Those first three days as a warehouse agent was a wild three days for Devon, and Pete said that was all the training and practice she can expect. From here on in, it's work, work, work...
She didn't mind. Looking back, without Warehouse 13, she wouldn't have found herself this way. For that she was grateful, and would have been willing to endure more just to get this chance.
As promised, they did go to the warehouse, and it was indeed full of endless wonder, as Mrs. Frederic promised. She met Claudia, and was impressed by the young genius. Among all three field agents, Devon felt she was the best among them that could identify with the teenage brainiac, matching her skill per skill, specialty per specialization and fact per obscure fact (her nerdiness had finally paid off). She had also met Leena, the beautiful proprietress of her new home. Leena had assigned her a room in her Bed-and-Breakfast, in between Myka's and Claudia's, and right across from Pete's.
Artie had assigned Devon to cleanup-and-catalogue duty, and Claudia was happy to finally have someone to boss around, but it only lasted for three weeks - just enough time for Devon to learn the ropes.
During the evenings, the main topic of discussion was how to fix Devon's situation. And they went back and forth on it. One idea was that they'll tell everyone Devon died. Artie, and Devon herself, didn't like the idea. It helps, Artie said, for agents to have traceable pasts.
One other idea was for Devon to come back as a sister or a close cousin. But then again, Claudia pointed out, they'd have to fake a background for the new sister-slash-cousin, and people can always find flaws in any fake dossier if they tried hard enough.
In the end, they decided that Devon will come back, and reveal that she had a sex-change operation in Thailand or Mexico or something. After all, she'd been on leave for more than a month now, so it's plausible.
Devon sighed, saying that would probably end her career. Sure, she can fight it, but, regardless, in the chauvinist, old-boy-network world of cops-and-robbers, she was realist enough to know that it effectively meant her career was done.
So, Artie, through the auspices of the Warehouse regents, was able to arrange an extended special assignment for her, similar to Myka's and Pete's. This way, she won't need to go back to her old job, preserve her history, and allow her to maintain her police and CSI credentials as well as keep them current.
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But she still needed to go back to New York to do the final parts of her sex-change that needed personal presence, and keep everything legal - get a new driver's and firearms license, change all her credit cards and picture IDs, a court appearance, fix all her professional records, and so on. The last thing she did was to visit her mom...
When she was all done, Artie, Myka and Pete came over and Devon toured them around New York before going back to work: shopping, taking in some games and going to some of her favorite guy places (most of the people in Devon's favorite places were scandalized that such a pretty girl would bring Pete and Artie to these dives). For Myka, they trawled through the less seamy side of the city, for high-end shopping, eating at the places Devon had wanted to try for a long time, and they watched "Ghost, The Musical" on Broadway. It was a nice break for everyone.
Devon thought that she'll probably like this new life.
But she stopped her musing. She was on the clock right now - she was on her first solo mission.
She was back in DC. She had to think up a scheme for bumping into FBI Special Agent Colleen Francis, who Pete liked to call Secret Agent Double-Oh Hottie. So she thought it was time to take a refresher course on the latest anti-terrorist techniques (a legitimate class for CSI practitioners), and while at the FBI's headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue, she was able to catch the eye of the FBI agent. They had flirted for the duration of her class, and, at the last day of her class, they had set up a date.
So here she was in her hotel room, all glammed up in yet another LBD, waiting for her date. She tucked the replica signet ring that she planned to swap for the real one Agent Francis was wearing back into the cleavage of her slinky dress and finished her makeup.
The doorbell rang and she got up to open the door.
"Good evening," the girl at the door said in her impeccable British accent, and leaned forward for a kiss. Devon liked it. She couldn't help but wonder how different a kiss from a man would be from a girl's kiss, but she was confident she would have a chance to compare eventually.
"Hi," Devon said. "I'm all set."
"Let's be off then." Devon picked up her handbag, and the agent crooked her arm. Devon put her arm through it, and they stepped out. This'll be fun, she thought.
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- The End -
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.
- Dr. Albert Einstein, 1879-1955