The day started out innocently enough, Christina went to work, came home, made dinner and was just sitting down to her meal when the phone rang. Grimacing when she saw 'US Government' on the caller ID she knew it had to be her unit; she had no idea why they would be calling her now. They were most likely trying to get her to re-enlist, even though she'd been refusing for the past seven months, with her ETS(Estimated Termination of Service) date fast approaching they were scrambling to entice her to remain in the service.

"Hello?"

"Specialist Davies, Captain Travis here."

Just hearing her superior officer's voice made her straighten he posture.

"Yes sir?"

"Davies, I know not going to be happy, but…" there was a pause, "The unit's deploying to Afghanistan in eight weeks."

Was this someone's idea of a sick joke? She only had nine more months before she was out!

"I see…" was all she could think of saying.

"I know you ETS in January, but you know the drill." He sounded tired, which didn't surprise Christina at all. As far as Company Commanders went, Captain Travis was the best, always looking out for his troops and knowing each of his soldiers by name.

"Yeah, I do. It's part of signing on the dotted line, eh?"

"You got it. Anyway, you'll be receiving your orders via messenger sometime tomorrow but I wanted to call you and tell you personally. I know you may have…a conflict of interest."

"Sir, this is my job. It's what I signed up to do. I'm not afraid to do my duty."

The Captain chuckled softly.

"Well said, Davies. Remind me to have your section sergeant put you in for a merit award. We'll see you next month for your physicals, then?"

"Yes sir, thank you sir."

"Travis out." And the line went dead.

'Well isn't that just bloody perfect!' she raged to herself. Getting mad about it would be counter-productive. She knew this day could come…she just didn't realize her call to war would come less than a year before she was done with the Army.

Two months, a lifetime to some people! But to Christina, those two months flew by faster than she could imagine. She only had time to stop by Erik's once, and was hurt to find that he had left for Washington and hadn't even told her. With a heavy heart, Christina left her townhouse in the care of her brother, who drove her to the airport.

For Christina, this scene at the airport was all too familiar. Only this time, instead of smiling bravely and waving at her only love as he went off to war, everything was reversed. For her brother, it wasn't a ladylove but his little sister who climbed aboard the plane and waved goodbye. Jason Davies left the airport with a feeling of dread; he could only pray that his baby sister would come home in one piece…and not in a wooden box.

She settled in her seat next to a nervous, wet-behind-the-ears private who was in the window seat. He had a look of shock and fear on his young face.

Christina switched herself off, in a sense. No longer was she a civilian; she was a soldier, and she had to keep it together for the sake of those serving under her. They were looking to her for guidance and strength. What she would never tell them was that she was as frightened as they were.

Her first impression of Afghanistan was different from what she had imagined. Though she hadn't really known what to expect, it certainly wasn't what she found. The war footage on CNN hadn't done the country justice.

The unit unloaded off the big CH-47 Chinook helicopter that had ferried them from the airport in Kabul to the Forward Operating Base. The name fit the area loosely. Long since abandoned as a strategic focal point, it was now used for development of technology and training for new troops entering the war. It looked much nicer than Christina had anticipated.

The outside looked fairly ordinary. There was a big stone building with tents scattering the landscape. She could see soldiers in the guard towers holding their M-16s at the ready. She saw an M249, Machine Gun propped up on sandbags just inside the checkpoint, the only barrier to the outside world.

She helped in the unloading of the second chopper and of a five-ton truck that had shown up. It contained all their gear.

"Excuse me, Sergeant Davies?"

Christina didn't hear the young man at first; the young private looked over at one of his squad mates, unsure of what to do.

"Sergeant Davies?" he repeated louder.

Christina whirled around, blushing that she'd forgotten that she was no longer a mere specialist; she'd received a promotion just before their departure. With the promotion, she earned the titles of Squad Leader and Section Leader. She was one of the most experienced members of the fuel section, second only to her Platoon Sergeant.

"Yes, Private?" she asked, smirking when the young pup went to parade rest, legs spread a shoulder's width apart, his hands clasped tightly against his back.

"You're needed in a leader meeting. I'm to take you there."

Christina nodded. "Lead away, Private!"

She hurried into the meeting room, surprised to see a number of civilians sitting around the table, along with her Company Commander, Platoon Sergeant and the Base Commander. She sat down in the empty chair next to her Platoon Sergeant, looking around a little nervously. She was new to leadership and was unsure why she was the only E-5(Sergeant) in the room.

Christina was studying some maps on the wall, so wasn't paying much attention to the stream of people in and out of the room. She didn't notice the tall, extraordinarily handsome masked man enter the room and take a seat further down the table. As the base commander stood and cleared his throat, his signal that he was ready to begin Chris pulled out her notebook and a pen, ready to take any notes necessary.

"Well, lets get right to it, shall we?" He sat back down and pulled out some papers "Travis! I assume you have a squad ready to begin working with our POL(Petroleum,Oils and Lubricants) team from DC?"

