She hoped the pillow didn't smell like the soap she used for her hair.
It was a silly thing to think. Last night she'd taken her shower and washed her hair and crawled into bed, arm across
the stuffed elephant, chin tucked across its shoulder and body so exhausted it had actually felt like falling when she'd
fallen asleep. But she'd still noticed.
Her pillow didn't smell like her.
It smelled like him. Hector. That clean, shadowed, masculine scent. She must have been inhaling it as they'd played
because she automatically registered it as his before her sleepy mind kicked in and explained why. The way she'd
found that whispered scent comforting before she'd realized who it belonged to.
She pulled her hair back into a pony tail now, looking down at the bed, Mr. Snuffles back at his defensive post of
sitting in the middle of it now that she'd made it again. She'd slept - very good last night. Combination of exhaustion, a
good bed, and a tired body. If she was going to go fanciful she might think it was the pillow too. She wasn't sure she
wanted to be fanciful.
She had a reputation for being calm and cool and unflappable. Friendly and kind and big hearted with a weakness for
hurting people but reserved and just a little withdrawn. She was rational. Thought things through logically before she
decided on a move. A chess piece. At least unless you talked to anyone from her home in Zaire. Who would find all of
the above, except the weakness for hurting people, highly laughable. She was well aware of the discrepancy. She'd
spent her life shedding her 'English' image on the plane into Africa and then putting it back on like a school sweater
on the trip back to boarding school. It wasn't any less her. It was just a different part of her that rose or sank
depending on where she was. And right now, she was in a refugee camp doing her job as a doctor and the 'English'
side of her told her it was logical to stay 'English'. Because 'Zaire' had a heart that broke too easy.
And there was too much here that could break her heart.
Leaning down she smoothed a hand over her pillow.
And hoped it didn't smell like her shampoo instead of African sun and secrets hidden in moonless nights.
Straightening up, she ducked out of the tent and headed for the clinic. Ready to get back to work. No matter what was
going on inside her head, there was always something that needed her hands to be busy.
It was a good thing.
Hector was standing by Sam and Mike, who were arguing outside the med tent. He was just standing there, arms
crossed over his chest, sunglasses hiding his eyes as the two doctors argued over Clancy, on whether or not he
should be transported. Today.
Sam was eager to ship the Delta out, and thereby get the rest of the Delta out of his hair. Mike was adamant that
Clancy wasn't ready yet, he was still far too unstable to even attempt loading him into any moving vehicle, even an
ambulance with monitoring.
Sam's judgement, in Hector's opinion, was clouded by the obsession with keeping the military out. even Sam didn't
know who the Delta in his camp outside the infirmary were. Only Hector and Andi knew. Mike probably had a good
idea, but he was keeping it to himself.
Hector had been walking the camp, unloading supplies, berating the Rangers (because that was fun), keeping the
Delta company, when he heard the discussion.
So he stood there, waiting for a moment to say something. Not sure what he should say, just that he should.
"If we transport him, and he so much as moans on the way, we're turning around and coming back." Hector said.
"Then you'll have to deal with all of us, out in the open, in bad ass moods."
Sam glared at the tall soldier. They wouldn't even need to be here if it wasn't for men like him. There wasn't a solution
on this earth that needed a gun to settle it. If it weren't for men that thought the opposite, the Red Cross would be
doing what they were supposed to. Helping drought victims and tsunami survivors. And they did. But they were
stretched so thin that sometimes he wondered if they were doing any good at all. Mother Nature was the least of
these people's problems. It was the men with guns that killed and forced their way into other's lives that caused so
much misery on this planet. Because they didn't end the way a earthquake would. They just kept going. And going.
And in their violence they created more and more people willing to pick up guns to fight them. Picking up a gun and
killing someone didn't solve anything. And he was too old to not be tired of watching governments keep trying the
same broken tries.
