Part Five/End

As the van headed to the air port Brenna brought Curlly up to date on the comings and goings of her fellows operatives. Curlly slept on the flight to Section One. After debriefing and very long examination in Med lab Curlly was released to go home for a few days of downtime.

(CLHQ)

Curlly waited impatiently for the elevator to take her to her apartment. Even though she slept for six hours on the plane, she felt very tired.

Meanwhile Sinjn was waiting in Curlly's apartment, leaning casually against the side of the fountain for her to arrive. He was personally very shocked that Section would send Curlly on that mission in her delicate condition. He was even more shocked that North and the other moms had allowed it. I knew Northstar knew about her condition.

Sinjn's countenance darkened. Her condition. In the month Curlly had been gone he'd investigated his suspicions. And while he hadn't been able to access the file to lay it all out for him, Sinjn believed he had found out what had happened.

Section's interest in genetics wasn't widely advertised, but both Curlly and Sinjn knew about the lab. Curlly even worked there once in a blue moon. Sinjn had seen Birkoff and Curlly go up there several times right before he died. Both operatives had many similar

traits that Section utilized. One could almost say it was in their genes.

All of Curlly's recent behavioral patterns and illness came to reinforce Sinjn's findings: Curlly was carrying a dead man's child.

Sinjn felt his gut tighten and his anger heighten. There was no possibility the child might be his, for they had not consummated their relationship. If Birkoff had actually dared to-

"Hi," said Curlly softly. He had been scowling at the water so fiercely he hadn't heard her come in. Curlly's cat shoot across the room from where she had been lounging on the sofa deluding herself that she was a tiger about to rip him apart and growling. At least the little terror's hair had grown back and it no longer looked like a defective rat.

He watched an expression of infinite and unconditional love cross her face as she picked up her cat and made cooing noises at that little fiend. Curlly would make a wonderful mother to his children.

Children! That errant thought shocked him so he almost fell into the fountain. Curlly arched an eyebrow at him in question. "Are yer verrie tir'd m' love?" asked Sinjn. Both Curlly and Sinjn were surprised at the amount of brogue that penetrated the sentence. He normal only talked with a hint of an accent. It surrounded Curlly like the softest of blankets.

Glory she had missed him. "Not that tired. I slept on the plane. I thought I'd check my email and such, but sense you are here." Curlly faltered to a stop. Something was bothering him.

"I'll go draw you a bubble bath and make you something to eat. Then we'll talk. I think Christopher made you some cheesecake."

"NO! No cheesecake!" She blushed at his concerned look and explained, "I'm truly feeling better. I just don't want to risk perfectly good cheesecake just yet. But I think I'll let you make me a bath. It sounds heavenly."

And that's just how things played out. About 40 minutes later Curlly walked into the kitchen. Sinjn was leaning against the counter munching on an apple, which he kept dipping into berry blend peanut butter. He wasn't sure how she'd gotten him hooked on this particular combo, but she had. At her entrance he couldn't help but smile. She looked like a little kid in her scarlet bathrobe that was about 4inches to long and her hair in a large gray towel.

She walked over to the food he'd placed at his elbow for her. "Mmmmmm! Smells good." She wasn't even looking at the food! Sinjn's eyes smiled, and rather wickedly at that.

Curlly hopped up on the counter and started to eat her food, legs swinging. They talked of inconsequential matters until Sinjn couldn't take it.

"When were you going to tell me?"

"There are lots of things I refrain from telling you. Which one are you referring to?" she asked before taking a sip of water.

"That you are carrying Seymour's child?" His question was accented not only by the highlands but by Curlly spraying water all over his face.

"Sorry," murmured Curlly as she whipped at his face and goatee with a towel.

"Curlly." sighed Sinjn taking the towel from her hands and using two well placed fingers under her chin to make her look at him. "Tell me."

"What makes you think I am pregnant? I'm not."

A vast weight felt removed from his chest. "I knew you weren't sick with some viral infection. Tell me what happened. Please."

"You know that I had to eliminate a target by poisoning. The toxin I used is designed to be absorbed into the blood stream and inhibit the red blood cells ability to exchange CO2 for oxygen. The heart and brain suffer from oxygen depletion and cardiac arrest ensues. A small but concentrated dose is lethal whether absorbed by the skin, injection or orally."

"We could easily poison him and use an abeyance operative, but none of our current batch had the necessary skills for recovering the intel Operations wanted. I have been taking very diluted doses of the same poison and built up a tolerance so I can have the purest form of the drug. That's why I have been so ill. It causes other side effects like irritability, but thank goodness didn't experience any." Sinjn wisely kept his mouth shut about that last statement."

"So you are not pregnant?"

"No I'm not."

"Then why were you with Seymour in the bio lab? He was involved."

Curlly felt irritated. "Does it matter?" His look made her feel like squirming, even though it was none of his bee's wax. Grinning Curlly allowed a vacant expression to fill her face. "Well you know the human genome? Well not personally of course, cause it can't talk even though it makes people. I always wondered how a few proteins could bind and change into different cell types to make a body up. Well I know how but I still find it strange. But then what makes up what you are that thinks inside your head and makes you dream?" Curlly paused at the air, "Where was I?"

Sinjn was double over with laughter by the time she was done. "Pax! I know you never. never." he stopped because he was laughing at the face she was making at the imaginary person she was telling about how dense and male he was being. He knew she could resist his laugh so he gave himself over. They both sank down to the floor laughing.

Curlly crawled over into his lap. He pulled on the towel around her hair, which fell down her back. The feel and smell of her filled his senses. Just holding her made him feel complete. He closed his eyes in contentment. Curlly ran a finger along his jaw and said, "Birkoff had to find an operative with a certain gene marker so a variant of the toxin could be properly engineered. Both Birkoff and I have the gene. I volunteered to take the Tackett mission knowing how he disliked cover missions. He became interested in genetics. I was helping him map his genome."

"The reason you weren't told was there was a 2% chance that you would try to the alter the profile. So I wasn't to tell you." Curlly couldn't see the tender expression that crossed his face, but she suddenly knew he was okay. They were okay.

Sinjn drawled, "So what other wee little secrets are you not telling me?"

This story ©copyright Curlly, 2000