"Doctors." Hector said with a chuckle as he led Andi into the brightly lit, overly clean infirmary, with cots and instrument
tables and medicines in gleaming glass cabinets. "this is Dr White, from the Red Cross. She wanted to see our
infirmary."
"You here to swipe supplies or volunteer?" The man on duty stepped forward to offer his hand with a smile. Suprised
to see Hector in the infirmary. You saw St. Elmo's Fire more than you saw the Delta in the infirmary. "Dr. Jason
Martinez, head surgeon." He introduced himself.
"Andi White." She shook his hand just as firmly, noticing the grip. Noticing a great deal. Hector had called the people
that ran this place 'meatballs'. But if he was hurt - this is where they would bring him. And these were the people that
would be operating on him. Her request had been more than professional curiosity. "And I'm just being nosey."
"Can't complain". Martinez grinned. "Always nice to see new faces." Pretty new faces. Probably made missing the
barbecue worth it if she was going to spend a bit of time here. She gave him a grin.
"Lots of shiny." She complimented, glancing around. "Can you show me the set up?"
"You could eat off our floors." Martinez said proudly. "Sure, the tour begins here. This is our triage room, where the
men are brought in for check ups....most of the time against their wishes. We've been known to call the MPs out on
them." He said, giving Hector a pointed look. "If its just a check up or something minor, we take care of it here. Pull the
curtain and away we go." He led the way into the back, where Hector hadn't been yet (thankfully). "This is one of our
operating theaters. Negative pressure room helps keep contamination down, we autoclave everything metal once
we're done. Ventilators, bypass machines....state of the art. The military likes us to keep the boys up and running."
He led the way through another door. "Here's our PACU." Then he remembered she was British, they might not have
the same acronyms. "Post Anesthesia Care Unit. Recovery room. Telemetry monitors, oxygen hook ups, suction....
once they're clear they go to the side door over there, one hundred bed unit for longer term recovery. Thank God I've
never had it more full than thirty people, and that was stomach flu."
Hector trailed behind, picking up a roll of gauze and tossing it in his hands. He wasn't much for the infirmary.
Andi stifled the joke about Yanks not knowing the proper use for a table top as the doctor mentioned his floors. She
was attentive. He was proud of his set up. And she followed him as he walked, cataloging everything she saw.
Genuinely curious. It was much more state of the art than what she worked with, though a great deal of it was familiar
from her interning back in London. It didn't take much in the way of questions to get him talking cheerfully about his
work and she listened contentedly. As much to hear what he prioritized and thought worth mentioning as the actual
words themselves. Before long he was fondly recalling his past experiences and relating humorous stories about some
of his fellow medics.
"You should stop by sometime. Again I mean." He broke for a minute to offer. "Meet some of the others. We hear wild
stories about the work you guys do at the Red Cross. Would be nice to swap some tales and medical tricks."
"That would be nice." Andi agreed. "Mike's with me from camp. Still eating, of course." She gestured in the vague
general direction. "But he's our head surgeon. I'm sure he'd love to get his hands on some of the instruments you
have in here."
"Can have all the medical equipment in the world, but if you don't have the skill to back it up, the men still die."
Martinez said with a shake of his head. "I stabilized Clancy further when he returned. If not for the Red Cross
surgeons, he never would have made it back to base. And that's my medical opinion."
It was also his medical opinion that he had been moved too soon, but Clancy was alive and well, so there really weren't
any complaints on that front.
"We constantly get our equipment replaced. If its still in good working order, I can try to ear mark some of it for you
guys." That was just how the military worked. Upgrades. All the time. The best of the best.
Andi's smile was immediate and complete.
"That would be a jewel." She agreed. "Half the things we get are outdated and the really important ones take too long
to get to us and often get 'lost' along the way." One of the prices of working in third world countries. 'Skimming' was
rampant and people on the black market could pay a great deal more for goods than the Red Cross could. "Any help
at all would be welcome." And the thought of what it would do to Sam... she'd face that day when it came, she thought
with a silent exhale.
"It would be a good excuse to come by and see how you run things on your end." Martinez stated. After all, from what
he'd heard he'd really missed a great deal the last time. Thought he'd missed a great deal looking at the doctor next to
him too.
"We'd have to smuggle you in." Andi warned with a chuckle.
"You missed Swanson striking out." Hector said with a chuckle. Martinez laughed.
"No way."
"All the way, crash and burn." Hector said, referring to Suzette.
"Not everyone's got your luck I guess." Martinez said, casting a glance at Andi. She had arrived with the Delta after all.
"So...about those physicals I was talking about earlier..."
