"The opposite of war is…" Prequel: In Spite of Fear
Doctor Emily Grey reflects on her past as she becomes part of a new family at Chorus and develops feelings for an older man.
Main Pairing(s): Sarge/Doctor Grey
Background Pairing(s): Grimmons, Tuckington, Docnut, & Lopez/Sheila
Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Red vs. Blue or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.
In Spite of Fear:
If there were two things that Doctor Emily Grey liked being, they were to be precise and factual.
She thrived off of learning and being able to understand things. Had done so ever since she was a child. A genius, a prodigy. The people around her had always described her with those types of labels, albeit those words were also always followed by an additional description: "an eccentric one."
By the age of twelve, she had already written several theses. That had also been the start of her career as a doctor seeing as how medical staffs during the fighting were always shorthanded. A cruel reality of constant war. So, because it was well-known already where her interests lied even at such a young age, she had been pulled away from her studies.
She helped stitch men and women back together, helped save lives. Often she would see the same faces back at the hospital or medical ward just a few weeks later, the whole process repeating until it simply didn't anymore.
The young woman knew why that was. She just never wanted to say it out loud.
For as many people as she saved, there were twice as many, probably more, that she lost. She couldn't even save all of her patients. Truthfully, most had succumbed to their injuries before she'd even been able to approach their hospital beds.
By the time the fighting all around her had so abruptly stopped years later, she was numb. She found herself delving more and more into her work to avoid thinking of anything else. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't.
It was probably no wonder, given how lost she was, how alone, that the dark-skinned woman had made her way to a region called Chorus that was in the process of rebuilding during the war's aftermath.
Its open door policy had intrigued her, as did both the abundance of alien tech in the surrounding lands and the chance to ply her trade to help other survivors who were also trying to make new lives for themselves.
She set up her temporary clinic and home in a warehouse while the rest of the city was still in the throes of massive repairs.
"Are you sure you wouldn't want to have your clinic in the medical area?" Donald Doyle, one of the leaders of the city, asked her once when he came by for help with stress-induced ulcers.
Doctor Grey caught the older man staring around at her clinic area. Perhaps he was surprised at how sterile and spotless it was despite the less-than-ideal conditions of the rest of the facility.
She shook her head, "It's best to have multiple areas for healing. Besides," there was a glimmer in her dark brown eyes, "It gives me the perfect opportunity to also brush up on my robotics and alien tech research."
Doyle simply nodded at her response, not really understanding why or perhaps just a bit unnerved by her sudden change in demeanor just then. Still, he thanked her earnestly all the same for her help.
Even when the residential district finally opened up, she chose to remain living in the warehouse for convenience sake. It had become a permanent living situation, without her even realizing it.
Doctor Grey thrived on facts, on knowing the "whys" behind everything.
That was especially true when a group of mismatched soldiers calling themselves the Reds and Blues arrived at Chorus and soon became "neighbors" of sorts to her at the salvage and repair warehouse. The introductions had been of a rather unmemorable sort.
"So, you run a clinic here?" One of the men, a dark-skinned soldier in teal armor, had asked while scratching the back of his head, "And you'll help research the tech we'll be bringing back too?"
"That's right." She nodded in agreement, her ear-length cut black hair moving slightly with the motion.
The man, who she found out later was named Lavernius Tucker, glanced at the red-armored older soldier standing next to him, "Guess that makes us teammates then."
A nod from the other man, who she would later find out was named Sarge, seemed to cement this statement as truth, "Welcome to the team, little miss!"
Almost just as quickly, Doctor Grey had been welcomed into a new, oddball family. One that she would very quickly grow to love.
"Well, using a reserve power system for any type of robotic limb isn't only practical. It's downright sensible." Sarge told Doctor Grey emphatically.
The two of them often found themselves having discussions like this in their spare time together. She was having a cup of tea while Sarge guzzled down a mug of coffee that his lightish-red armored subordinate Franklin Delano Donut had made earlier. According to the expert opinion of the Reds' leader, the dirty blond was the best at making coffee out of their group.
Similar to herself, Sarge had also seemed keen on spending most of his time at the warehouse instead of at his assigned residence. The older soldier had once told her it was because he had spent so much of his life living outside of homes that he just felt more comfortable and at ease in places like it instead.
She could relate, something that she was finding to always be a fairly consistent occurrence with this man. This was showcased by such things as their shared love of robotics and cybernetics, for instance.
"True. You need the metal and circuitry to not only be durable and sturdy, but rather flexible as well."
He grinned, the expression a good look on his face, shaking his head in disbelief, "I'll tell you what, Doctor, we keep having nice little chats like this one and one of these days I am bound to fall in love with you."
Grey wasn't quite sure what to make of the sudden increase in her heart rate or the rush of heat to her cheeks just then. She even had to bring her tea cup up to her face in order to cover up her sudden smile.