Captain Travis nodded "Yes sir. The squad leader is Sergeant Davies here," he said, pointing to Chris.

"Davies!"

Chris looked at him. "Yes sir?" she replied crisply.

"I understand you are to ETS in January, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"We'll try to have you out of here as soon as we can. But, as the most experienced member in your company you're needed here now. Understand me, soldier?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. I know you got a lot of young pups to look after. But from what Captain Travis tells me, you're the perfect soldier for the job. You think you can handle it?"

"I know I can, sir," she replied confidently.

Colonel Stevenson laughed. "I think you're right. Now you're at this meeting 'cause I want you to know exactly what the hell is going on around here."

Chris nodded, not noticing the intent gaze of the man a few seats down on the other side of the table.

Erik hadn't given the young lady a second glance when he'd come into the room; he'd noted her last name but figured it was a common enough name. He'd been looking over some reports, so hadn't even looked at her face. He'd nearly fallen out of his chair when he heard the voice he knew he could pick out of any crowd. She looked so different! More confident. With her hair pulled back into a severe bun, no make-up and her uniform, she hardly looked like his Christina! She looked…she looked like a soldier.

"First I'd like to introduce you to our POL design team. The leader is Erik Montgomery, here."

Chris started when she heard his name and looked wildly around the table, her eyes widening when she saw Erik sitting three seats down. She recovered her composure, and nodded to him.

"Mr. Montgomery," she murmured.

She barely heard the names of the other five seated around Erik, she saw only him.

"Mr. Montgomery and his team are designing a new dispensing system. They will be looking to your squad to test it out and they hope run some more ideas by you. You up to it?"

"Of course, sir."

Erik passed her a notebook.

"This is the rough design we've come up with. If you have any ideas, feel free to bring them to any of us. You're the ones who are going to have to use this system so your feedback is the most important."

Chris took the binder and immediately began to flip through it, earning a chuckle from Colonel Stevenson. "Yes, you'll do well. Have your squad ready to go in the orderly room at 0700 tomorrow. You're dismissed, Sergeant. Get some rest and some chow."

"Yes sir!" She stood up, nodding to the men around the table before leaving.

'Erik is here!'

She was starved! She hurried to the chow hall, and began to flip through the binder Erik had given her while she ate. Before turning in that night, she found her squad and told them where to meet her and at what time. She unrolled her sleeping bag, kicked off her boots and passed out.

The next morning, feeling somewhat refreshed, she showered and dressed smartly in a fresh uniform. Chris was ready to face the day…and Erik. With her M-16 slung over her shoulder, she entered the orderly room, noting that no one else had showed up yet. A glance at her watch told her she was 20 minutes early. She set her weapon on the floor and sat down at the table to continue reading.

"Interesting reading, Sergeant?" that voice of silk asked.

"Indeed sir, you have some…radical ideas here."

"We have to stay one step ahead of everyone else. This is no time to be careful." Erik responded as he took the chair next to hers.

"Perhaps," she murmured. "I had NO idea you, of all people, would be here," she said after a few moments.

"The same could be said of you," he retorted.

She grinned at him. "Well, Uncle Sam didn't want me to feel left out"

That earned her a rich chuckle from Erik. "Indeed, what a pity that would be!"

Chris was unsure of what to do…this was completely out of her realm of experience. He was no longer the Erik she was so drawn to, he couldn't be. He was her supervisor; he was the taskmaster who would control her every move for the next seven months.

Erik, too, was at a loss. Never before in any of his ventures for the military had he encountered anyone he'd known as personally and cared for as much as Christina. This could put the entire mission in jeopardy; he would have to bury his feelings for her deeply, for her own safety.

Two Months Later

Fists clenched, teeth grinding, Christina listened to one of Erik's team members' drone on and on about the importance of grounding and bonding…like she was a simpleton and didn't understand the words being said. After ten minutes of repetition, she could take no more.

"Thank you!" she said tightly, surprising the man so much that he stopped. "But I understand the importance of grounding and bonding. A 'poodle' could understand their importance. That's not why you're here. You were assigned to teach me about the new dispensing system that you have designed. Mr. Montgomery has shown me the sketches and statistics already. In fact" she paused to take a breath, hoping to calm herself, "I helped him set this," she pointed to the model set up on a table, "Up. Now all I need from you is the specifications for the set up of the collapsible tanks."

The young man she had interrupted looked a bit insulted, while the older man next to him looked at Chris with…respect? Humor?

Chris very nearly screamed when they looked at her oddly; did they not know she was on a deadline? Erik would be finished with his meeting shortly and she had to have the model completely set up and a draft of a task list for her squad started so they could begin the actual setup. Later that afternoon, she and Erik had to go inspect the small pipeline that had been set up a few miles outside the FOB. It was nowhere as grand as the hundreds of miles of pipeline that ran in Iraq, but would be sufficient enough for their needs. And these two idiots were slowing her up!

