Part Three:

Marco caught Aries as she was exiting conference room 4 and knew instantly that something was wrong by how furious she was. He tried to talk to her but she
wouldn't stop. He followed her since he still had some time before he was to meet Madeline. They reached her office and went inside.

"Hey! What happened?" Marco asked grabbing hold of her arms when she wouldn't speak to him or look at him.

"Well, it goes like this. I failed the examination because of my preoccupation with you and am sentenced to a 3-month retraining period with none other than David Fanning. During those 3 months, I am to have no contact with you what-so-ever and they are relocating me to another residence until my time is up." Aries fumed at him.

"What? You're joking right? David Fanning? No contact with me? Relocating you? This has got to be someone's idea of a sick joke!" Marco said amazed and tried to pull Aries into his arms but she resisted.

"No joke. I thought it was at first too but Madeline assured me otherwise. I have to check my e-mail for the coordinates to my new residence and the time that I have to meet with him in the morning to get my schedule for the next 3 months." Aries told him and walked around the desk. She plopped down in her chair and saw dismally that the e-mail had already arrived in her in-box.

"What the hell is their problem?" Marco asked walking around the desk toward her.

"Same old, same old." Aries replied gathering papers and putting them away in her desk. She wasn't in the mood for a tearful goodbye so she did what she could and that was stay aloof. She tried to ignore his presence but it seemed as if he wouldn't let her.

"There has to be something that we can do!" Marco insisted.

"There's nothing. I have to find some way to get through this without canceling Fanning for what he did to me." Aries answered without looking at him.

"That won't be an easy task." He noted watching her avoid him.

"No. It won't. But I'll survive." Aries replied and stood up. "I have to go and gather up my things from my apartment. I'll see you later."

Aries tried to walk around him but he pulled her into his arms instead. She stood stock still at first but his persistence made her finally give in and hug her back.

"I'm going to miss you beautiful." He whispered close to her ear.

"I know. I'll miss you too." She replied softly fighting back the tears that were welling in her eyes.

"I love you." He said softly.

"I love you too." She said and then silence fell in the office as they enjoyed their last few moments together. Aries finally pulled away and they exited the office reluctantly going their separate ways.

Marco made it to the conference room a few minutes before he had to be there and entered taking a seat in one of the chairs. He was hoping to be able to talk to Madeline about Aries retraining but when she entered, he wasn't so sure that he'd be given the chance.

"Marco." She said once she'd reviewed his evaluation. "I'm sure that I don't have to tell you that your performance has been spectacular since you've been in Section and CLHQ. As of late however, your scores have dropped and our evaluation shows that Aries is the cause. As a result of that, you are assigned to 3 months of retraining with Mcddor. She will teach you what you you've seemed to forget since you've become
involved with Aries, your computer skills. You will be relocated to a new and temporary residence where you will spend your retraining period. Report to Mcddor first thing in the morning for your schedule and your new residence will be e-mailed to you. Are there any questions?" Madeline informed him. She knew that he'd already spoken with Aries because she watched as Marco followed the youngest mom to her office.

He sat there quietly for a few moments debating whether he should try to talk to her about Aries retraining. It probably wouldn't do any good but he tried anyway.

"Why is Aries assigned to Fanning for retraining? He almost raped her for Christ sake!" He asked rather loudly.

"What happened between them is of little concern to us. She has been assigned to Fanning. She knows the consequences if she acts on her anger of what he almost did to her and he knows the consequences of trying anything else with her. There's nothing to worry about. You need to concentrate on your own retraining." Madeline told him with ice dripping from her words. "Is that understood?"

"It's understood." Marco replied knowing that the more he argued, the worse it would be on both of them. He got up and exited the room. Madeline exited behind him and entering the next room where Michael sat with blank stare firmly in place.

Once she reviewed his evaluation, she looked up at him. "Michael, you know as well as I do how this works. Your preoccupation with Sherry and Rita has caused your numbers to drop causing us to put you into retraining. You will undergo a 3-month retraining period with the torture twins. You will be relocated to a temporary location where you will live until this retraining period is over. You will have no contact with either Sherry or Rita until this time is over. Are there any questions?" Madeline asked being as blunt as she could be. There was no beating around the bush or cushioning the blow with Michael. Michael did his usual and sat with his blank stare firmly in place and said nothing. After waiting a few minutes, Madeline exited the room.

