"Private Swan?" Emma turned around to face who she presumed to be her new corporal.
"Yes, Sir." He turned his head and smiled at her.
"I'm Corporal Humbert, welcome to the army. You'll be with 5th Section under Captain Jones. Follow me." He began walking towards the doors to the runway and Emma followed. She had completed her medical training and was now ready to face the duties of an army medic in Afghanistan. He directed her to the area where her section were gathered. All men, as she had expected. She walked over and put her kit bag down. One man turned to face her as she approached.
"Hi, nice to meet you sweetheart. I'm Cassidy, Neal Cassidy." He had a sweet smile and like a lot of the lads was well built and around the same height as her.
"Hey I'm Swan well, Emma. Nice to meet you too." He introduced her to the rest of the section and they all had a laugh and a joke until the glass door flew open and Humbert walked out of the building.
"Attention!" He shouted. They all stood too and waited for their Captain to join them. Four men filed out all walking to different sections. Emma's breath caught in her throat as the final Captain left the airport. He was gorgeous. His jet black hair accented his features and his Crystal blue eyes shone in the sunlight.
"I'm Captain Jones. Welcome to the army, lads." He looked along the lines of men and his eyes fell on her. "And Lady as it would seem. You're our new medic I presume? What's your name Private?"
"Swan, Sir." She looked directly ahead avoiding his eyes or she knew she would melt.
"Well, Private Swan, we'll be relying on you in Afghan so I hope you're ready."
"Yes, Sir." He gave them the speech that he gave to all new recruits and sections, the gist of which was don't screw up and don't die which was pretty much all she was expecting. Then, they were told to grab their gear and double up to the plane. This was it, Emma Swan was going to Afghanistan. Only, she had to do it with an insanely hot Captain. It was going to be fun.
The heat blasted them as they ran from the plane into the walls of their base. Emma was at the back just ahead of Humbert who brought up the rear as he was most experienced aside from Captain Jones who was leading the section. She jogged through the gate and into a large open space surrounded by tents and small buildings. She walked to join the rest of her section who all stood in a group. Captain Jones went to the side where another man stood. They shook hands and spoke a while whilst their section removed their helmets and protective gear.
"Right lads! Humbert will show you where you'll be staying. Swan, I need you to head straight to the hospital where another medic will be waiting for you. She will show you where to go and everything you need to do. Now, go on get out of here." He smiled and walked back to the other man stood to the side.
"Follow me guys!" Humbert gestured to the section and began walking. Cassidy walked next to her as they trudged through the base.
"God, it's like walking through a volcano!" He breathed.
"You'll get used to it. It just takes a while." She said.
"How would you know?" He asked, looking at her curiously.
"I travelled around a lot. Spain, Greece, Egypt. They were all pretty much this hot." She said, memories of her travels flooding her mind making her smile.
"Wow, impressive Swan." They heard a shout to their right and looked to see a woman waving to Emma. "Looks like she's your girl."
"Yeah, I'll see you in a bit." She walked towards the woman gesturing to her. "Hi. I'm Emma Swan."
"Mary-Margaret Blanchard. Follow me, I'll show you where you'll be stationed. They chatted on the way each of them asking about the other, mostly Emma was asking about Mary-Margaret's experiences in Afghanistan. She had seen a lot which would help Emma out a lot. They arrived at a small green tent. "Here you go, this is your medic station, and your section tent is just over there so they can get here easily. I'm just down the straight if you need me."
"Thanks." She walked to the tent and began unloading her gear. Once she had set up she walked to her sections tent. The guys were all laid out on their beds either reading or talking or throwing things at eachother. She got the last bed, between Cassidy and Jefferson. She dumped her bag at the end of her bed and lay down.
"You alright there, Swan?" Jefferson asked.
"Yeah, why?" She opened one eye and slowly turned her head to face him.
"You just look a bit glum. Is it because you're stuck in a tent with 10 strapping lads and you can't do anything with any of us?" With that, she practically jumped up and stood directly over him.
"Are we really going to do this?" She asked, he looked at her blankly, trying to figure out what he had said that had clearly gotten to her. "Because if you have a problem with the fact that I am a woman then say it now, I'm only giving you one chance."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I was joking Emma. I'm not like that. None of us are." Her eyes opened wide and she turned to see everyone staring at her. What was wrong with her? She just automatically assumed that she would have an issue with her being a woman but she didn't think she actually wouldn't get any grief about it. She slumped down on her bunk.
"Sorry." She whispered.
"Emma, you okay?" Neal asked from behind her. She stood and walked out of the tent to find somewhere she could be alone. Suddenly, she felt a hard body crash into her as she opened the hatch. Then felt a strong arm around her waist preventing her from falling. She looked up to see those gorgeous blue eyes staring at her.
"Easy does it there, Swan." He laughed.
"Sorry, Sir." She stood back and walked past him to get out of the tent.
"Swan!" She turned back to face him. "Get your kit, we're heading out to the checkpoint in the mountains!"