"We don't have them," the younger man, Brian said a bit smugly.

"You don't have them," she echoed irritably.

"No, we don't have any hard copies," Brian said irritably. Who did this slip of girl think she was ordering him around?!

Chris took another deep breath; she feared that she would actually hit the man. The heat and stress of the situation were wearing her temper and patience very thin. "I know there is a hard copy somewhere, where do you think I got the specs to put this thing together?" She knew she was toeing a very thin line. The civilian contractors had a rank nearly equivalent to officers and could make her life quite miserable if they reported her rudeness to her Section Sergeant and First Sergeant. But she couldn't take their arrogance and condescending nature any longer.

"Well we seem to have misplaced it," the older man, George said.

"Misplaced it?" She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Okay, why is it you don't want me to look at this hard copy? And don't play dumb with me! You're not dumb and it doesn't become you to act like an idiot. So what's the deal, guys?"

This was one of the many stresses she'd encountered since she'd arrived in Afghanistan twp months ago. She was young, so many of the older, more seasoned team members were hesitant to answer any of her questions or allow her to do her job. Several times since she'd arrived in the country she'd been working with her squad, moving filter separators and piping; inevitably, one of Erik's team members would hurry up and take over. It was infuriating, because as one of the few females in her unit, she'd run into the same problem during her training. She was at a loss as to what to do.

Their silence and defiant looks pushed her over the edge. Between the 110-degree heat and the gear she was wearing her temper was officially boiling over.

Christina had just taken a deep breath, ready to lay into the two bumbling idiots in front of her, when the voice she knew so well came from behind her.

"Gentlemen, if you would like to keep your jobs and employment with the government I suggest you start cooperating with Sergeant Davies. I put her in charge of this operation, which means you," he pointed to the men, "Answer to her." he pointed to Chris. "And I'm very disappointed in the disrespectful way you've treated her to this point in time, and it ends now! Is that understood?" Although he spoke quietly, he sounded no less intimidating.

Chris tool great pleasure in seeing the blood drain from their faces. They nodded meekly, offering half-hearted apologies before scurrying off.

Chris gave Erik a relieved smile. "Thanks, I thought I was going to have to beat them senseless with my M-16!"

Erik's rich chuckle reached her ears. "I'm sorry, Sergeant. Had I known they were giving you such a hard time before now I would have dealt with it immediately."

Erik had listened to the entire exchange and heard Christina's increasing agitation. He'd hoped that when faced with her anger, the men would snap to, but sadly, they hadn't. He'd been hearing rumors that his team members weren't cooperating with Chris, but he'd never actually seen it until today. He had half a mind to send them packing back to the states. He'd been furious, though Chris had been too angry herself to notice.

"Shall we go out to inspect the pipeline?" he inquired.

"Sure, let me go to the motor pool and get a Humvee. I'll meet you back here?"

"Nonsense, I'll walk over there with you," he responded.

"Cool" she picked up her Individual Body Armor, or IBA, and strapped it on. It felt miserable in the heat. It consisted of two twenty-pound lead plates, one in the front and one in the back. It was an improvement on the flak vests of the past, but it was still unbearably hot. Pulling her protective helmet on and slinging her M-16 over her shoulder, she indicated she was ready. She grabbed two members of her squad to accompany them, they needed the pipeline experience.

Once she'd signed out a Humvee, they loaded up and departed for the pipeline. It was a bit dusty when they got out there. The wind was kicking up a dust storm like they'd not seen before.

As they unloaded the vehicle, Chris called her two squad members to her. "Keep an eye out, this is a perfect time for anyone to attack. The visibility is low and this is a relatively unused part of the pipeline. They might have stolen part of it already, or tapped into it," she said to them, keeping her voice low.

"Remember; Stay Alert, Stay Alive." She took a magazine for her M-16 and loaded it into the weapon, riding the bolt forward thus engaging it into the rifle. "Lock and load, but keep it on safe. I don't want any accidents out here! Don't fire until you've been fired on!" she leveled a stern look at the two young men, Saunders and Evans. "Am I clear?"

"Yes, Sergeant" they answered in unison.

She nodded, then turned back to Erik, who was watching them with an unreadable look on his face. "Expecting trouble?" he inquired, as they all walked over to the pipeline.

"No, but that's usually when it turns up."

True to her suspicions, there was a nine-foot section of pipe missing. "Shit," she muttered, as she saw the empty section, "I wonder how much more they took."

Erik raised an eyebrow. "They might have taken more?" he knew that on occasion, members of Al-Qaeda stole sections of pipe and fittings but this was the first time he had personally encountered it.

"I can't be sure." She looked down the pipeline. "It looks more or less intact, but we should send out a few security teams to inspect the entire length."

She was bending down to inspect the damage when without warning the situation turned deadly.