Alicia smiled as she saw her father walking into the barracks. He looked around until he spotted her sitting at a small circular table holding her plexpad in the common area. Dropping his long frame into a chair opposite her, he asked, "You able to break away for a while?" He didn't smile; his expression carefully neutral and not lost on his only child.
Making a few more entries, she turned the pad off and laid it on the table, picked up her coffee cup, finished the now cold bitter black brew with a single gulp and rose without expressing her usual warm greeting.
As she rose, he followed suit and allowed her to lead the way to her assigned room. It was tiny, but the bed was comfortable and as a single Major, she had her own bathroom. The drawback; it was cramped with the two of them filling space so she sat at the small table while Apollo paced to the window and looked out on the side of the barracks next door at the bland gray wall. He looked, but the dull gray metal it didn't register. He was carefully wording what he had to say in his mind for the hundredth time.
"Come on, Dad, just say it." Alicia hoped for the best, but her father's silence usually meant trouble for someone and she hoped she wasn't the target of her father's perfect shooting.
Turning back to her, his dark identical eyes showed concern. "Things are heating up in Africa, Alicia. I don't think now is the time for a hurried wedding."
"Come on, Dad, tell me what you really think?" Her heart was sinking. If her father didn't approve of the man she would marry; she knew deep down it wouldn't happen.
"Okay, he's not the man for you. You deserve the best, and I'm not just saying that as a father. For the past six years you've sacrificed a personal life and achieved one promotion and award after another. You're headed for great things and that young man is mediocre. You have always aimed for the best, marriage should top that list." He stopped talking, but kept his gaze locked with hers until she looked down and linked her fingers, tightening until they were white.
A knock on her door ended their private talk for now. Opening, Alicia found Commander Nathaniel Taylor on the other side with a look that said you're hiding a stash of the best liquor. "Wash, it was reported to me that your father was seen entering this barracks. Are you hiding him?"
Stepping back without a smile, she allowed the Commander to fill the door of her small quarters. With two large men, the space filled with testosterone as the two sized each other up, a mark of professional soldiering. "Apollyon, here for business or pleasure?" Two strong hands gripped as Nathaniel took two steps into the center of her tiny room, hand outstretched.
Shadow of a smile flickered at the use of his nickname. "Personal, actually. Alicia, you tell the Commander what brought me here?" He looked at his daughter, standing in the now vacated open door.
She shook her head no without speaking. Her father's words caused her throat to tighten and tears to burn, and she didn't want to cry in front of these two strong mentors.
"Mind if I do?" His deep voice asked permission.
"Go ahead." She just managed to keep her tone neutral.
"I got a visit from Sergeant Eric MacLeod. He asked for Alicia's hand in marriage." He watched as Nathaniel's eyebrows shot up.
The Commander turned towards his junior officer. "Why didn't you tell me? I knew you two were dating, but this is sudden. You don't know him that well." He turned back to Apollo. "If I thought it was it serious, Apollo, I'd have given you a heads up."
"It was a surprise, as Alicia never mentioned him before he tracked me down. So if she didn't figure her father ought to know, I don't think she's that serious about matrimony, but that boy is."
Nathaniel recovered his surprise. "He's an ordinary soldier; looks good in uniform, but Wash can kick his ass in intelligence and combat. I thought it was harmless fun and heaven knows I've kept your daughter so busy, down time is few and far between."
"I'm not giving my blessing to this supposed union, Alicia." Her father finished what Taylor interrupted.
"I'm not either," Nathaniel chimed in and concern laced his tone. "Wash, you should have asked me for advice. I would have talked to MacLeod and told him to back off before he proposed. He did propose didn't he?" Both men stopped talking and waited for her to respond.
The lump in her throat wouldn't let her talk without crying and tears burned her eyes, making them smart. She had her pride and kept her gaze averted lest they see the shine, and that same Washington pride made her head snap up. Without a word she turned and vanished.
"Wash!" Taylor was in her doorway in two steps, in time to see her make an escape through the front door. Turning back to her father he asked, "You don't suppose she actually wants to marry that guy?" He felt a strange emotion in his stomach.
