Sorry it's been a little bit of a wait with this chapter. I'd been trying to update once every week or so, but I was MIA for the Labor Day weekend.

Anyway, we're getting into the parts of the fic where things are going to be editted a bit timewise. Frankly, it's a pain in the butt trying to figure out the timeline considering everything is happening at once... So I'm pretty much winging it. Besides, they're at Olduvai for nearly 12 hours right? So I've got some literary time to kill. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! lol

As always, I own nothing except almost every movie Karl Urban has been in so far *beam*

Oh! BTW, if you haven't yet, you outta wander over and check out my betaperson Askita's fic "Time Always Reveals." It tis quite fun if I do say so myself. Plus, I beta for her lol.

And I think that's enough author babble. On with the chappie!

Chapter 7 Back in Motion or Wash your hands, children.

There was only a second or two of quiet in the wake of my words. I knew damned well that it was only out of love for me that Sarge allowed us all even that brief moment of silence. Now that I'd finished speaking, though, all bets were off.

"Doctor, you are going to tell me what the fuck is going on up here!" I cringed sharply at his tone, and Reaper pulled me to the side, out of the visual line of fire as I trembled. In all the years that I'd known Asher Mahonin, those long before he was Sarge, I'd rarely heard that bite to his voice. Dr. Grimm didn't have my experience with him however, and her voice was only confused and a little insulted as she demanded to know what he was talking about.

"Come here," Sarge barked. "Come here!" This time she complied with his order, and strode over to the body bag I hadn't noticed before. "This is what."

Sarge ripped the bag open, and she and I both let out gasps of horror at the vile thing he revealed. He glanced over at me for a moment, gauging my shocked expression, and lowered his voice back to a normal level.

"Have you found anything like this on your archeological digs? Is there any way this thing could have come from the outside?" She just continued to shake her head, giving answers I already knew. Mars was a dead planet; despite Portman's asinine suggestion to the contrary, there was no way anything could have been living outside the compound. I shivered under Reaper's hand as tempers rapidly frayed before my eyes. It was clear both Portman and Sarge were reaching their breaking points in the face of the thing that had killed Goat. I thought I'd likely be grateful for any interruption, anything that might keep them from coming to blows.

"That's not what we saw." My blood ran cold; that announcement was not exactly the distraction I'd had in mind. Reaper dropped his hand away as he moved out from behind me. "That's not what Goat and I shot at in Genetics."

"You telling me there's more of these fucking things?" Portman's voice was still caustic, but I didn't blame him. It took Sarge less than a second to respond with a demand to Dr. Grimm for information, the tactical side of him that made him such an excellent leader kicking into high gear. He ordered Destroyer, Portman, and the Kid to check the surface entry point she mentioned, and Mac to arm the crap out of Pinky in hopes of securing the Ark.

"There's one other door..." Her voice trailed off, and I wondered why her face was so strangely solemn. Sarge demanded the location, but it was Reaper who answered, his voice so cold I could hardly stand it.

"The entrance to the archeological dig." In the wake of that statement, I felt a painful realization hit me: Reaper meant to go there, to face his nightmares and dredge up all the emotional trauma he'd still never really dealt with. Sarge would go with him, at least, but I was going to be left here with two ghastly bodies and the doc. The fact that Sarge hadn't already assigned Duke and I a place to search told me that as well as if he'd said it out loud. I swallowed tightly. A thought hit me then, and I spoke up as I knew I needed to.

"Sarge, the men need to at least wash their hands and faces before they do fucking anything." The look the men (barring Reaper who likely guessed what I meant) all turned on me was utterly incredulous, and I continued before Portman could say what they were all likely thinking. "Even if all of you hadn't been swimming through the kind of filth that could make even the smallest cut an infectious nightmare, you all came in contact with Goat." I did my best to keep my voice from cracking as I said his name. "I don't have anything conclusive on what was in Carmack's blood yet, but if one of these things is the carrier..." I nodded toward the bag. "The infection could possibly pass from Goat's skin and blood to each of us."

"She's right, Sarge." I shot Reaper a grateful look. Sarge clenched his jaw, and finally nodded.

"You heard her. Make it quick." Kid and Destroyer were quick to comply, and after only a little hesitation, Portman and Duke followed them over to the sink. "Use the soap, goddamn it. Don't waste your time over there!"

I swallowed a mildly hysterical giggle at the sight of the burly Marines all washing up in the sterile sink like a group of school boys under 'Mommy' Sarge's watchful gaze. Hell, his hands were even propped on his hips the same way I clearly remembered Ma Mahonin having a habit of doing. Reaper raised an amused eyebrow at my aborted chuckles, and I marveled again at his ability to damn near read my mind. Portman finally moved out of the way after rinsing out his mouth (and was I ever glad that I didn't share the taste of shit in my mouth) making way for Sarge and Reaper to strip off their gloves and roll up their sleeves. I realized that I hadn't noticed if the other men had even bothered with that much and grimaced, the disgust chasing away the little bit of mirth I'd managed. Sarge finished first and he turned to dry his hands with rough, impatient motions, while Reaper continued with the thoroughness he'd had beaten into him during medic training.

