Chapter 2
A few hours had passed. Nearing nine in the evening, Grit's shift was about to come to an end. The remainder of his day had been rather uneventful: a couple of papers to sign here and there and commands to issue about moving artillery. There were no sightings of Black Hole troops, which had left Grit with a nice, lazy day for him to enjoy. Colin's words didn't play very much on his mind; he found himself occasionally eyeing the folded paper on the desk, but he had brushed it aside whilst signing authorisation papers. It now sat on the edge of the table, teetering, threatening to fall to the dirty ground and be forgotten forever.
Throwing his jacket on, Grit eyes the room one last time to see if he hadn't forgotten anything. The map was in place, his to-do pile non-existent. His side safely holstered his six-shooter and he had his toothpick and his cassette player for the ride home. He contemplated what he was going to do with the day off he had coming the following morning. Sitting around and doing little seemed to be on the agenda.
As he slid his arms into the long, beige coat, there was a delicate knock on the door.
"Come on in" Grit called swiftly. The door opened and in walked Sasha, all dressed in her commanding officer's uniform. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and her CO's hat neatly placed on her head.
"Good evening, Grit" Sasha said as she stepped into the room, allowing the door to shut behind her.
"Howdy, Sasha" Grit greeted back. "Didn't expect to see you here, I thought just me and Colin were working the south border patrol today?"
"I have the night shift" Sasha revealed, to which Grit grimaced slightly. The night shift was never an easy one for most, although Grit spent his night shifts sleeping.
"Huh, go figure" Grit mumbled. "Guess servin' the country has its down side, eh?"
Sasha walked to the top of the desk, placing her briefcase down before opening it. She moved with a very busy pace, never ceasing her activities as she talked. It was a stark contrast to Grit's lethargic movements.
"Ah, it's not so bad" Sasha explained as she leafed through the many documents in her briefcase. Grit couldn't see inside of it, but he could tell it was full of papers. He shot a quick glance to his own papers, which he had picked up from the table and placed on top of a filing cabinet in the corner of the room. It wasn't an impressive sight. "I have a bunch of cadets coming in in about half an hour or so, I'm going to put them through their paces. Not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I'll think of something"
"Why don't you put 'em through some obstacle courses and then get them comfy with the tanks and bazookas?" Grit suggested.
"I was thinking something with the tanks" Sasha replied, pulling out a couple of folders and laying them on the desk. "I wanted to ask you if I could take command of them for the night?"
"Go right ahead" Grit said, smiling. He watched as Sasha them produced another document from the briefcase, to which he sighed. "Another authorisation paper? What's Olaf think we're gonna do, drive 'em into the river or something?"
"It's just the way he is" Sasha explained, her eyes fixed downwards towards where she placed the document. It was on a clipboard with a pen stuck at the top. "He likes to keep track of his patrols; I guess it's hard to blame him when he's responsible for our national security. Sign here, please"
Grit sighed and took the pen from the clipboard as Sasha pointed to the bottom of the document. At the end of the fine print was a line for Grit to sign. Planting his messy, curly signature, he looked up at Sasha, who was still unpacking her briefcase.
"May as well be signin' my retirement papers" Grit mumbled. "Geez, what am I thinkin'? It's gonna be ages before I retire"
He handed the document to Sasha, who took it from Grit with a smile, placing it back in her briefcase. With all her papers neatly set out on the table, she closed the briefcase and walked to the filing cabinet, putting the briefcase down next to it. As she did, Grit spotted the folded paper from the corner of his eye. He remembered what Colin had said and curiosity started to grow inside him. With little resistance, he closed his eyes, sighing to himself.
"Your little brother said you was doin' the blind date thingy?" Grit asked. Sasha turned around and looked at Grit.
"Oh, yeah, I am" she said quickly, fully turning around and leaning against the filing cabinet. "…Colin said you weren't doing it. Am I right?" she asked. Grit sensed the tone of her voice and leaned back against the wall at the other side of the room.
"You don't sound too happy 'bout that" Grit said.
"Well I'm doing it" Sasha reiterated, walking up to the chair at the end of the table. She was about to pull it out to sit down when Grit pushed himself up from against the wall.
