Project Winters

Holly snickered softly to herself as she stalked away from the table, okay so perhaps the parting remarks had been a little cruel but she’d softened it with her parting note right? Holly had never been subject to Baird’s cocky and sarcastic nature that seemed to make up the better part of his personality and she had always been curious as to why. She’d thought it was her position as his CO, being a woman maybe he didn’t like it but he never appeared to be misogynistic, well not any more than the others were. Then she wondered if it was simply her he didn’t like, she knew she wasn’t over popular amongst the other Gears; a little rash and headstrong not to mention rather a control freak, made her want to be in command but made being under her command somewhat hazardous at times. The missions they were often given tended to be on the safer side, if any part of the war could be considered in that fashion, but no drastic or potential balance tipping moments were ever placed in her control and Holly for one accepted this. She could get her missions done even if she was a little unorthodox about the way she went about it.

Psi squad had been with her for sometime and had suffered minimal casualties, they’d teamed her up with a good group of guys that could perhaps offset their CO’s brashness and rein her in a little. All of them except for Damon Baird when he was a part of the team, he seemed to in fact make it worse and she never understood why he couldn’t follow her orders and get things done like all the others. Over time she honestly thought he wasn’t worth much as a soldier until she saw him act of his own accord, he seemed unaware that she was watching him and she was amazed at the way he could work.

It was then that she knew it must be something specifically to do with her that seemed to bother him and so she suggested he be transferred to another squad. She knew that if Baird stayed with Psi then people would most probably end up dead, and while Holly had been no stranger to that in the past she wanted to keep deaths in her team down to a minimum in the future and transferring Baird out would be one of the best ways to ensure that happened.

Over time though, as her curiosity about him had grown Holly had developed rather a soft spot for the blonde, mechanically minded soldier and so even when he’d left her team she liked to check up on him from time to time, quietly hoping to see him again someday. When she’d heard of Alpha’s fate the bottom fell out of her stomach. She begged and pleaded for any information someone could give her about any survivors there might have been, Anya eventually took pity and told her that Baird in fact was fine and had joined Delta squad with the object of her own affections Marcus Fenix. Small world.

When Delta had managed to plant the light mass bomb and all of the squads finished up their missions and were called back home for some R&R Holly had hoped she could bump into him, just to see, make sure he really was okay and whatnot. She’d never actually anticipated a conversation, that had never happened before and she’d not expected it to. She could even have gone so far as to say they were flirting somewhat with each other over the table, well she knew that she was flirting with him for sure but it seemed to be reciprocated. Perhaps she had been wrong maybe he didn’t have an issue with her after all, or perhaps he did have an issue but it didn’t involve him disliking her; now there was an idea.

She sauntered out of the mess hall rolling the idea over in her mind, it had potential and there had definitely been a note of sexual to the tension that rose between them over that metal table; or there certainly had on her part. Perhaps she was just a little sex starved, war wasn’t exactly the prime place to search for a hook up, but Baird certainly was ticking the right boxes. She’d always admired his physique, muscular without being too bulky like a lot of the guys that wore the Gears uniform were Holly preferred them lean and athletic rather than simply big and that was Baird to a tee.

By the time she’d made it to the door Holly had successfully stripped him down in her mind and was picturing doing vaguely obscene things to his finely cut body. “Definitely sex starved.” She muttered to herself a little breathlessly. She needed to do something to work out the tension that was singing through her blood, she wasn’t about to charge back in and proposition the blonde man when she was still not convinced it wasn’t just all in her head so Holly headed for the training room that had been set up for them; working out always made her feel better even if it was not nearly so satisfying.

* * *

Baird watched her leave still puzzling over her words as his eyes lingered a little to hard on her behind, it was rare he got to see it out of armour and it was certainly better without the all the bulky protective plating to mar his view, hell the whole of her was a far better feast for the eyes without the armour but he’d always been a bit of an arse man.