"Remember when I danced with her at her graduation?" When Nathaniel nodded, he continued, "I told her when we were dancing, the next time I'd be dancing at her wedding, but admonished her to wait several years. Those years sure passed swiftly." He ran a hand through his still mostly dark, unruly hair.
"I don't know about you, but this information has unsettled me. I have just what we need in my office."
"Think we should find Alicia first?"
"Give her time. I don't think she took our disapproval well." He led the way out of the barracks as soldiers stopped and stared at their Commander and the legendary Commander Washington hurry from the quarters of their own Major Washington.
Ignoring everyone, Alicia hurried to the shooting range where she was guaranteed privacy. She trained all subordinates and when she needed to think; she did it at the range, alone. Why did Commander Taylor finding out that someone wanted to marry her upset her so much? Eric proposed just a few days before and she teasingly told him to ask her father first. One to give her time to think and two; Commander Taylor was a stickler for proper protocol with his troops, and she didn't want him involved by suggesting her boyfriend ask him. She and Eric were seen together, but she never mentioned to anyone that it was getting serious, maybe not even herself. Blowing the center out of a target at a long range with her pistol in ten rapid fire shots, she switched to her sniper rifle stored at the range, dropped the support to the ground and lined up on a target a mile away. Carefully, with steady precision, she fired. The scope told her the man in the silhouette was dead, a hole neatly drilled in the center of his forehead.
Her thoughts drifted to Eric. Tall, good-looking and could have any woman he wanted, but pursued her. Truth be told, since enlisting, dates could be counted on one hand. At first the excitement of starting her chosen career and finishing her training pushed the attentions of young men far to the rear. Wanting to impress her superiors, she focused on her studies. Her hard work paid off when she was called into the Commander's office and given her choice of assignments at the end of her officer training. On a plexpad was every General or Commander that vied for her services, which was most of them. One, Commander Nathaniel Taylor caught her eye as she scrolled down the list. She remembered the Commander and his wife that came to her high school graduation. He was cute and his wife nice. Eighteen months had passed since her graduation and she was ready to take her place among the officers. Luckily for her, having the famous Apollo Washington for a parent opened doors and he personally took her into combat on her few breaks to introduce the horrors of battle, so she wouldn't be a total neophyte on her first command; an act that caused her to rise in the ranks faster than anyone else.
Asking the General if she could take the list and study it before making a decision, she carted it away when he acquiesced and spent that evening pouring over the units of the interested parties. It was getting late and she still hadn't made a decision when a knock sounded on her barracks door. The senior officer, a teacher, answered and talked to someone in the dark. Stepping back in he hollered, "Washington, step out." She jumped up and stood to attention. "You have a visitor."
Stepping out onto the dimly lit porch, she was surprised to find Commander Nathaniel Taylor smiling at her.
"Remember me, Private Washington?"
"Of course, not every kid has two Commanders attend her high school graduation." She smiled back at him.
"I took the liberty of pulling up your decorations and awards while at the dance that night; quite impressive." The Commanders of the other units wanted this daughter of Apollyon, but he was determined to be her Commander and the same determination that earned him a rare Commander slot was used to pursue her. He didn't mention to her that it was her own father that contacted him and told him to go in person or he might not be chosen. He also passed on the tip that as a father to a nineteen year old, his sphere of influence was severely limited, as Nathaniel would find out in time. Months after she was entrenched in his unit, he confessed why he was there in person that night.
"What brings you here at this time of night?" She was curious as she hadn't heard about him since joining up, outside the hopefuls in her classes that wanted into his unit.
"I came to recruit you in person. I was hoping persuasion would win over ordering you into my unit, which I have the power to do. As one of the reconnaissance units, I get my pick of soldiers. I called General Pickens and he told me he gave you a list of interested parties, so I wanted to be first in line," he ended with his best persuasive smile.
"You want to come in or something?" She felt awkward standing under the dim light in what might be a long conversation.
Offering his arm, he smiled, "I'll take you to the cafeteria and get you something disgusting. I missed supper and need food or desert and coffee to get me home."
Alicia remembered how easy it was to talk to him. The night of her graduation, he and his wife went out of their way to be friendly and talked to her as if she were an adult and equal. Slipping her hand in the crook of his arm, she felt iron muscles that bulged as they walked the short distance.
