Part Seven - Curlly

After almost a whole week from her last communiqué with Section, Curlly limped into CLHQ. She looked like someone pulled her through a thornbush thicket backwards.

"Glory Curlly, you look horrid! what happened?" asked Sylvia.

"Well... funny you should ask," remarked Curlly looking anything but amused.

"Are you gonna tell us or not?" asked Genie who had been talking with Sly.

"Follow me to my room so I can freshen up before I go kill someone in comm." The girls followed her upstairs. They told her to go ahead and shower while they got her something to eat. Sylvia asked for some cheesecake from Christopher. She knew it was one of the easiest and most efficient ways of calming Curlly down. as soon as Curlly came out of the bathroom, the food arrived. Genie looked Sly. Where was the cheesecake? Curlly still looked grumpy.

So around mouthfuls, Curlly told them what happened. "So there was this variable Madeline asked me to isolate once my part of the mission was over, so I got after it and secure it. Good little Curlly got the job done. So I'm thinking to myself that I've earned a couple of days of downtime. So I start to log in to the system to find my pick up point. Only to get a message saying 'server not found'. I couldn't risk going out of the zone. There were too many hostiles. For almost a week the 'server could not be found'. I tell you someone is gonna get it!" warned Curlly wrathfully.

"Come on Curlly, any number of things could have happened," responded Genie.

"Ya, they can argue with my fists." and with that Curlly headed towards the door. Just as she reached for the handle a knock sounded. Opening the door Curlly saw Christopher. "Ah, Curlly..." started the chef.

"Not know Christopher," said Curlly slipping past him.

"But...but...if you leave now, who will test my new white chocolate cheesecake? I'm thinking about serving it on Thanksgiving."

Curlly froze at the first mention of her favorite dessert. Her vengeful thoughts dissipating like fog on a sunny day. "Well, why didn't you say so!"

Sly and Genie thanked Christopher as they watched Curlly rushing off to the kitchen.

************

Part Eight by Rita

Rita sat on her bed watching Birkoff who was fiddling with the back if her computer. She was looking forward to the holidays. Hopefully no missions would come up but knowing her luck it was highly possible. What she would give for a quiet holiday. Well, a holiday spent at CLHQ was anything but quiet.

"You know Rita, you could have done this yourself." He said as he connected some a cord to the back of the CPU.

"Yeah but you know me I really did not pay attention in computer hardware class. Besides you are getting something out of this."

"True. Here I am done give it a test spin." Birkoff said as he handed her the keyboard.

Rita took the keyboard and sat on the bed. She began to type away. "Ooh cool! This wireless keyboard idea is fabulous. Now I can type from bed or anywhere else for that matter. This is going to make mission profiling so much easier."

"You know you are just being lazy."

She smiled sheepishly. "All right I am only admitting that it may be a little self indulgent but think about how many luxuries does the Section allow. This is a small pleasure. That I am going to enjoy to the fullest. Plus it may make me more efficient."

"Uh huh I believe you, Rita. Where's my payment?"

"The Oreo pie is in the fridge Birkoff. It is all yours enjoy." Birkoff eagerly headed for the refrigerator and pulled out the pie. He sniffed the air around the pie in appreciation. A big grin took over his face. "Smells great. Thanks Rita." Birkoff walked out of Rita's room with only his stomach on his mind.

"Bye Birkoff. Talk to you later." Rita said from her perch on her bed where she began to delightfully experiment with the new keyboard. The computer chimed to get her attention. She began to read. Curlly has reported back to the headquarters. Rita was pleased to hear of her return and decided she would pay a visit to her friend.

When she arrived at Curlly's door she knocked. The door opened and there was Curlly wiping cheesecake crumbs from her cheek.

"Hey Rita. Do I have a story to tell you." She said as she led the way to her seating area.

"Good to see you. I see it didn't take you long to hunt down a cheesecake." Rita said as she laughed and sat down to hear Curlly's tale.

************

Part Nine by Sherry

Sherry, Michael and Aly ended their little planning session, agreeing to meet again soon to go over things again.

Sherry and Michael walked down the hallway together. "Are you sure you wanna help with this, Michael?" Sherry asked him. "I know you have a reputation to maintain."

Michael nodded his head in assent. "I do have to keep my reputation in mind, but I enjoy helping you guys as well. Besides, how else am I gonna keep an eye on you?"

Sherry laughed. "Well, if you insist. I'll see you tonight then."

Michael nodded, kissed her, and they parted company as Michael was needed on a mission.

Sherry went to her room, quickly typed up the list, printed it out and headed for North's office.

Sherry stood outside the door to North's office and schooled the features on her face. She had to pull this off. She had to get through this without laughing.

"Come in" North called from her desk.

Sherry walked in. "Hey North. Sorry to bother you. I know how busy you are but we've got a serious problem."

North sighed. What now, she thought. "What is it?"

Sherry threw the paper on her desk. "Take a look at that. That's Trace's idea of a Thanksgiving menu. She's gonna ruin Thanksgiving, North. And you're gonna have a riot on your hands. I mean, I'm no authority on Canadian Thanksgiving, but the Americans ops are gonna have a fit."

