A/N: This an idea I've had stuck in my head for over a year and will work on when I have writer's block for my korrasami story (I'm still working on it, I promise).
This is definitely worse than the year before, Angela thought as she stared out the tiny window of the medivac.
"The hills look like tiny islands from up here," Ahmed muttered over the hum of the rotors.
"Tiny islands full of people and displaced wildlife," Angela mused. "I can't tell you how startling it is to get up in the middle of the night in search of a toilet only to find it occupied by a very large snake."
The rest of her usual team, Dr. Neil Sobeck and Nurse Fatima, were utilizing the trip to gain as much sleep as possible before they landed and were thrown into the chaos of caring for hundreds of displaced locals and tourists. The rest of the ancient CH-53E was occupied by other aid members of International Medical - a few she recognized meeting before deploying to the Middle East three years prior, but most were new faces.
"Have you been here before?"
"Not this specific city," she said, memories of other aid missions coming to mind, "but last year around this time we spent two months about two hundred kilometers to the east - every monsoon season is a little different, but this year's appears to be particularly bad."
The younger doctor rubbed the stubble on his chin for a moment before hesitantly asking, "Is this the sort of thing you did while you were part of Overwatch?"
"Not nearly often enough, but sometimes." she said admitted. It should have been an innocent question, but it brought up more than a few unpleasant memories of heated arguments with the Strike Commander. "Occasionally a natural disaster would hit a strategically important location and we'd offer aid. Those were the missions that mattered most to me, that made me feel like I was really helping people, not just governments."
A hazy outline of the Himalayas came into view from the windows on the opposite side of the transport as Angela sat back down, squished by crates of food, water, and medical supplies in the center of the hull. Working for IM had given Dr. Ziegler a sense of purpose she hadn't felt since Captain Ana Amari's death - how many times had the older woman convinced Angela to stick with Overwatch when she began to have doubts about its real goals? More than a few for sure.
She let her head fall back against the seat and closed her eyes. It had only taken a month in the field to notice a change - not just in her mood, but how she saw the world around her. Her days weren't measured by how many hours she could lock herself in the lab, who to save wasn't determined by a council of men and women who'd never set foot in a crisis, and missions weren't deemed complete simply because most of the civilians were safe from harm and their worst injuries were treated.
The tension in her shoulders and neck began to ease as she drifted off. Now her days were spent tending to actual people, talking to them, treating them - things she'd forgotten meant so much to her when she first started practicing medicine. Need, not geopolitical importance, dictated where she traveled and missions lasted weeks if not months instead of days - her team didn't leave until the community was self-sufficient.
A mercifully dreamless sleep muted the hum of the helicopter. If asked why she chose the life of a nomadic medic over having her pick of any research institute or university, she'd say it was her need to help people, that while her nanotechnology had saved literally hundreds of millions of lives, she still felt the urge to be in the chaos of the frontlines, to help wherever she was needed. It was only after especially hard days or nightmare filled nights she'd admit to herself, and only herself, that the other reason was guilt, that this was her penance for failing so many of her colleagues and friends in Zurich.
"Captain Amari, you're early . . . as usual."
A small smile eased onto Fareeha's face as she stood at attention before her superior. "My squad and I are ready for our next mission," she said simply.
He gestured to the seat in front of his desk. "I see you and your team have been medically cleared after the Anubis incident. How do you feel your team is holding up?"
The soldier was careful not to betray too much emotion. "The pain of losing so many good men will linger, but it also spurs us on. Their memory lives on in us and we will continue to fight."
"Good to hear." He glanced down at the tablet in his hand. "How do you feel about aid work?"
"With International Medical?" she ventured, hoped really.
He nodded. "They're sending groups to Chandigarh in northern India to help with flooding caused by the monsoons. They've requested any available personal and air transport we can spare."
"Guarding medical supplies and transporting patients." Not the most exciting mission, but after Anubis that might be a good thing. And there was a good chance a certain doctor would be there. . .
"And aiding in rescues. Your team will be traveling with your Raptora suits."
Fareeha perked up at that. "When do we leave?"
"Nineteen hundred. Get your team ready."
"Yes, sir." It took a fair amount of effort not to strut out of the office grinning like an idiot. Sure India would be soggy and humid and buggy . . . It would probably be miserable if she was being honest, but missions with IM were always rewarding and, if Dr. Ziegler was there, it'd feel less like work and more like a holiday.
Fareeha slipped on a pair of aviators as she exited the building heading for the mess hall, the baking sun reflecting off the ground in hazy heat waves. Missions with Angela were unique - while most aid workers looked at their armed escorts warily as an unfortunate necessity, she always treated them as part of her team and would do little things to encourage trust like sharing meals or teaching her men useful first aid. After three days of their first mission together, teasing and jokes were common between the guards and the medical staff.
"Hey, Captain! What's the word from the boss?" Tariq shouted as Fareeha neared their table.
"A new mission," she said as she grabbed a piece of flat bread from his tray.
"Doing what?" Saleh asked as he took another bite of mango.
"Aid work in India with International Medical," she said with a full mouth before pouring herself a mug of tea.
"How long? Oh, and will that doctor lady be there? That one you have a thing for?" Tariq grinned.
