"We should get up soon."
"No."
"Aren't you hungry?"
"Yes."
"Then let's eat something."
"No."
"We have to get ready for the flight."
"Fuck the flight."
Kamilah smiled and offered no rejoinder, obviously sharing Ana's reluctance to get out of bed. She trailed her fingers along Ana's bare back, tickling her with feather-light touches. Ana gazed back into drowsy half-lidded eyes, indulging in each second ticking by, lost in a serene moment that seemed to stretch on forever – until a stomach growled.
Averting her eyes briefly, Ana realised that it wasn't hers.
"You're hungry."
"Mm."
"You could've just told me," Ana chuckled.
"I don't want to get up either," Kamilah muttered, eyes falling shut as she curled up closer to Ana.
She let Kamilah steal a few more minutes of rest, then steeled her resolve. Pressing her lips soundly on top of her lover's head, Ana pushed herself up. Kamilah cracked her eyes open to look at the woman hovering over her.
"Let's go."
A throaty groan.
"Come on, sweetie." Ana rubbed her arm and tugged gently. It would be a lethargic day for Kamilah, it seemed. Her body remained inert through Ana's coaxing. Must be the prospect of going home. Sighing at the thought, Ana bent down and bumped their foreheads together. "Don't feel like getting up?"
"Mm."
Smiling gently, Ana combed her fingers through the messy tangles in Kamilah's hair. "Shall I get some food to feed my girl?"
"Soup."
"Any?"
"Mm."
"Excellent choice, ma'am." She squeezed Kamilah tightly in her arms, getting a breathy laugh and smile before releasing her. Ana finally hopped out of bed, ready to kick start the day with a food hunt despite her initial intent to laze in bed longer.
Oh well. At least it was for a good cause.
Neither Ana nor Kamilah were the type to drag their feet. But drag them like champions they did: all the way to the airport, up the plane, down the plane, to a cab, and back to base. They collapsed into Kamilah's bed together, lying motionless as the reality of being back in Cairo settled on their backs like a heavy, chortling demon. Kamilah managed to slip into a nap surprisingly fast, so Ana pried herself away first. After tucking the woman in and leaving a message on her phone, Ana snuck back to her room to unpack. Then she had to stay there for the rest of the afternoon, because she had forgotten to take Kamilah's keycard with her. An unfortunate mistake that meant Ana had to be in the room when the welcome wagon arrived in the evening.
"Can't you leave me alone until tomorrow?" Ana groaned.
"Nope!" Layla stuck her crutch out, catching the door before it could be slammed shut. She swung it wide open and hobbled in, closely followed by the rest of the squad. "Where's the wife?" she asked, sitting down on Ana's bed.
"Far away from you." Ana smacked off Khalid's hand, which was ruffling her hair as if asking for a death sentence.
"Oh, so there's a wife."
Ana rolled her eyes, then swung the door shut. "Why are you even here? Aren't you partying at nerd king's place?"
Ignoring Ebo's offended 'hey!', Layla cooed, "We just missed you so much, we wanted to see your face first."
"And maybe catch a glimpse of the wife," Mesi added.
"You will do no such thing." Ana went over to her table and pulled a drawer open, grabbing the souvenirs she had bought. She tossed the first talisman at Mesi, then threw the second right into Layla's face. The third smacked into Khalid's cheek as Layla cried out in surprise. The fourth clattered to the floor after Ebo's flailing hands knocked it off-trajectory. Hakim caught the last one – but just barely.
"Thanks, assh– Oh." Khalid's grumble was cut short when Ana held out the toy fox.
"Tell her it's from auntie Ana and not useless uncle Khally."
"I'm not useless," he muttered, taking the toy.
"Oh yeah," Hakim snickered. "You got your niece that demon frog for her last birthday."
"It looked cute, okay?" Khalid retorted. "How was I supposed to know it had such a freaky laugh?"
"Oh I don't know – by testing it first, maybe?" Hakim grunted when a talisman crashed into his nose.
"Fuck you–"
Two short knocks on the door.