"Yeah, so that's the infirmary." Hector said. "Time to leave."
Andi laughed but slipped her hand easily back into Hector's. Manners never far, she gave Martinez another smile.
"Thank you for the tour." She told him before letting Hector take the lead again and leaving the infirmary behind for the
open air once again. "And thank you for bringing me." She added, leaning up to brush a light kiss against Hector's
cheek. "I know you're prickly about anything vaguely regarding health care."
"Just a little." He admitted with a chuckle. "Because if I'm stuck in there, that means I can't go do my job and I'd have to
sit still with no purpose....besides....with the exception of the broken leg and appendectomy, I haven't had a need for a
doctor. Just those stupid yearlies." Which rated just below the yearly psych eval with the things he'd rather NOT do
with his time!
"So what do you want to see next?"
"I'm a doctor." Andi protested. Though she realized as soon as she said it that she was pushing things considering
he'd used the word 'need'. Deciding to sidetrack, she stopped and looked around with a mild frown. Thinking. She was
starting, in the vaguest sense, to get a feel for his world here. "Where you sleep." She decided. Looked over at him
with a fleeting smile. "If you don't mind."
"See, its different because you might be a doctor, but I'm not a patient." He said with a grin as he turned her around
and headed tot he other side of the tarmac and turned on the first of a series of lights in a large warehouse. Military
style bunkbeds were lined up neatly, with stacked footlockers. Several tables, and chairs, and even a ping pong table
and scattered decks of cards were passed as he led her down the line of bunk beds. "That one's mine." He said,
pointing up to the top level of a neatly made bunk.
"Mm." Andi commented, letting go of his hand to hoist herself up. Sitting there, legs dangling comfortably over the side,
she surveyed the area from that viewpoint. Suspecting that, even if they'd been assigned, Hector had chosen this
specific bed for a reason, even if it was only placement near friends and height advantage. She tipped her head to
look down at him. Face very serious as she added:
"Good choice. This way, if the monsters come out from under the bed, they'll eat whoever's on the bottom first and
give you a chance to get away."
"That and the distance from the bed to the ceiling is a lot more than the distance from the bottom bunk to the bottom
of the top bunk." He said with a chuckle, easily hoisting himself up beside her. He did it all the time after all. "Bunk beds
means we can fit in twice the amount as normal, even if we do feel like we're twelve again. Complete with people
coming to wake us up and make our food!"
Andi stroked her fingers lightly through his hair on the top of his head once he'd joined her. Not missing the way the
muscles on his arms moved as he hoisted himself up. "That's not a very fun reason." She chided him with a grin and
then shifted over to lean against him lightly. From here she could see the entire room. The tiny personalized touches
and the stark conformity. Thoughtful, she asked:
"Do you keep any pictures? Of your family?"
"A few." He said and lifted up a corner of the mattress and pulled out a handful of photographs. "That's my mother." He
said, passing her a dated picture of a dark haired woman. "This is my sister Cassie, she looks just like her, those are
her two kids, Josh and Marcella." Then a picture of a young blonde with two kids. "That's Beth and her two kids. Jamie
and Audrey. Diane and her one kid Heather. She had a boy, but I don’t have a picture of him yet. Sarah, no kids yet.
And Pete, thank god no kids." He said. Conspicuously missing were any pictures of his father and stepmother. "These
are my two sets of grandparents, and the great grandparents." He said, passing over more pictures, some of which he
was in, they were taken at family events and the like.
She moved fingers across the people in the pictures as if she could touch them. Looking at faces, at eyes, at the way
they stood together. At the background that showed the world they lived in. At who wasn't included. He might not think
his was a large family but to her it was huge. And the concept of so many siblings... She slipped a finger across him in
one of the shots. Because he looked - so happy. And a little bit sad too...
"Your mother's very beautiful." She told him, going back to the picture. Because... she had Hector's eyes. Or rather he
had hers. But they were the same eyes. Holding the same emotions...
"And this grandfather looks like a corker." She added with a fond smile, holding the picture out so she could look at it
in better light. If she sat quiet enough, she thought the people in the photos might move if they thought no one was
looking. Show her more of their world. Going back through them again, she asked: "Who's dog is that? And who's
house is everyone in front of?"
"That's Grandpa Joe." He said. "He's...interesting. In a good way." He assured her. "Completely indescribable. Ribald
sense of humor, but manners. He'll open the door for a lady while telling a dirty joke. That sort of thing. That's Beth's
dog, stupidest dog in the whole world. Never let that dog kiss you. You know how dogs drink out of toilet bowls,
presumably because its cold? Well, he drinks after someone's used it if they've forgotten to flush." He made a face at
that. "That's the infamous grandparents house. Well, mine now. Looks the same, but I took that shrub out front out, it
was rotting."
