Part 3

The next morning set the pattern for the weeks to come. Once everyone was up, they decided what they would do or explore that morning. Then in the afternoon, Sherry and Travis would retreat to her office to work on the book. And the evenings were free time for everyone.

One evening a few weeks later, Sherry, Travis, Nahla, Jace, Davenport and Mentz decided to go out. North and Petrosian stayed behind. They were sitting by the fire enjoying the quiet time alone.

"Operations is going to be a very happy man," Egran observed.

"What do you mean?" North asked.

"My lovely Northstar, surely you see it. The doctor and Sherry are growing closer every day. She is falling for him."

North sighed. "I don't know. They've always been close, even before Operations decided to use it to his advantage. I don't necessarily see it that way."

"And when Michael arrives, how will he see it?" he inquired with raised eyebrows.

North frowned. "Maybe he won't show. He wasn't sure he could get away."

Petrosian laughed. "This is Michael ve are talking about. He vill not stand idly by and let his fiancé go off with another man for three months and not do something about it. Especially not vhen he knows that man is in love vith her. I expect he will be descending on us any day now. Of course, his incompetence may be his undoing. If he vaits much longer, there won't be any reason for him to come."

North sighed. "I know you don't like Michael, but you shouldn't make such disparaging remarks about him. You know he's the best operative Section has ever had, yourself included."

Grabbing at his chest, he looked at her. "You vound me deeply, my love. How could you ever say such a thing about me?"

"Because it's the truth," she quipped. "If I remember, it was Michael that got you out from your deep cover mission and back to Section. For that alone, I'll always be grateful to him."

Petrosian nodded. "Point taken. Anyvay, enough talk about Michael. I'm sure we can find something more entertaining to discuss."

A little while later the group returned to the villa, laughing and replaying their evening. North watched Sherry and Travis closely, thinking about what Petrosian had told her. When Travis and Sherry entered the house, he had his arm wrapped around her waist. She had noticed little things like that happening a bit more lately. They would hold hands when they went out, his arm was around her more and more. The endearments were
slowly filtering into their speech as well. Maybe she should have a talk with Sherry and see exactly what was going on.

The group settled themselves in the living room with North and Egan, relaying the evening's activities. After everyone had settled down and the discussion played out, Sherry turned to North.

"North, I was thinking maybe tomorrow morning could be girl time. You, me and Nahla take off for a hike or a swim or something. You game?"

North smiled. Perfect. "Sure, sounds great. How about we head for the waterfall. We can have a picnic and get in some sun and swimming too." "Great. Nahla, think you can spend a few hours without the good doctor there?" Sher teased and Nahla again blushed.

"Yeah, I think I'll manage," she answered.

"I thought you and I were going to the waterfall," Travis said softly to Sherry, feeling a little left out.

"We will honey, don't worry. Tell you what. Day after tomorrow, if I get as much work done tomorrow as I think I will, I'll take the whole day. We'll take a picnic basket and head for the waterfall. We'll spend the whole day if you want."

"I definitely want," he said and kissed her on the cheek.

"Then it's a date," she winked at him and intertwined her fingers with his. A few minutes later, she got up. "I think I'm going to call it a day. See you ladies in the morning. And North, I'll take care of packing the lunch so you can spend a little more time with Egran in the morning." She was greeted with a pillow flying at her which she expertly ducked. "Well, if you want to spend time with Davenport instead, that's fine by me," she laughed.

"Hey," Davenport stood up to go check the security monitors. "Don't get me mixed up in this." As Sherry moved to head upstairs, Travis grabbed her hand. "I'm coming too," he said and quickly said goodnight to everyone. The others watched as they couple walked hand-in-hand up the stairs.

Travis walked Sherry to her room. She turned to say goodnight and was fascinated at the way he was watching her. She stared into his eyes and he stared into hers. She wasn't sure how long they had been standing there, but she knew she had better move soon or things were going to get out of hand. "Well, I guess I'd better go in," she said lamely.

Travis nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." His hand reached up and caressed the side of her face and then smoothed her hair and brushed it back off her shoulder. His gaze returned to her eyes as he said softly, "I'm really glad I came."

Sherry smiled at him. "Me too," she whispered and watched as he moved closer to her. He leaned in and softly kissed her lips. He pulled back and looked into her eyes to see her reaction. She was not pushing him away. She wasn't angry. In fact, she seemed to be welcoming his kiss. He leaned in again and this time she returned the kiss. He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss briefly. Eventually, he pulled back. She reached up
and caressed his cheek. "Goodnight, Doc," she whispered and then turned and went into her room, closing the door between them. Travis sighed, ran his hand through his hair and headed into his room.