Lining up her next shot, Alicia blew a hole through the Adam's apple. Her thoughts couldn't be stilled and for the first time in five years, she cursed being in Taylor's unit. Anger was taking over the hurt. How dare he act like he controlled her personal life. Her father, she could understand, but not someone she wasn't related to. What made her angrier; her feelings for the Commander, which she kept carefully hidden behind a mask of professionalism. Many times she had patched him up and seen all of him at one time or another and he was everything a woman would want in a man. Eric might not have all those muscles, but he'd been fun to be around and the fooling around they did wasn't bad at all.
When Taylor finally got her to agree, he reached in his pocket and pulled a miniplex out and hit a button and handed it to her to sign with her electronic signature. "I hear you just finished training as a medic. I just happen to need one. Byers, my last medic was crawling down a ditch and lifted his head. We found some of it to bury with his body."
In ever-increasing frequency, Taylor's unit was shipped around the world putting out fires. She'd been slightly injured many times and each and every time, Commander Taylor personally oversaw her treatment at the hands of another medic. He always flippantly issued the statement that he couldn't lose his personal medic and best officer, but the one time she took a bullet his jovial attitude was entirely different. Never had she seen him get so involved when one of his officers got injured, even when Lieutenant Guzman, his second, took a bullet through his leg. Taylor jokingly told him he'd do anything for time off before leaving to get back to the battle, leaving Washington to dig the bullet out alone. A stray bullet caught her shoulder at such an angle as to slip under her armor. The pain was sharp and burning, but she stayed conscious and stripped her armor off with one hand before collapsing in agony. Word flew through the ranks Washington had been hit. They'd taken heavy fire and she was pinned down, not able to get to the medic tent for treatment. She ordered a nearby private to tie her wound with a mash dressing in her pack.
With trembling hands, he pulled his boot knife and sliced her tee shirt from bottom to top and pushed the material away from the injured area only to be greeted with a stream of blood pouring down her breast, soaking her bra. He instinctively stumbled a couple feet back, threw up, and returned. "Sorry, you're my first patient and if it was anybody but you, I'd not of done that." Like most male soldiers, he had a secret crush on her. Normally opening her shirt would have been a dream come true, something to brag to the guys about, but to see her gritting her teeth in pain and pale face forced any amorous thoughts far from his mind. Suddenly, he was pushed aside and Commander Taylor was assessing the situation. Taking the dressing from the young private's hand, he slapped it over the hole and sat her up so he could fasten it tightly behind the wound.
"What are you doing here, Sir? You need to be in the command area getting those goons to stop raining on our parade." Alicia was sure he could be better served elsewhere.
He ignored her question and comment. Scooping her up, he ordered the private to lay down bullets and sonic blast and keep it up until they were at the medic tent. Holding her tightly, he maneuvered around craters made by incoming shells. Other soldier's saw who the Commander had in his arms and joined the private in creating a safe zone for him to rush through. Laying her on the table, he ordered another medic to stop suturing a leg and get over there. Her head was now spinning and she felt blackness around the edges. Trying not to faint, she was aware that someone was holding her hand and brushing hair from her face. 'When did she lose her hair band?' She remembered thinking as the hair flowed freely and stuck to her clammy skin. The helping hand was so gentle and warm. Looking for its owner, her eyes met Nathaniel's worried blues, darkened to a stormy sea. "You still here, Sir?" Her voice slightly slurred as a much needed painkiller entered her system.
He forced a smile. "Can't lose my personal medic; you take too good of care of me, Wash. If I go outside and get hit, I have nobody to patch me up. I order you to get better, hear that, Sargent?"
When she came to, she was in a field hospital well back from the battle zone. Commander Taylor was on the radio issuing orders as he sat by her side. "Sir?" Her confused tone caused him to jump and put the radio down without a word to who he was speaking with.
Leaning over, closer than normal, he stroked a warm hand down her bare arm and gripped her hand on the un-injured side. "Wash, you scared me. You lost a lot of blood. Ayani's on her way; she'll make sure they take good care of you."
"I'm here," Ayani rushed in.
Spinning, Nathaniel took her in his arms and kissed her roughly. "I have to get back to the front. Take care of our Wash. Keep me informed," and he was gone.
