Part 1

(Disclaimer: I just want to apologize ahead of time if anyone feels that I’m picking on them or being nasty to them. I’m not. My attitude in this story is simply storyline-driven and not directed at anyone for any reason. So, again, I will apologize and hope that no one takes anything nasty I say seriously.)

It had been a grueling mission. Nothing had gone as profiled. Of course, the fact that most of the team was comprised of recent trainees hadn’t helped matters. She sighed as she headed toward the door from van access. If she didn’t get some rest soon, she was simply going to die from exhaustion. Maybe that was their plan. Right now, she was all for it.

As the door opened, Sherry ordered -- no, make that demanded -- the operatives that were still upright to get the other wounded to Medlab immediately. Then she turned to face Operations. She hated this part of being team leader. The immediate, in your face “I want answers now,” before your brain even had a chance to process what had actually happened. And today she was really not in the mood.

She looked to the man who ran Section and wished she was on the way to Medlab herself. The face that stared back at her was not a happy one. She sighed ... so what else was new?

“What happened out there?” Operations demanded as they made their way farther into Section.

Maybe it was the fact that she was so tired. Or maybe she was at the point where she just didn’t care anymore. If that was the case, she knew she was in big trouble. Whatever the reason, Operations got more than he bargained for.

“I’m sure you know exactly what happened. You were monitoring us the whole time. You knew it would go bad from the start. So why? Why send us out when you knew it was gonna blow up in our faces? That was the point, wasn’t it? You wanted to get rid of the whole team. Or was it just me? Or maybe you just wanted to punish me.”

Several other operatives that were milling around Section stopped when they heard the tone of voice that Sherry was using. No one usually spoke to Operations like that. Well, Nikita did from time to time, but everyone expected it of her.

Operations remained quiet for a few moments considering this new development. Sherry was one of their better operatives. She didn’t necessarily have the killer instincts of say ... Grace ... but she was one fine operative. She had been trained by Michael after all.

“I suggest you change your tone right now. It is not your place to question our decisions. You simply do as you are told. I will overlook your blatant insubordination this time because you’ve been through an ordeal. However, in the future, it would do you well to remember who it is you are speaking to.”

Sherry remained quiet and simply walked along beside the Section Chief to his office. Operations, assuming her acquiescence, never noticed the slight limp she walked with or the grimace that touched her face from time to time.

Ops’ second-in-command and constant sidekick, Madeline, was waiting for them in the Observation Deck. She noticed the tension between them immediately. She decided to remain silent for a bit and simply watch them. Then she would decide how best to remedy the situation.

Operations continued the “debrief.” “I asked you a question. What happened out there?”

Sherry flopped down in the nearest chair, threw her mission jacket on the table and hung her head in her hands. “You know as well as I do what happened. You sent me out with a team that was totally unprepared for that mission. If it hadn’t been for Mentz and Davenport, we would all be dead. But as I said before ... that was your goal, wasn’t it?”

Operations was starting to get angry. “Your team was adequately trained. If they weren’t up to the task they would have been canceled rather than promoted to full status. And, as you said, you had Mentz, Davenport and yourself. Are you saying that the three of you are incompetent? Or is it just you?”

Sherry lifted her head and glared at him. “If we were incapable, we wouldn’t have retrieved this.” Then she threw the disk across the table at Operations. “It’s all there. All the information that you wanted.”

Operations picked up the disk and nodded, a small smirk on his face. Madeline saw his look, as did Sherry. Madeline decided it was time to intervene before things got way out of hand. “Good work, Sherry, considering the obstacles you had to overcome. We expected nothing less.”

Sherry switched her gaze to Madeline. “Gee, thanks, Madeline. Do you think maybe next time you could profile a mission that might actually work?”

Madeline smiled at her. “But it did work; exactly as planned. We needed to see how you would handle the situation. You did an excellent job.”

Sherry’s anger and disgust rose, as did her voice. “So it was a set-up all along. I knew it. Well, thanks. I appreciate it. Next time why don’t you just shoot me yourself. It would save a lot of time and effort, and no one else would have to get hurt.”

Madeline who had been studying Sherry since she entered the room noticed that she was a bit pale. “Are you all right?”

Sherry laughed. “So nice of you to ask; I didn’t think you cared. Actually, I was hit in the leg with a bullet as we were leaving the building. No big deal. I’m sure it only grazed me. The blow to the back of the head when the building blew is another story. I’m sure you are aware of that fact that I was actually knocked out for a few minutes. My head feels like it’s gonna explode any time now. You might want to stand back, just in case. We wouldn’t want your prim and proper suit to get messy.”

