metube: Yeah, that´s about it… Sorry about that, I had several reasons for having her act that way, of course she´s really, really in no position to spare anyone who might come back and kiss her and everybody she cares for afterwards and then of course they have promised that they will kill her once they´ve reached the Badlands and that they might do worse things to her if she doesn´t cooperate, I simply couldn´t picture Wash- especially the way I´ve portrayed her in here´- going soft on them.
In addition I´d personally prefer a quick and painless death to being slashed open and eaten- still remember vividly what it looked like from Jurassic Park- gross…
I´m sorry it took so long for me to update, I was a bit at a loss with the next part.
morningsunshines: Thanks for the input, actually the whole story hasn´t quite worked out the way I wanted it to, seemed like I couldn´t really get a hang on the characters, I have a feeling it´s been improving during the last few parts- I´ll try and do better with the next long- term project.
When Wash finally crawled out of the water she had to fight the urge to simply collapse onto the grass, she was completely exhausted and the distance to Outpost Six seemed unmanageable but like usually she forced herself to get up and start walking, making her way along the shore.
The sun was still up, drying out her clothes as she walked and Wash realized how hungry she was, she hadn´t eaten anything since the previous afternoon and she was in no condition to hunt or search for fruit, she had to concentrate what little energy she had left to reach her destination.
Almost two hours later the Outpost became visible in the distance and Wash mobilized her remaining strength and walked faster, arriving at the doors of the building just as the sun began to set, the air was cooling and Wash shivered as she punched in the security code, almost crying in relief when the door opened and closed again securely behind her.
Unfortunately that was the only positive surprise that awaited her, the garage was empty and when she tried the communication system she found it had broken down completely and despite all efforts to repair the connection, nothing happened.
Deciding that the cables had probably been eaten once again, Wash resigned herself to the fact that she would have to hope someone would check on the Outpost sooner or later, until then she would have to live on energy bars that were stored in liberal amount in the supply closet or go fishing, some of Nathaniel´s equipment were stored in the garage.
After she had eaten a handful of energy bars, Wash took a shower, by now she was so tired and frustrated that she didn´t even mind that the water was cold, it was just one more thing to add to a long list of things that had gone astray that week, all she cared about anymore was sleep.
After she had toweled her hair dry as well as she could and braided it neatly, Wash crawled into one of the beds and finally allowed herself to relax.
The following two weeks seemed endless, Wash couldn´t remember ever having been so bored and the constant worrying about Taylor and his state of mind wasn´t improving the situation.
She spend the time taking runs along the shore, never venturing far from the outpost´s fence for fear of predators, fishing, though her impatience never allowed for her to sit there longer than strictly necessary to catch something nutritious and trying to come up with a plan to get back to the colony without help but she always had to abandon those, with no weapons and no transportation she would simply have to wait and hope for the best.
The morning of her seventeenth day of solitude dawned bright and cloudless and Wash decided to go down to the beach and catch something for lunch, bad whether had prevented her from venturing out for two days and she was sick of energy bars and longing for fresh food.
The first things she noticed when she rounded the corner of the building was a rhino being parked near the fence and her heart leapt as she noticed Guzman standing at cliffs, looking out at the sea.
For a moment Wash just stood there, rooted to the spot, then she began walking towards him, slowly, still not daring to believe that he was really there.
Sensing the movement behind him, Guzman turned, his hand on his gun and Wash stopped, unable to move anymore as their eyes locked, his widening incredulously.
He looked tired, his whole posture weary as though he hadn´t had a good night´s sleep in weeks and her feet began moving again on their own account, carrying her towards him and then she was wrapped into his arms so tightly she could hardly breathe.
"Are you real?"
He whispered, his voice strangely broken and Wash hid her face against his neck, deeply inhaling the familiar scent.
"I am- took you longer than I thought" she teased him and he pulled back slightly to look at her, his eyes sparkling as his fingertips gently brushed an errand strand of hair out of her face.
"Damn dinos ate the cables again?"
She nodded.
"Looks like it- I´ll never eat a protein bar again, by the way, they are disgusting."
Her friend chuckled.
"Poor you- I´ve got some food with me, you can have it, I´ll be fine with a few energy bars."
Wash got serious again as they started walking back up to the building.
"How bad is it, Guz?"
"Not too bad- repairs will take a few more weeks of course but there weren´t any more casualties, they just left- will you tell me how you got here?"
They briefly stopped by the rhino and Guzman got his backpack out, then followed Wash inside the outpost, the door closing behind them.
Wash chuckled when Guz pulled a large sandwich out of the bag pack and handed it to her before looking around.
"I have instant coffee, can we boil water somewhere?"
"You have coffee? Have I mentioned that I´m really glad to see you?"
Wash joked before taking a bite of the sandwich.
