I'm very sorry, this hasn't been betaed yet as I'm doing a lot of stuff for NaNoWriMo and I don't want to bother the people betaing all the time!

(3040 Words)

Kings Of The Training Grounds

Part 6

"What did you struggle with? I mean, what did make you want to give up?"

Tessa bit her lower lip as a feeling of unease made her shift in her position on the edge of the desk. She had to cross her arms in front of her chest to keep her fingers from playing around with the end of her french braid, a habit that she'd thought she'd gotten rid of. Of course, she didn't exactly owe him an answer, but she felt like this might show him that there was always a way out, if you only had enough courage and the will to overcome the difficulties.

"Uh... I guess there was a lot of pressure... my father is a General with the US Air Force, and I've always felt like I had to show that I'm not only here because he was helping me. But that pressure, all of it came from myself."

Her stomach felt funny, as if she'd drunk too much coffee, but after taking a deep breath, it was okay again.

"But what really had me close to throwing in the towel was an incident during my time as a squadron pilot. I had problems afterwards, and I questioned if I was in the right place, because I seemed unable to overcome my anxiety for quite some time. I would stand in front of my jet, glued to the spot and feel like my fear and the memories were swallowing me."

Unconsciously, her fingers were curling tightly around the material of her BDU jacket, and she tried to keep certain pictures from flashing up in front of her eyes. She was glad that Martinez wasn't commenting on what she was telling him, and she would make sure that he wouldn't run around passing the story later.

"So, I thought about quitting, I had even prepared the papers already, but then I realised that I was running away, and that I was about to throw something away I've dreamt of for so long. Flying the F-16 was all I'd ever wanted since joining the Air Force, and so I decided to fight for this dream again. I worked hard on myself, and a few months later, I climbed into the cockpit again, and in the second I left the ground, I felt how the worst part of the fear vanished."

A small smile played around her lips as her fingers relaxed and she looked at Martinez; the euphoria of being in the air again was something she'd memorised in detail, so she would never forget why she'd gone through those hard years.

"I'm going to tell you something now, Martinez, and I want you to listen closely," she demanded, looking him directly into the eyes. "It's okay to be afraid. Fear is natural, but you should never allow it to consume you! Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

His voice was quiet, and she had the feeling that it hadn't been enough yet to make him realise that he would be able to become good if he only wanted to. Conversations like this really weren't her strength, and a silent curse left her lips.

"Look, as you may have noticed, I'm really not good at the mommy talk. You're not alone with this, we're here to help you, I am here to help you, trust me. There's potential in you, otherwise you wouldn't be here, did you ever think about that?"

She paused, trying hard not to turn her stare into a glare as he shrugged a little bit and looked down at his hands.

"I'm going to say this again, if you don't get better, Captain McKenzie will throw you off the team. I doubt that anybody of us wants that to happen, and if you get your shit together now, it's not going to happen! We all started small once, and we have our imperfections, that's why we need to bring out our strengths."

Martinez still didn't look too motivated, and Tessa started to question her ability to persuade people. Shoving herself away from the table, she turned to look at him, her stance showing off all the authority and confidence she could muster – with him sitting, she was about eye level with him.

"Come on, let's do this. Please don't tell me that I was wrong about you and that you're just going to give up. Damn it, you surely don't want to be the reason why I lose a hundred bucks to Captain McKenzie, right?!"

An 'Ooops' nearly slipped through her lips as she realised that she'd just revealed that they were betting on him – or in McKenzie's case, against him. If she thought about it, that was a little bit macabre...

To her utter surprise, Martinez' face suddenly lit up, and he gaped at her, his brown eyes wide in shock as he stuttered: "You're betting on me? I'm surprised that you have so much faith in me, Ma'am. I guess that leaves me with no other choice."

Tessa cocked an eyebrow and opened and closed her mouth in disbelief a few times, puzzled about what had just happened, then she asked: "Seriously? I try hard to find inspirational words and the only thing that really motivates you is a bet?"

"I'm a mystery, Ma'am," he answered with a wink, and she shook her head before gesturing towards the shooting range with a smirk.

"Whatever works for you. But just so you know: I'm not going to cuddle with you, Josie. You'll have to work hard, and I'm going to torture you even more than before. But it'll be worth it."

He gave her a weird look, obviously not amused about the nickname she'd given him, and then slipped off the table, taking the 9mm that he'd put down earlier with a determined nod.

OoO

Fred tried to pretend that he didn't really care about his chances concerning the bet with Johnson, but somewhere deep inside of him, he still felt a certain amount of curiosity that made him casually walk by the gym whenever he had the time. It was just because he wanted to see how their youngest team member was doing...

