Stephen had the duty roster in front of him, working out the rotations when Tommy interrupted. "OK boss, this is your reminder.  Lunch, Dinah, ten minutes."

"Thanks Tommy. Before I go," Stephen finally looked up, "let me ask you a question."

"Sure."

"Are the guys in the ops center rearranging the rotation on their own?" It was asked in the mildest of tones.

"Well, now…you see, about that… "

"A simple yes or no will do fine, Tommy." Still mild and unthreatening.

Tommy took the plunge, "Will ya let me explain before you get all mad?"

"I didn't know I had a habit of getting all mad as you put it, but we'll save that for later." When Tommy didn't say a word, Stephen prompted him.  "So explain, or I'm going to be late and if I am I'll tell Dinah it's your fault."

Tommy rushed into speech, "You see, boss it was like this. Cal wanted to take...what's her name…that blonde?"  He looked at Stephen hopefully.

"I don't know Tommy, but it doesn't matter. Just get to the point."

Well Cal had a date with her and asked Michael if they could switch shifts and Michael said yes but only if it was the whole week 'cause he was working nights that week.  So Cal agreed and they did. Then Adam got in the act and wanted to work days, 'cause he wanted to do some damn thing so he asked Michael to switch with him and Michael did. You know how he is."

Stephen agreed, wearily, that yes, he knew how Michael was and motioned for Tommy to finish.

"But he made 'em both promise that he got a free switch from each of 'em. That's how it started.  Since then they just keep working it out among themselves, you know."

"No, I didn't know and that isn't going to be the case anymore, is it Tommy?"

Tommy nodded.

"And you will tell them from me that if it happens again I won't be happy. I don't care if they want to switch shifts.  I just want to know about it in advance and have a chance to say OK. Tell them I'm funny that way. I like to keep abreast of these small details, maybe have a little input.  That's why they call me the boss or rather you do. OK, Tommy?" Stephen pushed himself away from the desk and stood up.

"Yes, boss." Tommy looked relieved. "Um, when do you think you'll be back?"

"Why? You planning on waiting up?"

"No, no." He offered the denial quickly. "I just want to know what to tell people if they're looking for you."

"Tell them I'll be home for dinner. You know how to find me, but only emergencies, please."

Tommy agreed and Stephen was gone.

He reappeared just outside the door of Dinah's apartment. He took a minute to run his fingers through his hair, combing it back and then knocked.  She didn't keep him waiting, but then she never did. He grinned at her and pulled her into a hug before she could say a word.  She felt a little thin to him but he just filed it way for later.

"You ready?" he asked. She was dressed as casually as he was. Jeans and a sleeveless blouse she'd left hanging outside her jeans. Both fit loosely. She was ready.

"My aren'tyou in a hurry today. No pleasantries on the doorstep or anything."  She was laughing at him. Stephen never wasted time as she knew very well, he never had any to waste. "Yes, I'm ready, but I warn you, this is going to be a leisurely lunch, even if Skyline is fast food with a waitress and ice cream cones from Graeters."

"Shame on you. They don't call them that anymore. It's sexist.  They call them servers."

"They may call them servers someplace else, but at Skyline, Stephen, they're waitresses." She was still laughing at him so he ignored her, grabbed her hand and zapped her out of there.

Skyline Chili is a Cincinnati institution, like LaRosa's Pizza, Montgomery Inn Barbeque and Graeters Ice Cream.  Skyline Chili restaurants are MacDonalds with table service and non disposal tableware. Otherwise, the ambiance is the same. They picked a booth in the back and settled in.  The service was efficient and the chili exceptional. After, they could sit and talk and no one bothered them.

The talk while they ate was small, news of mutual friends and daily events. After, when the waitress brought them some coffee and cleared the plates it moved to the large and the personal.  Dinah, stirring her coffee, gave it to him without any preamble. "I'm taking a break from the hotel. Mabel's going to run it for me while I'm gone." She watched his face as he absorbed her announcement.

"You trust her?" His first question and the one she expected. Dinah had worked with Stephen for a long time, gathering information for him from sources she'd cultivated worldwide, some of which she shared with Clem. Stephen wasn't asking about the hotel, he was asking about the information conduit whose terminus was her desk at the hotel.

"I'll reroute my contacts, obviously. But otherwise, yes. You should meet her, Stephen, she's amazing.  I told her that sometimes folks would come and say you or Clem sent them and if they did to do whatever they needed. She's ok with all that."

"Dinah, you should have talked to me about it before you told her." He wasn't pleased.

Dinah didn't care. "Really? Well, next time I'll know."

He let it go. "But you're not leaving her to handle the other stuff?"

