Tristen didn't think she'd ever felt such cold. If not for the whirring of the propellers of the chopper they'd exited she thought she might've heard her skeleton trembling beneath her skin. She stood behind Julia and pulled her scarf over her nose as they waited for the man to reach them. "Daniel Aerov, head of security," he yelled over the cry of the wind. "Sorry we don't have the red carpet waiting, but we're not used to visitors."

"We're not used to red carpets," Alan replied shaking his hand.

Tristen turned at the feel of someone's arm pressing against her to see the Major beside her - a strange little half smile tilting the corner of his mouth. "You looked like you could use some warmth," he told her, his grin spreading at her wondering face.

"Thank you," she told him, her voice laced with uncertainty as she turned to the director of Arctic BioSystems introduced as Dr. Hatake.

The army man stayed at her side as they walked the long snow covered path to the facility, their jackets rustling each time they brushed against each other. He wanted something. Every time he turned to her with a crooked smile on his handsome face that thought inexplicably echoed in her mind. She spent enough time around people who tried to convince her they weren't sick, they weren't contagious, they could go home because they just knew they were fine - they'd go to almost any length be it violence or begging or even charm. There was something in his pretty eyes that had her mind saying, "don't trust him, he's playing you." She didn't know what to think. She didn't know him, it was possible he was simply trying to be nice because he didn't know anyone on the team. There wasn't enough information to draw any conclusions, that's what she told herself every time she felt his arm against hers.

It was almost a relief to be inside, though not much warmer when frigid air was following them down the hall at least they weren't in the wind. "We've come a long way for Peter. When can we see him?" Julia asked.

"He's been transferred to our isolation facility," Dr. Hatake told her. "I'm afraid the news isn't good. He's been in and out of consciousness for the last eight hours."

Tristen made a note to write that down as soon she could get her pad out of her bag, though before she could ask about Peter's vitals Alan was asking about the state of the facility; "are you implementing hard or soft quarantine?"

"Neither," Hatake answered.

It was an answer none of them expected, and the five members from the CDC wore nearly identical expressions of alarm as they looked at the Asian man. "You haven't locked down the base?" Julia asked, a question they were all wondering the answer to.

Hatake turned to her briefly. "Allow me to explain."

Before he could say anything more Alan was already speaking. "You have three victims of an unknown pathogen."

"And only three, who all worked in the same lab." Hatake didn't appear phased at the mild outrage from them. Tristen was impressed with his grace, she already wanted to tell Alan to shut up and let him talk, but Hatake's voice was as pleasant as it was when he first spoke. "Since we are not seeing a base-wide outbreak, we are fairly certain it's not airborne," he explained to the scientists halting his steps to wait for anymore questions they might have before they could continue.

"Well, at least you're fairly certain," Doreen said snidely, not liking the lax way the illness was being handled.

Tristen used their moment of reprieve to pull off her gloves and dig in her bag for her notepad, wanting to write down what Dr. Hatake said while it was still fresh in her mind. She paid little attention to Doreen's displeasure at seeing the chopper leave, barely heard Daniel's explanation or Balleseros' assurance. "I'm afraid the news isn't good. He's been in and out of consciousness for the last eight hours." She wanted his exact words in case they were important. She knew all too well research facilities like this one had secrets waiting to come out, and it was possible this virus was that secret.

"Please stick out your left hand," Daniel said after moving to stand in front of them. "RFID marker injected under the skin. We all have them. Yours will give you unrestricted access to the base."

Daniel moved down the line of scientists until he reached the last one. He nearly rolled his eyes when the uniformed man told the woman not to worry it didn't hurt a bit, as if the lack of complaint from the others didn't already tell her that. And then he waited as she smiled kindly before her eyes followed the man as he walked away, the smile slipping from her face as she looked at where he'd touched her. After a moment she shook her head and held her left hand out for him to take.

"So I wave my hand in front of a sensor and the door'll open?" Tristen asked, not entirely sure what the markers were needed for – he hadn't given much detail besides unrestricted access. He was younger than she'd assumed outside, having had her head bent against the wind and never saw his face, head of security she'd thought at least late thirties. But she was getting a good look at him then and she didn't think he was more than a couple of years older than herself.

"Yes ma'am," he said as his thumb pressed down on the button that injected the marker into her skin, looking up at her briefly when she moved to see her curiously watching what was happening.

As much as she'd forced herself to appreciate Major Balleseros' kindness, he was right in it not hurting. There was a slight pinch nothing more, and so she lowered her hand. "I assume it's sterile?" she asked as they began walking with the others further into the facility.

"Yes ma'am," he told her, having had to think a moment before answering from how few times that question was asked.

