger and the little that was left of her fries due to Sean's pilfering. She watched as Sean, ever the gentleman, picked up both of their empty trays and took them over to the trash can where he dumped the wrappings and fry containers before placing the trays in the holder on top of the garbage can.

Twenty minutes later, Sean and Clover were cruising through downtown Beverly Hills as they headed home when Clover asked Sean how fast his car could actually go. She'd seen all the extra gauges and noticed the racing harnesses and bucket seats earlier but didn't think to comment on them.

"Are you sure you really want to know?", asked Sean.

"If I didn't want to know, I wouldn't have asked smartass.", returned Clover.

"Okay, I take it you know where the curviest and most secluded road in the area is. Or better yet, direct me to where the street racers hang out."

Curious and a bit nervous, Clover directed Sean to an industrial area near the water that she'd heard many of Bev High's racers met up at night and raced. She'd never been there herself and usually preferred to stay closer to the center of the city when she went out. Some of Clover's fellow cheerleaders had been though and those that had had thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

When the grey Audi arrived there was a race going on. From what Sean and Clover could gather by listening to the crowd, a pair of the fan favorites from different camps was racing each other. On one side were those who preferred domestic cars and looked down on the members of the other group. On the other side were those who preferred to get their speed fix in import cars and dismissed the old stuff as 'ancient' and 'boring'. Sean considered himself a card carrying member of the latter group and had several illegal street racing wins under his belt.

Pulling the TT up next to a tall guy leaning against a Mazda Protégé MP3, Sean cut the engine and both he and Clover climbed out. Sean asked the guy what was going on.

"Nuthin' much, friend. One of those purveyors of old school cool challenged my partner Blaze to a race. He told my friend that his car wasn't shit. Blaze got pissed and accepted the challenge.", answered the driver.

"What's your friend drive?", asked Sean.

"Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec pumpin' about four fifty to the wheels."

"Wicked! Is his GT-R a -34, a 33, or a -32?"

"BNR-33 of course! Although it's heavier than the -32, its hella lighter than that POS Camaro his opponent has. Loser says he's putting out six hundred to the wheels but I know for a fact that SS-boy is on the spray. Last week he got toasted by a Zanardi Edition NSX that wasn't even sprayin' and had the balls to accuse the other guy of cheating."

Clover didn't understand a word of the conversation but she could tell that Sean understood it pretty well. Deciding to wait for Sean to explain, she sat on the hood of his car and watched the action that was going on. It only took a minute or so of observing, that Clover began to get intrigued by this culture. It had its own language, styles, and music that caught her interest. In his peripheral vision, Sean saw that Clover was starting to relax a bit and it made him extremely happy. This street racing culture could have a profound impact on his date by showing her how the other half lived. Returning to his conversation with the MP3 driver, Sean answered a few questions about his car.

"My Quattro is rollin' on some T-1 seventeen's wrapped around some blacked out Enkei wheels."

"Nice, you sprayin' the house down?"

"Nah, I keep away from the spray but I got a single snail attached to this narrow-angle 3.2 liter V6 that puts out about four sixty-five or thereabouts. And that's all I'm sayin'!"

The other driver nodded in respect and turned his attention back to the pair of cars lined up at the makeshift starting line. He pointed out the various factions to Sean and told him about those who he could trust and those he couldn't. One of the other drivers caught Sean's interest and he asked about the guy.

"Oh, you don't wanna race him. He's as dirty as can be. He'll do anything to win a race and I mean anything. He isn't racing because no one will race him due to some of his actions on the street. He's pushin a fox-body horse with a blue oval big block. He only runs straight line but he's got some seriously mean suspension hardware underneath."

Sean felt his adrenalin levels rise and knew he could take the guy. Turning to the other driver he asked the guy to set up a race.

"Tell him, I think his ride sucks much ass and I can take him in a straight line or in the turns. If he agrees, tell him I'll drive with a passenger and I'll still kick his ass by at least ten lengths.", stated Sean before turning to Clover and telling her that if she wanted to see how fast his car will go to climb in and put the passenger seat harness on.

Clover slid off the hood and made her way to the passenger door before climbing in. Sean had to show her how to put the harness on and adjusted it to her slim frame. Before he closed Clover's door and made his way over to the driver's side, Sean gazed at the tableau and smiled. Leaning in and giving Clover a quick kiss, Sean straightened up and made his way over to the driver's side. On his way, the guy he'd been chatting with returned.

"He accepted your challenge and is bringing his car around."

"Anyone taking any bets?"

"Yeah, those domestic dinosaur heads are giving you ten to one odds that you ain't gonna win. They got five hundred on their guy to win.

"Five hundred on their guy, cheap bastards; I could put that up by myself. Tell them just for that insult I'll give him a five car length lead and still beat him by ten.", commented Sean as he strapped in.

"You think you can win with a five length deficit at the start?"

Sean gave the guy a gimlet stare as he started his car. The guy retreated while holding his hands up in surrender.

"Okay… okay…., I guess I'm gonna have to trust you on this. I'll put my money on you to win and see if I can get some of the others to do the same. I just hope you can pull this off."

"You don't have to hope, I know I can pull it off. Now what's the course?"

The other guy leaned into Sean's window and gave him a quick rundown on the course. It consisted of a three mile straight before a series of high and low speed turns before looping around back to the starting line. Clover watched from the passenger seat as Sean nodded and mentally plotted the course. She saw the concentration in his face and made a mental promise to not talk while he was driving.

"Hey Clover, could you look in the armrest and pick a CD for us to listen too? I need some music so I can show this guy that this is just a Sunday drive for us.", asked Sean as he rolled up his window and headed his car towards the starting line.

Astounded at the ease in which he'd asked, Clover just nodded and did as he'd requested. Checking the labels on the CD's in the center console, she saw a familiar title and chose it.

"Will this be okay?", asked Clover as she held the case up so Sean could see it.

"Yeah, that'll do just fine. Are you ready for this?"

