AN: Sorry it took me so long to update! I've been so busy with work I haven't had time. But I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter yet, so it should be worth it. I feel pretty shitty about this chapter though. I feel like it was emotionless, but that might just be cause I'm writing while tired or it might actually be bad. Whatever! I hope you guys enjoy it. -LB
The next days and weeks flew by for Tegan faster than any of the others she'd spent in the Army. She was around Sara all the time. They worked together every day, they ate together, the ran together early in the mornings. Tegan was Sara's second-in-command.
And Tegan was eating it up. Over the past few days, Sara had started to loosen up a lot more around her. She smiled more and she even laughed. Before then, Sara had been very reserved and almost standoffish sometimes. But as they grew closer, even though it was only as colleagues, Sara opened up more.
And Tegan was happier than she had been in, well, years, really. Sara made her happy. Seeing Sara and being in her presence and learning from her brought Tegan a secret joy that lit up her days. She slept better than she had slept in a long time, because she looked forward to waking up. She ate better, and it was making her stronger and healthier. She just… felt better. All the time she felt amazing.
And it was all because of Sara. Sara was her sun and her moon. She had become Tegan's life, and Tegan knew it. She knew that that was a very bad thing. She knew that she or Sara could be restationed at a moment's notice. She knew that they could get called into battle, or ambushed, or bombed. She knew that dangers of falling for someone in her line of work. But she couldn't stop herself. Every time she saw Sara smile, or heard her steal the attention of men twice her size with the power of her voice alone, or watched her work studious at her desk, Tegan fell more in love.
She only wished she didn't have to hold back her feelings. She knew that even if by some miracle Sara was still interested in her, they could never be together. It was completely against regulation for an officer to be in a relationship with a subordinate, especially one that was under her command. It could get Sara fired, and Tegan would never want that. So for the time, she was willing to settle for spending every day working for Sara.
It was a Friday night, and Sara was pretty sure everyone was in their tents drinking. She knew for sure that the few Sergeants would be together drinking. There were six of them in camp, and one of them had gotten some beer shipped in. Sara chuckled to herself as she listened to uproarious laughter coming from some corner of the camp. Normally she would feel compelled to go out and calm everyone down and send them to their bunks, but she was in a good mood.
Mostly because she had a private dinner with Tegan just a few hours earlier. They had never done anything like that before, but Sara had made an exception because they had a lot of paperwork to go over. A shipment of supplies was coming through their camp, and Sara was responsible for making sure all the right supplies went out to the right convoys. That took a bit of coordinating, and she wanted Tegan's help.
It helped that she would get some time alone with Tegan. They had talked a lot while Tegan was in her tent. They talked about Tegan's family. How her mom wrote to her all the time, and Tegan rarely had time to reply. They talked about how Tegan had gotta into some trouble in high school and got sent to military school.
Tegan had tried to get Sara to talk, but all she managed to saw was that she had gone to officer training school straight out of high school and had been in the Army ever since. Tegan didn't seem to mind talking though. Sara just kept smiling. She loved Tegan's voice. It was so rich and full. It was smooth and comforting. Sara wished she could listen to Tegan talk forever.
She shook her head, bringing her thoughts back to the present. Tegan was probably with few other sergeants drinking. Sara grinned. She hoped Tegan was having a good time. She needed a break from all the extra work she had been doing lately. She was a great help to Sara. That was a big part of why Sara had asked for her help. That and she wanted to be around her.
She tried to stop from thinking about the growing feeling she had for Tegan. But the idea of being able to sit around and talk with Tegan all day wouldn't leave her mind. She wondered what it would be like to walk down the street, hand in hand, with Tegan. Maybe stop at a coffee shop or bookstore. Sara thought that Tegan was somebody that she might be able to open up to one day if she was given the opportunity. But that would never happen, she reminded herself. She had to keep it cool, keep it professional.
But that was getting harder and harder as every day passed.
Tegan stopped at three beers, which was almost nothing by army drinking standards. She could tell the other guys were getting wasted. She liked them all. She had spent a lot of time with most of them. But she wasn't really comfortable with getting super drunk with any of them. Not with all the stories of woman getting assaulted by other soldiers.