He was having some trouble in grasping what she had said to him, was she being cruel and still thought of him as a hopeless case? He didn’t think so, well not entirely at least, her parting note had given him some hope to the contrary. So then what was with the ribbing comment? Had she been teasing him, and she’d been kind of flirty too, so was it THAT kind of teasing? Did she want in his pants as much as he did hers?

“Nah man, don’t be such an ass!” He scolded himself aloud adding in his head, she’s just playing with you like you would someone, can’t you even see your own tactics when they’re being thrown back into your face? He supposed he could be happy though, he’d managed to successfully complete a conversation with her and use more than just monosyllabic words and it had felt good; he may not have been as cocky as he’d usually have liked but managing to throw in just a little subtle flirting had almost made up for that. It was a start, but if he wanted a chance to nail her before they were all posted back to new positions, given new missions or whatever was in the pipeline for the Gears after this short bit of downtime, Baird knew that he was going to have to work a bit faster than this; and man he really wanted to get laid the war really put a dampener on that sort of thing, it wasn’t good for a man.

In fact at the stage Baird had reached even just thinking on it felt like a bad idea to him, even in these modern times women were still slim pickings amongst the COG, aside from Holly, Anya was about the only other he really knew of; oh they were there he just didn’t know them and despite all appearances anonymous hook ups had never been his thing, that was much more up Cole’s street. It just had to be Holly, Anya was obviously out of the question and there was no way he was touching one of the Stranded hookers they’d often see touting for business, besides he really wanted to live out one of the sordid little fantasies he often played over in his mind.

“Damnit!” Baird cursed softly to himself, he was thinking again and far too hard. Sure it was fun when he was alone but when he was jumpy at the prospect that Holly could be around any corner he turned it was just plain embarrassing. Try looking the person you’d just been picturing spread naked on her back while you do obscene things to her in the eye and not squirm uncomfortably; that had always been his problem but if he was going to get any then Baird had to get over it and he knew that. “Easier said than done.”

* * *

Holly surveyed the makeshift gym with some scrutiny, it wasn’t much of anything but she supposed in those desperate times beggars couldn’t be choosers and to have had them set up anything at all was a bonus; had to keep their soldiers in shape because no one was sure the war was over yet it could well be far from it, so they made do with what they could scrape up.

There were weights of course, not much in the way of fancy machines or anything but enough to work the different muscle groups. Holly wasn’t much of a fan of weights, she was short and slight in build and liked it that way. She was strong enough to handle her armour and weapons, that was training enough but a lot of the male Gears favoured the beefcake look and so she was not surprised to see a few guys already sweating it out with the weights, trying to boost their already bulging bodies with even more muscle tone.

There was a punch bag set alone, heavily patched and thinning in places, must be a favourite. Holly agreed that it was a good exercise, great for working out all of that pent up rage, anger and tension. Trouble was Holly wasn’t angry, it was an altogether different kind of tension that was making her blood sing and she just think punching the shit out of something would help. No she favoured an exercise for stamina and endurance, testing things she’d need to use should she ever actually get laid again, it wasn’t anywhere close to satisfying but it at the very least wore her out so she could sleep without having dreams plagued with steamy thoughts that left her restless and frustrated.

It was her own fault this time, she’d wanted to tease him a little, it had been a surprise that he’d even spoken to her at any length at all but she’d never anticipated that her little show of flirtatious teasing would serve to work herself up. Bad judgement perhaps, but that was not overly surprising to Holly her judgement could never be deemed to be the best. But she was regretting it now, she could have just been nice and cordial and not wound herself up, but no she just wasn’t able to do that and so now she was going to run it out in the gym. Well it was either run to Baird’s bed and humiliate herself by begging him to fuck her, or the treadmill until she was too exhausted to do anything but sleep.

They weren’t exactly the height of high-tech exercise equipment but it would do for her needs. Holly climbed onto the rubber track and hit the start button, there were no fancy settings, no speed adjustment, wanted to go faster you just ran faster and the belt would spin more from the momentum of your feet; Holly was going to push it hard.