For some odd reason, Clover felt calm and not worried. She knew that this type of race was illegal but she had faith in her chosen one and knew instinctively that he wouldn't allow any harm to befall her. Nodding her head to his question, Clover leaned back in her seat and waited for her modern day knight to whisk her away in his gunmetal grey all wheel drive stallion. At the starting line, Clover looked at the car sitting ahead of them and prepared herself. On a whim, the blonde cheerleader quickly dug into her purse and pulled out some lipstick. When Sean cast a curious look her way as he waited for the start signal, she explained her reasoning.

"I'll put on my lipstick as you pass him to show him how casually we're taking this."

A big grin started to spread across Sean's face.

"Oh you devious little minx, I love the way you think."

"I love the way I think too, Sean. Just remember that there are many other places I can be your devious little minx.", responded Clover with a bold gleam in her eyes.

Sean lifted an eyebrow in surprise and stared. He knew what she was referring too but wondered why she'd brought it up in that roundabout kind of way. He couldn't let his mind linger on her words at that moment because one of the observers raised his arms head high before dropping them to start the race. When they saw the arms drop, both drivers stomped the gas peddle and peeled out.

The high pitched whine of the turbo in Sean's car combined with the natural sound of his VR6 engine and the mellowing effect of the Magnaflow muffler crescendoed into its unique-and to some musical- tone that quickly over came the grunt from the eight cylinder engine of his opponent. Within seconds after the arm drop, both cars were no more than rapidly disappearing taillights to the cheering masses gathered around the black strips of rubber recently laid down (and in some cases still smoking) by the two racing vehicles.

Across town, D.C. and Alex were finishing up their dessert and thoroughly enjoying each other's company. The sexual tension between them was high and to Countess de Aquitaine very evident. Making a decision, the countess rose gracefully to her feet and made her way over to the table where Alex and Dominic sat. As she did, the maitre'd hurried over so he could introduce the young patrons to the countess.

Alex relaxed as she sat across from Dominic and listened to him talk. His voice had a pleasing affect and she felt herself slowly relaxing and loosening up. Part of her mind chalked it up to the wine they'd consumed with dinner (between them they'd finished half the bottle) while the other part of her mind blamed it on her attractive companion. Resting her chin on her hands and staring at D.C. over the flickering candles, Alex found her mind drifting away on currents of bliss as Dominic's mellow baritone floated quietly over the table.

Dominic was talking about some of the things he'd seen as a courier when he saw the maitre'd walk up escorting somebody to their table. His pause in the middle of his sentence caught Alex's attention and she asked the reason for the pause. Dominic indicated the approaching restaurant employee.

"It looks like somebody wants to meet us.", D.C. stated.

Alex turned to face the newcomers as they stepped up to the table. Acknowledging the maitre'd with a nod, the teenager shifted her attention to the person with the maitre'd and suddenly her hackles rose. The person with the gentleman was a woman not too many years older than either her or D.C. She was outfitted in an exquisite satin, floor length, long sleeved burgundy dress that Alex knew was so rare it cost a fortune. The woman was wearing a pair of matching gloves and hat that had some sort of half-veil covering the left side of her face.

What bothered Alex more than the outfit was the sensuality and eroticism that dripped from the strange woman in tidal waves. Alex surmised that this lady could have any man in the immediate area without giving it any though and that irritated Alex to no end. She saw this siren as a pretty serious rival for Dominic's affections.

The maitre'd cleared his throat and made the introductions.

"Sir, madam it is my pleasure to introduce you to Countess Teresa de Aquitaine. Countess de Aquitaine is a regular patron as well as one of our shareholders and she showed an interest in meeting you."

Alex cut in before Dominic could answer.

"Thank you for introducing us.", she stated coolly.

Dominic listened to the chill in Alex's voice and wondered what had come over her. She was oozing hostility to the other woman for some unknown reason and D.C. hoped that the countess couldn't sense Alex's hostility. Deciding to keep his mouth shut and observe what happened; Dominic let Alex continue to answer for them.

Unfortunately for Dominic, Teresa could indeed sense the hostility emanating from the younger woman. Teresa guessed that this young lady thought that she was a romantic threat and didn't particularly like the countess' possible competition one bit. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Teresa waved a hand the maitre'd to silence and made a comment about the wine. Out of the corner of her eye, Teresa saw the man stiffen once he heard her voice and then quickly loosen up.

"I see that the two of you have enjoyed the gift I sent over."

Dominic stiffened as he heard the husky voice he knew all too well. Glancing at Alex to see if she'd noticed his reaction, D.C. was relieved that his date hadn't noticed his reaction. He knew that the countess had noticed and mentally swore to himself about his lack of emotional control.

"What the hell is Seductress doing here? And why did I react like I did. She taught me better than that. Crap, I feel like an amateur for screwing up so badly in front of her.", thought D.C. as he took a sip of water to cover his discomfort.

Thinking back to the training he'd undergone on the island, Dominic froze again as he remembered how Seductress rewarded some of her students. That thought made him pale.

"Oh shit, if Alex finds out about Seductress and I. Strike that, if Alex, Sam, and Clover find out about the relationships that all three of us have had with Seductress; we'll be in the doghouse for quite a while. Damn and Seductress still has the videos of those sessions."

As soon as he stiffened at his thought, Dominic relaxed. There was no way Alex would think that he and the countess had a romantic relationship much less tie her and her training activities to WOOHP. Dominic was sure that Alex had never heard of the secret agency he and his friends worked for.

"That's a secret I'll keep from her for all eternity. Alex doesn't need to worry about what I do for the agency. It could possibly ruin her for life.", thought D.C. as he watched the semi-hostile interaction between his date and his former trainer.

At the other end of the table, Alex was gritting her teeth in an effort to keep from jumping out of her seat and socking the countess in the jaw. Keeping a false smile on her face so as not to cause an international incident, Alex politely listened as Countess de Aquitaine waxed philosophical about the many different wines the restaurant kept in its cellar. When the countess had finished her spiel, Alex cast a look in Dominic's direction and saw that her date was ostensibly checking his watch. With her perfect evening slowly unraveling, Alex cut the countess off before she could change the topic of the conversation.

"Dominic darling, do we still have time to make it to the theatre to catch that movie we were planning on seeing after dinner, sweetie?", Alex asked sweetly.

