10_ocs: #07 Nothing

[gelbes_gilatier]

Title: A Push
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Character: Major Evan Lorne
Prompt: #07 Nothing
Word Count: 1.771
Rating: K+
Summary: For some reason, Major Lorne feels the need to make Lieutenant Reece see her new boss is much less fearsome than she thinks.
Author's Notes: Second SG-10 10_ocs piece (because I decided that the community being gone is no reason not to finish the challenge), introducing another member of SG-10 through the eyes of Major Lorne. This one takes place after Both Sides... oh, and language warning because if there's one thing Reece mastered quite well in OCS, it's the potty Marine mouth (although mackenziesmomma said she was disappointed that there wasn't more of that in here...).

And here's the table.

 

A Push 

“And all this time
All this time
You've had it in you
You just sometimes need a push.”

Maria Mena, “All This Time”

 What the… first, there was a blur in SGC blue, then a screeching, then a crash and then, “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” could be heard through the whole corridor. A little wary, he decides to have a look at what the hell just happened and rounds the corner he heard the crash coming from.

The sight that greets him… makes it a bit hard for him to keep serious. On the ground, there’s a young woman in SGC fatigues with red curls who’s swearing under her breath and rubbing her shoulder and her ankle. He clears his throat in a futile attempt to hide his amusement and says, “Everything okay, Lieutenant?”  

The woman in question – he recognized her as Thomas Moore’s new linguist, First Lieutenant Maureen Reece, USMC – suddenly stops swearing and turns around to him, furiously blushing the moment she recognizes who just addressed her. “Uh no, sir, really, I’m fine. Thanks… thanks for asking, though.”

Yeah, that’s the Reece he got to know a few weeks ago. He’d passed by Moore’s office and had been a little weirded out by the amount of yelling coming out of it. Okay, so Moore had never been one of the quiet officers but he thinks he never heard him yell like that at anyone before. After a few more minutes of spectacular achievements in the department of volume, the yelling had ceased and a young woman had nearly crept out of the office… matching the girl from the record Moore had shown him a month prior to the yelling incident.

All she’d done, though, when he’d remarked that dogs who bark don’t bite had been a little tight smile that had been a strange crossover between shy and sarcastic and scurrying away. Now however… she doesn’t look like she’ll do much scurrying for a certain amount of time. “Fine, huh? Doesn’t look like that to me, you know.”

She blushes a little more if that’s even possible and looks away, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “It was just… I’ll be fine, sir, really.” With that, she tries to get up… only to be hindered by an ankle that doesn’t really want to cooperate. Another curse escapes her. “Stupid fucking…” Then she seems to have realized that there’s a superior officer present and she clears her throat. “Sorry, sir. I… uh… I might need your assistance.”

Now he finally can’t hold back a grin anymore. “Sure.” He holds out his hand and after a little hassling, she comes to stand on her feet. A little wobbly at first but it seems like she got back her footing.

Well… until her first step, that is. Apparently, she must have hit the ankle pretty hard because she only gets to limp a few steps. There’s something sounding suspiciously like a growl coming from her and then a murmured, “The Major will kill me.”

Whoa. Seems like Moore was pretty much successful with his usual tactic of instilling fear in his junior officers. And like always, he feels the irresistible urge to counter it… not just because he just can’t resist a chance to get on Moore’s nerves but also because he wants to keep Moore from losing a good subordinate because not everyone knows him as well as he does. He sighs soundlessly. “Nah, he won’t.”

She turns around, giving him another one of those tight little smiles. “Yes, he will. There’s a mission in two days and he’ll kill me because he’ll think I did this on purpose so I won’t have to take part in it.” Uh-oh, someone started to ramble… and he keeps on being amused, painfully having to disguise it so as not to startle her. “But I was really just… I had this great idea concerning that translation on my desk when I was in the mess hall and I… and I will now stop talking and try to find a hole where I can hide myself for all eternity. Yeah. Good plan.”

Hey… a Marine with a sense of self-irony… that’s something unheard of, he’s sure. Grinning a little, he replies, “Or we could get you to the infirmary first.” She wants to say something – to object, no doubt and he wonders if Moore has any clue as to what trouble that Marine could be if she realized how headstrong she apparently is – but he thinks she’s done enough objecting for today. “No buts, Lieutenant. Come on, you need to have them look at it if you want to be fit for that mission.”

