War Zone

Sitting against the ruined wall Sgt. Stavros clutched her side and grimaced in pain."Gods this is fucken unbelievable, where's that medic?"

"He's on his way; he just has to take care of Jenkins first. Here let me see the wound."Opening up her flak jacket he gently lifter her BDU Jacket and t-shirt and examined the hole in her side, he frown and took out the bandage from the pouch on her LBE and applied it to the wound. "Here, keep pressure on it till the medic gets here. I'm going to go check on the others."

"Be careful, we don't need any more wounded." She winced in pain as she tried to shift her position to get a look over the wall.

"Hey keep your head down and wait for the medic."Lt. Marcus said just before he ran for the next cover to check on the rest of his men.

'Gods I can't believe we walked right into a freaking ambush. 'Sgt. Stavros thought as she kept an eye out for the medic and keeping her head down and wincing every time a round pinged off of the wall she was hiding behind. 'Where in the hell is that damn medic.' Her chin hit her chest and the hand pressing down on the bandage fell to the ground and everything went dark.

Waking up to the sounds of beeping and the smell and antiseptic, Sgt. Stavros tried to open her eyes but the light hurt them. Groaning from the pain in her side she reached over to her side, but felt a hand restrain it.

"Welcome back to the living Sgt. Stavros, just take it easy and I'll give you some meds for the pain." A very beautiful voice said as she felt the meds take effect and she went back onto sweet oblivion.


Sitting on a log next to a lake Xena ran a sharpening stone along the blade of her sword."What do you want Athena."

Shaking her head Athena stepped forward and took a seat next to the warrior princess."I need to talk to you about something that concerns Gabrielle."

Xena stopped what she was doing and looked at the Goddess."What's this about?"

Lowering her head she hesitated, even though she was a God she considered both women friends and this was hard."Her father just passed away Xena."

Controlling her emotions in front of the Goddess, Xena looked down the shoreline to make sure Gabrielle was still within her sight."Why are you telling me and not Gabrielle?"

Athena took a deep breath and looked down the shoreline at the bard collecting herbs."I think this is something that needs to come from you Xena, you can handle all the emotions she will go through and be there for her, I can't."

"More like you're chickening out, I'll do it. Plus you're right this is something that I need to do, leave so we can have some privacy."Xena got up and walked to where Gabrielle was picking the herbs she needed for her healing ointments.

Gabrielle looked up at Xena as she approached and started to get worried when she saw her face."Xena what's wrong?"

Sitting down on the ground Xena patted the spot next to her."Sit with me; I have some bad news Gabrielle."

Getting worried she sat down next to her lover."What's going on Z?"

Wrapping her arm around Gabrielle and pulling her closer."Athena was just here and told me that your father…"

"No Xena."Tears started to form in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, he passed away today."Holding Gabrielle closer to her, she let her cry on her shoulder and rubbed small circles on her back.


Waking up Sgt. Stavros looked around the ward and when she tried to sit up she winced in pain.

"Your awake, how are you feeling?" The Nurse asked as she checked her vitals.

She looked up at the nurse and gave her a crooked smile."Just a little pain, nothing I can't handle. What's your name? "She smiled at the nurse and raised an eyebrow.

"It's Lt. Mina Evans." The nurse replied and wrote in her chart.

"Mina?"

"Yes it means love."She smiled at Sgt. Stavros."But you can call me Lt. Evans."

Laughing she nodded."Yes Lieutenant Evans. Do you know anything about my unit?"

"Sorry no, but your Captain came in while you were still asleep, he said he would be back."She watched as the nurse walked toward her desk. 'I wonder if she knows what that ass does to people.' She smiled at the thought. While looking around the ward and at the few other female soldiers in there, she didn't notice her captain walk up to her bed.

"Eyes front Sergeant." The captain smiled when she snapped her head up to face him."Bout time you woke up."

"Sorry Sir, how is the rest of the unit sir?"

"Four wounded and three dead, we could have sustained more casualties if you hadn't pulled off that stunt of yours."He patted her on the shoulder."You are a credit to the uniform soldier."

She frowned at the captain."Um, sir I don't remember anything?"

"What you did was save us soldier. I've never seen anything like it the entire time I've been in the service."He shook his head in wonder."You got up and gave out some kind of war cry ran across all that open space and rushed into the building the snipers where in and took them all out with just the tomahawk. How you evaded all those bullets pouring down at you when you where running is beyond me." He shook his head and continued." When we found you on the roof they were dead and you were passed out in your own blood."

Shaking her head she frowned and tried to remember doing all that."Sorry I don't remember doing any of that."

"Don't worry about it; just know that you saved all of us. And I put you in for a medal. Oh and I want to talk to you about reenlisting, the doctors say that the damage wasn't too bad and they don't see any reason you can't go back on duty after you recover. I don't want to lose my best soldier."

"No sir, sorry but I've been here for eight years now and I'm tired. I just want to go home and relax, plus you know how many times I've been wounded already. I'm surprised I survived this time, I really don't want to press my luck."Carefully repositioning herself in bed she remembered a dream she had the night before the rescue mission.


"Xena help me." She heard Gabrielle scream in the distance.

"Gabrielle, where are you."She screamed for the woman she loved. She ran in the direction she heard her screaming and drew her sword. She could feel real fear now, if anything happened to Gabrielle she didn't know if she could survive.

Hearing Gabrielle scream for her again she ran faster, her heart beating faster in her chest and fear building, fear that she wouldn't get to her in time and fear for what she might find. She couldn't lose her."Athena please let me get to her in time."


All she knew was that she need to get home, after that dream she started getting a really bad feeling if she didn't get home something bad was going to happen and that feeling was getting stronger."Sorry, I really have to get home sir."

"That's too bad sergeant, I really didn't want to lose you. But you have to do what's best for you, get some rest and I'll be back tomorrow to check up on you ok." Turning the captain left the ward.

"Thank you sir." She relaxed and thought about that dream again. 'What is going on with me and these dreams?'

Hearing a cough near her bed, she looked up and saw a man wearing BDU's with no insignia or rank on them standing near her bed."What can I do for you?"

"More like what I can do for you Sgt. Stavros, my name is Agent Collins and I work for the DEA and we would like for you to come and work for us when you get out of here."The agent reached for a chair and sat next to her bed.

"Why would the DEA want me?"

"Don't sell yourself short, I've been keeping an eye on you and I've seen your records and you have one hell of an academic career. Why you aren't an officer is one of the things I've wanted to ask for awhile now."Agent Collins tilted his head and gave the sergeant a smile.

Looking around to make sure no one was listening."I grew up a military brat, my dad was a non-com, and I was never really impressed with the officers I met, and my dad never really had anything good to say about a lot of them."She chuckled."He only really had any respect for a very few officers, I guess I took after him, I only have respect for my current captain."

"Ok fair enough."He chuckled at her answer." So on to the matter at hand, what do you say to my offer?"

"To tell the truth, I've been thinking about what I would be doing once I leave the Army. At least this way I'll still be doing something for my country, you've got me." Laying back she yawned."Look can you come back tomorrow and we can talk some more."

Satisfied he got up and shook her hand."I can do that and I'll get all the paper work started." He left and Sgt. Stavros fell back asleep.