Caught out by the sudden question, Dominic's expression gave away his confused state and he didn't answer the question. Quickly taking advantage of the short silence, Alex made a big show of checking her watch and starting to rise from her seat as if she was in a hurry. The maitre'd, a bit quicker on the uptake than either Teresa or Dominic clapped his hands and had one of his assistants bring a small gold embossed leather check holder and passed it to Dominic. Dominic accepted the holder and took a quick glance at the cost of the meal. He didn't actually wince but came very close to it when he saw the total cost of dinner and dessert. Reaching for his wallet to pull out his credit card, D.C. felt the leather object slip easily through his fingers.

"Ah, don't worry about dinner. Tonight it will be on me on one condition.", the countess stated as she pulled a pen out from somewhere and sighed the check with a flourish before turning to Alex.

"And what condition is that, countess?", Alex asked warily.

"I would like for you and your boyfriend to attend a party I'm throwing in a few weeks. Here is my phone number and address. You don't have to decide now. Just decide when you want and let me know.", said the countess as she handed Dominic her card which Alex adroitly slipped from his hand due to his inattention.

"If we do decide to attend, could some of our friends come with us?", asked Dominic as he returned his wallet to his pocket.

"But of course. If you and your friends decide to go, I respectfully request that you attire yourselves in formal wear. I'll send my car to pick you up."

"We'll see Countess de Aquitaine. Thank you for your hospitality, now pardon my rudeness but if you'll excuse us, we do have a movie to try and make.", commented Alex as D.C. rose to his feet.

Teresa, sensing the hostility from the younger woman nodded gracefully and allowed Alex her victory for the evening. Teresa had enjoyed the unconscious verbal fencing she'd initiated. With a wave of her hand, Countess Teresa de Aquitaine let the maitre'd lead her to the door where he signaled for her car to be brought around to the front of the restaurant. Back at their table, Alex watched the other woman depart with a look of undisguised hostility before turning her glare in D.C.'s direction. Seeing his questioning look, Alex let her glare fade away and sighed.

"Damnit, I think I just screwed up my chances with him by showing a jealousy I had no idea I was capable of. First in the hallway at school I almost punched Mandy in the nose. He stopped me from making that mistake. Now here I am being hostile to a countess who seemed a bit over-friendly. What is going on with me?", thought Alex as Dominic got up from his seat and came around to hers.

Wanting to continue the evening in a more romantic place, D.C. asked Alex if she was ready to leave.

"Since the bill was already paid, we can go ahead leave. It looks like business is starting to pick up a bit and there looks to be a small crowd waiting for tables."

"Yes I am ready to leave. Our night is not finished though. I told you I was going to show you the sights of Beverly Hills and I keep my promises.", said Alex as she smiled in his direction.

The thousand watt smile she sent his way as he helped Alex to her feet unconsciously warmed him and made him feel lighter than he thought possible. At that instant, Dominic Calvin James mentally vowed to never allow that smile to fade. A new emotion was flowing over him and he didn't know what it was. On a whim, D.C. gently took Alex's face between his hands and placed a lingering kiss on her soft waiting lips.

Cue: 'What is Love' by Haddaway

Alex was surprised at first by the kiss but it didn't take long for her to fully relax into it and return it with interest. Taking a hold of the pair of warm hands gently encircling her face, Alex moved them down to her hips where they felt a bit more natural. Once his hands were situated, Alex placed her hands on D.C.'s shoulders and reluctantly broke the kiss. She saw the disappointed look in his eyes and gave him a short explanation.

"We have an audience, love. And our night is not yet complete.", murmured Alex as she led Dominic towards the entrance.

Without much of a choice (and not caring if there was one), Dominic followed Alex like a puppy following its master. Outside, logic returned to D.C. as he opened his car door so Alex could lower herself into her seat. Watching as she sat down and rotated her body into the car to preserve her modesty. Dominic allowed himself a brief flash of imagination at the treasures that rested underneath her dress. When Alex was enthroned inside the car, Dominic closed the door and made his way around to the driver's side where the valet held his door open.

Generously tipping the young man for his work, Dominic climbed into the running vehicle and closed the door. Securing his seatbelt and making sure Alex's was secured with a quick glance in her direction, he shifted the transmission into gear and pulled away from the site of their dinner. With Alex navigating, the midnight blue right hand drive car easily merged with traffic and set off at a crisp-but legal- pace to their next stop on the tour.

A few hours later, Alex had asked D.C. to pull into a parking lot next to a park. This was the last thing she was going to show him on this tour. As he pulled into the lot, Dominic saw several cars already there and saw that there was a well lit walking trail that meandered towards the ocean. Shutting off the engine, and unbuckling his seatbelt, D.C climbed out of hic car and made his way over to the passenger side to meet Alex as she climbed out.

"Dominic, love, this is the last place I wanted to bring you. I come here often when I have a lot on my mind. It's relaxing to follow the trail to the ocean and just sit there and listen to the waves as they roll in and out of the harbor.", commented Alex as entwined her hand in his.

"I understand. Back at home I used to have a place that did the same thing for me. Even Justin and Sean have places like that. I guess everyone has a place where they just want to be alone.", responded Dominic softly.

Alex gazed up at the taller teen and pulled him onto the trail.

"Let's not talk about either of our friends right now, okay?", asked Alex shyly.

Unconsciously knowing when to say something and when to acquiesce to her wishes, Dominic nodded and allowed her to lead him on to the lighted path. Within minutes after starting on the path, Alex had snuggled up under Dominic's arm and wrapped her arms around his waist to enjoy a heretofore feeling of closeness neither had shared with anyone in their previous relationships.

Lost in the closeness, and following the well lit path towards the sea, neither noticed many of the other couples cozying up together on the benches in the dimly lit shadows. Some of the couples were holding hands and embracing, while others just sat and drank in the night air. There were a few that they had seen whom had gone beyond just simply embracing and were taking full advantage of the solitude provided by trees branches obscuring the offshoots of the main trail from casual view. Alex let her mind take her away as she noticed another couple hidden in the thickets.

"Maybe some day as our relationship will progress in that direction, Dominic and I will find ourselves here amid the bushes like the couple over there.", thought Alex as she and Dominic continued to follow the trail.

