Patrol

It was relaxing on the couch, receiving a foot rub from Ben, that underlined how stressed the last four weeks had been, Taylor decided. And how dumb she'd been in the whole mess. It definitely felt good to have finally made a choice. Her smile faded a little. Even if she wasn't necessarily as sure as she'd made out.

"You're sure?" Ben asked, looking up, almost as if he sensed her train of thought.

Taylor sighed. She'd heard Eric occasionally refer to Old Mother Hen Johnson, but this was about the first time she'd had cause to meet him -- it was actually kind of sweet. Kind of. "I'm not sure about much," she admitted. "I don't know if I'm ready to be a mom..."

"You'll make a great mom," Ben put in. Taylor favoured him with a look that said 'shut up'. He obliged.

"What I do know...what I am sure about is that I can't do this on my own." Ben's expression turned inscrutable. "OK -- yes. You're right. I've been a complete idiot the last few weeks. Knock that off!"

"What?"

"If you wanna tell me 'told you so' at least actually say it." At that, Ben grinned. Taylor shook her head. "And...I want to go back to active status when my shoulder gets the all clear."

Ben's grin turned to a grimace and his fingers stopped working their magic on her feet. "I can't stop you," he said, in a tone of voice that clearly implied he'd like to. "But..."

"But you don't think I should."

"No, I don't." He sighed. "At the least, you should tell Eric. Let him make the decision."

"It's not his decision," Taylor answered, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. "I can still do my job. The doctor said I could be on active duty..."

Ben held his hands up in a conciliatory gesture. "OK -- OK." He sighed, this time in defeat. "When do you get checked out for your shoulder?"

"Tomorrow," Taylor answered with a sigh as Ben returned to the foot rub. "And it can't come soon enough."

"I thought you'd enjoyed doing the PT training with the kids," said Ben, puzzled.

"I have," Taylor admitted, "but...the last four weeks...I've not felt as if I've been doing my job."

Ben smirked faintly. "And you won't until you can officially go out on patrol huh?"

Taylor shrugged a little. "I know it's weird...that's just the way I am. Take me or leave me."

"Think I choose take," Ben replied, his smirk turning into something more suggestive.

~*~

Eric sighed as he entered his office. Monday morning: A time when he could briefly entertain the idea that it was going to be a quiet, peaceful week. Unfortunately, given it was the second week of official training as far as the 'kids' were concerned, he suspected this was going to be anything but a peaceful week. John was chafing at the training -- that much had been made amply clear to Eric by the running argument he'd had with his son over the weekend.

John saw the fact that he was in training rather than straight into the Guardians force as some sort of personal slight -- as though the two courses were some sort of vendetta on Eric's part -- which was about as far from true as could be. Neither John nor Eric wanted John to be 'Mini-Eric' -- which was Eric's entire thinking behind John's training. There'd only been three Guardians prior to John to score at such a high level in the physical assessments -- the USMC had trained them all, and John's score was slightly higher than two of them anyway. If he'd gone straight into the force, the comparisons would have driven him nuts, Eric mused with a shake of his head as he dropped into his seat.

Unfortunately, every time Eric had attempted to explain things, something had come up. Phone calls; Alice or Kimberly intervening; John's own temper. Eric's mouth compressed into a thin line. At the fifth or sixth go-round, he had lost his patience and that had ended very badly, with John storming off. John had eventually returned home but had been very ostentatious in his avoidance of Eric.

Which means he and I really need to have a chat today, Eric noted with a sigh.

"Morning, Commander," Gina offered, breaking across his train of thought. He looked up as she entered the office and saw the pot of coffee she was bearing.

"Oh, that is not a good sign," Eric answered with a groan. "Any Monday morning when you come in here with coffee ready made, I know you've got some bad news for me."

Gina grinned. "Actually, no."

Eric's eyebrows lifted. "No?" From behind her back, Gina produced a manila envelope. "Let me guess," he said. "Taylor's medical release?"

"Well, I haven't opened it," Gina answered, holding the envelope out like some sort of peace offering, "but as it's come from Silverhills General, it's either that or they've finally taken a look at the CAT scan of Ian Foster and decided his brain's on permanent vacation."

At that, Eric laughed. "What's he done now?"

Gina just shook her head. "You don't want to know."

He took the envelope. "Knowing Fos, no, I probably don't." He looked up at Gina. "If it's any consolation to you, he's always had an off-colour sense of humour."

Gina sniffed. "None." She turned to leave. "Do you want me to send Commander Earhardt in to you when she arrives?"

Eric slit the envelope open. "Please." He glanced at the typed sheets, then back at Gina, who'd set the jug of coffee down on the hotplate. "And when the four cadets arrive -- which should be shortly," at that Gina grinned, "send them down to the shooting range."

"Change in schedule?"

Eric smiled. "Yep."

"And you couldn't have told them over the weekend because...?"

