Brit Rutledge loved his life in the army. He was assigned to 3rd Special Forces group in Ft. Bragg North Carolina and since his return from his 2nd deployment to Afghanistan he had spent his days in training.
He had just finished spending an hour on the firing range practicing his shooting and moving as well as transitioning from rifle to pistol. It was a hot, summer day so he was sweating heavily through the material of his rapid assault shirt. The armor he wore did not help either.
Brit and his teammate, Jarod Haynes went to the supply building to turn in the weapons and optics that they had been using on the range.
Brit approached the counter and saw Sgt. Rachel Jo Sweeny, the supply administrator.
Rachel was a good soldier and everyone in the team really liked her. Brit and the rest of the team would joke around with her. She was even invited to all the team parties and the guys always treated her like she was one of the team.
She stood up as they came up to the counter and Brit saw she was looking very nice, even in a standard digital camouflage army uniform. Brit, for an instant, wondered what she looked like naked. He had seen her in the gym and knew her body was toned and athletic.
She kept her hair really short, with the barber taking the clippers to the sides and over her ears cutting it close but keeping the front longer. Her blond hair was swept over her right eye brow. Her hair was darker on the sides. Her dazzling blue eyes caught his and he smiled at her, and then glanced quickly to take in her pouty, luscious lips.
"Did you guys have a good shoot, Sargent Rutledge?" Rachel said
"We sure did! But you might want the armorer to take a look at the action on the Beretta. It did not feel smooth." Brit replied.
Brit and Haynes turned to walk out when Rachel said, "Sargent Rutledge, can I have a word with you?"
Brit turned to look at her. She was trying to put on a happy face but it was not covering something bothering her.
"Jarod, I will catch you later."
"Sure thing dude. See ya later Rachel." He said. He turned and walked out.
Brit walked back over to the counter.
"What's up Rache?" he asked softly.
She had been working with the team for about a year now in supply. She was one of those women who guys treated like their sister...almost like another dude. He would have called their relationship friends.
"Brit...I have a problem and I could use some help." She stared down at the counter top.
"What's going on?" Brit was getting concerned.
When she looked up her eyes were filling up with tears.
"Rachel, what the fuck is going on."
"I really need to talk to you but not here...will you meet me later...at Mac's Place?"
Mac's Place was pub just off post that most of the SF team guys went to.
"Sure...how about 1900?"
"That's fine...thanks Brit." She turned and walked out into the warehouse and out of sight.
"That's fuckin weird." Brit thought to himself.
As Brit was getting ready to meet Rachel at the pub, he could not stop wondering what had her so concerned.
The first thought was that she had a boyfriend that might be abusive. Britt ruled that out. Though there was no evidence, the conventional wisdom was that Rachel was gay. Brit certainly did not care if she was, it would not change their friendship in the least.
He had showered and changed into some 5.11 tactical pants and a t-shirt and made his way to the pub.
He continued to run ideas through his head on what was going on. Nothing made any sense to him.
He would have to meet with Rachel to find out.
He entered the pub and smelled the chicken wings and heard the sound of someone breaking at one of the pool tables.
"Hey Brit! What's going on?" it was one of his team mates.
"What's going on dude? I am just here to meet with Rachel...you know, shoot the shit." Brit said over the sound Led Zeppelin playing on the in house stereo system.
The guy laughed and said, "You know she is a lesbian, right?"
"Whatever, we are just hanging out."
Brit scanned the dimly lit pub and found Rachel. She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. She now wore several hoop ear rings in her ears. She had also added some really red lipstick to her lips. She was actually a really beautiful woman, he thought. Then he saw she was with another woman.
The other woman was about the same age as Rachel. But she was different. She was dressed elegantly, in a black dress. She had long, black hair and gold ear rings. As he approached he saw she was Hispanic and very tanned. She wore a dazzling shade of red lipstick herself which made her lips glisten in the light.
Brit smiled at Rachel when they made eye contact and he sat in the booth across the table from the women.
The server came and took his order, a Guinness, at room temperature, and 8 hot wings.
Rachel made some small talk, about NASCAR racing and then they talked about an upcoming deployment.
The order came and Brit ate while the conversation turned to politics. It was Rachel who brought up good looking women and the conversation turned to more sexual things. The other woman sat quietly through the talk, laughing now and then when appropriate.
When he had finished and the server had removed his plate and brought another Guinness, Rachel then turned to Brit and said, "You might not know this, but I am gay. This is Stacie, Stacie Padilla. She is my partner, Stacie, this is Brit Rutledge, one of the most hard core, and smart war fighters this country has ever produced."
Brit smiled and when Stacie offered her hand, he took it, saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Stacie held his hand for longer than what he thought was normal.
Stacie then asked, "Brit, do you have a college degree?"
Brit thought that was an odd question for the moment.
"I do. I graduated from Florida State University." Brit answered all while feeling Stacie's soft, warm hand in his.
"I like this one. He will do." Stacie said softly, looking at Rachel.
"Ok, enough fucking around. What the fuck is this about?" Brit was starting to get a little pissed. Everyone at the table knew something except him.
Rachel leaned over and kissed Stacie. Brit saw their tongues touching softly.
Rachel then looked at him.
"Brit, I have been accepted into the Combat Training Team selection process." The Combat Training Teams were teams that went out into the field, in theater, to train the local military. The Department of Defense had decided to include female soldiers in the teams to show the locals that women were capable of doing any job. The female soldiers had to go through a selection process, very similar to the one soldiers going into Special Forces had to go through. The female soldiers had to shoot the same scores and qualify the same weapon systems as male SF soldiers. Once qualified, they deployed alongside the male SF soldiers in the field.
Brit thought Rachel would be perfect for the CTT, but what did this have to do with why he was here.
Rachel continued, "Stacie and I want to have a family before I start this. I love her more than anything in this world and she wants a baby. I can do a lot of things but biology prevents me from giving her what she most desires, a baby."
Rachel paused to let that sink in.
