"I don't pick them!" Swanson protested, entirely unaware of the fine line he was walking. "I'm just there and next thing I
know, she's mad at me!"
Mike raised his eyebrows.
"Its obviously entirely not your fault." He agreed and Swanson nodded, leaning up against the edge of the desk.
"I mean, how does she do that? She's laughing and all smiles and then the next thing you know she's furious at you for
something. And you don't even know what it is!"
Andi chuckled and relaxed. The same way Cara was laughing. Mike didn't exactly get it but he did understand they'd
just hit one of those areas where women simply said 'men' in that affectionate, shake your head at the silly animal tone
and didn't explain anything.
"What?" Swanson wanted to know. "You act like psychotic is a good thing."
And sure enough Andi and Cara exchanged one of 'those' looks and Andi shifted her attention back to the books on
Hector's bed. Wrinkling her nose.
"Doesn't anyone read anything but Tom Clancy around here?"
"Tried to find a copy of The Shipping News for him, but Sam wouldn't part with his copy." Mike said with a shrug,
thinking of the most feminine book he could and got a raised eyebrow from Hector for that one.
"There is a god." Was all Hector would say.
"We like to laugh at how much Clancy gets wrong." The MP said. "Its good entertainment, but that's about it. Much
along the way doctors read Robin Cook's novels and get the same reaction."
"Hey, look! I can finally finish it!" Hector joked, finding the boring technical book he was reading when Clancy was
injured.
"The docs threw that one in there just for you." Mike said.
Swanson shrugged, he still didn't see why Suzette attacked him at every opportunity, and why everyone else found it
funny, but the little French witch wasn't here, so he let it go.
"Does it come with pictures?" He joked instead.
"Not the kind you'd be interested in." Mike commented dryly.
"Kevin always has comic books." Andi offered. "Next time we can ask Mike to grab you some of those."
"Riiiight." Mike agreed, reopening his crossword book. "I'll grab some of those trashy romance novels Molly says she
doesn't have for Hector too while I'm at it."
"Better than the torture manual Suzette probably has." Swanson said under his breath, but Hector heard and chuckled.
"Thanks guys." He said. They were trying to make his imprisonment here easier on him, he knew that. If not easier on
the staff. especially now that he was on his feet, no matter how wobbly the legs above those feet might be. "I think it'll
get me through the next few days." Andi or no Andi, if they thought he was staying here for three weeks, they certainly
had another thing coming. And a few of them, he'd enjoy showing them too.
Cara didn't even make the comment that sprang to mind. Andi, having finished going through the books and Hector's
CDs slipped off the bed, giving his cheek a kiss.
"Who's guard dog today?" She asked and, while Swanson was caught looking blank, Mike gestured to him.
"Goofus over there." He stated, propping his feet up. "I'm in the middle of a crossword puzzle."
"Of course you are." She chuckled before turning to Swanson with a bright smile. "Ready for our next great
adventure?"
Swanson looked at Hector with a pleading look.
"I think she's dangerous." He stated calmly.
Hector shrugged. "I could always guard her," He said with a grin. Swanson rolled his eyes.
"Oh yeah, like that would be effective. The whole point of Mike staying here is to keep your ass here." He said and got
off the desk he was leaning on. "Can't wait to see where she drags me today."
"Just keep her away from the missile range." Hector said, going through the mail he hadn't thrown away.
"Why would I do that?" Swanson said. "Come on, before he changes his mind."
Andi gave him a grin and a surprisingly good evil laugh that had him shooting Hector a glance and then headed out
the door. Things settled down considerably after that until a short time later when Swanson poked his head back in the
door.
"Um." He looked as if he wasn't sure how to broach things and looked at Cara. "We've been jumped by the other
nurses. They say I can't come. But - they look evil."
"You're kidding." Cara stated flatly. Swanson shook his head.
"Mona's with them." He clarified. Cara started to laugh. But she stood up all the same.
"You." She pointed at Hector. "Stay put. I'm going to go rescue your girlfriend." Then she rolled her eyes at Swanson
and walked out of the room.
Hector was quiet until the door closed behind Cara, leaving just the men in the room. He looked at Swanson and Mike.
"Too bad Mark's not here." He said.
"Uh oh." Swanson said, having a seat.
"What the hell were you two thinking?" Hector flared out from his seated position on the bed, no longer matching the
'cuddly' description given to him so shortly before. "Telling Andi about this before I wanted her told? What was going
through your mind?"
"Dude, she had a right to know." Swanson said.
"And have her worry about nothing?"
"You dying - which I'll point out you can deny but doesn't make it any less true - is hardly 'nothing.'" Mike countered
mildly, setting the open crossword book down on his stomach and tucking the pencil behind his ear. He could argue
after all. He didn't have to live with the guy.
