Sherry had known something was up when Michael had left with Rita earlier. He hadn't left her side to much as go into his own apartment since she had been released from Medlab. However, she was still very tired and her head was really beginning to hurt and the pain medication was taking effect. She was also still pretty much in shock and didn't have the energy to bother asking questions or fight for answers. She was grateful for Curlly's company, though, even if she was there simply to keep an eye on her while the others did ... whatever.

Curlly was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She knew Sherry was wondering what was going on. She wasn't to tell her the truth, so she didn't want the subject brought up. Her job was simply to stay with Sherry and keep her calm. Telling her that O'Brien was here would definitely not accomplish that. So, she talked about everything and anything else she could think of.

About half an hour later, Sherry fell asleep. The medication had finally kicked in and she couldn't fight it any more. Heaving a great sigh of relief, Curlly pulled out her cell phone and contacted North to see what was happening. North informed her that Michael was interrogating O'Brien and that's all they knew. Curlly closed the cell phone and then busied herself straightening up Sherry's home. She took care of Lakota, feeding and watering him, and then grabbed a book off the bookshelf and started reading.

Sherry woke up about three hours later. She was still feeling groggy, but the headache was beginning to ease. She looked around and noticed Curlly was still with her. And judging from how far into the book Curlly was, a few hours had passed. She looked at her clock and realized she was right. Sitting up, she drew Curlly's attention.

"Sherry. Do you feel any better? Can I get you anything?" Curlly inquired. Sherry took a deep breath and looked around the room. "I'm okay. I could use a glass of water, though." Curlly nodded and headed for the kitchen. While she was gone, Sherry got up and headed for the door. She was determined to find out what was going on. If they wouldn't tell her, she'd find out on her own. As she made her way across the room, she was hit a wave of dizziness and nausea. Stopping for a second, and taking a deep breath helped. Just as she was about to open the door, Curlly came back into the room.

"Sherry, what are you doing? You aren't to be up and around yet. Where do you think you're going?" Sherry turned to Curlly and once again was hit with the dizziness. This time it made her stagger. Curlly rushed over to her side. "See. You aren't ready to be up and around yet. Now get back over here and sit down."

Sherry tried to fight her. "No, Curlly. I'll be okay. I have to know what's going on."

Curlly shook her head. "What do you mean?"

Sherry smiled at the Curlly's attempt to hide what she knew. "Come on, Curlly. You've been babysitting me for three hours. Michael disappeared without a word and apparently you were told not to say anything. I may have hit my head, but it didn't make me stupid." Just then another wave of dizziness hit and Sherry almost fell.

"All right, that's it," Curlly said in her most commanding voice. "You are either going to sit down again or I'm calling Medlab." She knew how much Sherry hated Medlab, so she hit on the perfect way to foil her plans.

Sherry threw her a black look and then moved back to the couch. "Fine. I'm sitting. Now tell me. What's going on? It's O'Brien, isn't it? They've found him."

Curlly didn't know what to do. She was under orders to keep Sherry calm, and, if possible, not to tell her anything. But it seems like that option had disappeared. She was about to answer when the door to the room opened and Michael walked in. Curlly was never so glad to see anyone in her life.

"Michael, I'm glad your back," Curlly gushed. Michael looked from Curlly to Sherry and guessed what was going on. Michael nodded.

"How are you feeling, Sherry?" he inquired.

"Like a five year old. What's going on Michael? You found O'Brien, didn't you?"'

Michael walked over to the couch and sat down beside her. "Yes. He was brought in. That's why I left."

Sherry nodded, although it made her head and stomach rebel once again. "And none of you could be bothered to tell me because..."

Michael sighed. He knew Sherry was going to be difficult about this. "It was my decision. I told Rita, North and the others to keep it from you. You were already too emotionally drained. We weren't sure what would happen if you found out. But he's been taken care of."

Sherry's head jerked up at that. "He's dead?"

Michael nodded. "Yes, I canceled him after he was interrogated."

Sherry jumped off the couch and walked over to the windows overlooking the back of CLHQ. The light was hurting her eyes but at this point she didn't care. She simply stood there for a few minutes, while Curlly looked to Michael, wondering what she was up to. Michael shook his head that he wasn't sure either, and stood to walk over to her.

Sherry felt his approach, rather than hearing him. Michael rarely made noise when he moved. When he was within a few feet of her, she whirled around on him. "Did it ever occur to you, Michael, that I might have wanted to confront him? That I wanted to question him, talk to him ... vent at him? Did you ever think that maybe I wanted to cancel him? That maybe I needed to do that for Sophie?"

Michael was stunned. Sherry wasn't a violent person, and she rarely got so angry. And even rarer were the occasions she was angry with him. Then again, she wasn't herself. She was still in shock, and grieving, along with recovering from her injuries. He reached out to her, but she knocked his hand away.

"You want to treat me like a little kid fine. Go away and leave me alone. I can't believe you all did this!" With that she stormed into her bedroom, slammed the door and locked it, and then promptly passed out on the floor.

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

Part Forty-One - Rita

The carefully aimed shots came with the kick accompanied by the firing of a semi automatic weapon. Yet that barely registered in Rita's mind. She had grown accustomed to it. All that was in her mind was aim at the target and dispose of it. She was trying to work through her anger at Section, oversight and O'Brien. Having already worked out with the judo master this morning still had not been able to clear her head and the master made his point by dispensing a blow that laid her out flat. She could already feel the blood coagulating under the skin forming the bruise she would carry as a reminder.

A tap on her shoulder took her attention away from the target she was shooting at. Turning around she saw Walter standing there. Rita removed the protective ear gear. "Hey Walter."