She’d just settled into a steady rhythm, the sound of her feet thudding rhythmically on the rubber tread the only thing that flooded her ears, pale blue eyes fixed straight ahead and seeing nothing much of the room as she allowed her vision to cloud and her mind to drift. But it drifted back to him again, she’d always regretted having him sent to another squad it must have looked bad on her part; or rather made him think she thought badly of him. She didn’t, under her command he wasn’t worth toffee as a soldier but he was good as long as she was out of the picture, always a niggling doubt with her, did he find her so very off putting? Her mind often wandered in this way when she ran, it was better than picturing the man and stripping off his armour with her mind, as such he didn’t often make an actual physical appearance in her thoughts, and so it was the cause of great confusion when a hazy blonde figure appeared in her peripheral vision.

Of course it could be anyone coming into the training room but it nevertheless caught Holly’s attention and she forced her eyes to focus; it was him. Seems Baird had exactly the same idea as she had though Holly was sure it wasn’t for quite the same reasoning and she felt vaguely annoyed that he could be there to distract her, or rather prevent her from being distracted. It had been a whole lot easier when she knew she couldn’t bump into him at any time. Her pace faltered a little, her steps becoming uneven as the belt of the tread mill failed to slow as quickly as her legs but she forced herself steady resetting her rhythm and forcing her eyes straight forwards. It was a big room she could ignore him easy enough…right?

Baird on the other hand hadn’t noticed Holly at all, he’d ignored the rest of the room and made a b-line for the vacant punch bag; way to work out some pent up frustration. He took a few moments to tape his fists, strip his black shirt over his head and toss it unceremoniously to the floor, leaving him bare from the waist up, before turning to attack the bag.

Closing her eyes Holly almost tripped and fell on the running machine, hiding from the expanse of pale skin. She had an urge to run to him, to lick a line down his chest and taste the salt of his skin, to trace the hard and lean muscle of his torso while sinking lower. Eyes closed wasn’t much better it just gave her mind free reign to wander of it’s own accord so she snapped them back open with a slight whimper at the final thoughts that imprinted themselves behind her eyes. So much for her work out being effective, more like work up. Still Holly couldn’t resist, there would be no escaping without him realising that she was there so she may as well enjoy the show and watch him sweat. She had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

Holly had to concentrate far harder to keep her running steps even and steady, to not allow her knees to go out from under her and leave her in a panting, sweating heap on the floor; sure it would get his attention but it would exactly be flattering, besides she was enjoying watching in far too much and that would be sure to put an end to it. He had his back to her as he worked on beating the crap out of the faded leather bag suspended from the ceiling. She was watching the muscles in his back ripple as he moved, the bunching of his broad shoulders as he paused between flurries of punches, the rivulets of sweat as they began to trail down his pale skin…was it hot in there or was it just Holly? She was beginning to feel faint and not simply from her own physical exertion, she needed some air and a drink and she might just not pass out. She slowed her pace until the treadmill ground to a halt, her legs felt like jelly. She’d been pushing herself harder than she’d realised, her attention so rapt on Baird that she’d just not been paying attention to the things her body had been trying to tell her, like it would be a good idea to get your workout else where if that’s all you can manage to fucking think about.

She took a careful moment to gauge the steadiness of her legs, taking a breather and stretching so that her muscles might not just seize up on her before making her way carefully to the stairs. She needed to shower, and knew that she would have to stride straight past Baird at his workout station to get there and would prefer to do it with some composure. The stairs were an effort that they shouldn't have been, Holly knew she was going to ache like a bitch tomorrow but she couldn't help but think a small part of it would have at least been worth it. She reached the lower section of the floor, took a deep breath and began to saunter as much as she could across the floor with determination, heading straight for the locker room and showers. She was putting a little extra sway into her hips for effect and hoping to herself that she might just catch Baird's eye as she passed, then admonished herself for acting so much like a horny teenager. Still it made a pleasant change from the constant fighting and bloodshed, it was nice to forget sometimes.

