p class="p1"span class="s1"em16th March, 2006./em/span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1"As the teams medic, it was Zoe's job to be concerned about her friends. It was also her job to pick up on things that most other people didn't. She could clearly see the obvious things, like how Big Ears was favouring his uninjured arm and how Fuzzy still looked a little pained when he moved too suddenly. She didn't expect an award for seeing those things though. The injuries they had were hardly a secret. What she did notice though, was Stretch pause across the hanger, one hand pressed against his ribs as he took to breathe, clearly in pain. It was only a fleeting pause, barely more than a second, before he straightened and continued on his way. Everyone else was to engrossed in research or dozing, so they didn't class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"But Zoe did./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Abandoning her notes and her books, she slipped over to where he was rummaging through one of Wizard's many boxes of books and loose sheets of paper. She cleared her throat and he looked up at her./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Is everything okay?' he asked./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Looking back at the rest of the team, she crouched beside him. 'Are you hurt?'span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"He looked confused, before he shook his head. 'No. Why?'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You looked like you were in pain just then,' She explained and she saw a slight flicker of surprise across his face, as if he wasn't expecting anyone to have class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Oh.' He paused. 'It's nothing. I just got caught by some rubble from the explosion when we were escaping Hamilcar's. It's just a bruise.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Zoe wasn't totally satisfied with that. 'If it caught you on the chest it might have broken a rib. Can I take a look?'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Stretch smiled tightly and stood, holding a thick book in one hand. 'I'm fine. Like I said, it's just a bruise. I've survived far worse.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"He made to go around her, but she stopped him by gently grabbing his arm. 'I'd like to check, just to make sure.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Politely he brushed her hand off. 'Zoe, really. Thank you for the concern, but you don't need to worry about it. I'll let you know if it gets worse.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"He went back to the main table and sat down, passing the book to Fuzzy who started flipping through it. Zoe remained where she was for a moment, biting her lip in thought, before she shook herself out of it and rejoined the rest of the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1"em5th November, class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1"The plane landed with a roar on the tarmac of Tel Aviv international airport. Huntress, who hadn't slept at all on the flight home, watched through the small window as they sped down the runway, the lights of the city blurring past in the distance. Beside her, Archer was still asleep, despite the rough landing, which Huntress was honestly rather jealous class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"As the plane began to slow, she nudged him and he jerked awake, sitting up properly and rubbing his eyes. 'Are we there?'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Yes.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Leaning forward in his seat, Archer looked past her out of the window and he smiled. Huntress wasn't in much of a mood to smile, she was just too tired. The last mission had taken most of her energy so now all she really wanted to do was go home, take the worlds longest shower and sleep until class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Trudging wearily she followed Archer off the plane, raising her eyebrows at the slight spring in his step. He had been anxious to get home since they had first left, so naturally now they were back he had become visibly more excited. Not that this came as great shock to Huntress. He had been like this for about as long as she could remember. By now she had just learned to go along with class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1"As soon as they stepped through the arrival gate, dragging their luggage behind them, the reason for his excitement became clear as he was suddenly yanked away from her and pulled into the arms of another waiting person. She huffed and rolled her eyes, turning to where he should have been standing. Instead, he was with another man who was holding him tightly as he kissed him. Naturally she recognised him right away; Archer's partner, with his soft curly hair, his soft facial features and his stupid round glasses that he had perched on top of his head. He was even wearing one of his stupid sweater vests and another one of his idiotic colourful class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"She cleared her throat loudly and they both turned to her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'We should move if we want to get a taxi,' she said and Archer just sighed, looking away from her in class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Aya…' he started, but he was cut off./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No need to worry about a taxi, I can give you both a lift.' His partner smiled politely at her, kissing Archer on the forehead one last time before reaching out to take his bag./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"He held a hand to offer to take Huntress's, but she pulled it away from him. 'I can manage Asher.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Of course,' Asher said, turning back to Archer and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, totally unfazed by her, as always. 'So, how are you both? You look worn out.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Archer laughed slightly. 'It was a tough one this time.