Wow! Thanks so much for the reviews and alerts! I'm glad that you guys are enjoying the story so far. :D
I decided to upload a few days early because I'll be out of town this weekend. I hope you continue to enjoy the story!
*Military term: FNG = Freakin' New Guy
Camila sat on a bed in the infirmary, feet dangling as she waited for the doctor to make his rounds. She had managed to clean up a little. One of the nurses had been kind enough to provide her with a damp washcloth which Cami had used to wipe most of the dried blood and sweat off of her face. The blood from her cut had now formed a thin crust over her eyebrow making it itch a little, but she resisted the urge to scratch lest she open it up again. She removed her vest and knife scabbard, placing them at the foot of the bed just as the head of the Atlantis medical department reached her bed.
"Wha' have we got here?" Dr. Carson Beckett asked, light blue eyes darkening with worry as he examined her cut.
"You're Scottish," she said, his accent bringing up some personal memories and making her smile.
"Aye," Dr. Beckett answered, smiling over at her briefly before glancing at the name on her vest. "Buchanan. Ye from the motherland as well?"
"My father was," she said, wincing slightly as he began cleaning her wound. "He passed away a few years ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that, lass. Wha' part of Scotland was he from?" he asked. He finished cleaning, then brought out some more medical instruments to begin sewing up her cut.
"He was born in Inverness." Cami couldn't help but feel at ease around the doctor. She knew that he was making conversation to keep her mind off of getting stitches. Still, there was a genuine interest from him as he kept up the chatter.
"Ah, a highlander," he said. There was a sharp pain as he injected numbing medication around the cut, then a dull pressure when the needle began to pierce her skin.
"Yes, sir."
"No need to call me 'sir', love. Just Carson."
Cami's smile widened, offering her good hand in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Carson. I'm Camila."
He shook her hand. "Camila?"
"Yes, my mother was Brazilian."
"Scottish and Brazilian? Wha' a strange combination."
"Um, thank you...I think."
"Oh! No, I didn't mean - "
Camila let out a laugh. "It's okay, doc, I know what you meant." Her eye caught sight of Sheppard and Anderson entering the infirmary, and the smile immediately left her face. "Tell you what. If I don't get reassigned, I'll take you out to lunch and tell you all about my family."
Beckett looked over at Sheppard, then gave her a reassuring smile. "Deal."
He finished stitching her up, placing a fresh gauze over her cut. She slid off the bed, about to snap a salute when Sheppard waved her off. "At ease, Captain." He held a data pad in his hand; the information on it appeared to be her military record. "How's she doin', doc?"
"She's fine, Sheppard. The cut wasn't too deep, but it did require some stitches. I recommend light duty for a couple of days," Beckett answered.
"Thank you, Carson," Sheppard said, and Beckett took his leave. "Captain Camila S. Buchanan, United States Marine Corps. Member of the First Recon sniping squad. Over a dozen commendations. Recruited as a member of the Atlantis search and rescue team. ATA gene. Wow, clean record." Sheppard rattled off the main highlights of her file, then suddenly looked up at her. "Do you have a problem following orders, Captain?"
Here we go, Camila thought, her body stiffening slightly at the question that was thrown at her. Her eyes briefly flicked to Anderson before resting again on Sheppard.
"No, sir," she finally replied. Her body remained rigid, almost defensive.
"But you disobeyed Anderson's order to wait for the rest of the team to assist you." It was a statement, not a question.
She resisted the urge to look away, trying hard to hide the disappointment she was sure was showing in her eyes. Well, if she was going to get demoted or reassigned, she was not going down without a fight.
"Permission to speak freely, sir," she said, ignoring the derisive snort that came from Anderson.
Sheppard frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're not on trial here, Captain. You can say whatever you want."
"We don't leave friends in the hands of the enemy," she stated. She noted a half smile appearing on Sheppard's face. "Yes, I disobeyed Major Anderson's order. Maybe I acted prematurely, and maybe I should have maintained my position. But, at that moment, I felt like you and your crew were in danger." She turned to Anderson. "With all due respect, Major Anderson, but I thought we were a search and rescue team, sir...not just search. I couldn't stand by and watch our fellow comrades almost get killed."
"That's your problem, Captain," Anderson spoke up as he glared at her. "You can't just 'stand by'. You have this...this needto do something even when you're told not to. I think your actions speak for themselves. You jeopardized the mission. You could have gotten killed; you could have gotten Colonel Sheppard and his team killed. Did you not think of that? What if there had been more Kinji around, hiding out of your sight?"
