** 11 **
Stokes awoke to find himself alone, the cool sheets under his hand disappointing. The scent of Tracy lingered on the pillow, vanilla, it would always make him think of her. Letting out a sigh he pushed the covers back and swung his legs over the side of the bed.
'You're awake.'
The sound of her voice had him quickly turning, his mouth lifting into a smile he couldn't stop. She leant against the door frame of the bathroom, drops from her still wet hair ran down her neck, disappearing into the valley between breasts. His eyes followed and he licked his lips.
'I thought you'd left.' He stood up, surprised he felt no pain or discomfort from his injury, especially as they'd made love several times during the night.
'Needed a shower, worked up a bit of a sweat,' she smiled but colour flushed her face and she dropped her eyes before looking back at him.
'You should have woken me, we could have saved water,' he waggled his eyebrows and she laughed.
'While that's an experience I would really like to have I think David will be wondering where we are.' She sauntered towards him and he swallowed hard.
'I think the admiral knows exactly where we are,' he said, inhaling deeply as her hands came to rest on his bare chest. He covered them with his own, his eyes searching her face. 'About last night,' he saw the moment her eyes clouded and he felt her hands tense under his.
'Do you regret it?' She fought hard to control the fear in her voice but he heard it.
'What? No! Never. How could I regret the best night of my life,' he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, loving the moment she relaxed against him. 'Do you?'
'Are you kidding,' she giggled and he exhaled loudly. 'It was everything I ever dreamed it would be.'
'Can you do me a favour though,' he waited till she was looking at him, 'wake me before you leave.'
'But you needed the sleep.'
'I don't care, please, just wake me.'
'Okay, as long as you do the same for me.'
A knock at the door startled them and they jumped apart, Stokes reached for his t-shirt to cover his boxers and his growing erection. Buckner entered with the doctor in tow, the marine carrying a tray with what appeared to be breakfast.
'Guess a good night's sleep works wonders,' Buckner said as he glanced at them both. Stokes skin burned as he tried to cover his flush with a nod at the tray. 'Brought you some breakfast and when you're finished Anderson wants to see you both.'
'Thank, Buckner,' Stokes sat on the edge of the bed as the doctor checked him over.
'You've healed nicely, you're free to go Mr Stokes.' The doctor turned and left.
'Take your time,' Buckner moved to the door, 'things are pretty quiet right now.' He winked and chuckled as he left the room, closing the door behind him.
'Damn, we're in for it,' Stokes dropped his head, shaking it as he closed his eyes.
'Totally worth it,' Tracy laughed and settled the tray on the bed between them.
'Hell yeah.'
Showered and dressed they walked the corridors to Anderson's office. One or two marines threw amused glances their way but he didn't care. Stokes didn't know life could feel so good, that anyone could be so happy. He'd never experienced anything like the euphoria he felt as he walked beside Tracy, their hands brushing, smiles on their faces. He finally understood what others were fighting for, not that he hadn't before but it was different now. If he lost her he didn't think he could go on, wouldn't want to go on.
'Glad you could join us,' Anderson said, glancing up at them from a datapad. 'Hope you're recovered, Stokes.'
'Yes, sir.'
'Obviously you two have sorted things out.' He raised his eyebrows at Tracy as she perched on his desk.
'Yep.' She fought to hide a smile and Anderson hummed at her, making her blush.
'Good. I need you two at your best.' He held up the datapad, 'this is the information we've been able to get so far from the encrypted files, it's not much. Your job is to get whatever else you can from the data you brought back. And we need it asap.'
Stokes took the datapad, holding it gently, knowing that what he held in his hand could give them an edge, something to keep them alive until Shepard returned. Tracy had no such reverence as she grabbed the pad from his fingers.
'We'll see what we can find.' She turned to leave, 'are you coming?' She looked at Stokes over her shoulder and he shook his head, grinning as he trotted to catch up before she stepped from the room.
'Yep, right behind you.'
Buckner caught up with them in the corridor. 'I've allocated you two rooms,' he looked from one to the other, 'separate rooms, although if you want to share … .'
'We can share.' She glanced up at Stokes, her eyes wide as she vocalised her thoughts.
Stokes smiled, she blushed and dropped her eyes. 'We can share.'
