Madeline hated all-nighters. She was well aware that most operatives were stoic in their belief that she and Operations never left the Section building; and, while it was true that she was all too often required to pull an all-nighter in order to finish the details of an upcoming mission, she had never gotten used to it. Contrary to popular belief, she DID have a home outside the Section--a nice home at that--and she relished what hours she was able to spend there. Glancing down at her watch, she followed the second hand in its clockwise voyage, noticing that with each passing "tick" she was getting closer and closer to just falling asleep on the couch in Operations' office. Not that it would be the first time.

Operations rose from his desk chair and moved to stand at the edge of the balcony-like office, looking down at the activities of the operatives in the heart of the Section below. Activity was minimal. Madeline was doing something with the budget--balancing it, he supposed. She had no missions to profile, so she had begun calculating the Section's "checkbook". A few operatives strolled through the control area, some coming in for the graveyard shift and others trying to beat the sunrise home. Birkoff spun around in his rolling chair, testing his ability to flip Oreos into his mouth while doing so. He stopped every so often to check on a downloading file, but soon returned to his sandwich cookie antics.

Madeline gazed over at her superior, seeing him reach into his inside coat pocket and retrieve a thin cigar and a lighter. She scowled as he raised the cigar to his lips and just as he was bringing the lighter up to meet it, she leapt from her seat, strode over to him and snatched it from his mouth. "How many times do I have to tell you to quit that?" she scolded.

Operations turned to face her, fully intent on defending himself, but when he found himself being studied by Madeline's deep chocolate eyes, he lost all defiance.

"Sorry," he mumbled. He never had been too great in the apology department. "I guess I still need something to help me relax."

"Does it work?" she asked.

"No, not really."

She smiled as she tossed the offensive objects aside. "That's what I thought," she stated triumphantly. She stepped behind him then, placing a hand on either shoulder, leaning forward to rest her chin on one of her hands. "I can help you relax," she drawled in her even alto voice.

Her words, spoken in such a way as to both soothe and tease, drifted into his ear and even then he could hear the closeness of her breathing.

"Madeline," he began, rotating to look her in the eyes--an action releasing him from her grasp, "you're enough to give any man a coronary. Not exactly a relaxed state." At the widening of her surprised eyes, Operations continued, "Shocked it hasn't happened to me yet." He offered a smirky grin for her benefit.

It was a grin she countered with a playful punch to his upper arm. Madeline spun on her heels and began to stride away. Just as she snatched her coat from the armrest it was draped over, she heard his voice behind her saying, "What a way to go, though."

Slowly, she came to a stop and turned until she was looking straight at the unchanged grin on Operations' face. Her lips curved gently into a smile of their own, never fading until she was standing nearly toe-to-toe with the man. She dropped her coat back on the couch and, reaching around his body, she hit a switch on the rail running the span of the glass, hence tinting the glass to black. They could see out, but no one could see in. She then closed the remaining space between them and placed a light kiss on his mouth. As she drew away, she inquired, "Relaxed yet?"

Never hesitating to reply: "Not even close."

"Shame," she remarked sarcastically, a sparkle of a laugh glinting in her sienna eyes, "Guess I'll have to try again."

"Guess so," he agreed, smile wider than ever, hands resting lightly on the hips of the woman standing before him. She leaned forward to kiss him again when he abruptly pulled away and whirled to face the tower window.

"Jesus, Madeline! Didn't you ever teach that girl a shred of decency?"

Madeline was thoroughly confused--a feeling she didn't take well to. Leaning against the rail, she studied the lobby area below her, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Well, nothing except Birkoff, who was putting the finishing touches on his state-of-the-art Oreo castle.

"What are you talking about? What girl?" she asked, bewilderment tinting her otherwise steady voice, as she could not locate who had caught Operations' attention.

"That girl." Operations pointed sharply to a young brunette who had just reemerged from the corridor he had seen her run into.

