Fic: Protect and Survive II: Raising the Stakes (3/11)
Title: Protect and Survive II: Raising the Stakes (3/11)
Fandom: Stargate
Rating: T
Genres: action/adventure, drama
Summary: Laura Cadman is caught between a rock and a hard place. Or maybe rather between her heart and her head? Anyway, it's never easy when a certain Doctor and Major are involved.
A/N: Right. Err. There was something I should have remembered. Yes. Which means, no, I still haven't given up on trying to get all the PAS stories over to LJ as well. *sighs Also still promoting my Holiday Fic Request meme! (and hurry up or mackenziesmomma will have claimed all the remaining days)
( Raising the Stakes: Prologue )
( Raising the Stakes 1/11 )
( Raising the Stakes 2/11 )
Three
With a start she jerks awake. Freezing water runs down her face and kind of makes it impossible to hold on to a thought at the first moment. Then she hears Carson’s slightly agitated voice and finally remembers what exactly happened. “Let me check on them. They might have serious…”
“There is no need to check your people.” Oh, this is a new voice. It’s slightly raspy, deep, with a cruel edge to it. It makes her shiver in a totally different way from the coldness at the ‘Gate. Slowly, she opens her eyes. Drops from the gush of water that obviously woke her up keep obscuring her vision and instinctively she wants to wipe them away. This is the moment she realizes her hands are bound behind her back. She can just suppress an annoyed groan. Of course they would be bound. She’s also been stripped off her vest, which makes her feel strangely vulnerable.
“Ah, there’s another one awake.” Oh great, somehow she managed to draw the attention of their captor/jail master/whatever to herself. The man - a guy in his thirties, with non-describe rag-tag clothing on and a scar at the edge of his mouth that turns it into a constant sneer - crouches down in front of her. “Such a pretty little girl. I never understood why they keep sending out all those girl soldiers from Atlantis.”
He’s even closer to her now. Close enough that he can touch her hair and she can see a glimmer in his eyes that has nothing to do with the fire in the background and everything with a deranged mind. Great. Why is it always her that ends up on missions containing lunatics, weirdoes and psychopaths? He keeps touching her hair, plays with a strand that must have fallen lose during the short skirmish at the ‘Gate. It makes her want to recoil in disgust, but at the same time her pride in being a Marine and her spirited temper don’t allow her to show any fear.
So she just straightens her back a little more and lifts up her chin. “Maybe because we little girl soldiers are worth two big men soldiers.” She’s lying, of course. Even two of her couldn’t replace Evan or Colonel Sheppard or any of the other male USAF, USMC and other nations’ SFs. But this guy really doesn’t need to know that.
“Ah, a little loudmouth.” He brought his face next to hers to whisper in her ear. “I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun together.” Before she can react with an appropriate remark - something alongside “Why don’t you just throw yourself into that fire? I’m sure there’s someone around here who would find that amusing.” - someone else already reacts.
“Keep away from her.” Both of them turn their heads. Carson is giving the guy the look he usually reserves for people threatening to keep him from doing his work. It’s scary enough to shut Sheppard up, keep Woolsey out of the infirmary and reduce Rodney to humble muttering. The only thing stronger than that is Keller and Carson looking like that at someone.
The guy - don’t all evil guys usually like to go bragging around their damn names? - though doesn’t seem too fazed by it. In fact, he doesn’t even back away from her. “And who are you to tell me what to do, little man?” Uh-oh. She can see the agitation building up in Carson. Dammit. He’d been held hostage by Michael for over two years, with Michael relentlessly killing people right in front of his eyes to convince him to help him with his research. This must feel like a flashback for him.
“Let. Her. Go.” The whole thing already is taking a strain on him. He can barely contain his anger and his worry for her, and that makes him brave. And stupid. Why couldn’t he let her handle the situation? Now the guy will have it worked out in no time that she means something to at least one of their party and will use it against them. Just. Fucking. Great.
And yes, Mr. Evil doesn’t seem to be a particularly stupid villain. “You seem to be awfully agitated. Am I making you nervous? Does this make you nervous?” And with that he trails two of his fingers down her exposed neck. They are very cold, making her want to shrug them off and run as far away as possible. But it’s still a matter of pride, and she doesn’t want to show any weakness, to neither of them. So she just keeps sitting there, with her feet tugged at the side and her back ramrod straight.
