ICE STATION: CONTINUED

Part 2

Lieutenant Shane Schofield paced the hall outside a hospital room. At five-ten, with short black hair and a handsome face, there was no doubt that he was getting stares from the women in the hospital. He had a pair of silver Oakley's sunglasses on to hide the scars disfiguring his eyes and eyelids. He was waiting for the doctor to finish his examination of Lance Corporal Elizabeth Gant, or "Fox". Their team had returned to Washington about a week previously, but Gant had been shot in the process and had slipped into a coma. She had only come out of it a few days earlier and the doctors were still examining her blood because of the numerous transfusions required to replace the lost blood. Luckily, Gant was O positive and Schofield was able to donate. He had wanted to donate as much as he could, but the doctors had told him that if he continued, he would be putting himself in danger.

Schofield had replied, "Hey, I've been almost chewed to bits by a killer whale, shot by the Navy SEALS, blown up by the USAF and I've died and been resuscitated, so don't tell me not to put myself in danger."

The doctors had told him to leave the room after that display and that was the reason he was pacing the halls.

The doctor came out of the room and shut the door behind him. "Mr. Schofield?"

Schofield quickly turned around and walked up to the doctor. "Yes?"

"Everything seems to have worked out. She's resting right now, but you can go back in if you'd like."

Schofield nodded his head and looked past the doctor. "So… she'll be okay, right?"

"It appears so… yes." The doctor slid Gant's chart into a file beside the door. Schofield thanked him, then went into the room.

He sat in the chair beside the window, looking at Gant's face until her eyes started to flutter. Her eyes finally opened fully and she looked back into Schofield's sunglasses. "Hey… what are you doing here? I would have thought you'd be on another mission by now."

Schofield shrugged. "I've been here most of the time… giving blood."

Gant looked up at the ceiling. "The doctor said I'll be out of here in a couple of days. But he said I shouldn't go back into a Recon unit for another week, or any other unit for that matter. So, basically, I've been benched." She moved slightly, then winced. "Ah, still hurts."

Schofield started to get up and she stopped him. "No, stay, please, sir."

He smiled. "Like you said, you've been benched, Libby. You can call me Shane, and I was just getting up to get something by the door." He got up and went to the door, picking up a large gym bag.

"Oh, sorry… Shane. I'm just… I dunno. I haven't really seen much of anyone lately. I'm going nuts without human contact, you know? My sister's been in a few times and I guess you've been here every so often, but no one else really. I guess it's just the drugs talking."

Schofield, laughed, pulling a chair up to the side of the bed. He sat down and plunked the gym bag in his lap. Before undoing the zipper, he pulled off his sunglasses and glanced at Gant. She smiled softly and he opened the bag, pulling out a white Kevlar helmet.

"Remember this?" He tilted the helmet a bit so that Gant could see the bloodstained four-inch arrow sticking out of the front of it. She gasped and took the helmet.

"Oh god. That arrow sure was close, wasn't it?" She looked at Schofield over the helmet. "Why did you bring me this?"

"As a little memento for the battle we won." He put the gym bag down and leaned back in the chair. "Plus, you know, it's sort of a reminder to how close you came to death." He gave her a serious look and she tilted her head.

"That's true." She leaned back on her pillow and stared straight ahead. "So exactly how long have you been sitting here, waiting for me to wake up?"

"Uh, I don't know… maybe an hour?" He stretched his arms before letting out a long yawn. "I'm glad you're alright."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Gant became uncomfortable.

"Yeah, so the doctor told me that I should start getting up and walking…" She trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

"Oh, well, that's good news. I guess the USMC will want you to be in top shape before you rejoin my unit."

"What?" Gant quickly turned her head and looked at him.

He cocked his head. "Well, you're rejoining my unit eventually right? I mean, you're one of the best on the team." He paused, reflecting. "Actually, you, Mother, Rebound and I are the only ones who survived the Wilkes Station ordeal."

Gant bowed her head. "I can't understand the purpose behind the ICG. Why would they kill their own men just to keep a certain discovery safe?" She looked up at Schofield with tears in her eyes. "How could they do something like that?" She quickly wiped her eyes.

Schofield leaned forward and put his hand on hers. "Listen… I know marines are supposed to be strong and everything… but losing members of a team that you knew well is hard, so let your feelings for them show." He patted her hand and she looked up at him.

"I'm glad we're okay."

"Me too."

They talked and laughed for another hour or so until Schofield discovered it was almost time for him to meet with Rebound and Mother to discuss new team members.

"I'll tell them to come visit you soon."

"It doesn't matter. I'm supposed to be released in a few days anyway."

Schofield stood up from the chair and grinned, putting his sunglasses back on. "I'll see you tomorrow, maybe we can go for a walk." He walked toward the door, then turned as he reached it. He opened his mouth to say something, then decided against it.

"It's a shame…" Gant started to say, then stopped.

Schofield waited for her to finish, but she didn't, so he pressed her. "What's a shame?"

"Oh… nothing… well, it's a shame that you're covering up your pretty eyes." She looked away when she made the comment and when she glanced back up he had a crooked smile on his face. "What?"

He shook his head, then turned back towards the door, propping his sunglasses on top of his black hair. "I'll see you tomorrow, Fox."

"Sure, Scarecrow."