Operations had heard enough. “Madeline get her to Medlab immediately. At least that explains her behavior.”

Sherry laughed. “Huh uh. Don’t even think it. Headache or not, you would have heard the same thing.”

Within seconds a team from Medical was there to escort Sherry to Medlab.

Operations looked to Madeline. “Is she losing it? This is just not like her. What are we going to do? I can’t tolerate such behavior, but I can’t cancel her.”

Madeline studied his face. “You mean you won’t cancel her.”

Operations nodded. “No. I said, I can’t.”

Madeline was puzzled. “Because of Michael? He’ll get over it eventually. Her friends at CLHQ? They could cause us some problems, but Section would survive. What other reason could you possibly have?”

Operations was getting angry with her constant questions. He wasn’t going to have this discussion. “I have my reasons -- reasons you know nothing about. She won’t be canceled. Leave it.”

Madeline nodded. She would have to do some digging on her own and find out what was really going on.

“So, back to my question. Has she lost it? We have to do something,” Operations repeated.

Madeline shook her head. “No, she hasn’t lost it. Have you checked her file recently?” At Operations’ negative response, Madeline continued. “I looked it over before the team came back. She’s been extremely overused on missions lately— it’s a wonder she’s still standing. This test couldn’t have come at a worse time. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to cancel her.”

Operations looked surprised. “Me? Why would I cancel her? I just said it wouldn’t happen. She’s always been a fine operative. I was thinking of promoting her, but after this latest little demonstration, I may just reconsider.”

Madeline studied him. “Apparently, someone messed up. She hasn’t had any down time in over three months. She’s been on too many piggy-back missions. I’m surprised she hasn’t passed herself on the way out the door. She’s running on pure adrenaline and nothing else.”

Operations nodded. “Check into it. See who screwed up and fix it now. And find a way to get her some immediate downtime without everyone knowing we gave her a vacation.”

Madeline smiled and nodded.

Part 2

Sherry, although not the most cooperative patient, was thoroughly examined and informed she would survive. She had a slight concussion which needed to be monitored overnight, but otherwise she would be fine once she got some rest. She laughed at that one. Rest ... she wasn’t even sure she knew what that was anymore.

Once assigned a bed for the night, Sherry took the meds given to her, laid back and closed her eyes. She knew she wasn’t supposed to sleep, but she was just so tired. She hadn’t been there long when she heard someone call out to her.

She opened her eyes and saw Walter standing there. “Hey Sher. How are you?”

Sherry smiled at him. “Hey Walter. I’m okay. Got a hard head, ya know.”

Walter laughed. “Apparently not as hard as you think.”

Sherry laughed again. Then she grimaced as the pain struck again. “Well, Walter, at least I’m still here. Operations and Madeline did their best to do me in, but I’m still here.”

Walter frowned. “Hey, don’t talk like that. They may have tested you, but they aren’t going to cancel you. You’re too good ... and you have ‘friends.’”

Sherry laughed, but it wasn’t a funny laugh. “Friends... right. Friends like that, I can do without ...”

Walter was a taken aback by her attitude. Something was wrong. Sherry was never like this. When she got mad, which didn’t happen often, she tended to get quiet, keeping it all inside. And she never bad-mouthed her friends.

Sherry seemed to reconsider what she had just said. “Sorry, Walter. I guess I’m just worried about my team. Mentz and Davenport are the only two that got out unscathed. I’m glad they were with me or we’d have all been goners.”

Walter nodded. “I checked on the rest of your team. A couple of them are in surgery and the others will be fine in a couple of days. So don’t worry about them. Just take care of yourself. Oh, and Mentz and Davenport will be by to see you in a little while, after they debrief.”

Sherry nodded. “Thanks Walter.”

Walter got up to leave. As he reached the door he paused and turned around. “There are some people here who really wanna see you.”

Sherry groaned and asked who. “Well, you’re just gonna have to see for yourself.” With that Walter waved and left. At that point Rita, Grace, Curlly, Sylvia, North and Nabiki entered.

“Hi guys,” Sherry sighed. “Sorry. I’m not set up for entertaining. You’ll have to amuse yourselves.”

The girls laughed, although they weren’t sure what about Sherry’s attitude. Actually, when they had seen Sherry lately, she always seemed to be uptight and snippy. “Don’t worry about it, Sher,” Curlly laughed. North moved closer to the bed. “We were concerned. The scuttlebutt around Section was that the mission went bad real fast.”

Sherry shook her head. “They were wrong. The mission went exactly as planned. It was supposed to go bad.”