Sherry sat down on her bed replaying the last few minutes. The feelings were beginning to overwhelm her. She knew she had to examine them. And now was as good a time as any. Travis had started out as her doctor, but they quickly became friends. She had known then that he wanted more, but that it was impossible. She belonged to Section. Once her treatment was done, she would never see him again. Then Operations has interfered. He had recruited Travis and now he was a constant in her life. They had
become closer as time passed. And the past few weeks they had gotten closer still. There was something between them. She knew it. But she had also known that she couldn't act on those feelings. Travis had known it too. She was engaged to another man.

"Oh Michael," she sighed as she flopped down on top of the covers. "What am I doing?" She knew she was in love with Michael, didn't doubt it for a second. But these feelings for Travis were coming to the forefront. She thought about him and their time together for a few minutes.

"Could it be? It's not possible, is it?" she asked herself. She only had to think of how his touch made her feel and the kisses that they had just shared to get her answer. "Can I possibly be falling in love with Doc?' she whispered.

Part 4

Sherry headed downstairs early the next morning to get lunch packed and hopefully to avoid seeing Travis if possible. She had spent a miserable night tossing and turning, thinking about Michael and Travis. What was she going to do? She heard footfalls coming toward the kitchen and tensed, hoping it wasn’t Travis. "Oh, this is ridiculous," she chided herself. She couldn’t spend the rest of this trip or the rest of her life trying to avoid him and the feelings she had for him. She had to deal with them.

Luckily, however, she got a reprieve. The footsteps belonged to Mentz. "Hey Mentz, you got guard duty, today, huh? Lucky you."

He smiled. "Yeah. But I’m not complaining."

Sherry laughed. "Glad to hear it."

Once everything was packed, Sherry went to her office to check on a few things until North and Nahla were ready. She was about to go meet the others when Travis popped his head in.

"Morning. Just wanted to tell you to have fun," he said with a bright smile on his face.

Sherry smiled at him, realizing the mess she was in wasn’t really his fault. "Thanks, Doc. I’m sure we will. And you guys try not to get into too much trouble while we’re gone, okay?" she teased as she walked out of her office and passed him.

"We’ll try, but I’m not making any promises." he joked as she grabbed her hand and pulled her back. Quietly he said, "I’m gonna miss you," and then leaned in and kissed her in front of everyone. She squeezed his hand and then took a deep breath. "We better get going," she called to the others as she turned around to see five pairs of curious gazes on them. Only Davenport had missed that little scene because he was doing the security check. Feeling embarrassed and awkward, Sherry simply wanted to get out of the house as quickly as possible.

"Let’s go," she said curtly as she made a grab for the basket. Mentz, however, beat her to it. "I’ve got it," he said. She nodded and then proceeded out the door, the others quickly following.

"Uh oh," North said to Nahla. "I think we’re in for some trouble."

Nahla smiled. "Ya think? I’d say a major storm the way she took off down the trail. Poor Mentz will never keep up with her if she keeps going like that."

"You’re right," North laughed. Once they were a safe distance from the house, North called out to her. "Sher, you wanna slow down before you give poor Mentz a heart attack."

Sherry sighed and turned to the others. "Sorry, guys. I just needed to get out of there."

"So we noticed," Nahla said. "Want to talk about it?"

Sherry shook her head. "Not yet. Maybe when we get to the waterfall. I just have to try and work it out in my head first."

The others respected her wishes as they set off at a more leisurely pace this time. North and Nahla kept a steady conversation going, occasionally asking Sherry for input. She was only half listening, so a word or two was all they could get out of her. A little while later, she was rudely pulled out of her musing by a pair of strong arms.

"Sherry, stop!" Mentz yelled at her.

She looked up at him confused. "What?"

He shook his head. "You were about to step off the side of the hill. It’s a long way down, you know. You’d better get your head back into this hike. I know I’m supposed to protect you, but I didn’t think I’d have to protect you from yourself."

Nahla and North were a few paces ahead, not having noticed when Sherry had slowed down and dropped behind them. They quickly turned around when they heard Mentz yelling and were now back with her. "Okay, that’s it." North ordered. "You’re staying right here between us. And you’re going to talk to us."

Sherry shook her head. "I don’t think I’m ready to talk yet."

North sighed. "You don’t have to talk about Travis. We can talk about anything. Just get your head with the program, okay? I, for one, don’t want to have to go back and tell Davenport, not to mention Michael, Operations and Madeline, that we let you get hurt or killed because you were too distracted thinking about your love life. So come on and pay attention."

"Okay, okay. You’ve made your point," Sherry growled. "Now let’s just get on with it, can we?"

It wasn’t long before they were at the waterfall. "This place is beautiful," Nahla commented as she looked around her. They quickly found a spot where they could swim and still be near the falls to witness their beauty. They laid out the blankets and quickly lost their shoes, shorts and tops to reveal swimsuits. Mentz positioned himself far enough away to give them some privacy, but close enough that he could keep watch over them and get to them quickly if need be.

