Private James Harrison knew exactly what he was letting himself in for when he joined the ARC.
Or at least he thought he did.
He knew about the dinosaurs, the anomalies and the aim of the ARC. He even knew the story of the people who had begun the whole organisation and what had happened to them. He would be lying if he said that didn't unnerve him slightly.
The one thing that he hadn't known about before he joined was his commanding officer. There was no doubt in Harrison's mind that Captain Becker was one of, if not the, best soldier he had ever met. Hell, the guy was twenty eight and already a captain, that took dedication; and it showed in the way the soldiers under his command turned out.
Each of them possessed self discipline, strength and a good reserve of resourcefulness, something that Harrison supposed came in useful when you make your living though chasing down and containing prehistoric creatures.
However, there was a reason that Captain Becker's men turned out so well.
From the moment that Harrison was confirmed as an employee of the ARC, him and the rest of his recruitment were taken for their first training session.
It was the most brutal thing that he had ever gone through.
Harrison had toured the frontline and yet training to be a soldier at the ARC was worse. It wasn't that the Captain inflicted pain upon his recruits on purpose as he had seen so many other officers do, just to see how long it would take to break in the new recruits.
He always stopped just before you were about to give in. Just made you do as much as you could bear.
Harrison would be the first to admit that while the vicious training was enough to make him to want to never get up from his bed again, every day he could hold out for a little bit longer against the onslaught of training.
Every day he improved until one day their Captain said that their recruitment of ten that been whittled down to just three were ready for field missions.
Harrison almost sagged with relief. This meant no more combat sessions against the Captain who would make you look like an incompetent child, even before you stepped onto the mat. No more five mile runs every morning (though he would say that the angry voice of the Captain running up behind you was an excellent motivator to move faster).
Soon after being cleared fit for duty and Harrison was settling into some kind of routine at the ARC. Life seemed to find some sort of normalcy once more. In fact, life was good at that moment, except for one niggling thought at the back of his mind that he had yet to fully acknowledge.
He thought that once he and the men he entered the organisation with had passed the requirements of the ARC and become fully fledged soldiers that Captain Becker might treat them differently. Not massively or anything, he had just thought that the Captain would allow his stoic mask to slip slightly.
But no.
Come to think of it Harrison wasn't even sure he had ever seen Becker smile. Oh no, he thought that one time when I saw him talking to Jess. But even then it had seemed more like a vague sort of smile, like the sort of smile you would give when you weren't really listening or you were remembering something.
It wasn't until later that week when things had started to make sense. It had begun when Harrison had been looking for Captain to sign a report on the latest minor field mission. But no matter how hard he searched for the man he couldn't find him. Eventually he admitted defeat and asked Jess. Within the minute she had found the signal of his black box.
For the life of him Harrison couldn't imagine what his stoic leader could be doing in the menagerie. With his curiosity prickling slightly Harrison moved forward until he could see through the glass pane on the door.
Standing there with his back to the door was Captain Becker. His stance was the most relaxed that Harrison had ever seen and he calmed slightly as he leant on the railings of what separated him from the creatures.
The Captain's head moved slightly as though he were watching something move high up in front of him. Harrison couldn't see what it was from his limited eye line though the glass pane but soon enough the answer could be seen.
What looked like a green lizard with wings flew gracefully through the air above the Captains head. He reached a arm out towards it and the lizard came to rest upon Becker's hand.
He slowly reached out a finger and carefully stroked the lizard as though it were a pet. He turned slightly with the lizard (Harrison was almost certain it was called Rex but the only time he'd heard talk of it was when the menagerie workers complained about it and then it was usually followed by an expletive or two) still upon his hand.
Harrison for his part was transfixed. He'd never seen the Captain smile, no. But this was the damn closest he'd seen yet as to any sort of actual emotion from the man. The corner of his mouth was quirked up in a half smile which still seemed to leave his eyes empty but he was still smiling, in fact if he had to describe his superior's expression Harrison would have said …wistful.
Backing away from the door slowly Harrison took great care to make no sudden movement to alert the Captain to his presence. Once he was safely away from the door he broke into a brisk walk down the sterile corridors towards the armoury; the paperwork could wait.
~o~o~o~
The next time that Harrison saw Becker smile had started off as a normal day. He had rolled out of bed; his hair sticking up at angles that should have been physically impossible, but weren't. He got ready for his day, hoping that for once his shift would be quiet and unassuming.
No such luck.
Within twelve minutes of getting to the armoury to relieve the night shift workers he was back on his feet and preparing for an anomaly that had the power to unleash a powerful shit storm considering that it was rush hour and in a busy area of the city.
When he rolled up to the scene with three other soldiers in an SUV he immediately got out as one of the other men prepped the locking device.
Whatever he had been expecting to see it was definatly not this. Two figures lay face down on the floor, one blonde and one dark. He had heard all of the stories about people coming though the anomalies such as Helen Cutter so he wasn't all too shocked to see a multitude of EMD's pointed directly at them.
He watched as Captain Becker walked, slowly and deliberately, up to the two unknown people.
He said something to them, though from the distance he was away from the scene Harrison couldn't hear what he said. Whatever it was though shocked the two people on the ground as they both looked up at him.
What happened next left both Harrison and most of his colleagues speechless. The Captain extended a hand to the man and the woman on the cold ground which they eagerly grabbed.
The moment they stood the blonde woman launched herself at Becker giving what looked like an impressively strong hug for one so small. The man who was still looking at the buildings as though they were the most wondrous sight he had ever seen (which, Harrison supposed, given the circumstances might have actually been true) was soon dragged into the hug. All three of them stood there and for a moment as Becker talked to them. He looked so much happier than Harrison had ever seen him before and just for a fleeting moment he looked young enough to actually be his age.
Of course, it was all magnificently ruined by a sheet of tinfoil and bloody great dinosaur but Harrison had seen it and he knew it to be true.
Captain Becker did care and contrary to (very) popular belief did smile (occasionally) and somehow that was little enough proof to James Harrison that he knew that this job was worth his while.
Even if he ended up like his Captain; driven, motivated and for the most part utterly miserable he knew that that no matter how dark it got there would always be the smallest ray of hope.
After all, Captain Becker had got his friends back and smiled, and so it was proved that even the smallest of miracles happen.
…..
A/N- It's the part of the story you actually came to read… the authors note! Well, anyway, I hope you liked it and if you did please review! I'm not sure about carrying this on and in all likely hood I won't, but if I do it will be my I've-had-a-crappy-day-now-let-me-write-something-or-I-might-kill-something fic. Yeah you know the ones. Well enough of me rambling, all the best- V