She nodded having wanted to be sure, the last thing they needed was an infection as they tried to identify the pathogen. "One more question," she said holding up a finger, knowing she was trying his patience – and she was proven right when he turned to her with a heavy sigh. "Is it coated with a numbing agent?"

Daniel couldn't remember ever being asked that, people either forgot about it or didn't know to ask. "I take it you're the nurse," he said, his eyes trained ahead of them as they walked to the elevator.

"Am I that obvious?" she asked, thinking her questions were perfectly ordinary things to ask.

His eyes glanced her way before once more he was staring ahead of them. "That was more than one question," he said, seeing her head turn in his peripheral. "And yes you are."

She didn't even find herself offended he'd been so matter of fact, responding only because she'd asked and even then his words were few. She gave nothing more than a quiet "oh," before he motioned for her to step on the elevator before him, and found herself by Major Balleseros again.

After the lift began taking them down there was a moment where they stood gawking at the sheer mass of the facility they were now seeing through the window. "Sweet mother Mary Matthew."

Tristen couldn't have agreed more with Doreen's exclamation. Even if the virus had come solely from Peter's lab not implementing even a light quarantine when there were so many floors it could potentially travel to - it would be extremely difficult to contain should it find its way out. And it only seemed worse when Dr. Hatake told them there were one hundred and six scientists in the base.

She looked up when Balleseros leaned closer. "Can you handle it if this thing spreads?" he asked, seeing then why they'd been so shocked at hearing there was no quarantine – besides of course the daunting fact they only had one nurse. Sure a scientist could figure out basic medical procedures, but she was their saving grace and there was one of her and almost 130 people now in the facility.

Her eyes were hard though not unfriendly, and the worry was easily read from her face. "I'm good but I'm not Jesus," she told him quietly, seeing him smile before he looked away. That was the moment she knew she'd been right about him. This smile had been genuine and amused, and every smile before then had been perfectly calculated.

He turned back to her, having missed every time the pleasant look left her face, and smiled; not realizing she was playing him the same as he was playing her. "I never caught your name," he said forcing innocence in the tone of his voice. She was the daughter of the senior officer, if any information was uncovered she'd know about it and if he got close enough she'd tell him. Not to mention she'd be the easier one to restrain, she was a waif of a woman any gust of wind might carry away.

She was brought up short realizing in her misgivings of his intentions she'd never introduced herself. He didn't know anyone on the team, he was by default the odd one out since he wasn't with the CDC like the rest of them, and there she was barely managing to work up a smile. Her mother was probably rolling in her grave, she'd raised her daughter to be better. "Tristen Gardot," she said holding out a hand.

Oblivious to her change in demeanor he shook her hand thinking he was that much closer to fooling her. "Sergio Balleseros," he told her in greeting. "You can call me Sergio."

Both Doreen and Alan turned toward them, neither one of them liking the suave way in which 'Sergio' leaned his body toward Tristen's as he held her hand.

Her smile was nothing more than a quirk of her lips, caught between amusement and wanting to tell him she wasn't fooled by him. And so she settled for something simpler. "You can call me Nurse Gardot."

Sergio watched as her eyes moved to the window, her attention no longer on him, almost surprised by her wit. Alan had already turned away knowing his daughter could handle herself nor was she interested, behind them Daniel stood with a ghost of a smile just barely etched on his face, and to his right Doreen stood with hard eyes boring into Sergio's face. "Off limits," she mouthed angrily, though Sergio did nothing more than shrug off handedly.

"Nurse Gardot."

Tristen turned at the sound of Dr. Hatake's soft accented voice, seeing him standing behind her as he waited patiently for her attention. If a statue was ever brought to life she'd imagine it would behave very similar to this man.

"If you would not mind staying on with me, I can get you the personnel records to review before you see your uncle," he offered, having noted Major Balleseros had stolen her attention when Dr. Farragut had asked for them.

"That'd be great, thank you," she told him, feeling the lift come to a stop before the doors opened. She stood against the wall of the elevator as the others got off and looked up when Alan stopped in front of her.

"For the time being I'd like you just to review their medical histories," he told her knowing she'd want to go in and see Peter the moment she got back. "Until we know more about the pathogen. You're the last person we need infected." He waited for her refusal, to say her job was to care for Peter whether or not she could get infected. Hospital staff was almost always the first to contract the illness; nurses at the CDC were no exception.

But she nodded in agreement. He was her senior officer, unless Peter needed immediaten attention he could order her to keep her distance. "Say hi for me," she said, seeing the relief in his eyes before he stepped off the elevator; his duty as father satisfied in knowing she would stay safely outside of the room for the time being. Alan spared her a last look, offering a small smile as a means of comfort to both her and himself, before the doors closed cutting her off from him.


My hope is that now they're at Peter the pace will start picking up more, that or more stuff is gonna start happening and it'll be a little more interesting than first introductions.