But deep down, he couldn't help but grin about what he was seeing when he happened to stop by; the mere sight of Martinez being in a headlock by the smaller Johnson was amusing, even though he would never have admitted that. He was oddly bent backwards because of their height difference, desperately trying to struggle his way out of her hold but failing. If there was one thing that Fred had to grant Johnson than it was the strength that she possessed, even though nobody would have thought that her body was capable of muster so much of it. There'd probably been dozens of people who'd underestimated her...

And he caught himself watching her smooth, nearly elegant movements with a little bit of awe as she maneuvered Martinez over the sparring mat like a puppet master, until the younger man slapped his palm against her forearm. She immediately let go of him, and Martinez' butt slammed onto the mat with a loud smack as he lost his balance, but he was on his feet again moments later, a little breathless as he said: "Again."

Fred decided that it was a good moment to leave; he'd seen enough for today, and though he repeatedly tried to tell himself that he didn't care if Johnson succeeded or not, a tiny bit of satisfaction was lingering inside of him. Not because he wanted to see Martinez fail, and the real reason was probably pathetic...

He shook his head as he walked down the hallway, trying not to think about all of it.

OoO

The last half of their training at the Alpha Site passed by quicker than any of them had anticipated, and soon they were gathering in the gym for their last hand to hand training. Tessa couldn't deny that she was nervous as Sergeant Howard asked her – she had no idea how he'd heard of the bet, but she guessed that he had his ways – and she could also tell that Martinez was close to fainting. They'd worked hard, packed all the time that hadn't been occupied with extra training, and in her opinion, it had been worth the stress and exhaustion.

Martinez had made a lot of progress, and seeing what he could do had given him a big confidence boost, but seeing how pale he was as they got ready to sparr, she asked herself if he would be able to keep his nerves in check. Of course, she'd tried to prepare him for this, but then, it had also been her tactic to make Captain McKenzie think that he would be able to win the bet. Would their chick be able to handle the pressure?

He'd done a lot better in the last days, showing everyone that he was capable of a lot more than he'd shown earlier, but with McKenzie, she never knew if it was enough. Also, sparring against him was a bit different from training. She didn't really care about the bet anymore, she just hoped that he wouldn't lose his head.

OoO

Fred could see from the corner of his eye how Johnson mumbled some quick instructions into Martinez' ear as they prepared, her gaze wandering around the gym and briefly meeting his. Her expression was challenging, and he just knew that she would have him by the balls if he tried to pull any funny tricks – not that he could think of any.

Martinez appeared to be horribly nervous as they both stepped onto the mat; he was chewing on his lower lip for a moment, and he even turned around to Johnson again, who was giving him a curt nod. Seeing how he fidgeted with the bandages that were slung around his hands, Fred couldn't help but feel a lot more confident – he looked like he was about to lose his breakfast, and this surely would be over in a few minutes.

Normally, some people would cheer on their comrades if there happened to be a sparring match, but this time, it was scaringly quiet in the gym, despite it not being exactly empty.

They started off slowly, circling each other, and Martinez blocked the few offensive movements that Fred made. He wasn't the fastest yet, but Fred had to admit that he'd definitely made some progress in the meantime.

As their sparring session went on, it slowly dawned on him that Johnson must have shown Martinez a few of her secret tricks. More than once was he able to get very close to bringing Fred into a critical position, and in one unguarded second, he managed to get hold of him. Fred gasped in shock as he felt himself hitting the mat, and he blinked in surprise as he realised what had just happened.

For a long moment, there was silence, and he raised his head to look at Martinez, whose expression was just as shocked. He obviously couldn't believe what he'd just done, even as Johnson and Howard started to clap appreciatively, and of course Fred could spot the tiniest hint of a triumphant smile on his 2IC's face.

If he was honest with himself, it annoyed him a lot, but secretly, he was also impressed by what she'd managed to make out of Martinez in such a short time. It was something he'd hoped for to happen, as it surely would have brought some conflict into the still fresh team if they'd already been forced to exchange a team member. And so it was genuine when he pushed himself to his feet and nodded at the young Airman, saying: "Nice move."

"Th-thank you, Sir," Martinez answered, his eyes gleaming, and the relief was obvious on his face.

"Does that mean that we'll get to keep him, Sir?" Johnson asked innocently, and Fred nearly started laughing as he looked her into the eyes, seeing amusement sparkle in the green depths. Though she didn't say anything, he knew exactly that she was referring to their little bet.