The Red Cross, and his camp to him, were supposed to represent the way the world could be. Provide a glimpse,
however marred, of what it was like when man watched out for his fellow man instead of trying to kill him. And now his
small safe haven, created for the people that had already been hurt by men with guns was filled with violent men. And
there was nothing he could do about it. No way he could even protect the dream of what could be from the reality of
what was.
Blaming Andi was pointless. She had a weakness a mile wide for wounded people. Besides, he couldn't stand being
the point behind her wide eyes going guilty and stricken. But he could, and did, blame the soldier in front of him. The
lone wolf that had brought the rest of the pack into the shelter. Hector received the full brunt of his fury and scorn.
"I have not, and will never be, intimidated by a bunch of warlords with guns." Sam snapped. "Not African ones and not
American ones either. You're using him as an excuse to set a precedent and I'm not going to let you get away with it."
"Sam," Mike's voice was harsh, eyes just as narrow and angry as his superior's. "We can't move him. I swore an oath.
To keep the people in my care safe. You did the same. Remember? You move that boy and he could die."
"Airlift him!"
"In what? A chopper?" Mike snarled back. "You've ridden in a bird before. You can't seriously call that stable."
"They transport the wounded in choppers all the time." Sam spit.
"In combat zones!" Mike snapped back.
"You're siding with him because you're military." Sam argued. Mike took the cut as if he'd been expecting it and
wondered why it had been so long in coming.
"He's siding with me." He corrected sharply. "Because he knows I'm right."
Hector shoved his sunglasses up on his head when Sam railed on him, to give him the full heat of his glare. "I'm siding
with Clancy." He said. "You want us to air lift him? Fine. I'll bring a whole squad of Black Hawks and little birds,
because you don't think I’m taking my men up in the air when they could be brought right back down, do you? So we'll
land the whole squad....right here." He said, gesturing to the center square. "That should make everyone happy. And
because he is unstable...your own doc said it, I'll be taking at least one doctor and one nurse with me."
"Of course, we're fighting a war, so when they'd be returned I couldn't say. Would depend on when we could spare
the vehicles, who knows when that would be. Tomorrow. The next day? No idea." Hector said, standing nice and
calmly. "So by all means, give me the cue to call the air infantry in here. Will make my day. Been in withdrawal, you
know, haven't fired my weapon in over twenty four hours, and that's just inconceivable for a man of war like myself."
He wanted to point out the guerillas and militia fighters they'd kept off the Red Cross' back by heading them off at the
pass. But it would fall on deaf ears. He looked at Mike.
"You want me to call in the black hawks or not? Your patient."
Mike rubbed the back of his neck. "Sam, the guy's got bullets we haven't been able to remove yet. You want to be
responsible if we move him and he dies, or becomes a quadriplegic?"
Sam glared. Mad enough to spit brimstone. Mad because he was helpless. He was supposed to keep this camp safe.
From all sides. The US soldiers had brought nothing but trouble with them, and long after they were gone, the trouble
would stay behind. Closing or moving the camp wasn't simply a matter of people being able to go some where else for
their food and medicine. It was a death sentence to hundreds and maybe thousands of innocents.
All because some cowboys had gotten themselves shot up while they'd been out killing.
The fact that he'd just hit Mike with a low blow and the ex-soldier had taken it without complaint didn't help either.
"Fine," he snarled the word. "We keep him. But only until he can be airlifted out of here. And then you take your
wolves and you get out of my camp." His glare shifted to Hector. "And you stay out." His eyes narrowed and his voice
went low. "And you stay away from my doctors while you're here." With that he turned and stormed off, scattering
volunteers in front of him as everyone suddenly found other places to be. Mike watched him go. Silent for a minute
before he looked at Hector standing next to him.
"You heard the man." He stated mildly. "Stop making passes at me."
