Army of One

7

Sergeant McCarthy had been right. She was assigned to a MEDDAC unit and spent her first month getting settled into the real Army lifestyle. Just as he'd said, it was like any other job and she found herself enjoying it immensely and the post, well, aside from the arctic temperatures here at FT Crumb, New York, home of the light infantry division. Amanda had been assigned to the same place and unit as herself and though they weren't roommates, they lived in the same barracks just down the hall from one another. They both worked in the same medical clinic, but were to be rotating every few weeks or so to each department. For now, Amanda was working alongside the doctors during the normal duty day while Emma worked the graveyard shift in the emergency room.

Overall, life was good. Life was, well, perfect.

Right up until she heard that voice.

Only one person in the world possessed that voice...

At boot camp, Ethan came into her world, or rather she into his, and for weeks on end tormented her, humiliated her and even ignored her. He spent countless hours making her life a living hell and then, then, it only took him roughly twenty minutes to turn her world completely upside down and sideways along with the contents of his office. That was one hell of a mess he left her with that to this day she wasn't quite sure how she managed to get everything cleaned up before anyone came back. One large garbage bag and a broom took care of all that was smashed and thank God she noticed the condom in the trash can as well. All of it went into the dumpster outside the barracks and she simply hung the pictures back on the wall and reattached the blinds as best as she could.

Now, she shrank back around the corner to stay out of sight and used the convex mirror mounted near the ceiling to confirm her suspicions.

There was Ethan, being helped by another soldier as he limped his way down the hallway towards the check-in window.

The four long months spent at FT Sham in Texas going to school gave Emma time to think about Ethan, a little too much time. She was angry that he'd treated her like crap all because he 'had a thing' for her and couldn't handle it, angry that he left her behind with the room in shambles to clean up, angry that he left her with nothing but a kiss, angry that he just plain left. The only thing she blamed herself for was her own attraction to him and giving into that attraction. Like she could help it? After a while, she knew it was useless to dwell on any of it. He had an itch... an itch she was more than willing to scratch and what happened was done and over with. They both got what they wanted and were never supposed to see each other again.

Yet here he was, about ready to enter her world again and there wasn't much she could do to avoid it. This was her job, to be the first to see incoming patients, make sure their medical notes were written up before the doctor even came in to see them. There was only one other medic on duty with her tonight, her roommate Cassidy Clements. They got along well enough and so maybe she could talk Cassidy into covering for her until he was released? Well, she supposed that depended on exactly why he was here. He was limping, so that would mean X-rays were needed and if the bone was broken...

"Eeeep!" She was pulled from her thoughts by a tapping on her shoulder. She turned to see Major Prescott, the doctor on duty that night. She'd become fast friends with the quirky woman even though the stupid fraternization regulations were supposed to squash any friendliness beyond the workplace. Like very many people followed those rules anyway as long as no sexual boundaries were crossed among the officers and enlisted folks?

"Sorry, Emma. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"It's okay, I'm okay," she panted from her fright then peeked back around the corner to watch as Cassidy checked Ethan in.