Fareeha rolled her eyes. "I don't have a thing for Dr. Ziegler."
"No, you just have vivid wet dreams about her," he agreed.
"Fuck you, Tariq," she laughed, hoping her face wasn't as red as it felt.
"Well?" Saleh asked.
Fareeha pulled out her phone and scrolled through the mission dossier. "As long as we're needed, Dr. Ziegler is our contact, and her team have been there for about a week already."
"Are you going to make a move this time?" Tariq inquired resting his chin on his hand.
"Angela is my best, non-military friend, not someone I'm going to fuck in the middle of a refugee camp," she deadpanned.
"Wow, Captain. No one said anything about sex," he laughed. "I was thinking more along the lines of admitting your undying love for her during the torrential downpour we'll all be forced to endure."
"She is ridiculously hot and super nice," Saleh added. "I don't know why you haven't already."
"Because she's my friend! We're leaving at nineteen hundred, so get your gear together - including your Raptora suits," she said as she stood. "And I'm not admitting anything!"
"You'd better get over yourself soon, Amari. Da Nile is here in Egypt, not India!" Tariq yelled after her.
Verdammt, Angela thought as she stared at the gray lesions on her patient's tonsils. "You do seem to have an infection," she said in Hindi after allowing her patient to close his mouth. "The good news is it's very treatable. Take this," she said handing a quickly scrawled prescription slip to him, "to one of the gentleman in blue in the waiting room and they'll assist you with getting this filled. We'll have you feeling better soon."
That's the fourth patient today with those symptoms . . . I need to talk to Neil and Ahmed, she thought as she washed her hands.
The tent that housed the temporary clinic was a crowded and noisy place filled with aid workers directing irritable patients to various makeshift exam rooms. "Dr. Ziegler!"
She stopped her search mid-step and turned around. "Yes?"
"They need you in the city," Fatima said briskly. "A building along the river has collapsed-"
"And there are civilians inside," Angela finished. Verdammt! "Tell Dr. Sobeck we need to send a team to decontaminate the refugee camp. It looks like we're on the cusp of a diphtheria outbreak. Also double our antibiotic supply."
"Vaccines?" she asked following the doctor out of the tent at a quick pace.
Angela frowned at the drizzle quickly turning the aid camp back into a soggy, muddy mess, "Yes, if we can stop this early they will be useful." She hurried through the crowd of locals, tourists, and aid workers to another tent. "Excuse me," she muttered as she pushed past a group of IM workers at the entrance. Jogging to her bunk, she pulled her trunk from under her cot and disengaged the locks. She'd stripped off her shirt before she realized she didn't know where in the city she was needed. "Verdammt!"
"You don't know where you're going, do you?"
Angela turned around to find Fatima standing with her arms crossed over her chest arching an eyebrow. "I don't, no," she laughed.
"It's a good thing one of us can multitask."
"I can multitask just fine, thank you," she said with an eye roll before continuing to change.
"Of course you can. That's why you took off without knowing where to go, who to report to, what channel to contact them on-"
"Aren't we supposed to be getting a group from Helix specifically for this?" Angela asked quickly.
"Yes, they should be here soon." Fatima grinned wickedly, "Rumor has it a certain Lieutenant Amari is among them."
"Captain," she said, securing the chest piece of her armor.
"Captain?"
"She was promoted after suppressing the AI at the Anubis site." She paused putting on her boots realizing her mistake.
"Captain Amari. Is that why you can't concentrate today, Doctor?"
"I don't know what you mean." She loaded her cademus staff with a fresh cartage of nanobots and glanced at Fatima's tablet for the pertinent info for the mission.
"Of course you don't. The famous Dr. Ziegler does not have time for frivolous things like love."
"I'm not in love with Fareeha," she said patiently as she tuned to the correct radio channel.
"Oh, I know. We've had this conversation more than once."
"Then why are we having it again?" Angela asked tiredly as she completed the final checks on her suit.
"Because I'm hoping one of these times you'll come to your senses and admit what is very obvious to anyone who sees you two together."
"Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I can't have female friends I don't want to have sex with," she pointed out with an exasperated laugh before slipping past her toward the exit.
"I know, I'm living proof of that! But you have yet to give me a compelling reason why you haven't gone after that soldier you've been sneakily making eyes at."
She is not supposed to know about that. Angela had to use nearly all of her self control to avoid sprinting away from the nurse. "Because she's my friend and you don't have casual sex with your friends!"
"Friends with benefits exists specifically for that reason," Fatima reasoned.
The doctor stopped in the middle of a mud puddle and turned to hammer the point home. "Fareeha deserves more than meaningless sex," she said pointedly as the drizzle turned to a downpour. She took a step towards her, feeling uncharacteristically aggressive, "I can't give her a relationship, not if I want to continue traveling with the world helping people, so I have no right taking or expecting anything from her. . . Don't forget to tell Neil-"
"To send a team to decontaminate the refugee camp and order more antibiotics and vaccines," Fatima said with a sad smile. "Go save the day, Angela."
She hesitated for a moment, realizing she'd admitted to more than she wanted, before nodding and setting off in a jog.
"Nothing makes you feel more appreciated than being put to work right away," Fareeha said as she and her team suited up.