Buckner grinned and updated his datapad. 'I've sent you a map to your room and a floor plan for the whole place. It's pretty big.'
'Did they clean out the labs?' Stokes studied the map as they walked. The labs were two floors beneath them so if anything of the artefact remained it probably wouldn't affect them anyway. There should be enough concrete between them.
'Yeah, we think we've got it all.'
'I hope so.'
'We're down here,' Tracy interrupted, pointing the way as Buckner turned and left them alone.
Stokes followed her through a double door and stopped. An oversized room filled to capacity, an Aladdin's cave of treasure lay before him. He scanned the room and he didn't realise he was gaping until Tracy spoke.
'Good, isn't it?'
He turned towards her. 'Where did this stuff come from?'
He waved around the room at the numerous screens, servers and other electronic equipment, a smorgasbord of everything they could ever need to crack the hold the Reapers had on them.
'From what we can gather the Alliance was setting up a bunker here, ready for the Reapers.' Tracy moved further into the room.
'And nobody knew?!'
'Apparently not, even David had no idea. Obviously they didn't hide it well enough because Cerberus knew about it. No-one made it here once the war started and those that were here either left or were killed by Cerberus.' She frowned and stared at the floor for a moment. 'Maybe the Alliance had indoctrinated admirals who let the secret out. But,' she raised her eyes to his, 'we've got it back now.'
Stokes slowly walked the room, running his hands over everything. He was home. The comforting cocoon of computers, working screens and the soft hum of power welcomed him. This he knew, not scrounging for components or making things work on the fly. Not that he hadn't enjoyed the challenge but to have all this working technology would make life so much easier. He stopped before a smaller door, glanced at Tracy who nodded, opened it and stepped through.
'Nice isn't it?' Tracy had followed him in.
'Seriously, this is beautiful.' He rolled his eyes at her and moved further into the QEC room before him.
'Full holographic interface, the whole floor is usable, the latest in recording and data transfer tech. You could hold a conference in here.' She stroked the operating console as she spoke.
'Maybe that's what the Alliance had planned.'
He wondered if Shepard would be happy to know that at least someone in the Alliance had taken her warnings seriously, even if they had kept her in the dark. Somehow he thought it would.
'You okay,' Tracy asked, moving beside him and tilting her head to look at him.
'Yeah. Just thinking how much better Shepard would have felt knowing this existed.'
'I bet she didn't make it easy when you were looking after her. I've never seen David so angry.'
'I think she accepted that it had to happen that way, but there were moments.' A thought popped into his head. 'How come you never visited?'
'David thought it best if I didn't. I have a suspicion Andy didn't want me to get dragged down with her if things went south, didn't want to ruin my ability to work with the Alliance.' She sighed, and a smiled flicked across her face, 'she always did try and protect me. I used to get picked on at school, usually because I had my nose buried in some kind of tech. Andy used to make it clear to other kids that anyone that hurt me had to face her. Even back then no-one wanted to cross her.'
Stokes imagined Tracy as a kid, fascinated by some piece of equipment, hair sticking out of messy pigtails while others fought around her. He grinned at the image and she scowled at him.
'What?'
'Did you have pigtails?'
'What, no.' She hit him on the arm, 'I had short hair so it didn't get in my way.'
He couldn't help it, he laughed, pulling her into his arms as she glared at him, eventually giving in and wrapping herself around him. God, he loved her. The feel of her in his arms created an overpowering urge to protect her, to keep her safe. He knew she would scoff at that but the soldier in him couldn't help it, the man in him simply wanted a life with her in it.
'We should get to work,' she pulled back and looked up at him.
'Yeah.' He kissed her softly before leaning his forehead against hers. 'You might be able to ignore the Admiral when he yells but I can't.'
'I'll protect you.'
'I feel safer already.' He grunted as she pulled him along behind her but didn't hesitate to thread his fingers through hers.
Tracy had already made a list, marking what worked, what worked sometimes and what didn't. While the computer system was good, if not better than what he'd had as a cyber-spook, other stuff that could be useful hadn't been set up. Jammers were only partially installed, sensor equipment hadn't been unpacked, the internal bunker network had gaps and communications were patchy outside of a certain radius. Some of it he'd never seen before and he guessed it was new R&D stuff that hadn't been implemented. Luckily he had one of the best R&D techs beside him.
