Part One:

Aries was heading to her office trying to keep her mind off the current events that have been happening but was having very little success. The thoughts of what happened at the dance with Jessica and then the disco ball crashing down and almost severely injuring Nahla weighed heavily on her mind. She didn't even notice North standing outside of her office waiting for her to arrive.

"Hey, there you are!" North called out as Aries approached. A startled Aries looked up at her friend.

"Hey!" Aries called back approaching a bit quicker now.

"I've been looking all over for you!" North said.

"What's up?" Aries asked reaching the door and keying in her code. The door slid open and they entered before North continued.

"I need to know what's going on around here. There's been way too much ruckus about you and Marco and a few others involved and Madeline's getting a bit upset over it. I need to have something to tell her." North said sitting down across from Aries who'd sat down behind her desk.

"Just tell her that everything's under control, I will handle it." Aries said simply shuffling around a few papers on her desk.

"You know as well as I do that that won't be good enough." North said trying to pry more intel from her. Aries really didn't feel like talking about this right now and North knew that but that wasn't good enough either.

Aries sighed and then filled North in on what's been going on. She knew that North had been out on a mission during all of the events and was to be kept up to speed on all of the happenings around CLHQ. Besides, Aries had a hard time keeping things from her close friend.

"Man, things really hit the fan while I was gone didn't they?" North asked incredulously.

"To say the least." Aries mumbled softly.

"How are you holding up? Are you sure that you should be the one to handle Jessica's punishment?" North asked seriously.

"Well, if I let Madeline handle it, Jessica will have the Gelman process done to her and I don't want to chance that. I don't want to burden you, Rita or Sherry with this anymore than I already have. This is my problem, I'll settle it." Aries said seriously.

"You're sure?" North asked softly. She knew that once Aries set her mind to something there was little to nothing that could be done to talk her out of it.

"Ok, what's up with everyone doubting me lately?" Aries asked her voice raising considerably. North was shocked by Aries' reaction.

"What do you mean?" North asked trying to remain calm.

"Well, everyone I talk to lately is always asking me lately if I'm sure about what I say. Would I say it if I wasn't sure?" Aries asked still considerably upset.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know everyone else has been second-guessing you. That was not my intention. I just want to make sure that you are sure about the course you are going to take with this before you get in over your head." North said trying to calm Aries down a bit.

"North, you know as well as I do that I'm a survivor. If I get in over my head, I'll find a way out. I always do." Aries replied looking at North steadily.

"Yeah, but if Jessica's as insane as you've said, you could pay for it with your life." North said just as evenly and stubbornly as Aries was being. "Then that's the price I'll pay but I'm sure it won't come to that. I didn't make it to this position by being stupid and making mistakes that will get me killed. I made it here with skill and knowledge. You know that. Now why don't you trust me to handle this?" Aries asked getting to the point.

"I do trust you to handle this." North said clarifying herself a bit.

"Obviously you don't otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation." Aries said directly.

North was beginning to get frustrated. She could understand Aries feeling like everyone was against her judgement but that wasn't what she was getting at here and Aries was missing that. She was trying to help keep her friend alive.

"Look, we're getting no where with this. Let me explain myself and then we'll continue ok?" North asked trying to create some peace for Aries. She was way too high-strung right now and was liable to snap at any moment.

Aries sat back in her chair looking at North and nodded her head. Aries crossed her arms across her chest and waited impatiently for North's explanation.

"All I was saying is, maybe you could use some help with this one. If she tried to kill you at your own dance with the disco ball, what else is she capable of? More than one head put together can come up with a lot more ideas as to what she's capable of and how to handle it. Right now, you're way to emotionally involved in this situation and so is Marco and neither one of you is going to make the proper decisions or think clearly. I know that you want to handle this internally and that's fine but you need some help with it. I'm not questioning your judgement at all because I feel that it should be handled internally as well." North said and then watched for Aries reaction. Aries thought about what North had said quietly for quite a while making North a bit uncomfortable.

"What are you thinking about?" North finally asked feeling that the silence was weighing too heavily in the air.