Before Carson, who seems to be barely able to reign in his anger now, can say anything, she hears another voice chime in, rather low, but with a dangerous edge to it. “The Doc told you to leave her alone. If I were you, I’d listen to him.” Seems like Evan finally decided to make himself noticed. And of course he just has to join the Rescue-Helpless-Princess-Laura-Cadman bandwagon.
“Why should I?” Mr. Evil obviously seems to have identified Evan as the bigger thread, because he does let go of her now and walks over to Evan to crouch down in front of him. She makes a mental note that in all his insanity he obviously underestimates Carson, and maybe herself as well.
“She’s of no interest to you.” Ah, and she shouldn’t have underestimated Evan either. As opposed to Carson, his tone doesn’t betray any affection for her. It’s matter-of-fact, if not even a bit condescending.
Still doesn’t help them much, obviously, because Mr. Evil sounds honestly interested now. “What makes you say so?”
Evan manages to shrug, what with his hand bound behind his back and everything. “She’s just a subordinate. She doesn’t know anything. If you want intel… try me.” Argh, no. Up to now she was confident he was doing well at playing down her part and her place in his heart, but this… argh. Guys like this Mr. Evil… they take you by your word.
“Maybe I’m not interested in any information.” Oh yes, you are, you evil bastard. She can hear it in his voice, could see it in the way his interest was piqued when Evan spoke up. At least she hopes that it’s intel the guy is after.
“You keep your hands off her and the others. Anything you want, you get it from me. But you leave all of them alone.” Oh God, no, he’s doing the great act of sacrifice, probably because he thinks it’s his fault they are in this mess. Or maybe because he thinks he can take the most beatings of them all. But, so help her God, she’s a fucking Marine, and she made it to Atlantis. They didn’t send her there for nothing.
“So? From you, huh? How? Maybe… like this?” And with that the first blow lands in Evan’s face. Mr. Evil has backhanded him and something on his hand - some kind of ring, she recognizes - has cut open his left cheek and left a bloody trail all over it. Great.
He didn’t even have the decency to tell them who he is and he already has drawn blood. Time for a diversion, before he goes on marring Evan’s face further. “Hey, least you could do is tell us at whose mercy we are.”
Mr. Evil whips around again, letting go of Evan who’s shaking his head and not looking particularly happy that she intervened. Well yes, Mr. Air Force, this little girl Marine refuses to let anyone get hurt on her watch. “Ah, my little loudmouth again. She’s a feisty one.” He looks back at Evan, with something like… appreciation in his face. As if praising another man’s… cattle. Blergh.
“Yeah, most of all she’d like to know your name.” She knows she is treating a very fine line here. But she also knows she has to keep him occupied to give the boys an opportunity to think something up. It’s become apparent to her very fast that she can actually use his special interest in her to distract him. So she can very well make herself the decoy and the one wheedling any information out of him.
It might prove a tad taxing, though, because he seems to have some strange fetish with whispering things into her ear. “My name, little one,” - how she hates it when someone calls her that - “is of no importance to you.” Ah, hey, surprise, surprise. “You might be familiar with the name Aiden Ford, though.” Oh. Okay. That is a surprise.
She swallows, trying to decide what to tell him. Then, “Nope. Never heard of him.” Her breath hitches in her throat when she feels him tugging a lose strand behind her ear.
“Oh, I believe you have. Well… let’s just say I used to know him. Even could be called his friend. Back, when his “friends” from Atlantis had already abandoned and betrayed him.” Oh, great. One of Ford’s merry little band of wannabe super heroes. Shouldn’t they have all gone to happy hunting grounds years back?
“What do you want from us then?” He grins, extending the eternal sneer in his face.
“All in due time, my dear. Now... how about I let you take care of the mess this one over there just brought upon himself?” She catches a look from Carson who positively looks like he’s going to tell Mr. Evil to let him have a look at everyone again, but she just has this feeling that he won’t get a positive answer, maybe even receive the answer Evan has received. Meyers is still out, and someone really should take care of the guys.