Madeline managed to catch sight of the girl now sprinting back across the control area toward the residence halls--the girl sprinting in nothing but her satin bra and bikini-cut panties.

Birkoff glanced up sharply, knocking some Oreos out of place. The whole castle soon crumbled into a heaping pile of chocolate wafers and filling, leaving the young hacker muttering some choice phrases.

Under ordinary circumstances, Madeline would have taken the event in stride and dealt with it professionally. But those weren't ordinary circumstances. And it wasn't professional. It was personal.

The mostly naked body darting through the room belonged to none other than Krystall Zander, her daughter. Her hand moved to cover her mouth, only slightly muffling her speech as she exclaimed,

"Oh, my God!" Her expression read embarrassment and shock, but inside, she was fighting the urge to burst out laughing.

Although Operations looked nothing short of annoyed, Madeline could tell he was fighting the same inward battle not to laugh as she was. And Operations was not a man easily amused.

Madeline's thoughts still were not completely connected yet. She had one more thing to clear up. "What was that she was screaming?"

Operations' gaze never wavered from the lobby and the few faces of the stunned operatives in it. "Precisely, I don't know. But, it sounded surprisingly like the theme song to 'Inspector Gadget'." He turned his icy eyes on Madeline then, awaiting her response.

Her response didn't come quietly. Just the thought of her daughter running practically nude through the halls of what could be considered one of the most solemn buildings in existence all while belting out the tune to 'Inspector Gadget' was more than even her facade of indifference could handle. Her face broke into a radiant smile and, try as she did, Madeline was no longer able to supress the fit of laughter that poured from her body.

"What, pray tell, is so funny?"

"Oh, come on. You can't possibly tell me you don't find it even remotely amusing when an 18-year-old girl goes streaking through Section One in her underwear singing 'Inspector Gadget'," she replied between giggles.

"Yes I can. And I am," he retorted.

Her laughter ceased. "Fine. Have it your way. I am going to have a little chat with Krys." She collected her coat from the couch before walking back up to him. "I will finish with you later..." she paused to kiss his cheek, "...you stubborn jackass." With that, she strolled toward the door, leaving Operations glaring at her retreating back.

"Good luck!" he called after her. After the door slid quietly shut, he added, "She's going to need it. That girl is just as devious as her mother."

Krystall struggled hurriedly to get her clothes back on as the other girls in her complex both laughed hysterically and threw random comments of approval at her. They began a group cheer of repetitive "Go, Krystall's," which Krystall absorbed while taking a bow. She held her arms in the air victoriously and savored the moment.

"Thank-you, thank-you." She batted her eyelashes dramatically, clutching a non-existent statuette in her hands. "I would like to dedicate this award to the rules and regulations of Section One, without which my excursion wouldn't have been nearly as much fun. And this also goes out to that spectacular girl who made this all possible--me." Before she had the chance to say another word, Krystall found herself being bombarded by a rapid-fire onset of pillows. "Cease fire!" she screamed, holding her hands up in mock surrender.

The pillows stopped flying and Krystall breathed a momentary sigh of relief, which was cut short by another pillow delivered to her head.

"All right, that was your last chance. This means war." Krystall gathered her ammunition from the pile at her feet and open-fired at Nikita, from whose hands the final pillow had come.

"I give up! I'm sorry!" Nikita yelled.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I hope you learned your lesson." Krystall jumped into a sitting position onto her bed, catapaulting two of the girls near the edge of the mattress to the floor upon impact. She snatched her Dr.Pepper from the nightstand and sipped it.

"Guess it's my turn. Hmm...let me see..." She tapped the top of her can with a single finger as she surveyed her potential victims, some of which had resituated themselves on the bed, while others remained on the floor.