Sylvia, looking shocked, joined in. “What do you mean, it was supposed to happen?”

Sherry sighed. “It was a test. Good old Tweedledum and Tweedledee wanted to test me. To see if I could handle the situation. Sorry, North, but right now I’d like to string that man up.”

Nabiki finally spoke. “But apparently you passed their test. You all made it back.”

Sherry grunted. “Yeah, if you wanna call it that. Everyone’s in Medlab except Mentz and Davenport. I’m gonna have to remember to thank those guys. If it weren’t for them ... well, let’s just say you all would be visiting me somewhere a lot less ‘lively.’”

“Stop that,” North spoke up. “You were team leader. I’m sure you did more than your fair share.”

Sherry shook her head. “Not really. Oh, I was doing fine, but when the team leader gets knocked out from a blow to the back of the head ... well ... somebody has to take over. Davenport got me back to the van and Mentz rounded up the others.”

They girls commiserated and visited a little longer until Kit came in. She had been temporarily assigned to Medlab because they were very short staffed. “Hey ladies. Sorry, but you’re gonna have to leave. The patient needs her rest.”

Everyone said goodbye and followed Kit out of the room. North turned to Kit. “Kit, tell us the truth. Is she really okay? She seems to be in a very strange mood.”

Kit nodded. “Yeah, she’s gonna be okay. She has a concussion which we need to monitor overnight and she was grazed by a bullet in the leg, but other than that she has no serious injuries. However, she is suffering from severe exhaustion. I don’t like that. I wish we could keep her here longer, but once we make sure the concussion isn’t a problem, they will release her. I think her attitude is stemming from the exhaustion.”

The others nodded. They had noticed that Sherry had been out on a lot of missions recently. “Why are they sending her out so much? Do they think she’s some kind of machine that doesn’t need any rest?” Rita inquired. Kit shook her head. “I don’t know. But I think somebody needs to do something about it fast. If she pushes herself much more, her next mission is gonna fail and it’s not gonna be because it was planned that way.”

The girls quietly left Medlab together and headed back to CLHQ. “We have to do something, North,” Sylvia said. “We’ve got to help her somehow.”

Rita nodded. “Yeah. Maybe we should talk to Michael. He could certainly do something.”

Curlly nodded in agreement. “Yeah, Michael wouldn’t let anything happen to her. I’m surprised he hasn’t done something about it by now. Of course, he has been kind of busy lately. And Sherry has been avoiding him.”

North looked at Curlly in surprise. “Sherry has been avoiding Michael?”

Nabiki nodded. “Yeah. She’s been pretty ticked at him lately. And she thinks he’s been purposely avoiding her. Maybe now we know why. She’s so tired she can’t think straight.”

They all headed for North’s office to discuss the situation. They had been there for a little while when there was knock at the door.

“Come in,” North called to her visitor.

Madeline walked into the room. She noticed the gathering and wondered what the girls were up to. She could probably guess. “Hello ladies.” There was a general chorus of hellos in return. “North, I’m sure you are aware that Sherry is to be released from Medlab tomorrow morning if everything checks out. She will, of course, head back here to her quarters. Could you please see that she gets this as soon as she returns. It is urgent ... and confidential.”

North nodded and took the PDA from Madeline. After Madeline left, Rita jumped up. “North, you’re not gonna give that to her, are you? It’s probably another mission. They can’t send her out again.” The others in the room all voiced their thoughts and feelings about Operations, Madeline and their ruthless behavior.

North sighed. “Look guys. I’m with you. But I don’t have a choice. I’m one of the leaders of CLHQ and I’ve gotta obey the rules. And before you ask, no, we aren’t going to read it. They’ll know if we do. So let’s just hope we can find Michael and talk to him before they release her. He’s the only one now that can do anything about this.”

After the others had left, North pulled Sherry’s file and read through it. Having been out of CLHQ quite a bit herself recently, North hadn’t realized how many missions Sherry had actually been on. It was insane. No wonder she was behaving strangely. She had to be totally exhausted. Even Michael wouldn’t be able to withstand this stress.

North managed to locate Michael and asked him to meet her in her office when he had a chance. Once he arrived, Michael listened carefully to North as she explained the problem to him.

“And what do you expect me to do?” Michael asked her, betraying absolutely no emotion.

North was stunned. She knew how Michael felt about Sherry ... or at least how he used to feel. “Michael, did something happen between you two?”

Michael betrayed nothing on his face or in his eyes. “No.”

North nodded. “Fine. But why won’t you help her? I know you care about her.”

Michael sighed. He didn’t want to get into this North. He couldn’t. He hated lying to his friends. “As I said, I don’t know what you want me to do.”

