Since he hadn't gotten the hint she shifted until she was laying down, drawing him down with her. Making a mental note
to herself that, when he had something on his mind, Hector wasn't so good about remembering he needed to sleep.
She wouldn't call him 'cute' out loud. Not just yet.
"Later?" She asked, winding herself around him, entirely oblivious to things like blankets and pillows and wherever the
head of the bed was. "Can we sleep now and think about it later? Please? Right now all I can think of is that I'm tired."
And that she could sleep without fear of what might happen if she did or who would be watching her while she
pretended to. She shivered and tucked closer. Forcing the thought, the pictures her mind was all too ready to give her,
that sick, sick feeling in her stomach, away. She kept her eyes open. "And you. That I just want you." She added in a
whisper.
She didn't dare sleep without him against her. She intended to tuck entirely under him if she could. Without his weight
and his warmth and his heartbeat... her mind would find other things to fill those holes with.
She didn't dare.
"Later." He agreed, feeling the past few days quite vividly all the way through his bones. Most of the drive was gone,
she was here, in his arms, away from her shadows that had come to life. Now he just had to keep her safe. But she was
right, they were both too tired to deal with that issue, or any issue really.
And after being pulled down, he got the hint. It had only been something that his body had been hinting at for a while
now. Sleep, wonderful peaceful sleep. If only for a few hours.
"Get some sleep." He said to her. "The shadows won't touch you tonight."
It was only because he said it that she believed it. And she still tried to fit herself as close to entirely under him as she
could. His weight comforting and his presence between her and the rest of the world necessary. Her wrists ached when
she wound her arms around him. Fingers feeling exposed and threatened. But she needed to hold him. She needed it
for herself. And she knew he needed it too.
Then she realized she could slip her hands, and arms, up under his shirt instead and an unconscious, pleased sound
slipped out of her as she did so. She spread her hands as wide as they would go. Soaking up the warmth and familiar
feel of his skin the way a man drank water in the desert. Needing the feel of his skin against hers with an aching
hunger she was too tired to even question. The fabric of the shirt made her hands feel safer and she settled in under
him. Realizing that her eyes were closed and it was all right because she could smell him and he smelled so good.
Good and clean like secrets in a starry, sharp African night. She pressed her face closer into the curve of his jaw.
Feeling the bristles and his skin and his warmth and the faint brush of his hair. The feel of his exhales against her skin.
His heartbeat against her own chest. The way his hands took up so much of her when they spread and his arms...
and somewhere in categorizing the good things, she fell asleep.
Suzette woke up the sleeping couple early in the morning. She believed in a quick return to routine. That meant forcing
food on Andi and bothering Hector.
"Good morning!" She said, cheerfully, coming in noisily and opening the flaps covering the windows, letting the sunlight
spill into the tent. "Don't worry, it's still morning, and there's plenty of daylight to burn!"
Her parents merely chuckled and shook their heads. Late in the night they had entered the tent, fully expecting Hector
and Andi to be awake. They, however, weren't. And Hector was so tired, and his entire being wrapped around the
woman in his arms, that his senses were dulled and he wasn't even alerted to their presence until he groaned and
unwillingly opened his eyes.
"Suzette, you're pretty, but you're a demon." He mumbled.
"Oh, you with your wicked compliments." Suzette teased. What else could she do? He had won her over and she
couldn't find sharp retorts for him anymore. Andi, she noted, simply managed to scrunch down under Hector a bit more
so she could bury her face in his shoulder and had gone right back to sleep. Sean sitting across the tent on the bed
he and Janette had taken the night before, watched it all with a melancholy smile.
He'd seen the way the man in the bed was holding his little girl when he'd come in. And he recognized that it wasn't a
hold that was ever designed to break or grow weary. The same way he recognized the way his little girl had wound
himself so tightly around the young man in her arms that she could have taught vines a thing or two. It said she was a
part of him now. Janette had been the one that covered them both with a blanket, tucking it gently in with practiced
ease and tears in her eyes. Knowing as well as her husband what the two on the bed meant.
It meant their little girl wasn't theirs anymore. Not entirely at least.
"Come along, come along. Allez." Suzette found being cheerful in the morning was actually fun. "I have breakfast."
"I've had a few breakfasts here." Hector pointed out, yawning. "Think I'll pass." He was fine right where he was. Not that
Andi was putting up much complaints either. In fact, she moved a bit, then she seemed to have gone back to sleep.
"Non." Suzette said. "Robert and the one who calls himself Jet made the breakfast, not us. They will be highly insulted if
you do not consume large quantities of it."
"Oh it's Robert now?" Hector asked with a chuckle. "Well, tell 'Robert' he can kiss my ass." Then he glanced at Sean.
"Sorry, sir." Back to Suzette. "Robert, huh?"
"That fascination with calling each other by last names is a military thing, and an American military thing in the first
place. Your mothers gave you first names for a reason." She said, defending herself on knowing the blonde Delta's
first name, and using it. "Besides, to call him Swanson would imply he is the son of a swan. I know nothing of his
mother, but that horrid man is not a swan." Then she groaned in frustration. During her diatribe to preserve her
reputation, Hector had fallen back asleep. She could see his measured, even breathing. And looked at the Whites for
assistance.