She shrugs, trying to seem unimpressed. “Sure, knock yourself out.” The moment he gets to loosen her bound hands, her body gets taut, like a rope ready to snap, but when she catches Evan’s eyes, he ever so slightly shakes his head, making it clear that she should refrain from any action. So she forces herself to relax and appear completely unthreatening. Probably Evan is right, and they need a little more time to assess the whole situation before they can act. Still doesn’t change the fact that this guy just creeps her out and makes her want to run very fast from this cave.
Finally he freed her from her bounds. Obviously he estimates her to be the team’s weakest member. She would love to contradict him, but as Evan told her, this just isn’t the right time and place for it, yet. With a last sneer, their captor finally leaves through one of the thick wooden doors to plan only God knows what evil.
With a rush of relief she finally flexes her hands, rolls her shoulders and resolutely redoes the pony-tail. Every little thing is actually meant to shake off the strange icky feeling their captor’s touches have left behind. When she’s done she feels strong enough that she doesn’t have to fake resolve for the guys.
“Alright… let’s see if I can cut you all lose.” She even cracks her fingers and wants to start working on Carson’s bindings, but Evan interrupts her.
“Negative. I want him to believe that we are very, very stupid. If he’s really one of Ford’s guys… he’s absolutely unpredictable.” Carson nods.
“Aye. We don’t know if he’s still taking the enzyme, how much the probably long lasting abuse has affected his brain…” She rolls her eyes. How stupid do they think she is, huh?
“Hey, all I was saying is unbinding you now to give you all a chance to stretch up, give Carson the chance to patch you up, have a look at Meyers… I’ll get you all wrapped up again in no time.” Evan shakes his head.
“Still negative. Laura, we have no idea when he’s going to be back. You really need to keep him thinking you’re the harmless one whose big mouth is just a cover for her fear.” If he knew how close he just came with that assumption… another thing she sure is never gonna tell him, even if they make it back to being friends.
“Alright. Fine. But I sucked at first aid training. You’re not gonna have much fun with me dressing that gash across your cheek.” A short humorless ghost of a laugh escapes Evan’s mouth.
“I really think I can live with that.” She sighs and looks back at Carson. Somehow it’s embarrassing to have to admit that first aid was never her strong suit to the one who might very well be the best doctor in two galaxies. And well, used to be her boyfriend, once upon a time.
“You’ll do just fine, Laura.” She gives him a smirk.
“Right.” She turns to Evan, not willing to let Carson see possible hints at her not being comfortable with her current role at all. “Now… let’s see if we can wake up Sergeant Sleeping Beauty and then get those ugly red smears out of your face.”
With that, she walks over to Meyers and after some shaking he actually wakes up. She’s really relieved to see him unharmed, except for the slight dizziness one always experiences after being hit with a stun bolt. After checking his pupils and filling him in on what happened - his grumbled “Not again the merry men.” expresses very accurately what they all are thinking - she moves on to raid what Mr. Evil has left of Carson’s medical supplies. Of course he hasn’t left a single sharp or pointy object in there, but at least a few bandages, band aids and other stuff to wrap wounds is still inside.
Armed with everything she thinks she might need, she approaches Evan and crouches down beside him. Gingerly, she grabs his chin and positions his profile so that she can use all the fire’s sparse light. She’s pretty sure she’s not the gentlest of nurses, so she chooses to quietly talk to him to distract him. “You are an idiot.”
Argh. Way to go, Lieutenant. Why don’t you demote yourself while you’re at? This is surely not the right way to talk to your CO whose heart is probably still a little sore from you trampling on it. “Oh right, and you are the right person to tell me that exactly why?” He doesn’t sound very amused. But, come to think of it, not seriously offended either. Mh.
She starts dapping at the gash with some wet cloth, and involuntarily he flinches. “Hold still.” He sighs a little impatiently. Yes, well, it was his idea to let her do this. “I wasn’t the one getting hit. Why couldn’t you just keep your trap shut?” And why can’t she keep her trap shut? But obviously all the worry about him being hit more than just this is eager to let itself known, and the only thing she can do is transfigure it into snarkyness.
“Because I needed to distract him from you.” Oh, of course, right. As if she didn’t already knew that.