North groaned inwardly. Michael wasn’t going to make this easy. “Michael, Section is killing her. Is that what you want?”

Michael stood and turned his back so that North couldn’t see his face. He knew she was right. He had already begun his own investigation into what was going on. He was getting close. He would probably know in a few hours who was behind this. “No. But if she can no longer do the job, there’s not much I can do. You know the rules.”

North was completely thrown by his attitude. “Michael, I can’t believe you. How can you be so callous and uncaring? I thought better of you.”

Michael turned back to her. “That was your mistake. Now, if there is nothing else.”

North sat there stunned and speechless. Michael took her silence as agreement and turned to leave. He walked out of the door and closed it behind him. North didn’t know what to do. Their only hope had just walked out on them.

Part 3

She was awake. Actually, she hadn’t slept much, what with the medical personnel constantly coming in and waking her to make sure she was okay. She was just so tired. She felt like she hadn’t slept in a year.

She could hear voices outside of her room. They were heading in her direction. She could make out the voices of Kit and Operations. She didn’t want to deal with Operations right now, so she feigned sleep. Operations, Kit and the doctor entered the room and the doctor checked the chart.

“How is she?” Operations demanded.

“The concussion was mild and the leg wound won’t slow her down. However, she is in a state of extreme exhaustion. She needs rest ... lots of it. She can’t function the way she is now.”

Sherry so wanted to open her eyes and see the expression on Ops’ face. But she didn’t want to talk to him, so she kept her eyes closed.

The doctor continued. “With the appropriate amount of rest, she will recover fully.”

“See that she does! If she so much as stumbles upon her release, you will pay.” Operations ordered and then walked out.

Once she was certain he was out of the room, Sherry opened her eyes. Kit noticed and immediately walked over to her. “Hey, how do you feel?”

“Like Methuselah ... only Methuselah with no sleep.”

Kit laughed. “So. It seems you have a champion. Operations was certainly adamant that you recover.”

Sherry shook her head. “Don’t buy into it. The man chewed my head off yesterday and now he demands that I recover. Probably just wants to yell at me some more and he feels he can’t do it if I’m flat on my back ... although I can’t imagine that stopping him. Better yet, he probably already has my next mission lined up. I wonder what it will be this time. Probably just wants me to face off against a dozen heavily armed terrorists alone.”

Kit and the doctor conferred for a few minutes and then Kit came back smiling. “Well, you’ve been given the all clear. You will be released in a little while.”

Feeling completely ungrateful, Sherry groused, “Gee thanks. Just what I need. To get sent back out there again so they can do me in.”

Kit was a bit hurt by the words, but she knew they weren’t really directed at her. “I’m sure they aren’t going to send you out again so soon. You heard the doctor telling Operations you need rest.”

Sherry smirked. “Yeah, right. Get real, Kit. They don’t care what happens to me so long as I follow orders and do their bidding.”

Realizing she was taking her anger out on Kit, Sherry was immediately contrite. “I’m sorry, Kit. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m just so disgusted with this place lately. And I’m angry and testy with everyone.”

Kit smiled. “It’s okay. I know. You’re exhausted. It happens. By the way, I’m sure Lakota will be thrilled to see you. He’s been moping around since you went out on that last mission.”

Sherry smiled at the thought of her husky. He had been a gift from Michael after she had lost her first husky, Nikita. “I miss him too. I can’t wait to get back to my own room. I think I’ll sleep for a year. Of course, Lakota will have other ideas ...”

Sherry was released shortly thereafter and made her way to her room. She threw her gear on the table and flopped down on the couch. Kit had offered to keep Lakota a little longer so Sherry could get some of that much needed rest.

She had only been there about a half an hour when there was a knock at the door. She groaned and thought about ignoring it. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone. But it might be one of her friends checking to see if she was okay. If she didn’t answer the door, they might call Medlab and send her back there. She didn’t want that either.

Hearing the knock again, Sherry sighed and went to answer the door. “Hey North. Come on in.”

North walked in and closed the door behind her. “How are you feeling?”

Sherry flopped back down on the couch. “Like I’ve been on a forced ten mile run, then run over by a tractor trailer and then backed up over again.”

North nodded. “Sorry. I wanted to wait a little longer to do this, but I couldn’t. Madeline asked me to see that you get this as soon as you were back.” North handed Sherry the PDA.

Sherry groaned and dropped her head in her hands. “No. I don’t want it. Give it back to her.”

North smiled. “I wish I could, but you know I can’t do that.”

