I'm walkin' on sunshine! Whoa-oh! I'm walkin' on sunshine!

The late 20th century classic was stuck in Jane's head as she fairly skipped to work. It was a very sunny day, and the past few weeks of training her new recruit had gone wonderfully. In fact, better than wonderfully. John Harrison was without question the fastest learning recruit Section 31 had ever had. Normally new recruits were trained on base for six months before prepping for an interstellar assignment; Harrison had gotten that far in five weeks. Pleased with their progress, Admiral Marcus had granted both Harrison and Jane a week's furlough, which Jane had utilized by visiting the still harsh wilderness that was found in Alaska. She found the crisp air and lack of technology to be very refreshing, and as she fairly pranced to work today, she was convinced that it was entirely her short vacation that had her in such a good mood, not the thought of seeing Harrison again. During their five weeks of training they had been together for about twelve hours a day, five to six days a week, and in that time Harrison had gradually thawed a bit around her. He was still very guarded and reserved, but he had started opening up about his life. Jane had learned that he'd never known his father, his mother had tragically died in an accident when he was four, depriving him of both her and his younger sibling whom she was pregnant with, he was raised by distant relations in a small community in what was previously Earth's country of India. He had a passion for sushi and hated apple pie. And yet...

Jane chewed her lip, unable to shake the sensation that he was still hiding something, something important. While she sensed truthfulness behind everything he said (especially his sour expression when discussing apple pie), she had also sensed... something. Like he was hiding something, but it was so carefully guarded that not even her highly developed sense of empathy could pinpoint what it was. She was not accustomed to being unable to sense a human's emotions. She smirked slightly. Perhaps that was part of the reason she enjoyed his company so much.

Jane shook her head to clear it. She was just in a good mood because of her vacation, and the progress she was making, and the fact that today she and Harrison were starting their pre-op briefing and training. Between that and the intoxicating San Francisco summer sunshine, she spirits were so high that her mind was running rampant. Feelings for John Harrison? Hardly!

Jane whistled as she made her way to her cubicle, drawing several curious looks from her coworkers. While she was hardly dour, she was not normally taken to such brazen cheerfulness, either. Her whistle faltered slightly when she saw that Harrison's desk was vacant; he was normally here well before she was. She glanced around the office, maybe he was up and about?

An ensign occupying the cube next to her noticed her shifting gaze. "He's not coming in today."

Jane snapped her head toward the youngster so fast she got a crick in her neck. "Who's not?" she asked, feigning innocence.

Ensign Turner smirked, clearly not buying her act. "Lieutenant Harrison will not be reporting today."

Jane scowled. "And why not? We were supposed to start our mission pre-op today! He's going to have his ass in a jam!"

Turner shrugged with a lazy smirk on his face and turned back to his console. "How should I know? I'm not the boss!" Jane wished she could connect her fist to his nose and add some color to his irritating face.

She flopped into her chair with a sigh, her bright, cheery mood turned sour. Not bothering to try and hide her scowl, she turned on her computer terminal to see if there were any messages regarding Harrison's unscheduled absence. Sixty-seven messages in the past week, most of them barely earning a glance from her. She scrolled it to the most recent ones. Three from people in other departments looking for advice on such and such, an ad from an Orion dating site (she was going to have words with the officer in charge of their spam filters), and a quick message from Carol asking to meet up for lunch this week. Nothing from Harrison or a superior officer. She sighed again, her scowl turning into more of a concerned frown. Harrison was a model officer, as he had demonstrated by his inhuman-like progress and aptitude of their program, and for him to simply ditch with no explanation was completely out of character. Jane chewed her lip, hoping nothing had happened to her charge. What if he had been mugged? For all she knew, he could be bleeding to death down some cold alleyway...

She shook her head fiercely. Where had that come from? Harrison was a top-rated Starfleet officer and a star recruit of Section 31, it was far unlikely that any street thugs would be able to take advantage of him. Jane stared at her computer console, her mind wandering as it tried to figure out what in the world could have called Harrison away on such an important day. A million scenarios ran through her head, each more insane than the last. He had no family, so it couldn't be that. Could it be he was seeing someone? Jane felt an unpleasant rush at the thought and immediately dismissed it. He had clearly stated many times over the course of their training that he was completely unattached. Not that that was any of her business, anyway, and nor did it matter to her in the least if he was in a relationship.

Sighing in frustration, Jane got up and went to get herself a coffee from the lobby downstairs. She was going to need some major caffeine to get through a day of secretary work, especially after a broken promise of mission pre-op. The lobby was mercifully empty, giving her the freedom to doll up her coffee with her favored generous helping of cream and heaping amount of sugar. A small smile played on her lips. Usually the looks she would get when people saw just how much sugar she put in her coffee were enough to make her go much easier than she preferred, and the days when she could indulge without being noticed tended to put her in an overall better mood. Maybe it was just a sugar buzz. Jane sucked on the spoon, not wanting a single drop of the precious liquid to go to waste, thinking perhaps today would be the day to take Carol up on her offer of lunch.

Carol!

Jane threw the spoon on the counter and bolted out the door. Not nearly patient enough to wait for the lift, she flew up the stairs back to her office, not caring about the odd looks she was getting from her coworkers. She landed on her chair with a huff and hurriedly sent a message to Carol asking if they could meet for lunch today. A quick glance at the chronometer on her desk revealed it to be not quite 0900, so Carol should get the message before she left her office for her usual daily seminar. Carol was teaching a class on basic weapons technology this summer, leaving her out of the office for most of the morning after 0900.

Jane panted slightly as she worked on catching her breath from her sudden adrenaline burst. I am such a dumbass sometimes! she chided herself. If anyone would know what's up with John Harrison, it would be Carol! One could not be an admiral's daughter without hearing pretty much every rumor before it even started. Especially the daughter of the admiral in charge of Starfleet...

Jane drummed her fingers on her desk impatiently. If Carol missed the message, she likely wouldn't get it on time to do lunch today. Jane chewed her lip, not liking the idea of having to wait until tomorrow to talk to her friend.

The chronometer read 0858 when a message blinked on from Carol. Jane felt a huge grin spread on her face as she read Carol's affirmation. It would be good to see her friend again. They had not been able to see much of each other since Jane began working with Harrison, and she was anxious to do some catch up, as well as hopefully find out what was going on with said charge of hers. And Jane also had a sneaking suspicion that her dear sweet friend may have had a whole lot more to do with her getting assigned to work with Harrison than she liked to let on...

Jane leaned her chair back with a smile, the day not seeming quite so dull anymore. Any day with sugar coffee was a good day, she thought, reaching absentmindedly for her drink. That was when she realized she had left it in the lobby...

Whoops! she thought. Guess I'll just have to take another break to go get it. Shucks!