"Rita, you need to stop this. I have been watching you this morning. This isn't helping matters."

"Walter there isn't much we can do until after the services. Then I plan on doing some intel gathering. I believe there is more going on here. By then I hope Sherry will be ready to help."

"How is Sherry doing?"

"She is still recovering. I am going to pay her a visit as soon as I am done here."Rita had decided she might as well do that now. "Walter, this gun's sight is too high could you get it fixed fro me, please." She said as she handed him the weapon.

"No, problem sweetie." He smiled at her. "Now take care of yourself and tell Sherry I'll be by to visit."

"No problem, Walter. She said as she removed her protective eyeglasses and walked away.

Back at CLHQ she bumped into Curlly. "Hey Curlly. I thought you had Sherry duty?"

"I did but Michael came back. Can I tell you he saved my hide? Sherry wanted to know what was going on. I didn't want to be the one to tell her."

"Oh I guess she knows by now." Rita felt some trepidation at dealing with Sherry once all the facts were presented to her. She could understand why Curlly would want out.

"Yeah I think Michael is telling her right now." She said as she twirled a curl around her finger.

"Well, I might as well see how she's taking it. I'll need to talk to you later tonight Curlly."

"No, prob you know where to find me." Curlly walked towards the CLHQ kitchens.

At Sherry's room she knocked on the door. The door opened and there stood Michael. "Hey Michael. How is she doing?"

Michael looked annoyed. "She has locked herself in the bathroom that is how mad she is. Does she not realize that all we wanted to do was protect her?" Rita realized that he was quite upset as his accent became more pronounced.

"Don't worry I am sure she'll understand in time. All she needs..." Lakota began to bark and scrap at he door to the bathroom. "Something is wrong, Michael." Rita ran to the bathroom door followed by Michael. "Sherry! Sherry Open the door!" She said as she pounded on the wood.

Michael was about to kick the door in when Rita placed a hand to restrain him. "We have to pick the lock. She's probably unconscious and you don't know where she has fallen."

Michael quickly worked his magic on the door. When he opened the door they saw Sherry laying there on the cold tile.

"Sherry!" Michael said as he picked her up and brought her to her bed. He placed her gently in the bed and wrapped the blankets snugly around her.

Rita flipped open her cell phone and called medlab. "Michael they are sending someone up. All we can do is wait. I just wish she wasn't so stubborn sometimes." Rita said as a look of worry took over her face.

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

Ending by Northstar

Sherry started to come around but was still a bit disoriented. She looked up to see Rita and Michael with concerned looks on their faces. There were a couple of Med Ops there as well. "Hey guys." she said acting as if nothing had happened.

"Don't you 'hey guys' us Sherry. What the hell were you thinking of locking yourself in the bathroom like that?" Rita admonished her. "You passed out in there and you really could have hurt yourself."

"Maybe because I was angry and wanted to be alone. As for passing out, I haven't eaten in a few days. At least not much of anything. I really wish you hadn't taken it upon yourselves to protect me the way you have. It really would have been nice if I could have had closure with what happened with O'Brien but with him dead I can't." Sherry explained.

Michael looked to Rita and then back to Sherry. "I'm sorry Sherry. I really am but at the time it seemed like the best for everyone concerned. I do understand how you feel."

Rita picked up the phone and called the kitchen asking for a light meal to be sent up to Sherry's room. Christopher himself answered and told her that he personally would see to it. "Don't worry Rita. I'll get Sherry up again in no time. I'll even make her favorite meal tomorrow if she eats everything I send up today."

"Thank you Christopher." Rita turned to Sherry, "Christopher says if you eat everything he sends up today then he'll make your favorites for tomorrow. You really need to get your strength back Sherry. Everyone here is really concerned about you."

"I know and I will. Just give me a few days."

There was a knock on the door and North came in. "Hey Sherry. I see you're in good hands but I do have something I want to tell you."

"Hey North. I know, you want to tell me to behave and get back on my feet right?"

"Well yeah that is part of it but there is more. I spoke with Sophie's sister DragonLady and she will be here tomorrow. I thought that if you were able to get up that we would hold the service for Sophie the next day. She has also agreed to stay on with us here at CLHQ and Section."

Sherry nodded her head. "Yeah, I think I can ready by then. I need a favor from you though. I would really like it if I could speak to DragonLady before the service."

"I'll arrange that then. I did have a long talk with her and she doesn't blame you for what happened. Sophie always did have a stubborn streak and she was only doing what she was trained to do. DragonLady understands that and she asked that I pass that message on to you." North told her. "Well I'll let you get back to resting. I'm sure Michael would be more than willing to stay with you for a while longer."

Michael nodded his head in the affirmative. "Christopher is sending a meal up and I will stay until she eats and falls asleep. I'll have Nabiki or Grace stay with her after that as I need to get a few things done this afternoon."

"Good. Rita I'll get you to help with the service. I'll see you all later then." With that North left the room.

"Okay Michael. I'll leave Sherry in your hands for now. I'll see you downstairs."

******

The next few days went by quickly once every thing was in place. Dragon Lady moved into Sophie's old room until a room could be made ready for her. She seemed to fit right in with everyone and soon made herself at home. The loss of Sophie was still felt throughout CLHQ but business was almost back to usual.

The memorial service was well attended as Sophie had made a lot of friends in the short time she had been there. Everyone had a chance to speak of her and share their memories. North was the last one to speak.

"I know that you all feel a great loss at the death of a fellow operative and friend. Sophie liked to live life to the fullest so she will certainly not be forgotten. She touched us all in so many ways. Let us leave here today with good thoughts and not dwell on the circumstances that surrounded her passing. I want to thank all of you for coming today and also for making DragonLady welcome into our Organization."

The End