"Of course not, what do you take me for? But I'm not taking it with me either. Stephen I want a real break, not just a half of one.  I don't want to worry about anything for a few months." She started fingering her pendent, "I'll be back, but I'm not taking it with me."  She hesitated. "I think you should ask Laszlo to take it on for a while." Then she waited.

Stephen was taken aback by the suggestion. Laszlo as a substitute would never have crossed his mind.  Now that it had he would have to let it cross slowly, several times. "Laszlo, Dinah? Why him?"

"Because he's plugged in everywhere, goes everywhere, and he's as closemouthed as a priest after hearing confessions.  He's tough, he's experienced and he's unshockable." When Stephen didn't say anything she tried again. "He's the reason we get any information out of the former Soviet states. He went in and set it up. He set up the routes out of Southeast Asia, too. In both places his information is better then mine or even Clem's.

Stephen didn't agree or disagree, he just moved on to his next question, "Did you tell her about Mac's friends?"

She nodded. "And I want to tell her how to reach you if anything happens and she needs…er…specialized help.  She probably won't because she's frighteningly competent and probably just as unflappable, but you never know."

"Dinah, you know…"

She interrupted. "I don't care. I've never cared about the Council and you know it.  Stephen, I don't want to put it like this, but the truth is you owe me this favor and I'm collecting it. Chances are it'll never be needed and the Council'll never know anything about it.  Telling her how to reach you doesn't mean opening the vault to every detail of you and yours. It just means if something happens, she has back up.  And you know Stephen, there's no way I can communicate with them. I've never been able to so it's not like I can send 'em a note."

"What I know, Dinah, is you never should have started this in the first place. You saw what happened when they came after Mac.  It could happen again." His voice had gotten hard. "Those people, if we are even calling them that, are dangerous.  They killed him for god's sake just like he knew they would. He left so they wouldn't threaten you."

"Yeah, he left and we'll never know, will we, what might have happened if he'd stayed and you'd helped." Dinah was quivering with suppressed emotion, unshed tears shimmering in her eyes and furious at him and herself.

Stephen sighed. "Dinah, you know there was nothing I could do. He didn't want help, he wanted you safe. Can't you forgive him for loving you enough to make sure of it as best he could?"

"Damn you, Stephen. That isn't fair and you know it." She stopped, breathing deeply, struggling for control of herself.  "He told them they could trust me. I'm not going to let them down. If they come they can count on any help I can give them."

"But you won't be there." He pointed out the obvious as reasonably as he could.

"There's no way to reach them and you know it. And you know there's only been trouble one time since, and then they tried to get in and couldn't for some reason.  So yes or no. Can I tell Mabel?"

He nodded. "Dinah when you get back we're going to have to deal with this.  It's dangerous and I'm not going to let it go."

"It's none of your business." She said it flatly.

He knew it was hopeless. So he moved on. "What is going on with David and Millicent?"

"It's taken care of, don't worry about it." She added, clearly an after thought, "Jolene's back."

"She stayingat the hotel?"

"Yeah, maybe for a while. I think something happened but she isn't talking about it."

He nodded, sipping coffee and then grimaced. It was cold and tasted like flavored water. "When are you leaving and how can I reach you if I need you?"

"I don't know, but I'll let you know and use Liam. You'll let Clem know?"

"Alright," he said, clearly still unhappy. "Now, what do you have for me?

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded square of paper.  Spread out on the table it turned out to be a map that she'd already made notes on. Pointing to the first set, she said, "the Philippines. There's growing signs of increased alQaeda presence now that the Jemaah Islamiah have been crippled in Indonesia." She took him steadily through a run down on the current hot spots then got to the part that really interested him and finished up with the news of the weird, unusual and inexplicable. When she finished he bought her some ice cream and took her home. She'd given him a lot to think about.

Stephen returned them to Dinah's apartment, his mind on her news. He depended on her in a number of ways. Having her gone, even for a few months, would take some getting used to, for him and Clem. Clem, though, had other alternatives, while he had few.

Dinah didn't waste anytime once they arrive, she simply turned and led the way downstairs, then back towards the kitchen. As they went he realized Mabel wasn't her only new employee, something she hadn't shared with him.

It was Jolene, however, they met first, fresh from sunbathing by the pool, smelling of coconut and glistening with oil. There were circles under her eyes he never noticed before but otherwise she looked the same. Certainly the smile that blossomed when she saw him was. Jolene Darden had always been a creature of happiness, radiating it outward.

"Jolene, you're looking lovely," he said, making a show of eyeing her curves.

"Ain't I though," she retorted, spinning around to give him the full treatment. "You two just getting' back for lunch?"