"Hoping for a chance to impress the doc with your heroics, Captain?" Tariq chuckled.
"Nope, just the locals."
"Ziegler's been here for a week - she's practically a local," Saleh pointed out.
"Ma'am, you're next," Angela shouted in Hindi as she dropped back down into the building from a hole in the ceiling. Every few minutes she'd feel the building shift underneath them as the river flowed around it. "Hold on tight," she said before activating the thrusters in her suit. The woman in her arms screamed as they shot up into the rain onto the roof. "We're okay," she panted. "One more flight!"
All around the city, locals and tourists were being herded away from the river, but inevitably some would ignore the warnings. The building being evacuated had survived more than seventy-five monsoons before it fell and drifted into the middle of the river - the inhabitants had thought it was indestructible. "There we go!" Angela yelled as they landed on the river bank. "These gentlemen will take care of you from here."
"How many more?" a soldier asked as he helped the woman up the slope.
"Four more." She rolled her shoulders and spread her wings. "That building feels less sturdy each time I land," she panted before taking flight.
"Okay, who's next?" Angela asked the group as she landed.
Before anyone could step forward, the whole building lurched down river sickeningly. "New plan," she said as she regained her footing. "Everyone is getting to the roof and we'll go from there!" She grabbed hold of the two closest to her and shot back into the air.
Verdammt! The charge on her thrusters was near its end. Not enough to get everyone to the far bank closest to the camp. Maybe I can get everyone to the closer bank? It's not as safe, but it's better than here. "Rajiv, are you there?" she said over the comms.
"I hear you, Doctor."
"My suit is running on empty. I'm going to try to take the rest of the civilians to the opposite bank," she said before dropping into the building again.
"Not ideal. Helix is inbound. ETA ten minutes. Do you think the building will hold out until then?"
"I'd rather not find out." She waved over the last two.
"I'll update Helix on the situation."
"Change of plans!" Fareeha said as she clicked off the comms. "We're dropping in-"
"Captain, have you looked outside? It's pouring."
"What's that matter, Tariq? Never flown blind before?" she asked. "We have GPS and thermal imaging for a reason. Open the bay door!"
The civilians were beginning to panic. It was easy to ignore how dire the situation was when they couldn't see outside of the building, but now they had a front row view of the swollen river thundering around them. Angela began calculating how far she could fly with how much thrust she had left. No matter how she did that math, she was always short. Helix had better be here soon. "Okay, I can get two of you to the near bank and I will come back and wait with the remaining two for additional help."
Though the Valkyrie Swift Response Suit was water-resistant and temperature controlled, Angela still felt miserably soaked and exhausted. Fareeha, you can show up any time now, she thought as she prepped for her last flight to the bank.
"This is Pharah, I have a visual on the target. Follow me, over."
"Copy that, Captain. Lead the way, over."
"I copy, over."
Pharah scanned the landscape as well as she could through the rain. The river looked to be at least three times it's normal width and flowing with an unquenchable rage. Half submerged in the fury was the multi-story apartment building. A glowing set of wings acted like a beacon to guide her team. I'm coming, Angela.
And now, we wait. "Stay together," she told the last two men on the roof of the building. "Help is on the way. We just have to-" The building violently shifted, knocking them all to the ground. Whatever had been tethering the building in place had failed. The whole structure began to crumble and flow jerkily down the river with the current.
"Rajiv, the building is moving!" she shouted into her radio. "I need an ETA on Helix!"
"They're incoming, jumped right out of their transport, Doctor. They'll be there soon."
"This is Helix, my team and I see you. ETA less than a minute, over," a very familiar voice said.
Angela was about to respond when the building crashed into a submerged boulder. The building crumbled a floor lower into the river and spun it more than ninety degrees. "Verdammt!" she yelled as one of the men slid over edge of the roof. Ignoring that she had almost no thrust left, Angela scrambled to follow. "Helix, one civilian on the roof, the other just fell into the river! I'm going after him!" she shouted as she took a running leap.
Adrenaline pumping, the response was lost in the thunderous roar of the river. Floating and eyes scanning the water, she spotted the man clawing at the water trying to keep his head above it. She shot toward him and grabbed one of his flailing arms. "I've got you!"
The alarm in her suit blared as she used up the last her fuel. "Helix! Where are you?!" The man's terrified face stared up at hers as she tried to keep his head up.
"Hold on! I'm right behind you!" A hard body collided with hers as a pair of metallic arms wrapped themselves around her waist and pulled the doctor up away from the river.
Jaw clenched, Angela fought to keep her grip on the man as his weight tried to pull them back down. Another figure fell from the sky, just skimming the water's turbulent surface. He hovered next to the man and aided in pulling. With a grateful cry, the man was finally free of the river's wrath.
"I have him, Doc! You can let go!" the second Helix pilot shouted as he took the civilian into his arms.
Her vice-like fingers relaxed and pilot sped off toward the far bank with the civilian. He'll be okay. . . We saved him. . .
"Dr. Ziegler, how are you holding up?"
Angela had nearly forgotten she was being held aloft. Folding her wings into her back, she turned and wrapped her arms around her savior. "Better now that you're here," she shouted in her comm above the noise of the river and the rain. She felt rather than heard Fareeha's quiet laughter.
