by K Alexander
Their eyes remain connected, watching warily for any undue movement. They are both aware that this is a situation fraught with jeopardy. Ryan speaks first.
"You know that Turner's gone down?"
"So she said." His head twitches ever so slightly in the direction of the door. Ryan nods.
"She's right. Are you one of his?" When he doesn't answer, his dark eyes inscrutably on hers, she half-smiles. "Okay. She's telling the truth. How much do you know about what he was doing?" Still he doesn't answer. The lean soldier shrugs. "Smart move. If I knew I'd have to kill you." Her eyes slip to the woman in his arms again. "You hear you have the wrong one?"
"Is that right?"
She nods. As quick as lightning he pushes Claire forward, towards her, and in the same instance swings his gun around. Thrusting out an arm Ryan grabs the blonde's arm roughly and yanks her to the side as she jabs at the barrel of the rifle, pushing it upwards with the heel of her hand. The flash of heat on her flesh as it discharges goes unnoticed as Ryan catapults forward into the sturdy muscular man, her shoulder driving into his chest. Even as his hands are scrabbling for supremacy on the weapon he lifts a booted foot and drives it into her shin, the force only slightly diminished by her rapid checking move. She clenches her teeth against the sharp pain and drives an elbow into his stomach harshly, flinching as his own elbow meets the side of her jaw briefly even while the breath is forced from him in a painful gasp. Taking advantage of his assault she wraps her other hand back around the weapon and uses her greater grip to lever it over towards her. Realizing her intention Sierra quickly fixes his grip on the rifle too. They remain locked, and to his surprise the taller soldier holds her ground, the muscles in her lean forearms bulging as she keeps the weapon forced towards the ceiling. Her teeth gritted against the exertion, she addresses him in a growl.
"Do you really want to be involved in this?"
He tries to shift his grip, abandoning the attempt when his maneuvering seems not to have any effect. "I'm a soldier. You of all people should understand that."
There is movement behind him and Ryan shakes her head in warning at the rising blonde before she bares her teeth to him in a fierce grimace. "Look where obeisance got me. You think you want to walk this road?"
"I don't choose my road." He kicks out in an attempt to connect with her already bruised shin, but she blocks adeptly and delivers a quick stinging blow to the bridge of his foot.
"If you don't choose your road, you'd better be mighty sure the one who does won't deliver you to the wolves. You think Turner gives a shit about you?" She sets herself against the renewed force of his thrust, pushing in so close that her torso is pressed against his. "Grow balls, man. You're alone in this. Make your own decision."
He pushes forward against her, using his barrel chest to drive her backwards, and is almost tripped over his own feet when she twists around and lets him push past her. Their hands drop lower and she slams the heel of her hand into his fingers, forcing the barrel away from her. Surging forward she drives a knee upwards into his groin, and even the glancing contact as he tries to twist away causes an exploding pain in his gut. Grunting, he tries to hold on, but the force of the second blow drives him to his knees. Clutching his privates he steels himself against another blow, and when it doesn't come he glances upwards in puzzlement. Ryan is standing in front of him, her face stark as she holds the rifle loosely.
"Don't let him use you like he's done with me. You're not a part of this war. I'm going to go into that room to check on Melville. If you're not here when I come back I'd most likely not remember your face. Do you understand me?"
He nods dumbly, cautiously. Walking around him the lean woman extends a hand to the trembling blonde and pulls her into a one-armed hug, tender and intimate, before she leads her towards the door, limping slightly, and opens it. Her last glance over the blonde's shoulder to Sierra is one of unexpected kinship, before she disappears from his view forever.
------
Melville is already dead. He did not suffer; Ryan can see that - from the angle of his broken neck it happened expertly and very quickly. Shielding Claire from the sight she says a silent prayer for his soul, hoping that it helps at all, and then leads the blonde back into the empty living room. The two soldiers are gone. When she feels Claire's knees threatening to buckle she lays the rifle on the couch and wraps her other arm around the blonde, holding her close. Though Claire is not crying her breathing is irregular.
