The sweetness of the kiss melted her and she leaned into him with a smile, long fingers spreading against his chest.
She felt safe with him. Safe from the night around them and safe simply being with him. Which was a paradox, both
considering what he did and the fact that he was luring her heart away from her. Somehow, the risk to her heart was
what was the more dangerous to her way of thinking.
"We're safe - I'm safe - because you're here." Those shadows in the night... She raised her face, reached up. Gently
slipped her fingers along the line of his jaw. "And instead of anyone thanking you, Sam yelled at you instead." Dark
eyes softened, watching his face. "So thank you." She found his eyes with her own. Voice softening. "Thank you for
keeping me safe."
"I'm used to getting yelled at. Either by my superiors or people who just want someone to blame. And the military, well,
we're an easy target. especially foreign military." He knew that, he didn't like it, but he knew that. "Come on, let's walk
around the main camp. That way I can look like I'm doing my job and you can see that for the most part most
everything is fine." He suggested, because standing still was never that good an idea when there might be more
invaders.
Plus, it increased the chances of people coming up and interrupting them, since there was always a chance Mike told
people where to find them with the subtle hint to go bother them!
She got a quiet laugh out of that and looked up at him, eyebrows rising.
"Isn't walking about in the dark what got us in trouble in the first place?" She teased. "You even had the nerve to pick
a fight with me." But she was smiling. Not at all adverse to going walkabout. He was right. It would make her feel better.
The same way finding out what a noise in the night that didn't belong made her feel better afterward. Actually seeing
that there weren't any shadows - that would help immensely. And it felt almost cowardly to not do it alone. To be
thankful for his presence to guard over her.
"But we can hardly duck out on Mike. Especially not on a night like tonight. What would he think?"
"That I'd better used to it?" Mike stated as he ducked back out of the tent. His eyes met Hector's and a look passed.
Than Mike jerked a thumb. "Go on. I'll see if Swan's managed to drag his bloody carcass out of the tent yet and get
someone else to help with the carting."
"Sure?" Andi asked. Honestly not wanting to play hooky if it left him doing the heavy work.
"And stupid. " Mike agreed. He pointed to Hector and added: "That's two you owe me."
"Well, you fight very well." He said with a nod of his head and a humorous expression. Then Mike made his comments.
"Poor Mike. You're right, I owe you. Depending on what you want I might even pay you back." he said with a pointed
look, there were some lines he wouldn't cross with Mike after all. "But I'll owe you another one if you go save my Delta
from castration."
Mike met Hector's dark eyes with his own lighter ones and the look given was as steady as the one received. But he
nodded. The fierce possessiveness in the Delta both called up his own in response and yet reassured him as well. He
didn't try to dig too deep on that. Emotions weren't meant to be understood. He managed a dry chuckle.
"Looks like I'm just going to go with two then because nothing in this world is going to save Swanson." He shrugged
and his lips twisted. "But I'll see if she's left enough pieces of him to sew back together."
He looked at Andi. Already held close against the Delta. Felt the pang go through his heart and almost admonished
her to 'be good'. Except it would kill him to end up sounding like a father figure. Instead he forced a smile and
reminded her:
"Don't forget, you've got your weekly wake up call in Sam's tent tomorrow morning."
"Right." She agreed and the thought of it called up a warm wash of sunshine in her.
"Later." Mike muttered and gave Hector a nod on his way past. Andi watched him go, eyebrows low over dark eyes.
Then she turned her head to rest her face lightly against Hector, closing her eyes with a silent exhale. Asked:
"Did you have somewhere in mind for our walkabout or are we just going to circle the entire camp?"
"I thought we'd circle the entire camp." He said with a shrug and started to lead her on the random walk as Mike
walked in the opposite direction. Mike was a force to be dealt with, that was sure, and Hector was glad they'd come to
some version of terms before the reckoning had come about!
"See, whereabouts I come from, it’s all hills and trees and swamps." Hector said as they walked. "This whole idea
where land is flat and you can see for miles...completely foreign to me."
"Yeah?" She asked with a smile. Long legs comfortably matching his pace instead of having to shorten her strides for
a change. Looking at his profile as they walked. Thinking about less than fifteen minutes ago when he'd been so dark
and towering looking. And now he looked relaxed and at ease. And she wondered how much those two actually mixed
under the surface. It was a thought that would disturb Suzette. Andi found it strangely reassuring.
