AN: Thank you all for being so patient with me! If you guys want, feel free to share this link on tumblr, since some of you may have noticed I'm on a tumblr hiatus. Thanks again, and enjoy! -LB
Staff Sergeant Tegan Quin sat up abruptly in her bunk. She wasn't sure what had woken her up, so she sat very still and listened. After a moment, she heard it. A helicopter in the distance. It was barely a hum, but it was there, breaking the normal silence of the desert night. It would have worried Tegan if she hadn't been expecting a chopper bringing their new commanding officer.
Since their General had left to retire two weeks ago, Tegan and the encampment in the Afghan desert had been awaiting a new officer. But things had gotten complicated, and the officer change had been delayed. No one planned on leaving Tegan in charge of an entire platoon on her own, but they hadn't been able to avoid it. And if Tegan was honest with herself, it had taken a toll on her.
She was used to leading a smaller unit on her own, but there had never been a need for her to command a whole platoon. And after two weeks of it, she was tired. She hadn't really realized how much work an officer had to do. And now that a new leader was coming in, she was happy to turn over the reins.
Tegan swung her legs off the side of her bunk in the commanding officer's tent. She'd taken up residence there while she was in command. She had slept in half of her uniform because she knew the new officer would be coming in the middle of the night. She checked her watch, seeing that it was just after 0200. She slipped on her combat boots, grabbed her camo jacket, and pulled it on. She buttoned it quickly, searching around for her cap. Of course she would lose it again. She checked under the bed, and there it was.
By the time she had her uniform on right, she could tell the chopper was almost at the landing pad. She threw open the tent flap and practically ran to the landing pad so she would be there when the officer came to camp. As the person in charge, she needed to debrief the officer immediately and turn over command. She made it just in time to be at the edge of the landing pad when the chopper landed.
Out climbed the officer, holding on their cap as they made their way out of the wind from the violent chopper blades. Tegan stood in salute, waiting for the officer. But her arm faltered and nearly dropped to her side when she saw who the new commanding officer was.
Lieutenant Colonel Sara Clement stopped in front of Tegan, her face expressionless expect for the extreme shock registered in her eyes. They hadn't seen each other in almost seven years, but Sara looked exactly the same as she had the day Tegan met her. Her hazel eyes, her beautiful cheekbones, her creamy skin. She was still beautiful. And Tegan couldn't believe that she was actually there in front of her. She had assumed that she would probably never see Sara again. She wasn't sure if she was ecstatic or mortified that Sara was their new officer.
Tegan snapped back when Sara threw her arm up in salute, returning it immediately. Neither of them said anything for a few moments. Tegan was glad no one else had come down to the landing pad with her. The only people up were the sentries, and they weren't paying attention to either of them.
Sara was the first to speak, clearing her throat first. "I didn't expect to meet you here, Sergeant."
"I wasn't expecting to see you either, Colonel." Tegan was surprised she had managed to speak at all. Her mouth was as dry as the sand they stood on, and butterflies rippled through her gut. She didn't know how she'd get through her time serving under Sara's command.
For months after Sara had left the training camp, Tegan would lie awake in bed because she knew if she slept she would dream of Sara's lips against hers, the smoothness of her skin, the taste of her tongue. Even after she was able to sleep through the night without waking up to dreams of Sara, she still thought about her every day. Wondered what could have been possible if the situation was different. Wished that she had met Sara outside of the military.
Even all these years later, she still wondered, dreamed even, about the possibilities. She had allowed herself that liberty because she never expected to see Sara again. But now that Sara was back in her life, she wondered if she should have controlled her imagination a little more.
As Tegan led Colonel Clement around the camp and explained all the routines and events that were a part of the soldiers' lives there, she dug her nails into palm, trying to stop the totally inappropriate images of Sara that flooded into her mind. She had to stay at Sara's side or in front of her to keep herself from staring at her ass. She had to avoid looking her directly in the eyes to stop from glancing at Sara's lips and licking her own.
When Tegan finally led Sara to the commanding officer's tent and cleared her own possessions out so Sara could move in, she knew that she would have to keep a very tight rein on her thoughts if she was going to be able to control her actions.