"Andy?"
"Your sister's okay, Walsch, just a bit battered. She's outside with the paramedics and anxious to check on you." The dark woman drops a soft kiss on the blonde head, and then leans back to check the split lip and bloodied cheek with gentle fingers, apologizing with a murmur when her actions bring a wince to the other woman's face. "You?"
"I'm fine." Claire's blue eyes take in the dried trail of blood running down Ryan's face and tears start to well up. With a shake of her head the soldier pulls the blonde close again, trying to convey the depth of her suddenly rising emotion in one such a simple gesture. They stand for a long time, and to her mortification the soldier doesn't notice the Spanish woman standing in the open door of the apartment until Ruiz clears her throat pointedly.
"Is this a bad time?" She looks Ryan over concernedly with her slanted eyes. "¿Estas bien?"
Claire starts in Ryan's arms, twisting around to look at the dark woman, and when she glances back at the soldier her face is questioning and heartbreakingly defenseless. Ignoring the dark woman Ryan shakes her head once. "It's not what you think, Claire. This is my cousin, Sophia Ruiz. She's with a government agency."
Claire's eyes take in the immaculately dressed and gorgeous woman. "FBI?"
"No." Ryan shakes her head again, and in her green eyes Claire can clearly see that she won't pursue the subject. A frown creeps across the doctor's face.
"You were kissing your cousin?"
"Mm. She won't let me hear the end of it either." Ryan's voice is dry and Ruiz's eyebrow is lifted in an ironic way which makes her resemble the soldier very closely. "I was trying to make her connection to me a little more ambiguous. She's not easy to find but Turner would have had the means, had he suspected anything other than what he did. He thought he knew me well enough to make assumptions. He didn't."
"So you kissed her." Now Claire's tone is dry too.
A muffled chuckle escapes Sophie's throat. "I feel the same way about that." Her dark eyes switch to Ryan. "¿Es ella?"
Ryan raises an eyebrow and stares at the dark woman intensely for a long time before she finally nods. "Si, prima, es ella."
Her cousin smiles, and it is such a beautiful smile, all sparkle and dimples, that Claire cannot help but smile with her even though she has no idea what has just been said. Ruiz approaches the blonde and takes her gently by the arm, levering her from Ryan's firm hold.
"Come, chica, your sister is going insane with worry." She leads Claire towards the door. "And you're in shock. You need to see the paramedics." Shooting Ryan a quick look over her shoulder Ruiz adds. "You too, prima - unless you want to go out the way you came in."
Ryan grimaces. "If I never see a drainpipe in my life again it'll be too soon."
------ The kind older doctor is putting careful stitches in the gash on Andy's cheek as Claire looks on, holding her sister's hand tightly. Occasionally Andy squeezes Claire's hand, though neither is sure whether it serves to reassure Claire or to remind her to lighten her grip.
Ryan is perched on a bed in the corner in a serious quiet discussion with Sophia Ruiz, her face still and her eyes intermittently shifting over her cousin's shoulder to the two blondes sitting two beds over. The soldier did not want to come to the hospital, writing off any injuries as minor, but was persuaded by Ruiz's terse argument that the Walsch sisters needed attention. She has already been checked out by a doctor, and apart from him it is only she and Ruiz who knows that she has retained a slight concussion from the blow to her head. Externally the only sign
of discomfort is the ice-pack she's pressing gingerly against her badly bruised shin. Ryan leans in close to say something and then shoots that almost-smile across the Spanish woman's shoulder, gratified to see Claire's eyes crinkle in her direction before the blonde turns back to her sister.
Ruiz smiles. "You've got it bad, Ryan."
The solder snorts. "Don't read anything into it. It's just lust, Ruiz. Adrenaline and … whatever else. The result of stress."
Her cousin lifts an arched eyebrow. "If that buzz between the two of you is just a result of stress - then I'd better have a hysterectomy before my line of work makes me repopulate the entire earth."