Laura, the ever-quiet computer tech, sat slightly behind Krystall. Her favorite topic was how her life used to be and what she used to believe. She was still determined to keep her faith in those beliefs--even through the horror she had been presented with at Section One. Krystall, on the other hand, had come to the conclusion that faith alone got one nowhere. She had learned to depend on her own strength when her mother "died". 'Nah, too innocent', Krystall thought.

Then, there was Mandy, motor of the gossip mill and socializer of the Section. She, too, worked with computers, her job dealing with the latest CAD technology which she used to draft weapon designs with Walter. 'Uh, no. Too outgoing,' Krystall decided.

There was always Nikita, the only girl in the room having already crossed the 20-year age line. 'Nah, she's Nikita. Enough said.'

Krystall turned her gaze upon the next girl she saw. Shanelle. The petite, feisty operative of Cuban descent stared back in a challenging mode with her nearly black eyes. The only one present in the room to have currently out-flirted Nikita, Shanelle had a reputation to flirt with any male in sight--even if only to joke.

Shanelle ran a hand through her short hair, which had once been a shade too light to be brown and a shade too dark to truly be considered blonde. She had quickly remedied the problem--it was now a golden red.

'Perfect,' thought Krystall, 'With a history like hers, she's likely to have an interesting answer or two.'

"Shanelle, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." A simple reply.

"Okaaaay." Krystall thought only momentarily, all eyes on her. "Who's the latest victim to your overbearing flirtatious streak?"

No hesitation. "Jason."

"The one with the pecs? Oooo, hot stuff!" Mandy exclaimed.

Shanelle nodded.

"Sure, the guy's got a great body. I'll give you that much. But he's got just as much of a heart as a cadaver. You're gonna have as hard of a time getting him to crack as Nikita is with Michael."

"Watch it, Mandy," Nikita cautioned with an intense edge in her voice.

"Good luck, girl," Laura chimed in to Shanelle.

"Yeah," Tasha began. The 17-year-old's father had been the target of a Section mission, and her mother had died years before. Instead of leaving her orphaned, Operations had ordered her cancelled. Her life was spared when she managed to battle herself away from a pair of operatives, utilizing her multi- degree martial arts black-belt. Her future was altered and she was brought in for training. "Even your hot-blooded Cuban seductions won't work on that one."

"Okay, enough, enough. My turn." Shanelle's eyes fell on a blonde perched on the mattress edge.

"Nikita, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," came the Australian-tinted reply.

"Did you really kill that cop to get recruited?"

"No," she answered quickly. She still hadn't forgotten or forgiven the fact that she was unjustly convicted and taken to Section, and she didn't much like talking about it.

"No, you didn't kill the cop just to be recruited or no, you just didn't kill the cop period?" Shanelle countered.

'Damn, this is not good,' the blonde thought. The only person in the room who currently knew the answer to that question was Krystall, to whom Nikita had revealed much of her past in exchange for Krystall's having done the same. Nikita decided she'd like to keep it that way.

"Sorry, Shanelle. One question at a time." She received a glare in response. "Anyway, time out for a few minutes. I need to make a trip to the ladies' room. Then, I'll choose which one of you shall suffer." Nikita grinned slyly, unfolded her legs and headed for Krystall's bathroom.

As soon as the rest of the group was sure Nikita was out of earshot, Mandy whispered accusingly, "Somebody's got a secret," her voice almost a sing-song tone.

"No joke. She'll probably be taking dares the rest of the night now."

"Morning, Tash. It's morning. Very, very morning," Laura corrected. "Nearly 3:00 in the morning, if you wanted numbers."

"Aww, shucks. Hope I'm not too tired to work tomorrow--uh, today, I mean," Tasha joked sarcastically.

"Yeah, right. What work? What's been going on around here lately anyway? World peace break out?" Shanelle added.

"Easy for you two to say. Weapon design is a full-time thing--peace or no." Mandy openly displayed her dismay.

Laura even found desire to enter the conversation. "Computers, too. There's always a file or two to download. And, man, when we get 'round the clock assignments from Madeline, I'm telling you, we need serious caffeine."