The room fell silent, and Ana's stomach did a flip before cringing. She waited for a while, then the knocks came again.
"Oh my god," Layla said, already cackling in triumph when she caught onto Ana's hesitation. "It's her, isn't it?"
"Don't embarrass me," she groaned and walked over to the door, ignoring the five pairs of eyes on her back. Ana swung the door open, and her squad promptly disobeyed her order.
"Hi, sis-in-law."
The chorus was much too coordinated to be improvised. Ana reopened her eyes – which had fallen shut in shame – to see Kamilah staring at her squad with an impenetrable gaze. She kept it up just long enough to start being unsettling, during which Ana bit down a smile. Then she finally cocked an eyebrow.
"Such good manners," Kamilah said coolly, glancing at her. "Shall we take them out for ice cream?"
Ana's grin broke through. She tugged Kamilah in, pressing a kiss on her cheek and steadfastly ignoring the 'aw's behind her. She was about to close the door again when Layla stopped her.
"Wait." She pushed herself up and leaned on the crutch. "It's alright. Time to take a hike, babes. Let Shadid have some alone time with Amari." Layla winked at the medic, and found herself stumbling into the corridor from Ana's shove.
"Ana," Kamilah chided, watching Layla straighten herself and whack Ana's shins with the crutch.
"She's fine." Ana kicked the crutch away, then stepped back to let Mesi through.
"By the way," Khalid asked as he walked past. "Whose room are we going to? Ebo or Hakim?"
"Hakim's, you dumbass." Ebo hefted the wooden box in his hands. "I didn't bring my kit all the way out just to bring it back again."
"Are you not following them?" Kamilah asked as last of the squad filed out.
Ana scoffed. "No. I have better things to do than join their geek parade."
Ebo spun on his heel in the doorway, eyes wide at the emphasis on the last two words. "You are banned, Ana."
"Banned?" Kamilah repeated, but her question might as well have gone unheard when Ana began her retort.
"I'm 'banned' because someone doesn't know how to have fun."
"Your 'fun' always involves your character trying to fuck something."
"It gets things done!"
"You tried to fuck a dragon!"
"So? We got the treasure in the end, didn't we?"
"Ana," Ebo said, shaking his D&D kit pointedly in her direction. "I didn't spend over 300 US dollars on a holo-projector just to watch your avatar trying to fuck a dragon!"
"If no one's meant to fuck a dragon, they wouldn't have put the animation in!"
"I–, You don't–," Ebo sputtered, until Khalid pulled him back by the shoulder. Their squad just stood by the side watching an old argument replay itself yet again.
"Let's go, big guy." Khalid patted his back, turning the man away from Ana's door.
"Yeah. Have fun, Sir Critical Miss!" Ana called among the squad's goodbyes.
Ebo's head whipped around to give her a menacing squint, before he disappeared into the stairwell.
"Geek," Ana muttered under her breath. She stepped back into the room and shut the door, pausing at the amused glint in Kamilah's eyes. A blush rose at the knowing smile on her lips. "What."
"You'd join them if you could."
"No, I wouldn't," she lied, pursing her lips dramatically. "We only play with Ebo because he really, really, really loves it."
Kamilah's face said she knew better, but she did not pursue. Her hand slipped into Ana's as the sniper fell back onto the bed, pulling her down as well. The barrack's mattress was much stiffer than what they had enjoyed for the past week. Such a pity. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh as Kamilah laid her head on her chest.
"Feeling better?" Ana asked, running a hand down Kamilah's hair.
"Mm. A little."
"Wanna go out? Take a spin?"
A muffled huff against Ana's t-shirt. "I don't know." She heaved a sigh and muttered, "Can't believe we're back here."
Ana chuckled. "Me too." She rubbed a soothing hand on Kamilah's back. "Maybe we should start planning our next vacation."
Kamilah lifted her head, fixing her with an incredulous look. "We only came back a few hours ago."
"So? It's never too early to plan, is it?"
"Maybe not," she said with a gentle smile, cocking her head. She gazed at Ana silently, then said, "You know, I kind of missed my bike."
