Morning came much too early for Sandra.

The sun in her eyes woke her up first. She just closed her eyes and put a pillow between the window and her face, and that solved that problem. However, not even a pillow could muffle the sounds coming from the sink and mirror in the ajoining room as her roommates made ready for the day.

"Sandra, you can be good and wake up now," she heard Kate call. Sandra just moaned and put another pillow over her head; but common sense prevailed and she got up, although quite reluctantly.

"Geez, but you look awful," Kate teased as she brushed her hair.

"Yeah, I'll bet I could have said the same for you earlier," Sandra muttered back grumpily.

Kate just smiled, however. "I did; however, you can't prove that. Neither can Eithne there."

Eithne just grunted goodnaturedly as she finished with her mascara. Sandra smiled slightly and grabbed her brush, running it through her hair. It snagged on a not, drawing a rare expletive from her lips. "My," Kate noticed, raising an eyebrow, "you don't seem all too chipper this morning."

"Try staying up for 36 hours, then having about six hours of sleep, and see how chipper *you* are," Sandra replied, and grumbled as the two around her giggled. Forgoing her hair for the moment, Sandra went over to get dressed. She opened her suitcase and pulled out some clothes, laying them out on the bed. She grabbed an armful of folded clothes into her arms and headed for the drawers. "Hey! You guys couldn't even save me a little room here?!"

"Well, you should have gotten up earlier," Kate replied playfully, but went over and pulled out one of the drawers. "Here, use this one. I can put this stuff on the counter up here."

"Thanks," Sandra replied, dumping her stuff into the drawer. She'd deal with it later; now she had to get ready. Glancing at her watch, she saw it read 8:12. "Shoot! Kate, don't we have that appointment with the teacher today at nine?"

"Yeah, we do. Better hurry."

Sandra didn't need to have to be told twice; she raced around, taking a shower in record time, then getting dressed. So what if the shirt was somewhat wrinkled; she had a jacket to put over it. She forwent makeup today; not like she wore much anyway though. Her hair was rolled into a twist and pinned up by the time Kate and Eithne were getting their shoes on. "Boy, that was quick," Eithne pointed out.

"Yeah, hopefully I won't come apart sometime today," Sandra answered dryly, drawing a smile from the two. Slipping on her loafers, she followed the two out of the room and down to the waiting team.

The others arrived at almost the same time. They sat down in a booth, the same one they'd sat in the previous night. Considering her exhaustive state yesterday, Sandra was surprised she could remember where they'd sat.

"Okay," Sari started, "does anyone have anything planned fo---" *Hmeeep* *hmeeep*

Sari pulled her cellular phone out of her pocket and pulled up the antenna. "Agent Kelly."

Sari listened for a moment, a variety of emotions running across her face, then "Just a moment, sir...." She handed the phone to Eithne. "He wants to talk to you."

Eithne took the phone carefully as if it were a breakable object. 'Who is it?' she mouthed.

"Damien," Sari answered softly. Eithne nodded and put the phone up to her mouth. "...Sir?" She listened for a moment, a confused expression on her face. "Um.. No sir, but may I ask why?"

She listened for some time more, glancing at Sari at times; then concluded the call and gave the phone back to Sari. "Well," she said shakily, "it seems I'm your new leader."

"What?" a chorus of voices answered back. "What happened?"

"He wouldn't tell me. Classified, he said." She looked to Sari for support.

Sari just shrugged. To Sandra, she seemed a little pale. "He said it was a glitch, a mess up in the paperwork. But it's true; I'm off the case."

More complaining came, but only half heartedly; they all knew there was nothing to be done. They spent their time eating, talking little and mostly about the case.

Sometime later, Sandra glanced at her watch. "Crap! Kate, we gotta go; it's almost nine!"

Kate's eyes popped open, then they both scooted out of the booth. Eithne and Flint stood up obligingly for them to get out, then sat back down. "Hope to meet up with you sometime in the future, Sari," Sandra told her former team leader, smiling sadly. Kate said something to the same effect, then the two of them bid adeu to their group and headed out. Kate had the keys to the Taurus, so she drove to the University. It was a relatively short drive; they pulled up to the building housing the professor with a couple minutes to spare. Getting out, they entered the building and headed to the professor's lecture hall.

As they got closer, they could hear the lecture already going on. "....practicality of the different religions in America. This land was originally meant for the freedom from opression, for those of different religions to be able to coexist together; yet that has become convoluted in the recent times. With the seperation of church and state, our government has taken the first step to limiting that freedom. No more are Christians able to pray in their classes; no longer are those of certain religions allowed to wear certain ceremonial ornamentation. No longer can those who practice such religions as voodoo or satanism practice freely and without prejudice...."

Sandra and Kate entered the lecture hall as the last sentence was being stated. Trying not to be an obstruction to the lecture, they each looked for a seat to sit in. The class was packed, however; there were no open seats, so they opted for just standing against the wall. Beside them were a few other students, those who obviously couldn't find a seat themselves. Sandra glanced at her watch; 9:07. "I thought you said we had an appointment for nine," she whispered to Kate.

Kate grinned slightly. "I was kind of insistant on my desire for an audience. I hadn't planned on him being in a class."

Sandra glanced at Kate; somehow, she couldn't see this woman being insistant. Then again, she'd only known Kate for about a day....

The professor wrapped up the lecture, and retreated to his desk as the large class stood up and began exitting. Sandra and Kate stayed to the sides as the throng of students exitted, then headed down to the floor.

"Professor," Kate called, and as the man turned she showed him her badge. "Agent Kate Calloway, and this is Agent Sandra McCormick. FBI."

Sandra flipped out her badge obligingly, letting him glance at it before putting it away. "I believe we had an appointment with you," Kate prompted.




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