Holly made it to the shower room, wondering if she'd managed to catch his attention at all, and proceeded to strip off the sweating clothing she'd managed to soil in the gym. She cursed softly to herself knowing that she didn't bring anything clean to change into, or cleaner should that be, but it couldn't be helped she'd gone there on a whim after all. She turned on the shower and waited anxiously for it to heat up some but they never really rose above lukewarm. Shivering as she stepped beneath the spray Holly grabbed the soap and began to lather herself up quickly, wanting to finish up quick before she turned too cold and blue, when a cold rush of air washed over her as the door opened and then clicked shut once again.

Gooseflesh erupted over her entire body and Holly wrapped her arms around herself as she stood on the cold white tile of the communal shower room. “Damn it, it's always too fucking cold in here.” She cursed, trying desperately to rinse the last of the soap from her hair so she could get out and warm up.

“Yeah, sorry didn't realise anyone was using the shower of I would have waited...” Baird replied, his words slowly trailing away as he rounded the corner, a towel of his own in his hands, and noticed who it was in fact he was speaking to. “Ah, shit, yeah so um...sorry again...”

Holly recognised the voice instantly, a sightly warmer flush rushed up her body and she was then thankful for the cold water which prevented her skin from colouring red. She turned to the wall to cover a little of her dignity, communal showers were the norm for the Cog, preserving resources and everything meant providing the bare minimum for their recruits as they could get away with, and apparently having separate male and female washing facilities was one of those things they could all go without. She may have fantasised many times about being naked in the company of this man but this wasn't quite the setting she'd envisioned.

“That's okay, really, I mean I was almost done anyway. I'll just leave you in private.” Holly replied, shutting off the water and shivering more in the air that seemed so much colder without the spray from the shower head as pathetically warm as it was.

Baird was still dressed and wanted to say something like, 'you needn't hurry on my account,' or some other such smooth line that suggested far more than the words alone portrayed but he couldn't find his sharp and witty tongue at all. He'd planned to walk in there, having seen her pass him, hips swaying enticingly. He'd had a sudden inspired plan to walk in on her in the shower and put into the flesh some of the images he'd created of her in his head. But once he was there he seemed, as per usual, unable to sting together a coherent sentence, and she was hiding from him to top it off. Stupid plan Baird, really stupid idea!

She turned to face him, well she had to really he was standing right in the only exit to the showers and the place where her towel was hung. It seemed like a hell of a long way now that she would have to walk it naked and in front of him. She'd been exuding confidence earlier but clothes gave a woman some security in herself, Holly may have been a soldier but she still worried about what she looked like naked.

Arms crossed over her breasts to hide them she made her way, slowly and carefully, over the wet, cracked tiles towards him, doing her best to appear calm and nonchalant. With her arms hiding one part of her anatomy he would have liked to see uncovered Baird couldn't help but allow his eyes to travel further south to the place she just could not conceal without making it painfully obvious what she was trying to do.

She noticed his eyes wander and blushed, though felt slightly thrilled that he was checking her out at all. She cleared her throat demandingly, wanting him to get out of the doorway so she might grab her towel and dry off.

“Sorry, um, here let me grab your towel for you.” He said suddenly.

She'd almost drawn level with where he was standing when he whipped around so fast. The words, 'No don't worry I can get it,' never even made it to her mouth as he turned, knocked her heavily on the shoulder and sent her tumbling fast to the cold, hard tile.

Holly yelped and let thrashed out failing arms to grab a hold of anything she could that might stop her from falling. Trouble was the only thing there she could grab was Baird. He'd felt the jolt of knocking her, heard her yelp and was beginning to turn back when two delicately strong hands grabbed at his arm and chest, nails cutting painfully into his skin. He moved to try and catch her, feet finding a puddle and being thrown straight out from beneath him sending them both falling hard to the floor.