Six months later

Emily sat down in the dressing room with a few of her fellow soldiers, as they all dressed. Today was the day they were going to go through the obstacle course, it was once a year and it was going to be the first time that she was going to do it at VA Beach. Dressed in a long sleeve jacket and long trousers, she scanned the dressing room, only 20 women included her were in the dressing room. One of them was Lisa, the others were just faces she had seen wandering down the halls.

She tied up her boots as she finished. She and Lisa locked eyes and nodded at each other.

This was going to be a mixed course, meaning that women and men soldiers would run the course together but obviously would be timed differently. As there were more men that women, some of the men had started earlier and the women would be spread out into four teams of 5 and following an alphabetical order.

Emily stood up and headed for the wall to see who would be with her and weigh out her competition a bit. Aside from her and Lisa, all the others were younger and had only been in the Navy for a couple of years. Which meant that their training wasn't too far away, and they hadn't been spending most of their time stuck behind a desk or in TOC. Lisa joined her and looked also at the paper.

"Why do I feel we are at a disadvantage?" said Lisa.

"I know. At least we're in the same group," replied Emily.

They headed outside and saw Eric waiting for them.

He looked at Emily. "Got a minute?"

"Sure." She looked at Lisa. "I'll be right out."

Lisa nodded and headed outside.

"What's up?" she asked her brother.

"Just want to make sure you're OK and ready."

She looked at him with a smile. "What? You're afraid your little sister is going to embarrass you?"

"No. Absolutely not," he said as he shook his head, "it's just the last time we ran together you were a bit out of shape and since you've been injured, had surgery." He paused for a moment. "I still don't know why they couldn't give you a derogation for this year."

She put his arm around him. "Because there is no such thing as a pass in the Navy and you know that. I'll be fine, don't worry."

With that he hugged her, and they walked outside together.

The ones who weren't going yet where off to the sides or high up to watch the others. Emily, Eric and Lisa were in the first group. Jason was on his own in the second group, Ray, Sonny, Trent, Brock and Clay in the third group.

When they stepped outside and met up with Lisa and the others of the first group, the remaining Bravo team caught a glimpse of them.

"Whoa, wait a minute," said Sonny in shock, "Emily is also doing this?" He was surprised she hadn't said anything to him about it. But then again, Bravo team had been busy these past two months and they had only technically gotten back the day before. The little time they had together they spent in bed. It wasn't that they didn't talk about things, but it was generally things that weren't work or Navy related.

"Looks like it," replied Clay. "I'd be curious to see her times."

The group waited on the line for the 'go' for their 4-mile run. It would be a multiple type terrain, meaning that over their 4 miles, it would be land, water, sand, and mud.

Just seconds before the shot was fired, Emily looked at Lisa then at Eric. When it went off, many soldiers started in a sprint to detach themselves from the others and take the lead, Lisa and Eric included, but if there was one thing that Emily had learned over the years, that it was a question of endurance. Better start a bit slower and not burn gas and pick up the pace 1,5 mile left, otherwise you were just trying to run on fumes. That was how it worked best for her and her eventual limitations. As Eric had mentioned, not too long back she'd undergone a lot physically.

As she neared the 2,5-mile mark, that is indeed what she realized was happening, some of the younger soldiers, male or female, were now lagging and on the other hand she felt she had finally found her stride and cruising speed.

All the time she ran, she could only think about the fact that she only had three months left on her notice and that she could finally see the light at the tunnel. She reached Eric and Lisa 1 mile away from the arrival. She didn't slow down for this wasn't a team race. Neither one of them said anything when she passed them and continued on in her stride.

With the last yards in her sight, she gave everything she had left and sprinted. When she reached the finish line, she looked at the clock. It read 19:45! She had managed to beat her own record and was proud of her accomplishment.

The guys, yelled and cheered upon seeing her results. They also did when Lisa and Eric arrived less than a minute later.

Emily drank from the bottle of water she was handed and waited for Eric and Lisa to join her.

They all congratulated each other.

"What did you have for breakfast?" asked Eric. "I've never seen you run so fast."

"Toast and eggs," said Emily laughing.

The rest of the team joined them.

"That was great guys. Good job," said Jason.

"Yeah, very impressive Captain," said Sonny as he looked at Emily.

"Thank you, Petty Officer Quinn, I had a lot of free time on my hands recently which allowed me to train."

He raised an eyebrow at her indirect comment that she had been alone quite a lot.

"Well, then, it was put to good use," he answered.

"It's obvious that Captain Blackburn is offering a round tonight at the bar for her amazing accomplishment," said Jason.

She laughed. She was still not a fervent enjoyer of the bar, but she figured that it wouldn't hurt.

"Deal," she answered.

They were then called over for the obstacle course where they were going to go through it individually.

Emily, again thanks to the wonderful joys of alphabetics, was the first to go.

She looked the course over as she stepped up to the marker, waiting for the green light to go and the start of the timer.

She gave a look in the direction of the team. "You've got this." Mouthed Sonny as he gave her a confident nod.

They all watched her and the timer as she went through the different obstacles. Sonny knew that she had a strong core and strong arms and knew that the low wall or high wall were not going to be an issue.

"That's it come on," Eric said as Emily reached the Slide for Life just under four minutes. He could hear other soldiers around them who were impressed, and he felt proud. "You've got this Em. Just keep pushing through."

They all watched as she passed the horizontal ladder, the spider wall and the last obstacle, vaults. She reached the finish line with 06:15.

"Good job and amazingly done Captain Blackburn," said Goodwin as he was waiting at the finish line along with other high rankers.

"Thank you, Sir." She answered then excused herself to join the others as Eric took her place on the starting line.

She stood between Clay and Sonny and just as he had done on the tarmac when the team had gotten back from Oman and them from South Carolina, he let his hand brush gently against hers. As there was no one behind them, he even let his finger lock with hers for a minute. She inevitably thought about the day when they'd be able to keep their hands locked together in front of the others.

By the end of the day, the entire Bravo team had gone through the run and the obstacle course. Everyone had had great times. Jason had arrived first in his group and had a managed 5 seconds less than Emily on the course. In the third group, Ray and Clay had arrived at the same time on the finish line followed by Sonny three seconds later. As for the course, Clay had beat them all with a 6-minute flat.

"Well then, it appears as though our treating couple tonight is none other than Emily and Clay!", said Trent as they all met up outside after having changed and showered.

Emily and Clay looked at each other and smiled.

"You guys head over already, I need to do something, and I'll meet you there," said Emily.

Eric looked at her. "Everything OK?"

"Yeah, I just need to hand something in to Lindell before I leave. It shouldn't take long."

"Alright then Captain Blackburn," said Sonny, "we'll keep a stool at the bar for ya."

She nodded in recognition. "Well thank you kindly."

The entire team left and headed to their respective vehicles as Emily headed back in.