“Bullshit. I can stand my ground pretty well, thank you very much.” She needs to be careful, that her righteous anger isn’t transferring itself into her attempts at cleaning his wound.
And the fact that he suddenly turns his face toward her doesn’t help her either. “Believe me, Laura… you cannot stand your ground against someone like this.” They way he looks at her tells her that he really means this. And that he thinks he needs to protect her from this. But she hates it when guys try to go down that road with her, so this time she lets her anger show through.
“Hey, if this is about what happened on the balcony…” He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. She’s sure that if his hands were free, he’d probably throw them up.
“It’s not. It’s about you wanting to solve this single-handedly, which you just can’t.” His voice has climbed a few steps up the volume, showing that this is already getting to him. She wants to say something, something about stupid male soldiers always patronizing female soldiers and trying to tell them what they can do and what they can’t, but he seems to have anticipated this because he continues talking without giving her the chance to barge in, this time a lot less agitated and a lot more like a friend than a CO. “And you don’t have to. This is what a team is there for.”
He’s right. Of course he’s right. When did she stop being a team player? Oh right, when - maybe for the first time ever - her gender was becoming an issue on a mission. But that’s not his fault and she shouldn’t treat him as if it was. “Alright then.” Still doesn’t mean she’ll let the guys do all the dirty work. “Just promise me you will let me fulfill my part when it’s due.” He nods looking strangely defeated. And then she realizes that this might be the last possibility for them to talk quietly before the shit hits the fan, so she decides to seize her chance here and now. “And something else.”
“Some… okay… what else?” he replies a little wary, with his eyebrow raised.
She takes a deep breath. “When this is over, we will talk about what happened on the balcony.”
He takes his time with answering, up until she’s nearly done with cleaning and dressing the gash in his cheek. “Fine. Although I don’t see anything that needs to be talked about.”
She has to grin a little at his muttering, and before she can hold herself back, she murmurs: “Oh, you’d be awfully surprised.”
He wants to answer something, but obviously thinks better of it and chooses to ignore it. “Well, people… as long as this guy is out of the room, we need to find a solution to all of this. Any suggestions?”
~*~TBC in Chapter Four.
Fandom: Stargate
Rating: T
Genres: action/adventure, drama
Summary: Laura Cadman is caught between a rock and a hard place. Or maybe rather between her heart and her head? Anyway, it's never easy when a certain Doctor and Major are involved.
A/N: Right. Err. There was something I should have remembered. Yes. Which means, no, I still haven't given up on trying to get all the PAS stories over to LJ as well. *sighs Also still promoting my Holiday Fic Request meme! (and hurry up or mackenziesmomma will have claimed all the remaining days)
( Raising the Stakes: Prologue )
( Raising the Stakes 1/11 )
( Raising the Stakes 2/11 )
Three
With a start she jerks awake. Freezing water runs down her face and kind of makes it impossible to hold on to a thought at the first moment. Then she hears Carson’s slightly agitated voice and finally remembers what exactly happened. “Let me check on them. They might have serious…”
“There is no need to check your people.” Oh, this is a new voice. It’s slightly raspy, deep, with a cruel edge to it. It makes her shiver in a totally different way from the coldness at the ‘Gate. Slowly, she opens her eyes. Drops from the gush of water that obviously woke her up keep obscuring her vision and instinctively she wants to wipe them away. This is the moment she realizes her hands are bound behind her back. She can just suppress an annoyed groan. Of course they would be bound. She’s also been stripped off her vest, which makes her feel strangely vulnerable.
“Ah, there’s another one awake.” Oh great, somehow she managed to draw the attention of their captor/jail master/whatever to herself. The man - a guy in his thirties, with non-describe rag-tag clothing on and a scar at the edge of his mouth that turns it into a constant sneer - crouches down in front of her. “Such a pretty little girl. I never understood why they keep sending out all those girl soldiers from Atlantis.”
He’s even closer to her now. Close enough that he can touch her hair and she can see a glimmer in his eyes that has nothing to do with the fire in the background and everything with a deranged mind. Great. Why is it always her that ends up on missions containing lunatics, weirdoes and psychopaths? He keeps touching her hair, plays with a strand that must have fallen lose during the short skirmish at the ‘Gate. It makes her want to recoil in disgust, but at the same time her pride in being a Marine and her spirited temper don’t allow her to show any fear.