She remembered wondering what it would be like to be kissed like that by him and closed her eyes before his wife figured out she had a major crush on that man.
He never told her why he personally took her to the rear even though she asked. He always made some excuse like he promised her father he'd take care of her and didn't want to face an irate senior Washington. Two weeks later she was back on the job and he tracked her down in the medic tent where she was going over reports on the injured and killed.
"Welcome back, Sargent." He dropped into a chair, legs splayed apart and his hands linked and draped between them.
"Good to be back, Sir. Your wife checked on me every day, but she didn't have to. I got a call from Dad. He's in the thick of battle or would have stopped by. He said soon, so expect him any time."
"Ayani knows how important you are to me and we won't even go down the road of what your father's going to say to me for letting you get injured. The unit is changing and I want you closer to me. You can still be my medic, but I want you in training to take Guzman's slot as number two."
"I'm not a Major. That's the progression, Major to Lieutenant."
"I'm putting you in for the next Major slot to open up in the unit and I don't want you to give the board any reason to say no."
"Why me, Sir?"
"The first time I laid eyes on you, I saw your father's training and knew whatever you did; you'd carry on his ideals and honesty and toughness. In five years you haven't once disappointed me and you only keep getting better."
That man was a born politician. His words made her heart swell and at that moment she knew she'd follow him anywhere.
The rifle spoke again and the male silhouette had a hole through his heart. Lieutenant Guzman was retiring soon. She'd been carefully groomed to take his place and made Major within a month after Commander Taylor told her he was backing her. Now she felt caught. Taylor had a wife to go home to and she had nobody and another night in her bare barracks room alone without someone to hold her was nauseating. She encouraged Eric when she wasn't sure he was the one, but she didn't want to be alone come night any longer. Now the two men she looked up to the most said no. The next crack pierced the stomach and in rapid succession she took out the left hipbone and the right a split second later.
"There's only one target left, Wash, and for the sakes of your father and myself, show some restraint."
She turned to see her Commander looking through his glasses at the target then hand it off to Apollo, who studied her pattern.
Putting the rifle down, she still didn't know if she wanted to curse at them or cry, so she kept her eyes on the target that was the size of a man a mile away.
"Alicia," her father addressed her. He and Nathaniel had pulled up all the information on his daughter's suitor. Orphaned at sixteen, he enlisted when he was twenty and showed talent with mechanics and was trained as a chopper pilot and then went into officer's training. Somehow he either met or knew Alicia and her father figured he started off with the wrong tact and she wouldn't talk to him now. "I may have been too hasty in my reservations about your suitor." He felt a surprised Taylor staring at him. When they talked about the situation, Apollo never indicated he was going to change his mind.
Alicia lifted her head and regally stared at her father. "I don't wish to talk about Sergeant MacLeod with you." She included Nathaniel in her next part. "Either of you."
Apollo walked to her. Placing his large hands on each shoulder, he leaned down and spoke into her ear, quietly for her only. "I will not approve of anyone who wants to take my girl from me, but I know the day is coming and it will happen. Just don't forget your old man, okay?" He placed a kiss on her cheek. His words brought tears to her eyes and they were bright when they looked at each other. Without another word he turned, shook Nathaniel's hand and left them alone, leaving for his own unit.
Nathaniel, who had stepped away to give father and daughter a measure of privacy, hurried back, closer than he was before and placed a hand on her shoulder also, giving it a friendly squeeze. "I don't guess Apollo or I handled your surprise very well."
The emotional hour took its toll and a tear ran down her cheek. "Tell me, Nathaniel. When you married Ayani, did anyone tell you it was a mistake?"
"No. Everyone approved."
"What did Eric do wrong that you and my father say no?" She didn't try to stop the few tears that left wet tracks down her cheeks. For once she didn't try and be tough or in control. She was hurting at the reception the two most important men in her life gave towards her boyfriend.
"Nothing. He might be the nicest young man in the forces. It's us, Wash," he reached up and brushed the tears away with the pads of his thumbs. The sight of them hurt, knowing he was partially responsible and wondered how to right his wrong. He could see she was upset inside with conflicting emotions and just plain hurting. He went to draw her in for hug, but her hands on his chest stopped his pulling.