Hours later, Fareeha was standing in a tent filled with tables and chairs holding a tray of food. Is that Dr. Sobeck?" she wondered as she spotted a head of wavy grey hair.
"Captain Amari, just the woman I was hoping to meet."
Fareeha stopped and turned to see Nurse Fatima with a fresh cup of tea. "Should I be concerned?" she asked with a smile.
"You, no. Dr. Ziegler, yes." She led the way to Dr. Sobeck's table. "She's being her usual stubborn self. You know - working too many shifts, skipping meals."
"Yeah, that sounds like Angela," Fareeha admitted as they slowly walked.
"Well, she seems to be under the impression that she can skip another meal in favor of catching up some much needed sleep. I'm refusing to allow her to leave the mess tent until she eats something."
"So she's sleeping in here?" she asked with an exasperated grin.
"She's trying, but Neil and I aren't letting her."
The older doctor turned as they neared. "Finally, some reinforcements!"
Sitting across from him was Angela, head cradled on her arms on the table, trying to ignore her colleagues and sleep. Fareeha placed her tray next to hers and gently shook her shoulder. "Long day?"
The blonde turned her head enough in her arms to stare sleepily at the captain. She huffed in annoyance and pulled herself to her feet before wrapping her arms around her friend. "They're playing dirty, pulling you into this," she groaned.
"Yes, because convincing a half starved woman to eat shouldn't be this difficult in the first place," Fatima deadpanned.
Fareeha squeezed the shorter woman tighter. "Angela, would you like to have dinner with me - right now in this unbearably humid tent?"
"No, but I suppose I will anyway," she mumbled into her collarbone.
"Keep this up and I'll make sure you aren't scheduled in the clinic tomorrow," Fatima threatened.
Angela glared as she sat, "You wouldn't dare. We're short staffed enough already."
"Oh I know, but if means you'll finally take care of yourself like an adult and not a moody child then I will in a heartbeat."
"So for the sake of our patients, eat and get some sleep tonight," Neil said as he stood. "Captain, I'm leaving her in your care. I trust you'll make sure she gets to bed soon."
"Of course, Doctor."
"And Angela, remember that you're supposed to be setting an example for our resident," Fatima said tiredly. "Try not to teach him your bad habits."
"Yes, ma'am," Angela sighed in defeat.
"Who's your resident this time?" Fareeha asked as they watched Angela's coworkers leave.
"Ahmed, a young man on his rotation with us for the next three months," she said as she took a bite of her now cold food. "Very nice, excellent bedside manner. Was smart enough to go to bed earlier when he had the chance."
"So he has more common sense than you is what I'm getting from this."
"I suppose you could say that," Angela said with a small smile. "Where's the rest of your team?"
"They said they were taking a smoke break, so who knows?" She took a bite and watched her friend eat mechanically. "So is it really that busy here that you need to skip sleep and meals to do your job?"
The doctor sighed and shook her head.
"So this . . . bit of self destructive behavior just seemed like a good idea because. . ."
Angela finished the last of her food and stared at her empty plate. "I've been thinking a lot about the explosion at the Zürich watchpoint lately - not thinking really, just having the same nightmares." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I was tired of reliving the same memories every night so I just, sort of, stopped sleeping and if I'm not sleeping then I'm working."
"Is that not," Fareeha asked quietly in an exasperated tone, "the exact thing you warned me against doing after the Anubis assault?"
A small self-deprecating chuckle escaped the blonde as she tried to rubbed the sleep from her face. "Do as I say, not as I do."
Fareeha rolled her eyes and wrapped an arm around the doctor's shoulders. "Angela, you know that shit doesn't fly with me, right?"
She leaned into her embrace. "Yes, but you weren't here."
"Well, I'm here now so let's get you to bed and tomorrow we can talk . . . assuming you haven't worked yourself into coma." Fareeha pulled the half-asleep doctor to her feet and led her to her tent. "Do you think you can find your bed on your own?"
"I'll be fine," she mumbled sleepily. Angela hugged her tightly. "Thank you for the company."
"It was my pleasure. See you at breakfast?"
"As long as another building doesn't collapse into the river between now and then. Good night."
"Good night, Ange."
"Boss, you're staring . . . at her ass. You could at least try to be subtle about it."
Fareeha tore her eyes from the retreating form of Dr. Ziegler and glared at Tariq. "I was nice enough to not call you out on doing the same thing yesterday after lunch, I figured you'd show me the same kindness."
Saleh snorted in mirth, "This is Tariq we're talking about."
"Right." Fareeha rolled her eyes and finished her tea. They'd been in India for six days and her team was taking full advantage of the captain's uncharacteristically distracted state whenever Angela was near. "Her ass is amazing," she admitted.
"To your friend's ass," Tariq said, lifting his mug in a toast.
The sound of laughter and shouting grew as Fareeha approached the civilian camp. Behind the first two residential tents, a large area of grass had been left bare for the children to play; tonight it was a makeshift football field.