So she just straightens her back a little more and lifts up her chin. “Maybe because we little girl soldiers are worth two big men soldiers.” She’s lying, of course. Even two of her couldn’t replace Evan or Colonel Sheppard or any of the other male USAF, USMC and other nations’ SFs. But this guy really doesn’t need to know that.
“Ah, a little loudmouth.” He brought his face next to hers to whisper in her ear. “I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun together.” Before she can react with an appropriate remark - something alongside “Why don’t you just throw yourself into that fire? I’m sure there’s someone around here who would find that amusing.” - someone else already reacts.
“Keep away from her.” Both of them turn their heads. Carson is giving the guy the look he usually reserves for people threatening to keep him from doing his work. It’s scary enough to shut Sheppard up, keep Woolsey out of the infirmary and reduce Rodney to humble muttering. The only thing stronger than that is Keller and Carson looking like that at someone.
The guy - don’t all evil guys usually like to go bragging around their damn names? - though doesn’t seem too fazed by it. In fact, he doesn’t even back away from her. “And who are you to tell me what to do, little man?” Uh-oh. She can see the agitation building up in Carson. Dammit. He’d been held hostage by Michael for over two years, with Michael relentlessly killing people right in front of his eyes to convince him to help him with his research. This must feel like a flashback for him.
“Let. Her. Go.” The whole thing already is taking a strain on him. He can barely contain his anger and his worry for her, and that makes him brave. And stupid. Why couldn’t he let her handle the situation? Now the guy will have it worked out in no time that she means something to at least one of their party and will use it against them. Just. Fucking. Great.
And yes, Mr. Evil doesn’t seem to be a particularly stupid villain. “You seem to be awfully agitated. Am I making you nervous? Does this make you nervous?” And with that he trails two of his fingers down her exposed neck. They are very cold, making her want to shrug them off and run as far away as possible. But it’s still a matter of pride, and she doesn’t want to show any weakness, to neither of them. So she just keeps sitting there, with her feet tugged at the side and her back ramrod straight.
Before Carson, who seems to be barely able to reign in his anger now, can say anything, she hears another voice chime in, rather low, but with a dangerous edge to it. “The Doc told you to leave her alone. If I were you, I’d listen to him.” Seems like Evan finally decided to make himself noticed. And of course he just has to join the Rescue-Helpless-Princess-Laura-Cadman bandwagon.
“Why should I?” Mr. Evil obviously seems to have identified Evan as the bigger thread, because he does let go of her now and walks over to Evan to crouch down in front of him. She makes a mental note that in all his insanity he obviously underestimates Carson, and maybe herself as well.
“She’s of no interest to you.” Ah, and she shouldn’t have underestimated Evan either. As opposed to Carson, his tone doesn’t betray any affection for her. It’s matter-of-fact, if not even a bit condescending.
Still doesn’t help them much, obviously, because Mr. Evil sounds honestly interested now. “What makes you say so?”
Evan manages to shrug, what with his hand bound behind his back and everything. “She’s just a subordinate. She doesn’t know anything. If you want intel… try me.” Argh, no. Up to now she was confident he was doing well at playing down her part and her place in his heart, but this… argh. Guys like this Mr. Evil… they take you by your word.
“Maybe I’m not interested in any information.” Oh yes, you are, you evil bastard. She can hear it in his voice, could see it in the way his interest was piqued when Evan spoke up. At least she hopes that it’s intel the guy is after.
“You keep your hands off her and the others. Anything you want, you get it from me. But you leave all of them alone.” Oh God, no, he’s doing the great act of sacrifice, probably because he thinks it’s his fault they are in this mess. Or maybe because he thinks he can take the most beatings of them all. But, so help her God, she’s a fucking Marine, and she made it to Atlantis. They didn’t send her there for nothing.
“So? From you, huh? How? Maybe… like this?” And with that the first blow lands in Evan’s face. Mr. Evil has backhanded him and something on his hand - some kind of ring, she recognizes - has cut open his left cheek and left a bloody trail all over it. Great.