Tasha conceded. "Yeah, but don't forget that when you guys are working all night, so are Operations and Madeline."

Mandy's gossip alarm triggered silently in her mind. "Come to think of it, what DO Ops and Madeline do during their all-nighters?"

Krystall nearly choked on the Dr. Pepper she had been thoughtfully drinking as she observed the ongoing conversation. 'Oooo, this could get dangerous...and interesting.' She sided with interesting and chose to let the ponderings continue without her interference.

"That's easy," Shanelle huffed. "They figure out more ways to make us work all night long."

"No, really, guys. Think about it. How often have you ever seen them leave Section after closing hours?" The mill was at full-grind.

"Girl, we NEVER close!" Tasha exclaimed.

"Minor technicality. Aside from the graveyarders, I mean."

The girls all exchanged looks. "Never," they answered in unison.

"Precisely." Mandy was triumphant.

"You don't think..." Laura again.

"You're right. I don't think. I jump to conclusions. It's part of my job description. What do you think, Krys?"

"Yeah," Shanelle said, "I've seen you up there talking to them after close. Just what do you do here?"

"Drive Ops and Madeline crazy. Read the shirt--it's my mission statement." Krystall straightened so that the rest could see the front of her baby T-shirt. It read, 'I ONLY ACT THIS WAY TO PISS AUTHORITY OFF!"

"There you have it. The rest I have deemed classified."

"Classified?!" the girls shouted. They started throwing spontaneous guesses as to what Krystall's job was, and Krystall calmly denied each. She tuned out the remainder of the guesses and doing so enabled her ears to pick up an otherwise inaudible sound in the hall--the sound of heeled shoes clicking on the tile. How she knew, she wasn't sure, but Krystall knew that the body attached to the shoes belonged to Madeline. She immediately initiated her Slumber Party Panic Alert, which consisted only of the simple act of Krystall harshly whispering to everybody to shut up.

The room instantly fell into silence and the clicking sound quickly became dominant. Krystall rushed to stand by the light switch as the rest of the group, sans Nikita, scrambled over each other to their respective sleeping areas on the floor. Sheets were yanked over bodies and hands grabbed the nearest pillows. Krystall hit the switch just as the footsteps ceased outside her door and she took a blind running leap in the dark for her bed.

A quiet knock sounded at the door accompanied by an equally soft voice.

"Krystall?"

'Yep, it's Madeline.' Krystall confirmed.

"Krystall, open up." Madeline, hearing no sound of life emanating from the room and seeing no light seeping under the door, hesitated for only a few seconds before entering her bypass code into the security lock keypad.

Krystall heard the deadbolt disarm and slide back and she closed her eyes, preparing her best pseudo-sleep.

Madeline crossed into the room, turned on the lights and surveyed the "sleeping" bodies scattered among the floor.

"All right, everybody, this is your wake-up call."

'Great. She's using the authoritative tone.' Krystall knew that the use of that tone meant that her mother was in no hurry and going absolutely nowhere until she accomplished the purpose of her visit. She sighed and raised her head, lightly calling,

"Game over, gang. You heard the woman--rise and shine."

"Panic Alert again?" Madeline asked. Krystall had been pulling that one since she had last seen her eleven years prior.

The girls smiled sheepishly--Krystall included.

The tall, dark-haired woman looked down at her daughter, who now sat upright in her bed.

"Nice shirt, Krys," she stated flatly. "Explains a lot."

Krystall blushed slightly and shrugged.

"Just do me one favor. Don't wear that anywhere near Operations. He'd have your head for it."

"You're thinking too medieval, Madeline. He wouldn't have my head. He'd put a bullet in it."

"Although, I've got to tell you, Krys, I'd much rather you wear that shirt than what you chose tonight the next time you decide to serenade the building with the 'Inspector Gadget' theme. How exactly would you like to explain that stunt? And, please, don't tell me you've been playing-"

"Truth or Dare, Madeline?" Nikita interjected as she emerged from the bathroom.