"Hey, Sarge," I said quietly. His reply of simply 'What?' was every bit as impatient as his hand drying had been. I just nudged him with my arm. "Be careful, Ash, 'kay?"

"I know how to do my job, Angel. I don't need you telling me how." I sighed and shook my head as he strode angrily toward the door. I moved over to the space he'd left at the sink, busily washing my own hands, head ducked to hide the mild hurt at Sarge's dismissal. He'd been my friend a long time, and I knew, probably better than any of the men, just how badly it had shaken him to lose one of his men after going more than a year without another such death (His record was doubly impressive in the R.R.T.S. Most of the other teams averaged about a teammate every 5-6 months at the outside.) Still, considering how wrecked my own emotions were, it was hard not to take his attitude personally. A warm hand slid along the back of my neck as Reaper finished up and moved around me, leaning in closer now that most of the men had left the room.

"We'll be careful. I promise." I shivered at the feel of his breath against my ear, and nodded once, not trusting myself to look at him. He brushed his thumb along my pulse once more, and then I heard his footsteps as he strode purposefully after Sarge.

I settled myself and dried off my hands, deciding not to pull my own gear back on just yet. I much preferred to be without all the extra weight when hunched over a computer or microscope as I was rather sure I would probably be doing for a good bit of the mission from now on. I lifted my head as I turned back inward to the med lab and found Dr. Grimm standing with her arms crossed.

"So what exactly was that about?" I hoped she was only talking about Sarge's little testosterone moment and not what happened directly after. I was too damned drained to deal with the drama of explaining me and Reaper's relationship to his estranged sister. I decided to bluff and attempt to lead the conversation where I wanted it to go.

"Sarge and I go way back. He's like family, I guess." I kept my face relatively innocent. "I worry about him. He's not too keen on that, though." I sat myself down at the computer I'd commandeered and checked to see if the scan had matched the sample with anything so far. When she stayed quiet, I glanced back over, hoping to see her occupied by something else. Instead, I was all but smacked in the face with that damned hereditary Grimm eyebrow. How did people even manage to raise just the one, anyway? I'd tried for months when I was little and had never managed it (My Trekkie of a father had been amused as hell by my attempts though).

"How long?" she asked after a brief glance away to assure that Duke was otherwise occupied. He was carefully stowing Goat's body in the adjoining room and laying out the monster's as I assumed Dr. Grimm had asked him. "I'd hope I deserve to know that much at least. And God knows he's not going to say a word no matter how serious you two get to be."

I echoed her glance at Duke to reassure myself that there was no way he could overhear, and slid up my hand to mute the vocal on my earpiece as I tried to decide how to respond. My eyes dropped down to her hands, and I noticed she was gripping the chair next to mine tight enough to make her knuckles white. It was enough to make my eyes flicker back up to her face again. Her jaw was tight for all that she was trying to look casual about the situation. I sighed; she and Reaper were just too much alike. That thought led to a surprising comprehension for me. She really wanted to know... not because she was trying to pry, but because she really wanted to know her brother. And in the mess we were in, I was likely to be the only source of information she'd get. Like she'd said, Reaper was unlikely to tell her; he was just too stubborn to make that first move. I let out a long sigh.

"A year and a half, give or take a couple months where we were both pretty clueless on what the fuck was going on. After that, we just… were." I gave her a small smile and tugged out my dog tags from under my tank top. I flicked a finger over the extra. "This one's his. We each made a copy to swap after we finally managed to admit it was something serious."

"I see." I was surprised to find that I was fairly sure she did. Her eyes held more than a hint of pride. "He must have been a pain in the ass to get close enough that he'd admit it." I nodded wryly, keeping a wary eye on Duke wandering around across the room.

"He was a pain in the ass in general when I joined, actually. All 'women can't be soldiers', and 'Dammit Sarge, why'd you bring in a liability', etc." She snorted, and we shared an amused glance. "Then, we just... got used to each other. And then we realized we were horny and attracted to each other, and then, things sorta spiraled from there." That earned me an actual laugh, but caught Duke's attention. I sighed as he began to meander over. I'd have to wrap it up quick if I didn't want the man who was basically the team gossip finding out that I was in love with one of our teammates. I lowered my voice, feeling almost shy about discussing this.

"He's just... the best man I know." I raised my voice again, not too worried about Duke hearing what I said next. "I'd be pretty damned proud of him if I were you, Dr." She smiled at me.

"I am. I tend to be aggravated as hell with him, but I really am proud of him. Guess I didn't realize quite how much." She nodded as Duke reported that the monster was ready to go. I wondered just how she'd managed to wrap my teammate around her finger so quickly; generally he just faked the blind adoration. I shook my head as she began to walk back to the autopsy table. "Oh, and Angel," she said, looking back over her shoulder, "you can call me Sam."

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