Cue: 'P.D.A.' by John Legend

It wasn't too long until the smell of salt water informed the pair that the ocean was just ahead. Neither quickening his pace nor slowing it down, Dominic allowed Alex to step in front of him. When she did, he came up from behind Alex and gently enclosed her in his arms. He'd seen her shiver a bit when the ocean breeze caressed them and figured that he could keep her warm with his embrace. They approached the railing that kept passersby from falling into the crashing surf below and gazed about at the numerous private pleasure watercrafts floating serenely too and fro with all lights ablaze.

Here a small cruise ship sailed serenely towards the open ocean with a raucous party filling up its aft deck. There a fifty-two foot sailboat gracefully sailed into the harbor on the whispering wings of the wind. Everywhere the sounds of crying seagulls, different kinds and styles of music, and the ocean itself made a cacophony of noise that somehow melded together into one of nature's unknown symphonies only heard by those with vivid imaginations.

"It's beautiful out here.", Dominic breathed in awe.

"Yes, it is. Now do you see why I like it out here? It's so peaceful and relaxing. The night we first met, this was the place I was heading to when I stopped at the club. You know the rest from that point.", spoke Alex softly as Dominic turned and leaned against the railing while pulling her closer.

Dominic nodded and gazed at Alex for a moment. Alex knew what was coming and did not shy away. She went to the tips of her toes and arched her head up to meet his as it descended to claim her lips like a grand prize he'd won after intense competition. Their lips met and the electric feeling that had been strong before was nearly unbearable. It as so strong that other couples walking on the embarcadero that night could feel the energy coming from the passionately lip-locked teenagers. When the two finally broke for air, both could see the strain in keeping their passions from running wildly rampant reflected in the eyes of the other. Dominic suggested they take a walk further down the harbor walk and find a bench to sit down and observe their surroundings. Alex agreed with a nod of her head. She felt as if her voice would've failed her and left her unable to speak as she reveled in his presence. Alex also knew that the walk would bring their incendiary passions to a more controllable level so they wouldn't find themselves doing anything foolish this early in their relationship.

Hand in hand, the two strolled down the harbor walk, occasionally stopping by the booths that lined the esplanade and purchasing small trinkets or ice cream in waffle cones and talking about their lives and their futures. Sometimes they vaguely hinted at a possible future together but often times they just extolled what they wanted to do with their lives after graduation from high school. Alex and Dominic finally found a well isolated seat at a small point near where the walkway ended. They sat down and observed the passage of some more ships and the other couples against the railing.

By Dominic's count, time had fled by on swift, silent wings and he was surprised when over two hours later he looked down and saw that his alluring companion had fallen asleep and was resting her head on his shoulder. He reached into his pocket and retrieved his handkerchief and gently wiped away a spot of dried ice cream from the corner of her full lips that begged to be thoroughly kissed until they were swollen with passion. D.C. grinned and gently shook Alex awake. Alex started and lifted her head. She had been enjoying a dream that depicted her future with this man she loved. Wiping some of the sleep away from her eyes, she moaned as the effects from the wooden bench made itself known.

"Alex. Alex, wake-up. It's time to go. We still have to be at school tomorrow and I want to get you home so you can get a few more hours of sleep.", said D.C. quietly as he stroked her cheek with a finger.

"Hmm, oh… okay Dominic. I'm awake. What time is it?", asked Alex as she slowly came to full consciousness and glanced around.

Hearing the click that signified that D.C. was checking his pocket watch, she stretched. As she did, Alex realized that she had a very important question to ask D.C. before they got home. Hearing his soft voice tell her that it was nearing one thirty in the morning, she reluctantly agreed that is was getting late. Picking up the respectably-sized stuffed wolf Dominic had purchased for her as they made their way down the embarcadero, Alex watched as Dominic rose to his feet and stretched before offering her his hand to help her to her feet. Deciding that if she didn't ask now, she'd never ask, Alex went for it and asked the question that had been welling inside of her.

"Dominic, I ah. I'm wondering where do we go after tonight? In what direction does this relationship go?", asked Alex all the while dreading his answer.

Dominic glanced at Alex with hooded eyes but she refused to back down from his stare. When he raised his head to watch as they retraced their steps, Alex was about to slowly disentangle her hand from his. Dominic's voice stopped her.

"Alex, I thought you knew where we stood with each other. After tonight, I hope our relationship continues to grow towards a future together; I want it to grow. But if you want me to, I can say the words that I can tell you so desperately want to hear. From this point forward I consider us as going steady with each other. Don't you?", stated D.C. with a slight lilt to his voice at the end of his speech.

Alex heard the words but couldn't believe them and abruptly came to a stop. Caught off guard by Alex, Dominic jerked to a halt in front of her. He could see that in the moonlight her eyes were glittering with unshed tears.

"Dominic do you mean what I think you mean, does this mean that we…?", stammered Alex in apparent shock.

"Yes Alex, it means what you think it means.", Dominic answered quietly.

"Please, Dominic, say those words.", Alex whispered.

Dominic leaned down and quietly said the three words she wanted to hear so desperately into her waiting ears. The words rang true in her heart and started the storm of tears that glistened in her beautiful dark orbs. Throwing caution to the winds and damn the consequences, Alex threw herself into Dominic's open arms, tears flowing freely down her face. Tonight, Alex felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she could face whatever the world threw at her as long as she was by Dominic's side.

Lifting Alex up off of her feet and holding her close as her tears fell, D.C. murmured words of passion into her ears. Alex listened and agreed to his words. They needed to get home and get some sleep so that when they came to school the next day, everyone would know that Dominic Calvin James was officially hers and that any woman who dared even think about taking him away from her would best watch out. Alex's temper was already becoming a legend but now there was even more to it and Alex planned on letting the other girls at school know point blank, to not even think about messing with her man.

Together Alex and Dominic made their way back to the trail that would lead them back to the parking lot where D.C.'s FTO awaited. As they made the turn onto the trail, they heard a pair of semi-familiar voices. Due to the dampening effect by the tree leaves in the park, the owners of the voices weren't quickly identified.