"Permission to take a few days off, Sir?"
"Granted, just don't do anything you'll regret. I need my future Lieutenant back on the job in one piece." He watched her walk away and remembered they both forgot their masks as the pungent air started tickling his throat.
Monday, and Commander Taylor had his troops in formation, at parade rest. Five days and still no sign of his Major. In fact, Lieutenant Guzman was conspicuously absent this morning as well. Not often did the Commander use hands on tactics with his troops, not when he had highly trained officers to keep them battle ready.
Six hours of rifle practice and hand-to-hand combat, the troops broke for lunch and off to their individual duties for the afternoon. Grabbing lunch in the mess, Nathaniel wondered about the silence from Guzman, and he was especially worried for Washington. His comm beeped as he shoveled in a mouthful of semi-recognizable casserole and started chewing. Swallowing, he answered, "Taylor."
Standing at attention in front of his desk were the bruised faces of Lieutenant Guzman and Major Washington. Taylor agreed to their release from the local dome city where they spent from Saturday night to Monday morning in the downtown precinct. Finally, just before noon, they appeared before the magistrate who accepted a bribe in lieu of jail time for their crime of brawling and tearing up a bar. However, as part of the deal, their boss had to come personally to the jail and collect them. The judge didn't like military brass and seeing one in the demeaning position of standing before him, made his day.
They stood while Commander Taylor read the report. He didn't ask them to stand down as he slowly read. Ramrod straight, both looked straight ahead at a spot on the wall. With deliberate slowness, he sat the pad down and looked at them. They were in street clothes and he could smell an odor emanating from both of them of dried booze and sweat and something unknown. Dried blood still smeared their cheeks, partially covering scrapes and bruises. "It says here." He picked the pad up and pretended to find an entry, but had memorized every word since it involved his two senior officers. "You were having drinks at a bar called Satan's Lair when six Aircore men accosted you two and started a fight." He quickly looked up, searching for a flinch, but to their credit, neither moved a muscle. "Just so happens it was the mates of one Eric MacLeod, but MacLeod wasn't in attendance. I want some answers. Guzman, what happened?" He stood and rounded his desk to look the Lieutenant in the eye. "Look at me."
Guzman shifted his dark gaze to the icy blues. "Sir, Major Washington and I were having a drink and talking. Those airmen came in looking for a fight. We tried to ignore them, but they insulted the Major here, Sir." He stopped talking when the Commander shifted to the next person.
With a growl, he ordered, "Washington, you can't take a few insults from mentally deficient flyboys?"
"Guess not, Sir." She didn't spit the words out sharply like trained, just answered.
If it were anybody but her, the unfortunate soldier would be assigned to a week in the brig for the lackluster reply. He withheld a sigh. "Guzman."
"Sir?" At least his lieutenant still knew respect.
"You'll take morning training for one month starting tomorrow, dismissed." His gaze never left Wash as Guzman smartly whirled and marched out.
"At ease." He indicated a chair and took his again. Pulling his mini from his breast pocket, he keyed it on. "Sargent, hold all calls and visits. I don't want to be disturbed." He broke the connection before anyone could answer. "I got a call from Commander Campbell of the Wild Blue squadron. He had to get his men from jail also. We met at the precinct and he told me you broke up with Sargent MacLeod and some of his friends decided to track you down." He noticed she was looking down and not at him. "Wash, I'm your friend as well as your Commander. Don't close me out. We've been through a lot together. I hope you didn't breakup because of me or your father." He kept his voice soft and conveyed sincere empathy.
She raised her battered face with a lip split in two places, sporting a shiner and one cheek completely blackened from the pounding she received. "I did. My father's approval on my choice of a husband is more important than anything. And yours," she added softly, her large ebony eyes pleaded with him to understand that he did mean a lot to her. "I don't want to disappoint you and by the way you acted I knew you were, so I dumped Eric. He didn't take it well. I spent a couple days in the dome, shopping and staying at the ritziest hotel I could afford. In fact I'm still checked in and it's going to be tight paying the bill for an extra two days," she managed a small smile. "I didn't expect to stay in jail two nights when I could have been in luxury."
