Chapter 27: Hike

"That was not funny," Shana complained.

Cam, sitting on the rec room couch with a beer, tittered. "Yes it was. Oh, yes it was."

Shana put her fists on her hips. "You cheated!"

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Um, no we didn't. When you explained this to Cam, you told her that everyone gets issued different colored paintballs for a reason. And you told her that she's out if she gets hit by a paintball of a color belonging to the other team. You never, ever said she's out if she has her own paint on her. And then you only have yourself to blame for that; you saw her sitting there, you saw the blue paint, and you completely forgot Cam's paint was blue and thought she'd been taken out of the game. You lost track of which color was issued to who."

Shana knew he was right, but she was still grumpy about it. "I still think you cheated," she insisted. "You had to. Somehow. I don't know how you did, but you cheated."

"I played possum. Played dead. It's not cheating, it's a survival tactic. Pretend you're injured or hurt worse than you really are, buy yourself time."

Shana looked at Cam, suddenly serious. "You had to pretend those clients hurt you worse than they actually did just to buy yourself some time to heal."

Cam met her gaze steadily, without flinching. "Yes."

Shana dropped her eyes. "I'm not complaining anymore." But then she looked at the guys, fiercely. "She's on my team the next time we go out."

Snake Eyes' hands flashed. We know that tactic now. A good one, but not one that you'll be able to trick us with again.

Cam didn't look at all upset, she simply tossed back the last of her beer. "There are other tricks. We'll see. Shana and I can take you." She heaved herself up out of the couch to put her bottle in the trash can, then wobbled abruptly.

Charlie put out a hand to steady her. "Whoa."

Cam giggled. "I think I had a little too much."

Shana deftly twitched the bottle out of her hand. "Definitely. That's what, the third one?"

"Fourth." Charlie grinned as Cam hiccupped.

"Yep, definitely enough. Seems a shame to let that go to waste, though…" and Shana tossed back the last of the beer in the bottle, then sent it sailing across the room into the trashcan. "Cam, you're not used to alcohol, so I strongly recommend that you work that off before you go to sleep or tomorrow morning you're going to have a hangover like you wouldn't believe."

"Don't worry. I have a great way to work that off," Charlie said cheerfully.

Shana held up a hand. "Don't tell me. I don't want to know." But she smiled warmly at her friends. "Are you going to need the hot tub?"

"No, I think the lake will do." Charlie swept Cam up in his arms as she screamed with laughter. "Come on now, witchling," he said cheerfully. "Let's get you sobered up."

"You're not dumping me in the lake again, are you? Charlie! Don't you dare!" Her giggles faded off down the hallway along with Charlie's heavy tread, until Snake Eyes and Shana were alone in the quiet of the room.

Shana cuddled up next to Snake Eyes, smiling. "It was a clever ploy. I can't believe I didn't realize it was her own paint. I swear I must be slipping."

Snake Eyes hands flashed. You're not. She's just really good at this. While we learned because it was part of our training, she learned because she'd have died if she didn't.

Shana sobered, staring into thin air. "No child should ever have to learn those things as a matter of survival, Snake Eyes. I find the whole idea absolutely repugnant."

I do too. I like the skills she has—that playing dead tactic is absolutely brilliant, and I can't wait to try it on Duke during our annual team building exercises…but I deplore the way she learned them, and the reasons why she had to.

"Exactly." Shana nodded. "So what do we want to do tomorrow?"

Let's take them on a tour of the property.

"Are you sure? I mean, this was your place originally. I know you didn't mind that I invited them, but it's your place and your property and you value your privacy and peace—" she stopped because he'd placed a finger on her lips.

It's not 'mine' anymore, Shana. It's ours. Yours and mine. You have as much right to it as I do, and what you want, I want. I'm fine with it, sweetheart. Really. They are both close friends. I owe Charlie my sanity, for keeping me anchored to you while you were missing, and I owe Cam my life for bringing you back to me. I can't imagine what it cost her, and every time I look at her struggling not to mind that her body is warped and in pain, it reinforces again that I owe her everything. He smiled. Your father adopted her into the O'Hara clan. And I'm an O'Hara now too, in case you forgot. So that makes her my sister. His eyes got a distant, faraway look. She even reminds me of my sister, a little bit. Theresa was quiet but passionate, loved everyone and everything, always looked for the positive side of people, the good things about them. She could see good in people no one else could see. A lot of the people who knew her called her naïve, but she wasn't blind to their faults, she just preferred not to focus on them. I miss her.

