Authors Note: Okay so I am reposting this because my friend let me know there were many mistakes in it. I reread it and was like I thought I fixed all of them. Turns out my comp it gay and didn't save the stuff I fixed. So I let my friend become my editor and now it is fixed lol. Sorry it has been a few days, but here it is. Please Review.

Now that she was in the arms of another, she felt awkward. She had forgotten that she was still only wearing that dreaded hospital gown, and she was naked beneath it. She looked up into Marcus Fenix's dark blue eyes. He glanced down at her and attempted to smile. Guess he feels weird too, she thought. Hoffman came running up to scope out the damage. He smiled when he found out that Ezra was more then okay, well as okay as she could be at a time like this.

She tried to reposition herself against Marcus, she could feel his armor through the thin material of the gown. "Baird has been hit." she stated to her uncle when he seemed to not even care about the man who saved her life. "Hurt again, Baird?" he teased the younger man who only a few minutes before called him an old man. Her face fell into disappointment at her uncle. She realized these men had deep issues, but was it too hard to say 'how are you' or forbid the heavens 'thank you'. It wasn't like Baird had just risked his life to save her. He saved someone who should still be laying in the hospital floor, pretending to be dead.

Hoffman sighed as he looked at Ezra's face. "You two will ride in the Raven with Anya, and a doctor so we can get you sewn up, if you need it that is. Fenix, I will navigate for you." said Hoffman as he motioned everyone to get a move on.

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Ravens always made her sick. Flying in general made her sick. The doctor fixed the pillows that they had brought on to make her and Baird more than comfortable. It had been twenty minutes since they had patched Baird's wound. It had been just a shot gun graze, which was still bad enough to make a man hurt. Now he sat back against his propped up pillows without any worries in the world.

She looked up at him sickly from where she was propped up on her pillows. He turned to look at her with a wide smile. Her brows furrowed together. Was he happy? Flying shoudn't make anyone that happy. "I like flying in Ravens." he explained as he looked back out of the cockpits' opened bay. He looked down at the APC that the Delta squad was on, happy to have a break of his squad members. It was the best thing in the world right now to be away from them. Cole he missed, but not Dom or Marcus. Well, Dom was a good guy. He guessed the only one he didn't really give a shit about was Marcus. (BTW I love Marcus, just getting into Baird's character.)

But now his company was a bit dull, truth be told. He turned to look at Ezra. He wondered what kind of person she was when she wasn't battered to hell and back. "You look green." he commented on her appearance when she wouldn't stop staring back at him. He was starting to like the way she openly stared at him, without caring what he thought about it. " While flying makes you happier then a fucking peach, flying makes me sicker then a person with rustlung." she said through clenched teeth. She was afraid if she opened her mouth too much she might spew her guts all over the cockpit.

"Close your eyes and think of something pleasant." he suggested as he looked back out of the cockpit's bay. She sighed and tried it, but nothing pleasant came to mind. Just things that horrified her every time she closed her eyes in the first place. She grunted and her eyes flew open quickly. "Doesn't work." she whispered as she stared at her hands that were folded in her lap. "Didn't say it worked for everyone." he grumbled.

She sighed and looked at Anya, who was busy looking at a navigation chart on the Raven's computer. "So she is it? The woman who had captured Marcus's heart?" she asked, trying to concentrate on anything other than her queasiness.

Baird looked at her more then stunned. "How did you know that?" he asked.

"Doesn't everyone?" she asked in return still letting her black eyes wonder over Anya. She was the prettiest of the Strouds, nothing like her hard ass mother, Major Helena Stroud.

"Well obviously not because she is engaged to Prescott." he whispered as he scooted closer to her so he could gossip. He then felt odd. He had just scooted closer to a woman so he could gossip, it didn't get more awkward then that. What was he a woman? But then again deep down, he loved talking about Marcus's screwed up life. It made him forget that he had his own screwed up life to worry about.

He hadn't noticed that he had scooted close enough for her to smell his cologne. He smelled like sandalwood. "Are you wearing cologne?" she asked, already knowing the answer, but just wanting him to admit it. "Not cologne, the soap I wash with smells like this." he said. She sighed, upset that she had been wrong. But no matter, she enjoyed the smell. She enjoyed it very much. She could also feel some of his body heat. Usually she would think this too close for comfort. But she was beginning to get used to him being around, so it didn't bother her so much.