She entered conference room 3 and saw Roarke sitting there with a look of confusion fixed upon his face.

"Ok Madeline, what's this about?" Roarke asked upon her entrance. She smiled for he was the first one so far who'd had the nerve to confront her before she confronted them.

"Well, your evaluation has come in and you are here for it to be reviewed with you." Madeline replied and sat down. She reviewed his evaluation and then informed him of his retraining.

"You've got to be kidding right?" Roarke asked incredulously.

"No. You may only be contracted for consultation and a few missions but you still undergo evaluations when it concerns romantic relations with our operatives. You have no choice but to report for your retraining sessions or we will be forced to disrupt your life further by bringing you in as a full operative." Madeline responded knowing that that would do the trick of getting him to cooperate. He sat there stunned as she exited the room.

Part Four:

Madeline entered her office at the end of the day exhausted. It had been a very long day. She'd had to notify most of CLHQ of their retraining status for the next 3 months. Only a few had escaped that fate and she knew that the next 3 months were going to be very trying on everyone's nerves. They had to do without their significant others as well as deal with one person that they truly hated. It would be a test of will as to who survived and who didn't.

She sat down in her chair and smiled knowing that all of them were too stubborn to fail this retraining period. One of the most trying parts would be putting them on missions and making sure that they weren't assigned to missions with their significant others. That presented a problem since all had different skills even though they were mostly trained for the same things.

She sighed as she pulled up the surveillance to see how the retraining was fairing on its first night. She pulled up surveillance on Aries, DeLeah, Rita, Sherry and North first to see how they were settling in to their new quarters/offices. They were all angry from the looks of things.

After a few minutes, she switched the surveillance to Marco, Michael, Roarke, Antonio and Travis to see how they were handling it. She smiled when she saw that each of them were taking out their worry and frustration on the punching bags she'd made sure were strategically placed in each of their temporary quarters. Travis was the exception. He was sitting on the couch reading a book. The only reason why he'd been put into retraining was to refrain him for searching for Sherry because he'd be too busy with his retrainer to worry about it.

She switched off the surveillance and left her office for the night. She met Operations in the tower for a late dinner. They spent the evening chatting and eventually retired to his bed. Madeline smiled knowing that both North and Andrea were out of the picture for a while. It was her perfect opportunity.

***

The first two months of retraining went rather smoothly. The ladies gathered together and figured out an idea of ways that they felt that they still had contact with their significant others which helped them focus their energies on getting through the retraining period with no problems.

The guys used their punching bags as resources to take out their worries. Every worst case sinereo was going through their heads of what could be happening with their significant others.

Madeline monitored their success on a daily basis and was pleased with the results. They were all bringing their numbers back up to acceptable levels. The period of retraining was almost over with only one month left for them to suffer. Maybe next time they'd all pay attention to their work before their lovers.

While they were suffering their consequences however, Madeline was enjoying her time with Operations. She'd made great improvement in that department. He was focused on her again for more than just mission advice and recommendations. He saw her as a woman again. Madeline was also enjoying the time of putting North through hell for being one of the first to step into her territory.

***

When the 3-month period finally ended, the couples quickly packed up their things and headed back home. Once dumping their things unceremoniously in their apartments, they sought out their lovers. The reunions were enjoyed by all. DeLeah and Antonio quickly went back to DeLeah's room where they could spend their time alone. Aries and Marco headed out to the gazebo and then over to Marco's apartment where he could cook her a nice dinner and find out about her retraining period. Michael met with both Sherry and Rita but once making sure that Rita had faired well during her retraining, he and Sherry retired to their adjoining quarters for a night alone. Roarke escorted Rita over to his place for the date that had been postponed. Travis headed back to his quarters and curled up with a nice book once he'd made sure that Sherry was ok.

North and Andrea practically raced each other up to the tower where Operations was. He greeted them both happily. He knew how their retraining had gone because he'd monitored them very closely. Of course, they argued over who would get to spend time with him first.

***

Overall, the retraining brought excellent results to their missions. They were having less mistakes and more concentration on the job at hand. Madeline was highly pleased and so was Oversight and Center. All of the couples had alternately been given downtime to spend with each other so that they could reunite.

The End