"Ahmed, come on! You can take that little man!" Neil laughed from the sidelines. On the field, the resident made an exaggerated lunge for the ball as a young boy dribbled past him. The child giggled and nearly sprinted by the ball on his way to the goal. Angela stood ready at the spray-painted goal, bouncing on her toes. The boy gave a tremendous kick and the doctor dove just late enough to allow the ball into the goal.
"Goal!" Neil shouted as the others watching cheered. Ahmed threw an arm over his eyes to appear heartbroken as Angela scooped up the celebrating child in her arms and gave him a squeeze.
"Okay, next match!" she shouted in Hindi as she set the boy down. Fareeha met her eyes and waved. The doctor waved back and pulled her shirt from her body to fan herself.
"I see your skills have improved," Fareeha called across the field to her.
The doctor rolled her eyes and laughed. A group of older boys stepped onto the field. "It looks like I need to draft a few more players," Angela said with a smile. "Fareeha, Neil!"
"I'm far too old for this," Dr. Sobeck muttered as he hauled himself to his feet. "Let's go, Amari."
"What's the plan, team captain?" Ahmed asked as they huddled together.
"They look entirely too cocky for their own good," Angela observed. "Let's make them work for it."
The game progressed much faster than the previous. Neil took over at the goal and the others covered the rest chaotically, often with all of the coordination of a pack of puppies chasing the ball. "No, Ange! Get down field!" Fareeha laughed ten minutes in as the older woman ran toward her.
"Who's the captain here?" she shouted with a grin.
Fareeha dribbled through the defender and made the cross. "Technically I am!"
Angela sprinted for the ball, but the teenager beat her to it. They both fought for control, but when the young man tried to pass the ball down field, the doctor blocked it. She darted around him and took a shot.
"Too wide!" the goalie yelled as the ball hit the tent behind the pitch.
"You know, I'm pretty sure we counted their last goal that went wider than that," Angela muttered as she jogged down field.
"It's tough getting around their home field advantage," Fareeha admitted. Angela fell back to defence and allowed the Ahmed to take her place.
"I'd better leave this to a professional then," the doctor snarked as they passed.
Fareeha shook her head and motioned for the resident to take the kick-off. Another few minutes passed before a serious attempt at a goal started. Angela blocked an off-kilter pass with her chest and put the ball back into the air toward Ahmed. He headed it toward the goal, but the goalie was there to knock it away . . . right to Fareeha, who made quick work of it and had it sailing by the teenager before he realized what happened.
"There we go!" Neil shouted. The captain and Ahmed slapped hands just as the clouds opened up again.
"I think that's the game!" Angela shouted. They were a goal behind, but getting the last goal had been satisfying. The teams quickly met in the middle to shake hands before everyone became soaked. Fareeha watched the older woman get pulled toward the civilian tents for pictures with the kids and their families before following the men to the mess tent.
"That was inspiring, Captain," Tariq said, slapping a hand on her shoulder.
"I didn't know you were watching. I would have let you sub in for me," she chuckled.
"You were doing fine. This old man though-"
"Oh, you think you could do better?" Neil asked with a hint of exasperation.
"I'm not saying you were terrible," Tariq said with a shrug, "but I wouldn't have missed that last goal."
"Were I a decade younger, I'd drag your ass back out to the field."
"And do what? Get my opinion about how well the grass is growing?" Tariq laughed, throwing an arm around the doctor.
Neil took hold of his wrist and turned away from him, pulling Tariq's arm behind the soldier and forcing his wrist up into his spine.
"Shit, Doc, that was smooth," Tariq laughed with a wince as his wrist was forced higher up his back. "What about do no harm?"
"Angela has always encouraged us to practice non-lethal suppression in case a patient becomes combatant," the older man chuckled as he released the soldier.
"How often do you need to do something like that?" Ahmed asked in surprise.
"Almost never, especially since Fatmia seems to have a sixth sense about when a patient is about to have a breakdown. In the twenty years I've been with IM, I've only had to subdue three patients."
"Is it something I should learn?" the resident asked as they gathered their trays and utensils.
"It wouldn't hurt-"
"It might if this ass is your teacher," Tariq said bumping shoulders with Neil.
"It will definitely hurt if Angela teaches you," Fareeha said with a smile.
"How would you know?" Neil asked in surprise.
"Because she learned from my mother and I was her sparring partner," Fareeha admitted. "The doctor and I were taught not to pull punches so I'd be surprised if she'd started now."
"Just how long have you known Dr. Ziegler?" Tariq asked with interest.
"A while," she said dismissively.
Neil laughed as he led them to a table. "My money is on more than a decade."
"No, wait. Seriously?" the soldier asked.
Fareeha sighed as she poured herself a mug of too thin tea, "I met her about eighteen years ago, but didn't get to know her until about fourteen or fifteen years ago. I don't remember exactly when."
"Are you fucking serious?" Tariq asked in exasperation.
"I'm not fucking anyone at the moment," she said simply.
"Oh, not you, too," Neil chuckled at Tariq, shaking his head. Fareeha looked to the older doctor in confusion before he continued. "Fatima seems to think you and Angela would be good for eachother."
"Of course she does," the captain muttered before taking a bite.
"See, I am completely justified in my encouragement," Tariq pointed out.
"Is it normal to speculated about Dr. Ziegler's love life?" Ahmed asked timidly.