"Make a deal with you." Nathaniel wanted her story. "I'll take you to the hotel and you can clean up, take a bath and I'll pay your bill. In exchange, you tell me everything I want to know." He had five bad days since granting her leave. He confided in Ayani what happened and she tried to reach Wash for a woman-to-woman talk, but she wasn't at her barracks and nobody knew where she was. Since it wasn't an emergency, it was frowned upon to use the emergency frequency to contact anyone in uniform. Nathaniel tried to keep a normal atmosphere at home over the weekend, but his thoughts were constantly on his Major and he had to ask his wife and son to repeat until they teased him.
Wash looked surprised at his generous offer. "You pay my bill and give my duties to Guz? You been hit in the head on my down time?"
Rising, he smiled, hoping to put her at ease as he escorted her to her feet. "I feel partly responsible for what happened. Guz should have called me instead of his wife to tell her he'd be home in a few days and not to bother me. That's what he's being punished for." He watched her smile and shake her head at him.
"What's my punishment if I refuse?
"You'll spend the month in the brig." His deadpan response left her no doubt that would be her fate.
Putting her hand out, they shook. "I'm getting the better part of this deal, just so you know. I'm sure the bill will be outrageous," she replied and started feeling normal on the inside after her tumultuous week.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about the bill. I'll find a way to make your father pay half." He didn't release her hand. "Wanna place a bet on it?"
"No, you're more devious than Dad, no bet. He deserves to pay half."
He leaned in very close, keeping eye contact. "Oh no, I learned the art of manipulation directly from your father." He kept her hand firmly in his. He was so happy she was unharmed; he wanted to keep a hand on her person and her hand was the safest part of her body.
"Are we going to stand here holding hands gazing into each other's eyes or can I have your promised bath now?" She was starting to sound like her old self. They always had an open, teasing relationship. Whereas, other junior officers were formal with him, she got mouthy, especially when tending his wounds. In turn, he naturally gravitated to her. Not many people stood up to him and she was refreshing, so much like her father.
Nathaniel looked around the large room while Wash started her bath. He hollered from the other room as the bathroom door was ajar. "I haven't been in a place this nice since my honeymoon."
A sharp pang shot through her heart, both at the thought of him on his honeymoon and how wonderful that must have been for Ayani and the honeymoon she wouldn't be having soon. She added bubble bath to the water and watched thick foam grow. Now that she was unattached, she hoped her fantasies wouldn't return to her Commander. Eric took her mind off her infatuation with the older man.
A knock sounded. "I'll get it," Nathaniel let the bellboy in with a bucket. The bellboy smiled at the generous tip. Popping the cork of an expensive Champaign that he ordered when Wash went to run her bath, he called out, "You decent? Can I come in?" The door was still open, but the water had stopped.
"Only if you don't care that I'm wearing nothing but bubbles."
Cautiously he peaked in before crossing the threshold. A large bathtub adorned a sidewall. The bubbles were almost overflowing the side and Alicia was relaxing, hair wet and the blood scrubbed off her cheeks and her head was resting on a towel. Her eyes were closed and he could see the fatigue of two days incarcerated. Carefully, he sat a glass of Champaign on the edge of the tub and sat on the commode, sipping his, and let his eyes wander over the bubbles. His wife didn't take bubble baths and this was the first time he'd seen a woman in a tub with bubbles outside the old films. He decided to ask his wife if she'd take one so he could join her. It looked like fun and they could afford the extra water bill to fill a tub.
"I brought you a gift." His words opened her eyes. Not moving, she let her gaze take him in sitting a respectful distance from her, and they shifted sideways to rest on a clear stemmed glass with light bubbly liquid. "This is good. Soaking in bubbly and drinking it also." She took a sip.
"Start at the beginning, Wash. What happened after you left me." His eyes never left the tub, but his mind shifted gears from pleasure to work.
Taking a bigger mouthful, Wash savored the sensation and began.
"I went back to the barracks and before I could back out, called Eric. We talked about what my father said to him, which was no snot nosed flyboy was going to marry his daughter. If she married, it'd be to a Special Forces soldier like her and her father. He figured he could change my father's mind or join Special Forces, but I told him no, it wouldn't happen now, and I had to honor my father, so we could be friends, but nothing more."
