Operations walks nervously back and forth in his office. He clicks the button on the COM unit and once again calls for Madeline.
“Madeline, why aren’t you in my office?” he asks her in an agitated tone. “I expected you to be here five minutes ago!”
“I’m sorry, I’ve been detained, I will be there as soon as I get this matter cleared up,” she says briskly and cuts the transmission.
Operations goes back to pacing his office. He had just received word that there was a situation that needed to be handled. One of utmost priority. George told him that no other operative could handle this mission but Madeline and himself so while Madeline was taking all day doing what she was doing, he was going over the profile over and over again in his head. Mapping out what had to be done.
He looks up as Madeline walks into his office and calmly says, “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, I have just received word that there is a situation that needs to be handled in the Middle East.” He told her abruptly. “You and I have to personally handle this mission.”
“Why don’t we send Michael and Nikita?” she asks him curiously.
“Because they don’t have the training to handle this situation, we do,” he tells her in his matter of fact tone of voice.
“We have to go in there as husband and wife, extract 127 hostages and secure the area in a matter of 36 hours,” Operations informed Madeline. “Neither one of them has dealt with a situation of this caliber.”
“When do we leave?” Madeline asked.
“We leave in one hour, be ready,” Operations told her.
“OK,” she said as she walked out of his office.
Operations watched Madeline walk out and thought to himself, “She really is beautiful, I’m glad that I thought up this little excuse to get her away from Section so that we can spend some time together alone.”
He starts humming to himself lightly when Birkoff interrupts him to find out the details of how long they will be gone.
“We will be gone for three days, only interrupt us if it is absolutely necessary,” Operations commanded sternly. He was not going to tolerate his time with Madeline being cut short for just any little problem that Michael is more than capable of resolving.
Finally it is time for them to leave. Madeline meets Operations at the loading gate and they proceed to leave. Operations is thinking to himself, “So far this is going good, it won’t be when she finds out that it is not a real mission though. I must find a way to calm her when she finds out.”
They arrive in Hawaii and Madeline is actively questioning Operations as to why they are in Hawaii instead of the Middle East.
Operations tells her quietly in the car heading for the hotel, “Let’s not get into this here and now, I will talk to you when we are checked into the hotel.”
“That is not acceptable, this is against mission parameters, I need to know what is going on,” she tells him stubbornly.
“And I will tell you, just not here and now,” he informs her with a sense of finality in his voice.
Madeline stiffly sits back against the seat of the cab, silently thinking about why the mission parameters were being so drastically changed. Then the thought occurred to her that this may not actually be a mission but a diversion created by Operations to get the two of them alone. She went with this line of thinking because he seemed to be highly preoccupied with reopening their relationship these last few weeks.
She looked over at him sitting beside her in the limousine and noticed the wide smile upon his lips. She thought to herself, “Why does he have to be so attractive? Why can’t he be old, haggard and repulsive? At least I wouldn’t have to worry about this explosive reaction I have whenever I am around him.
The limosine stopped in front of one of the most elaborate hotels on the island. The chauffeur took their bags out of the trunk of the car and carried them in behind the couple. Once Operations had secured a room for the two of them, he called for a bellhop.
“Take these up to Room 412,” he told the boy as he handed him the key to the room. “We will follow you up.”
“Yes sir,” the bellhop replied eagerly.
Holding out his arm to Madeline, he turned slightly to her and asked, “Shall we?”
“I guess we shall,” she replied quietly.
During the elevator ride to the fourth floor, they said nothing. After the bellhop left their room however was a different story.
"What is this all about?” Madeline demanded to know as soon as the door shut behind the bellhop.
“I just thought that we could use some time off,” Operations told her gently. “You’ve been working too hard.”
“I have only been working as hard as I usually do,” she replied abruptly. “I do not need a vacation. If I did, I would have asked for some time off.”
Operations could tell that she was highly irritated. He tried to soothe her by asking her, “Are you hungry? I could order room service or we could go out to get something to eat if you would like.”
“No, I’m not hungry,” she said. “I will go and get a shower though.”
“OK, I’ll be here,” Operations told her happily.
As soon as she disappeared into the bathroom and he heard the shower running, he picked up the phone and ordered room service. He was determined that he was going to romance her while they were here.
Just before Madeline emerged from the bathroom, he heard a knock on the hotel room door. Quickly he rushed over to the door and what he ordered was immediately brought into the room. Operations paid for the room service with cash and a rather generous tip because he was in a very good mood this evening.
Almost as soon as the door closed behind the delivery person, Madeline came out of the bathroom. She was not expecting what greeted her.
Stunned, she looked upon the bottle of champagne; tons of strawberries with bowls of whipped cream. She opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t find the words so she shut her mouth.