"What can I say? You're just irresistible." Hector said, glad for the light hearted moment that had come in the passing
of the storm. "But I'll try my best." He slipped his sunglasses back down over his eyes as Sam stormed off, wondering
exactly what he had meant by that comment, he hadn't done anything close to inappropriate. The only thing that on
paper that could possibly be construed as such was that he slept in her bed. Of course, she wasn't there, which
changed the whole picture.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose below his sunglasses and sighed, looking at Mike. "Is he always like that?"
"Only toward the military." Mike said with a shrug. "Course, he gets worse the longer they hang around." Hector shook
his head. Wasn't like he was here by choice, like he was driving by and said 'hey, let's take a siesta for a while guys!'
"Well, thanks." Hector said.
"Don't thank me. I'm just looking out for my patient. He's not totally wrong, and if your man could be moved, I'd be
packing him up myself."
Andi had heard the sounds of argument on her way to the clinic and shifted course slightly. Not that she wanted to
feel more of Sam's wrath pouring down on her head. But if there was fighting going on it had to do with whether they
were going to try to move Clancy or not. The good news was that that meant he was still alive. The bad news was that
he wasn't ready to be moved and politics might get in the way anyway.
Only Hector and Mike were standing in the shade of one of the tents but Sam's wake was easy to spot in the sheer
lack of anyone being visible in a certain direction. Hoping that lightening didn't strike twice in the same spot, Andi
made her way over to join the two men.
Hating that she'd put Sam in this spot and just as sure that the alternative of moving the Delta wasn't one she was
willing to pay.
Joining the other two men, Andi glanced in the direction Sam had gone. Hoping her guess was right and worried that it
might not be.
"Sam's mad and you two are still standing. So Clancy's staying?"
"For the moment." Mike said. "Course if Sam keeps carrying on, he might drag him out of here himself." Hector shook
his head. "Yeah, so far so good. Clancy made it through another night, I managed not to hit Sam, Mike didn't slug him
either..."
"But you have to stop hitting on me." Mike piped up. Hector had to chuckle.
"Yeah, I forgot about that. I have to stop hitting on Mike." He said. There was a reason that Mike brought that up, to
remind Hector he was supposed to stay away from the doctors, and by doctors Sam meant the female doctors. Hector
realized that, and was glad he had his dark glasses on.
Andi's eyebrows went up and she bit down the natural tendency to start smiling. One - at the joke she'd apparently
missed out on. And two - because Mike and Hector sounded like old friends with their back and forth unconscious,
easy banter.
"Mm." She commented. "Might be a good idea. Mike's a bit of an innocent after all."
"Knows just how to hit a man where it hurts, doesn't she?" Mike asked mildly.
"Eh, she's right. You couldn't handle me." Hector said with a bit of a grin. "But you guys are well stocked now,
courtesy of the US Military, even if Sam won't appreciate it." He'd helped with the unloading himself, and though
honestly he didn't know penicillin from morphine, he knew quantity when he saw it.
He looked at Andi, she looked well rested, and had to stop himself form giving her an appreciative glance under
Mike's eagle eye, which had already proven didn't miss much, if anything. "Sleep well?" He asked her.
"Sleep?" Mike shot Andi a look. "You got sleep? Where'd you buy that? Black market? And did you bring enough to
share with the rest of the class?"
Andi stifled a laugh. At both of them.
"Very well." She told Hector with a warm smile. "Thank you." It was his fault anyway. And, he looked - tired. Her eyes
narrowed fractionally. Not tired, body tired, though there was that too. But - tired. Inside tired. If he wasn't wearing
those bloody reflective sunglasses she'd probably be able to judge it better.
"You know its everyone for themself when it comes to sleep and chocolate around here, Mike." She joked. "If I let you
sleep, I'd have to let everyone sleep and then where would we be? All well rested. And we can't have that." She
stepped closer to Hector and rested fingertips lightly against his chest. Checking the steady pressure of his heart
without looking like that was what she was doing. "And you," she looked up at those impossible to see eyes. "You owe
me. I kept my bargain. Almost five hours."