Shana laid a gentle hand on his arm. "I know. I consider Cam as a sister, too, more than Siobhan, unfortunately. It feels traitorous, but there it is. She's sacrificed a lot for me, irregardless of what it might cost her personally, and Siobhan wouldn't lift a finger unless it benefitted her in some way and she got money for it. Sometimes I can't believe we even have the same parents." She sighed. "Come on. Let's go to bed." A mischievous smile that had a lot of promise to it. "And we can pick up where we left off…"

The next day dawned clear and bright, and the slight chill of the morning promised that it was going to be a lovely day for backpacking—for Shana and Snake eyes, used to the weather up here in the mountains, the morning chill would give way to a warm day, but not hot. Cam and Charlie were both enthusiastic when they heard they'd be backpacking that day; Cam confessed that she was looking forward to exploring the surrounding land, that this place reminded her of her cottage on the reservation in the western New York mountains. After a quick breakfast of eggs and bacon, oatmeal and coffee, with backpacks equipped with water and energy bars for snacking along the way, they set out.

The land was really beautiful, the rugged peaks of the old mountain range somewhat worn down by time—the Sierra Nevadas weren't the highest, youngest range in California, and some of the oldest mountains were now little more than rolling hills. But on a crisp clear cool day in late spring, with low humidity and a gentle breeze, you could see for miles around.

Shana didn't tell Charlie and Cam, but she had an ulterior motive in dragging them all out on a backpacking trip. Charlie and Snake Eyes had been unable to focus on anything while their wives had been missing, and needed to get back in shape—and when they got back, Shana would need to pass the physical tests in order to be recertified for duty. Cam wouldn't even be considered fit for duty until Doc figured out where to send her for her scar reduction surgery, but staying in shape would help her bounce back quicker—and remembering the difficult time Cam had with her breathing and her strained lungs, as much as Shana would hate to do it, Cam's training and fitness was her responsibility and she had a duty to inform General Hawk if Cam was unable to resume her duties as an Army officer. Her strained, labored breathing in Atlanta had worried Shana more than she'd wanted to admit, and she needed to know if it was just the unusually warm winter and heavy, sticky, muggy air that was causing the strain in her lungs, or if it was an underlying physical condition. She was planning on watching Cam carefully on this trip.

They climbed past the tumble of boulders where the paintball war had taken place the day before, the boulders themselves still splotched with paint. Cam and Charlie started to snicker, but Shana's glare stopped them—until her back was turned. She could still hear them chuckling to themselves, though.

Up over the summit, a pause to look around them at the breathtaking beauty of the scenery. This high up, the thin, clear air let them see for miles around, and Shana had always, personally, thought this must be what people who climbed Everest must feel—like they were on top of the world and they could reach up and touch the sky. And judging by their reactions, the others weren't immune to it, either, not even Snake Eyes, who had owned this place long before he'd even met her. It still astonished her that he could have fallen in love with her, become so accepting of her and the way she was that he would share his life, his home, everything he had with her.

"This is so gorgeous," Cam said finally, looking at Shana with a light in her eyes that Shana hadn't seen from her in a while. "It's like being on top of the world, like there are no boundaries and you're completely free. I can see why you'd want to come here instead of staying at Atlanta."

"I may have grown up there, and my family is there, but this is where I feel most at home. And this was why I wanted you to come with us."

"After all this is over, I'd like you to come to the reservation and see my home. I mean, we don't have a hot tub, or anything fancy, but…it's home, and everyone on the reservation is really accepting as long as you respect our laws and customs and traditions. I think you'd like it there, despite its lack of luxury."

Shana gave Cam a hug. "Cam, you're family. I'd never dream of refusing if you invited me just because it doesn't have a hot tub. Family, and company, is the most important thing—everything else is window dressing." She grinned. "Besides, I could probably talk you into a couple of improvements." She shaded her eyes with her hand, looked around. "There's a spring down there that Snake eyes and I discovered a few years back. It has the best-tasting water I've ever drunk. Come on, you have to try it. Let's go find it. "

The spring was right where she remembered it, and it was bubbling merrily up out of the ground into a tiny rock pool before soaking into the moss that lined the ground around the rocks. Shana called for a halt here for a short while; it had been a while since she'd had to use her legs that much and she didn't need muscle strain to make that worse. And, while Cam wasn't struggling to breathe and showed little signs of tiring, Shana didn't want to exhaust her. Stamina and endurance was an important part of being certified fit for duty, and Shana didn't want to put her through a SERE-type endurance test—just enough to gradually build her back up.