She was having a good time, laughing with the other sergeants. She liked hanging out with them when they weren't on duty. Well, except for one guy, Sergeant Carter. He was kind of creepy, and Tegan could tell he was really drunk. He was standing kind of away from the rest of the group, and Tegan was pretty sure he was working on his sixth or seventh beer. But that was his choice. As long as he stayed cool, it was none of her business.
After hearing some more jokes, battle stories, and tales of the girls waiting for them at home, Tegan decided it was time for her to get back to her tent. She looked at her watch, and it was already past 0200. She knew Sara would be expecting her to be on duty as usual in the morning, and she would need sleep if she was going to be able to help with convoys that were coming in tomorrow.
She told the rest of the guys she was gonna head out and waved as she walked through the sand to her tent. She knew she'd pass Sara's tent on the way to hers, and she considered stopping in to say goodnight. She shook her head, though, knowing that that was just the beer talking. She couldn't do that. It would be too forward.
Suddenly, Tegan stopped, glancing in front of her. There was a shadow over her shoulder that shouldn't be there. She spun around to see what it was.
"Oh, Carter," she said when she saw him. "It's you." She tried to keep her voice steady as he took a step toward her. "What's going on?"
He didn't say anything, he just kept walking toward her. Taken could smell the booze on him, he was so close. She backed up, but he grabbed her arm. Carter was over six feet tall, and he towered over Tegan's small frame. Panic gripped Tegan, strong than the huge hand wrapped around her bicep.
She tried to pull away. "Carter, let me go," she stammered. "Please let go." Never since joining the army had she felt so helpless. She tried to pull away, using her free hand to try to pry his fingers off her arm. But he grabbed her other arm and pulled her body close to his. He stank of beer and sweat. Tegan felt like she couldn't breathe, and her heart was racing. She started to beg, pleading with Carter to let her go.
He let go of one of her arms and grabbed her jaw, silencing her. "Shuttup, dyke," he slurred. With those two words, Tegan knew what he was planning. And she nearly lost her mind.
Sara was just laying down to sleep when she heard voices. Voices outside weren't unusual, but she felt like something wasn't right. The voice was high, and it sounded panicky. Sara felt her stomach sink when she realized whose voice she was hearing. It was Tegan. And she knew that something bad must be happening to make Tegan sound panicked.
She pulled on her boots without thinking and was out of her tent in seconds. She paused, listening for Tegan's voice again. But her ears were met instead with she sharp sound of skin smacking skin, followed by a sharp cry and the sound of a body hitting the ground. Sara's throat tightened and her pulse quickened as she rushed toward the sound. She rushed around the right side of her tent, weaving between the other nearby tents.
"Help!" Sara froze as she heard the cry splitting the night. Tegan needed her, now. She rounded a corner, full out sprinting in the direction of Tegan's cry. That's when she saw them. A huge man straddling a prone body that Sara guessed was Tegan. He had both her hands in one of his, and it looked like he was trying to unbuckle her belt.
Tegan was screaming, "No! Please! Don't do this! Help me! Somebody!"
Sara didn't think. She just sprinted full force toward the man, throwing all her weight into his body. He wasn't expecting her, and she slammed into him so hard that they both flew into the sand. Sara was blind with rage, throwing punches everywhere she could with no thought of her own safety. The man shielded his face with his arms and shouted in pain whenever Sara's fists connected with their target.
Within seconds though, a pair of strong hands grabbed her arms and pulled her off the man. She threw her elbows back, and shouted, "Let go of me, now!" But the hands didn't let go, and she saw that another form was holding on the man she had just been beating. Sara's eyes darted around, searching for Tegan. There she was, lying in the sand, curled up in a tight ball. Sara could hear her sobs over the shouts of her attacker.
Sara pulled away from whoever was holding her and ran to Tegan's side. She collapsed in the sand an immediately pulled Tegan into her lap. Tegan threw her arms around Sara's neck and Sara pulled her close. She rubbed Tegan's back with one hand and brushed Tegan's hair out of her face with the other. Tegan just sobbed and sobbed into Sara's neck. She was trembling, and Sara was pretty sure her face was bleeding. She felt tears running her own cheeks, and she wasn't sure if it was from sympathy, shock, or adrenaline.
Sara paid no attention to anything going on around her, even though three other soldiers had restrained Tegan's attacker and were waiting for her orders. She couldn't break away from the feeling of Tegan in her arms, her shaken body pressed against Sara's. As Tegan cried, Sara knew that what had happened would change things between the two of them. Forever.