'I know Anderson wants us to work on the Cerberus data but some of this should be fixed and implemented.' Something in the list caught his eye and he brought up a file on the screen. 'I definitely think Anderson will want this done.'
He watched Tracy read the file, she'd missed this one and he could see her blaming herself. It would be a sure thing if he bet that her thoughts had been elsewhere for the last few days, even before they made up.
'I think you should tell him.'
'Not your fault you missed it.' He nudged her shoulder, 'you were preoccupied.' He opened a com to Anderson and asked him to come down.
'It was all your fault' she muttered and he chuckled.
Minutes later Anderson walked through the door, 'what have you found?'
'Nothing in the data, yet, sir.' Stokes showed him the screen, 'but we did find this.'
'Is that what I think it is?' Anderson turned to look at him.
'Yes sir, a fully functional, automated external defence system. It just hasn't been installed. The cabling is built into the building, the system is sitting over there,' he pointed to a collection of four lifeless screens, 'the hardware is still sitting in boxes.'
'Buckner,' Anderson said into his com, 'Stokes is sending you a nav point. Grab some able hands and get to work on what you find there. Stokes will tell you what you need to do.' Anderson waited for his response before continuing, 'what else have we got?'
Stokes explained what they'd found and the relief on Anderson's face was worth every moment that got them to this point. It provided hope for their survival which made his staying behind justified.
'I've got your techs working on power, water and other stuff but I will pull some of them off and get them working on this.' Anderson sent out messages, 'put them to work but I want you and Tracy to concentrate on the Cerberus data.'
'Whoa.'
The three of them turned at the awed statement. The dark haired kid in the doorway looked embarrassed as their eyes fell on him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet.
'Sorry, but this is … awesome.' His eyes scanned the room and Stokes couldn't help but grin.
'And you are?' Anderson straightened and the boy hunched further into the oversize shirt he was wearing.
'Dawson, Samuel Dawson. Fields told me to find you, said I might be able to help with tech stuff.'
Stokes knew Fields had approached Anderson, looking for ways for civilians to help, give them something to focus on other than their loss or fear. Anderson had told him to find out what skills people had and send them to him.
'How old are you?' Anderson's brow creased.
'Fifteen,' he said, straightening up, 'I'll be sixteen next month.'
'I think … .' Anderson started but Stokes cleared his throat and the Admiral looked at him.
'What do you see here, Sam?' Stokes stepped forward.
Dark brown eyes slowly looked around the room, flicking past the people in it. Stokes recognised the light in those eyes.
'Quantum computers, high def screens, holographic interfaces, it's quality stuff.'
'How long have you been interested in tech?'
'Pulled my first datapad apart when I was four. Mum got angry so I put it back together and it worked better.' He folded his arms across his chest as if daring them to doubt him.
'How many languages do you write?'
'All of them.' He stood erect, his arms dropping to his sides, 'all self-taught.'
Stokes shook his head and heard Tracy chuckle beside him as he studied the young man. He appeared determined, confident, and he reminded him so much of himself it was creepy.
'We can use him, admiral.' Stokes looked at Anderson who nodded.
'Keep me updated.' He patted Sam on the shoulder as he passed, 'good luck, kid.'
'Okay, Sam, or do you prefer Samuel?' Stokes waved him into the room.
'Sam's fine.'
'How much do you know about jammers?' Stokes laughed at the sideways glance he got.
'I've broken through a few.'
'Okay, we need these jammers working asap. The hardware is in place we need to link it with the software and activate it. If you get stuck let me know.'
'Yes, sir.'
'You're not Alliance, Sam, my name is Stokes, or Matt.'
'Okay.'
He was already engrossed in his task so with a chuckle Stokes shook his head and left him to it. Tracy grinned as he joined her at another console and he had the strongest feeling that Sam reminded her of herself too. He proudly admitted to being a tech head, especially as it got him to where he stood right now, alongside the woman he loved, but this gave him the chance to prove everything he said wasn't just talk. They brought up the encrypted data and put their heads together. Hopefully they'd find something useful that might give them a chance to survive this war.
