The decision to join him in the shower had been a good one....well more so a brilliant one. She avoided pondering over the tender moments since it was about business and pleasure. Nothing more, nothing less.

There were no business plans or arrangements so after another shower together to take care of the results of their well....water sports....the pair if anything had collapsed back in bed for a bit of a recovery session.

Danger's naked form had curled in her sleep languidly against his own, an arm thrown across the muscular expanse of his chest, legs in a tangle with his own.

She had hoped that he would be a temporary escape from the nightmares and memories but as soon as she closed her eyes and submitted to sleep it all came back again...

————————————————————————— —————————-

"Danica Wyls, Codename: Danger do you know why this court meeting has been called." "I am well aware, sir, despite my disapproval of the circumstances. I was only reacting in the measures necessary to protect my soldiers." "You mean to protect your brother." "The protection of Sgt. William Wyls is irrelevant sir, a null and void topic given that at the time of my actions he was deceased."

A lift of chin as her eyes narrowed, glistening in a chilling shade of frost blue as her jaw clenched.

"Were you not given strict orders to not use what was given to you by the military. In fact did you not sign a contract that agreed to not publicly display your....enhancements and therefore put the rest of the team at risk?" "I did sir. However, I felt given the circumstances and the lack of capability to thoroughly search for landmines in our designated region that it was the best call." "So you made an executive decision above your ranks, Sgt Wyls?" "I did sir. I took the measures and means necessary to protect my soldiers."

Her eyes flickered as she ignored the murmurs of the irrational decisions of a woman in charge. Well she knew that her and the other soldiers in her unit had been ....enhanced....to serve in the war despite the protests of many of the civilians that had come into the knowledge.

Some of the peace loving sorts had felt it was unnecessary, unfair, and unreasonable means. Unjust they called it....but when ever was their justice truly in war"

Quietly she watched those discussing judgement. Had it only been days ago they had buried her brother in the ground" Had it only been days they had handed the folded flag to her and the proper medals that her brother deserved for his death?

It all didn't matter. It didn't bring him back.

She was alone and without family, and it seemed even now her soldiers were not those to stand behind her for fear that it may impact their own status in the military. Bastards.

She couldn't really blame them....they had families....wives and children to raise and take care of. Danica was the lone wolf in the bunch. A purse of lips as she heard the judgement.

All means necessary. She had done it all by all means necessary. Using that tracking ability and her own bio-genetical enhancements to find every single landmine in their area and setting them off. Men had died, thankfully none of her own....but still in the military's consideration....innocents.

In Danger's mind....no one was innocent in that territory.

"Sgt. Wyls I am sorry but we will have to place you a temporary probation. You will return to normal duties at the desk given the recent circumstances..."

"I apologize for the interruption but sir....I am a soldier. I am not a desk wench to paper push and type up reports. This is what I was born to do. If I cannot do that....well consider this my resignation. I've put in far too much time and dedication to my services within the corps to be put on a desk."

A lift of jaw, eyes narrowing even as she pulled off the dogtags that claimed her rank insignia and her connection to the military. Tossing them to the floor even as she still wore her brother's tags around her neck.

All the same there was still respect as she stiffly saluted and waited for the dismissal.

She was on her own.

————————————————————————— ————————-

A faint murmur was breathed against his shoulder, a protest in those dreams and an inaudible word. In sleep her fingers clenched into his shoulder as if he was an anchor, the only thing keeping her above it all when in those dreams and memories she felt like she was doing nothing more then drowning.

Instead of a birthday cake she was staring at a bottle of whiskey, leaning in the window frame wearing nothing more then her striped pants and the suspenders covering the important portions of chest.

The bottle was half drained as she closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the cool pane of the glass, taking a deep breath in as she stumbled. It wasn't her first bottle and it wouldn't be her last that's for sure.

The limelight green of her eyes flashed over her empty room before falling on the reminders of the night prior.

Sinking down to her knees to the carpet she set the bottle aside for a moment to pick up the dvd. A worn copy, the cover showing its age.

A princess and her stable boy. The Princess Bride.

One of her many secrets, one of the things to be secretly treasured.

Head tipped back as she stared at the ceiling before sinking down into the carpet and spreading out limbs like a snow angel that had forgotten how to fly, how to move.

Danger stared at the ceiling, feeling so much more like Danica tonight as a movie about fairytale romance and soul mates rested on her chest, just above a heart that held a soft beat of uncertainty and wonder.