Wednesday's Child: Girl Talk

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

Mark and April were walking down the hall from Napoleon’s office where they had just been debriefed about their latest affair. Unlike Mr. Waverly, Napoleon was lavish in his praise when his agents did well and their mission had been a glowing success.

“Well, Darling, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I’m going to run down to the Commissary to grab a bite. Are you coming?”

Mark grinned and said, “No, Luv. I need to make some calls, but could you bring me back a roast beef ‘ero? Extra tomatoes, lettuce, salt, pepper and mayo.”

“Of course, Darling.” She waved her hand when he pulled out his wallet. “It’s my turn to treat. I’ll meet you in our office.” With that, she headed to the elevator bank.

When she walked into the cafeteria, the first person she saw was Lisa Rogers sitting by herself eating a salad. She walked through the line getting a salad and iced tea for herself and, on impulse, decided to stay and eat with Lisa. She strolled over to Lisa’s table and said, “Hi, Lisa, mind if I join you?”

The head of the secretarial support staff smiled and replied, “Of course not! Please, sit.” She watched as April put her tray down and sat primly in her seat and noted with approval that April, though not in the seat that afforded the best view of the room (Lisa sat in that), surveilled the room at a glance and adjusted her chair to give herself the best view possible. “Welcome back. I know your mission was rather successful. Congratulations.”

April smiled and replied, “I see the UNCLE grapevine is in full swing.”

Lisa laughed, “I don’t need the grapevine; I am the grapevine when I want to be. It’s important that I, and by extension, Mr. Waverly, know what’s going on around here at all times.”

The women ate in silence for a few moments before April said, “May I ask you a question?” At Lisa’s nod she continued, “Illya mentioned to me that you were originally going to be a Section II agent.*”

“That’s true; six years ago I went to Survival School.”

“Before I ask my question I want to tell you how sorry I am for your loss. It must have been difficult.”

“It was.”

“Do you ever, well, do you ever regret remaining a Section III? You trained to do the same job I do. Do you sometimes think your job is a little…tame?”

Lisa swallowed the last of her lunch and considered the question. “April, at first, I thought I had made a mistake. The other support staff were suspicious of me; they knew I had been trained as a field agent and they assumed a lot of things about my character based on what they knew about the training.”

“Yes! When I first arrived, they were all terrible to me! But, you’re so respected and liked now. What changed?”

“Well, like I said, I thought perhaps I had made a mistake. However, after I had been doing my job for awhile, I noticed that none of the secretaries were being given a chance to prove how much they could contribute to the organization. I lobbied for the support staff to be trained in communications, translations and taking check – ins and reports from field agents. That freed up many more agents to work in the field and Section III. I convinced Mr. Waverly that training them in martial arts and small arms use created another line of defense in UNCLE offices worldwide.”

“I didn’t know those were your ideas! You were definitely ahead of your time.”

“When the women saw that I was pushing for them to be considered more that ‘girls who can type,’ their attitudes towards me began to thaw. It also didn’t hurt that every once in awhile I would drop a juicy bit of harmless gossip onto the grapevine.”

The two giggled like old school chums which drew the attention of a table of secretaries sitting about thirty feet away. Lisa nodded their way quickly. “I guess later on today I’ll let it slip that you told me something cute about Mark Slate.” She placed her chin in her hand. “Now, what could it be?”

April’s eyes widened. “Oh! I promised Mark I’d bring him something! I better go. I know! Let it hit the grapevine that he’s a sucker for chocolate chip cookies.”

“Is he?”

“We both are,” April laughed, “I think a few women here have a crush on my partner so why not use it to get cookies?”

Lisa smiled, “Why not, indeed? I will let it be known. It really was good talking to you, April. We should do this again.”

April stood up and turned to head back to the food line. “I think we should, too. See you later.”

*ref. “Dinner and a Tale: Lisa Rogers”

Comments

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

Chocolate chip cookies are worth a little conniving. Thanks!