Rakhi's plane landed in DC, and a Langley driver picked her up. He took her bag, and congratulated her on a job well done. Rakhi got in the car, and they drove back to Langley. At this point, Rakhi was dead tired. And could barely keep herself standing upright. Back at the DPD, Annie, Jai, and Auggie discussed the intel, while Joan talked with Arthur inside her office.
"So, what do you guys think makes this intel so important?" asked Jai, as he sat on the edge of Auggie's desk.
"I don't really know. All Joan has said is that it's extremely important we obtain it before someone else does," said Annie with a look of concentration.
Auggie sipped his coffee. "Well whatever it is, it better be important. Rakhi was extremely close to losing it, and her life today."
"That poor girl...I bet you anything her eyes will be half asleep when she gets here," said Annie with a sympathetic look.
"You wanna bet on that, Walker?" asked Auggie with a grin. Ever since Annie won $30,000 playing poker on one of her missions, Auggie's teased her about having a good streak of luck on bets and gambles.
Annie threw him a grin, and turned to Jai. "Help her out of her car. I doubt she'll be able to walk very well if she hasn't slept in a while," she said.
Jai grinned at her, and responded "Of course I was planning on helping her out of her car. Just like I did with you after your first mission. Geez, what kind of gentleman do you think I am?"
Annie rolled her eyes, and walked off to her desk to get some more paperwork done.
"Her car's here," said Auggie to Jai.
Jai walked off towards the entrance of the building. He saw Rakhi get sluggishly out of the car, and he put his arm around her.
"Hey there, Rakhi," said Jai with a kind smile.
"Heyyy, Jai," Rakhi mumbled as she rubbed her eyes.
Rakhi and Jai walked into the DPD, and he walked her straight up to Joan's office. Arthur had already left by then, and Jai left her to debrief with Joan, but not before telling her how good of a job she had done. Rakhi walked into Joan's office, and sat in one of the two chairs directly in front of her desk.
Rakhi sat there and spent two and a half hours debriefing Joan on what happened in the mission, and she gave her the intel. Rakhi struggled not to fall asleep, and Joan smiled inside, as she could tell. After finishing debriefing, Joan got up and sat on her couch, and motioned Rakhi to do the same.
"Are you alright?" asked Joan, her eyes staring intently into Rakhi's.
"I'm fine," said Rakhi softly.
"You did a good job," said Joan, offering a small smile. Rakhi smiled. Praise from Joan didn't always come, so she was happy she got it. That meant the intel had been good as well.
"I'll be right back," said Joan, as she left her office for a couple minutes. Rakhi put her head on arms, which were on the siderest. She closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep. It was purely accidental, and she hadn't meant to fall asleep in Joan's office. Joan returned a couple minutes later, and stopped in shock in front of her couch when she saw Rakhi asleep. She smiled softly, and gently pushed Rakhi's body, so she was lying down on the couch. Joan took of the teenager's shoes, and brought a blanket to over the girl. Joan didn't have the heart to tell the young girl to get up and go home. Joan closed her office door, and went back to her desk to work. She looked up a few times, when Rakhi tossed and turned and frowned in her sleep.
Jai and Annie walked into Joan's office at 6 in the morning, after coming back from a few short hours of sleep. They looked at Rakhi in surprise, but Joan shook her head and told them not to wake her up.
"She fell asleep in your office?" asked Jai surprised.
"Yes, it was a rough mission for her," replied Joan, giving Jai a look.
"Aww..she looks so cute sleeping," said Annie who took a quick picture of the teenager. Joan agreed, but would never voice her opinion out loud, especially in front of Jai Wilcox. They handed in their papers, and walked out the door.
Joan went home for a couple hours and showered. She left Rakhi sleeping in her office, who was still sleeping when Joan came back at 8 in the morning. Joan walked outside her office and gave everyone the paperwork they needed to complete today, and they got started. Right before she was going back into her office, Auggie came up to her.
"Hey Joan, have you seen Rakhi?" asked Auggie who Joan could clearly tell was a bit worried.
"She's in my office...sleeping," replied Joan, watching Auggie's face for his reaction.
Auggie looked confused for a moment, before bursting out in a large smile. "She fell asleep in your office, didn't she?"
"Yes, she did, 6 hours ago," answered Joan. She walked back into her office, and started on her work for the day. She hears a noise, and looks up. Rakhi slowly lifts her head from the couch, her hair a mess, and her clothes all wrinkled. Rakhi looked confused beyond belief, and it took everything in Joan not to start laughing at how cute the girl looked.
Rakhi sat up on the couch, and rubbed her eyes. It made her look even younger than she actually was. Suddenly, Joan saw recognition dawn on Rakhi's face.
"Oh shit, I fell asleep in your office didn't I?" asked Rakhi, turning towards Joan with an apologetic look on her face.
Joan gave her a soft smile and said,"Yes, you did. But, it's alright. You needed the rest. She walked over to Rakhi, and helped her up.
"Go home, Rakhi. Get changed and come back here. Oh and by the way, Auggie was looking for you," she ordered with a smile.
Rakhi smiled back gratefully, and thanked her for her kindness. She walked out the door, and took the back way out of the DPD. She drove home and did as she was told.