He chuckled and rolled his eyes, even if she couldn't see the last part as she urged him to sleep. "Yeah, I know." He
said. "Course I never bargained on when I was going to take that nap, did I?" He said, smiling wickedly.
"Delta know every back door." Mike snorted.
"Hell yeah, and we use them too." Hector said. "When are you operating on Clancy?"
"Sometime this afternoon." Mike said. Hector nodded, and took off his sunglasses to rub at his eyes. Okay, so he was
a 'little' tired.
"Okay, okay I'll go lay down for a bit." He was barely stifling a yawn.
"Sam has that effect on people." Mike agreed. But the way he looked at Andi when she wasn't looking at him said she
had her own effect on people she turned her attention on. And he already knew where the Delta was going to be
sleeping.
Andi rested her palm over Hector's heart in a soothing move. Gave him a soft smile.
"Go to bed." She told him. Eyes understanding. It was the worry. It tired you out worse than running miles of track. "I'll
make sure someone wakes you up for Clancy if you'd like."
"Yeah I'd like that." He said. "If anything happens, I want to be there. Even if its outside making a nuisance of myself."
He was wondering how strict Sam was going to be on trying to keep Hector out of the clinic tent. He'd hate for the
director see even a tenth of the temper Hector was capable of, or even his quiet stubbornness. "And Mr Snuffles is
going to be behave himself?"
He was definitely drawing this moment out, he knew that. And Mike probably knew it too.
"We had a very long talk." Andi answered seriously. Eyes softening from laughter as she looked up at him. They were
soldiers. They knew they'd agreed to die if that's what it came to. Somehow - she thought it was easier for them to
think about themselves dying than one of the friends that served with them. She brushed his cheek lightly with her
fingers in empathy but all she said was: "You should be safe for today at least."
He managed to smile, he'd be safe from Mr Snuffles no doubt, but other than that safety was an illusion and
completely against his job. He ensured safety by putting him self in danger consciously. All his Delta did. Two of the
bullets in Clancy were meant for him, but Clancy had gotten in the way on purpose before Hector realized what he
was doing. So if anything happened to Clancy...
"Okay. Okay, I'll go to sleep. For a little while."
"Good." She agreed. "Maybe I'll get some work done then." She took a step back and into Mike, who'd moved when
she hadn't noticed. He steadied her with a hand on her arm. Having moved intentionally so that she would back into
him and his hand was a possessive warning as he met Hector's eyes with his own. But what he said was:
"I'm taking care of Clancy. Doesn't matter how things turn out." Which meant one thing to Andi and had another
meaning entirely to the two men she was between. Soldier to soldier, Mike promised: "I'm giving him back to you alive
and in one piece."
"Mike's the best." Andi stated honestly. "Not a meatball."
Mike's lips twisted upward.
"Listen to the lady." He gave Hector a nod and let go of Andi's arm. "I'll see you this afternoon then, Garrett. Lunch for
you, Andi. If I have to bring it in and force it down your throat myself."
"Sure." Andi waved a hand non-committedly as Mike walked off. Tone indicating how little attention she was going to
pay to the threat. She raised a finger at Hector. "You. Sleep." She warned. For all appearances not going to leave
until he started in that direction.
"You like it when I distract you." He said with a chuckle, though he hoped she actually did and wasn't just tolerating
him. Weird thought out of the blue, yes, but brought to the forefront of his mind with Mike's warnings. But he liked the
thought anyway. "Okay, I'll sleep and keep Mr Snuffles company," though the poor elephant would end up on the floor
for sure, "and you go eat and get some work done before I think of some other American excuse to tear you out of the
med tent, since I'm not allowed in there anymore."
The news about being barred from the med tent was new but Andi didn't ask. He was supposed to be on his way to
bed. She'd ask around and find out instead. In the meantime..
"Promises, promises." She teased before giving him a parting smile and headed for the clinic. She'd eat. Eventually.
First she had to find out what she'd missed and then spend the day playing catch up. And that prospect didn't seem
as daunting as it might have.