"O'Brien?" Aries asked somewhat confident that that was the response she was going to get from Birkoff.

"Yeah. He also accessed your profile." Birkoff supplied.

"Thanks." Aries responded signaling the end of their conversation. She had a date that she had to prepare for.

Aries headed off towards her room which was still bare from decorations because she'd been too busy to decorate it since she's been back. She'd have to tackle that one soon because she almost couldn't take it anymore!

She entered, grabbed her slinky black spaghetti strap mini dress from the closet along with her black strapped heels she had to match it and headed into the shower.

After showering and combing her hair she slid into the dress and heels and examined herself in the mirror. Deciding her hair was too plain just hanging there wet, she added a couple of barrettes at the sides to complete the look. Aries never blow-dried her hair. She then threw on a light coat of make up and exited the room heading for her office.

Aries received curious glances from various operatives in the halls heading for the cafeteria along her way to her office and was relieved when she entered the office. The smell of gardenias was still strong and she breathed it in relaxing. How she loved that smell!

She grabbed one of the gardenias and stuck it in her hair tucked just behind the ear completing the look she was going for and left her office for the gazebo. She wasn't hungry, nor did she care to have everyone examining her choice of attire for dinner.

When she got to the gazebo there was no one there. It really didn't surprise her since they weren't supposed to meet until after dinner. She sat and tried to relax closing her eyes. She started to drift off when she heard Michael's voice.

"Hello." Michael said walking up to sit next to her.

"Hi Michael." Aries responded lightly.

"What are you doing out here? I thought you'd have dinner with me so we could talk about the dance like we've been doing the last few evenings." Michael responded trying not to show his hurt feelings over being stood up for something Aries had not committed to.

"I'm not hungry. I'm waiting for someone right now." Aries responded and looked up at the sky. She rarely got a chance to admire the beauty of mother nature.

"I see." Michael responded simply.

"Can we meet later to discuss it?" Aries asked thinking. She didn't want to hurt Michael because she still loved him but she couldn't have him here either.

"Sure. You're room?" Michael asked readily. He'd missed her.

"Yeah. Around 9pm." Aries responded smiling.

"See you then." Michael responded and pulled her close for a kiss. When they were done, he stood up and left rather quickly before letting any part of his composure slip.

Aries smiled watching him depart. She knew that this was going to be hard. She would have to talk to Rita for some advice in this situation since Rita was going through a similar situation.

Just then she saw another gardenia appear from behind her and felt it tickle her nose. She grabbed it and turned around to see O'Brien standing there smiling at her. She smiled back. For the first time, she really noticed how attractive he really was with his hair cut short.

"Hello. I'm glad you decided to come." O'Brien said softly and smiled.

"So am I." Aries responded simply and smiled softly.

O'Brien walked around and entered the gazebo and sat down next to Aries. When he entered, Aries noticed how dashing he looking in his black tux.

They sat quietly for a few minutes when O'Brien suddenly turned to her. "Let's go for a walk."

"Sure." Aries responded eagerly. It had been a while since she'd enjoyed the outdoors scenery and she really needed a break.

They headed off in no particular direction, or so Aries thought. Eventually they made it to a clearing that Aries didn't even know was on the grounds of CLHQ. On the ground in the middle of the clearing was a blanket with a picnic basket laid out. Aries stopped and looked curiously at O'Brien.

"Come on!" He said cheerfully and led her over to it. Inside was a bottle of peach Chardonnay that he knew she liked with two wineglasses along with some various cheeses. He popped the cork of the wine and poured two glasses and handed one to Aries. She took it gratefully but did not sip out of it until he picked up his own

"A toast." He said. "To the most beautiful Section operative and the youngest CLHQ mommy and hopefully, my valentine."

Aries smiled at the thought. This might be more intriguing than she would have thought before. "To valentines." She said softly and lightly tapped her glass with his. They both sipped their wine happily and nibbled on the cheese as they watched the sunset.

THE END!

This story ©copyright, Aries February 2001