A/N: I'm so sorry this is late! The holidays were a bit crazy. I'm back though!
Also, I'm not trying to make a political comment with this chapter, my father is a police officer and I know that there are good and bad people in every profession, but this is set in the 70s and I'm from Miami which meant Cocaine Cowboys XD
The phone rang at three in the morning on a sunday night. Usually Levi Mundy would let it ring, but it had scared him in the middle of an oddly pleasant dream.
Hands finding his waist, positioning him to dance, laughing like bells when he fumbled a bit. The person in front of him was taller than he usually dreamt, and he aw nothing but a white collar as he blushed, embarrassed he was stepping on toes. This time the person opened their mouth to speak-
BRRRRING! BRRRRRING!
"Piss."
He fell out of the lofted bed of his camper and rolled to the table with a growl. Instead of standing to pick up the phone, he punched the leg of the table so the phone would fall off, hanging by the chord to where his ear was on the floor. This wasn't the first time he'd done this. "This 'ad bet'a be bloody good." His accent was thicker when he was tired.
"Levi Mundy?"
"This is he."
"Will you accept a phone call from the Teufort Police station?"
Double piss. Probably the kid again.
"If it's Jeremy tell him he' going to have to deal with being there til morning at LEAST." He growled, finally sitting up and grabbing the phone.
"No, sir, this is a… Doctor Wolfgang Ludwig?"
Triple piss.
He sighed and walked to brew himself some coffee "Yeah, put 'im on."
"Levi?"
"Doc, what did you get yourself into?"
"Mundy, I am so sorry I woke you so early… It seems I'm going to need a ride back home." He sighed and the Sniper could hear his head hit the wall with a sigh.
He didn't question the request for a moment, he simply began to pull his pants on. "Yeah, I'll be there in about an hour. Hang tight." His voice had softened, as if to calm the doctor down.
Forty miles away, Wolfgang sighed as he hung up the phone. He straightened, freezing in the cold holding cell after they had taken his coat from him. He was lead down the hall by a pudgy man that seemed to be the Engineer's size, but having taken far less care of himself as the years went on. He was snatched by the elbow and cuffed once again, dragged down the hall.
"So, a doc, a merc, and a fag." The cop insulted, throwing him in the holding area. It was a cage- like cell with two faded white concrete walls forming one corner, and two walls of rusting steel bars that spanned from floor to ceiling making up the other. In the "cell" were four other men three very dangerous looking men wearing leather and covered in tattoos, and one drunk soul who could barely stand as it was, but they all shuffled away from him when they heard the word fag mentioned
The German furrowed his brows and looked to the officer through the bars "Fag, sir?"
The fat cop turned to his companion, a younger officer who seemed to be more Scout's age, but the Doctor's size. He seemed uncomfortable with his superiors' insults , but he forced himself to stay silent. "You see? He's stupid too. Kraut faggot can't even understand what I'm calling him. His boyfriend was foreign too, but he was Australian. Didn't think an Australian faggot was possible. Must be some sort of inbred."
Wolfgang's eyes darkened at the older man, but softened when the younger man looked to him in apology and made a point of leading him away. The younger man had done nothing to wrong him, and would be spared Medic's wrath.
He sat on a bench attached to the concrete and bars of the back corner of the cell, thankful that the insult had done at least one thing right and had kept his cell mates far from him.
He was not very sensitive to insults, he found no fault in what the officer had insinuated about his sexuality, the term Kraut was not uncommon (even this long after the war), and he happened to be a mercenary by trade. There was no use feeling insulted.
But he had recently made a friend, and he was not going to let the man get away with even attempting to insult his newfound companion. This was an unforgivable act of unprovoked prejudice that the victim was unable to defend himself. He needed to-
He needed to calm himself down.
Medic rose a curious brow, mentally studying what might have caused the rise of emotion from within him "Odd." He muttered softly.
He crossed his legs to the lotus position, something people wouldn't usually expect a man of 49 to be able to accomplish, but he was more lithe than most people expected. HIs eyes fluttered closed so
He closed his eyes to continue an experiment in his head, passing the time in his own form of mind palace. He was flipping through "Grey's Anatomy" for a specific diagram when the sound of a baton sliding across metal clunked it's way over his head and the image snapped back to reality.