"Several times, Lieutenant, now tell me what happened to you."
While she watched him make coffee, Wash told Guzman all about her trip with the Phoenix Group, up to the point where she had arrived at the outpost and been forced to wait for someone to find her.
"We haven´t seen anything from them, Mira has neither, she´s been back to the colony a few times and told us all about the supposed portal in the Badlands, she asked us to go out there and explore it with her but-" his voice trailed off and Wash looked up.
"Taylor?"
Guz ran his hand through his hair.
"He´s not doing very well, Wash, loosing you- he took it bad, he´s thrown himself into work and doesn´t show interest in anything but getting the colony back up and running. I was planning to check on outpost seven and eight, too but now I´d rather take you back as quickly as possible, I don´t want to tell him over the comm line."
"The sooner we leave, the better, you can let me drive and relax."
Guzman chuckled.
"While you are driving?"
Wash glared at him but he laughed only harder and pulled her back into his arms and after a moment of struggling she allowed him to hold her.
"Good to have you back, Wash, I´ve missed you."
"What, being second in command didn´t agree with you?"
She teased, pulling out of his embrace to rinse the mugs and put them away, impatient to leave.
"No, too much work, too little fun and Taylor didn´t appreciate my company half as much as your´s, I don´t seem to be his type."
They quickly inspected the damage done to the cables, then Wash climbed behind the rhino´s wheel while Guzman settled into the passenger seat and they started off towards the colony, the topic of the Phoenix Group coming up again.
"If you haven´t seen anything of them they probably are all dead, it´ll be hard to find proof, though, it´s hardly worth the risk to go back into Slasher territory."
"If we take enough men we could risk it, anyway, we also should see if we can retrieve any equipment, destroying the portal was a good plan and the right thing to do but it´ll take time to find a way of teaching people how to repair technical instruments, let alone built energy supplies."
"You´ve got a point, I suppose- I´m not sure I want to go back, though, I´m still having nightmares from that place, the ones I´ve killed coming after me or me falling off the cliffs while climbing down."
Guzman shrugged.
"Was probably kinder to kill them quickly, being eaten alive-" He shuddered.
"At that moment it almost felt good, I was so wrought up, so full of hatred I just wanted to see them suffer, I haven´t felt that way since Somalia."
"I can´t blame you, by the time Taylor got back and I had had time to really examine all the damage they´d done I was ready to go after them, Taylor, too, wish we´d done it now."
He looked guilty and Wash briefly covered his hand with her´s before concentrating on driving again.
"I´m glad you didn´t, at least no one else got killed because of me. You said Mira has been back and wants to work with you?"
"Yeah, now that the portal´s gone, she´s desperate to find another way to get back to the future."
"How´s Taylor feeling about her being around? After Lucas, I mean."
Guzman looked thoughtful.
"He seems to be ok with it, we buried Lucas and Taylor has been out to Memorial Field every day but he´s spend much more time at your grave than at his son´s."
A shudder ran down Wash´s spine and her hands tightened around the steering wheel.
"I have a grave?"
"We all wanted a place to go and feel close to you, remember you, even though we couldn´t find a body."
"So how many people turned up at my funeral?"
Wash asked, trying to sound as though the information didn´t concern her too much and even though she knew Guzman would see through it, he played along.
"Wasn´t as though they had a choice, Taylor made them- no, seriously, people didn´t take your death well, Wash, you´ll have a hard time getting a moment to yourself once word is out that you´re alive."
Guz continued to fill Wash in on everything she had missed out on during the last weeks and he had just finished giving her a detailed report on how Jim Shannon had destroyed Hope Plaza when they passed the tree line and the colony appeared in the distance.
"I´ll radio in" Guz said, "won´t mention you yet, Taylor might need a bit of preparation first."
Wash nodded while continuing to drive towards the colony, anticipation making her heart beat painfully hard in her chest.
"Guzman to Terra Nova, come in."
"This is Terra Nova, copying."
Jim Shannon´s voice sounded over the line.
"I´m five minutes out, where´s the commander?"
"I´m right here, Guz, why are you back so early?"
Wash had to bite her lip to keep silent when she heard Nathaniel´s voice, she wasn't quite sure if she had actually been aware how much she had missed him until now, hearing his voice made the desperate longing she had been experiencing ever since he had left ten times worse.
"Had to change my plans, Sir, can you clear a path to the infirmary for me?"
"You´re hurt?"
"No, Sir."
There was a moment of silence and Wash could picture Nathaniel´s frown, her CO didn´t like being kept in the dark and Guz´s behavior was more than elusive.
"Right, meet you at the infirmary, Taylor out."
