Chapter Six
It had been a week since Macy had been planted into Division. She was slowly getting into the routine and being a Division recruit. Her and Birkhoff were still at odds; she had not completely forgiven him, even though seducing him was her mission. Things were getting better, but still ice cold between them. As she walked to his office that morning for her training, she knew today she would have to start warming things up to accomplish her goal.
In his office, Birkhoff was thinking the same thing. He knew Amanda would be expecting an update and so far he didn't have one. He ran his hand through his hair nervously, not sure what to do. The reason Amanda had assigned him to practice was because she knew that he needed practice. Since Division didn't allow relationships, he had no reason to seduce a woman previously. Before division Birkhoff had not had much luck with relationships so he did not have anything to draw from especially when they had gotten off to such an awful start. He powered up the computer as there was gentle knock on his office door. He walked over, picking up a couple pieces of clothes off the floor, throwing them into his hamper next to the door. Opening the door, Macy came into the office. "Good morning Birkhoff." She greeted him with a cheerier-than-normal tone.
"Morning." He replied, gesturing to a computer chair, "Have a seat. Today we're going to be looking at the more medical applications. First thing we are going to look at is activating tracers and kill chips."
"Kill chips?" Macy wasn't so happy to hear they would do things like that.
"Yeah." Birkhoff looked at her, annoyed that he had to repeat himself. He had definitely woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, frustrated by the situation. "Kills chips."
Biting her tongue, Macy knew she and Birkhoff had to start getting along. Once in the week she had known him, she wished Birkhoff would give an inch of patience to her. "Alright. So what's the first step?" she asked him, leaning in closer to him.
Birkhoff was a little thrown off when Macy leaned closer to him. He dismissed it as an accident and went back to teaching her. About halfway he felt her hand gently rest on his leg. This caught him off-guard and this time he couldn't ignored it. "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked, picking her hand up off his lap and holding it towards her.
"Sorry." She blushed, moving her hand back to her own lap. "I thought it was the computer chair."
Birkhoff wasn't sure if he bought it or not, but he couldn't think of a reason she would be interested in him, not that he cared either way. Without a second thought she went back to teaching her the ropes. As she had done earlier, he moved slightly closer to her to try to get on his mission. He tried to remember the techniques he had seen others use, but they all escaped him. Needing a moment to think, to plan, so he suggested, "Let's see you give it a try."
As Macy began to work, Birkhoff stood behind her chair to watch what she was doing. Looking over her shoulder, he noticed the slightly fruity smell from her soap. Until now he had not realized how long it had been since he was so close to a girl that he could admire her scent. Maybe this wouldn't be as hard as he thought. He still had to figure out his next move. If he moved too fast and scared Macy, he would risk cancellation.
Macy heard Birkhoff take a deep breath as he watched over her shoulder and she hoped that was a good thing. As much as she needed to make a move for her mission, since his mission was to seduce her, and he didn't know this, it would be much better to let him make the movie. She shuttered a little, a little disgusted that she was going to let someone that had been so rude to kiss her. Meanwhile Birkhoff caught a mistake she made and he grabbed her hand and mouse to correct it. She jumped, not expecting that much contact from him. Part of her enjoyed the feeling of having someone pressed against her. His arm was pressed against hers as he held onto her hand. She didn't know what was going on but her heart was pounding.
When Birkhoff realized that he had stopped watching and had froe, he straightened up, putting away from her. Clearing his throat, he said, "Maybe we ought to stop for today."
Macy stood up, the chair rolling away with the force she had stood. "What?" Macy complained, frustrated that Birkhoff wasn't making a move and was making things harder, "One mistake and you're done?"
"It's not that." Birkhoff shot back angrily, "I just think we should take a break."
"Why! So you can run off and report to Amanda how bad I suck so she can cancel me, or at the very least take me off your specialty?" Macy threw out the only thing she could think of on the fly.
"Because you're driving me crazy!" Birkhoff replied, pulling her to him and giving her a heated kiss.
In absolute shock at his sudden boldness, Macy let her body fold into his, placing her hands gently on his hips, slowly running one of them up his back as they kissed. She was surprised that Birkhoff was a lot more muscular than his baggy clothes let on. She had forgotten what a great kisser Birkhoff was from the small taste she'd had in Amanda's office. Feeling Birkhoff's hands run up her sides, part of her hoped that Birkhoff was at least enjoying the kiss, although she didn't exactly understand where that thought was coming from.
It was an out of body experience for Birkhoff as he instinctually pulled her in for a kiss. Turning the fire of them fighting into a kiss had almost worked before, so he figured it could work again. HE was slightly surprised when Macy's body meted against his. It was surprisingly pleasant to kiss her- to kiss a real woman again. That much he could admit, even though he could not stand her. His mind suddenly began to race- wondering if he should keep kissing her, if he should stop or if he should guide her towards the couch. Luckily Macy made the choice for him, pulling away, placing her hands on his arms. "Seymour." She looked at him, question in her eyes.
"I'm sorry." Birkhoff apologized, slapping himself on the inside for being too bold.
"Don't be." Macy gave him a gentle smile. "I didn't slap you this time."
Birkhoff looked unsure. Giving Birkhoff credit for trying to seduce her, Macy leaned in and gave him another, soft kiss. The surprise on his face was priceless to Macy. She knew she could not give in too easily, so she made sure to keep the kiss short. "Macy, I am so sorry for before." He caught her eyes as she pulled away.
Macy was surprised, but the apology was believable this time. The sincerity in his voice and eyes were clear. "Thank you." She whispered, still locking his gaze.