"You're funny. Not to me, but to a lot of other people. Probably." Ryan shifts the ice-pack a little and yawns. "What a day."
Sophie Ruiz is about to say something when her mobile phone rings. Ignoring Ryan's green eyes twinkling at the blaring tones of "The Animaniacs", the Spanish woman flips open her mobile.
"Sì." She listens for a while, her face losing its dynamic expression rapidly to become impassive. "Sì. Sì. Is he badly hurt?" Ryan leans closer, her eyebrows drawing together as she watches Ruiz. The woman turns her back towards Ryan and listens for a little while more before she closes her phone and turns to the soldier. Even though she takes care to keep her features smooth, Ryan has known her long enough to notice the almost invisible signs of strain in the set of her full lips. Likewise, Ruiz has known Ryan long enough to pick up the underlying distress when the soldier speaks quickly.
"What? Sophie?"
"It's Turner." As she speaks she steps closer to Ryan. "Somehow he's gone missing between the building site and the hospital. Ortega found the ambulance driver wandering around two blocks down - he'd been hit in the head with something. Can't remember a thing." Her dark eyes take in the grim set of Ryan's jaw as the lean woman moves the ice-pack away from her shin, putting it down on the bed, and in an ostensibly affable gesture she places her right hand lightly on Ryan's right shoulder. "There was an agent in the back of the ambulance with him. That man is now hurt - or he's in on it. Either way, this goes… "
"… deeper than I thought it had." Ryan finishes the sentence and shifts to slip off the bed, glancing down in frustration at the hand against her shoulder which has now turned to a firm resistance and is pushing her back. "Sophie, let me go. I have to be there."
"No." The same touch of steel in Ryan's voice is now in Ruiz's. The Spanish woman cocks her head and indicates the two blonde women behind her, one of which is now glancing over towards the obviously agitated soldier. "That is where you have to be, prima. With her. I don't think Turner will take the chance of turning up anywhere soon, but if he does, and it's in her area again, will you be able to live with that?"
The dark woman's jaw shifts tensely and she locks eyes with her cousin turbulently. "That's why I have to go, Sophie. I have to find him. She can't be a part of this."
"What you're saying is that you don't want her to be a part of you, prima." Ruiz speaks softly but her words are potent. "She already is. You always want to be the one who goes first. I know you, prima. You're trying to save her by running away so that she won't have to." Laying a gentle hand on Ryan's face she cups the strong jaw affectionately. "Why not give her a chance to decide for herself? She's a tough one, and she's stood with you this far. She must actually like your grumpy ass."
Yanking her head from Sophie's hand Ryan turns her head away. "She doesn't know what I'm like. And besides, it's not about that. Turner… "
"… is my business now. And she'll never know if you don't give her the opportunity." Seeing Ryan's eyes shift past her for a moment Ruiz steps back. "Don't undervalue your worth, prima. I don't like when you do that to somebody I love." With that she turns and shares a radiant smile with a surprised Claire, who has just stepped up behind her. "I have to go. Under better circumstances it would have been delightful to meet you, doctor Walsch. I think we'll see each other again soon. Please take care of my cousin. She doesn't do too well herself."
"Thank you so much for everything, agent Ruiz." Instead of taking the proffered hand Claire leans forward and places a kind kiss on the Spanish woman's cheek. Cocking her eyebrow jauntily Ruiz grins at her still glowering cousin.
"Adiós, prima. ¡cuídate."
When the woman walks towards Andy to greet her Ryan frowns. "I should be going with her."
Claire's face is carefully neutral. "If that's where you want to be, you have to go."
Sighing, Ryan turns her head to look at the blonde with those bright green eyes before she smiles just a little and reaches out a hand to tuck a strand of the light hair back behind Claire's ear. "It's where I think I should be, but that's definitely not where I want to be." Her thumb brushes gently over the doctor's rounded bottom lip, avoiding the discolored cut. "How's Andy?"