"Given that your mentor is the youngest Nobel prize winner in medicine and massively popular on social media even after the collapse of Overwatch, a good portion of the world has speculated about Angela's love life," Neil said before taking a sip of his coffee. "Think about it this way: when a major medical breakthrough happens, it's usually explained by someone at least middle aged and not very attractive - like me. So imagine the media circus that happened when an adorable, twenty year old genus announces to the world that she's figured out a revolutionary new way to treat damn near everything. The world has been obsessed with her ever since."
"I was pretty adorable back then, wasn't I?" Angela chuckled as she set her tray next Fareeha's.
"Doc, you're still pretty darn adorable. Don't you agree, Amari?" Tariq asked.
She glared daggers are him and hoped Angela had missed most of their conversation. "Of course. Easier on the eyes than you for sure."
"That hurts, Captain. I'll have you know my mother says I'm the handsomest young man in the world."
Angela nearly chokes on her coffee as laughter fills the mess tent.
"Angela Ziegler, you colossal hypocrite."
Angela flinched at the voice and sighed. "In my defense, cigarettes are lighter than wine and also legal in all of the parts of the world I've been sent," she said before taking another drag.
"I suppose cargo weight is an important consideration when traveling," Fareeha said as she sat next to her. They were downwind from the camp under a tarp - the camp's designated smoking area. "How long?"
"A year and a half . . . since the mission in Afghanistan."
Fareeha watched her inhale deeply and tried to remember what little the doctor had told her about the unofficial and undocumented mission:
A group of men had come to her IM camp asking for the doctor's assistance with a rescue in the mountains. Zealots had taken young women and girls from the surrounding villages over the last six months and the family and friends were anxious for their safe return. Angela agreed to help and after a day and a half of travel, mostly on foot, they found a fortified cave and a bitter fight. The doctor kept the rescuers alive, but ultimately had to dispatch many of the zealots herself. The women were found, but not entirely unharmed - they were only teenagers.
"I suppose we all need our vices," Fareeha conceded, deciding not to bring up how the doctor had spent nearly three years trying to get Fareeha to quit.
"It's not a vice," she admitted with a chuckle, "it's a sad replacement for the alcohol I haven't had in four months.
"I find it hard to believe there isn't a drop of booze around here."
"Oh, there is, but I'm on call 24/7 so it's not really an option."
"Not even one drink?"
Angela smiled sadly. "I am the world-renowned Dr. Angela Ziegler. My every move is always noted. It's not so bad when I'm just with my usual team, but in a large refugee camp like this I have to be careful. One careless mistake can be all over the internet in an instant and erode the public's trust."
"Well, when we're done here, we need to get you a bottle of dry red and have a movie night," Fareeha offered. "Zürich or Cairo, I'm not picky."
The doctor grinned, "I might just take you up on that. It's been a while since I've taken any time off."
"Not since the last time you visited me, if I had to guess. Do you visit anyone else?"
"I try to spend two weeks with Torbjorn and his family around Christmas and new year . . . I haven't heard from Jesse or Genji in three years."
"If Jesse is half the badass he claimed he was then I'm sure he's off the radar drinking a beer by a campfire. I never really knew Genji though."
"He was a very angry young man and for all the help I tried to give him, I'm not sure if I did anything, but make his suffering worse," Angela said softly. "He left to find where he fit in the world, I hope he found it."
Fareeha sighed and gave her a small smile. "Either way, after this stint in India, you and I are going to relax even if I have to drag you from your work."
"Oh, many have tried, but few have-" Angela paused as her phone began to chirp an obnoxiously upbeat tune. "Sorry, I should take this. . . Ziegler."
Fareeha stared out at the flooded terrain as her friend spoke rapid swiss-german. Something tells me we won't be getting our time off anytime soon. "Everything okay?" she asked when Angela disconnect the call.
"No, I'm being called into surgery, but the patient's symptoms don't make any sense." She paused and shook her head. "And it's classified, so I can't discuss it. Verdammt! I need to leave on the early transport tomorrow morning."
"Any idea how long you'll be gone?"
She shook her head. "The surgery will be long, but I should only be needed for the initial one. That's assuming there won't be any complications. Hopefully only a few days."
"Well, we better head back to camp then. I know how much you hate early mornings," Fareeha said sadly. "And no, I'm not going to just let you stay up all night instead of sleeping to avoid waking up."
"You know, I kind of hate how well you know me," Angela said as she put out her cigarette on the heel of her boot.
"My goodness," Fatima said as a droopy-eyed Dr Ziegler sat down across from her in the mess tent, "aren't you supposed to be sleeping?"
Angela groaned and sipped her coffee, "Don't remind me. I've been summoned by my colleagues at University Hospital - I'm taking the first flight out of the camp."
"And you conveniently forgot to mention this until now, after I've already made up the schedule for today?"
She rolled her eyes. "You were already asleep by the time I found you after the call. I didn't want to be rude."
"Because this isn't?" The older woman shook her head and pushed her tray toward Angela. "Eat. I won't be around to remind to once you leave."
"Oh, how will I survive?" she asked sarcastically before taking a bite.
"I'd almost forgotten how moody you are when forced to wake up early. You're worse than my boys when they were teenagers."
