Hector just stood there with a blank look on his face as Sam railed on him, how they (the military) brought this all on
the Red Cross's head.
"Of course, this much organization takes much more time than the day they've been here." Mike pointed out idly as he
looked at the list again. "But its your call whether we let them rip us off of half our supplies....suture kits, OR supplies,
even blood."
Sam glared at Mike. "Of course you'd take their side, grunt."
Mike rolled his eyes. "I wasn't a grunt. And there's no side to take."
"Sam." Andi rested a hand gently on his arm. She'd put herself between him and the Delta and between that fact and
the fact they were surrounded by sleeping patients and he'd had to hiss everything, he didn't feel as if he'd really been
allowed to emphasis firmly enough how he felt about this. "They almost took it. Everything." Her voice was soft but
there was real concern in it. "They would have cut our supplies by half tonight. We've got patients coming in from one
of the nearby missions tomorrow morning. Sam, this serious. What if the man that paid those ghosts outside isn't this
easily deterred?"
He really hated when she did that to him. He wanted to emphasis how wrong it was that the camp had soldiers in it.
Wanted to blame them for tonight's fiasco. Even if it wasn't their fault that the thieves had picked tonight to attempt
their raid, he wanted to point out how it was men like them that forced extreme measures like that in the first place. And
yet, here Andi was, forcing him to deal with the immediate problem instead. Admirable, no doubt. When it wasn't as
annoying as hell.
"I'll talk to our directors tomorrow morning." He stated. Looking down at the list he'd taken from Mike and thinking how
much the writing reminded him of a doctor's. A detailed, carefully written layman's version of a clinic's supplies.
"We'll radio the UN's headquarters and ask them to take the prisoners. See if they've heard anything. I'll talk to our
directors tomorrow and see if anywhere else is having this problem and what they recommend we do." A theft every
now and than was expected. A mass movement of their supplies as if they were a clearing house... well, that was
entirely different and would be dealt with seriously. "Don't," he pointed a finger at the soldier behind Andi. "Get the
idea that we need you. We don't. And you're still going to clear out of here as soon as you can move your friend." He
shot Mike a glare which Mike absorbed without seeming to register it and than he turned and headed determinedly out
of the tent. They'd have to do something about securing the supplies and the camp in general more than it was. It was
one of the things he hated about his job. That the actions of a few could ruin any chance for hope for so many people.
Now, more than ever, he was determined to stay here.
Mike watched his retreating form and after a minute mildly commented:
"Well. That went well."
"Could have gone worse." Hector said, refusing to let the man bother him. To Sam he was a symbol and nothing more.
He wasn't even a person, so Hector refused to be bothered by him. "I thought he was going to hit me there for a
minute. So we took prisoners?"
"We're holding them in the supply tent under guard." Mike said. "The UN will sort them out in the morning."
"The UN can't even sort its own laundry." Hector said dismissively.
Mike chuckled.
"Pure truth." He agreed. He'd grown up hearing his family refer to it as the United Nothing and his years in the service
had only emphasized the fact that the organization seemed to want the US to police the world and then spent a lot of
time complaining about it when they took the initiative and did just that. Shifting over to civilian life and working for the
Red Cross hadn't done much to change that view.
"Maybe you should challenge Sam to a game of 'bonding' basketball." Andi suggested, voice one that Mike had
learned was the deceptively mild way she hid a joke. She reached out and gently touched one of the bruises hidden
by his t-shirt and he remembered that she'd seen him without it. His eyebrows went up a fraction for just a second.
Most people were too busy getting nauseated by his scars to notice blooming bruises in dim light. He couldn't help the
look he shot Hector.
Then he chuckled.
"Not me." He raised his hands. "Have you ever noticed for a pacificist he's awfully violent tempered?"
Suz made a noise and caught one of his hands in both of hers. Glared at it for a minute and then fixed the same look
on him. Mike opened his mouth automatically to apologize. For anything. Hell, he knew better than to try to stand
against whatever she was upset over.
"You've hurt your hand." She snapped. "You are a doctor and you hurt your hand?!"
"Scraps on the knuckles." He protested without much hope.
"All the blood diseases we deal with here and you, a surgeon, get raw spots on your hands." Suz was hissing it,
French accent flaring and Mike was reminded of Canadian lumberjacks. Midget Canadian lumberjacks. With really big
axes.
"I wear gloves." He tried and Suzette just made a dismissive, snorting noise that managed to sound elegant and
contemptuous. Mike gave a quick glance behind him but the blond Delta he'd been hoping to distract her with was
wisely staying out of the tent at the moment. He shot a helpless, pleading look at Andi and Hector but Andi was no
help, lips pressed together to keep from smiling and bringing down Suzette's wrath on her as well. But her smile was
for more than that too. The French woman had stood on their side during the argument with Sam. She hadn't joined it,
but she hadn't moved to disassociate herself from them either. Andi wasn't sure if she realized it or not but she'd done
it anyway. It showed a shift and Andi was glad enough to see it that she had to hide a smile.