Madeline groaned inwardly, all the while maintaining her composure. "Nikita, never in a mill-"

She was interrupted again, this time by Krystall singing threateningly, "I know something they don't know."

Madeline was quiet for what seemed like an eternity. The young operatives in the room all watched her expectantly. They were each trying to figure out whether or not Madeline would play along; but the second-in-command already knew she had no choice and was instead trying to decide which of the options Nikita had given her would be the safest. And, if she knew Krystall, the safer would be... "Truth."

The girls exchanged glances of confusion, elation and outright devilishness. Playing Truth or Dare with a woman whose every word and action was chosen with caution and whose entire life was sealed in a folder slapped with a fat, red 'CONFIDENTIAL' stamp could prove to be quite a game.

Krystall had always insisted all the players in her games be sworn in witness-style and her assumption that the tradition still stood had been correct. She knew just how to use it as an escape route, too. Madeline smiled when Nikita instructed her to raise her right hand and asked if she swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. She shrugged nonchalantly.

"Sure. Don't I always?"

Around the room, eyes rolled and mouths smirked.

When Madeline saw Nikita open her mouth to speak again, she swiftly added, "That was an easy question, Nikita. I would have expected more from you."

Nikita had close to no idea what had just happened during her exchange with her superior, though she did realize that the same trick she'd pulled on Shanelle had just been fired back at her.

"Guess I can't argue with my own logic."

Madeline was currently standing hands-on-hips surveying the room. "Okay, if I'm going to be able to stay awake for even 5 minutes of this, I'm going to need coffee. Lots of coffee."

Krystall motioned a thumb to the kitchenette. "French Vanilla in the pot. Help yourself."

"Thanks." Madeline walked over to the kitchenette, poured herself a mug of coffee and crossed the length of the complex to take a seat in an armchair near the bed. She sat sideways with her legs, which were encased in a pair of slim-fitting black pants, draped over one armrest and her back leaning against the other.

Six pairs of eyes watched her curiously, unaccustomed to seeing the notoriously serious strategist of Section One looking so at ease in pants, a silvery-black, scoop-necked top that clung with nothing short of flattery to her upper body and black jodphur-style heeled boots. Madeline openly returned the questioning gazes by analyzing the uniqueness of each silent challenge. She was almost certain what to expect from the different girls.

From Mandy, the resident motor-mouth, a question about her private life, no doubt. It was a life she didn't particularly want to become a social one and neither did the significant other involved.

Laura would want to know where she came from and what her life was like before her recruitment. Madeline figured as long as she refrained from mentioning names, she could remain relatively safe with that topic.

Both Shanelle and Tasha would toss a dare to her. Of what nature, she couldn't decipher.

She didn't know what to expect from Nikita or Krystall. More than likely to be a question, rather than a dare though.

Since she knew by order of the game, whomever she chose would have first shot at her, Madeline sided with Laura and now only faced the problem of picking a question.

"Laura, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," was the hushed, almost nervous, reply.

Madeline looked the young girl directly in her eyes, preparing to read every change of features on her face. Her own face, however, softened. 'Maybe I should take it easy on them tonight. Better to have them trust me than have them be suspicious.'

"If you could do anything with your life outside the Section and were at liberty to do so, what would it be?"

Laura seemed to withdraw momentarily before answering, "I think I'd like to be an author. I've been keeping track of all my involvements within Section and I think having the entries published would make a pretty good autobiography." She looked up at Madeline, who remained impassive. "Of course, that will never happen. But, it could give me some really inspired ideas," she threw in quickly, receiving a small smile from the woman in the chair.

"Your turn, Laura," Tasha chimed in as if Laura didn't already know she was to be the one with the first attempt to put a crack in Madeline's impenetrable walls.