Sean was more than content to let the children sleep. Now that they'd been woken their bodies had shifted and now
resembled sleeping puppies more. Each of them tucking their faces into the other and drawing close. Sean was a big
fan of letting people decide for themselves when they were feeling up to something and when they needed more time.
But - his baby girl did look thin. Her cheekbones were her mother's but now they almost stood too prominent under the
pale, freckled skin.
"You didn't hit the weak link." He told the French nurse. "Here. Watch and learn." Without moving from where he was
sitting, his feet propped up and Janette, sitting next to him, watching the proceedings with amusement, he softly called:
"Dromie. Time for church, luv."
"Nh." She shifted under Hector. Trying to move her hand to rub her face and finding it tangled in his shirt. So instead
she shook her head, blinking against the grogginess. Tried to stretch. Mumbled something you probably shouldn't if
you were about to enter a church and managed to get her hand free enough to scrub at her eyes. Started to try to
shift out from under Hector and than stopped. Made a face with her eyes closed and her nose wrinkled. Reminding her
father, who loved her dearly, of a little blind mole.
"Da," she turned her little mole face toward her father even without being able to see him. "It’s Tuesday."
"Wednesday actually." He answered mildly. "But welcome back anyway."
Claiming the battle won, Suz chirped: "I will get the food." And turned with a smile and exited the tent.
Hector groaned at her moving, meaning, the way they were entangled, that he had to move too as she sat up, taking
him with her as best he could.
"That was evil." Hector said, yawning and rubbing at his eyes.
"Get some food into you and then you can go back to sleep." Janette said reasonably. "After all, your friends did go to
the trouble of making edible food for you. Wasn't it you that wrote that your Swanson and Suzette's Robert," she did so
enjoy that exchange, "had a way with food with limited supplies?"
"Using my own words against me. Must be a family tradition."
"Only on the female side." Sean commented as his wife got up to collect the blanket and automatically fold it. "Minds
like steel traps. Janey still remembers things I said to her before I even started chasing."
"Nonsense." Janette cheerfully disagreed. Leaning down to brush a good morning kiss to first her daughter's cheek
and then Hector's. Straightening she looked over her shoulder at her husband and stated: "There was never a point
where you weren't chasing me."
Sean chuckled but didn't disagree.
"Voila!" Suzette appeared again, holding aside the tent flap as first Jet and then Swanson let themselves into the tent
as well. Jet's grin was easy and comfortable but Swanson looked just a bit - jumpy. Suzette, humming, stepped back
out of the tent.
"Figured you two could use something real." Jet stated, setting down a tray who's smells, even before it was set down,
had Andi's stomach remembering how hungry it was. She curled her legs up next to her and leaned into Hector's side
as she watched. "You just take your time. Delta lost a bet and it’s his job to clean up."
"It was rigged." Swanson protested.
"Damn straight it was!" Mark's voice called from outside the tent. Jet just chuckled.
"You play, you pay." He remarked comfortably and than handed plates to the Whites as well. "We've even got
cranberry juice." He told Andi with a wink and a smile.
"Oh boy do I even want to know what the bet was?" Hector asked, sitting up to look at the tray, stacked high with food,
but never moving that far away from Andi.
"No." Swanson said and sat down. "You two okay?" For all his charm and subtlety, sometimes he was blunt and to the
point. Especially with his friend, because it didn't pay to beat around the bush with Hector, he'd just avoid.
Hector looked at Andi. "Yeah, I think we are." He said with a smile. At least right now they were.
She smiled softly back at Hector. Right now, here in this tent, surrounded with her family and her friends and next to
the man she loved? Yes, she thought she was all right. She thought they were all right. Resting the side of her head
against Hector's shoulder she took the full plate Jet passed her with a 'thank you'. She had no idea who he was but he
reminded her of Mike and Hector obviously liked him.
Suzette came back in with the juice and poured a large glass for Andi. Cranberry juice was good for you and luckily
something her English friend for some reason liked a great deal as well. They'd had to look hard to find some but the
way Andi's eyes lit up made it worth it.
There was enough food to go around and everyone got served before Sean said a quick blessing over the meal. Then
it actually got a bit quiet for a while as everyone simply enjoyed the best meal most of them had had in a very long time.
"This is very good." Janette commented and Swanson gave her a smile.
"Special Forces. We're pretty good at procuring hard to find items."
"You should come stay with us sometime." Janette grinned. "I think even you would have a challenge when it comes to
finding the keys to the truck Sean is forever misplacing."
Sean chuckled.
"It would be appreciated. All the help I ever get from Janette is 'well, dear, where did you have them last?'."
Andi leaning contentedly up against Hector's non-dominant arm and actually eating quite well herself for a change
simply tried to soak it all in. Everything about this moment was everything she wanted and it fed her soul even more
than the food in front of her fed her body.
"We wouldn't bother finding the keys." Swanson said, exhaling once Suzette left. "We'd just hot wire it and give you an
automatic transmission."
Hector laughed. "That we would. Half the things on our base are hot wired in one way or another." He agreed.
"Makes it fun. Especially when the Rangers go to try and joyride." Swanson agreed.
"Deltas still not getting along with the Rangers?" Jet asked with a laugh.
"Oh we get along just fine. They're fun to laugh at. One day they'll grow up." Hector said.