She looked around their surroundings. Aware of the way the moonlight and occasional lamp light cast shadows in the
hollows of the tents. But she trusted Hector's eyes. That he knew what to look for. And that if he truly had expected to
meet any other ghosts he probably wouldn't have brought her with him. So instead she looked at the camp, and the
ocean like sweep of sand beyond with the distant fires like pinpricks from the refugee camps. Trying to see them as
unfamiliar the way they must have once seemed.
"You've seen quite a few unfamiliar places, haven't you?" She asked. "Do you have a favorite yet? And - off subject -
" she paused. Just had to ask though because it had been such an unusual comment. She gave him a look from the
corners of her eyes. Aware that he could skip back and forth in conversations. Not sure whether she should be
pleased or not, she tried not to smile as she asked: "Do I really fight well?"
"Oh sure. Thought I was going to get smacked there for a minute." Hector said. "And I'm pretty sure that would have
hurt. A lot. So thank you for holding back on that. The weirdest place I've ever seen has to be the Congo, all that
equatorial jungle land, plants as big as a man. Snakes no one wants to mess with...and the humidity was worse than
home. I don't really have a favorite yet, haven't seen them all yet so I can't choose."
"I haven't smacked anyone since university." Andi laughed. Knowing he was teasing her with his assessment of her
'fierceness' but enjoying it anyway. "Besides, I only slap men that are crude enough to deserve it. If I was truly angry
at you, I would have punched you." She mocked seriousness as she tapped his wide jaw line with a finger. "And if I
had done that, I might have hurt my hand. And Suz would have been furious with me."
They were joking but it had been a bad situation. A situation that could have turned out much worse than it had. She
looked back at the tents and their shadows as they passed casually by.
"I like Athens." She confessed. Still watching the slide of moonlight over tents and vehicles and tarps. "Its - old. Which
sounds silly. But - it breathes. You feel as if you sat still enough and quiet enough, you could hear the land around
you breathe. Its not as formidable as Rome." She smiled. "And it’s much easier to lose your relatives there too."
Hector laughed. "Easiest way to lose my relatives is show them where the nearest bar is." He said. "Closest I ever got
to Athens was Serbia. Even I wouldn't want to bring my relatives there." He said with affection undermining the words.
But he rarely got sent to the 'civilized' places and never to the 'peaceful' places. What would be the need? If there was
peace instilled, a special operations force from the US was hardly needed.
"I was in Egypt, more toward Saudi Arabia, but on off time we went down to the Valley of Kings, where the pyramids
are. That was amazing. They're huge...and they were built by hand." He said. "I don't know, I guess I just appreciate a
job well done like that."
Andi looked up at him. Face entirely serious as she stated:
"I thought aliens built them." And then she laughed at his look, shifting to nudge her shoulder lightly against him as
they walked. "I have always wanted to see the pyramids." She agreed. "In the pictures they look so ancient and
forever. Men reaching for eternity." She shook her head, relaxed. "I don't think I would want someone to be building
my tomb my whole life though. Or strangers remembering my name centuries after I was gone." She gave him another
smile. "Of course, short of Mr. Snuffles, I really don't have much worth trying to take with me when I go either."
"Can't leave him behind. He'd make the rest of our lives hell." He said with a chuckle as they ended up by her tent.
"Go get some sleep. All is secure tonight. I promise." And that wasn't a promise he would make lightly. No one
unauthorized was getting into this camp tonight, whether Sam liked it or not. And that was the end of that. But he had
a few more rounds to do before he bunked out in the med tent, since she'd get her bed tonight.
He'd walked her 'home'. It was an odd thought as she looked up at him in the moonlight and shadow, lips starting to
curve upward at their edges. Anywhere else she'd be expected to ask him up for a nightcap. Here? Here he was
giving up the bed for her. Considering she'd never been one for the 'expected' nightcap offer...
She hadn't expected to sleep tonight. Not after everything that had happened. Sleep, like hunger, could be an elusive
thing for her given the right pressure points. Ghosts and armed men in the camp should certainly qualify for that. And
yet she already knew she would sleep, and probably sleep well, tonight. The reason why was standing in front of her.
She shook her head slightly as she stepped forward and wound her arms around his shoulders to relax into a hug.