"Sorry, I'm late. I was visiting Gant in the hospital." Schofield got to the restaurant they had agreed to meet at and noticed Rebound and Mother right away. Rebound was sitting with his head in his hands and Mother was shifting in her seat because her fake leg was becoming uncomfortable. In front of them sat a large pile of papers.

"So, how is she?" Mother grinned. She knew Gant had feelings for Schofield, but was reluctant to tell him about them.

"She's getting better, but the doctor says she'll have to stay out of Recon for about a week, but after that, I want her back in my unit." Schofield took his glass of water and gulped it down. "In the meantime, we're going to have to find new team members." He pointed at the pile of papers. "So have you looked through them yet?"

"Nah, we were too busy eating our steak dinners." Rebound replied.

"Ha ha. You get funnier every day, Rebound." Schofield rolled his eyes in a grand gesture. "So… let's get to it!" He was relieved that he had been allowed to choose his own team members. The Wilkes Ice Station incident was a disaster in itself, but the fact that two of his members; Snake and Montana, were double agents, didn't really help the situation. As they rifled through various files, Mother began pressing the Gant/Schofield issue. She knew there had to be more to Scarecrow than there seemed, or else he wouldn't have spent all of his free time visiting Gant in the hospital.

"So… what did you and Fox talk about?" She had an amused grin on her face that Schofield didn't know how to interpret.

"Not much."

Mother raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Then why were you so late for our meeting?"

Schofield looked to Rebound, but Rebound just replied, "Yeah, why were you so late?" Both Mother and Rebound sounded quite childish.

"So… are we going to have dinner or what?" He said hastily.

Mother waved a finger at him. "Uh uh! No changing subjects. Why were you so late?"

Schofield gave her a pissed-off look and she shrugged. He sighed; glad she was letting the subject drop. The truth was he wasn't really sure of what answer he would have given her. He had gone to visit Gant the first day she was in the hospital, in a coma, with the intention of checking up on her, then going back to do more Recon work. When he had visited her today, he had gone with the intention of giving her the helmet, then giving some blood and meeting with Mother and Rebound. In both circumstances, plus the multiple visits in between, he had ended up staying for hours, either talking to her while she was awake or watching her resting form. The moment he had seen her file, he had been impressed and entranced. He had requested to have her transferred to his unit immediately and him and the men in the unit had come up with the call sign "Fox".

At twenty-six with short blond hair and sky-blue eyes, Elizabeth Gant was one of the most attractive women Shane Schofield had ever met. There had been a party at Pearl where they had talked and Schofield knew if she got hurt during a mission, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.  A few times during a conversation between him, Gant and a few other officers, Schofield had drifted off into thought, a sad look crossing his face. He had been thinking about how, in having her in his unit, there was no possible way for him to have a relationship with her.

"Yo, boss?" Rebound's voice broke into his reverie.

"Huh, what?"

"What was that? What were you just thinking about?" There was a few seconds pause as Schofield began drifting off again. He shook his head slightly, then said,

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Never mind. What about this guy? His name is… Roger Dowd." Rebound looked up from the papers. "He sounds pretty good on paper."

Schofield dug into one of the pockets of his pants and took out a piece of paper. Unfolding it, he scanned a list of names.

"Nope. ICG. That means a huge, fat, big negative on the transfer into my unit." The list had been e-mailed to him by his good friend, Andrew Trent. It listed all of the known ICG informants enlisted in the army, navy, air force, colleges, universities, you name it. That was how Schofield had figured out Montana was ICG.

"Is that Hawk's list?"

"Yup."

"Hey, speaking of Hawk, why doesn't he join the unit? He's obviously not ICG, you trust him and he seems to trust you. What about it?" Mother suggested.

"I've already approached him on the subject. He said he would get back to me."

They continued to sift through the papers until they settled on three definites and three optionals:

1. Brendan Curry- a thirty year old who enlisted in the marines at twenty-five. He was physically fit and had blond hair and green eyes.

2. Alice Zellerman- a twenty-year-old graduate from Princeton who decided the marines was better than an office job. She had long brown hair and blue eyes.

3. Dave Brown- a forty-year-old corporal who had been enlisted for twenty years and always wanted to do Recon work. He was built like a football player and had a large scar running on one side of his face from his temple to his chin.

The three options were a retired Navy SEAL, an ambitious Lieutenant and Andrew Trent.

"I say, we wait until we hear back from Gant and Trent to see when and if they are going to join the team, then we choose from our options." Mother piped up. Rebound agreed and Schofield nodded.

"Okay, then. Are you guys coming tomorrow?"

Mother and Rebound stopped getting up from their seats.

"Coming where?" Rebound finally asked.

"Coming to the hospital to visit Fox. Come on, guys, she needs your support." Schofield smiled. "What do you say?"

"I can't. My ex-husband is bringing my daughter over tomorrow and I don't know when he'll show up. Sorry, Scarecrow." Mother rose from her seat and pointed to the papers. "Take those to Fox, maybe two heads are better than three." She smiled cryptically, then left.

Schofield turned to Rebound. "What about you, Simmons?"

Rebound gave him a wary look, then sighed. "Alright. I guess I can spare a few hours from my otherwise extremely open schedule." He grinned.

Schofield clapped his hands together and smiled. "Great. I'm sure she'll be glad to have someone other than me there."

Rebound raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I'm not too sure about that." He said quietly.

Schofield glanced up sharply. "Huh?"

"Oh, nothing."

They agreed to meet at the hospital early the next morning and talk to Gant about choosing team members.