LbN: Happy New Year! Here's the first of 100 Days of AUs. Based on the prompt "Fellow Soldiers". Apologies to any Marines reading - I did the best I could, but I know that this isn't how missions go :).
Dani was trying to stay quiet and calm, but it wasn't working. She was cold, and tired, and for some damn reason, her uniform was really irritating the skin on her arms. Her teeth were chattering, and she had fallen into the very bad habit of imagining all of the food she'd eat when she got back to the states.
A hand rested on her shoulder, squeezing gently.
Dani reached up and took Santana's hand for a moment. She'd hoped the other woman had been getting some sleep at least, but they'd all known it would be a sleepless night when they'd started. She breathed in and closed her eyes, trying to rest without sleeping. As the wind whispered and bugs buzzed around them, she remembered the beginning of the assignment three months ago.
"You think this will last long?"
Dani turned to Santana and rolled her eyes. The question had come from Tucker - the most squeamish soldier they'd ever met. Everyone had been surprised when he'd made it through basic, Tucker most of all. He was one of those people who seemed to live in a constant state of nervousness. Dani usually had better patience than Santana, but he'd been asking pointless questions the entire flight.
Santana smiled and gave her a playful nudge, going back to her book.
"No, seriously," Tucker whispered. "It's not like we're at war with them. They can't keep us here for long."
"Keep dreaming, Tuck," Santana said, half turning. "We're protecting assets."
"We're protecting their people," Grayson, another soldier in their unit, said. "They asked for our help."
"Our bastards got their dicks in the stuff coming out of the Amazon. It's the oil wars all over again."
"Fuck the politics," Dani said. "And fuck the time frame. We're here. You start thinking about that stuff and we'll start making mistakes."
Grayson harrumphed and sat back. Tucker went back to fidgeting.
They got to Sao Paulo in another six hours. The truck ride out to the village they were assigned to took another nine hours, during which they were briefed on the situation. Dani nodded off once the major got done with the briefing. But the cramped, slightly bumpy ride ensured that she didn't get a lot of sleep.
The rain started around one o'clock, but by that time they were moving again. The buildings they were approaching were set in a vague horeshoe shape. They could see them about two football fields away, but instead of staying on a straight path, half of the squad broke off to the right and the other broke off to the left. Dani followed Santana to the west, with another four including their captain. They waited, still and quiet until captain tapped his gun and pointed forward. They knew, somewhere to the north, the other part of the unit was getting into position. Their objective was straightforward, even if it wouldn't be easy. Ten kids were being held in an abandoned school complex. Their town had been attacked two days before, and they get them back.
The complex was completely still, which unnerved Dani more than having to go straight into a gunfight. Their squad spread out around one specific building and Dani smirked as she watched Santana go Harriet the Spy with a pocket mirror.
Santana used it to gaze through the window. It was barely perceptible in the wet gloom, but she nodded once... twice... three times.
The captain made two hand motions with his hand to ask if she was sure. When he got the confirmation, he pointed once to the northern part of the building and once to the south. He, Tucker and Adams went south while Santana, Dani and Gorman went north.
Of all the things Dani had never quite imagined, picking a lock in the middle of the rain in Brazil was right up there on the list. She was incredibly glad that this wasn't an action movie. If it had been an action movie, the door would've squeaked, alerting the "bad guys" to their presence. As it was, the door swung open easily, and they slipped into the stairwell with barely a sound. She took point as they crept into the ground level room.
The children were asleep behind a group of desks. Santana put a hand over one's mouth and shook him gently.
Familiar grey eyes opened in panic, but then calmed when Santana pointed to the name on her uniform.
Santana and Dani were staying in the same barracks, but had different "beats" around the city. Currently, Dani was just outside of the local primary school. The older kids were outside, having gym class. There seemed to be a discussion going on amongst the older boys as they did their stretches, and she smiled when one came up to her.
"Olá, Davi," she said.
"Good morning, Dona Dani," he said, and continued in heavily accented English. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Dani laughed. Their officers had instructed them to give the children their first names, as a way of establishing a connection with them. The younger ones huddled close to them, just watching in admiration (or possibly fear, depending on who was feeding them stories), and the older ones flirted. The amount of ten and eleven year olds flirting with them was hysterical. "I have someone special to me, yes," she answered, thinking of the woman on patrol across town.
Davi didn't seem too disheartened by this information. His grey eyes twinkled as he said, "But our names are close! We are… em… soulmates!"
Dani ruffled his hair. "No more romance novels for you."
He laughed and went back to his classmates.
They got the kids out into the night, and the other three fell in with their group. They trooped quickly to a nearby shed as gunshots began to ring out. The captain shone a flashlight around the shed, clearly relieved that they were alone and all the children were accounted for. Two units had been assigned to this mission, and theirs was responsible for the safety of the children. The unit engaged in the firefight outside was the muscle, and the low blue glow to her right told Dani that backup was on the way.
They heard voices in the night. Children's voices - frightened and high pitched - screaming as the guns continued. All of the soldiers looked around urgently, taking a head count of the kids. They were all there.
Santana leaned down to whisper something to Davi, and got a little head shake in return to her question.
And as suddenly as it had begun, the noise died away. Not a single person moved until they heard,
"Semper Fi - Do or Die!" right at their door. It opened a second later, to reveal Captain Conrad. "All clear - move out."
The walk back felt twice as long, which Dani considered an impossibility since the walk to the barracks had felt like forever. They made it back to the village just daylight was breaking, and took the kids to the church, where the parents had been waiting and praying. A scream of happiness and relief was the first sound to wake the village.
"We made it back," Dani whispered as she and Santana watched parents be reunited with children.
Santana nodded and squeezed her shoulder. "They made it back," she amended. "Small victories never get old."
Fin
LbN: Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it. There's a poll up for Day 5's AU, if you want to vote.