"Yeah?" The vicarious family was temporarily set aside as she focused on the house. Slipping fingers over it again as
if she could feel the boards. Touching the bush he'd pulled, the edge of a shutter, the beginning of a porch. She
pulled her legs up and crossed them in front of her.
"This is yours." Her voice was quiet. "Where you could have gone instead of coming to see me last time." She looked
at the picture intently. As if, if she looked carefully enough it would show her more. "Where the piano is and the
shingles that need replacing and the neighbor next door that you don't like so much." And the 'home town girls' she
thought with a sudden frown. Wondering if one of them lived in the house right next door, just off the edge of the
picture where she couldn't see it. Thoughtful she touched the edge of the photo. Looking again at the people in the
picture in front of it. Finding it all suddenly foreign and for so many reasons.
"When was the last time you went back?" She asked. Watching the picture. "Instead of sneaking into Red Cross
camps?"
"Bout a year or so I figure." Hector said. "My sister takes her kids there on holidays and vacations, so it's not like it's
too lonely. Besides, sneaking into a Red Cross camp is far more fun than boarding a plane for a few hours. Why?
Going to argue with me about my choices of vacations now?"
She turned her head to shoot him a look over her shoulder, breaking into a sudden grin.
"I should." She agreed, heart lightening as she leaned forward to rest her forehead against his. "Except I'm greedy.
And selfish. And I like you too much."
"Yeah?' He replied, smiling broadly at that. "Well, good." He said with a nod. “I'll settle for that." He leaned over and
kissed her. "You still gotta catch up to me though. Anyway, so that's the house. It’s a nice house, even if my neighbor
is a jerk. My sister says next time I'm home I oughta do some target practice in the back yard, that should make him
sell and go away. Hoping. You can even set up the targets if you want to be evil with me."
He was throwing several things at her very quickly in a row. She refused to be rushed past any of it though. The 'catch
up to him' was opaque. And she wasn't sure if she should try to clarify it. Easy way out would be to crack a joke about
his neighbor. Except then he casually slipped in the comment that indicated she'd be there too.
How could he do that? As if he meant it in more than just casual fun?
"What if I did?" She asked quietly. Watching his face as she carefully picked her words. Knowing she was pushing
things again and certainly shouldn't. "What if I did want to 'be evil with you'?"
"That would be great." He said seriously. "Because it sucks to have to be evil to neighbors alone." He'd been perhaps
a little too quick, not to mention making all sorts of assumptions, but they were assumptions he would make into fact if
given half the chance.
And it looked like she was giving him at least that half of a chance.
"Then make sure your passport is updated and you're ready for some humidity because I'm quite serious." He clarified
a bit for her.
She might not have believed him. Even as serious as his eyes were. But - he'd written steadily. Been honestly pleased
to see her here. Traveled five days just to share a sunrise with her...
It was hard. You could want things as badly as you wanted. Sigh over them and dream idle dreams. But the thinking
you could actually have them... There had been a great deal in her life she'd wanted. And a great deal of it she simply
couldn't have. She understood that. It was when you wanted something very badly, and thought you were going to
have it - and then it didn't turn up -
and she wanted this very, very badly.
Her eyes were dark and serious as she watched his face. Going home with him meant a great deal more than simply
going home with him. She would only go home with him if she was intending to stay. With him. For the rest of her life.
She knew that wasn't exactly the way a great deal of the world viewed relationships, all the talk about trying on shoes
and getting the milk for free and a great many other euphemisms for dodging forever. She should really warn him...
Which would in turn scare the tabasco sauce out of him and she'd never see him again.
She wasn't ready to never see him again...
She shifted around on the bed so that she was facing him, the outside of her thigh snugged against his. Noting
absently what long legs they both had. Exhaling she wrapped her arms around him. Because it was easier. She
borrowed his bravery when she was this way even if he didn't know it. Tipping her head back to met his eyes, she
stated quietly.
"My passport is always up to date. If you ever needed help. Dealing with your fearsome neighbor." She added.
"I always need help with my fearsome neighbor." He said with a hint of a smile, wondering if she knew exactly what she
had just agreed to. After all, perhaps the Rottweiler metaphor hadn't been completely inaccurate. He looped his arms
around her waist and looked at her.
They were as completely alone as possible on a base, the barracks empty save for one man so exhausted he couldn't
even snore. Hector doubted he'd wake up for drill in the morning, honestly. He'd sleep through a bomb set off under
his bed most likely.
So there they were, on his top bunk, in a quiet part of the base.