"Hm?" Ana watched Kamilah push herself up, then pat down her clothes.
"Let's go for a spin," she announced with a sudden burst of energy.
"And dinner?"
"Are you always hungry?" Kamilah snorted, grasping Ana's outstretched hand and pulling her up.
"Maybe." She doddered after Kamilah, who made her away to the door before releasing Ana's hand.
"I'll get my keys. And, by the way?" Kamilah paused with a hand on the knob. "I took two more days of leave."
"What." Ana watched her slip out into the corridor with a slight smirk. "Wait, what!" She grabbed the door before Kamilah could close it behind her, stepping out to watch the woman walk towards the stairs. "You traitor!"
The weeks after their vacation passed by faster than Ana had expected. The stream of ribbing and jokes was endless, and so were their attempts at embarrassing Ana in front of the no-nonsense medic. They tripped Ana on purpose, shoved her into the cot nearest to Kamilah in the aid station, greeted the medic too loudly when they passed, were overly helpful by carrying half of Kamilah's load back to the armoury after training, and yelled ringing goodbyes across the carpark when the pair left for dates.
All that, and they still only dared to call Kamilah 'Shadid'. At least Shadid's squad made no such fuss like Ana's did, though she did catch a few knowing glances now and then. Even though they kept this knowledge within their own little circles, the extra attention was enough to start niggling away at her.
Quite a few nights had seen Ana crashing into Kamilah's lap, exhausted and ready to murder, until Kamilah said simply, "Are you really so embarrassed?"
"They make me look so stupid."
"You know I'll still love you no matter how stupid they make you look."
"I know."
"And you didn't need much help in the first place."
"Thanks."
It was something Ana already knew, of course. But the reminder seemed to flip a switch in her. All it took was a simple tweak in her reactions, and the game was in her hands. One trip and fall into Lieutenant Shadid's arms, followed by an unabashed and adoring gaze, and a loving "Thanks, sweetie." later, her squad sensed the tables had turned. Nudges in Ana's ribs no longer tore her gaze away from the medic. Teases about bedroom behaviour merely brought a devilish grin to her lips. Shoves in Kamilah's direction ended in her arm circling around the woman's waist – or her shoulders, if there were too many eyes about. Perhaps it was when Ana, lying in a cot with a bleeding arm and shoulder, managed to crack a small smile from Kamilah, did they realise they were truly defeated.
Attempts at embarrassing her came to a stop. Then the random questions started.
"So," Layla drawled, leaning on the armrest of Ana's chair. "If you call her 'Milah', what does she call you?"
"Ana."
"That's it?"
"My name's short enough as it is."
Layla's playful smirk appeared, and Mesi leaned back in her seat so she could look at Ana's reaction. "What, no nicknames? Like 'honey'? 'Dumpling'? 'Sugar pie'? 'My virile lioness'?"
Ana squinted at her. "'My virile lioness'?" she repeated, making sure Layla could hear every bit of judgment in her voice.
"What? Shadid could like these names. I wouldn't know."
She narrowed her eyes further at Layla, then snuck a peek at Kamilah, who sat at the opposite corner of the briefing room beside Deyab, with her back straight and eyes closed. "No, she doesn't. No one's as ridiculous as you."
"If you say so," Layla conceded with the smirk still on her lips.
The doors slid open then, catching the whole company's attention immediately. Their backs straightened in unison when Major Jaida strode in, and they stayed perfectly still as four humanoid omnics marched in behind her. They halted right beside Jaida and turned to face the company, slipping comfortably into parade rest.
As Jaida addressed the soldiers, Ana had no doubt that most of the attention was on the omnics instead. They were all taller than Jaida – and perhaps Ana – by at least two heads, their chrome plating polished to a mirror-like sheen. Two had short slits in metal where human eyes would be, through which cobalt blue light glowed through. The other two had an orb in the middle of their heads, shining emerald green. There had been news at the start of the year about the first intake of omnic recruits into the army. But other than that, no further information was released. Ana had thought they would be deployed against the insurgency, but as the war dragged on, her fleeting speculation was long forgotten.