After swimming for a while, the trio came back to the blankets and stretched out to take in the sun. It was a beautiful day, not too hot. They laid there in silence for a while, until Sherry finally sat up. North took her cue and asked, "You wanna tell us what happened back at the house?"

Sherry sighed. "I think you saw what happened. We kissed."

Nahla laughed. "Yeah, that much we know. But your reaction was a bit ... strange. Didn’t you want him to kiss you?"

Sherry laughed. "That’s the problem. I did. I think I was just embarrassed that he did it in front of all of you. I mean ..."

North let her off the hook. "Michael."

Sherry nodded. "You all know about me and Michael. I’m not sure I know what’s going on with me and Doc, but I wasn’t quite ready to share it with the world."

The other two ladies exchanged glances. "So what is going on with you and Travis?" Nahla asked.

Shaking her head, Sherry picked up a few small stones by her blanket and tossed them into the water one by one. "I wish I knew. We were friends ... good friends. I knew it, so did he. We accepted that that was all we could have. Or at least I thought we had."

"And now?" North prompted.

Sherry turned to her CLHQ mentor and good friend. "Let me ask you something, North. Is it possible to be in love with two men at the same time?"

Nahla gasped and North sighed. "You don’t ask the simple ones, do you?"
Sherry smiled. "Well, if it was simple, I wouldn’t need to ask, would I."

"I think it’s possible to love two men at the same time, definitely. But to be in love with them, I don’t know. Do you think you’re in love with Travis?"

Sherry got up and paced. "I’m not sure. I always knew I probably would have fallen hard for him if it hadn’t been for Michael. I know I’m in love with Michael, I don’t doubt that for a moment. But now, I have all these feelings for Travis coming at me. The way his touch makes me feel, the way he listens to me, makes me laugh, the way I feel when he kisses me. What am I gonna do?"

"What about Michael? How does he make you feel?" Nahla asked.

"Loved, safe, protected," Sherry said with a smile. "I trust Michael with my life. He makes me feel cherished."

"Do you trust him with your heart?" North had a knack of getting to the heart of the problem, no pun intended.

Sherry looked at both of them and flopped down again. "Yeah, I think so." She paused for a moment and then frowned. "I used to know it as well as I know my own name. Why am I all of a sudden questioning him?"

North shrugged. "I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because of your feelings for Travis. You should talk to Michael."

Sherry laughed. "Well, that’s not going to help me now. Michael isn’t here. I can’t keep giving Travis hope if there is none, but I don’t want to push him away if he’s the one."

They were all silent for a few moments when Nahla spoke. "I know I don’t have much experience in this area, and I don’t mean anything against Michael, but maybe you need to explore what you and Travis have. Find out what’s really there. It sounds to me like you are sure you can trust Travis with your heart, but you’re not sure about Michael. Maybe you should figure out if that’s true."

"Nahla," North began, but Sherry interrupted her.

"I think you’re right Nahla. The only way I’m going to figure anything out is to give them both a fair chance. And I do trust Doc with my heart. I know he would never hurt me in that way."

"And you think Michael would?" North asked, getting a little upset because she didn’t want to see her friend making a mistake she would regret and everyone getting hurt.

"I don’t know, North. That’s what I’m saying. You know Michael and his mystique. You know how many women would love to have him. I don’t want to doubt him, he hasn’t given me reason to, but I need to know why I’m suddenly questioning his feelings for me."

"I agree," North answered. "So why don’t you wait until you talk to Michael about it before you get too involved with Travis. I don’t want all of you, or any of you, to end up being hurt."

"I think it’s already too late for that North. You know Doc’s had feelings for me since I was his patient. I don’t see how any of this is going to get straightened out without someone getting hurt."

North sighed. "You’re right. So I think you should be very careful about how you proceed. Take some more time to think it through. You don’t have to do anything rash now. You’ve got plenty of time to make a decision. No one is pushing you."

"You know that’s just an illusion, North. Any one of us could be gone tomorrow. It’s the life we live. It’s the risk we take," Sherry said.

Nahla jumped in. "Okay, I think that’s enough talk of risks and dying. We are here to enjoy ourselves and have fun. North has a good point, that you should really think about it before you decide. Give yourself some time. Talk to Michael about whatever it is that is bothering you. Then, if you still want to give Travis a chance, go for it. But just be careful because I don’t want you getting hurt."

Sherry hugged her two friends. "Thanks, you two. I was going out of my mind last night trying to figure out what to do about this. At least talking about it has helped me a little. Doc is usually the one I go to when I need to unload, but I can’t very well do that this time."