Captain Sara Clement paced in front of her desk, the door of her office standing slightly ajar. She couldn't believe she was still here, still training recruits like she was some flighty officer that was incapable of anything else. She was an experienced captain, as much field experience as anyone else around here.

The phone on her desk rang, and Sara knew it was the call she'd been waiting for. She picked it up after the second ring.

"Captain Clement," she said, voice tight, trying to hide any emotion she was feeling.

"Clement, this is General Anders."

"Yes, sir. How are you, sir?" she asked, an attempt at politeness.

"I'm gonna cut the pleasantries, Captain. We both know why I'm calling. I got your request, and my answer is the same as last time you asked. You're not ready to go back into the field. It's only been three months."

Sara tried to protest. "But, sir, I'm fine. There's no reason-"

Anders was having none of it. "There's plenty of reason, Clement! You and I both know that you are not emotionally stable enough to go back. Until your superiors there report to me that you're stable, you are not going back into the field. Is that clear, Captain?"

Sara took a deep breath and swallowed her anger. "Yes, sir." Her voice was calm, but underneath she was furious.

"Good. Now, I don't want to hear another word about this. I will let you know when you're ready. Goodbye, Clement." The general hung up, and Sara gentle hung up the phone. She could feel her anger at the general building in her chest. He wasn't even there! How could he know if she was ready or not?

She took another deep breath, closed her eyes, and started counting backwards from thirty, standing completely still and just breathing. By the time she got down to one, she felt better. She knew that she had to keep her emotions under control if she wanted to get out of this damn recruit base. She had to prove to the general that she was ready to go back.

He was right, it had only been three months since the incident. But Sara had been able to shut out almost all feeling about the situation. She ever thought about it, and the nightmares had stopped coming as frequently. She hadn't woken up to her own screams in almost a month. She hadn't seen her soldiers' faces or their dead bodies in her dreams in just as long. She marveled a bit, wondering if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But as she thought about it, images of that night three months ago started to surface, and she felt her pulse start to speed up.

No, she thought to herself. I have to think about something else. I can't go back to that.

She moved toward her office window. She could see the new recruits in the field outside. Gowans had them doing drills, jumping jacks at the moment. She could just make out his voice even in her office. She smiled to herself just a bit. Ted wasn't an angry or mean person, and it amused Sara to see him being so gruff with the recruits.

She sighed. She was not happy about her current assignment. She really hated having to train new troops. Mostly because at this stage of their training they all thought that joining the Army was just another adventure or a way to get out of their hometown. But it was more than that, and Sara struggled to make them understand that. Oh well, she thought. They'll figure it out once they get shipped out and have to start eating shitty mess hall food and sleeping in uncomfortable cots and being away from their loved ones for months at a time. Sara knew that very few of the men and women standing outside would still be in the Army in five years.

Sara's mind drifted to the one recruit, Quin was her name, that had already been doing pushups that morning. Now that one probably wouldn't be around for long. Sara found herself recalling the girl's face. Her twinkling eyes and the smirk that had tugged at the corners of her mouth when Sara had been staring her down. She had really pretty eyes, and it had thrown Sara off for a moment. She had recovered quickly though, trying to be as menacing as possible when she spoke. It surprised Sara when she realized that she liked Quin's spunk. She didn't normal appreciate cockiness in her soldiers. But in Quin, it seemed fitting. And that worried Sara.

Sara shook her head, turning to a mirror hanging on the wall by the door. She straightened her uniform and pulled on her black captain's beret, pushing her bangs back so they were almost hidden. She nodded to herself, satisfied with her appearance.

"Time to go yell at some recruits," she muttered to herself with a sigh and she marched out to the training field. She decided then that she was going to have to permanently wipe that smirk off Quin's face.