"So she is engaged?" she whispered.

"Yes. But she is calling it off to be with Marcus." he whispered back into her ear when he turned his head so he could make sure no one heard them.

She shivered when his warm breath embraced her cheek when he spoke. She nodded and stared at Anya. "How do you get engaged when there is this much catastrophe around you?" she asked in a whisper, more to herself then to anyone else. "It is easy, you just ask someone to marry you." he said. "I know that, I mean like…. Never mind." she grumbled.

"Oh come on. It is easy in the time of war to get engaged. All you have to do is ask 'Will you marry me?'." he said as he rolled his eyes at her. "Yes Damon, I will marry you." she giggled.

He looked at her confused, he knew that he pain medicine was kicking in now for her, but was she really this loopy?. "What?" he asked.

"You asked me to marry you and I said yes. Plus earlier you said you could get used to me being around you." she giggled happily. "Oh I see, doc gave you a lot of pain medicine. And I never said that, I said I could get used to you being crotch level with me." he said to reassure himself. She giggled a little and shut her eyes, feeling more than happy, for no reason, well from the drugs. It wasn't long until she had fallen asleep.

He shook his head and turned back to look out of the bay again. Just as he looked out, he spotted four Khimera's pass by. When he joined the GEARS that was what he had always wanted to be, a Khimera pilot. They weren't a COG fighter helicopter, but he knew when he had signed up that they were trying to have them contracted into the COG to use against the Ostri Republic, as well as the Union of Independent Republics.

Now they were used by everyone, seeing how everyone was coming together to fight against the Locust Horde. But Baird hadn't been assigned into anything dealing with Helicopters, he was a tech head, or that was what other GEARS called him. Well they also called him their living breathing Locust expert, and they chose Marcus above him to lead the Delta Squad. He scoffed loudly, making Ezra mumble angrily in her drug induced sleep.

But he was really intelligent when it came to those ugly grubs. He couldn't understand their spoken language, but he had deciphered it once it was written down, and if that didn't prove he was more capable than Marcus then nothing ever would prove it. But that wasn't the only thing he was very capable of. Bomb making was another of his other many fortes. It was as easy for him to build a bomb as it was for him to shake a man's hand. Well sometimes it was hard to shake a man's hand. He wasn't too keen on touching others. Had a thing against it as he never understood the need to touch people.

"Baird, Hoffman wants you on the COMM now." said Anya, motioning him to turn it back on. "Sir?" he asked once he found the radio frequency that he was supposed to be on. "Boy, what you did back there was a good show of courage. I am promoting you to Corporal again, son. Hoffman out."

Baird sneered at no one particular. Like it would last. He had been promoted and demoted so many times that he was beginning to forget what his rank was. He should be an officer again, but his attitude problem always got him pushed down. He knew his attitude was the reason that Marcus Fenix was the name of Delta squad instead of his, Damon Baird. He grumbled angrily to himself because of his thoughts. His grumbling was disturbing her slumber so she grumbled back at him. He stopped to look at her. She looked as angry as he felt. He laughed at her then. He was beginning to like her. Which might end up being dangerous for him to do, but he couldn't stop himself from liking her. She was contagious. Like a spreading disease that was soon going to take over his life. For heaven's sake, he had risked his life already for her, she might as well take over his life.

He reached out and moved a few free stray strands of dirty chestnut hair out of her face. He wondered what her hair would look like if it were actually clean, because now it was dull and very dirty. He then realized he had seen her before, when her hair was glorious. It usually was a vibrant chestnut that captured the light and made you want to stare at it. In truth the more he sat there staring at her, fingering the strands of her dirty hair, the more he wanted to know about this woman.

Finally he dropped her hair, and gently stroked her cheek with his index finger. What would she feel like clean? He wondered as he smudged more dirt around on her face. What he would give to see her cleaned up. And what he would give for a decent bath himself for that matter.

"Shit." was the only warning that brought Baird out of his deep thoughts about Ezra, and his hopefully sooner than later bath. He looked up just in time to spot the Nemacyst that was hurtling towards them. "Fuck." he whispered as he instinctly turned to cover Ezra's body with his own. Again he was trying to save this woman's life. All he heard was the explosion to the rotter and the feeling of the Raven falling to the ground before he blacked out.

