They had taken some blood first since Tiger was so against taking her clothes off. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Doc was a guy and that Snake was standing watchfully close by.

"Okay Tiger." Said Doc as he came back in the small room from putting her blood sample in the fridge.

She crossed her arms, "Seriously, is there no way to get out of this?"

He didn't chuckle this time, he was beginning to worry about why she was so nervous to take her clothes off. "No Tiger, I'm sorry. There isn't. Would you like Scarlet to come in here?"

She snorted, "No thank you, I don't need anyone else seeing anything…." With a deep breath she glanced at Snake, "You might want to leave."

His stance told her not a chance in hell.

She shrugged, "Don't be too shocked then." She said as she turned her back toward both of the men and pulled her tank top over her head. She heard Doc's intake of breath and felt Snake's anger level rise. Across her back were layers and layers of scares, whip marks from punishments when she was younger. The most recent being when she was 16 and she almost died from them. Doc was tacketful and gently ran a hand over the scars, Tiger didn't even flinch.

"Explain." It wasn't the word she had been expecting, but it was probably all he could say through his clenched teeth.

She shrugged, a street shrug that said life sucks, "It was a punishment."

"All of it?" his voice was alarmed.

Tiger shook her head, "Not all at once…except the last time."

He handed her a towel to cover up her front before turning her around by her shoulders, "What time was that, Tiger?"

She knew he would ask, she had been dreading the question the whole time she had been stuck in the damn room. She didn't look at Snake. "I was 16. It was my first big assignment and I failed…." She shook her head, remembering her stupidity, "I was suppose to kill the son a rich man…he was only 12, just a kid…I couldn't do it…so they gave me 40 lashes. They said if I survived that then I was worth keeping around…" She couldn't look at Snake but she could feel every ounce of fury rolling of his body in waves.

"40, Tiger? How did you survive that?" said Doc, his eyes full of concern and pity.

She shrugged, "I almost didn't…I was stuck in bed for weeks with a fever…they didn't even force me to train, they just left me there to die if I wanted to. But I wasn't going to give them that satisfaction."

Doc slowly nodded and placed a comforting hand on Tiger's shoulder, "I need to document the marks on your body, I have to put them in records."

Tiger nodded, she knew he'd say that, he would have to. "Then you're going to want to look at my legs to."

He raised an eye brow in horror, "More lashes?"

Tiger shook her head, "No, well a few on my claves but no…more runes."

That was all it took. Snake had been fuming in the corner for over 10 minutes and hearing that she had carved runes not only into her arms but her legs as well was enough to send even the heavily trained ninja out of the room. The door shut behind him with a loud bang.

She cringed as the noise from the door found her ears and sighed. Doc patted her shoulder comfortingly, "I'm going to go get Scarlet."

When Doc finally let her out of the infirmary, with Scarlet beside her, all Tiger cared about was finding Snake. She found him on the Pit floor training some Joes. Without any thought, since it didn't take any, she ran down to the floor. Everyone had noticed but didn't seem to think it was anything to worry about; Snake was training with a new intensity and it was beginning to get too rough. His current opponent was already on the ground when Snake raised his baton arm to hit him again. Tiger got there first.

She stood right in Snake's way and if it had been anyone else they would've hit her right in the chest, but Snake's quick reflexes stop the baton centimeters from her body. Their eyes locked, hers a bright green and his masked one, for a moment before he dropped the baton to the ground. Tiger took his hand in hers and pulled him away from the circle, "Training over!" she yelled over her shoulder.

Scarlet met them at the door to their apartment, "I told everyone to stay out."

Tiger nodded her thanks and pulled Snake into the A-Team apartment and into the living room. "Sit." She told him and was actually surprised when he obeyed and sat on the couch. She sat down beside him and gently placed a hand on his knee, "Snake, I don't blame you for getting so upset and you better not hate yourself for it either, but nothing is going to change what I've been through. The past is the past and nothing is going to change that. Please, please don't beat yourself up about it. I'm here, right beside you, and I'm alive and fine. That's all that matters."

She waited a few minutes and when his body tension finally began to relax she moved closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder, "I'll tell you everything you want to hear, Snake. IF you promise not to almost hurt or kill anyone."

His chuckle was reward enough and when his arms encircled her with their warmth and love, she was okay.

By dinner time that day, Hawk had already called in the rest of A-Team, with Tiger's consent, into his office to inform them and show them about their team mate's rough past. He thought that they all needed and deserved to know what they were going up against and even though Tiger was nervous about the rest of her team knowing, she had agreed.

When she and Snake walked over to the table in the canteen at dinner, she was met with only pitiful looks. She would have preferred hugs. "Okay looks guys, do I need to sit you all down and have a talk like I did to Snake?" There were a few chuckled at that statement.

"We just don't know what to say." Said Scarlet.

Tiger shrugged, "There isn't anything you can say that would make it better or worse, so just say how you feel."

Duke nodded his head, "Okay, so saying I want to rip every single one of those Order people limb from limb would be okay?"

Tiger smiled, "Yeah Duke, that would be fine."

He nodded his head again and she could see tension in his jaw line. With a sigh she added, "You guys, all of you, have to let this go. I know, call me crazy if you want to, but tomorrow we're going up against the toughest force aside from Cobra and you all have to focus. I can take care of myself, I don't need all of you worried about me the whole time. Everything that happened in the past made me into who I am and nothing any of you can do will change what I've been through. So drop it. Now."

Ripcord nodded his head and glanced at Heavy Duty who nodded his head as well, "So does that mean we can yell at you for carving into your own skin." Said Ripcord.

Tiger glared at him and set her fork down, looking at Snake and seeing his body tense ever so slightly, "Thanks! Thanks Rip, I JUST got him to chill out!"

Ripcord shrugged, seemingly satisfied with his actions and began to eat his burger. Tiger's eyes narrowed before she tossed a French fry into his face. He slowly looked up at her, "Oh girl, you just started a long long battle."

She chuckled, "Bring it."

Needless to say, Tiger and Ripcord were cleaning up the table after dinner.