Andi set the pen down. Exhaled. Rubbed a hand across her face in a tired gesture.
"Go to bed."
Dull, she looked up. Saw Suzette standing over her and squinted at the light coming from behind the smaller doctor
from one of the lamps they hadn't shut off for the night yet.
"Can't." Andi croaked. Realizing how dry her voice sounded. She tapped the stack of papers next to her while she
unscrewed the bottle of water nearby and took a swallow. Suzette frowned and snorted. That familiar elegant, arrogant
French snort.
"They will keep to tomorrow. You," she pointed fiercely. "Will not."
She never touched her anymore, Andi had noticed. Not as if she was contagious or anything. But more as if she was
afraid the taller English doctor might break, shatter to pieces, if she was mishandled in the slightest. Andi knew she
should do something about that. Except she often felt as if she might. Break.
Mike on the other hand had no problem touching her. In fact the gestures had become more frequent. A pat on the
back, a nudge against her shoulder. Suddenly she'd become 'one of the guys' to him. It was almost as odd as Suz's
suddenly cautious approach. Except she actually was comforted by Mike's casual jostling.
Molly - well, you'd think Molly was the one desperately waiting for letters and worrying about a man that could be half
way to east Timbuktu without anyone knowing about it at the moment. Or getting shot at...
Andi stood up.
Two weeks. It had been two weeks. He'd warned her he might not be able to write for a while. She was throwing the
pen across the tent before she realized it. At least she'd automatically turned to face the back where there weren't
rows of patients sleeping, she realized with mild curiosity. Suzette watched the writing utensil fly with a raised eyebrow
and didn't comment on it. Or her friend's increasing tendency to throw small helpless objects. When she bothered Mike
about it, he simply commented that Andi had a very good arm.
"I want a hot shower." Andi commented absently. Still looking at where she'd thrown the pen and wondering if she had
enough energy to go find it or if it could wait until tomorrow.
"Third shower on the left." Suzette stated calmly, sitting down in the chair Andi had just vacated and pulling the stack
of requisition forms over in front of her. "No one has used it and so the water should still be heated in the tank from the
sun today."
Andi looked over at her with a smile and impulsively leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head.
"Thanks, Suz." She murmured before wandering out of the tent, pausing several times to tuck some of the children
back in as she went.
The water had been hot. Heaven against her achy muscles. She wasn't sleeping well. Wasn't eating right again too.
Couldn't seem to dredge up enough energy to care. She was burning too much of that on not letting herself worry.
It was funny how she did most of her praying in the shower.
The hot water did eventually run out and she felt guilty for using as much of the water as she had. Finished up her
night routine and found her way to her tent, realizing how tired she really was. Which was a good thing. She might
actually sleep the night through this time.
Mr. Snuffles was waiting on the bed. Sitting on Hector's letters protectively and she joined him on the thin mattress.
Brushing her wet hair and absently thinking she was going to have to cut it again. It was really getting too long.
Pushing it back with her fingers she slipped one of the letters free of Mr. Snuffles. Looked at the cramped handwriting.
And smiled.
She hadn't expected an answer to her first letter. Told herself not to expect one. Even refused to be around during
mail call because of it. And yet - one had come despite that. And then another. And another.
She slipped fingers across the pages. And pages. Full of funny stories and philosophical thoughts and interesting
points in his days and memories and more. So much more.
He'd remembered her...
She pressed her lips together. Not sure what, exactly, that meant. But he'd remembered her. And that - that changed
everything. She just wasn't sure into what.
"Oh, God..." she whispered it. A prayer He really didn't need her to articulate to understand. Shaking her head at
herself, she set the letters safely in a box at the head of the bed and crawled under the covers, pulling Mr. Snuffles in
with her. Heart aching but she was getting used to that. Even if she didn't even know what it meant anymore.
Hector was sick of desert.
He was sick of sand, and never ending bright sunlight.
It was one of the few times he missed his childhood stomping grounds, lush high trees, green canopies protecting
anyone who sat beneath the ever spreading branches from the hot sun. Soft green grass. Cool creek waters. Heck,
even the swamps.