"Time to go, Doc, yer boyfriend's here." He stood and turned, his posture proud, his head balanced perfectly for intimidation, but stepping outside of the cell, the baton hit the back of one knee and he slammed to the floor.
Patellar contusion. Estimated recovery time: 1 month
Medic stood a few moments later, wishing to God that he had free reign over more than just his 8 mercenaries, limping to keep from aggravating his knee further, a snarl on his face from the momentary pain of the fall. "Maybe we should do this to all the fags, ey kid? So we know them by their limping."
"Sir, that was a bit uncalled for, don't you think?"
"What was that?"
Wolfgang turned just in time to see the older cop pin the younger to a white brick wall by his lapels.
"Don't tell me what's necessary or unnecessary when you're so green you look like a cabbage. I've been working in this station since 1956. The year is 1970. Can you count? Or is that stupid little mouth of yours only good for complaining?"
"Fourteen years,sir." The younger officer growled.
"That's right. Don't think you can try to compete Mister Three-Months-Out-Of-The-Academy. I do what I like and I've got a badge that lets me."
Medic made eye contact with the younger officer and nodded once in solidarity. The kid slumped a bit in defeat and shoved the older man away to violently grab the prisoner by the arm, just hard enough to hide the whisper of "That's not what the police are supposed to do."
The older officer led them to the door of the lobby, pushing past the desk and the swinging gate, and made eye contact with the australian, holding the doctor's belongings which were comprised of a shovel, his coat, and a bottle of something. "You can handle the faggot reunion. I can't stomach that shit close up." Leaning on the wall to observe from a distance.
After a few paces of limping, the doctor offered "It may not be my place, I am not native to your country, but I think you're right. And, the only way you can change things is from the inside." The kid's eyes snapped up from the floor, hazel brown meeting ice blue. "Do not let them pressure you into hatred. I am from a place and time that is a clear example. Uphold justice and after all the battles, you will win the war."
The younger officer, Officer Gaiman from his nametag, was speechless for a moment before nodding and continuing onwards.
"Oi've got 'im from here, mate, thanks." Levi stepped forwards to gently grab the doctor's arm.
Wolfgang thanked Gaiman and smiled tiredly at Levi as he limped beside the taller man. "The older one is prejudiced, but he has potential. He just needs to stay focussed."
"What did he do to your leg, doc." The Aussie's voice was dangerous, but as they walked outside into the brisk cold of New Mexico in late November, his companion simply waved him off.
"Swung his baton too low and tripped me. I hit my knee. It is not bad, I am purposefully limping to keep from aggravating what will be a very deep bruise." He laughed a bit and climbed into the passenger seat of the camper's cab.
"What you said to that kid-"
"Zhink nozhing of it, Levi." Medic's voice was final but gentle. "He vas losing faith in his passion. We do not need another mercenary, don't you agree?"
Levi nodded in understanding before he started driving. "You know, I thought you were the kid."
"Scout? Nien, but he should have been vith me. Coward." He earned a smile for his pout.
"What did you get caught for."
"Eh, a bit of study in a graveyard-"
At the nearest stop light, Mundy turned his whole body to the Doctor. "You were grave robbing?"
"Nein! Eh- no, I vas merely comparing zhe rates of decomposition betveen zhose buried in zhe ground and zhose in a mausoleum. Jeremy ran zhe moment I pulled out a shovel und took zhe bread truck."
"So you were stranded?"
"Ja." He murmured flatly.
Levi yawned but he had to ask one more question. "Why did the older guy stay away once I got there?" He grinned cheekily "Cause I'm Australian?"
"Er, nein, he assumed because I had called you zhat vhe vere involved." There was going to be a laugh that followed, but he pressed forward, curious. "Zhe vord… fag? Faggot? Is zhis vhat one calls homosexuals in English?"
Levi's posture went rigid, his eyes bright with an angry fire causing the doctor to notice he did not have his usual shades on. "No, Wolfgang, that's a very derogatory term. I'm sorry you had to learn it that way."