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Do you want to talk about it?' Asher class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You know I can't.' Archer kissed his cheek./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Walking beside them, Huntress paid them no heed until they reached Asher's car. She found that his neat little Mini was a good summary of him as a whole. It was clean, unassuming and totally useless against anything remotely tougher than it. He opened the boot, moving aside a few boxes of folders and books so he could fit their bags in. As he turned to take Huntress's from her he offered her his usual smile, a smile that she could tell was supposed to be an olive branch or a white flag. She just returned with a hard stare, burning the white flag before he'd even finished raising class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Do you just want me to take you home?' Asher asked sounding cheerful as class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That's fine,' she said politely as she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Fantastic.' He clapped his hands together and moved off to the drivers class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress was about to climb into the back seat when a hand grabbed the door, stopping her from opening it. She looked up at Archer who was looking very class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What?' she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'We've talked about the attitude,' he said and she groaned class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Spare me Ben. I haven't slept in nearly thirty hours.' She tried to push his hand out of the way but he didn't class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That doesn't mean that you can't be polite. Asher and I have been dating for over a year. We're engaged. You have to get over this,' he said harshly. 'Aya, I don't understand this. Is it because-'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No,' she snapped. 'You know that's not the reason.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Then what?' He class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'It's nothing. Come on, I want to sleep.' She pushed his hand with more force and opened the door, sliding into the back seat of the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"As she sat there in silence, ignoring the chatter from the front seat, she pulled out her phone and turned it back on. As soon as she did she saw that she had a text. She opened it and despite herself, she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"It wasn't a particular long message, but it was class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1""My offer of a drink still stands. Call me — Daniel."/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"She toyed with the phone, thinking over the offer long and hard before she keyed in her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1""Don't do phone calls. A drink is fine. I'm free on Friday night, 8 — Aya."/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"There was barely a minute gap before he replied and she had to shake her head at his class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1""Glad you answered this time. I was worried. 8 it is. I'll pick you up."/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1""Fantastic."/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"She left it at that and flipped the phone shut, dropping it back into her pocket without much of a thought. In the front seat, Ben turned to her./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What was that?' He class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Oh nothing.' She smirked and sat back, looking out of the window. 'I just have a date. That's all.'/span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1"As the teams medic, it was Zoe's job to be concerned about her friends. It was also her job to pick up on things that most other people didn't. She could clearly see the obvious things, like how Big Ears was favouring his uninjured arm and how Fuzzy still looked a little pained when he moved too suddenly. She didn't expect an award for seeing those things though. The injuries they had were hardly a secret. What she did notice though, was Stretch pause across the hanger, one hand pressed against his ribs as he took to breathe, clearly in pain. It was only a fleeting pause, barely more than a second, before he straightened and continued on his way. Everyone else was to engrossed in research or dozing, so they didn't class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"But Zoe did./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Abandoning her notes and her books, she slipped over to where he was rummaging through one of Wizard's many boxes of books and loose sheets of paper. She cleared her throat and he looked up at her./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Is everything okay?' he asked./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Looking back at the rest of the team, she crouched beside him. 'Are you hurt?'span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"He looked confused, before he shook his head. 'No. Why?'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You looked like you were in pain just then,' She explained and she saw a slight flicker of surprise across his face, as if he wasn't expecting anyone to have class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Oh.' He paused. 'It's nothing. I just got caught by some rubble from the explosion when we were escaping Hamilcar's. It's just a bruise.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Zoe wasn't totally satisfied with that. 'If it caught you on the chest it might have broken a rib. Can I take a look?'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Stretch smiled tightly and stood, holding a thick book in one hand. 'I'm fine. Like I said, it's just a bruise. I've survived far worse.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"He made to go around her, but she stopped him by gently grabbing his arm. 'I'd like to check, just to make sure.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Politely he brushed her hand off. 'Zoe, really. Thank you for the concern, but you don't need to worry about it. I'll let you know if it gets worse.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"He went back to the main table and sat down, passing the book to Fuzzy who started flipping through it. Zoe remained where she was for a moment, biting her lip in thought, before she shook herself out of it and rejoined the rest of the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1"em5th November, class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1"The plane landed with a roar on the tarmac of Tel Aviv international airport. Huntress, who hadn't slept at all on the flight home, watched through the small window as they sped down the runway, the lights of the city blurring past in the distance. Beside her, Archer was still asleep, despite the rough landing, which Huntress was honestly rather jealous class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"As the plane began to slow, she nudged him and he jerked awake, sitting up properly and rubbing his eyes. 