Chapter Eleven

Reece

It's been about two days now – oddly enough my sense of time doesn't even fully desert me on foreign planets – and we're still separated from the Major and Laura. I've tried to preserve a totally cool exterior, but it's really beginning to grate on my nerves now. I didn't hear anything suspicious through the walls to the cell where they hold the Major and Laura, but that doesn't mean anything, because I have no clue as to how thick these walls are.

I throw another look around and can barely hold back a sigh. Actually… actually I want to be out of here. I want to be at the SGC, back in my own body… or at least be able to crawl into some remote corner and curl up and pretend everything is okay. But as it is, nothing is okay. I'm trapped in a body I have no clue how to handle, I'm trapped in a role I have no clue how to handle and I'm in desperate need of the help of someone infinitely more experienced than I am. I have no idea what to do next and how to get the team out of here unscathed and the responsibility that I am the one that has to appear as the leader here is weighing me down with every hour. The fact that an annoying headache started to built up in the back of my head as soon as we set foot into this compound doesn't help either.

Just when I'm about to give up and finally start pacing like a caged tiger – which is a little difficult with these long legs and all – the door opens again, and the leader, who finally introduced himself as "Robbins" some hours ago, appears, with that smug grin on his face. God, how I wish I could just wipe it off. I even have the appropriate means, as I discovered that the Major keeps knives in… interesting locations, but I don't think it would be strategically wise to use them already. And of course we just won't mention the fact that I have no idea as how to use them anyway.

"Good news for you. You're going to be reunited with your ladies again. Seems I maybe have developed a soft spot for one of them." I just raise my eyebrow. "The red-head. I like my girls quiet, and she's an extraordinarily quiet one." Good God. He's taken a likening to me. The Major. Whatever. Anyway, that's not good. I just hope the Major will get acquainted enough with my body that he'll be able to defend himself properly once anyone tries something stupid.

When I still say nothing, he continues: "Anyway, you're already cleared enough so that we can assign you to shared quarters. Come on." He waves me and Dee out of the room, and I follow the wave, with just the right amount of lingering reluctance that he understands that someday he will have to stop ordering me around. Or at least I hope it's the right amount.

After what seems like a ridiculous long walk for a facility that was supposed to be a provisional hide-out, we stop again and Robbins makes a grand gesture towards one of the doors that really doesn't look any different from those of the rooms they had us confined to. With a smug grin he opens it, and I can see a room that is a little better furnished than the last. And two familiar faces, both of them looking unhurt. Thank. God.

Without saying anything else, I step in with Dee following me closely.

Moore

Thank God it's them. I'm so relieved a little sigh escapes my throat, and at first I feel getting angry at myself because I'm a fucking SF and we don't sigh in relief when being reunited with the rest of the team but then I realize that I'm playing Reece's role here and that the little sigh just served to consolidate my part of the game, and probably verified the enemy's not very positive assessment of my abilities as a soldier. I wonder… is Reece at least sometimes deliberately behaving like a clueless little girl?

Anyway, at the moment she wouldn't get very far with the clueless little girl, because she's supposed to be me and now that I got a few looks at her I've got the distinct feeling that it's starting to put a real strain on her. She's trying very hard not to appear stressed out or frightened, but I can see her somewhat fidgety moves and I caught her stopping herself from rubbing her temples at least two times in the few minutes she's here in the room. It's getting to her and we need to do something about that fast.

The door shuts behind Dee and Reece, and now I can see the mask slipping away very clearly, if only for a few seconds. For these few seconds her face looked like she wants nothing more than to be able to scurry into some far corner and cry. But – and yes, even I am able to appreciate the irony of that – showing emotions is just the thing that's an absolute no-no. That would be my job now, and I could get us all into trouble if I didn't do it. Good God, it seems that this is getting too complicated for me already.

"Well, girls… how have you been?" Ah, and there's the cocky bastard back, even if you can detect a slight wavering in his voice.

Laura shrugs. "Okay. They didn't try anything all too obvious, and if they did they would've done it once and never again." She smirks, trying to plaster up her own insecurity and weariness. You know… I've been on countless undercover and insurgency missions – only not with this team – but somehow this one is already starting to grate on my nerves. Let's just hope we get this over with fast enough.

"I'd hope so. Hey, Reece, just for the future: They did show you basic self-defense moves, right?" Good grief, is that how I look and sound when I'm going off on her? Obviously it was a minor miracle that she decided to speak up against me back on that planet with the plains.

Trying to mimic her usual timid self I nod and answer: "Well… yes, sir." I wonder… does she add a mental "What else did you think, Mister Zoomie Idiot?" when she's answering questions like these?

She gives me a huff. "I hope you listened to them." Whoa. That definitely sounded like something I would say. Something mean and disrespectful and tactless… I look at Laura, obviously a question in my eyes which she answers only with drawn up eyebrows and the hint of a smirk on her lips. Okay, so that's exactly what I would have said.

"Yes, sir." And now for something completely different, because this is a topic I just don't want to talk about anymore. Having that guy groping me or mentally undressing me every time he sees me is something I definitely do not want to think about. "Sir… permission to ask a question?"

Reece shrugs. "Sure. Shoot."

I clear my throat, stalling a little because I need to phrase this one very carefully. Additionally it will hopefully enhance the impression of timid little girl I'll make for the cameras. "Sir… what are we supposed to do now?" Come on, Reece, take the bait.

"Well… sit and wait, I guess. And be ready for whatever they'll throw at us." That was not what I was hoping to… oh. That look on her face… she's trying to tell me something because it doesn't really go with the bored and slightly irritated tone in her voice. It looks suspiciously like she's telling me she's trying to figure out something.

Grah. I need to find a more practical way to communicate past the cameras than this. I need to talk to my team without having to code and decode everything for an infinite amount of times, because we really need to assess the whole situation and form a plan. We have to come up with something from scratch, ignore the mission objective – O'Neill is so going to have my ass for this – and get the fuck out of here, preferably with all our hides still intact.

But as it, we're still trapped in a room with surveillance from every ankle and nothing else to do than wait for the "contacts" at the SGC to verify our story. The irony is: Back at the SGC no one will get the idea we might be in trouble here because for them everything goes according to the plan. So we're on our own here, and for the first time in my military career that truly worries me.

"Hey, Maureen, everything's gonna be okay. At least we got rid of these idiots back at the SGC." Laura just sat down beside me and gently rubs my back. I desperately hope she's just doing this for the cameras, but deep down I'm afraid that she knows me far too well not to have noticed how worried I'm becoming. I try a timid smile.

"Yeah. I just hope we've not stumbled into a lot of even more idiots." Oops. I don't think that's what the real Reece would have said… Oh. Reece and Dee obviously heard me and are both grinning at me. What surprises me most is that the wicked gleam in Reece's eyes is absolutely genuine. She would have said or at least thought that. I really need to get the team out of here, because now it seems I really need to get to know my youngest team member better.

A/N: We-ell, long time, no see, huh? But I did promise all the readers of my "Protect and Survive"-series over in the SGA-section who have come across this as well that I haven't given up on this story, and I keep to my promises. I just needed to sort through some plot issues I was stuck on and sort out the story a little in general. And then I realized I didn't even have to do some reposting because the crucial chapters weren't even posted yet. So yes, I'm trying to dedicate a little more time to this story, now that my latest "Protect and Survive"-WIP is more or less finished, but not wholly published yet.