Glad they were finally on friendlier terms, Birkhoff gave Macy a friendly smile, and then they started back at work. She still didn't quite like or trust Birkhoff, so while she had to let him in, she knew Birkhoff could not move too quickly, especially after the rocky start they had gotten off to. As they continued to work on her training, Macy noticed Birkhoff was working a little bit closer to her than he had been previously
After a few hours of work, Macy was finally going to join the other recruits on normal training. As she went to leave, Birkhoff's voice trailed after her, "Macy," she turned around to face him, "Would you like to come watch a movie with me tonight? I know we can't go out, but I could at least put one on here."
"I thought this wasn't allowed?" Macy had to play her part.
"What they don't know won't hurt them. I'm the tech, remember? I can erase video, spoof trackers, and anything else that we need."
Smiling and sure that Birkhoff was convinced that she didn't know anything she shouldn't, Macy finally replied, "Okay Seymour."
She didn't really want to do it, but for her cover she knew that she would have to do it, and using his first name made things easier.
Birkhoff smiled. "How about 7:00 PM?"
Walking down the hallway, a guard stopped Macy about halfway to the gym. "Recruit, Amanda would like to see you."
After the act she had to put on Birkhoff, Macy wasn't exactly looking for another challenge at the moment, but it had been a few days since they had talked, and she figured that Amanda would be dying for an update. "Thanks." She thanked the guard, heading to Amanda's office.
As she walked past a couple of recruits, she was very aware of how they glared at her and whispered as they walked by. There was one disadvantage of being Amanda's pet- the other recruits were jealous someone so new spent so much time locked up in special training with Birkhoff and Amanda. She couldn't blame them, but it didn't make it sting any less. Loneliness and judgment was a huge part of her life. It wasn't too long before she got to Amanda's office. "Macy." Amanda greeted her from her usual spot beside her vanity. "Sit down."
Amanda joined Macy at the chairs in the middle of the room. "You wanted to see me?"
Smiling, Amanda replied, "Yes, I wanted to know how things are going with Birkhoff?"
"Okay." She replied. "He finally made a move today."
Amanda's eyebrows arched in interest. "Really?"
Nodding, Macy reported, "He kissed me earlier and he invited me to watch a movie in his office later."
This impressed Amanda- or at least she was glad to hear it. "I'm surprised. Didn't think Birkhoff would have it in him."
"He's a little weird about it, a little uneasy but he's getting there."
Amanda look in Macy's comment before continuing. "Just be careful. Make sure he's good and comfortable with you before you start asking questions and don't let him catch you spying on him."
Macy let out a disappointed sigh. If Birkhoff had to trust her that much this would have to come after he completed his mission of seducing her and Amanda gave them the okay to really date. That could be awhile. "So while he's pretending to seduce me, I really have to seduce him so you can ok us dating and I can possibly start asking more questions?" Macy wanted to make sure she knew exactly what was expected.
"It sounds right." Amanda agreed.
"This is going to be a long process." Macy replied.
Amanda smiled. "It might be. Sometimes Birkhoff is hard to predict, but the last time I talked to Birkhoff, he still didn't think much of you."
"And I don't think much of him." Macy admitted in reply.
"Well, so far you are doing a good job hiding it. Just make sure you and Birkhoff continue to fulfill your mission."
Macy nodded. "I know, otherwise I would be nowhere near him."
"Birkhoff isn't the only thing I brought you here to talk about." Amanda quickly switched subjects. "How did your extended cover go? Did you work on the things we talked about before you left?"
For three years Macy had dreaded that question. "You saw that first fight between Birkhoff and me. I thought I had resolved it, but obviously it's still there."
Amanda nodded. "Well I am glad you can admit as much. We will try to work on it as much as possible, but it will be hard since most of the recruits won't be too thrilled with you with your special training."
Macy had already observed this to be true. "Just trust is hard enough." Macy regretted saying it the minute it left her mouth.
With a smirk, Amanda's face lit up with an idea. "Well I have an idea for that." Amanda quickly replied. "While you are regaining Birkhoff's trust, I want you to let Birkhoff gain yours."
"What?" Macy was shocked. "How can I trust someone that made comments to me the way he did."
"Because," Amanda was still smiling, Macy sure she was marveling at her brilliant idea "Birkhoff isn't really a bad guy. He just sticks his foot in his mouth and gets a bit selfish at times."
Hiding the gasp from her mouth, Macy found it amazing to hear Amanda give a complement, much less about Birkhoff. From the very beginning her dislike for Birkhoff had be clear in her voice when she talked about or to him. "And how do I show that I am trusting Birkhoff?"
"If you trust someone, you let them know everything. I'll expect you to tell Birkhoff about your past- except that you are a secret plant- that I obviously don't want you to tell him. And I would expect you to him in close enough to do the normal things couples do." Amanda's slimy grin made Macy's skin crawl.
Even though she hadn't come out and said it, Macy knew what Amanda was implying, worse yet was the thought of how Amanda would confirm that Macy had done what she'd asked. Shaking the thought from her head, Macy replied, "Ok." Putting off the inevitable.
"So we talked a little before about your extended cover. What did you spend your time doing?" Amanda asked.
Macy didn't really want to talk with Amanda about the last three years. She had been lucky enough to get three years of a relatively private life, and she wanted to keep it private too. "Just the normal things- working, reading, those kinds of things."
"No trouble?"
Macy shook her head. "Very little contact with anyone. No trouble, no traffic tickets, nothing."
"Good." Amanda replied.
As she began to ask another question, a knock on the door interrupted her. Without a word to Macy, Amanda got up and headed to the door. Macy was surprised to see Birkhoff there. After whispering for a few seconds, Amanda invited him in, telling Macy, "Macy, an urgent issue came up that we have to address. We'll have to continue our talk later."
Nodding, Macy got up to leave, nodding at Birkhoff on her way out. She was surprised to find herself thinking, 'Thank God for Birkhoff.'