"Madeline, Truth or Dare?"

'Let the games begin,' she thought before saying, "Truth."

"Okay...how were you recruited?"

Madeline took a deep breath. "Well," she began slowly, "it's actually quite a complicated story, though I'm sure none of you mind."

The girls grinned.

"Here's the abridged version. I was recruited from the FBI. I had been with the Bureau for about 7 years as both a field agent and criminal psychologist."

"Go figure," Shanelle muttered under her breath.

Madeline heard, but didn't flinch. "I was informed that I was being transferred to the CIA, with whom I had rendezvoused on a few cases. Following the transfer, I was sent on what I presumed to be a normal case. Needless to say, it wasn't. The targets and team members were all Section operatives and I was subsequently killed in action. A body double was placed at the scene with an apparent shotgun blast to the face, obviously distorting facial features. Same hair, same build and forged fingerprints. I was brought to the Section, which had been in existence for about a decade. I went through the basics and training in a few extra areas. And, so began the work of the second-in-command of Section One, to make a long story short."

"So, who was in charge of wardrobe for the ten years you weren't here?" Mandy asked.

"Please don't say Walter," Tasha pleaded.

"Scary thought," Mandy responded. "In that sense, we should definitely all be glad you came around, Madeline."

"Are you implying that in other senses you shouldn't be?" Madeline proposed.

"Oh, come off it, Madeline. You have to be the most intelligent person the Section has! You can't pretend to be unaware of the fact that the majority of the operatives are holding a grudge against you for one reason or another."

"You're right, Tasha. I can't. I admit that in Section's case, authority breeds contempt, but Operations and I do the jobs we were trained to do. We ask nothing more of you. Our jobs just have a drastically more intense nature."

"You can say that again," Shanelle muttered.

Getting back on track, Madeline chose her next contestant. She was curious to know what she would get in retaliation from..."Nikita, Truth or Dare?"

Nikita cautiously answered a somewhat gentle 'truth' question from Madeline.

"Yes, I have been in love before--twice, maybe. I'm not sure I'm in love now, but the first time, it was with a brilliant man and his daughter. But, due to some indirect conflicts," she emphasized the last two words with a sharp glare to the woman in the chair, "I was forced to cut the relationship short."

"That bites," Shanelle commented.

"Sucks," from Mandy.

"Stinks," Laura added.

Nikita quickly snapped from her reverie of her times with Gray. It was time for a little revenge. 'Turnabout is fair play, Madeline,' she thought. She already knew the answer to the question she was prepared to ask, based on the information she gathered from Krystall. She just had to hope that Madeline chose...

"Truth," the woman stated before even being given the standard choice. She knew how this game was going to proceed.

"Have you ever had a relationship outside the Section? I mean, a REAL relationship?"

Madeline pondered the words and eyed the blonde curiously. 'Touche, Nikita. Touche.'

"Come on, you have to answer. By the rules, nothing can leave this room, so it's safe. Have you?"

"Nooo," Madeline drawled.

Nikita caught herself nearly pouncing on the chance to correct the carefully composed Madeline, but she stopped short at Krystall's green-gold glare, that silently asked her to allow Madeline to continue.

"Outside the Section? No. Before the Section? Yes. I was married for 8 years to a wonderful man. I loved him very much. He gave me a beautiful baby girl."

Simultaneously, the same thought ran through the minds of the 4 girls in the room who didn't already know the story. 'Madeline's a MOTHER?!'

"Then came the Section and all that is gone now. But, life goes on, and so did I."

"That bites, too."

"Sucks."

"Stinks."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You're asking if you can ask a question, Krystall?" At Krystall's nod, Madeline continued, "Sure."

"Have you ever had any regrets about accepting your new life?" Krystall stared her mother straight in her deep brown eyes as she asked a question that intertwined their pasts.