He didn’t even have the decency to tell them who he is and he already has drawn blood. Time for a diversion, before he goes on marring Evan’s face further. “Hey, least you could do is tell us at whose mercy we are.”
Mr. Evil whips around again, letting go of Evan who’s shaking his head and not looking particularly happy that she intervened. Well yes, Mr. Air Force, this little girl Marine refuses to let anyone get hurt on her watch. “Ah, my little loudmouth again. She’s a feisty one.” He looks back at Evan, with something like… appreciation in his face. As if praising another man’s… cattle. Blergh.
“Yeah, most of all she’d like to know your name.” She knows she is treating a very fine line here. But she also knows she has to keep him occupied to give the boys an opportunity to think something up. It’s become apparent to her very fast that she can actually use his special interest in her to distract him. So she can very well make herself the decoy and the one wheedling any information out of him.
It might prove a tad taxing, though, because he seems to have some strange fetish with whispering things into her ear. “My name, little one,” - how she hates it when someone calls her that - “is of no importance to you.” Ah, hey, surprise, surprise. “You might be familiar with the name Aiden Ford, though.” Oh. Okay. That is a surprise.
She swallows, trying to decide what to tell him. Then, “Nope. Never heard of him.” Her breath hitches in her throat when she feels him tugging a lose strand behind her ear.
“Oh, I believe you have. Well… let’s just say I used to know him. Even could be called his friend. Back, when his “friends” from Atlantis had already abandoned and betrayed him.” Oh, great. One of Ford’s merry little band of wannabe super heroes. Shouldn’t they have all gone to happy hunting grounds years back?
“What do you want from us then?” He grins, extending the eternal sneer in his face.
“All in due time, my dear. Now... how about I let you take care of the mess this one over there just brought upon himself?” She catches a look from Carson who positively looks like he’s going to tell Mr. Evil to let him have a look at everyone again, but she just has this feeling that he won’t get a positive answer, maybe even receive the answer Evan has received. Meyers is still out, and someone really should take care of the guys.
She shrugs, trying to seem unimpressed. “Sure, knock yourself out.” The moment he gets to loosen her bound hands, her body gets taut, like a rope ready to snap, but when she catches Evan’s eyes, he ever so slightly shakes his head, making it clear that she should refrain from any action. So she forces herself to relax and appear completely unthreatening. Probably Evan is right, and they need a little more time to assess the whole situation before they can act. Still doesn’t change the fact that this guy just creeps her out and makes her want to run very fast from this cave.
Finally he freed her from her bounds. Obviously he estimates her to be the team’s weakest member. She would love to contradict him, but as Evan told her, this just isn’t the right time and place for it, yet. With a last sneer, their captor finally leaves through one of the thick wooden doors to plan only God knows what evil.
With a rush of relief she finally flexes her hands, rolls her shoulders and resolutely redoes the pony-tail. Every little thing is actually meant to shake off the strange icky feeling their captor’s touches have left behind. When she’s done she feels strong enough that she doesn’t have to fake resolve for the guys.
“Alright… let’s see if I can cut you all lose.” She even cracks her fingers and wants to start working on Carson’s bindings, but Evan interrupts her.
“Negative. I want him to believe that we are very, very stupid. If he’s really one of Ford’s guys… he’s absolutely unpredictable.” Carson nods.
“Aye. We don’t know if he’s still taking the enzyme, how much the probably long lasting abuse has affected his brain…” She rolls her eyes. How stupid do they think she is, huh?
“Hey, all I was saying is unbinding you now to give you all a chance to stretch up, give Carson the chance to patch you up, have a look at Meyers… I’ll get you all wrapped up again in no time.” Evan shakes his head.
“Still negative. Laura, we have no idea when he’s going to be back. You really need to keep him thinking you’re the harmless one whose big mouth is just a cover for her fear.” If he knew how close he just came with that assumption… another thing she sure is never gonna tell him, even if they make it back to being friends.
“Alright. Fine. But I sucked at first aid training. You’re not gonna have much fun with me dressing that gash across your cheek.” A short humorless ghost of a laugh escapes Evan’s mouth.