'Are we there?'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Yes.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Leaning forward in his seat, Archer looked past her out of the window and he smiled. Huntress wasn't in much of a mood to smile, she was just too tired. The last mission had taken most of her energy so now all she really wanted to do was go home, take the worlds longest shower and sleep until class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Trudging wearily she followed Archer off the plane, raising her eyebrows at the slight spring in his step. He had been anxious to get home since they had first left, so naturally now they were back he had become visibly more excited. Not that this came as great shock to Huntress. He had been like this for about as long as she could remember. By now she had just learned to go along with class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"span class="s1"As soon as they stepped through the arrival gate, dragging their luggage behind them, the reason for his excitement became clear as he was suddenly yanked away from her and pulled into the arms of another waiting person. She huffed and rolled her eyes, turning to where he should have been standing. Instead, he was with another man who was holding him tightly as he kissed him. Naturally she recognised him right away; Archer's partner, with his soft curly hair, his soft facial features and his stupid round glasses that he had perched on top of his head. He was even wearing one of his stupid sweater vests and another one of his idiotic colourful class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"She cleared her throat loudly and they both turned to her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'We should move if we want to get a taxi,' she said and Archer just sighed, looking away from her in class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Aya…' he started, but he was cut off./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No need to worry about a taxi, I can give you both a lift.' His partner smiled politely at her, kissing Archer on the forehead one last time before reaching out to take his bag./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"He held a hand to offer to take Huntress's, but she pulled it away from him. 'I can manage Asher.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Of course,' Asher said, turning back to Archer and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, totally unfazed by her, as always. 'So, how are you both? You look worn out.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Archer laughed slightly. 'It was a tough one this time.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Do you want to talk about it?' Asher class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'You know I can't.' Archer kissed his cheek./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Walking beside them, Huntress paid them no heed until they reached Asher's car. She found that his neat little Mini was a good summary of him as a whole. It was clean, unassuming and totally useless against anything remotely tougher than it. He opened the boot, moving aside a few boxes of folders and books so he could fit their bags in. As he turned to take Huntress's from her he offered her his usual smile, a smile that she could tell was supposed to be an olive branch or a white flag. She just returned with a hard stare, burning the white flag before he'd even finished raising class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Do you just want me to take you home?' Asher asked sounding cheerful as class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That's fine,' she said politely as she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Fantastic.' He clapped his hands together and moved off to the drivers class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"Huntress was about to climb into the back seat when a hand grabbed the door, stopping her from opening it. She looked up at Archer who was looking very class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What?' she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'We've talked about the attitude,' he said and she groaned class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Spare me Ben. I haven't slept in nearly thirty hours.' She tried to push his hand out of the way but he didn't class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'That doesn't mean that you can't be polite. Asher and I have been dating for over a year. We're engaged. You have to get over this,' he said harshly. 'Aya, I don't understand this. Is it because-'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'No,' she snapped. 'You know that's not the reason.'/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Then what?' He class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'It's nothing. Come on, I want to sleep.' She pushed his hand with more force and opened the door, sliding into the back seat of the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"As she sat there in silence, ignoring the chatter from the front seat, she pulled out her phone and turned it back on. As soon as she did she saw that she had a text. She opened it and despite herself, she class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"It wasn't a particular long message, but it was class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1""My offer of a drink still stands. Call me — Daniel."/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"She toyed with the phone, thinking over the offer long and hard before she keyed in her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1""Don't do phone calls. A drink is fine. I'm free on Friday night, 8 — Aya."/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"There was barely a minute gap before he replied and she had to shake her head at his class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1""Glad you answered this time. I was worried. 8 it is. I'll pick you up."/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1""Fantastic."/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"She left it at that and flipped the phone shut, dropping it back into her pocket without much of a thought. In the front seat, Ben turned to her./span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'What was that?' He class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p1"span class="s1"'Oh nothing.' She smirked and sat back, looking out of the window. 'I just have a date. That's all.'/span/p