It didn't even cool down in the night time, just got dark heat instead of bright heat. And the sand always crawled into
his boots, underneath his socks, under neath his shirt, scratching abrasively against his skin with every single
movement.
He had a week off. He should have flown home, sat on his porch with a huge glass of sun tea and caught up with the
neighbors. Would have taken maybe half a day, direct military flight. Instead he had hopped freighters and cattle carts,
most of the week was spent getting from the Middle East to the middle of Africa.
It was almost a challenge, he realized in retrospect. He couldn't get there directly, not from where he was, but the next
stationing after the now finished assignment was right back where he started, those months ago.
So instead of reeling off a letter once he was finished, as he realized he should have, he was crawling through the
darkness of the Red Cross camp, shaking his head at the still lax security in the place before quietly entering the staff
tent where everyone was sleeping soundly, probably exhausted from their days' work.
He knelt by the side of her bed and watched her sleep for a while, not wanting to wake her up, but knew if he didn't,
and she found out somehow he had been there, she might very well smack the spit out of him.
So he went to the other side of the bed and reached over and put his hand over her mouth, glad he had taken a few
minutes to clean up and change into spare clothes he had brought with him. "Shh." He said, his voice cutting through
the soft snores for her ears only. "It’s me." But he didn't want her to wake up everyone else in the tent.
Andi jerked hard, eyes flying wide and dark even as she froze. For a moment Joseph was waking her and shadows
were outside their hut. Looking for her. Coming for Mum and Dada in the dark... Her breath jerked silently in her
chest... and then she blinked. Eyes adjusting. Mind kicking belatedly in. Brows coming down and together in confusion,
she turned her head slightly to the side - and her eyes went wide again, lips parting in surprise.
"Hector?" She barely breathed his name since Molly was sleeping just a cot over. Not sure she should trust what she
thought she was seeing but it didn't feel like any dream she'd ever had. Lips starting to curve as warmth and welcome
washed through her eyes, she thought with a sudden burst of pure joy - 'who cares?' and reached for him. Drawing
him down, face lifting so her mouth met his. Kiss full of warm welcome and bubbling joy.
This made no sense and it didn't matter in the slightest.
"Hi." He said with a chuckle after the kiss ended. "Sorry to wake you, but I figured if I didn't...there would be some major
hell to pay later." He settled down from his leaning over position and sat on her bed, and gently pushed the sleep
tossed hair off her cheek. "You looked so peaceful though." They were talking in hushed whispers, to not wake up
anyone else...especially Molly, who would make a big deal of it all and wake everyone else up.
"Come on." He said, getting off the bed again and grasping both her hands. "It’s a nice night out."
Grinning, feeling a bit like a child being woken in the night with the promise of sneaking a snack from the ice box or
something, Andi slipped out of the bed and fit her feet into her sneakers without letting go of Hector's hands. Feet
silent as she followed him out of the tent.
It was a nice night, mild and peaceful and clear. It could have been storming and she wouldn't have noticed though.
"I never would have forgiven you if you let me sleep through this." She agreed, voice still soft as she smiled up at him.
Wondering if he had somewhere in mind or just 'out' that they were headed. Not particularly caring. She rubbed the
side of his shoulder gently with her cheek. "When did you get back?"
"Two hours ago." He said. "Now, don't start. First thing I did was sneak off into the shower, been on the road for five
days. Then I did my obsessive compulsive tour of the camp, its secure enough for me to stop doing that, then I told
you I watched you sleep for a while." He stopped at a place a bit off the beaten track of the camp and smiled at her.
"You looked like you were having good dreams, so I let you be for a while. You were kinda smiling about something at
any rate."
God but he had missed her. The two weeks he hadn't been able to write were also two weeks he hadn't been able to
receive any letters. So her last letter, he hadn't gotten, it was waiting for him back at base most likely.
"Five days on the road?" She asked. Wondering where they'd sent him that it took the army five days to drive him
back. Antarctica?
