Bitter Pill to Swallow

Chapter 23

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?"

Dick spun around and came face to face with a furious Valerie, eyes blazing and hands placed firmly on her hips.

"Val what..."

"Could'a been picked off runnin' across open ground like that," she continued, her voice shaking, "the hell were you thinking doing somethin' so reckless and stupid? Where the hell would we be left if you'd gone and gotten yourself shot huh?"

"Valerie listen to me..."

"I can't believe you of all people would do something so goddamn stupid and..."

"Now hang on just a darn minute..."

"Am I interrupting something?"

Two heads turned to face Nix, who stood watching the pair with an amused tilt to his lips.

"Not at all..."

"Yes actually," Valerie cut in harshly, "I'm in the middle of tellin' Dick how goddamn stupid he was to..."

"Now hang on," Dick balked, "it might have been a bit reckless but it certainly was not stupid."

"Oh I'd beg to differ," she quipped with a scoff, crossing her arms over her chest, "It was actually incredibly stupid."

"It was a standard bayonet charge Valerie, I'd hardly call it stupid," he replied defiantly, his jaw clenching.

"Clearly you've been watching too many re-runs of 'All Quiet on the Western Front' because you're stuck in the past with your goddamn bayonet charge. We don't do those anymore because they're too goddamn dangerous, or did you conveniently forget that bit?"

"Well I damn well had to do it Valerie," he snapped, "or we'd still be stuck on that cursed island."

"You didn't have to charge out on your own like fuckin' John Wayne though did ya?" She exclaimed

"As entertaining as this little tiff is," Nix cut in, stepping between the two of them with a chuckle, "I need to sweep Dick away to HQ to get him settled in to his new office."

"New...new office?" Valerie questioned sharply, her gaze flickering between the two of them.

"I'm sure if you'd given the man the chance he would have told you all about his promotion to batallion," Nix laughed, clapping Dick on the shoulder fondly.

Valerie felt like she'd been punched in the gut when she met Dick's eyes and saw the truth of Nix's words in them. It was true; Dick was really leaving Easy for a nice cushy desk job up at batallion. She took a step back, her throat feeling like it was squeezing closed. Her mind felt like it had been caught up in a twister, so many emotions jumbling around in her head in such a short space of time. As the seconds ticked by and the two men watched her with wary eyes, she settled on the one emotion she felt most comfortable with in that moment.

"Well I'm glad your glory run in the field had the desired result," she hissed icily, her eyes narrowing and glaring daggers at Dick, "now if you don't mind some of us have to look after our men." With that she turned on her heel and marched away from the pair. Her fists were clenched so tightly that her nails would surely cut through the skin on her palms, but she didn't care. At least the sting was a mild distraction from everything else going through her mind.

"Valerie wait, hang on a minute," Dick called as he jogged in front of her and cut her off, "you seriously think I did that maneuver just to get a promotion?"

"I dunno Dick," she snarled, "that's certainly what it looks like to me."

"How can you honestly think that?" He asked quietly, a vulnerable crack in his voice, "after everything we've been through how can you think I would ever do that?"