"I will fix this." Suzette declared. As if she were going to fix the world's problems with the same tone. Mike, knowing
better than to argue or try to shrug it off, ventured:
"Okay?"
"You're on your own." Hector said, relaxing slowly now that the 'crisis' was over. He chuckled at Mike and the situation
he had gotten himself into.
"I have an idea." Suzette said brightly, too brightly. "Why don't you go see if Swanson has any wounds I can fix too?
That I can rub salt in and stitch with no novocaine...."
"Okay, it’s not like you asked if he was a Delta." Hector tried to defend the man.
"I didn't know I had to." Suzette nearly purred, which Hector had already learned was a dangerous sign. He looked at
Andi and shrugged.
Mike shot Hector a 'thanks a lot' look and then jumped on the idea of passing the buck to someone else.
"I think I saw him outside." He offered helpfully. Without any guilt at all over the sacrifice. "Why don't you let me go get
him?"
Andi had held up her hands, offering her palms, in response to Hector's glance. She would stand in between Hector
and her boss, she'd deal with lions on the savannah, she'd stitch up wounds that splashed blood all over her. But
there was no way in this world or the next she was going to get in between Suz and finding somewhere to vent one of
her moods.
"I could use an escort to one of the supply tents." She offered Hector. "Move some of our supplies that we use the
most into this tent where we can keep a better eye on them."
"I could help." Mike agreed. "After I find Swanson and send him in."
Hector chuckled and nodded and they headed outside, quickly, before Suzette turned on them. He saw Swanson out
side smoking and went over to him, putting his hands on his shoulders and looking at the shorter man seriously. "Go
with God." He said, then chuckled. "You got someone in there that wants to see you."
Swanson had a look of dismay on his face and sighed. "Fine. But just remember, there's a limit to how much pain I'm
willing to take for my country."
"Oh this has nothing to do with the US." Mike said, laughing.
Andi was torn between laughter and feeling sorry for the blond Delta. No matter what Suz did to him, the tiny French
woman would make sure the Delta never forgot it. Andi lifted Mike's hand as they started walking, looking at the
scrapes on the knuckles. Shot him a wry look complete with lifted eyebrows.
"Enjoy yourself?" She asked mildly and Mike chuckled.
"Enjoy using violence of any sort? Andi, I thought you knew me better. I'm an absolute lamb."
Andi rolled her eyes mildly and let go of his hand.
"Baa." She agreed.
"Absolutely." Mike nodded, shooting a grin over at Hector. Damn it, but he'd actually enjoyed himself. Really enjoyed
himself. Felt useful again in a way that stitching up people didn't satisfy. That always just felt like repair work. Not
something that would actually stop it from happening again. Which was his own damn problem and he'd deal. Didn't
stop the fact that he had enjoyed himself.
Andi glanced up as they approached the line of tents. Knowing the people the Delta had caught were over in the tent
at the edge of the line and nowhere near here. That Delta had probably already made a sweep to be sure they'd
caught them all. But - shadows in the night... she hesitated, the merest of shifts in her step as old nerves overlapped
new, before she forced herself forward again.
"You're sure all our ghosts have been rounded up for tonight?" She asked, voice mild.
Hector didn't answer her question directly, but he did put what he hoped was a comforting arm around Andi and
exchanged a look with Mike. They had picked up a majority of them, but there were never guarantees that they had
either missed some or some of their friends were coming, wondering what was taking so long.
"You're safe." He assured her. He'd make sure of that. He'd already decided he was her personal escort for the night
anyway, and it would take more than a handful of thieves and would be doctors to get through or around him.
Andi and Mike both turned their heads to look at Hector at the same time and so she missed the look on Mike's face.
The one that said out of the men's two positions he'd rather be in the Delta's.
"I'll double check the tent," was his only casual statement however and the edge of his lips twisted upward as he
admonished: "And no making out while I'm gone. I hate coming in on that kind of stuff. And I'm not carrying all those
boxes back by myself." Than he slipped to the side and slide into the tent. More a shadow than the ones that had so
recently thought they had the run of the camp.
Andi watched him go but she automatically shifted closer to Hector, raising one of her hands to rest it over his heart.
Feeling the reassuring, steady beat of it. Telling herself she would not be silly or girly over something she was well
aware had happened in this very camp, right under her nose without adverse effect to her before. Instead, she gave
Hector a fleeting smile and stated calmly:
"Now that's a pity. I suppose I'll have to find something else to do all night then."
"Nah, what he don't know won't hurt him." Hector teased with a chuckle. "besides, he could use the exercise anyway,
and by the time Suzette gets done with my poor guy, he'll be begging to carry boxes to get away from her." Unless of
course, Swanson had charmed his way back into her good graces, which he very well could have done. He had a way
about him that was completely wasted in his occupation, be it accountant or Delta, that natural charismatic way with
people.
But the night was warm, the sky was clear, and it would be a shame to hide in a tent, Hector thought. Especially, with
all honesty, a chaperoned tent. They were both far too much into adulthood to have to answer for any personal
actions. Except to each other.
"Sorry we freaked you out." He apologized and kissed her forehead lightly.