"Yes...many. I have to leave my family--my husband and my little girl. She was only 7 when it all happened, so I hoped she would have time to rebuild her life. She had so much going for her. She was very intelligent and very talented and I knew she could succeed at anything she set her mind to."

"Did you follow up on her?" Mandy prodded, now lying on her stomach on the bed, chin propped up in her hands. The rules of the game had vanished and the questions began coming in a free-for-all format.

"I did. Her father died of cancer 6 years later and she was placed into temporary foster care, though she remained at the house to care for the horses. She always loved the horses. They became the only family she had left. I lost track of her soon after that time, but I never stopped loving her." There were whispers of "Oh, that's so sad" and "How horrible" around the room, but Krystall heard none of them. She remained silent, fighting back tears that had threatened to fall every time she hoped she would one day hear those words. Now that she had, the threat was closer than ever, but not without a shield. Her mother's talent for composure was not lost on Krystall and she calmly placed her own back where it belonged.

Laura, who had tears of her own in her dark-blue eyes, asked quietly, "Did you ever find her?"

"The beauty of love, Laura, is that emotionally, I never lost her." Madeline gently closed the subject with that conclusion and a soft smile. As if on cue, the intercom by Krystall's door clicked on and Operations voice called quietly over it.

"Madeline?"

"Yes?"

"We found the files you needed to finish the budget."

"Thank-you. I'll be right up."

The intercom silenced. Madeline sipped back the last of her coffee and wearily kicked her legs off the armrest. "Well, time for me to get going." She stood and streched her arms above her head.

"Do you really have to go now?"

"Afraid so, Krys. It's been fun though."

"I'm saving a dare just for you, Madeline," Mandy chimed.

"We'll see about that." That said, Madeline strode out the door and headed back to Operations' office, leaving 6 curious girls in her wake.

Tasha wasted no time. "Guess I'll pick it up from here. Mandy, Truth or Dare?"

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

On her walk back to the still-darkened office, Madeline contemplated what she had revealed and what she had managed to keep secret--head lowered in thought. She paced in silence up the stairs and through the door to the office as it slid aside, never once raising her head until she had crossed into the room. She found Operations seated on the couch, files spread out over the coffee table in front of it, reading one of the many folders.

He looked up at her, removing his glasses in the process. "So, how was it?" He followed her with his eyes as she sank down into the cushions beside him and leaned her head into his shoulder. He placed his chin gently on top of her head, slightly nuzzling into her thick mahogany tresses.

She sighed. "Interesting, to say the least. I'm hoping the coffee can keep me awake to finish these reports. So far," she yawned, closing her eyes, "it's not working."

He chuckled sympathetically. "You know what?"

She mumbled an incoherent "Hmm?"

"Why don't you turn in for the night...uh, morning? Take a late day, get some rest--you could..." he trailed off, sensing that she wasn't listening. Tilting his head down to look at her face, he saw that, indeed, she wasn't.

She was sound asleep.

He smiled and shook his head in amusement. Careful not to jar her, he slid from underneath her and stood, keeping her propped up with one hand. He slipped that arm completely around her back, snaked the other under her legs at the knees, and delicately lifted her body from the couch.

Eyes still closed, one of her arms hanging limply from her side, the other draped across her stomach, Madeline was only partially aware of the fact she was being moved. Planning on asking where she was being transported to, she instead ended up murmuring a string of barely audible sounds, just too tired to form a complete sentence. She soon felt the support of a mattress beneath her back, her shoes being removed and a light blanket being drawn over her body. She faintly heard the words, "I'd say 'good night', but that doesn't seem appropriate at 4:07am. So, good morning...I love you."

He leaned over her sleeping face, placed a soft kiss on her lips and she smiled in return, turning onto her side to snuggle deeper into the pillow. Satisfied Madeline would be comfortable for the duration of her sleep, Operations returned to the office from the connecting apartment and sat on the couch to tackle the finances.

"Maybe I should try coffee..."

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