He came back with, "You got to be joking, Alicia. You're twenty-four years old and still seek your daddy's approval? I'm two years older than you. I thought someday it'd be us after all these years." Her tone went neutral as she reported his exact words.
"How long have you known him, Wash?" Taylor cut in.
"We met in high school. Back then he used a nickname, Razor. I talked him into the service and he chose Aircore while I chose Special Forces."
"Did your father know about this relationship?" He grabbed the bottle and topped off her glass and his, glad he thought to loosen her up with liquor.
"It never came up when we were together or chatting, so when Eric tracked him down it was a complete surprise for both of us. I never dreamed he'd follow through with my half assed suggestion." She sipped and bent a knee, lifting it above the bubbles and Taylor watched, fascinated, as white foam slid off the kneecap into the water. Some remained and he wanted to scoop it off. To his surprise, he felt a tightening in his groin. He never thought of her as someone he should notice that way, but that was changing fast. He remembered when he saw her again at nineteen when he recruited her, how beautiful she was becoming, not that the seventeen-year-old version wasn't striking, but he wasn't into girls. Now at twenty-four she had matured into a stunning woman that turned heads and he was proud to have the talk of the service for beauty in his unit and protected his possession, behind her back of course.
Averting his eyes to his glass, he was impressed at his even tone. "Continue."
Eric was upset and told me at twenty-six he was ready for a wife and if it wouldn't be me, he'd find a more willing woman and hung up. I looked at my bank balance and headed here for a few days of pampering. I figured the best thing I could do was find someone in a bar and get laid."
"Did you?" He wasn't sure it was his business, but she did agree to answer his questions.
"Do I have to answer that?"
"You did agree." He would never punish her for refusing to reveal what was none of his business.
"I went to several bars and got hit on, but wasn't in the mood. By Saturday I wanted to talk to someone and Lieutenant Guzman always told us, his door was open, so I called him at home and he agreed to meet me at Satan's Lair. We talked and he was supportive. Told me his son married a woman the family wasn't thrilled about, but she was Special Forces like him and they warmed up to her in time because of common ground. He said if I married Eric, in time, you and my father would come around, like he did. I just didn't want the stress. I want my father to give me away when I marry and I want him to want to." She drank half her glass and sat it back on the tub. Taking a washcloth, she started idly washing her face, wincing as she rubbed over the raw cheek.
After a glance, Nathaniel kept his eyes on his glass and wondered at his betrayal in his nether regions. She was too young for him and he was happily married. Up to now, they'd had a platonic relationship of almost sibling fondness. He wanted to keep it that way, but seeing her in the bath brought front and center, she wasn't his sister and she was a beautiful, mature woman and he shouldn't be in here, but with his desire apparent he was stuck in place on the commode. The irony made him smile.
Focusing on her bruised arms, she missed his smirk and continued.
"Several from Eric's unit came in, looked around, and headed right to our table. Brian, Eric's best friend told me I was a cock tease and a bitch. Guz and I ignored him so he grabbed me and threw me backwards while the others, all five of them jumped on Guz. I heard Brian yell, I was all his and he was going to make me pay. It took me a few punches and he was down and out. That's when three of the others broke off Guz and came after me. The place was crowded and I'm sure I hit several bystanders and soon the entire place was up in arms. It became a free for all. Guz and I stood back to back and fought everyone off until the police arrived. Everyone got arrested. That's all there is, Sir."
"No it's not. Guzman's report reads quite different than yours, Wash. His includes what they said and did to you." His jaw clenched at the thought of anyone putting their hands on her like that.
Alicia sighed and finished her glass. "Anymore?"
He got up and refilled her glass not caring if the bulge in his pants was noticeable.
She noticed and secretly was glad he was human after all, but knew his professionalism would never allow him to do anything unbecoming an officer or hurt his wife. She felt a twinge of jealously that Ayani was so lucky while she couldn't seem to get her act together and find an acceptable man.
"Okay, Brian grabbed my breast and twisted leaving fingerprints, wanna see?" She dared him to pry further.