Sarge looked nearly as red as his armor, his eyes darting away as he tried to think of something else to say or to perhaps negate his commentary entirely.
Doctor Grey found that she didn't want that to happen. So, she spoke up instead, bringing up a topic she had been curious about and that would no doubt be classified as a "safe" one for both of them.
"I'm trying to get everyone's medical records to be as accurate as possible," she said without preamble, "But the one thing I appear to be missing from yours is your age, Sarge."
"Oh." He looked towards her, then away again, and then back all the while with his face still completely red, "Twenty-nine."
He said it emphatically enough, but Doctor Grey knew a patient's lie when she heard one.
Dexter Grif hadn't left Richard Simmons' side since the latest upgrade surgery. Grey watched the pair from the clinic's doorway, finding herself smiling fondly at the sight.
Grif had his hand resting on Simmons' metallic one, ignoring the visible shudder that had initially sparked up at the contact throughout his body. Meanwhile, the redheaded cyborg was smiling up at the orange-wearing man sleepily from his still drug-induced fuzziness.
They were whispering softly to one another. Sometimes there was a bit of bickering about what they were going to do when Simmons was able to leave, but no matter what they were always conversing happily.
It was rare to see the two being so obviously open about their feelings for one another, and Doctor Grey had a suspicion they would both deny it ever happened when Simmons was back to feeling better.
"They really should just admit it already." Sarge, her partner-in-crime from the earlier surgery, remarked with a sigh and a harrumph behind her.
The dark-haired woman turned in his direction and began walking when he motioned that they should give the two men a few moments alone, asking in surprise: "You'd be okay with that?"
After all, it was common knowledge that Sarge wasn't the biggest fan of Grif's.
The Reds' leader scoffed, "They're both good kids, even Grif on the ultra-rare occasions when he isn't being a lazy dirt-bag." He smiled and winked at her conspiratorially, "Besides, I'm pretty sure I knew they loved each other even before they ever did."
The smile on his gruff features was genuine and fond, full of warmth. Grey decided that she loved that look on him.
Coughing to cover up the sudden flushing of her cheeks, she decided to attempt changing the subject again, "Sarge, about your age…"
He looked at her again as her statement trailed off, awkward all of a sudden and once more very red-faced, "Twenty-nine."
The woman resisted the urge to rest her hand over his reassuringly like she had seen Grif doing with Simmons earlier.
Doctor Emily Grey lived for knowledge, for facts. After all, she had been writing theses at age twelve. She'd started her career as a doctor then as well.
She had lost more than twice as many patients as she'd saved during the war. She had lost her parents, her only family, when still in her teens.
She had moved to Chorus following the ceasefire. She lived in a warehouse there.
Donald Doyle was getting ulcers from stress, just as Vanessa Kimball was going to collapse from exhaustion one day.
Some of the new recruits could be a bit of a handful. She had a new family now in the Reds and Blues.
Junior was Tucker's genetically engineered son. He had been trying to oh-so-subtly get his father and Wash to move in together ever since she knew him.
Sarge's weapon of choice was his shotgun. He had it with him even when he was asleep or taking a shower.
Carolina was taciturn and quiet. Her brother was called Leonard Church or Epsilon.
Donut made the best coffee, and Frank "Doc" DuFresne had become smitten with him.
Kaikaina Grif was training to be a medic under Grey's colleague, Bones.
Sheila and Lopez were robots who were in love. Grey found that immensely fascinating, just as she found it fascinating that Caboose's best friends were somehow Church and a talking gun named Freckles.
Grif and Simmons were both head over heels in love with one another, and she knew now that she felt the same way for Sarge.
Yes, she liked listing all the facts she knew. It was important for everything to be accurate in Emily's life whenever possible.
"I'm thirty-one." She promptly told Sarge one evening when they were again sitting side-by-side.
He blinked, not quite getting what she meant, "Excuse me?"
"I'm thirty-one." She repeated for emphasis before turning to stare at him pointedly, "I'm afraid I don't date younger men."
For a moment, Sarge stared at her dumbfounded before a blush came across his face to match her own as he smiled awkwardly.
"I'm forty-two." He admitted, rubbing the back of his gray head of hair, "I know, I aged horribly."
"No, you're perfect." She leaned forward with a gleam in her dark brown eyes, "Older men are definitely a turn-on."
Then they were kissing, just like that. Given the warmth flooding through her body as Sarge's arms wrapped around her and she found hers doing the same, Doctor Emily Grey was quite certain this kiss would not be the last.
Author's Notes: My first side-story prequel for the "The opposite of war is…" series, as well as my first attempt at writing from Doctor Grey's perspective. I hope I did her character justice, and that the romance was enjoyable too!
That, as they say, is that! I hope that this side-story was a good fleshing out for the plot of the fic universe for everyone! :)
Thank you so much for reading it! :D