"You're right about the water," Cam said after her first sip. "This is so much better than anything I tasted before—it's a natural spring, right?"

"Yes, it is. We discovered it a few years back but decided not to tell anyone about it—last thing we want is some over-priced developer to come in with mining and drilling machines and dig everything up and tear it apart. We like our peace and quiet."

Cam emptied out the bag of water tucked into the special compartment of her backpack. "Forget the tap water. I want more of this." Shana grinned, but agreed to wait as Cam patiently filled a small plastic bottle from the spring, emptied it into the water bag, and repeated. It would take a while, the spring bubbled up slowly, but she knew it was worth it.

They were about ready to head back out on their hike when Snake Eyes held up a warning hand. The others froze instantly, alert; something about his face, his gesture, indicated he'd heard something that alarmed him. After a moment, they heard it too—the sound of heavy feet tramping through the underbrush, voices—male—and all of it clearly indicative of someone who wasn't expecting to run into anyone.

"They're trespassing on our property—" Shana started, but Snake Eyes held up a hand to silence her, then the four of them melted into the brush. Some instinct kept them all silent. Yes, it was possible that this group was just a bunch of hikers who'd lost their way and were completely harmless, but some extra sense urged caution on the four Joes.

They were standing just inside the treeline when the group of people they'd heard broke through the treeline on the opposite side of the little clearing and stopped. Six people, all of them men, dressed in hunting/camouflage garb; each one sported a large Bushmaster hunting rifle slung across his back, and belts and utility pouches bristled with other ammunition, hunting knives, and machetes.

"Let's stop and take a break here, guys. Look, there's water here." They crowded around the tiny spring, disturbing the rocks around it, heavy boots tearing up the soft green carpet of moss. Not that the Joes hadn't had boots on, but they'd all been quietly respectful of nature and the land around them. Shana gritted her teeth, upset at the wanton destruction, but Snake Eyes held her back.

"How's it taste?" another man, with a heavy, full dark beard, asked the first man who had spoken.

"Like deer piss," he man said. "But it's water. Come and get some."

"We'll have to take turns," the second guy said. "It's not coming up fast enough."

"Well, let's dig it out and enlarge it, then," the first man growled.

Cam moved before Charlie could catch her sleeve and pull her back, stepping out of the bushes and standing in front of them. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, her hair in two braids, but despite the almond shape of her eyes, she was distinctly Native American. "You are trespassing," she said quietly, evenly. "This is private property."

If they'd been lost hikers, they would have responded with a respectful 'sorry'. Shana, Snake Eyes and Charlie tensed as the first man who'd spoken hooked his thumbs into his belt and looked her up and down. "Well now, we didn't see no markers saying this was private property, pretty lil' lady."

Behind him, the second guy snickered. "Dude, if you think she's pretty you need to take off the beer goggles."

Cam ignored that; her tone and expression never changed from one of measured, even politeness. "You are trespassing. Please leave."

"And if we don't wanna? Whatcha gonna do?" the guy sneered as he stepped forward, capacious belly preceding him. Cam stood her ground, arms loose by her sides, knees slightly flexed, ready for a possible confrontation; Shana noted with approval that her lessons on self-defense and hand-to-hand were paying off, but she'd have to teach Cam how to adjust her stance now that one shoulder was warped and higher than the other.

"You are leaving." The politeness was gone; it was a flat declaration.

"Well, see here, we're going to have to explain something to you. Me and my buddies here, we didn't see no markers says this is private property. And I ain't seen a house for miles. And there ain't no way you gonna make the six of us leave…lil thing like you can't take us on, especially with the rest of our buddies back down there on their way up. So why don't you just be a good little Indian and sit down and smoke a peace pipe with us? Maybe after we done smokin', you might even see fit to show us a little hospitality afterward, hmm?"

He never even saw it coming. Before his friends could blink, he was on the ground, one meaty arm twisted up behind his back, face mashed flat into the ground. "You are trespassing," and now Cam's voice was a low growl. "You will leave." She stepped away, crossed the clearing to the bushes on the other side, and vanished before any of them could react.