Support Our Troops 1

It was the middle of a slow afternoon, after the lunchtime rush, before the drifting hurry of afternoon coffees, the time when nothing much was happening. Megan was standing at the service counter, bored, pretending to sort cutlery but mostly just dawdling and resting, not really doing much of anything.

She was standing there, wasting time, when a soldier walked into the cafe. A woman in army uniform, slim and fit with her hair up in a bun. Slim and fit, at least as far as Megan could tell under the baggy uniform clothes. Megan looked, trying to see just how horribly baggy the uniform actually was. It was fairly baggy. There was a name-tag on the chest that said Beckett.

"Is Beckett you?" Megan said, curious.

Beckett nodded. "My surname though," she said.

"So what, Sergeant Beckett?"

Beckett looked at Megan for a moment, then touched her shoulder. "Lieutenant," she said.

"Oh," Megan said, because she didn't know how to tell. "So what can I get you?"

Beckett looked up at the menu board. "What's good?"

"None of it especially," Megan said. "But it'll all do."

It was what she always said. She was asked twenty times a day, and never felt like she could answer since she never knew what people liked to eat. She had answered Beckett the way she usually did, completely bored, but trying not to sound impatient. This time it must have seemed somehow witty, because Beckett smiled. Or perhaps Beckett just smiled at waitresses who thought they were clever.

Beckett looked over at the salads, and Megan said, "I wouldn't, they've been there all day."

Beckett nodded.

"Yeah," Megan said. "Patriotic duty to tell you and shit."

Another smile. Beckett was noticing Megan more. She glanced at Megan for a moment, thinking, then went back to looking at the menu board. "Are the eggs free range?"

"Yep," Megan said, a little surprised because it seemed slightly soppy for a soldier to care. Megan liked Beckett for asking, though. Liked, and kind of admired her too.

Megan waited and Beckett kept looking.

"Have the all-day breakfast," Megan said after a while. "It's fresh. It isn't cooked until someone orders it."

Beckett nodded and said, "Okay."

"Coffee?" Megan said, because she'd already decided to put the drinks through for free, because she did that sometimes when she liked people.

Beckett nodded.

"What?"

"Anything black."

"Short? Long?"

Beckett shrugged.

"Short," Megan said, and wrote that down too.

Megan went to the till, and rung up the breakfast, and when Beckett went to pay, holding out her money, Megan noticed a tattoo on Beckett's wrist. A heart, coloured in with rainbow shades. Megan stopped and stared.

It couldn't just be a nice design, Megan thought. It had to mean something.

Beckett noticed Megan looking, and pulled her sleeve down a bit, self-consciously. Then she seemed to change her mind, and looked back up at Megan, and left her arm out still, holding the money, waiting.

Waiting for something to be said, Megan supposed.

Megan would have waited like that too. Seeing how someone reacted.

Megan looked around. It was quiet. She was the only one working in the front of restaurant, and only there on the off-chance someone came in. The only other customers besides Beckett were three people at a table together down by the windows at the front, a long way from the counter. They were eating, and wouldn't need anything for a while.

Everyone else was at the back. Everyone was well out of ear-shot.

Megan looked at Beckett again, and wanted her. Just like that.

It was odd what a difference that tattoo made. What a difference knowing made.

Megan took Beckett's money, and gave her change, and Beckett kept standing there, waiting. As if she was thinking about Megan's lack of reaction, and what it might mean.

Megan looked at Beckett, and Beckett looked back.

"The breakfast'll be a while," Megan said. "Fifteen minutes, maybe. They'll have to warm up the grill."

"That's okay."

"You don't mind waiting?"

Beckett shook her head.

"Do you want to do something while you wait?" Megan said.

"Like what?"

Megan swallowed. "Like me," she said, and then couldn't believe she had.

Silence.

Megan kept talking, because she did that when she was nervous. "I mean," she said quietly, leaning forward a little, even though she didn't need to. "Do you want head? Because I'd like to. If you'd like me to. To say thank you for being in the army...?"

An even longer silence. Megan was almost certain that silence meant no. That Beckett wasn't into her, or wasn't into women, or wasn't into casual hookups while she waited for her lunch.

Whatever it was, Megan decided she'd made a mistake. Asking had been a terrible idea. She felt stupid. She started to blush.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm really sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. My friend was in the army, that's all."

"Was?" Beckett said.

