“Till then we’re on close quarter stand by” Operation said to dismiss the briefing. Birkoff went back to his computers and Walter went back to his shop. Michael and Nikita went to his office and Kathryn got up to call Stephen, to tell him that she wouldn’t be home for a while.

She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t have quarters in Section anymore, she shared with Michael on close quarter stand by. She went up to the catwalk to was over the training area. She sat down and let her legs dangle off the edge. As a child she would sit here for hours and watch the recruits. The new ones would always give her a strange look but after they were knocked on their butt they wouldn’t pay her any attention. She was sitting here when Michael started training.

A six year old Kathryn sat down on the catwalk. There wasn’t many people below her. It was five in the morning and only the new recruits were there. She looked down and saw Jurgen enter. Michael came in behind him. The first thing that Jurgen did was get rid of all the others. Then he showed him a basic work-out routine, before starting him with some hand-to-hand moves.

A couple of minutes later someone came in to tell Jurgen that Operation wanted to talk to him.

“I’ll be right there.” He told them, then turned to Michael. “Continue practicing the moves that I’ve showed you. I should be back by then but if I’m not start with the work-out.”

Michael went about practicing the moves. He found that it helped him think things through. He was still a little confused about everything. He was just getting use to being in jail and now he was here. He didn’t know if this was worst then jail or not. At lest in jail he had a chance to get out, he didn’t think that was a possibly here. He’d never see his parents or Julie again. He didn’t know how he felt about that. They were a close family but he was the closes to Julie. He would definitely miss her.

Just then he noticed her. The little girl that he met with Ron, Kathryn was her name, was sitting on the catwalk. When she saw that he had seen her she smiled and got up, then she walked over to one of the beams that held the catwalk up and slid down it fireman style.

“Hi” She said as she walked over to one of the weight benches, sat on the bench and put her arms on the weight bar, staring at him.

“Hello” He said back. For a couple of minutes neither said anything

“You should really get back to work” Kathryn said, “Jurgen won’t like it if you're just standing there when he gets back. Actually your not going to like it if he gets back and your not doing anything. He’ll give you a whole lot more work to do.”

“Okay.” He said as he went back to practicing the moves that Jurgen had shown him. She watched him quietly until he got to one move, she watched him do it a couple of times before she spoke up.

“Your doing it wrong.”

“What?”

“Your right hand needs to be higher, you going for the persons throat. Right now you would hit the top of their chest. It might work but that not how the move is done.”

Frankly the fact that a six year old girl was talking about going for someone’s throat was slightly disturbing to Michael. He couldn’t imagine Julie saying those words. After that she said “this is how you do it” and stood on the bench and pantomimed the move.

“You know how to do these moves?” He asked

“Not really, I’m not going to be trained till I’m older but I like to watch the recruits, and it’s a common move to start off with, and if you watch something long enough you remember it.” He did the move again, correctly this time and looked back at her. She was looking down at a shadow that had developed around her.

“Kathryn Marie!”

“Uh, oh” she said as she turned to see who it was. “Um, Hi, Simone”

“Uh, oh, is right young lady. What have you been told about coming into the work-out room?”

“Um, ....... not to.”

“So why are you here?”

“I was watching Michael, he was the only one here and I....I....” She trailed off at the look that Simone was giving her.

“Go back to your quarters, your mother is looking for you.”

“Okay, see you, Michael.”

“Bye” As she turned the corner Kathryn saw that Michael and Simone were talking, then she hurried off to see what her Mother wanted.

A week later Michael had dinner at their quarters, in the middle her parents were call for a mission and Michael stayed with her. Which started a tradition of Michael staying with her whenever her parent were on a mission.

************

A noise from the training area brought Kathryn out of the memory. One of the recruits had gotten hurt, everybody was standing around him to see if he was all right. Kathryn got up and walked around a bit, she ended up in the main part of Section. She sat on the briefing table watching Birkoff roll from computer to computer in his chair.

“That’s the wrong sequence.” Birkoff said loudly to one of his people before running his hand thought his hair. It was the same length as when he first came to Section

Kathryn sat in Walter’s shop, twisting a piece of wire. On her eight birthday she was told that she was allowed to go into Walter’s shop if she didn’t touch anything in less Walter asked her. She was board. Michael had completed training a few months ago and like most recruits just out of training he only come in if he was called in.