A few minutes later, the gate was raised in front of them and Wash steered the rhino towards the infirmary, stopping right in front of the entrance that was blocked from view by a number of soldiers, the commander was already waiting with Jim Shannon, Taylor looked irritated, Shannon curious and Guzman got out first while Wash remained inside, hidden from view.
"Shannon, can you get your wife? Tell her you need a private room."
Jim exchanged a glance with Taylor who nodded, apparently deciding to humor Guzman until he found out what all the secrecy was about.
"Sir, this will come as a shock-"
"Stop stalling, Guz, talk to me."
Nathaniel growled, already rounding the rhino and Wash simply couldn´t wait any longer, she opened the door and slid out of the driver´s seat, coming to stand right before Taylor who stood frozen to the spot, staring at her.
"To make a long story short, I ran into Wash, Sir."
Guzman stated dryly, looking amused at his superior´s loss of speech but Taylor ignored him.
He took a step forward and reached out, taking Wash´s hand in his, fingers lacing together, then she was hurled into his arms and hugged tightly to his broad chest.
Returning the embrace she could feel the eyes of her soldiers on them and she tried to pull away but Taylor wouldn´t let her, if anything his arms tightened around her back.
"Give me a moment, Wash" he muttered into her ear, his warm breath making her shiver against him and then his lips found her´s, he kissed her deeply, intimately, the kind of kiss Wash would never haver expected to ever receive from him in public and a few weeks earlier she might have protested, reminded him that they had decided to keep their relationship private but after all they´d been through, such trivial concerns hardly mattered anymore.
They were interrupted by the Shannon´s, Jim all but pulling Wash out of Taylor´s arms and spinning her around, laughing while Elisabeth gently patted the commander´s arm before telling her husband sternly to let go of Alicia so she could take her inside and examine her.
Wash followed the doctor with the three men right behind her, neither of them seemed to be willing to let her out of their sight again anytime soon and for once she enjoyed the attention.
"You´re perfectly fine, Wash" Elisabeth smiled at her, then looked at the commander who was standing next to his lieutenant´s bed.
"Let her rest a little before you make her crawl around in the jungle somewhere, will you."
Taylor looked offended and Guzman and Jim grinned.
"My soldiers never crawl around in the jungle, Doc, they-"
He looked from the woman to the two men, then at Wash, rolling his eyes.
"I´m being mocked, Wash, what do you say to that."
Wash bit her lip, trying to keep her face straight.
"Outrageous, Sir- I´m hungry, can I go home?"
She turned towards Elisabeth who nodded, then glanced at her watch.
"If you don´t mind more company, why don´t you and the commander come by for dinner, Maddy will be furious we didn´t tell her right away you´re here, she´s been having a hard time getting over you dying for us and she promised to cook tonight."
"Sounds good to me- Nathaniel?"
Wash looked up at him, not wanting to overrule him but he smiled lightly, his fingers lacing through her´s.
"Whatever you want."
"We´ll be by at eight, then, I need a shower and fresh clothes."
Wash followed Taylor out of the infirmary and found Mark Reynolds waiting outside, accompanied by Riley.
"We heard you were back, Ma´am."
Mark looked almost painfully excited and Wash sighed, opening her arms.
"All right, Reynolds, get it over with."
He hugged her tightly, whispering to her how glad he was that she was ok, then let go of her and Wash turned to the other woman.
"Riley, how have things been around here?"
"We did our best to keep up to your standard, Ma´am" Riley assured her, beaming.
"I expected nothing less of you, Sargeant- who took over for me?"
The two exchanged a glance with the commander who tightened his fingers around Wash´s.
"I haven´t replaced you yet, couldn´t bring myself to do it- you can just continue where you left off tomorrow morning, if you want to."
"In that case, tell the other´s I´m expecting everyone on the range at 0900 sharp."
"Yes, Ma´am."
Riley saluted, then hurried off, apparently determined to spread word about her CO´s return while Wash held Mark back.
"Are you on duty?"
"No, I´m off tonight."
"We are invited to dinner at the Shannon´s, I hear a certain young lady is doing the cooking, if you hurry you might get yourself an invitation, too."
Grinning broadly Mark hurried off in the direction of his girlfriend´s house while Wash and Taylor walked over to the barracks and entered Wash´s house, it was dinner time and they only met a few people on the way, everyone happy and excited to see Wash alive.
"It´ll take hours to get to the Shannon´s later" Taylor told her while closing the front door behind them, "once word has spread that you´re back, everyone will be outside waiting to see if it´s true."
"If it gets too bad we´ll call Shannon and Mark over to escort us."
She looked around, pleased to see that nothing had changed and that her home seemed to have been spared any damage in the attacks.
"Nathaniel, I-" He held up his hand.
"Not now, we´ll talk about it later."
She nodded her acceptance, she wasn´t in the mood to talk about all the things that were hanging between them, either, later would be enough time for that.