"Only if you continue to have an eye on him, Captain."

OoO

Joseph still couldn't believe that he would really be allowed to stay on the team as he walked down them ramp in the SGC, hearing the wormhole collapse behind them. The short debriefing with General Hammond, during which SG-12 was officially called back into active duty, passed by in a blur, and before he knew it he was sitting in a bar with Sergeant Howard, drinking a beer to celebrate. It was a little bit awkward at first, and he didn't know what to say, but then they managed to slip into an easy conversation.

The Sergeant was a relaxed, laid back man, Joseph realised after some time, and his company was pleasant. Halfway through their second beer, they were having a discussion of American Football against Baseball when one of the chairs of their table was pulled backwards and from the corner of his eye, he caught a glance at some brown hair.

"I know, I can't sit with you," Johnson said as she sat down, setting down her gin tonic, her eyes focused on Howard. "In case anybody you know comes by, tell them I tried to annoy you with some stuff for our next mission."

Joseph looked between them in confusion, not quite understanding what was going on as Howard nodded, replying: "I see you know how the games goes."

"Yeah."

She shrugged and took a sip of her drink while Howard leaned over to Joseph and whispered into his ear: "There are many people who don't like seeing officers hanging around with enlisted grades. SGC isn't that stern on it mostly, but there are still enough who'll scoff about this."

"Oh," Joseph made, biting his lip – of course, he'd heard of this unspoken rule, but he personally felt like it wasn't making much sense. They would be working together very closely, see each other nearly every day and he'd already seen how close some of the teams came to the term 'family', so he didn't understand why social conventions should keep them from having a drink together.

"Well, I don't mind you sitting with us, Ma'am," he said out loud, smiling at the woman, and she smiled back. Joseph felt grateful for what she'd done, and he was about to open his mouth to give her the 'Thank You' she deserved, she raised her hand, as if she was seeing it coming.

"We're proud of you, Josie. But it's not over yet."

Howard raised an eyebrow about the nickname she'd given him, but to Joseph's horror, he shrugged and added: "Yeah, Josie, you still got a lot of work to do."

"Why do I feel like I'll never get rid of that nickname?" Joseph muttered, a little bit of annoyance settling in his stomach, his ears red in embarrassment, but he could also not prevent himself from smirking.

OoO

Fred normally wasn't the kind of person who randomly went to get a drink, but the last weeks on the Alpha Site had been quite challenging and exhausting, showing him that it was hard to lead a team and even more to make one out of four individuals. And so he found himself walking into a bar in the city, ordering a whiskey as he saw three familiar faces sitting at a table in the back of the bar, laughing loudly. It was a coincidence, and they probably wouldn't have spotted him, but somehow his body worked on autopilot, causing him to grab his drink as it arrived and walk over to them.

Martinez was the first one seeing him, more hanging than sitting on his chair as he exclaimed: "Oh, hi Cap!"

Johnson and Howard turned their heads, surprised, and Fred shuffled a tiny bit as he saw Johnson grin; her face was red, and a few stray strands of hair were falling from her ponytail. "Sir, how nice. Boys, drinks are on our CO tonight!"

Fred frowned while she pushed the chair next to her out, slurring slightly as she added: "Sit. Drink. Smile."

He threw her an irritated glance as he obeyed, pulling a one hundred dollar note out of his pocket and handing it to her, asking: "How many did you guys drink already?"

It surely was an amusing sight to see them like this, all a bit dishevelled and loosened up, but it also made him feel oddly out of place. Johnson just grinned at the note, winking as she cooed: "Well, hello Mr Franklin."

Howard looked at his glass with an expression of high concentration, then he shrugged. "A lot. And for a small person you can really take a lot. We'll get the next round."

He grabbed Martinez by the upper arm and the younger man stumbled onto his feet, leaving Fred alone with Johnson. She smirked smugly at him, fanning herself with the hundred dollar note, then she stated: "You wouldn't have thrown him out."

"No, I wouldn't have. I just wanted to see him making an effort, and I thought that maybe you had a way to motivate him and find out what his problem is," Fred explained with a nod, taking a sip from his whiskey.

Johnson rolled her eyes, irritating him again, then she shot back: "Yeah, because I'm so motherly and sweet."

"I never said that," Fred replied stiffly, feeling how his ears started to glow, giving away that he may have thought just that when he'd had the idea of asking her to take care of Martinez.

Johnson gave him a 'Don't fuck around with me' look and took another sip of her drink, saying: "Well, I had fun. And now I have fun and a hundred bucks. I love this job."

End of Episode 2...