Title: Someone Who Sees Me

Someone Who Sees Me
by Gail

Galindez gets in next to me and shuts the car door.

"You should rest, sir," he says as we ride toward the airport. Galindez is always serious. Reliable. Good.

I nod and close my eyes. He's right, even though I don't want him to be. I don't want to rest. I want to find Sadik and make sure he never gets the chance to torture anyone or buy weapons or plot any actions against the United States again.

"You're thinking." I feel a touch on my shoulder, which is one of the few places that doesn't hurt. "Not resting."

"I don't recall asking for a nursemaid."

I know that he's smiling, even with my eyes closed. "I'm a Marine, sir, not a nursemaid, and I'll be happy to remind you of that when you're better."

"There's a reason to do what the doctors tell me, hm?" I'm smiling. Having Victor Galindez work in undercover operations with me has turned into one of the best partnerships I've ever had the pleasure to enjoy. I open my eyes and see him staring at me.

"Yes, sir." He touches my shoulder again, and I let my eyes close. He won't mind, and the rest will do me good. "The colonel will be pleased when you're better."

"The colonel will be locked in Commander Rabb's arms before they get off the plane, if he plays it right," I say dryly. There's not much chance that he'll play it right, knowing Rabb and his stubbornness, especially about Sarah, but I'd like to think that this time, it would matter enough to him to step out of himself and do the thing that'll get him who he wants.

Rabb doesn't know how good a friend to him I am. With me as a rival for Sarah, he'll have to do something to keep her, and he might even do the right thing. I know now that it would never work between Sarah and me. I was lying to myself and to her when I said that I needed her. I'll have
to find time to tell her that. She has affection for me, but nothing more than that, and even though I could trade on that for a while, I'm not going to.

"I called Mrs. Webb. She'll meet the plane."

I should have expected this.

"She asked me to make sure you were still on it when it landed."

It hurts to smile, but I do it anyway. "I'll require a parachute." A small joke.

"No, sir, you won't. I gave her my word."

I'm a stubborn man, but I've met my match in Gunnery Sergeant Victor Galindez. "Very well."

My damned hand is shaking again. I have to stop it.

I can't. Dammit, I can't. This is intolerable.

He closes his hand around mine before I can get my good hand over to do it myself. "The doctors will know what to do, sir."

I hope so. I'll have to ask Mother to call in a specialist. The Company will do only so much, especially for me. "Stop calling me 'sir'. We're not working now."

"Aren't we always working, sir?"

"Not always." I get my fingers to squeeze his. "You know that."

How many nights have I spent with him, stared into his dark eyes as I got him off and let myself go when he reciprocated? Dammit, I can't think straight. I need to get home. I'll be all right there.

He squeezes back. "Yes. Now rest. I'll get you home."

And he will.

I don't need Sarah. I have someone else to turn to, someone who sees me, not Harmon Rabb. I have Victor.

The End