"I stopped mixing work and home life when I met Kim." Eric looked back at the typed sheets the hospital had sent. "Besides, there's no point in the kids getting used to a set routine. God knows this job is anything but."

Gina laughed as she left the office.

Eric turned his attention fully to the medical information the hospital had sent over. None of it was particularly new -- the initial incident report had long since crossed his desk, this was just a matter of formally releasing Taylor for work. Then something at the bottom of the page caught his eye.

While undergoing treatment, patient fainted.

Eric frowned. It was an innocuous statement -- particularly given that the injury was caused by three inches of rebar puncturing her shoulder. And yet it set alarm bells ringing in Eric's mind. Taylor Earhardt was not the sort of woman who fainted at the sight of blood, or from pain -- at least, not the sort of pain a wound of that nature would incur. Add that to the incident in the canteen the previous week... Mayanne swore that Taylor had almost fainted then, too. Eric shook his head. That just was not Taylor.

Then his eyes were drawn to the head of the page, where the basic patient notes had been inserted. One word leapt off the page. Pregnant.

"You wanted to see me, sir."

Eric looked up to find the object of his thoughts standing in front of his desk. He took a moment to give her an appraising look. With her arm no longer in a sling, there was no immediately visible sign of the injury, but he could see the visible signs of pregnancy, the way her figure was already starting to change.

"Taylor -- take a seat."

She looked mildly surprised by the use of her given name as she took the seat in front of his desk.

"I've got your medical release," Eric continued, patting the papers on his desk. He noted that she blanched a little. "As far as the medical staff at Silverhills General are concerned, you're free to go back to active duty -- of course, that'll need to be backed up by an exam by the medical staff here, but that's just an academic procedure." Taylor nodded slowly. "But..."

"But?" she echoed.

Eric sat back in his seat. It was far too early in the morning for these sort of games. With a sigh, he said, "Your case doctor's mentioned your fainting fit."

"Oh." Taylor looked down at her lap. "That."

"Yeah. That." Eric waited to see if Taylor would say anything. She didn't. "And that's not the only thing it says."

"Oh." Taylor sighed, shoulders tensing.

"What?" Eric asked, working hard to make sure his voice was as gentle as he could make it. "You're expecting me to put you on restrictive duty?" She nodded. He shook his head. "Only if you want it."

"I...but..." And disconcertingly, Taylor actually burst into tears.

Eric shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. He knew that the outburst was most likely to be the result of hormones than anything else, but it left him feeling awkward.

"But...Jen..." Taylor finally managed to sniff.

Eric sighed. "Jen isn't on restrictive duty, beyond not being allowed to use her morpher. And even that is her decision, not mine. The only time I'd step in is if I'd been given medical advice that it would be dangerous to your health for you to be on active duty. Your release says you're cleared for active duty -- I'm happy to go along with that, unless you tell me different."

"Oh."

There was another prolonged pause in conversation, although Eric couldn't precisely call it a silence since it was periodically broken by the sounds of Taylor making a valiant -- if slightly abortive -- effort to stop crying.

"But you do need to tell me what you want to do," Eric finally said, when it looked as if Taylor was just going to continue saying nothing and sniffing. "I may have a fair idea of what I think you want, but..."

"I know...I'm sorry...I'm just...I wasn't...was expecting...you...this... You're being so nice!" she managed to object.

Eric blinked. "I'm not supposed to be nice?"

There was an electric pause, then the absurdity of her own remark hit her and Taylor gave a weak chuckle. "I'm sorry -- that came out wrong."

"Well -- good. I think."

"I just...wasn't expecting this." Eric sat back in his seat, amused. "And I know...I ought to know you better by now but..."

"But I'm still the ex-Marine son of a bitch who knew way too much about you." Looking sheepish now, Taylor nodded. Eric offered her a grin. "It's OK -- I stopped eating people for breakfast. They were bad for my health."

At that, Taylor managed a proper laugh. "Sorry," she finally said.

"It's OK."

Taylor hesitated a beat, then said, "Permission to return to active duty, pending the med-staff evaluation here?"

Eric smiled, still amused. "Granted."

Taylor moved to stand up, then hesitated again. "Um..."

"Um?" Eric queried.

A smile was gracing Taylor's face now -- some real semblance of her normal, slightly cocky grin. "About this afternoon's PT session..."

~*~

"Finally, someone's realised how good I am at all this," John boasted as the quartet headed out of the firing range for conference room two.

"Get real," Lexia muttered with a roll of her eyes and a slight smile.

The comment took no wind from his sails. "Well why else would she have switched the tutoring around?"

"Because I asked for some range time?" Rick suggested.

"John -- if you don't get ahold of your ego, Dad is gonna kick your butt so hard you won't sit down for a week," Alice pointed out. To Rick, who was looking at her in askance, she added, "Dad and John have been driving mom and me nuts all weekend." She frowned. "More John than Dad, really."

"Ali, he's treating me like I'm a kid!" John butted in.

"Jonno," Alice retorted, "the way you're acting right now, you are being a kid."