"What were you doing in there tonight….? You know what our… have proscribed for us. Why do you do this to me? Every time I see you acting the way you act, it tears me apart.", came the voice of the man.

"I don't know why I do what I do. I know that we're betrothed to each other…. but I just can't seem to stop myself. It's this damn….. with that blasted blonde bitch….something about her just sets me off and I don't know why. It's been like that since junior high. …. With her snagging one of the new guys it just doesn't…. and with her friend….me that day. Tommy, I just don't know what to do?", replied the voice of the female who sounded as if she was crying.

"If it hurts you that bad, stop this asinine competition and we'll be able to announce what should have been announced when we first arrived at Beverly High. You don't know how much it pains me to see the guys who chase after you. It doesn't help that you lead them on, Mandy!."

The rest of the conversation was lost as Alex and Dominic continued towards his car, minds reeling by what they'd just heard. Tommy Kurtzmann and Mandy van der Pelt were betrothed and had been ever since before high school. In Alex's mind, this was gossip that she had to get to Clover fast. Her thoughts were interrupted by D.C.'s clutching of her arm.

"Whatever you're thinking, Alex don't tell Clover about Mandy and Tommy. This is their business and we have no need to go spreading it around school. If they've kept it a secret for this long., let's help them keep it till graduation.", hissed Dominic.

Alex wanted to tell but she felt that if she did spill it, her new boyfriend might end the relationship before it even got started. Shaking her head in agreement, Alex agreed to keep from telling her blonde friend about Tommy and Mandy. By now they had returned to Dominic's car and he unlocked the doors using the remote. Both teens climbed in and secured their seatbelts before D.C. started the car, shifted into gear, and backed out of his parking spot. Minutes later, D.C. had merged with the rest of the late night traffic and was headed towards their neighborhood.

The only words spoken as the midnight blue car carried its occupant's home were comments about the evening and the music. Alex rested he head on the soft leather headrest and watched as Dominic shifted gears with a crisp smoothness she knew she couldn't match. Returning her gaze to the front and looking out the windshield and window on her side of the car, Alex thought about the new and favorable turn the relationship between her and Dominic had taken. At least now she knew that with her status as D.C.'s girlfriend not too many girls were going to attempt to steal him away.

D.C. concentrated on his driving; trying to make it as smooth as possible for the woman in the seat next to him. It was hard because the noise from the tires and the music from the CD player were combining to try and force him into a very light sleep and he was fighting it with all of his might. It took him a moment to register that Alex hadn't said anything for the past several miles and he worriedly glanced over only to discover that the combination of tire noise and music had lulled the beautiful woman next to him to sleep.

Dominic chuckled as he heard Alex's feminine snoring. At least it wasn't as bad as the snoring he often heard from his roommates and it was loads better than his own 'alleged' snoring. Turning on to their street, D.C. recognized the grey car that had made the turn before him.

"Hmmmm, I wonder why Sean is getting home so late. He was only going to the field house to watch video of their opponent for tomorrow. Oh I see, he ran into Clover and turned the meeting into an impromptu date.", thought D.C. as he watched the grey Audi Quattro pass their driveway to pull into a driveway further down the street.

Dominic pulled into the villa driveway just as Sean and Clover exited the car. Both seemed to be laughing about something or another as they headed for the front door with Clover in the lead. Parking his car beside the grey all wheel drive two door coupe, D.C. shut off his engine. That caught the attention of the two giggling idiots at the door. Both Clover and Sean turned in his direction as he climbed out. Dominic noticed with approval that Sean had interspersed his body between Clover and any possible threat and nodded once at his teammate. He called out to the brown-haired man and his blonde companion and saw Sean visibly relax as he recognized Dominic's voice.

"Hi Clover, Sean, out a bit late aren't you?", asked D.C. as he started to open Alex's door.

"Yeah, you know how it is. Ran into Clover at the field house and we went out to grab a quick bite to eat.", replied Sean as he squeezed Clover's arm to keep her from telling his friend about the events at the field house.

"Ah, okay. Sean, can you give me a hand with Alex, she fell asleep on the way home. Just help me get her out of the car and I'll carry her inside."

Sean nodded and, after sharing a quick kiss with Clover that D.C. ignored as he unbuckled Alex's seatbelt, the brown-haired quarterback headed over to help his friend. Working quietly, quickly and efficiently, it was only a matter of minutes before Alex was situated comfortably in Dominic's cradled arms. The female soccer star had awoken only once and that was to offer up a sleepy smile as she felt herself being carried into the house before dropping off back to sleep with her arms entwined around Dominic's neck.

Dominic effortlessly carried Alex inside the spacious three-story villa, all the while marveling at the light weight and supple firmness that exposed her athleticism without compromising her femininity. Following Clover's softly spoken direction, it wasn't long before Dominic found Alex's room on the second floor. As he unlatched the door with his free hand and gently pushed the door open, Dominic asked Clover to run out to his car and retrieve her roommates' purse and the stuffed wolf taking up a prominent position in his backseat.

Once inside Alex's room, Dominic made his way over to the full-sized bed in the center of the room with all of Alex's whimsical stuffed animals scattered hither and yon over the mattress and throughout the room. At the bed, Dominic eased his precious bundle into the center of the mattress before sliding his arms out from underneath her prone form. Once Alex was situated in bed, Dominic moved down towards the foot and sat down on the edge of the mattress. Turning sideways and glancing at sleeping beauty, Dominic carefully slipped Alex's shoes off of her feet and placed them together at the foot of the bed. Hearing padded footsteps approaching the room, Dominic glanced towards the door just as Clover appeared with the big stuffed wolf and her friends' purse. Seeing Dominic's position at the end of the bed, the blonde quirked an eyebrow and looked as if she was about to ask a question. Thinking better of it, Clover shook it off and put the plushy animal within Alex's reach if she reached out for the object during what was left of the night. With a sisterly smile, Clover gazed at her friend for a moment before placing the small purse on the nightstand. Turning to leave, she saw Dominic looking at her with a slight frown on his face.

"What's wrong, D.C.? ", asked Clover as she leaned against the dresser.

"Umm, ahh. Clover, I have a slight dilemma.", stammered Dominic.