The omnics stayed perfectly still as Jaida introduced the company's newest recruits. They did not seem to mind the attention at all. Though Ana doubted she could pick up on their tells, even if there were any. So she just kept listening as Jaida assigned one omnic to each squad, and nodded at their new squad mate as it passed by. Jaida then briefed them on a two-week field exercise, and brought the meeting to a close.
"Get to know one another. And if I were you?" Jaida raised a brow at them. "I'd feel lucky your new friends can't smell this pigsty right now."
She left with a crooked smile, leaving behind a room of soldiers bawling in mock offence.
The two weeks in the desert was nothing much; they had been on much longer training exercises than this. The main point was to get the company used to their omnic squad mates, and get used they did.
Adofo was the new addition to their team, acting as their second combat engineer alongside Hakim. The omnic was intimidating at first glance – anyone would be if they surpassed Ebo in terms of height, even if by a little. He was quiet too, but not shy. Adofo would speak when needed, rattle off information and bark warnings that saved them from falling into well-laid traps. To no one's surprise, he was amazingly efficient in his role – Adofo could build and dismantle field fortifications at twice of Hakim's speed, construct water points in a heartbeat, and use his in-built camouflage systems to perform route reconnaissance. Hakim loved working with him, and the rest of them soon embraced Adofo's presence as well. Ana wished that they had introduced the omnics sooner – they would have been much more effective during the war. Perhaps even ended it sooner. Khalid shared her sentiments, but they agreed it would be better not to dwell on it – something that they had no trouble with.
A lot of their attention was spent on Adofo, who did not seem to mind. In fact, he answered all of their questions patiently, and displayed a penchant for humour – which no doubt would be honed to a sharp edge in no time. He was nice to be around when one needed some quiet company, especially when a certain other squad was camped far away. Ana found herself getting a close-up view of chrome armour, scuffed about the shoulders and fingers; noting the faint flickers in the edges of blue light in his eyes, although it was still a challenge to pinpoint what emotion it denoted. Once, Ana even ended up learning how to remove the panels in Adofo's back, checking that his circuits were in order and clean.
It was a little unfortunate though, that Adofo turned out to be just a little on the innocent side. Upon their return to the Heliopolis base, Ana made a beeline for the medic she had barely seen through the past weeks.
Adofo approached Kamilah a little after and greeted her with, "Hello, Mrs. Amari."
Their squads promptly broke out into a series of snorts and laughter around them. After fourteen days of listening to the jokers referring to Kamilah as 'the wife', he had come to believe it was true.
Ana sighed, her arm reaching around Kamilah's waist as they strolled along. "We're not married, Ado."
"Oh." Adofo looked around at the snickering soldiers, then cocked his head at the women. "I'm sorry. I assumed that you were."
"It's alright." Ana smiled, as blue eyes flickered about the edges.
"Ey, let's hit the pubs tonight!" Ebo boomed, getting a chorus of approval. He slung an arm around Adofo's shoulders. "How about it, metal man?"
"I can't drink, but I can be your designated driver."
Ebo's face lit up, as though he had found salvation right there, in the omnic. He declared Adofo 'the best damn thing to ever happen this year', then was drawn into a discussion on which pubs to visit that night. Adofo, released from Ebo's hold, made his way over to the omnic in Kamilah's squad and fell into a quiet conversation.
With the attention on them falling away, Ana snuck a peck on Kamilah's cheek. The smile she received was more than worth enduring the endless stretches of sand under the glaring hot sun.
In the week they had returned, Ana managed to cop a ride on Adofo's shoulders, and Ebo sucked him into their nerd sessions – which Ana was still banned from – as the omnic turned out to be a fun and adaptive dungeon master. Not much else could happen before Ana's surgery had been set for the following week. She was pulled back to the labs for a thorough refresher on the details of her new implant – which had to drop a few features like the rifle uplink, sadly. But the final design was still powerful, and thus was given the green light.