North picked up the paper and perused it. She couldn't believe what she was reading. "Seafood buffet, spaghetti, lasagna, garlic bread, salad. What is she thinking?"

Sherry shook her head. "I don't have a clue. And let's not even discuss the dessert choices. I can't believe Christopher agreed to go along with this."

North sighed. She thought she was lightening some of her burden by asking Trace to take care of the Thanksgiving meal, but it seemed she had only doubled her trouble. "I'll look into this when I get a chance."

Sherry nodded. "Thanks, North. Well, guess I better let you get back to work."

North nodded and Sherry left. Sherry got back to her room and picked up the phone. "Okay Aly, all taken care of. North now has the fake menu in hand."

Aly laughed. "Good. Now we'll have to wait for the others to do their part."

************

Part Ten by Northstar

After Sherry left her office North continued shaking her head in disbelief. How could Trace do this to her? Well it looked like she was going to have to do things herself after all. Just then Trace and Gray came knocking on the door and she bade them to enter.

Trace all excited all but ran over and plopped down a piece of paper on North's desk. "Voila!! Everything is planned Mama Bear." she said with a flourish. Gray just grinned.

North looked at the paper Trace deposited on the desk in front of her. Glancing at the one Sherry had given her and then back to the other one she was even more confused. "Okay, what gives guys? I have two menus here now and they aren't the same. Just what is going on?"

Trace looked confused now. "I have no idea North. Gray and I sat down and planned this as soon as you asked me to. I talked with Christopher after that and he thought it was great."

"Well Sherry just came in and gave me this one." North handed Trace the other one. "Something is up and I have a feeling that someone is trying to sabotage our dinner."

"What? Is Sherry nuts? I would never have planned this kind of meal for Thanksgiving. Oh... I get it. She's out to get me for some reason. I would like to know what I ever did to her."

"Now Trace," Gray interrupted, "Sherry isn't out to get you. I have a feeling that North is right. Someone is out to cause some mischief this holiday. I think you and I are going to have to do some reconnaissance and Intel gathering on this. What do you say? Are you up to it?"

"Well I hope the two of you can find out something. Oh and has either one of you seen Operations? I need to go over some stuff with him and he seems to have made himself scarce the last little while."

"I haven't seen him but I have a feeling that after the last mission he is avoiding you. You were just a bit upset with him you know North."

"Well this is true but I really need to see him. If either of you see him in your travels make sure you tell him to pay me a visit please."

Gray and Trace looked at each other both wondering the same thing. Did she want him for business or for pleasure...? "Sure Mama Bear, if we see him we'll tell him. Right now though I am going to see if we can find out anything about what is going on around here. If we hear anything we'll let you know."

After Trace and Gray had gone North knew something was up. It had been way too quiet the last day and that was just not normal. She had been hoping that the upcoming holiday would bring everyone together again and bring some fun back to CLHQ.

************

Part Eleven by Sherry

Sherry was headed for Comm when Trace and Gray corralled her.

"Hey Sherry. "

Sherry looked up and smiled at Trace and Gray. "Hey guys."

"I need a word with you, Sherry" Trace continued in a not-too-pleasant voice.

Sherry stopped and looked back at Trace.

"Can it wait a minute? I've got to get this report to Operations. He's been bugging me for it."

Trace didn't hesitate. "No, it can't wait. I want to talk with you now."

Gray put a restraining hand on Trace's arm. "If you have a second, Sherry, we would really like to speak with you."

Sherry looked between the two of them and then sighed. "Fine. I'll just have to make up something when Operations wants to know why I'm late."

Gray smiled. "Thank you. We appreciate it."

Gray motioned to the nearby conference room. Once inside, Trace took over again.

"Why did you give North that fake menu for Thanksgiving?"

Sherry looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

Trace sighed. "We just came from North's office. We gave her the menu we decided on for Thanksgiving. Then she showed us the one you gave her. Just what are you up to, anyway?"

Knowing she had to play her part to the hilt, Sherry sighed. "Look, Trace. I don't know what's going on. Operations gave me that menu and told me to take it to North. He was beside himself at the choices you had made. And to tell you the truth, I couldn't blame him."

Gray nodded and Trace hissed. "Operations? He gave you that menu? Where did he get it?"

Sherry shrugged. "He told me that he got it from Christopher. He knew you were working together on the meal."

Trace turned to Gray. "Christopher? Why would he do such a thing?"

Gray shrugged. "Who knows, Trace. I guess we'll have to go ask him. Thanks, Sherry. By the way ... have you seen Operations lately?"

Sherry shook her head. "No. I just got a message from him that he wanted this report asap so I was headed to his office now. You mean he's not there?"

"Well, North has been trying to reach him and can't. She said she has some things she needs to discuss with him," Trace volunteered.

"Well, then I don't know. Maybe you should check with Birkoff," Sherry replied helpfully.

Gray nodded. "We'll do just that. Thanks, Sherry."

As soon as they left, Sherry headed for the Observation Deck. She was almost into his office before she left out the breath she was holding. This was fun, but it was getting to be a lot of work! Sighing to herself, she mumbled, "I just hope Aly, Curlly, Rita, Sylvia, Nabiki and DragonLady are doing their parts."