A Smile to Make the Angels Sing

Dayton Lyon’s heart skipped a beat when Westbrook McGregor looked her way. She had always nursed a secret crush for West, he was handsome, tall with dark hair, brilliant blue eyes that seemed to pierce your soul and read your mind. He was muscular, without being too bulky. Had a smile that made the angels sing, and basketball skills that would impress the president.He was, as Mary Poppins would say, ‘Practically Perfect in Every way’.

When he smiled she felt the tingle down to her toes. He was that perfect.

However, more than his looks appealed to her. She had seen him talking to his mother on the phone. His mother was a worrier, as she should be, considering their dangerous job. He had a big family, five brothers and a sister, they were close, always coming to each other’s aid when they needed it. Dayton wondered what it was like to have a big family that worried about you, that stopped to call you in the middle of the day just to make sure you were having a good day. A family that enjoyed spending time with each other instead of talking behind each other’s backs, so peaceful and happy. It was what she longed for. A family like that. Instead, she had grown up much differently than he had.But life was life. You couldn't complain, because when you wasted your time complaining,life passed you by.

She did have her circumstances of birth and growing up to thank for her skills. With the constant danger, the need to escape and the need to stay alive, Dayton had learned how to survive. As a teenager she had encountered her first computer. A friend had taught her all the ins and outs of the systems and when the internet became even bigger, she expanded. It had started a talent and a career that had landed her here, with West.

A relationship with West was a fantasy she kept strictly to herself. It never made it onto paper, out of her mouth, anywhere. She knew all too well how easily information could be discovered, accidentally or not. She didn’t want it known that she was secretly in love with her team leader. It would be awkward and she would be forced to leave the team out of embarrassment. Dayton had decided long ago when she had come onto the team that she would suffer silently.

Now, she was supposed to be concentrating on what West was saying to the team instead of admiring his adorable butt. But it was such a well formed butt. He must work out. Dayton thought. But then how does one get a butt so perfectly formed and lifted? I wonder if he does butt clenches. That would exercise the muscles. When she felt his eyes on her she snapped out of the fantasy land she had clicked into and tried to focus. The others on the team liked to find any way to make fun of her, mostly because she was the only woman on the team and because they were intimidated by her superior technical skills.

“Are you okay, Dayton?” West asked, his eyebrows knitting together in concern. Oh he's so attractively wonderful for being concerned! I bet he's really great with kids.

“I’m fine.” She smiled at him brightly, ignoring the snickers coming from Nick and Sam. “Please continue.” Dayton said, gesturing with her hand which held a pen from Buca di Beppo that she had stolen the last time she ate there. She rested her chin on her hand and pretended to seem absolutely absorbed in briefing. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Sam’s grin was painfully wide. It took all of her will power not to reach over and slap that silly grin right off his face.

Sam was a tall black man with white teeth that blinded you when he smiled. He reminded Dayton of Will Smith, all wiry muscle and a charismatic personality. He was enjoyable to be around, when he wasn’t making fun of you. He always had the best jokes and people always remembered him as the funny one of the group. She believed everyone found him so funny because she was generally the brunt of all his jokes. She was also certain that he never felt any remorse. Instead, she believed that he stayed awake at night, just thinking of more ways so humiliate her.

Nick, on the other hand was pasty white Scandinavian with a large bulbous nose and watery blue eyes that were constantly affected by allergies. He was the oldest in the group and was getting a little soft. His hair was going gray, not a sophisticated touch to his face, as he was rather unfortunate looking. He didn’t let his looks impede his culture smarts. He knew everything there was to know about all the major countries of the world, and even some about the more minor ones. He retained information that appeared useless at first glance, but proved highly useful later on. He was a valuable asset to the team. He was the one that always remembered birthdays and little tidbits of information about yourself that most people wouldn't even think twice about. When her goldfish had stopped eating as much as it used to, Nick had asked her about Alexander the Great a week later to see if he was still alive.

Dayton had been recruited when she was nineteen when she had managed to hack into the highly secured databases of ALPHA just to see if she could do it. Six weeks after she had accomplished the task two men had come to her rundown apartment in the slums of New Jersey. She had identified them as cops, or something akin to it. There was a certain air about cops, one of superiority, slight disdain, and bad shoes.

Frightened and unsure, she had tried to flee. Unfortunately she was no match for two highly trained black-ops agents with a purpose. They had offered her a job helping with gathering information for them. A way to skirt around the law and still do the thing she loved. Knowing that this was probably the only way she would be able to stay out of jail, Dayton had agreed. She hadn’t realized that the job required her to go through the same basic training that all incoming agents did. It, had, however, made her an agent and not just an analyst. It had given her clearance to go on missions without risk of compromise because of physical weakness.

Now three years later, she was on one of the top teams, one of the more specialized teams; one that moved in much more dangerous circles. She prided herself on the fact that she had earned her position here. It gave her a feeling of great satisfaction knowing that her skills were greater than those in the same job. It was dangerous, she knew, being an agent instead of an analyst, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was her job and getting to do what she wanted to do. Even if she had to work in close proximity to West, it was fine. There was no real chance of a relationship blooming even if he did know.

Still, it didn't stop her from dreaming. He was a man of fantasy anyway. Half the time she expected him to say some romantically cheesy line straight out of her books. Or for him to suddenly pull her into a janitors closet and profess his mad undying love for her and then proceed to make sweet love to her amid the buckets and mops. Then she would really be able to get her hands on those tight buns and feel how tight they really were.

Not for the first time, Dayton wondered if fairy tales really did come true. Not necessarily the ones with fairy godmothers, pixie dust, and magic, but the ones of real life. Were the adorable stories you heard about from friends, co-workers, and neighbors really real or were they just works of fantasy? She certainly hoped that they were real, she had to have some hope in the world. Otherwise, what would she be left with?

Nothing. Nothing but a lonely apartment and Alexander the Great. If her fairy tale wasn't going to come true with West, then at least she would have someone else to have one with.

Or so she hoped. Desperately.