“I really think I can live with that.” She sighs and looks back at Carson. Somehow it’s embarrassing to have to admit that first aid was never her strong suit to the one who might very well be the best doctor in two galaxies. And well, used to be her boyfriend, once upon a time.
“You’ll do just fine, Laura.” She gives him a smirk.
“Right.” She turns to Evan, not willing to let Carson see possible hints at her not being comfortable with her current role at all. “Now… let’s see if we can wake up Sergeant Sleeping Beauty and then get those ugly red smears out of your face.”
With that, she walks over to Meyers and after some shaking he actually wakes up. She’s really relieved to see him unharmed, except for the slight dizziness one always experiences after being hit with a stun bolt. After checking his pupils and filling him in on what happened - his grumbled “Not again the merry men.” expresses very accurately what they all are thinking - she moves on to raid what Mr. Evil has left of Carson’s medical supplies. Of course he hasn’t left a single sharp or pointy object in there, but at least a few bandages, band aids and other stuff to wrap wounds is still inside.
Armed with everything she thinks she might need, she approaches Evan and crouches down beside him. Gingerly, she grabs his chin and positions his profile so that she can use all the fire’s sparse light. She’s pretty sure she’s not the gentlest of nurses, so she chooses to quietly talk to him to distract him. “You are an idiot.”
Argh. Way to go, Lieutenant. Why don’t you demote yourself while you’re at? This is surely not the right way to talk to your CO whose heart is probably still a little sore from you trampling on it. “Oh right, and you are the right person to tell me that exactly why?” He doesn’t sound very amused. But, come to think of it, not seriously offended either. Mh.
She starts dapping at the gash with some wet cloth, and involuntarily he flinches. “Hold still.” He sighs a little impatiently. Yes, well, it was his idea to let her do this. “I wasn’t the one getting hit. Why couldn’t you just keep your trap shut?” And why can’t she keep her trap shut? But obviously all the worry about him being hit more than just this is eager to let itself known, and the only thing she can do is transfigure it into snarkyness.
“Because I needed to distract him from you.” Oh, of course, right. As if she didn’t already knew that.
“Bullshit. I can stand my ground pretty well, thank you very much.” She needs to be careful, that her righteous anger isn’t transferring itself into her attempts at cleaning his wound.
And the fact that he suddenly turns his face toward her doesn’t help her either. “Believe me, Laura… you cannot stand your ground against someone like this.” They way he looks at her tells her that he really means this. And that he thinks he needs to protect her from this. But she hates it when guys try to go down that road with her, so this time she lets her anger show through.
“Hey, if this is about what happened on the balcony…” He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. She’s sure that if his hands were free, he’d probably throw them up.
“It’s not. It’s about you wanting to solve this single-handedly, which you just can’t.” His voice has climbed a few steps up the volume, showing that this is already getting to him. She wants to say something, something about stupid male soldiers always patronizing female soldiers and trying to tell them what they can do and what they can’t, but he seems to have anticipated this because he continues talking without giving her the chance to barge in, this time a lot less agitated and a lot more like a friend than a CO. “And you don’t have to. This is what a team is there for.”
He’s right. Of course he’s right. When did she stop being a team player? Oh right, when - maybe for the first time ever - her gender was becoming an issue on a mission. But that’s not his fault and she shouldn’t treat him as if it was. “Alright then.” Still doesn’t mean she’ll let the guys do all the dirty work. “Just promise me you will let me fulfill my part when it’s due.” He nods looking strangely defeated. And then she realizes that this might be the last possibility for them to talk quietly before the shit hits the fan, so she decides to seize her chance here and now. “And something else.”
“Some… okay… what else?” he replies a little wary, with his eyebrow raised.
She takes a deep breath. “When this is over, we will talk about what happened on the balcony.”
He takes his time with answering, up until she’s nearly done with cleaning and dressing the gash in his cheek. “Fine. Although I don’t see anything that needs to be talked about.”
She has to grin a little at his muttering, and before she can hold herself back, she murmurs: “Oh, you’d be awfully surprised.”
He wants to answer something, but obviously thinks better of it and chooses to ignore it. “Well, people… as long as this guy is out of the room, we need to find a solution to all of this. Any suggestions?”
~*~TBC in Chapter Four.