Swanson didn't pitch in but his eyes said he agreed about the dying part. They'd all seen it enough to know what it
looked like on a friend. Quieter Mike added:
"Andi's got a right to be able to say goodbye if that's what it comes to."
"I wasn't dying!" Hector said. "Obviously not or I wouldn't be here yelling at you two boneheads." He shook his head.
"You put her through hell, obviously for nothing."
"You don't remember." Swanson said. "We found you in your bunk, we couldn't wake you up and that little pressure
dressing you'd been applying...it bled through. All over your bed. But because we're friends, I dragged your ass in
here and cleaned up your bunk. Then I helped them tie your bone headed ass down. Twice. So don't start telling me
that I didn't think you were going to die. The docs didn't give up much hope and that's when me and Mark headed over
to the Red Cross camp because Mike's right. She has the right to say good bye if you were going to go off and leave
her."
Hector shook his head, he didn't agree with any of that.
"You're a stubborn and might I add, lucky as hell, son of a bitch." Mike stated. Glad he hadn't found out until just now
how they'd found Hector. Or he'd have been forced to beat the shit out of a sick man. "Andi would have been heart
broken if we'd known you were hurt and not come for her. She would have taken it to mean that she wasn't important
enough to you to be remembered. And she never would have forgiven herself if something happened to you when she
could have conceivable been here and wasn't. You trade places with her and then tell me you wouldn't want to be at
her side if some bastard put a bullet in her." His voice had been getting harder and colder as he talked, the 'mad'
starting to build up. "You knew this was part of the price she pays for dating you. Because I know you remember our
Swiss banker discussion."
Swanson had no idea what Swiss bankers had to do with anything but he knew Mike, who he'd always thought seemed
pretty laid back and relaxed was mad enough to be spitting bullets. Hell, he was pretty pissed at Hector too, and fully
intended to get payback, but things had just gone a lot deeper than he'd been prepared for.
"And things would have been much, much easier for her had I told her when it was over and told her I didn't want her
worried. Because I don't." Hector said and got off the bed with a groan and paced a bit. He was good at pacing. "Y'all
think I like what my job does to her? But what completely sucks is I love my job and I love that girl. So next time, why
don't the two of you just back off and accept the fact that I like running my own life?"
"So next time you get your self all shot up you want me to leave you in your bunk to die? And tell her to keep waiting
for your call?" Swanson asked, lighting the forbidden (at least in the infirmary) cigarette as he leveled Hector with a
glare. "Wilco, buddy. Consider it done."
Mike was about to snarl his own response to the bullshit Hector was trying to feed them. As much as he liked the jerk,
his first loyalty was to his oldest friend. Which would be Andi. And the second Hector started shutting her out of his life,
even the ugly parts of it, she'd feel it. And it would hurt her. You didn't get to give Andi half of anything. Good and bad,
beautiful and ugly, she either took them all or knew you just weren't serious about her. He knew because he'd tried
when they'd first met. And he'd almost lost her friendship over it when she'd gotten hurt and pulled away.
He'd be damned if he'd let Hector make the same mistake because he was stubborn and 'protecting' her. His jaw
tightened to snap just that at the man. And then snapped shut painfully enough to make his teeth hurt. He rubbed
unconsciously at his jaw.
"What'd you say about her?" He asked, voice entirely different from the fire of moments ago.
"I heard it plain as day." Swanson said. Of course, he had the advantage of hearing it from Suzette the day before. He
watched as Hector painfully laid back down. When Andi came back in, he'd put on his 'I'm fine' act, because that's what
he wanted her to see, and truthfully, what she wanted to see. "He loves her. Hector and Andi sitting in a tree...."
He had an apple thrown at his head with remarkable accuracy, proving that Hector wasn't as bad as everyone else
seemed to think he was. Not quite.
"So why did Andi get jumped by the nurses?" He asked, with his eyes closed, conserving energy and changing the
subject.
Swanson smirked as he tossed the apple from hand to hand.
"Because they're evil. I thought I mentioned that." He pointed out rationally. He shrugged. Women. He liked them. A
whole lot. But sometimes he didn't understand them at all. Why Mona, gossip whore of camp 54 would want to drag off
Andi was beyond him. He just knew there had been a lot of giggling going on. Giggling in the kind of way that made
him nervous.
He glanced at the door and realized Cara hadn't come back yet. Maybe they'd gotten her too...
"No. Distractions." Mike waved a hand. "I want to hear that again." He was starting to get a stupid grin on his face. "I
want Hector to tell us again what he said when he referred to Andi a minute ago."
Mike let out a laugh.
"You're a jerk." He informed Hector without any fire behind the accusation. "Just for that, I'm doing this crossword
puzzle. In French. With mis-conjugated verbs. And I'm using up the eraser on the pencil too. Just for spite." He shook
his head as he settled back in the chair. Damn. The things that happened when he wasn't paying attention.
"Just don't tell her." He warned. "Its all over for you if she finds out."