The doctor moved his hand to rest it on Levi's knee in comfort, but hesitated and reached up to his shoulder instead "I vould not vorry about it my friend, I am not quick to insult. I can resist taunts on the battlefield, I can resist taunts off the battlefield."
"Well, I mean I guess you shouldn't really take offence." Mundy offered, using his left hand to rub the back of his neck.
"Vhy do you say zhat?"
"Well, you're straight, right? You married a woman, you're into girls."
There was a low chuckle that came from the doctor "Vhat is your opinion on homosexuality, Herr Mundy?"
"Me? I don't care what people do. I don't judge on superfluous shite."
"Vell, in zhat case, I vill be honest." Levi almost choked, expecting the doctor to call Clara his beard, but the expected answer never came. "I do not have a preference. I prefer neither men nor vomen."
"Oh, so you're asexual?"
Another low chuckle "No, I am very sexual, Levi. I just do not care vhether I am vith a man or a voman. Minus a few details, ve are all zhe same internally, ja? Vhy should I treat anyone different for vhat does or does not hang outside zheir body?"
A moment of silent thought, not awkward silence, passed between them.
"I think that's very well said, Docta."
"And vhat about yourself, Levi?" The Doctor seemed to be making just polite conversation, looking out the window and hugging his coat closer in the chill of the night. "I know you have an interest in vomen, anyzhing else?" There was a pause and a grin "Kangaroos perhaps?"
"Very funny, doc. Nah, I… I like it the same way you do. I'm a bit more choosy, but I guess that's because I prefer emotion over sex." He admitted, taking a glance at the man in his passenger seat.
"Part of wishes I was the same, but it makes my work easier without the romance."
"Aromantic then?"
This particular question caught the doctor off guard, and after a full minute of silence, he admitted "No... No, I don't believe so."
The softness in his voice caused a heavily pregnant silence, both of them having things that they could say, but didn't believe it was the time.
Finally Levi changed the subject "Why did you need the decomposition rates of the corpses?"
"Er…. curiosity, in all honesty. I had postulated zhe question a few months ago for research, but I've had to vait until I could do enough research to do a comparison of two people who died on the same day- thank God for Miss Pauling."
"Miss Pauling helps you with that?" He squaked, unable to believe that- nevermind he could completely believe that.
"Oh, of course, she is an excellent research partner. She contributes much and does not get in the way." He laughed friendly and looked to Levi as if the sniper knew what he meant.
It was one of the reasons that the Medic couldn't seem to connect with the others, not many of them were on his level and it weirded them out, but Levi wasn't going to get weirded out. He wasn't going to lie either, though. "Well, I wouldn't really be able to compare notes there, but I'll take you word for it." He made eye contact with a friendly smile to show the man he was honestly interested in keeping up the conversation. "Snipers tend to work alone. There might be a spy who got the information, but it's all very anonymous."
"It must get lonely sitting in those nests"
"Yeah, I mean… it can be peaceful too. Especially when Hoots comes with me." He admitted, speeding up for the last leg of their journey.
"Hoots?" Wolfgang asked, cocking his head curiously.
"Oh, there's an Owl that lives in the barn near base and he seems to be fond of me. Sleeps in the camper sometimes." He barked out a laugh "Loud though, so I started calling him Sir Hootsalot. Hoots for short."
"Oh, I keep doves!" The German connected happily, earning a grin from the driver.
"Who could forget about Archimedes?" He admitted as he parked closer to the base than he usually might. "Would you like me to walk you in?"
"Levi, you have done more zhan enough for me tonight. I will make an excuse for you at breakfast." He reached over and squeezed the man's hand with a smile "Sleep in, Doctor's orders." With that, Wolfgang slipped out of the car and ran to the base to try and avoid the majority of the cold, Levi watching him with a smile and a blush that warmed him until he crawled back into bed.
He closed his eyes to return to that dream of the dance. He woke in time for breakfast, unable to stay away. He had to compare the shade of the doctor's eyes to the ones who had lulled him to sleep.