So Ana reported to the hospital on a Wednesday morning. The last thing she remembered was losing consciousness on the operating table, with the anesthesiologist's voice echoing in her ears. Then she woke in the recovery room shivering under the covers; her stomach churned uncomfortably, and there was an odd sensation in her bandaged eye. The world was still swaying when the doctor came to check on her, and Ana had little energy to concentrate on what he had to say. The only thing she really understood was 'the operation was a success', then the rest of his words blended together in an unintelligible mess. She fell asleep not long after the doctor had left her alone to rest.
Ana woke up again near midnight, and was munching listlessly on a bun while staring at her supper tray, when Kamilah entered the room. She smiled through a mouthful of bread as Kamilah scanned the room quickly, before approaching the bed.
"Hey," Ana greeted, swallowing her food as a kiss was planted on her head. "How'd you get in here?"
Kamilah cocked her head. "I work here."
"Yeah, but this is the restricted ward. And they told me visitors are limited or something…" Her argument was dropped in favour of returning the kiss on her lips.
"I have my ways." Kamilah sat on the bed with a wry smile.
"You and your ways," Ana uttered, shoving the last of the bread into her mouth. "Not gonna complain though."
"Don't think you're in a position to do so." She touched Ana's cheek. "Feeling alright? You look a little out of it."
"I'm fine. Still a little woozy, that's all." Ana shrugged, poking at the mashed potatoes with a fork. Then she looked Kamilah over; the medic was still in her fatigues, and seemed rather tired. "Isn't your shift over?"
"No. I'm pulling double today."
"Thought your schedule's regular this whole month."
"Not today."
Ana smirked and leaned in. "Lonely, Shadid?"
"Prudent, Amari." Kamilah pushed her back with a finger on her nose. "Someone has to take care of you after you're discharged tomorrow."
"What am I, a child?"
"Yes."
Ana narrowed her eye, then shoved a small hill of potatoes into her mouth.
"Don't look at me like that. You know you're not the best with doctor's orders."
"It's literally just 'don't open your eye' and 'light duties for two weeks'."
"One month."
"What."
Kamilah cocked a brow. "One month. You'll still be on light duty for the readjustment period, after the bandages are off. The doctor should've told you this."
"I…wasn't listening very well."
"I can tell."
She stared at the medic, watching for signs of mirth as grim reality set in. "This is going to be hell, isn't it?"
"Even more so for me, amar."
It was very rare for Ana to truly appreciate medical leave. A broken arm, leg or rib made no difference to her. She would move as much as she could, even if it meant hobbling around despite her friends nagging at her to stay put.
On the first day, Ana had not much chance to be her usual stubborn self. Kamilah made a good call in keeping the day free because she had her hands full just keeping Ana confined to the barracks. She would pull Ana by the collar of her t-shirt whenever she tried to wander off, slap her hand when it strayed towards her car keys, and give her a glare whenever she inched dangerously close to her dumbbells. Kamilah ingrained in her the importance of not opening or rubbing at her eye, of not being stupid and going for her workouts, and of keeping her eye clean. After teaching Ana how to check for infection and making sure she could properly change the gauze and bandage by herself, Kamilah finally left her alone on the second day.
Of course, after being cooped up in the barracks for an entire day, Ana had to wander off. Just a short distance to a lot near the residential area, where a small café served a good brunch. She chose to walk instead of taking the car, eager to stretch her legs and get a breath of fresh air. It felt good – until she reached the café, that was. By the time she sat down, the stretch behind her eyes had become much more noticeable. Unfortunately, on the way back to the barracks, the nausea returned as the strain in her eye grew. There was a slight throb in her temples when she lay down on her bed, and she stayed in her room for the rest of the day as penance for disobeying Kamilah's instructions. Ana went down to mess in the evening with Kamilah, but other than that made no attempt at leaving the barracks. She merely smiled when Kamilah commented how settled she was while changing her bandages.