"What you just said." Aries replied simply not offering anything else until she'd organised her thoughts well enough to present them.

"Ok." North said and sat back once again watching Aries. Just then the chime on the door sounded. Aries cued the remote for the vid-screen and saw Marco standing outside. She keyed in the code and the door slid open allowing him entrance.

"We've got a problem." Was all he said when he entered.

Part Two:

Aries looked at Marco a bit surprised by his words. "What do you mean?"

"I went to talk to Jessica like I told you I was going to and she wasn't in her holding cell. I checked with the housekeeping crew to see if maybe they'd put her in a different cell but they didn't. We checked all of the cells and she's gone." He informed her not even noticing that North was in the room.

"That's not good." North commented getting Marco's attention for the first time.

"Oh, hey North! I didn't even see you sitting there." Marco replied and gave her a smile that showed the stress that he was feeling.

"That's ok. The first thing we need to worry about is finding Jessica. Aries has already filled me in on what's been going on here while I was away." North told him and saw his shoulders slump in relief that he didn't have to explain.

"Marco, you know her better than North or I do, where would she go to?" Aries asked directly. Since her chat with North, her head was clearing considerably and she was pushing more of her emotions to the background. It finally hit her that her life was at stake in this matter.

"She's changed so much since I've known her. At this point, I really couldn't tell you." He said looking at the two of them and then sat down.

"Well, where would she have gone before?" North asked trying to get something to go by.

"Probably to her mother." He answered. "But since her mother died last year, that's out of the question." He clarified a bit more.

"Not unless she goes to her mother's grave." Aries responded opening her cell phone and dialling Birkoff's extension.

"Yeah." Birkoff answered.

"I need three of our best ops in my office now for a mission. Also I need you to pinpoint a location on operative Jessica's mother's grave and send it to my PDA." Aries issued the orders calmly. North nodded with a smile on her face seeing the change in Aries. Marco looked back and forth between the two wondering what they'd talked about that could have had such an impact on Aries composure. He kept his mouth shut; there would be time enough for that later.

While Aries had her phone open, she disconnected with Birkoff and dialled the extension for munitions. She informed Walter of the supplies that would be needed and when they would be needed. Walter was a bit surprised but Aries cut off any questions he had by telling him she would fill him in later. Once that was finished Aries closed her cell phone and looked at the two. They sat discussing how they would go about bringing Jessica back without any casualties when Avi, Alexi and Roarke arrived at her office. She allowed them entry and briefed them on their mission.

"Why don't you send housekeeping to pick her up? Why us?" Roarke asked.

"Because she needs to be brought back alive." Aries responded simply. North nodded her agreement. Roarke didn't question further because he had two mommies here to deal with instead of just one and that's not usually good numbers in Section or CLHQ.

Aries uploaded the data to their PDAs and dismissed them to munitions to pick up their supplies and then to van access where they will be leaving. They didn't have a big time frame to work with so they had to work fast. It was fifteen minutes later that the team dispatched from Section.

"Are you sure this will work?" Marco asked a bit doubtfully.

North saw Aries' reaction beginning and tried to intercede before Aries blew a gasket at some point soon. "Yes, it will work if Jessica is there."

Marco saw Aries' reaction and immediately sent her a look saying he was sorry. That wasn't good enough though because he could see that she was still steaming even after North had displayed her confidence in Aries' abilities.

"What if she's not there?" Marco asked.

"Where else would she be?" Aries asked a little of the anger and hurt she was feeling seeping out into her voice. She noticed and quickly worked on masking it.

"I don't know but then I feel like I don't know Jessica at all right now." He responded.

"Well, let's see if she's at her mother's grave and then we'll work out other possible locations." North suggested. "Right now, I need to go get a few things finished to finalise my last mission and then I will be back to check the progress of this one. If anything happens while I am gone, update me immediately."

Aries and Marco nodded their heads as North stood and exited the room. Once the door was shut, Marco moved around the desk to where Aries was sitting in her chair beginning to look at files on her computer. She was clearly trying to avoid any conversation with him because she didn't want a fight but he was not content to let her sit there and ignore him. They would clear the air between them here and now before it got to be more that what it really was.