Cami could feel her cheeks flushing. She narrowed her eyes at her team leader, biting down on her tongue to keep from saying something she knew she would regret later. He was acting like she was a FNG*. She had served in the marines long enough to know the dangers involved in these search and rescue missions. She didn't regret what she did. In her heart, Cami still felt she had done the right thing.
But, at the same time, Anderson had brought up a good point. She could have gotten them all killed just because of her stupid impulse. Cami had counted only six warriors but more could have been hiding, waiting to ambush the rescue team. She opened her mouth to apologize...to at least say something that would explain her rashness. Anderson seemed to sense her defeat, and he took a step back, a triumphant smile flashing briefly on his face.
"I - "
"She saved our lives," a booming voice cut her off, and Cami turned to see Ronon standing in the doorway. She had the nagging suspicion that he had followed her to the infirmary despite the fact that she had clearly seen him go in the opposite direction.
"That does not justify her actions," Anderson stated emphatically.
Ronan walked into the room moving to stand next to Sheppard. He didn't look at her, but she could feel his eyes on her all the same. The energy that he brought into the room was quite unnerving.
"She took on four of those warriors," Ronon continued, only this time he was just talking to Sheppard. "By herself."
Cami didn't see how that was a big achievement but kept her mouth shut. She had certainly been in tougher situations. Of course, Cami had to admit that this was the first time she had executed a mission without a team backing her up. Besides, she had a feeling Ronon wasn't the kind to go around defending people, and she wasn't about to step in and contradict him.
"I was there, Ronon, I saw that," Sheppard said. He looked back down at her record in his hands, flipping through the images on the data pad without really focusing on anything in particular. "'The last thing you never see', huh?"
"Yes, sir." The mention of her former sniper unit's motto made her stand a little taller.
"I guess it's about time we got a sniper on the team, don't you think, Ronan?"
The muscled man shrugged indifferently despite his earlier assessment about saving their lives. He leaned against the bed opposite her, a bored look on his face.
"Excuse me, sir?" she couldn't help but ask. Wasn't she being reprimanded a second ago? "I-I don't understand - "
"I want you on my team, Captain. That is, if you're as good as it states here on your record."
"Better, sir," she replied, her stiff posture relaxing a bit at the change of events. "I never miss."
"Yeah, that was a helluva shot you took earlier." Sheppard chuckled. He tapped her arm in a friendly gesture. "Great. Glad we got this settled."
"Colonel?" Anderson hissed. "What are you doing?"
"I thought I was being pretty clear when I said, 'I want you on my team', Major," Sheppard said simply.
"But she was reckless. She's clearly a troublemaker." He turned to look at her. "It runs in the family."
So, Anderson had made her connection to Cruz. Cami wondered how he had even come to that conclusion considering she and Cruz looked nothing alike. In fact, they were complete opposites.
Sheppard smiled. "She's hardly the only person to not follow orders before, Anderson. Besides, you obviously don't want her."
There was an awkward silence as that last statement hung in the air. Cami held back a smile, though a hint of it might have touched her lips because she saw Sheppard smirk. She never realized how much a personal vendetta could make her life a living hell until she met Anderson. She made a mental note to ask Cruz what exactly happened between him and Anderson the next time she saw him. Or rather, ifshe ever saw him again.
She shook her head, refusing to go back down that road again. Cami had barely spent one day on Atlanti,s and she was already feeling homesick. Her eyes moved back to Sheppard and Anderson. The latter finally seemed resigned to the fact that she would be leaving his team to join Sheppard's. After what seemed like an eternity, Anderson nodded, offering a stiff salute to Sheppard before walking out of the infirmary.
"What the hell did you do to that guy? He seems to have it out for you." Sheppard spoke up, breaking the silence.
Cami shrugged, her gaze shifting from the doorway where Anderson had just exited to Sheppard's eyes. "I wish I knew, sir."
"Well, you won't have to worry about him anymore."
Cami highly doubted that was the last she would hear of Anderson. While she was extremely happy that she wasn't under his command, she knew he would be popping up eventually. She gave Sheppard a nod and a small smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Ronon straightening up as if he had done what he was supposed to and was getting ready to leave.
Sheppard looked down at his data tablet again. "Okay, uh, Beckett said light duty so we'll start you off with jumper training for the next few days. Then, we'll move on to weapons which won't take long since I've seen your work first hand. Once your stitches come off, I'll pair you up with Teyla for some hand to hand. We can always play it by ear depending on how your trainings go."
"Sounds good, sir," Cami replied, relaxing a bit more now that Anderson was gone.
"Great! See you tomorrow at 0800 in the jumper bay." He turned to leave with Ronon following. "Oh, and Buchanan?" Sheppard called out over his shoulder.
"Yes, sir?"
"Welcome to Atlantis."