"Don't forget," Rick put in, "until about a month ago, we were kids. Give the 'rents a break -- they're trying."

"Yeah. Very trying," John muttered.

Alice favoured her brother with a withering glare, but before she could find a response, the quartet had entered conference room two.

~*~

Dr Sonny Jackson, formerly of Angel Grove Memorial and currently CMO of the SGHQ, hummed cheerfully under his breath as he dashed his signature off on the first page of the report.

"Are you done yet?" growled his patient.

Jackson looked up, smiling. "Almost, Commander." He turned his attention back to the report and signed the second page.

"Any danger of you not humming?" she growled, more annoyance evident in her voice.

Turning over to the third and final page, Jackson chuckled. "Temper, temper, Commander." He cast his eye over the final page, making sure he'd noted everything. He could hear teeth grinding. He took no notice and double-checked that the details were all correct.

They were.

He signed the final page.

"Done?"

He looked up, still grinning, and held out the report. "Yes, Commander. You are certified for regular duty again. But..." He held it just out of her reach. "I would strongly recommend that you consider being assigned to something less strenuous than out right patrolling. Not immediately," he continued, as she opened her mouth to complain, "but within the next three to four weeks."

Jackson's customary grin slipped as she meekly nodded.

"Is this a compliant Taylor Earhardt I see before me?"

"Yeah, yeah, Jackson." She grimaced.

Jackson's smile returned, full force. "A true Kodak moment." He handed over the report. "Here you are, Commander. No doubt I'll be seeing you again."

He watched her leave the med-centre, catching her muttering "Not if I can help it," and smirked. Some days, it was good to be a doctor.

~*~

Taylor made her way back to Eric's office wondering, not for the first time, where on earth Eric had found the current CMO and -- perhaps more to the point -- what on earth had possessed Eric to hire him!

Docs and CMOs really should not be that perky, she groused silently, knocking on the office door.

"Come in." Taylor opened the door and walked in. "Ah -- Commander Earhardt. Survived a close encounter with our resident Energiser Bunny, then?"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Yes -- thank you, sir."

Eric offered her a grin. "Be thankful he's unlikely to be the first thing you see when you wake up from two days of sedation." Taylor lifted her eyebrows, but he just shook his head. "All fit?" he continued.

"One of these days, Jarhead," she murmured sotto voce. His expression turned to full-blown smirk, which told her he'd heard what she'd said. Louder, she said, "Yes, sir."

"Good." He held out his hand for Jackson's report, which Taylor handed over. "Thank you. You'll be pleased to know that your shoulder's going to get its first test very shortly."

Taylor looked surprised. "Oh? I didn't think there was anything much going on at the moment."

Eric smiled wryly. "Famous last words. Had a call from Northland Collective -- they're the people who own the industrial complex that Frax called his home base," he added as she frowned. "Anyway, because of Frax and then Lexia's ideas of ground clearance," at that, Taylor snorted, "SPD have told them that if anything else, quote unquote, weird goes on, they're to call us."

"And something weird's gone on?" Taylor queried.

Eric nodded. "They've reported there's been additional vandalism of the site over night, and someone appears to have broken into one of the remaining warehouse units on the site."

Somewhat to Taylor's surprise, Eric pushed to his feet. "Sir?"

"No -- I'm not inviting myself onto your team," he said, smiling a little. "You should find that Shawn Clingleffer, Paul Jones and JJ Haynes are ready and waiting for you."

Clarity dawned and Taylor grinned. "You liked my idea, then?"

Eric nodded. "It certainly makes sense -- and given where you're going on this little exercise..."

"Having the booby trap artist along for the ride's definitely a good idea," Taylor finished.

~*~

Lexia put her hand to her mouth, trying to stifle the yawn that was building. It wasn't a successful effort. This was possibly the driest, most boring session they'd had so far in conference room two.

And that was saying something!

This session was being given by her father, instead of Ben, and was about...about...

It was no good, she realised, she hadn't got a clue what he'd been talking about. She took a sidelong glance at John. His eyes looked completely glazed over. He'd be no help. Maybe Alice or Rick...

At that moment, there was a knock on the door and then Eric walked, followed by Taylor. The bone-deep boredom Lexia had been feeling started to shift, rapidly. What was going on now?

"Sorry to interrupt," Eric said.

Wes smiled. "Be my guest."

"Alice, Lexia -- this way, please?"

Feeling puzzled, and vaguely wondering what she'd done, Lexia got to her feet and followed Taylor and Alice from the room.

"No need to look so worried, Alice," Eric observed as he joined them in the hallway. "You haven't done anything wrong."

"It's quite straight forward," Taylor explained. "My squad is going to investigate something that may or may not have gone down on the Northland Collective's industrial complex. It's also two men down."

Lexia's heart beat a little faster at that. She couldn't mean...it couldn't be...

"We want you to round out the patrol," said Eric.


TO BE CONTINUED...