Clover waited for him to explain until it became obvious that he didn't particularly want to bring it up. She followed his gaze and immediately discerned the problem. Shaking her head at his politeness, Clover waved his concerns off.

"I see. Don't worry about it. I'll take care of that for you. I know she doesn't like to fall asleep wearing panty hose. I do respect that fact that you waited for me to return to address your concerns. I'll undo the zipper on her dress as well but you can tuck her in.", commanded Clove as she replaced D.C. at the foot of the bed and proceeded to put her words in action.

Clover appreciated the fact that as she was divesting Alex of her pantyhose, Dominic kept his eyes averted from the scene. When she was finished with that, Clover made her way to the head of the bed to unzip the dress. Just as she started the process, Alex suddenly rolled over and sleepily sat up. Quickly stepping back, Clover saw that even though she was moving, Alex was still half asleep. The blonde smothered a yelp when an unconcerned Alex started to take off her own clothes. Thinking quickly, Clover hurried over to Dominic (who was staring at Alex's smooth shoulders with his jaw agape) and pushed him out of the room with a surprising quickness.

"Out…out…out…out! Get out!", hissed Clover while closing the door behind Dominic as she forced him out of the room.

A muffled curse was heard and Clover cracked a smile as she recognized Sean's voice. As his friend was being shoved out of the room, Sean had stuck his head around the corner to ask what was wrong. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the door closed in his face and smashed his nose.

"Serves him right for being nosy like that.", thought Clover wickedly.

"Clover, what was that noise? I thought I heard a squeak?", asked Alex sleepily as she finished stepping out of her dress and let it pool around her feet on the floor.

Seeing that Alex was completely out of it, Clover shook her head. The blonde watched as Alex picked her way over to her dresser while undoing the latch of the gold watch on her left wrist and carefully placing the watch (which Clover had found out a few years back was a family heirloom from Alex's late great-grandmother) inside her jewelry box. As Alex turned away from the dresser, Clover's eyebrow lifted in surprise, Alex was wearing something that she had violently vowed she'd never wear. Curious at when and where her friend had purchased the item after vociferously arguing against it, Clover asked about the white lace thong Alex had on.

"Alex, umm pardon me for asking this, but when and where did you buy that thong? I mean after telling us that you'd never buy one much less wear it. I'm just curious.", questioned Clover while casting a glance at the still closed door.

"Hmm, oh this, I don't know when I bought it but I did get it from someplace at The Groove. Usually I wouldn't even think about wearing something like this but something told me to wear it tonight. Come to think of it, why am I wearing this now?", asked a still sleepy Alex as she padded lithely across the room on leg muscles turned firm by her years of soccer.

Clover let a flash of jealousy slip into her expression before quickly covering it up with a knowing grin. With Alex's trim athletic body and firm muscles, Clover knew that neither she nor Sam could pull off looking that sensual in a simple piece of underwear. The white lace gleamed on Alex's brown-skinned body and Clover felt an alien longing as she glimpsed the soft curls of Alex's sex as they curled around the edges of the lace and were visible through the nearly see through front of her undergarments. Squelching the thought as Alex pulled a night gown out of her closet and slipped it over her head, Clover turned and faced the door in preparation for leaving Alex to sleep.

Hearing the soft whoomph as Alex again slowly lowered herself to her mattress, Clover thanked all the stars above that neither Dominic nor Sean had been in the room when Alex changed clothes. Well, at least her new boyfriend hadn't been in the room. If he had, she would've brained him with one of the soccer trophies on Alex's desk. If he was going to get an eyeful of skin, Clover preferred it to be hers than anyone else's.

"Now if Dominic had been in the room, things could've gotten….interesting. Dare I say things could have been 'edcuational'? Sam and I discussed this awhile back and both of us believe most wholeheartedly that Alex would probably be a screamer.", mused Clover as she made sure Alex had fallen back asleep before allowing Dominic back into the room.

Dominic reentered the room looking sheepish as Sean peeked around the corner again. The brown haired quarterback jerked his head back when he saw his girlfriend giving him the evil eye and signaling him to get lost for a short bit. Turning to face D.C. Clover told him that he could go ahead and tuck her in before leaving for his own dwelling. D.C. thanked Clover for her help in getting Alex to bed and situated where she could happily snore the rest of the night away.

"It's no problem Dominic. She's one of my best friends and we try and take care of each other. You just make sure that you never hurt her in anyway or both Sam and I will be after you. Now hurry up and tuck her in so you can drag Sean home with you and have Justin bring Sam home.", said Clover as she left the bedroom in search of her wayward beau.

Once Clover had left the room, Dominic turned to the figure laying curled up in the center of the bed as if she had nary a care in the world. He smothered a laugh as Alex's arms had unconsciously found the stuffed wolf and drawn it close to her as she slept. Kneeling down beside the bed, D.C. gently brushed a wayward curl from her exquisite hairstyle away from her cheek and noticed that her body naturally gravitated to the slight warmth. Casting a look at the door, Dominic slipped the sheets down around his chosen lady and gently covered Alex with the sheets and her comforter. Alex didn't make a sound as he moved up to the head of the bed.

Reaching into the inside pocket of his vest, D.C. pulled out a long slender case similar to the case he'd swiped from Justin and given to Sam earlier. The only difference was that this case was slightly wider than the other one. Opening the case, Dominic caught his breath as his eyes took in the pair of slender golden chains. One chain was smaller than the other but both had an opal sitting in a filigreed setting as the necklace's centerpiece.

With a quick glance at Alex, confirming that she was still asleep, D.C. took the larger chain out of the box and unclasped it. Leaning over the bed he saw that Alex still laid curled up in a ball with her new stuffed animal clutched in her grasp. Taking a deep, but silent, breath, D.C., gently rolled Alex over on to her back and slowly draped the chain over her head while making sure that the centerpiece of the necklace didn't touch bare skin and rested on the material of her nightgown. Once he was sure that she wouldn't feel the excess weight and the coolness of the gift, Dominic had to carefully lift Alex's head up so he could slip the ends around her neck and secure the chain. He completed that part of his task in a short time and sat back to study his handiwork. During the entire evolution, Alex never stirred.