Her mandatory leave bridged into her weekend, during which she battled the growing urge to throw herself out the window and run like the wind. It was not a hard fight – Ana found herself besieged by constant waves of nausea and headaches, which kept her down for the most part. The true hell started when Ana finally reported back for duty, and was assigned to the armoury for maintenance and logistics. When she was not bound to the armoury, she was kept at the sidelines where she watched her squad go through their training routines and tackle new simulation programs. Apparently she 'sulked' when playing spectator; Jaida had commented that she looked like a girl who just received a disappointing birthday gift. Ana responded with a simple 'I know' – Kamilah told her the same whenever she reverted into a whiny lump in the medic's arms at the end of the day.
Ana vibrated with excitement the night before her bandages would be removed, barely noticing Kamilah's pitying glances. The elation spiked sky high when the doctor told her to open her right eye for the first time in two weeks, then took a nose dive when she accidentally went into full magnification. The floor flew up towards her as she bent over in her seat, leaning heavily in the doctor's hold as she retched emptily, feeling sick to her stomach. Ana closed her eyes and collected herself as instructed, then cracked her eyes open again – slowly this time. She took a deep breath as she looked around, the sense of liberation forgotten when she realised everything was so clear. Too clear. As the doctor checked her eye to make sure it was in working order, a sharp ache grew behind her eyes, then blossomed into nausea as she was guided through the cybernetic workings. The doctor assured her that it was normal, but warned her of a rough transition period, and put her on three more days of medical leave.
Any doubt that she needed it dissipated when she collapsed into bed, the world spinning around her as she kept her eyes closed. All Ana wanted to do was sleep until the torture was over. But she could not – she had to get used to her powerful new eye and weather the overstimulation. Colours were brighter and more vibrant than before. She started noticing minute details that had not been there before. It was like seeing the world in a whole new light, through a much more potent lens – one that she practiced with regularly so no more accidental magnification would occur. Each session left her stomach doing flip-flops and her head dizzy as hell, but it was necessary.
"Do it again."
Ana chuckled, an indulgent smile hanging on her lips. She sat cross-legged opposite Kamilah, who was leaning forward and staring intently at her right eye. She obeyed and increased the magnification of her eye by increments, as Kamilah remained transfixed.
"There!" Kamilah exclaimed, hands catching Ana's jaw in excitement. "I can see it!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. It moved. Like…the interface in your rifle's scope."
"Huh. Interesting," she said, enjoying the way her partner's face lit up. "I'm going to do it again. Watch." Her smile widened at Kamilah's eager nod, then she zoomed in a little more.
Kamilah cocked her head, absolutely fascinated by the eye's workings. Her thumb drifted around the corners of her eye socket gently, mindful of the bruises that hadn't completely faded away yet. It was much lighter than when she was bandaged, but the area still felt rather tender. She kept still until Kamilah asked, "What do you see when you're zoomed in like that?"
"Right now? Your pores." Ana squinted theatrically. "God, it's like looking at the moon's craters."
Ana cackled loudly as Kamilah's palms slammed into her shoulders. She flung her hands backward, bracing herself against the push. The sudden movement aggravated the beginnings of nausea that had grown during her little exercise, and she stayed stock still for a moment to ride it out.
"Are you alright?" Concern overtook Kamilah's expression in an instant, hand reaching out to cup Ana's cheek.
"I'm fine." She made the mistake of looking directly at the ceiling light, then slammed her eyes shut at the stark brightness. Groaning as Kamilah pulled her close, Ana cracked her left eye open. She laughed softly, and tapped under Kamilah's chin. "It's okay."
"If you say so," Kamilah said, tucking Ana's hair behind an ear. She watched Ana's hand worry about the bruising. "Does it hurt?"
"Not really. Just…sore." Ana pouted. "Kiss it better?"
A sigh, then a wry smile. Kamilah leaned in, pressing her lips delicately beneath her eye, the corner, then on her eyelid. Before she could move away, Ana dipped her head and caught Kamilah in a kiss. As she lingered near Kamilah's lips, coaxing another peck, she realised her head had settled again.
Huh. So it does work.