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When she woke, she was in the most pain she had been in since she had been shot. Not only was she in severe pain, she was having a difficult time breathing. It felt like something heavy was on her chest. She finally opened her eyes and focus her sight to find Baird passed out on top of her. But he was the least of her worries. She smelled smoke and imulsion, which was not a good sign. She looked around, and realization finally hit her. They had been hit, and crashed the Raven. And people used to tell her that she was dumb for hating to fly. This was the exact reason that she would keep her ass on the ground from now on. She didn't give a shit if she had to walk for a year to get where she was going, she would just have to tough it out, as long as she never flew again.

She tried to crawl out from beneath Baird, only proving to herself that he was heavier then he looked, and it hurt like hell because it pulled at her stitches. She had freed herself a little bit when Anya came to. Ezra turned to watch Anya throw the computer monitor that had fallen on top of her to the ground. Their eyes met. "What's your status?" asked Ezra as she still kept trying to crawl from beneath Baird. "I think just a broken finger, other then that fine." said Anya as she collected herself.

It took a moment for Anya to realize what she was smelling. When realization passed over her face she looked at Ezra horrified. "Yeah we have to hurry, otherwise we are about to be barbecue." explained Ezra. Anya nodded and stood and checked the two pilots. Both dead from the impact. She removed their tags and turned back to help Ezra free herself. It took both of them to roll Baird over, seeing how he was a heavy man, COG armor always made a man almost twice as heavy as they should be. "Anya, try to open that bay, and I will try to wake him up." ordered Ezra as she started to pat the side of Baird's face.

Anya immediately set out to her task, only turning to look at Ezra and Baird when Ezra gave a frustrated sigh. She turned back to the closed bay and started to pull it open. With a groan it opened and she turned just in time to see Ezra slap Baird hard across his face. He woke with a start, grabbing Ezra by the throat. Her face immediately turned a dark crimson, and her eyes began to bulge slightly from the pressure. All of the precious air escaped her lungs and she whimper because of it. It took him a moment to realize that Ezra was human, and not a threat before he let her go and apologizing for almost choking her to death.

As soon as his hand left her throat, she fell over and gasped for air. "Sorry." he said again as he stood up and watched her struggle to breathe. He bent down to comfort her while he kept apologizing. She nodded that she knew he was sorry, and that she forgave him. Everyone had those moments and she couldn't blame him. But now she couldn't speak. He had crushed her windpipe so much that she couldn't even breathe enough to help form words. She wasn't damaged from it forever, but just at this moment she was.

"We have to get the hell out of here. The smell is getting worse." demanded Anya as she looked over Baird's shoulder. Both nodded. Anya was the first to crawl out, but she waited close by to help with Ezra, who still couldn't walk because she had damaged her leg when she had been shot. Baird scooped her up quickly, and not at all gently. She squealed in protest as her stitches on her shoulder pulled. He grunted to make her hush. Her fingers dug into his flesh, so she could try to concentrate on giving him pain as he had given her. He shook his head at her, and ignored the fact that he was now bleeding from where she had been digging her nails into him.

He pushed her up and Anya helped pull her out of the cockpit. Baird soon followed them. Once out of the cockpit, he picked her up again and followed Anya, who led them to some cover. Anya was the first to duck down and Baird just threw himself into the cover and cradled Ezra against himself to protect her. He felt like it was his job now to do nothing but protect her. And it wasn't because he was attracted to her, it was because he had almost just killed her.

She was not beginning to think that she was doomed the rest of her life to feel nothing but pain, like she felt now. But now that she was calming down from the pain, she turned to look at his neck. She moved his shirt back slightly so she could see where she had wounded him. It was in the fleshy part of his shoulder that she had grabbed hold of. It was bleeding slightly and was an angry red. "Sorry." she finally whispered, after building up enough air in her lungs to wheeze an apology out. "It is fine." he said, as he tried not to look at her. He was enjoying the feel of her in his lap too much to look at her. This was beginning to become dangerous for him. Maybe this is all in my head. Maybe it's not because I am attracted to her. It has to be that it is war and I haven't been with a woman in a while. He thought as he looked to Anya, who was trying to get the COMM to work resulting with failure. But he knew he didn't feel the same way toward Anya, who was more attractive than Ezra was. No, he just was beginning to like this woman more than he should.

It was a couple more minutes until the imulsion had heated up enough to explode, making them all still and forget what they were thinking. It sounded like nothing they had ever witnessed. Metal flew around them, but the cover Anya had chosen was the only thing that saved their lives.