It wasn't just his presence and the knowledge that he and men like him would patrol the camp tonight. Though his
presence would have been enough. It was the fact that he'd taken her out into the night so she could see he thought
it was safe. So that she could see for herself instead of letting her imagination conjure up things. He'd distracted her
mind from memories before it could get caught up in replaying them. Given her other things to think of so she could
fall asleep tonight. Was she really that easy to figure out?
Did she really mind?
She smiled against him. Tipped her face so she could look up at his.
"Thank you." She told him softly. And it was for so much more than simply walking her to her tent tonight.
Sure, he wasn't invited here. Sure, for the most part he and his men weren't really welcomed here by most. Sure, Sam
was going to personally have his head when morning came and he went into the tent they were using as a holding
cell. Sure, his own superiors were going to seriously admonish him when it came to what exactly they were doing here.
Sure, there were a lot of logical, sane reasons to just let these people go on with their lives, protected by the Red
Cross, let them get ripped off or worse by vandals in the night.
But for the most part, most of Hector's big decision making had never been called 'sane' or 'logical.' He joined the
Army to piss off his father. He brought Clancy here for fear of losing his friend. He was holding a beautiful doctor in his
arms in the moonlight for the simple fact that he didn't want to let go.
Even if for all appearances he seemed quite logical, appearances could be deceiving by a long shot.
"You're welcome." He said, and kissed her lightly. Only lightly, she needed sleep, and he needed to round. "Sweet
dreams."
Oh... she did so enjoy kissing him. The thought, aberrant as it was for her, had the edges of her lips shifting upward
as his mouth left hers. His breath brushed her cheek as he wished her pleasant dreams.
She understood. It was time to come up with a witty closing line, something spunky and flirty preferably, and slip
gracefully into the tent. The only problem with that of course was that she was far too comfortable in his arms and had
already grown far too accustomed to the way her body felt when it was held close to his and she could smell that
clean smell of him and hear his voice and feel the warmth of him. No, it was altogether above the call of duty to expect
her to pop off a bubbly line and bound blithely away from something like this, she concluded thoughtfully. Far too far
above the call. In fact, something that outrageous shouldn't even be asked of her really. It just shouldn't.
She opened her eyes to peer up at him. Saw the way he was looking down at her and started to laugh quietly. With
the strangest notion that he'd followed some if not all of those thoughts. Reached up she cupped his face with her
slim hands and draw him back down for another sweet kiss. "Just one more." She promised as she lifted her face to
his, smiling. "Just for now."
"One for the road?" He kidded her softly as she offered her lips up for his. Not that he needed coercion on that front,
not at all. And that simple of a request......
He lowered his lips down to hers and kissed her, feeling an awful lot like he was back in high school and sneaking a
kiss from a date before her father lit up the porch lights and opened the front door. And at the same time there was
this utter sense of absolute carefree freedom that he hadn't had in, well, a long time didn't even describe. More like
his whole life.
Half of his mind expected Mike to make an 'unexpected' appearance, the man seemed to have a knack for that, and
Mike seemed to take great joy in that too. But in the meantime there was no Mike, and really there was no camp, or
even world outside the tiny little bubble she seemed to call up with in him.
And he liked that.
That feeling of belonging and home swept into her and she relaxed, accepting it as his mouth covered hers again.
Winding her arms closer around him and threading her fingers into his dark hair. He'd started a slow, sweet warm
unspooling somewhere in the center of her and there was no hurry, no rush to it. Simply content to be and remain in
the moment they were in.
The first kiss was followed by another. And then another. Like drops of liquid sunshine on a strand. Pure and warm
and perfect.
She could have spent the rest of her life that way.
"Nice road." She managed, somewhere between a sigh and hum, when they finally paused and her forehead was
resting against his again. Feeling the smile. Loving the fact that those smiles came so easily and so honestly. Her
hand slipped from his back to curve comfortably against his chest and she raised it now, just long enough to slip a
finger down his cheek. "I'll see you in the morning?" She asked and it was as much a promise as a question.
"Promise." He said, finding promises easy to make with her and he moved away a bit. She looked exhausted and he
shouldn't keep her up anymore than he already had. Few were able to go without sleep as long as him, and even
then it wasn't recommended. It wasn't even recommended for him, really, he was about to crash himself. "I'm easy to
find. At least here." He gave her one more smile in the dark, then disappeared into it, headed to the med tent to grab
a few hours at least.