Marco reached down and hit the suspend key on the keyboard which Aries responded to with a dirty look. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm getting your attention and now that I have it, we're going to talk." He responded.

"I don't have time for that now. I have work that needs to be done." She responded reaching for the suspend key when his hand caught her wrist in his.

"This comes first." He said simply.

"I don't think so. I think lately you've let your priorities get disorganised. I suggest you reorganise them." Aries said and tried to free her wrist from his hand with no success.

"No. I have them in perfect order. We will settle this between us and then you will get your work done." He said and let a grin spread on his face. This was one battle he knew that he would win with her. Seeing the grin spreading on his face made her a bit angrier and she fought to get her wrist free that much more. She refused to give in that easily.

"You're going to get yourself cancelled before you realise that Section work comes before personal relationships aren't you?" Aries asked trying more to get her wrist free. She had a sinking feeling that from his grip, she would have one hell of a bruise on her wrist.

"Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it won't I? Right now, I'm not at that bridge so I don't have to worry about it. Now, let's talk." He said and finally released her wrist not wanting to hurt her. He knew that he'd hurt her a bit with all of her struggling, he didn't want to hurt her anymore.

Aries pulled her wrist back once he let go and rubbed at it lightly. She also carefully examined it and was sure that she would be bruised there. That did not make her the least bit happy.

"Talk about what?" Aries responded knowing that he would not let her be until they talked.

"You know what." He replied.

"I'm afraid I don't. Now you're either going to tell me, or get out of my way so that I can get my work done." She responded in her business voice. She was very careful not to let any emotions slip out into her tone.

"About what happened while North was here." He said looking into her eyes.

"And just what was that? I thought we discussed a mission." Aries said keeping her cool yet evading his discussion.

"Stop it Aries. You know as well as I do, if we don't talk about this, our relationship will suffer for it." He said trying harder to get her to open up instead of turning into another Michael.

"I'm still not sure what you want to talk about Marco. You're talking in riddles." She said with a bit of a sarcastic laugh.

"I'm talking about me doubting you're mission profile and you getting upset about it." He said clarifying himself fully. If she was going to play dumb, he was going to educate her so that they could clear the air.

"Oh, that." Aries said simply not displaying any emotion. That worried Marco immensely. He didn't like it when she showed no emotion towards their relationship.

"What do you mean by that comment?" He asked a bit defensively. He knew he hurt her by doubting her and he was trying to apologise but she was making it damn hard.

"Nothing. I was acknowledging the topic you want to talk about." She said still in her business voice. She refused to show what she was feeling because she'd done that too much lately and it was clouding her judgement.

"Stop it now!" He said getting upset by her attitude.

"Look, are we going to talk or go in circles?" Aries asked getting irritated.

"I'm trying to talk to you but you won't open up to me. You're pulling a Michael and I don't like it at all." He said honestly.

"I'm sorry Marco but until this thing with Jessica is cleared up, I can't afford to let my emotions control me. You do realise that she's trying to kill me don't you?" Aries asked getting a bit angry by his selfishness.

"Yes I realise that. You also know that I won't allow her to do that. I also know that if we don't talk about this now, eventually it will affect our relationship and I've fought too hard in the short time we've been together to keep that from happening for it to happen now. Damn it woman, help me out here!" Marco responded passionately. It touched Aries heart in a way that no one ever had before. She reached out and picked up his hand. He looked at her hoping that she would open up.

"I know you have. I have too but right now, neither of us can afford the luxury of letting our guards down. We need to stay focused and alert. I promise that we'll talk about this as soon as we've taken care of Jessica." She told him softly. She'd shed her business tone to let him know that she truly meant what she'd said.

"How about over dinner at my place?" He responded knowing that what she'd said came from her heart.

"That sounds like a plan but now I've gotta get some work done!" She said and laughed lightly. He leaned down and kissed her passionately and then left her office. The door hadn't slid closed behind him and Aries looked up to see why and gasped at who she saw standing there.