Lt. Jennifer Hailey boldly walked up to the man that served as her commander. She had just finished running and was sweating like mad but the elation of speed that thrilled her was at the forefront of her mind, not personal hygiene.
"Elliot?" She asked.
The sound of Hailey's voice made Elliot pivot on his heels and looked at the girl intently. "Have fun running again?" He could smell the sweat emanating from her from a distance but he didn't mind because the men he trained with from the Academy were worse. He turned his nose up at the memory.
"Yes, Grogan and Satterfield kept up this time. Their improvement was remarkable." She said unfeelingly and Elliot caught a hint of sarcasm.
"That's fantastic," he said as he dropped his face to the ground and scraped his foot across the concrete. "But you didn't come here to talk about Satterfield and Grogan."
Hailey looked at the boy intently, narrowing her eyes on him in focus and shook her blonde head at him. "No, I didn't."
"What then?" He asked impatiently.
Hailey sauntered towards him with her hands clasped behind her back. Elliot always thought that she had a commanding aura about her. It was intimidating, but he wasn't in an intimidated mood. He was angry.
"I've known you a while, Elliot, you're brighter than a light bulb. I trust your judgment and you're a good friend."
"Brighter than a light bulb? That's new." Elliot snorted. Hailey couldn't help but try and fail to choke back a laugh and they immediately reverted to the way that they were back at the Academy. Their demeanors suddenly became much more friend-like and much less professional. Hailey sat on the ledge protruding from the back of the Humvee next to Elliot. She turned to face him with one leg dangling off the edge and other propped up. Elliot turned away from the sun to face her directly. She only stared.
"Are you going to tell me why you came? Or do I have to beat it out of you?" He played.
Hailey bit back a smile. She knew if she wasn't being stern and serious Elliot wouldn't believe her. "Your head is clouded." She pointed to his head for emphasis. "You think too hard, too much and you slip up too easily. You're a follower and you don't trust yourself to make good decisions as a result, you're indecisive which makes you for a bad leader."
Elliot sighed weakly as if he had expected a full-on beating. "I'm not sure I can change that," he stated simply. "I'm tired of trying." Elliot removed his hat that sat on his head and twirled it around in his fingers. He reminded her of a man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders and she kept a straight face as she caught the double meaning of her own thoughts.
She thought critically about her next comment. "My mum used to tell me something when I thought I couldn't do anything."
"Yeah?" Elliot asked, "What was that?"
"She used to say, 'When life sucks, suck it up." Hailey mentally smiled at herself knowing that he wasn't expecting anyone to say that at such a critical moment in his life.
Elliot's jaw dropped. "When life sucks, suck it up?"
Hailey shrugged. "It worked for me and I was nine."
"You were nine?" He asked exasperatedly.
"Yip. I was nine and still tougher and manlier then you." She said with a teasing smile and a wink.
"You are not tougher than me." Elliot's faint grumble had been replaced by cheekiness supplied by his friend.
"Prove it." She challenged.
"How?" Elliot didn't like the tone in Hailey's voice. He knew that she was going to ask him to do something impossible and somehow he had just walked into it.
"Prove that the Colonel is wrong. Prove to him that you have what it takes to join an SG unit." Hailey was firm in her resolve and was not going to cave to Elliot's whine. He was in a sulky mood and anyone who had known Elliot for as long as Hailey had knew exactly how to get him out of it.
"Is that really what I have to do?" Elliot was turning it over in his head. He was asking for trouble.
Hailey felt elated that she had once again tricked him without him knowing about it. He knew he was walking into something and it was his curiosity that got him nearly every time. She'd won. "That's all you gotta do and I'll admit that you're tougher than me."
He thought about it for a minute or two longer, but finally gave in. "Okay. Deal." Hailey hopped off the ledge almost too happily. With too much vigour, Elliot thought. He returned his gaze to the horizon of the setting sun when he called her back. "Hey Hailey," Hailey stumbled in her path, worried that perhaps she had let something slip. "You're not very good at these pep talks." She felt relieved at his comment.
"Neither was my mum." She smiled and hurried away before he caught onto something that he shouldn't have. He might not be as smart as me, Hailey mused, but he is no dummy.
"Well?" The Colonel asked as they met with Hailey in the training facility immediately following their pep talk. The Colonel and The Major had been watching them from a distance. The pair of them wondering how Hailey was going to handle the situation and how Elliot was going to react to it. Both had done as was expected. Only Hailey wasn't blind.
"Well, what, Sir?" Hailey enquired.
"Did he go for it?"
The grin on Hailey's face could not be hidden. "Yes, Sir."
"How did you do it, Hailey?" The Major asked.
"I told him that the only way to prove he's tougher and manlier then I am was to prove that he had what it took to be on an SG team." She smiled proudly at herself.
The Major let slip the tiniest hint of a smile. "What do you think, sir?"
The Colonel's eyes grew wide at The Major's remarks. "I think that there is no way he can fail now."
"What makes you say that, Sir?"
"It would hurt his pride to have to admit that he's not as tough and manly as a girl." The Colonel looked up from the clipboard in hand suddenly realising what he had just said.
"Are you speaking from personal experience, sir?"