"She must've been more exhausted than either of us thought.", mused D.C. as he stifled his own yawn.

Returning his attention to the box he'd left on the bed, Dominic picked up the second chain and undid its clasp. Since it was going around the neck of the stuffed wolf, it was easier than his other task and went slightly faster (although her ironclad grip on the stuffed wolf stymied him for a second). When everything was done, Dominic stood back and gazed longingly at his love. As he did, an immensely strong desire to join Alex in her bed and protect her from the horrors of her nightmares filled him and he almost gave in to it but Dominic's sense of morality kicked in and told him that there would be a time and a place for that feeling to be appeased later on in their relationship. Leaning down over Alex as she lay sleeping, Dominic pressed his lips to hers and allowed them to linger there for a minute or so before very reluctantly withdrawing them to whisper into her ear and hope that his words punched through her sleep filled mind. Moving towards the door after one last look at his sleeping princess, Dominic left the room and switched off the light. As he stepped through the door and into the hallway to allow Clover to quietly shut the door, Dominic never saw the soft smile that flitted across Alex's face as something in her dreams made her happy.

Descending the stares, Dominic found Sean and Clover sitting on the couch sucking face and cleared his throat to get their attention. The pair jumped apart like startled deer and D.C. suppressed the urge to laugh at their innocent expressions and concentrated his attention on his open pocket watch.

"Sean, let's go. We still got to get some sleep ourselves and we need to make sure that Justin and Sam are alright.", commented Dominic as he made his way to the front door without looking at the couple snow sitting at opposite ends of the couch.

"Uhm, yeah right D.C. I'll be there in a sec okay?", came Sean's reply.

D.C recognized the plea from Sean for him to give them a couple of minutes alone but ignored it and shook his head. He heard the frustrated explosion of breath and correctly guessed that Sean was trying to apologize to Clover without using words. Shaking his head one last time, the six foot two and a half inch, two hundred and twenty-seven pound teenager, stepped outside and made his way to his car. Closing the door to the passenger side, Dominic returned to the driver's side and climbed in. Starting his car, he rolled own his window and cast a glance back at the villa where his lady rested. As he did, D.C. saw Sean come stumbling out of the house and making his way to the car parked to Dominic's right. Chuckling silently as he noticed that Sean's shirt had been pulled out of his pants, and his belt was undone, Dominic reversed out of the driveway and drove a few houses up and pulled into his shared driveway.

Killing the engine and climbing out of the car as he slid his keys into his front pocket, D.C. headed for the door. He was reaching for the doorknob when it began to turn of its own volition. Expecting Sam to be the one leaving (and hopefully avoiding another embarrassing scene being played out) D.C stepped out of the way. He wasn't surprised when the first face he saw was Justin's. What surprised him was the light strain that was appearing on his face. Worried about something wrong with his friend, D.C. reached out to give J.T. a hand only to retract it when it became readily apparent why J.T. was exerting himself.

Justin was carrying a sleeping Samantha on his back and judging from J.T.'s expression, the red-head lived up to her full-figured appearance.

Seeing his friends and cautioning them with a look to not say a word, Justin explained his predicament.

"Sam fell asleep while we watched movies. Since she wouldn't wake up to the point where I could walk her home, I decided to carry her. I'd planned on carrying her cradled in my arms but this woman weights a tad bit more than she looks.", commented Justin.

From over his shoulder, Sam muttered sleepily for some unknown person to shut up and continue typing. Sean and Dominic tried hard not to laugh as Justin glared at his friends. He was already a bit miffed at D.C.'s pilfering the necklace he'd pricked out for Sam but it was canceled out by the fact at least Sam had allowed him to put it on her instead of D.C. Grumbling to himself, Justin headed towards the sidewalk with his burden and disappeared. Dominic turned to Sean and asked him a question.

"Hell I don't think he minds giving her a piggyback ride regardless of how much he grumbled. You could sense his underlying exultation as he held on tightly. Besides, did you see where his hands were?"

"Yeah, I just hope that your girlfriend doesn't kill him for holding her rear end like he is. It's like he has a death grip on her butt. How much do you want to bet that when Justin gets back he'll admit that she's faking the sleep?"

"No bet, it wouldn't be fair. And how did you know that Clover and I are officially going out?", asked Sean as he and his friend entered the house together.

Dominic rolled his eyes in exasperation and reminded him of his still unbuckled pants. Sean had the grace to look embarrassed as he hurriedly redid them before dropping into a chair in the living room. Watching Dominic head into the kitchen, Sean asked him to grab him a coke or something. Dominic said okay and reappeared in the doorway to the kitchen and tossed Sean a bottle of soda. Sean caught the bottle as Justin walked through the door. Before he could speak, Dominic cut him off.

"You don't have to say it J.T. it was a bit obvious. Here have a drink and congratulations. Same to you Sean.", said D.C. as he tossed his blonde friend a soda.

"Same to you Dominic.", replied Sean.

"Looks like all three of us are no longer single.", added Justin.

The three young men took deep draughts from their drinks before starting to share their adventures of the evening.

"Hey guys, I got some information that will knock your socks off. Did either of you know that Tommy Kurtzmann and Mandy are engaged and have been betrothed since before high school?", asked Sean as he propped his feet up on the coffee table.

"Yeah, Alex and I heard them as we were leaving a park after dinner. They were hidden by some leaves but we were able to get the gist of the conversation. Alex, of course wants to tell Clover but I cautioned her to drop the subject. We left before either they could catch us eavesdropping or before we could catch them in a compromising position.", commented D.C as he stretched his lanky frame out on the couch.

Justin nodded and mentioned that neither he nor Sam had heard about it till now and he promised to keep the info from Sam as well.

"Now all we got to do is keep Clover from asking Kurtzmann or Mandy point blank. We'll have to catch him and tell him that the three of us know. I'll talk to him tomorrow after French class and leave the ball in his court.", sighed D.C. as he finished his drink.