"I don't remember sleeping much as a teenager," Angela admitted. "I do remember becoming addicted to coffee by thirteen while working on my bioengineering degree and trying to convince the dean of admissions to the medical school that I was plenty old and mature enough to handle the course work."
"Did it work?" Fatima asked while sipping her tea.
"Not entirely," she chuckled. "We compromised. I had to wait two years, but I was be given nearly unlimited access to the training equipment the med students had. It worked out for the best. I used those two years to come up with early prototypes of my nanotechnology . . . and get my psychology degree."
"Angela doesn't handle boredom well," Fareeha said as she sat beside the doctor.
"Apparently not," Fatima agreed as she poured the captain a mug of tea.
"I wanted to save the world," Angela laughed, "but everyone kept telling me I wasn't old enough! It was incredibly frustrating."
"But didn't you spend time with anyone your own age?" Fatima asked. "A child needs a chance to be a child."
The doctor nodded as she took a sip of coffee. "Much to my annoyance, at first anyway, I was encouraged to tutor at some of the schools around Zürich. It was a little awkward trying to connect to kids who were more interested in . . . well, everything I wasn't, than their course work. It wasn't all bad though - they helped me find music outside of classical, invited me to parties, expanded my vocabulary. . ."
"They were teaching you Arabic, weren't they?" Fareeha laughed.
"No, but I did learn a bit of French from a very pretty brunette," Angela said with a smirk.
"I regret asking," Fatima said rolling her eyes.
"And yet this won't stop you from prying into my life outside of IM."
"Is she worse than my mother?" the captain asked.
"Oh, yes. Ana would rarely ask very direct questions - she would make small, disparaging remarks about aspects of my life she felt I needed to change, but she usually left it at that. Fatima is dogged in her attempts to understand exactly why I act the way I do."
"Only because I care about you," the nurse said simply.
Fareeha shook her head with a smile, "Don't take it personally. Angela is stubbornly independent and doesn't like to open up to anyone if she can avoid it."
"So I've learned. It's almost as if she's afraid of connecting with people on a meaningful level."
Angela gave an exaggerated eye-roll. "Yes, intimacy is my kryptonite."
"Emotional intimacy maybe. It's important to have people you can depend on."
"I depend on you and Neil constantly-"
Fatima shook her head with a frown, "You know what I mean. When something terrible happens, who do you go to? Not us. You just keep working, keep pushing on-"
"Of course I do! It's my job!" Angela said with a glare. "I do the work few others can, under conditions most can't imagine!" She took a breath and sighed. "After helping the men near Kohe Mondi find their relatives, I called Fareeha. I went for a walk and talked to her for . . . I don't know how long-"
"Four hours," the captain supplied. "We talked until I had to get ready for work that morning."
"I nearly sent Neil out to look for you, you were gone so long," Fatima said.
"Well, there you have it. When I need to talk to someone, I call Fareeha."
"Which is convenient because you already call her every other week," the older woman pointed out. "I suppose I feel a little better knowing you have someone. That even if you wall off the rest of the world, you have some emotional intimacy with the captain."
Angela nearly crushed the coffee mug between her hands at the nurse's pointed look. The woman was far too good at getting under the doctor's skin. "Good, I'm glad I could put your mind at ease," she said before downing the rest of her coffee. "Thank you for breakfast, but I should head to the transport and see if they need help loading patients."
"Of course," Fatima sighed. "If I don't see you before you leave, have a good trip and take care of yourself."
She nodded and gave her a half hearted wave. "I'll see you at the transport?" she asked Fareeha.
"Yep, I'm certainly not going to let you leave without saying goodbye."
Fareeha and Fatima watched the doctor leave. "I know what you're doing," the captain said quietly. "Neil warned me yesterday."
"Would you like me to stop?" the nurse asked as she poured herself another mug of tea.
"I don't think it will do any good," Fareeha admitted. "I learned to give up on that many years ago."
"Why?" Fatima asked earnestly.
"Because . . . I was a teenager when I realized my feelings for her and she was . . . untouchable."
"I think you'll find she is much more tangible now."
"Maybe, but I don't think it's what she wants."
Fatima reached across the table and put her hands around the soldier's as Fareeha held her mug. "In the few years I've worked with Angela, I've come to a conclusion: the woman simply doesn't know how to be happy. She is one of the most selfless people I've ever worked with, but also one of the saddest. It's always just behind that perfect smile she gives the world, except for when you're around. You light her up like no one I've ever seen, but you're right about her avoiding doing anything about it. I think she's afraid of taking that step and it's easy for her not to miss something she's never had." She gave the captain's hands a squeeze before letting go. "Angela is far too stubborn for her own good. It'll be up to you to take the first step."
Fareeha sat speechless as she mulled over the nurse's words. Endless teasing from Tariq had never resonated like the honest, motherly advice she'd been given. I'll never know if I don't try. "Thank you," she said softly before standing. She had a doctor to see off. . .
"I was worried you weren't going to make it," Angela said as she jogged down the ramp of the medivac. She pulled the soldier off to the side away from the others loading the last of the supplies. "I'm sorry about earlier. I-"
"Don't worry about it," Fareeha said with a smile. "Early mornings and probing questions would be a hard combination for anyone."
