1986

There was a ripple of excitement in the group of rookie agents as they waited outside the meeting room where they'd be getting their orientation briefing.

"Are you serious? Scarecrow Stetson is going to be teaching this class?"

"Man, he's a legend. We heard more about him in our recruitment classes than any other agent. He is the luckiest son of a bitch if even half of it is true."

"Yeah – I heard he never fails at anything! He escapes everything the Russians throw at him!"

"But his partner is a woman, I heard."

"His partner is a force in her own right, I heard," interrupted one of the girls.

"Yeah, I heard that too," agreed the only other female classmate. "The way I heard it, he recruited her himself. She was just a civilian on the street and he used the Madrid Maneuver."

"One: it was the Munich Maneuver," corrected an amused voice as they all swiveled to stare at the well-dressed blonde woman surveying them. "And two, yes, she was a civilian, but she is now one of our most respected resources so I suggest you be very careful when discussing her in front of senior agents. And three," and at this point the blonde's voice turned steely, "I would suggest that the first thing each and every one of you learn right now is that gossiping in the hallways where anyone and everyone can hear you is incredibly poor behaviour for people who want to be intelligence agents! So how about you all just turn your attention to reviewing whatever little notes you have in front of you before Agent Stetson gets here? Capische?"

The group of recruits who had wilted under her scathing tone all nodded their heads and shuffled nervously in place.

Francine nodded in satisfaction at their whipped expressions before turning away to hide her smile as she headed towards Billy's office. As she passed Lee, loaded down with an armful of binders, her smile broadened at his exasperated expression. "Go get 'em, Dr. Jones. Apparently your reputation precedes you, so try and ignore the girl with "Love You" written on her eyelids."

Efraim Beaman who happened to be passing gave a bark of laughter at her quip, but Lee just stared at her in confusion, too stressed by this unexpected task to know she was joking. Francine sighed and waved him on. "Good luck with the rookies, Lee."

"Uh, okay. Look, if Amanda shows up, can you tell her to come help me?" Lee asked in a harried tone over his shoulder as he continued down the hallway.

"Will do." Francine met Efraim's eyes as they exchanged a look of understanding.

"They'll eat him alive," grinned Beaman.

"Don't I know it," chuckled Francine. "Wish I could be a fly on that wall."

Lee meanwhile was juggling his way into the meeting room following what appeared to be the youngsters from "Bring your Kid to Work Day" when another young woman came racing up to him.

"Excuse me, Sir? Is this where they're having the orientation lecture?" Before he could even answer, her face suddenly got a very odd look and she stared at him, frozen in place, before starting to smile as if she recognized him from somewhere.

"Ah, yes, yes it is," answered Lee, not certain why she was looking at him so strangely.

The young girl appeared to be struggling to think of something to say and finally settled on, "If you have a minute, could you look over my initial registration sequence cards?" She held out a stack of computer data cards.

Lee held out his hand wordlessly and took the cards, stared at them for a moment, remarking "Well, they, uh, look fine to me." He looked up to find the girl staring at the ground and before he could help himself, ducked his head to check if there was anything written on her eyelids. Reassured that there was nothing, he heaved a silent sigh of relief and shifted from foot to foot. "Anything else I can help you with, Miss…?"

"Stephens" supplied the girl. "Sorry, I was just – uh - looking at your shoes."

"My shoes?" asked Lee in confusion.

"Mmm, my dad has a pair just like them." She looked at him with a beaming smile, which Lee found himself returning with a rueful grin.

"Well, Miss Stephens, that is remarkably observant of you. That'll stand you in good stead in this job, believe me. In fact, it reminds me of someone else who is very good at this job. I'll introduce you some day."

Tabitha Stephens looked up at the man whose aura was still tinged with the unmistakable colour of one of her mother's spells and her smile grew even brighter. "I'll look forward to that."