saw the devil

“Things can be arranged to make you a whole lot less handsome if you like.” She could take care of him herself and though it was likely that he would assume she meant outside help, she still amused herself with the thoughts of what she could do to him.  Before she could even muster more words a scoff of laughter poured from her lips, damn he really did have the audacity. “If you’d been here today as long as he had, I told him to stop nicely twice, I even let him off when he tried to grab my ass and he’s lucky I didn’t break his damn fingers, now if you want to question my customer service again I suggest you think long and hard about it or you can find the damn door.” 

Layla wished she could tell people who she was back home in Mexico - here she was some waitress with an attitude and the reputation didn’t exactly scare people off. Back home people just left her be because they knew what she was capable of. “You sure it’s not the giant void your lack of personality creates?” Honestly how stereotypical did the other want to be, country girl all touch and ready to rumble, she had no idea. “Stuck it up someones ass so wouldn’t know, besides, always thought I was more a bitch than an actual witch so it just wasn’t vibing right with me? What about you, still after anything with a pulse?” 

There was a good chance she was insane, what did a 21 year old want with a 33 year old man who had a whole life without her anyway? It wasn’t like she couldn’t have had her pick from guys around here who were horny after a few months away from home, and she could have probably found someone she could tolerate,  making all of this just seem like pure stupidity, but here they both were. “Don’t say what? It’s the truth?” The danger was part of the fun sure, but her heart would still race this way even if she was tucked this close to him in a warm, safe bedroom somewhere, if they could stroll across camp hand in hand and no one would bat an eye lid. “Yes you can.” She nudged his hand with her face, turning to press her lips to the base of his thumb, the skin warm and rough as she did so, encouraging him to keep going. “You can’t be the only one that get’s to decide, I’m a big girl too.” She didn’t want to wait, she didn’t see how they could make it work, but they could try to figure it out, they could try, maybe they weren’t going about it the right way, but the consequences of things could be dealt with later. Right now she was too focused on the way his body felt against hers. As soon as she was lifted she used the chance to wrap her legs around his waist, pulling him closer in a swift motion leaving no room between the two of them as her neck tilted to the side to allow him full access wherever he planned on going. “I want you.” 

Maybe it was the fact she’d never had a home that made her so callous about the way she was dealing with another woman's. When she had first met Gabriel she had been naive enough to think that he wasn’t married but soon enough the whispers had confirmed what she had already known, he had a family back home and yet - every time he walked through those tent doors, or they were out on an exercise, when his hand lingered on hers just a fraction to long under the tables she melted right into his touch. At this point she just didn’t care about the fact she was ruining a family, she wanted him and she had the capacity to take him if the way he responded to her touch was any indication. “I mean if a general bust through these doors right now I don’t think they would believe you had any more foot blisters.” She liked to think she was as much in control as this as he was, but she knew if anyone were to ever find out they wouldn’t agree. Her two years service wouldn’t matter compared to his, the lives she’d saved, the tours she had done - she’d just be the medic that fell for her senior and everything she’d worked to gain a life for herself, would be gone. It all seemed to fade though as her hand took his, the other causing her side to burn where it laid and she let him move her without any restriction. “I’d fix you no matter what it took you know that, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do.” Her voice was barely a sound in the tent, to scared to draw any attention to them. 

Layla hadn’t ever really gotten along with girls. She just didn’t see the point in all the bitching and hormones, the never ending need to be better and one up each other. She just didn’t have time for it all and she certainly didn’t have the patience for it. Layla had always thought it was part of the reason she was so well suited to the army life whilst she’d had it, not to many girls to piss on her bonfire. Unfortunately for her in Kirkwood there seemed to be plenty of them and they all seemed to stick around, some she could deal with like BJ, and others - she wanted to launch of a cliff. For example Tammie Jones, she really couldn’t stand her. “Can I help you?” She asked the other across the gathering, eyes narrowed at her. “You look like something stung your face.” - @tammie--jones​

When she had made it to medic, she hadn’t realized it came with the bonus of her own tent whenever they were out on tour at the big camps. It was nice to have her own space away from the boys all the time, somewhere she could undress in peace and sleep without the worry of immediate pranks. The other bonus, private visits. Most of the time it was just to patch people up, but they all seemed to tell her things, maybe it was because she was young and small, or she just seemed insignificant in the med tent, either way she liked it. Her favorite visitor though had to be Gabriel, because she couldn’t remember the last time he had visited her with a genuine medical emergency. “You know...” She hummed as her hands trailed over his now bare chest. “You sure do need a lot of work doing these days, sure you’re cut out for this work sir?” It was late and most of the camp were settling in for the night leaving the two of them in the quite with just a few lamps lighting the room. “Or are you just an old man now?” 

“I swear to god, you might be one of the most useless people I’ve ever met in my life you know that?” Layla hummed as she looked back at Finn with a shake of her head, she had found him several weeks ago, sat out side in the rain clearly off his ass and she seemed to have developed a habit of trying to make sure he was safe when he was going through whatever buzz he had found next. She didn’t know why, she didn’t like people let alone helping them, but with Finn it just sort of happened naturally. “Come on, eat your pancakes...you know you want to.” She chuckled as she watched him across the booth. - @finn--anderson​

“I’m not running because of you.” She let the words hang between them for a moment, praying he would get it because she wasn’t sure she could tell him out loud she was running so he didn’t get a chance to see her, not the real person she had become. Layla had lost the good in her and it would hurt if he saw that too - she wasn’t about to let that happen. She did bad things now and had more blood on her hands from when she had been out of the army than when she had been in it. “It’s probably for the best, better than watching the next part in each others lives right?” Though they weren’t as painstakingly obvious as his were, she had her own scars, some newer than others and light bruises dusted the shadows of her jaw from the fight she’d been in a couple of weeks ago, she could only be thankful at this point she wasn’t fresh back from Mexico. “Breathing and living are two very different things.” Her words were heavy but she didn’t know how to make them any different with what she was trying to convey to him, this couldn’t be whatever it had been before as easy as it seemed right now to fall back into his arms, the teasing, the innocence of it all, for what they had been doing there was an air of carelessness that she just couldn’t afford with him now. “Gabriel.” She refused to meet his gaze, hands moving to press on his chest and move him away from her. 

“You’re still you, none of your scars bothered me before, whats a few more - sir.” He was nothing to her in rank anymore, but old habits died hard and as much as she hated to admit it the name rolled off her tongue for him, it had been a nice replacement for the pet names she longed to whisper in his ear all those years ago. She wanted to reach to trail down the side of his face, but she hadn’t touched him in so long as she knew better than to push people where their scars laid, she didn’t know what had happened to him but she knew that it would have caused him a world of pain. “Well it wasn’t like I could ask my CO for a forwarding address for you was it? I still had to serve, was discharged after... well you know the kind of shit they send people home for. Didn’t make it through that time I suppose.” Her heart rate had risen to an annoying rate and she was scared if he looked close enough he was going to see the effect he was having on her, she was cold, she was merciless, loosing her composure just didn’t happen to her anymore. At the mention of his wife she came to a halt, turning to face up to him. “Why? Why did you ruin your marriage like that? It’s not like you knew where I was.....I was just a temptation wrapped in uniform right? It’s not like we ever had sex, we never had the chance.” So many times they’d been so close but something had always pulled them back apart. “I...it’s good to see you to Gabe.”