"How come?" Grit asked. "I didn't crack you to be the datin' type. Besides, don't you and Jake have something goin' on between you two?"
A twinge of disappointment appeared on Sasha's face as he looked down to the floor. A harsh memory had crossed her mind, but she quickly stamped it out and looked back up to Grit.
"Not anymore" she revealed. "It didn't work out the way we hoped. It's…amicably settled"
"So what if he's doin' this dating thing too?" Grit questioned. "You're still goin' ahead with this, knowing fully well that you might just end up with Jake on the opposite side of the dinner table?"
"That's not going to happen" Sasha cut across quickly. "I specified that we're not to be paired"
"How'd you do that?" Grit asked, his eyebrow raising once again.
"On the paper we were given to send in, didn't you get one?" Sasha asked. Grit eyeballed to the folded paper that still teetered at the edge of the table.
"So what if you end up with…I dunno, Hawke?" Grit hypothesised. Sasha shrugged her shoulders in response.
"I'm a fully grown woman now" she explained. "I can date who I want. Be it Hawke or otherwise, I think I can hold my own in conversation with any of the guys"
There was a short silence between the two. Grit kept his gaze on the floor, as did Sasha.
"I ain't doing it" Grit said after a short silence.
"Colin told me" Sasha added, looking up at Grit, who hadn't moved his own head. "Although neither of us could understand your reasoning for not wanting to take part. Something to do with…I don't know, actually, why don't you want to do it?" Sasha asked. Another short silence followed Sasha's question.
"Frankly, I can't give no words myself" Grit admitted, looked up to Sasha. He shrugged his shoulders as the next word slurred from his mouth in doubt. "I…it just…the idea don't sit well with me, y'know?"
"Doesn't sit well…in what way?" Sasha asked. She felt the need to probe deeper: "How does the thought of it make you feel?"
Grit put a hand to his lower chest/stomach area. His eyes crunched up slightly in a sickly manner.
"I dunno, I kinda feel somethin' around my stomach area" Grit described. "I lose my appetite a little"
"You mean you're nervous?" Sasha suggested.
"…I guess so" Grit admitted, sighing to himself.
"Well, it's only natural" Sasha continued, walking up to the same wall as Grit, leaning against it with her hand. "I've known you long enough to see that you don't ever get nervous. Not when we're all out on the battlefield; I remember when the deciding battle against Von Bolt was coming up and everybody around was holding each other's hands and hugging, all feeding off each other's nerves and trying to vent it out somehow. But I kept looking at you; you were always leaning against something, with that toothpick in your mouth, you looked as if it was just another day on the job. With pretty much the world at stake, you didn't bat an eyelid"
Grit gave an acknowledging blink as he moved away from the wall and walked towards the desk, leaning his behind against it. He put his hands in his coat pockets, sighing quietly to himself. Sasha turned herself slightly to face him and continued to talk.
"You know, I've always admired that trait of yours" Sasha spoke quietly. "I wish that I had your composure. The cadets…"
"You're right, Sasha" Grit interrupted, gazing blankly towards the wall. "I am nervous. It's not often I get this kinda feeling. Now and then when things are lookin' dicey I get this gut feeling of mine. But now, everything's safe. So it must be the prospect of this blind date that's makin' me nervous"
"…I'm nervous too" Sasha revealed. Grit looked up at Sasha, who still leaned against the wall. "I'm nervous thinking about who my date is going to be"
There was another silence between the two before Grit stood back up on his feet and picked up the folded paper. He started towards the door.
"You know what, I might consider it" Grit said.
"You will?" Sasha asked, her voice filled with gladness. Grit grabbed the door handle and opened the door before turning to look at Sasha.
"…I guess I ain't alone in feelin' nervous about it" Grit explained. "…That makes me feel a bit better. Thanks for the chat" he thanked.
"It's no problem" Sasha answered. "Let me know if you send it"
"I will. Gotta go now, jeep's waitin'" Grit explained. "Night, Sasha"
"Good night, Grit" Sasha replied as Grit nodded, walking out of the door and out of sight.