Sherry grabbed the PDA from North and read over the file. “Another mission? I’ve been out of Medlab for what ... all of five minutes and they’re sending me out again? Someone really wants me out of the way.” Sherry paused and looked at North. “You wouldn’t have anything to do with this would you, North?”

“Me? Why would you think I had anything to do with this?” North was puzzled. She wondered what was in the file that would make Sherry think that.

Sherry shrugged. “Well, you’ve been warning me about “sharing” Michael lately. I just thought keeping me out of the way would take care of the problem.”

North was upset. She couldn’t believe her friend would think that of her. “You really don’t believe that, do you?”

Sherry sighed. “I don’t know. I just don’t know what I believe anymore. Maybe I should just disappear and solve everybody’s problem.”

North was seriously worried now. She didn’t like the sound of that at all. She would have to warn Madeline that Sherry sounded dangerous. Something needed to be done soon.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We ... I ... would never do any such thing to you or anyone else at CLHQ. I know I pestered you about Michael, but he has made me understand that he will see you whenever and as often he wants, so I’m not going to say anything else on the subject. As for why you’re being sent on all these missions, I don’t know. Maybe they just want one of their best operatives out there. If you want, I’ll try and find out.”

Sherry shook her head. “No, don’t bother.” Then she sighed. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I’m just so tired I don’t even want to think about going out again. But, according to this, I’m to be on the plane in a couple of hours, so, I guess I better get ready.”

North took the hint and got up to leave. “Okay. But you be careful and take care of yourself. And please try and get some rest.”

Sherry laughed half-heartedly. “Yeah, I will. If they let me. I’ll see you when I get back, whenever that might be. Then we’ll catch up. And North, again, I’m sorry.”

Sherry wandered into her bedroom and started packing for the trip. Vienna. She was to meet a contact in Vienna. Of course, they wouldn’t tell her who. She was simply to follow any instructions she received and she would eventually meet up with the person. She didn’t like this. Oh, Venice sounded like fun ... it was, after all, one of the most romantic cities in the world. But to simply follow whatever instructions she received and meet some unknown contact? That was too dangerous ... even for Section. What if it was an ambush? She would have no backup. Nope, she definitely did not like the sound of this mission one bit.

Once on the plane, Sherry leaned her head back and closed her eyes. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep. She was in such a deep sleep that the flight was over before she knew it. After disembarking from the plane and grabbing her luggage, she caught a taxi to the Hotel where Section had made her reservations. The Hotel Cipriani was quite the luxury hotel. “This contact must be somebody important for Section to be footing the bill for this,” Sherry mumbled to herself. The doorman helped her from the taxi and the bellman got her luggage. She signed in at the front desk, where the Concierge explained to her that a car and driver would be available to her at all times, as per their instructions. Then she was promptly whisked upstairs to her room.

The bellman opened the door for her and she was again surprised. She had actually been assigned a suite. “Okay, something is definitely up,” she mumbled to herself again. Why would Section reserve her a suite? Not that she was complaining. But they had better not expect her to room with the contact, unless it was a child or a helpless old lady. Otherwise, they could just forget it. She wasn’t sharing accommodations with anybody. At least not until she was back on her game. Then again, maybe it was all part of the cover. Perhaps the contact was someone who would only associate with the rich. Well, she would find out soon enough. Whenever the next set of instructions came through.

The door closed behind the bellman. She was glad when he finally left. She wasn’t sure what it was about him, but he seemed to be paying too much attention to her. “Oh who knows ... maybe I look a fright, or he doesn’t know how someone like me could score a room like this.” Shrugging her shoulders, Sherry decided to unpack first. She made a quick job of it and then decided that sleep was in order. She needed rest to be able to function. Even though she had slept on the plane, it had been just enough to make her feel lousy. Quickly changing into some comfy clothes, Sherry flopped down on the bed in the room she had chosen and shut her eyes. She was asleep in about five minutes.

Needing the sleep badly, Sherry didn’t awaken. About six hours later, the bellman let himself into her room. He hadn’t seen her since she had arrived, and he was under orders to keep an eye on her. He quietly made his way into the room looking for her. Noting the that the rooms were dark, he headed for the bedroom where the door was shut. He slowly opened the door, trying his best to make no noise at all. He moved into the room and immediately saw her on the bed. He got as close as he could without waking her to make sure she was still alive and breathing. As he turned to go, she stirred. He froze in place. He had to get out of here before she woke up and found him there. Standing in place until he was certain she was once again in a deep sleep, the bellman left the suite. Once outside of the room, he pulled out his cell phone and made the call. “She’s asleep. She hasn’t left the room since her arrival.”