She moved into his arms, winding her own around his shoulders. Looking up at him, watching his face. Needing to be
in his arms and yet wanting to see him as well. Still feeling - as if somehow she was getting more than she should be
allowed and any minute someone was going to realize he shouldn't be here and take him away.
"I must have been dreaming of elephants and ice cream," she teased him. Having no idea. Then her face sobered and
she told him solemnly: "And you were wrong." She tipped her face to meet his eyes, lips shifting upward softly. Her
eyes stayed serious though, honest and unguarded as she added softer: "I did miss you."
"Well...see, the military will transport me to any place in the States, but that's it. So I was on my own for transportation.
So I bluffed my way onto a transport out of where I was, and then walked, hitched, biked and trained it here." He said.
"Us Delta boys have the reputation for being resourceful." He said with a chuckle.
"I missed you too, so since I had some leave time, thought I'd visit."
"Yeah?" She asked softly. Silly. Silly to be so pleased he might have missed her too. As if him being miserable was a
good thing. She cupped his cheek with a hand, resting her forehead against his. Inhaling that - wonderful clean,
shadowy scent of him.
"That's a great deal of trouble to get here." She stated softly. And she was both ridiculously delighted and also guilty
over the effort he'd spent just to see her again. Did he really think she was worth all that trouble? "I wish I had more to
offer you than cold leftovers and lukewarm showers."
"Well the cold left overs are worth crossing Antarctica for." He said with a teasing grin as he played a bit with her hair.
"Besides if I went home, I'd have to fix my shingles, then the other people in the neighborhood would convince me to fix
theirs, and that's not a vacation by any stretch of the word. Here, all I have to do is just sit around and work on my tan
until someone needs something from a high shelf." He kidded her, and sat down, pulling her down with him.
This was one of the few spots that didn't have the fires from a refugee camp burning in the distance, just open plains
and stars. And them. "And I didn't want to go back to base...wanted to see you again...wasn't that hard."
He could have gone home. Home home, not back to base home. Could have seen his family and his house and his
friends. And he'd come here instead. Where he wasn't exactly guaranteed a warm welcome from anyone but her.
Because he'd wanted to see her... She curled on a hip next to him, bringing her legs up to rest against his side and
snuggled close in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. For her... he'd given up all those things for her.
She lifted her eyes to watch his face.
"I'm glad you came." She murmured softly. Offered a smile. "And guilty." Shutting her eyes she wrapped herself closer.
"But I have oh so many things on tall shelves that need getting down."
"Then I'll be glad to be useful." He said and held her a bit tighter. "If you feel guilty, then I'll feel guilty for making you
feel that way, and it’s a never ending vicious cycle, and it will only end when Mike smacks the sense into both of us. So
don't, cause I really don't want to wake up Mike for a smack tonight." He said with a chuckle.
"Okay? I mean, I like it here with you. Nowhere else I'd rather be, and I've been most everywhere else in one way or
another."
She didn't protest the tightened grip. Somehow found a way to fit herself even closer in fact. As if there was no
intention to ever leave. Ever. Her lips brushed softly against his jaw.
"Only smack tonight, yeah." She teased gently. Sighing out as she relaxed entirely into him. Coming home. Finally
coming home...
"And - okay." She nodded against him. Raising her eyes to his face again. Not able to get enough of seeing him. "Not
guilty. Not even about the fact I've sent you three letters in the past two weeks." She smiled up at him. "All my news will
be a repeat when you open them now." She nuzzled against him softly. Inhaling that wonderful smell of sun and
shadow on him.
"There's no where else I'd rather be either. Not even Zaire. Not now."
He smiled, really smiled, the fatigue he might have earned on his trip here erased from his face by that simple a
gesture.
"I like home too." He said. "Wow...I think I found it. You know, one of these days, you'll have to show me Zaire, and I still
have to make that gumbo for you."
He liked that idea, future plans. He'd never really made them before, not really. One op to the next, one leave to the
next. This was different, and strangely comforting in its difference. He really had come home.
He closed up her throat and she smiled against it. A lifetime of lessons she'd learned by heart conflicting with what he
was telling her now. And - God - she wanted to believe him. Was afraid that she already did.