Justin and Sean nodded at Dominic's words then waited for what else was on their friends mind. Years of working and living beside each other had them being able to read each other's body language no matter the situation. As they watched D.C. lift himself up and rotate himself to face the room while leaning forward, they cast sharp looks at each other. Something was up and it was causing a dilemma within D.C. Sean and Justin waited for their friend to speak. When he did, it took all of their composure to keep from dropping their drinks.

"Alex and I ran into the Seductress tonight. With our three week assignment to the island just a few days away, this bodes badly for us. Of course you know that we're going after the Tortoise with Ice Dancer and that Natasha has authorized Freelancer status. You also know how Seductress will feel when she hears about this mission.", commented Dominic quietly.

"Natasha authorized Freelancer status for us? You know what that means, right?", asked Justin.

Dominic nodded as he remembered the uber top secret briefing him and his guys had gotten on that code word authorization. He glanced at Sean, who was obviously thinking the same thing as D.C. Sean summed their situation up in one word.

"Shit!"

"You said it."

"Guys, sorry for asking but I've forgotten the majority of what the Freelancer authorization means. Can either one of you give me a nutshell summary of that designation to refresh my memory.", asked Justin.

Sean and Dominic glanced at each other before Dominic started to explain. When he finished, Justin shared the grim expression with his friends.

"Sean you have it right. This sucks."

Before either of the trio could gripe anymore, Justin suddenly sat up and reminded Dominic of what he had in his car.

"Oh shit, not the bottle Seductress gave us? Alex will kill me if I forget about it!", snapped D.C. as he jumped up and rushed out to his car.

Seconds later, D.C. returned carrying the prized bottle of wine and explained that it had been a gift from Seductress. The teen explained the reasoning behind the gift from their instructor and threatened them with major harm if they even thought about getting any of the wine. When Sean and Justin complained, Dominic told them to shove it.

"Take Clover and Sam out to the restaurant. Maybe you'll get lucky and Seductress will be there. Better yet ask her when we get to the party she invited us to in a few weeks.", snapped Dominic as he locked the bottle securely away in the cabinet.

As Sean and Justin pestered him with questions about the invitation, Dominic yawned again and started to head upstairs.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow. I'm tired and it's late. I'm going to bed."

His friends followed his example and twenty minutes later the house was quiet except for the radios playing in each bedroom. In his bedroom at the front of their house, Dominic lay down on top of his sheets wearing only a pair of soccer shorts and an old raggedy t-shirt. Looking out the window, he gazed at the dark villa down the street and wished he'd stayed there and shared Alex's bed rather than sleeping alone in his own. Yawning one last time, D.C. James closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. A sleep that was anything but restful as images of his time with Alex tumbled around his mind and shared space with images of his times with the Seductress.

Dominic Calvin James knew that on Monday after school, his relationship with Alex would be put to the ultimate test as he and his teammates prepared for what the Seductress could dish out during her training of agents.

"Dear Lord please give me the strength to resist Countess de Aquitaine's wiles as my friends and I undergo her special brand of training to prepare us for our toughest assignment to date.", prayed D.C. mentally as he restlessly slept in the cool darkness of his room.

And there it is the end of 'Agents and Operatives' Chapter Two. Once again I deeply and sincerely apologize for the length of this chapter (70 pages, damn that's even long for me). I hope that the length of this chapter and the previous one don't deter anyone from enjoying this story. In the future I'll try to shorten my chapters (hopefully).

One of the reasons this chapter is so lengthy is that somewhere in the middle (approximately around the time of the first part of Alex and Dominic's date), my idiotically brilliant self somehow stepped away from the characters I was concentrating to do scenes containing Sean and Clover and Justin and Sam. Those scenes weren't supposed to appear here. I don't know why I added them but I do hope they enhance the story for those fans that prefer to read about the burgeoning relationships between Clover and Sean and Justin and Sam.

One thing I want to say about the scene between Clover and Sean in the field house was hard for me to write because of what I was intending to portray. Thankfully I finished it on a good note and even foreshadowed something I was hoping to bring out in the open in a later chapter (those of you who figure out what I mean, drop me a line and maybe I'll give you a cameo appearance: here's a hint, I clarified it a bit more a tad bit later in this chapter).

Now for all of you who reviewed my first chapter of this story, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and hope that my portrayal of the characters is to your liking (yes they are a bit out of character as the chapter progresses but I mean to do that). I hope you wish me the best in continuing this story.

The next chapter is going to jump ahead three weeks to the point where Alex, Sam, and Clover are going to head out for their training under the countess. Of course there's going to be some misunderstandings between the girls and guys but eventually it's going to work itself out. Some of you are wondering when I'm planning on having Jerry reveal to the girls who the guys of Foxfire actually air. Don't worry it's coming soon and the identities of the teams are going to become apparent to each other through an unexpected twist (or expected if you are following the story close enough to read between the lines). Also next chapter I plan on bringing in three characters from another series. I think I mentioned who they are (or will be) in my bio. I'm working on the first chapter of that story as we speak. Once I finish both stories (or at least get far enough along so I can start on it), there will be a crossover. So keep your eyes out for the first chapter of the other story but that may take awhile since I'm concentrating on this story and 'Sylvia's Solitary Soldier' and 'Return of the Razgriz' at the moment. Hopefully I can get cracking on it soon enough and get the first chapter finished and posted.

Also in the next chapter I may shed a little bit more light on the foreshadowing from this chapter. One thing's for sure, when I reveal all, it'll be a blast and it's going to come from way out of right field.

One last thing before the Knightewolfe signs off for now, I'm looking for three motorcycle-themed nicknames for Dominic, Justin, and Sean for the other story. If anyone can come up with three good ones, you'll get a sneak peek at what I have for that story now even though the first chapter is nowhere near finished. Hell it hasn't even reached the middle yet, but I'll still give you a sneak peek and will wait for your replies.

As always all mistakes are mine and mine alone. All criticisms whether constructive or destructive will be accepted in the spirit they were meant. All flames will be tossed in my ever infamous 'File 13'.

Keep on reading, writing, and reviewing. Knightewolfe is pulling that ghost thang and vanishing for a bit. But I shall return with another installment of 'Agents and Operatives'. Thank you for reading.

Sincerely Yours: Knightewolfe

Knightewolfe's Lair

18 March 2007