"Yes." He got up and approached the tub and knelt on one knee. "Wash, you've seen all of me at one time or another. I need to see how badly you were hurt. I may order you to stand up so I can check every mark out. Commander Campbell is going to get a report from me and I want details." He was getting angry at the thought this special woman being manhandled like that. It was one thing to be captured by the enemy, but these men were supposed to be on the same side.
Wash thought carefully his order and could refuse and report to the infirmary or just stand up and expose her battered body to him. She knew Guzman saw the grab to her breast, but what he missed was the bruising along one side of her ribs that was hurting. The bath helped; the Champaign did more, but painkiller in her barracks was what she desired. Suddenly she was ready for her small room again. "Hold the towel." She waited for him to open a large sheet towel and stood up, stepped from the tub as he wrapped it around her. "Take the towel away, Sir." She looked him in the eye.
With a slight hesitation, he pulled the towel away and let his gaze run over her body. His lips thinned at the angry marks on her right breast. "You are ordered to the infirmary when we get back on base. Damage like that can lead to other problems." His gaze lowered and stopped on her ribs with several black and blue fist sized pummel marks. Without another sound, he looked at the rest of her and turned her with a nudge to her shoulder so she pivoted and he looked at more marks on her back and buttocks. Draping the towel around her shoulders, he left the room and closed the door, the sight of her naked body forever etched in his mind and he would revisit it more often than he would like and every time he felt a betrayal to his wife, but the damage was done.
Wash was glad he turned her away as her face was red from his inspection and she jumped in the shower to finish washing two days of jail stench off and the residue of bubbles and their scent. When she appeared in the other room with nothing but a towel wrapped around her body, looking for clothes, she stopped dead in her tracks in stunned surprise that her Commander wasn't alone. Standing close and speaking in quiet tones with him was her father. They stopped talking and looked at her, and she recovered with, "Hi Dad," before grabbing a few items and disappearing back into the bathroom. It didn't look good being in a hotel room with her Commanding Officer, but if she knew her Commander, he would make it look innocent as it was.
"What brings you to my expensive hotel suite that you're going to be hit up to pay half?" Alicia joked as she re-emerged, fully dressed and looking presentable.
"Word came my way of your difficulty so I tracked you down." He got the details from Guzman, who informed him she was battered and it showed on her face even under makeup.
"Guzman ratted?" She guessed.
"He's worried. Said he didn't get to see you after they hauled you both downtown until you were both picked up by Nathaniel." He finally moved and took the bag she was packing while they talked.
Commander Taylor was silent so Wash turned to him. "Did you get all the information you needed, Sir?" Their eyes met.
"I want you to press charges. They were out of line and you were a direct target. They might have killed you if Guzman wasn't there." He couldn't get the images marring her figure out of his mind, but wisely didn't mention he saw them to her father.
Knowing together they would wear her down, she deflected. "I'll consider it, Sir. Right now, I need to get to medical."
"Alicia, how bad are you hurt?" Her father spoke in that quiet, deadly tone that told her, he would take care of her attackers and without backup.
She shook her head. "Superficial. My pride is the main causality." She didn't want word spread around the military that Alicia Washington had to have her father fight her battles. Taylor remained quiet about the severity of her injuries.
He sighed and figured she was holding out, but understood. "How about dinner before I go back then?"
"Only if you pay half of this bill so Commander Taylor isn't on the hook for everything." Looking around to make sure she had everything, she opened the door and preceded the men while they smiled and shook heads at each other behind her back.
Standing at the checkout counter, she asked for her bill and handed her door chip to the middle-aged man, who wondered at two military officers flanking her. He saw a hand from each man settle on the young, beautiful woman's shoulders and that she'd obviously been a victim of abuse since he checked her in. He hoped these men weren't the culprits and taking her off for further violence. "Do you require assistance for those bruises, Ma'am?" He watched the men behind her. They stared back and gently drew her back and stepped in front.
"I'll pay her bill," the younger stated and set his credit chip down.
"Put half on mine also," the taller imposing man ordered, not requested.
That's when he saw the resemblance in the older man and smiled. Whoever these men were, they were the protectors of the woman and he guessed one was her father. He watched them escort her across the lobby, one carrying her bag and the other with a protective hand on her lower back. He wondered if the man with his hand on her back was her lover.