The doctor relaxed noticeably. "Hopefully I won't be gone long. I'm looking forward to your attempts at dragging me from my work."
"Oh, did you not think I was serious?"
"Of course I did, but we're both workaholics. If we can make it work, I think it's my turn to host you in Zürich."
Fareeha grinned. "When you get back, we'll start making plans." She pulled the shorter woman into her arms. "Safe travels, call me if you need anything."
"I will. Hold down the fort for me," Angela muttered into the captain's shirt. She was loathe to leave the embrace, but she was on a tight schedule. "I should get going," she said as she pulled away.
"Yeah." A flash of reckless courage surged through Fareeha. "Hey, Ange?" she said as she caught the doctor's hand before she could take another step toward the medivac. A gentle tug had her back in the soldier's arms. Words died in her throat as she stared down into Angela's surprised face. Don't stop now. With a slight tremble in her hand, Fareeha cupped the side of the doctor's jaw and brought their lips together.
"Ahmed and I should be able to put in a few extra hours every night until she get's back," Neil said as he and the resident followed Fatima to camp's small airbase. "Did Angela say how long she'd be gone?"
"No, I was hoping to catch her before she left."
"Is Dr. Ziegler called away often?" Ahmed asked. "It can't always be easy to secure transportation in some of the remote places you've been."
"Yes and no," Fatima chuckled. "Many institutions request consultations, but most she can conduct remotely. She usually only travels for unique cases or if her hospital requests her presence."
"When Angela sneaks off for her smoke break at the end of the day, she's usually working on a consultation or reviewing mountains of data from the dozens of research projects and clinical trials she's partnered with," Neil explained. "So even if she isn't physically away from the camp, her mind is usually thousands of miles away."
"Does she ever take a break? I know even at meals she's usually working on something. Yesterday she asked me if I thought long term suppression of interferon gamma would lead to an increased risk of the development of autoimmune disorders post-nanobot treatment."
"How did that go?" Neil asked with a grin.
Ahmed threw his hands up in exasperation. "I sat there in a blind panic trying to remember if it came up in med school and she was testing me or if she legitimately wanted my opinion."
"It was the latter."
"Well, yes. I figured that out when she started showing me the latest data from one of her studies. I had a hard time believing she wanted my opinion on it."
"She used to try that with that with me," Neil said with a chuckle, "until I purposely started telling her b.s. that a first year med student would know was wrong. It would piss her off so much that I had to remind her that after spending ten plus hours seeing patients, I didn't want to think about anything remotely medical in nature. I just wanted to watch a replay of the latest football match and eat my dinner."
"He and Angela didn't get along very well in the beginning," Fatima explained, "but you wouldn't know it now."
"I think that's her," Neil said staring through the fog and the mist. "And there's Amari. Are you still pestering them about getting together?"
"I prefer to think of it as giving motherly advice to the motherless," she said as the women ahead of them embraced. "I still have a small amount of hope for them." She waved to Dr. Ziegler as the pair parted. "I swear that woman has tunnel vision whenever Amari is around- Oh, my!"
Something had short circuited in her brain, that had to be why she couldn't move . . . perhaps it was a stroke.
Whether her paralysis was caused by Fareeha's warm hand on her cheek or her soft lips on hers, Angela was at a loss to know for sure. She certainly hadn't consciously planned to tentatively reach for Fareeha's hip as her lips returned the kiss . . . the sigh of contentment as she melted against the taller woman's body definitely hadn't.
"Uh, Captain . . . Doc? We kind of need to get going."
Angela pulled away back to reality. Behind her on the ramp to the medivac stood Saleh looking awkwardly smug. "Yes, of course." She looked to Fareeha, "I should- I should go. We'll . . . talk about this when I get back, yeah?"
"I look forward to it," Fareeha said warmly.
"Okay," she muttered walking backwards toward the aircraft. "Oka- Verdammt," she whispered staring over the captain's shoulder. Her team was waving merrily to her; Angela could only manage a feeble raise of her hand. I will never hear the end of this, she thought as she turned and quickly strode past the smirking soldier to her seat.
"Well, I suppose congratulations are in order," Neil said as he approached Fareeha and slapped a hand on her shoulder. "I haven't seen Angela that wrong footed since a forty year old patient tried to convince her it was the spicy food the patient ate that caused her thirteen pregnancies, not sex with her husband."
"Neil, just let her enjoy the moment," Fatima chided.
Fareeha smiled and shook her head. "How did that turn out?"
"After an hour of explanation and diagrams, Angela was no closer to convincing her so she found the woman's husband. Turns out he was responsible for the lie and I swear Angie nearly threw the man into the surgical suite to perform the vasectomy," Neil chuckled.
"Thank you for that," the nurse said drily. "Captain, I knew you had it in you."
Fareeha was spared from answering by the roar of the medivac starting. Together they watched the craft lift into the air and quickly fade into the mist. Come back soon, Ange.
A/N: So here's a fluffy Part 1. I'm pretty sure I stole that "De Nile" pun from another story, but I couldn't begin to tell you where. Part 2 will be how Angela's trip doesn't go as planned and there might be some Talon involvement - it'll be violent.