Fred drummed her fingers on the scar that lined her hip. Looking at it in the mirror, it was a rather unimpressive little mark. Only an inch long and pale pink against white skin, she had kind of been hoping for something a bit more…dramatic. As odd as that sounded. A story to tell. Something to make up to make her seem more…alluring. Dangerous. Instead she got a tiny little mark that was rarely noticed by anyone. Especially her targets. Usually they were looking a higher or lower than her hips, so why would they notice? It usually didn't bother her. No big deal. They were just jobs anyway.

Tilting her head, she frowned at it before sliding her skirt up; covering it effectively. She looked at her reflection. Fred pulled a bobby pin out of her pocket and forced a stray blonde bang back. She looked so… normal, in her secretary gear. The moment she left New Zealand she was dying her hair back to black, regardless of what Amanda or Percy said. With a firm bite on her lower lip, she straightened up and braced herself for the phone call that would determine her fate.

-Meanwhile-

Birkhoff rubbed his eyes, tilting his head as he watched her smile and turn to her left for what had to be the thousandth time. It had been little over three years since her death and he still watched the tape. Over and over and over again. He had to. He wasn't sure why. Maybe he just wanted to torture himself. Maybe he just wanted to remind himself not to get attached to any one. To keep his distance. A smirk shifted to his lips as she looked at Nikita, beaming and chattering excitedly.

"Who's that?"

Birkhoff slammed his laptop shut and turned to frown at the recruit. "What'd you want?"

Alex quirked a brow. "Old girlfriend?"

"Is there a reason you're here or are you just trying to make it your mission to make my life a living hell?" He snapped, glaring harshly at her as he blushed. After a moment of silence he growled, "Well?"

"Percy wants to see you." She told, turning to leave. He followed her out, locking the door behind him as he shot her a wary look. Alex blinked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, "No need to get all touchy about it."

"Whatever."

The young woman watched him storm off before ducking into the computer room. She wasn't sure if she should tell Nikita about this new discovery into Birkhoff personal life, but she supposed it couldn't hurt. And when she did confront the woman about it, Alex didn't receive the reaction she was expecting.

Nikita dropped her gaze and nodded. "Yeah. That's probably Fred."

"Fred?" Alex repeated. "Were they like, together or something?"

"Or something," Her mentor sighed, running a hand through her dark hair passively. "She was a tech head, just like him, before Percy recruited her."

The younger woman tilted her head. "What happened to her?"

"She died on her first mission." Nikita answered vaguely. "Birkhoff and her had a fight the night before. Words were exchanged. I don't think he ever got over it."

"Apparently not. he got all testy and defensive when I asked about her...not that it's easy to tell when Birkhoff's being all broody." She dropped down on the couch next to her. Blue eyes observed her friend's tense state, and Alex asked, "What? What wrong?"

"Nothing." Nikita told her, standing with her usual effortless grace. "She was just a friend, is all."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault."

Alex licked her lips. "Were you and Birkhoff friends?"

"Not really. We had lunch together a few times after Fred died."

"Not like you and Michael?"

Nikita shot her an annoyed glance. "No. Not like me and Michael."

The younger woman nodded and let out a hum of understanding that earned her a scoff. The pair shared a laugh before getting back to the matter at hand.

-In New Zealand-

Winifred sighed as she typed away at her keyboard. With her surveillance now complete, she was waiting rather impatiently for orders from Division. She knew they would send her back to headquarters. She just fucking knew it, so when Michael called her, she was far from surprised.

"Hello?"

"Winifred McKellen?"

"Sup Mikey?" She stopped typing to grab a tube of lipgloss out of her desk drawer.

"Don't call me Mikey." He growled over the line. Fred could practically see his scowl darkening as she giggled over the line. "Have you completed your mission?"

"Oh, yes sir," She said snidely, leaning back in her computer chair and spinning idly. She swiped the gloss across her bottom lip. "Have you sent in my request for transfer?"

"Of course." Michael told her smoothly, loving the idea of crushing this particular woman's dreams. "But I'm afraid Percy has decided you would be more of an asset if you were to serve Division here."

Fred snickered. "Right. Well. Any chance I could take a few days off? I reek of mob money and cheap cologne." She smacked her lips together. "It'll take at least a week to scrub it out of my skin."

"I'll talk to Percy about it." His tone changed and she could tell he was becoming distracted. "I gotta go."

With that he hung up on her, leaving her to roll her eyes at his dramatics. Typical Michael. Always had to be the mysterious one. She dropped her phone back on its receiver. "Jerk."

Michael looked over at Birkhoff who was eying him suspiciously. "What?"

"Everything okay, man?"

He nodded tightly, "Fine. Just a particularly…difficult agent."

"Miss Alex still giving you trouble?" The computer expert asked curiously as he dropped into a wheelie chair. It swayed slightly and he began turning in it out of habit. "I thought she was finally straightening up."

"It's not Alex."

A brow quirked over his glasses and Birkhoff stopped to look back to him. "Oh? Who?"

"Don't worry about it." Michael let out a grunt before leaving the room.

Meanwhile, Nikita was rooting through his apartment. So far all she had really learned about Birkhoff was that he was a comic geek and seemed to have little regard for cleanliness. He had nothing of any particular interest or use. At least she thought so until she opened the top drawer to his nightstand. Nikita had expected porn and found something much more intimate.

She sat down on his unmade bed as she stared at the handmade birthday card. A faint smile crossed her lips at the messy hand writing that scrawled Happy Birthday, B! on the front of it. A faint hint of peppermint hit her and made the woman's eyes water. God, she really had to get a grip, Nikita realized, shaking her head. Not bothering to read the inscription she set it gently back in the drawer. This was getting too personal. There was looking for ways to break Division and there was looking for ways to break people.

A/N: I deleted a couple of stories off my page, they weren't up to my standards, which is scary because I didn't know I had standards. How To Seduce A Priest is getting a reboot, but it might not be back up for a while. Title based off(read: Stolen from) a Placebo song. Just thought you should know. and the actress portraying Fred has been changed too.