She looked out into the main part of Section. At the computers Scott, the computer guy, was talking to Madeline and a boy only a couple of years older then her. He was wearing a pair of jeans with holes in the knees, and a T-shirt the he was using the end of the wipe off a pair of glasses.

“Kathryn.” Madeline called to her. She got up and went to her.

“Kathryn this is Seymour Birkoff. He was just brought in to help this the computers. I was wondering if you would show him around?”

“Sure, come on Seymour.”

“Call me Birkoff, PLEASE!”

“Okay, Birkoff, come on.” she said as she took off down the side hall, passed the office the would one day be Michael’s. Birkoff followed and after meeting Walter and getting a very detailed tour of all the areas that Kathryn was allowed they ended up on the catwalk above the training area.

“What’s that?” He asked pointing to the Observation Deck.

“That’s Operation’s office. That is a place that your not allowed to go in less your asked up there and that’s something that you don’t want to happen.

“Who’s that guy?” He asked pointing into the training area. “I saw you wave to him when he came in.” Kathryn looked at who he was talking about and she got a big smile on her face.

“That’s Michael. He just got out of training but my dad says that he’s going to be one of the best cold ops the we have. Don’t tell anybody that I told you that, I’m not suppose to repeat anything that I hear my parents say.”

“I won’t. What do you do here?”

“What do you mean?”

“They brought me in because I’m good with computers. What do you do?”

“Right now I just learn. Languages, computers and other non-physical stuff. In a couple of years I’ll learn the marshal arts stuff then I’ll be a cold op.”

“A cold op, how old are you?”

“Eight, how old are you?’

“Eleven.” He looked at his watch. “I’ve got to go, Madeline said she wanted to show me my quarters.”

“Okay, bye.”

Kathryn got up off the briefing table and started walking around again. She was right about one thing, two years later, on her tenth birthday the started her training. And that’s where she was when she learned that her parents had died.

************

Kathryn had only been training for three months. Michael had just shown her a new move when him and her parents had to go on a mission. I wasn’t supposed to take very long. She was still practicing the move when she saw Walter, Michael, Madeline and Operation walking toward her. The first person that she looked at was Michael. He had a cast on his arm. After she saw the cast she looked at their faces. they all had the same ‘I’m sorry’ look on. She shook her head.

“No, It wasn’t a dangers mission.”

“The C-4 charges detonated prematurely. They hadn’t made it out of the building yet. I’m sorry Kathryn.” Madeline said softly

Kathryn pressed her lips together and closed her eyes as tears formed in them. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then opened her eyes and the tears were gone. Madeline stepped forward and with a hand on her back led Kathryn into her office.

An hour later she walked out of Madeline office. She slowly walked around Section until she sat down in Walter’s shop. She didn’t want to talk but she didn’t want to be alone. Walter understood and left her lone. Kathryn looked out in to the Section. Everything was the same. Birkoff was at the computers, the recruits were still training, and Operation still paced his office.

Kathryn found herself outside the quarters that she once shared with her parents. She closed her eyes as that first night without them came back.

That night she went to their quarters. She stood in the livingroom and looked around. There was still no proof that they were dead. It was just the same as when she left this morning, but that in its self was proof. By now her dad, the gourmet chef, would have dinner cooking, her mom would be finishing up some report for Operation, and since it was Friday, Michael and Simone would be coming over.

It hit her, they were really gone. Tears started to fill her eyes and lips started to tremble. As the tears started to fall her knees gave out and she fell. Before she hit the floor an arm wrapped around and held her. She turned her head and sobbed into Michael’s shoulder.

When she fell asleep Michael picked her up and took her to the quarters that he shared with Simone.

“Michael, what happened?” She asked when she saw that he was carrying Kathryn.

“She was in her quarters, crying. I didn’t think that she would want to stay there tonight.”

“Your right, too many reminders right now.” She went to a closet and got a blanket and a pillow and Michael put Kathryn on the couch.

Kathryn leaned against the opposite wall and slid to the ground. Tears were silently running down her face. She had a lot of nightmares that night and Michael was always right there. He had slept on the floor next to the couch.

She wiped the tears away as a shadow fell across her. He sat down next to her and stared at the door.

“I miss them. I still hear them sometime, I’ll hear mom calling me or I’ll hear that song that dad use to hum when he was cooking.”

“I miss them too, they were good friends.” He got up and offered her a hand up. “Come on the briefings about to start.”

After he helped her up wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes and followed Operation to the briefing room.

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