"Yeah. I want to introduce him to Mabel while I have a chance. We can have a drink together after if you like." She glanced at Stephen for confirmation as she committed him to cocktails.

"By the pool, perhaps? I think a beer would be perfect," Jolene added.

"It's a date, though I can't stay long. Tommy will be going nuts wondering what's keeping me."

"Great. I'll go take a shower and get changed and meet you out there." She was off towards the elevator with a wave. Dinah watched her go, and then resumed her path to the kitchen and the promised introduction to Mabel.

She met her in the dining room checking over the tables and buffet line prior to dinner. Mabel turned as they approached and seeing Dinah came over. "Good to see you're back. You probably ought to have a talk with Celie and Asher before the day is over. Millicent and David have apparently got them scared to death about something about school and lawyers."

Dinah made a noise of disgust in the back of her throat. She should have known, she thought. She just should of known. Those two were incapable of subtlety. "Thanks Mabel. I sort it out later. I want you to meet Stephen, the man I told you about. And Stephen," she turned towards him as she spoke, "This is Mabel, cook and housekeeper extraordinaire, who will be running the place while I'm gone."

They shook hands and took stock of each other. Stephen liked what he saw, a no-nonsense woman of indeterminate age and firm purpose.

Mabel saw a conservative man in early middle age of average height for man, whose eyes proclaimed the presence of a formidable intelligence behind the lean and cleanly chiseled face. Pending further information she found she approved of what she saw.

"Come on over here," Dinah moved towards the nearest table, "Let's sit down for a minute." Dinah waited for them to get settled and then said, "Mabel, I wanted you to meet him in case you ever need any help, if things get out of hand so to speak while I'm gone."

"No need to worry about that. I told you, I'm used to things," Mabel replied, "not that I'm not glad to meet you, since I understand you might be sending guests my way who have special needs." She directed the last towards Stephen.

He grinned, well aware of what she was saying, and asking. "Yes, though my referrals are generally peaceful and human. Some of Dinah's other visitors aren't."

Mabel didn't blink. "No matter. It won't be anything I haven't dealt with before."

Stephen did blink. "Oh. Well, in that case I'm sure things couldn't be in better hands. But I'd be more comfortable, since I've met a few of these folks in my time, if you'd let me explain how to get in touch with me if you need anything while Dinah's away." He didn't wait for agreement, just went on, "I've, well you might call it wired the place. So all you have to do is concentrate on me and then speak my name intentionally. I'll hear it wherever I am and come immediately or send someone else who will be able to help however you need them to."

"Well that's fine. Simple methods are the best, I've always found. I've certainly no use for summoning spells and the like. Course, with Mr. Julian he and I could mind-talk direct which makes for clearer communications but this'll do fine. Now, if there's nothing else, I'd best be getting on with setting up for dinner. Are you joining us?" She was clearly unmoved by his communications system and its implications.

"No, I told my aide I'd be home for dinner. He worries when I'm late." Stephen's tone on the last was dry.

Mabel nodded. "Maybe next time. Now, is there anything else I can do for you, Dinah?"

Dinah shook her head and Mabel left. When she was out of earshot she said, "See, what did I tell you about her? Mabel is completely trustworthy and reliable and she'll never call you unless it is a real emergency. She'd probably feel it was a reflection on her abilities and not a good one if she had to call you in. So now you can relax and tell Clem the same thing. She'll handle everything just fine."

"You hope. Being competent and capable isn't the point when it comes to dealing with Mac's friends or the people who come looking for them." He clearly hadn't let the argument go, and, Dinah knew, he never would. It wasn't that he'd disliked or distrusted Mac's friends. He worried about her, as he always had. And, like she always had, she refused to allow it to influence her.

He wasn't finished. "Dinah when you get back, we're going to settle this one way or another. It isn't just you I am concerned about, though I am very worried about you. It's anyone who might be here or around the next time it happens. It isn't just your risk. It puts at risk all your staff, your guests, and anyone I or Clem send here."

She glared at him, ready to rip him to shreds but he stopped her. "I said after you get back. Until then I will do what I can. So let's leave it 'til then. Think about what I've said and we'll talk when you get back."

Dinah nodded reluctantly. There was no point in fighting about it now. "All right. But don't think you're going to win." She waved him off towards the pool. "Go find Jolene and I'll bring the drinks. You want a beer or a scotch?"

"Scotch," he said as he headed out the door. He saw Jolene approaching from the opposite and headed her way. He needed the drink.

(The Skyline Chili, LaRosa's Pizza, Montgomery Inn Barbeque, MacDonalds and Graeters names are used herein w/o the consent of their owners.)