Standing in the middle of her sparsely decorated room at CLHQ, Trace looked all around her. She had always intended to, sometime, in the last year, get around to actually decorating her room, but something always kept coming up. And, with her recent lengthy mission, and then an equally long bout of mandatory refusal, it looked like fate had a hand in her procrastination.
But, after her recent return to CLHQ, she had a renewed interest, even vigor, in seeing it finally done. She had a lot of things that needed closure, and this one was on the top of her list. So, standing in the middle of the room, with a paint brush in one hand, and a gallon of antique white paint in the other, and a big smile on her face, she was about to tackle her own personal *beast*...her room.
As she poured the paint into the pan, and started to load the paintbrush, she heard a soft knock on her door. Standing up from her crouched position, and wiping her hands on her overalls, she walked over to the door, and opened it.
On the other side was Aly, one of her dearest friends, and fellow operative that had taken up residence at CLHQ over the last year. With a smile on her face, Trace motioned for Aly to enter.
'Come on in RAB, I was just about to start painting the walls. Grab ya a paintbrush...I will not be the least bit offended if you want to help.'
Aly walked into the center of the room, looking around, and laughed. 'No way!! Shadoe tried the same thing earlier, and I do not see you doing any better. I only came by to drop this off. A messenger left it at the front door a few minutes ago. It had your name on it.'
Aly raised the rather large package, and handed it to Trace. The package was a large square, covered in brown packing paper. Trace was intrigued, for she had not ordered anything lately, and had no idea what it was, or where it was from.
Taking the package from Aly, Trace smiled. 'Well, can I get you anything to drink? I just got back from the store, and have plenty of Diet Coke and Dew. Want some?'
Aly only shook her head, and smiled. 'Nah, I have a few debriefings to go over, and then maybe will see about hitting the department stores. Was thinking of maybe buying a few new things, and see about maybe getting a few things for my room.'
'Okay, well, thanks for bringing this up,' Trace said, motioning to the package, "whatever it is.' She then laughed, and walked to the door with Aly.
As they got there, they noticed someone standing across the hallway, in front of Shadoe's room, with their back to them. As they continued to stare, the figure turned around, and gave them both a toothy grin.
'She’s not home yet,' Trace said, and smiled.
'I know, she gave me a key. She called me from the library, and said to meet her here.'
Trace nodded, and the figure unlocked the door, moving into the room. As he closed the door behind him, Aly turned to Trace, her mouth hanging wide open.
'Don't ask,' Trace started, 'its a long, and complicated story. Just go with it, and hope that it works out for the good.'
Aly nodded, still stunned. Then, after saying their good-byes, Trace closed the door, and walked back into the center of the room. Waiting there for her was the package, leaning up against the paint bucket. Picking it up, and carrying it to the closet, she gingerly placed it inside, and closed the door.
Turning back around, she got back to work on her painting job.
(to be cont’d)