Closing her eyes against the feather-light touch Claire turns her head to follow the motion of Ryan's finger before she answers. "He hit her so many times. They're all superficial wounds, but she'll hurt for a while. I wish she hadn't decided to surprise me."
She can see the muscles in Ryan's jaw jump as the soldier grits her teeth and glances away. "I should have killed him when I had the chance. He was a sickening man."
"You have more integrity than that." Laying a soft hand on Ryan's forearm Claire strokes the smooth corded skin soothingly. "Can I ask you something?"
"You can ask me anything."
"Melville?"
A corner of Ryan's mouth twitches upwards into a small melancholy smile. "Ah, Christopher." Wrapping her hand over Claire's she holds it still for a moment. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about him, Claire. I should have, I just never… I didn't… Anyway, I apologize." She is quiet after the atypical display of hesitation, and it is only when Claire's hand shifts under her own that she continues softly. "I married Christopher in the late eighties when I was still with the army. It was pure subterfuge - I was attracted to women, and the army didn't … encourage that behaviour." A quick bitter smirk crosses her face. "No, let me be clearer, actually. I don't want to gloss over it. My behavior was atrocious, nothing to be supported. I used and abused women as I felt like it, without a scrap of decency. I screwed around, I lied, I cheated, I damaged. It only lasted until I became involved with a superior officer's wife, and when the consequences of that hit me… well, the option to marry Christopher, a friend and colleague of mine at the time, was the easiest compromise. Or so I thought." She shakes her head. "I never stopped to wonder why the powers that be would want him to look respectable too. We were married in name for about a year, but it felt like forever. Christopher likes… liked to hit. I hit back, of course, cocky little thing that I was then, but when it got really bad and I went to his commanding officer, my complaint was blocked from above. He beat the crap out of me that year, and everybody looked in the opposite direction. I suppose I deserved it for my sins. In any case, when they found out that he liked women too, but just a tad too young to be legal, his sins finally became bigger than mine and he was shipped off to a very small, very strict base in the northwest, and I was delicately reminded to keep my behavior in check."
Claire watches her intently. "I hate to think what you mean when you say 'delicately'."
"Hmm." Ryan nods. "The methods were always … resourceful. But I took the point. I maintained a certain image, taking great care to keep my personal life personal. When I went into Fairwater Christopher was still at his little base, keeping his nose clean, but somewhere in the middle, Ruiz told me, he completely lost it and raped a captain's daughter. He has… had nothing but the army. His attempt to blackmail Turner with you was a completely delusional last-ditch effort."
When the soldier stops talking and looks down at their connected hands Claire watches her silently for a long while before she speaks. "Did you really think you deserved what happened to you?"
"I hurt people. I didn't ever expect any mercy."
"It's not about just surviving. It's about thriving." Leanin
g forward Claire kisses her lightly before she steps back. "Can we go home now?"
------ The greying man frowns at the ringing phone and slams down his pen, motioning for an aide to close the door before he lifts the handset.
"What?"
"It's me." The male voice on the other side is breathy and fainter than usual. "There's been a breach."
The grey man pokes the pink file on the desk in front of him with a desultory finger. "Yes, I know. I hear everything, do you forget?"
"Whatever." Even his physical distress isn't tempering his rudeness. "Reparative measures need to be taken."
"Already done. Will you be all right?" It's a cursory question without much concern, and that fact is clear.
"Sure. That bitch Ryan… " Turner clears his throat and winces at the agony flaring through his chest with the motion. "I'm keeping it low key for a while, until I'm on my feet again. Then I'm going after her myself."
"You will do no such thing, General." The man's voice is smooth and soothing, a real asset to his career. "Leave it alone. You've messed up time and time again with regards to that woman. We'll be watching her closely, and if she makes any move to follow up we'll take action. In the meantime the US Army will sincerely - and truthfully - apologize for your … rogue faction's action and offer some sort of remuneration for her extreme distress, and you won't be anywhere to be found. Technically this thing is dead. Do you understand me?"