Megan ignored the question. She didn't want to think about Amanda just now. About Amanda, and what had happened, and what Megan had lost.

"I just meant I could thank you," Megan said. "That was all."

Beckett kept standing there.

"I'm sorry," Megan said. "That was really rude, just to blurt that out."

"No," Beckett said. "Don't be. It's fine."

Megan wasn't sure what that meant. She looked at Beckett and waited. Beckett looked at her, and seemed to be thinking something over. Then she seemed to decide. "Is there somewhere we can go?" she said.

Megan nodded. "The storeroom."

Beckett nodded. "Then let's."

"Oh," Megan said, surprised.

They both stood there for a moment. Megan had always talked herself into thinking Beckett was saying no. Now it was getting complicated. Now Beckett seemed to misunderstand Megan's stillness.

"We don't have to..." Beckett said.

Megan shook her head, and locked the till, and walked down to the end of the counter. "Come on," she said, and Beckett followed her.

Megan went down the hallway, past the bathrooms, and along to the storeroom. She held the door open for Beckett, then closed it carefully, and then turned on the light. Then slid a couple of boxes over to block the door.

She turned around, and stepped towards Beckett, and kissed her.

Beckett tried to speak, but Megan didn't let her. She didn't want to stop kissing, didn't want to listen. "Don't talk," she said. "Don't spoil this. I don't want to know. Just let me do this for you."

Beckett went quiet, and kissed Megan back.

Megan felt around Beckett's belt, trying to find her way into her trousers. It was complicated. There seemed to be more buckles and fastenings than normal clothes. She managed in the end. "I want to taste you," she said, into Beckett's ear. "I want you in my mouth."

She pushed the Beckett's trousers down, and knelt.

"Wait," Beckett said, and tried to pull her back up.

"Just let me," Megan said, and leaned forward, and pressed her face to Beckett's clothes, to her tummy. She pressed, and after a moment Beckett took her hands away. As anyone would, Megan though, being made offers like that.

Megan tried to reach through the fly of Beckett's trousers, but they were too tight. The cloth was baggy and loose everywhere except there. She tugged, and couldn't get room to reach inside.

"Wait," Beckett said, and took off one boot, and pushed her trousers down, and kicked the bare foot free of her clothes. She was bare enough Megan could reach. Megan leaned towards her. She opened her mouth, and licked the taste of Beckett into it, and Beckett sighed and put her hand on Megan's hair, and her other on the wall to balance.

Megan licked. She licked quickly, not sure how much time they had, not wanting to explain why the door was blocked if anyone tried to come in.

She licked, hoping Beckett was quiet. She seemed to be. Megan could only hear her own lapping and sucking noises, and the scrape of cloth on her face and hair.

She licked Beckett out, and sucked on her clit, and pushed two fingers inside her, teasingly slowly, until Beckett sighed and groaned and came. Beckett came, and then, when she was done, Megan stood up and wiped her mouth.

Beckett understood. "What about you?" she said, tugging at her trousers.

Megan shook her head.

"I want you too," Beckett said, sounding surprised.

"I told you," Megan said. "I'm saying thank you. That was just for you."

Beckett seemed to be thinking. She did up her belt, did things with fasteners Megan couldn't quite see.

"I'm fine," Megan said. "Honestly. And your food'll be ready soon anyway. You should get back."

"You're sure?"

Megan nodded. She didn't mind not getting any. A quickie encounter in the store-room had it's own kind of wonderfulness.

She turned around, and moved the boxes, and opened the storeroom door. She held it open, and waited, and Beckett seemed to decide they were done. She kissed Megan quickly as she left, kissed Megan even though Megan's mouth was still wet, which Megan thought was sweet.

"Thank you," Beckett said.

Megan shrugged. "No worries."

Megan went back to the counter, and Beckett to a table down the front. Megan leaned on the counter, and sorted cutlery, and watched Beckett as she did. Beckett seemed to be carefully not looking at Megan.

After a while, the kitchen rung the bell to say an order was up, and Megan went and got Beckett's breakfast and took it to her. When Megan put the plate down, she leaned a little far over, breathing out as she did, hoping the smell of Beckett on her mouth would carry.

Beckett looked up, and seemed surprised, so perhaps it did.

"Enjoy," Megan said, and walked away.

Beckett ate, and Megan still watched her, still sorting the cutlery as slowly has she had been when Beckett walked in. When she was done, Beckett waved, and left without a word, and Megan kept sorting, slowly.