That… seems to have the desired effect. Alright, so he should keep this in mind, in case Moore really starts bitching about his lazy Marine Lieutenant who never wants to go on missions… although, if he’s honest, Moore never did that before. It’s the one thing he never bitched about since having Reece on his team. He bitched about clumsiness, lacking shooting skills, lacking tactical skills… but never about laziness. “Yeah… yeah, guess you’re right, sir. Alright, I’ll take a little trip to the infirma…”

“We will take a little trip to the infirmary, Lieutenant,” he says friendly, but firmly enough that she has to realize he means business. Of course he could let her go on her own but one of the reasons he chose to serve was that he wanted to help people in need… and that includes fellow soldiers.

After something that could also be a resigned sigh, she finally gives in. “Alright, sir. We will take a little trip to the infirmary.” With that she lets him pull her arm over his shoulders and slowly they make their way through the corridor. She grits her teeth but not once he does hear her whining or wailing, not even a little whimper and he starts to realize… that he was right in telling Moore there might be more to this Marine than he thought.

But from the way she fears Moore’s reaction to this little accident… he also gets the feeling that he might have to make her see that there’s more to Moore than just the sadistic bastard she might think him to be. He clears his throat. “Lieutenant… just for the record: I really don’t think Major Moore will kill you for a sprained or broken ankle.”

She grunts, and then says, “Maybe he wouldn’t if it had happened during a heroic attempt to save the galaxy… but not if it happened because I couldn’t slow down in time.” Yeah, okay, right… good point.

Still… “It’ll be fine, honestly. So yeah, he might do that yelling bit again, but…” and here he feels himself growing a little more serious because he has the feeling that the Lieutenant won’t listen to him otherwise, “Lieutenant, I know you have a slightly different picture of him but I’ve known Major Moore for a few years now and I can honestly say he’s a very decent guy.”

There’s a short, humorless snort from her. “No offense, sir, but you are also not a Marine Lieutenant who’s fresh out of OCS and can do nothing right.”

The cynical and near desperate undertones of the statement make him stop so he can look her in the eye. “Look, I know he’s been giving you hell… but it’s because he does that to every newbie on his team. He even did it to Laura… Captain Greenspan. I just bet he even did it to Sergeant DeLisle. He’ll get over it, eventually. And you’ll survive it.” Well, if the galaxy doesn’t kill her first but he’s pretty sure she learned that already.

Now… her eyes start to shimmer a little and he’d like to attribute it to the pain but his instincts tell him that right now, the pain is totally irrelevant to her. “I’m neither Laura Greenspan nor Simon DeLisle, sir. That says enough, doesn’t it?”

Right now… he’d really like to tell her what Laura told him about her – that she’s working very hard to keep up with the team, doesn’t complain on missions and does very well with the additional workload from the Translations department – but he has the feeling that it’s something Laura needs to tell her so all he says is, “No, you’re not. You’re Lieutenant Maureen Reece who apparently did well enough in college and OCS that someone found it a good idea to suggest her as part of a SG team. That says enough, doesn’t it?”

Reece opens her mouth again and he’s positive she wants to veto him again so he raises his index finger and gives her his best ‘Enough of that nonsense’ CO glare and she thinks again before answering. In the end it’s simply, “Right, sir. It… does.”

Satisfied with her answer, he takes her arm around his shoulders again and replies, “Glad you finally see that, Lieutenant.”

At first, she doesn’t say anything… but after a few more hobbled steps, she mumbles under her breath, just a little defiantly, “He’s still gonna kill me.”

Something in that… was irresistibly funny and he just can’t hold back a snort before he says, “Nah, he won’t. He’s too afraid of Captain Greenspan for that.”

To his surprise, her reaction is a little amused snort and then, “You might… have a point there, sir.” Of course he does. He wants to tell her so but she adds, “So… hope you don’t mind me asking… but where exactly do you know the Major from?”

Huh… where’s that timid little Lieutenant Moore had been bitching about and who he’d seen just a few minutes ago? Seems… seems like all it takes to lure Reece out of her shell are a few well-placed friendly words and treating her as the officer she was… not the one she wasn’t, at least not yet. Maybe… he really should talk to Moore about that. “Well, we were in the same Academy class. Actually, I know a nice little story about Major Moore that I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me telling you…”

Alright, so Moore probably would mind it… but better he wants to kill him for telling that story than Reece for being a little hasty. So he starts telling her his story during their laborious trek to the infirmary, with the firm resolve in the back of his mind to give Moore a word or two about being an ass to every newbie – and this one, especially – on his team. Yeah. Good plan.