Chapter Text
She wakes up.
Wakes up? When did she fall asleep?
She's stiff. The bed is hard and uncomfortable.
Why is she in a bed? Whose is it?
She swings her legs over to sit on the edge and braces her head in a hand.
When did her head start hurting? Why does it hurt?
She looks around the room, the walls are a dreary off-white, and the floor's a dark grey. There's a desk to her left, papers neatly stacked and filed, there's curtains above it, slightly cracked to allow light to pour into the room. On the wall in front of her, there's a wardrobe and a door, and to her right, another door with a coat hanger next to it.
Where do they lead?
She stands on shaky legs and slightly light-headed. She walks to the door in front of her.
With unsteady hands, she grasps the door knob and turns it to open. It opens to a bathroom.
Oh.
Of course, why wouldn't it be?
Immediately to her left is the sink, next to it, the toilet, and on the back wall the shower. She looks above the sink and notes a cloth hanging over what she thinks is the mirror.
She reaches up to it.
Why?
She lifts it.
Why does she have a bad feeling?
Her headache returns in tenfold.
She collapses to the ground, the cloth returning to its original position.
Clutching her head, she feels tears prickling her waterline.
Who was that?
She didn't recognize the face in the mirror.
Who could it be but her?
She let's out a choked sob. But before she can truly start to cry, there's a knock on the other door, the one she hasn't opened yet.
She freezes.
"Lieutenant, Captain Price wants you at the gym in 20," An unfamiliar voice sounds from the other side.
She doesn't move a muscle until she hears an exasperated groan and heavy steps walking away from the door.
Lieutenant? Captain Price?
She freezes for the second time.
Captain Price? Why is that so familiar?
She stands, slowly, and gripping onto the sinks edge with white knuckles, the headache having yet to dissipate, but no longer piercing.
Find him.
Now.
She let's out a shaky exhale and turns to the bathroom door, which she left open, and slowly stalks through the opening.
She reaches for the door knob, and hesitates.
Why is she hesitating?
She needs to find Captain Price.
She grips the door knob, and waits a moment.
She doesn't hear anyone, so she slowly turns it. Opening the door, she finds no one in the hallway.
As quickly as she can manage, she exits the unfamiliar room and enters the hallway.
There's doors up and down the hall, that she can only assume they lead to more rooms.
How is she supposed to find the captain?
She turns to her right and takes small steps, hoping it's the right direction. Stumbling, she catches herself with a hand on the wall. She stands, and tries again, succeeding, and continues to walk the hall.
What feels like hours later, she arrives at an intersection. Doors continue down, bit now there's another hall to her left. She let's go of her support on the wall, and turns.
Following the new path, she sees a man, standing in the middle of it, scratching his chin.
Ask him.
What?
Find Price.
She continues her path, and once she's a few meters away, she speaks.
"E-excuse me," her voice is gravelly and hoarse, "Can you take me to Captain Price?" She clears her throat, voice not used to being used.
The unknown man whips his head around.
"Ma'am?" He questions, "Why do you want the Captain?"
"Please, I need to speak with him," the woman begs.
The man's eyes narrow, an undiscernible look in them, but he nods and stiffens, "Follow me, Ma'am."
So she does.
Good.
Several minutes later, and after many twists and turns, the pair arrive at a door.
The man knocks.
"Enter!" A familiar voice, deep and husky, beckons from the other side.
Price.
The man opens the door and steps in, looking back to the girl and tilting his head in a 'here' gesture.
The girl steps in, beside the man.
Her breath hitches when she sees him, sitting at his desk, cigar in is mouth, with him staring down at some papers he's filling out. His signature boonie hat on his head, his unique mutton chops framing his face.
Price.
Price!
"What do you want?" Price speaks, not looking up from his papers.
"The lieutenant wanted to see you, sir." The man answers.
That caught his attention.
"What?" He finally looks up and meets her eyes.
Confusion is his, relief in hers.
The room goes silent, a pin dropping could be heard, even by a deaf man.
His eyes narrow, hers go wide.
"Leave, corporal." His voice has a finality to it, that make even the highest ranking officer listen.
"Sir." The man states simply.
He turns on his heel, and exits the room.
Captain Price is staring at her now, the papers forgotten about.
"What do you need, lieutenant?" His voice is harsh, and it makes her wince.
"I-," she begins to speak, but stops. Hesitating again.
Talk!
It's Price!
Answer!
"Lieutenant? Is something the matter?"
She beings again, "I- I don't-," she stops again, her breath coming short.
Price doesn't say anything this time, he just watches her, an eyebrow cocked.
"I don't know." She finally gets out, voice barely above a whisper. She's not even sure if the captain had heard her. When she looks up, not realizing she broke eye-contact with the man, she can see he did.
His eyes are narrowed again, not out of hostility this time, something more akin to a mixture of confusion and concern.
"Shit, you're shaking like a leaf, sit" his voice is softer now, clear concern takes the hostility of annoyance away.
She listens, and takes a seat on one of the plush leather chairs in front of the captains desk.
"Breathe, yeah? In... 1, 2, 3, out... 1, 2, 3." He instructs, noticing her shallow breaths, "Bit better now, yeah?"
She nods, grateful for his instructions.
"What's goin' on?" He questions.
She stiffens at that, "I don't know," she sighs and shakes her head, upset that that's the only thing she's been able to say.
"Thats a'right, let's start with this, yeah? You had the corporal take you to my office, why?"
"I didn't... I didn't know how to find you," she all but whispers.
The captain stills at that. Why wouldn't his lieutenant know how to find him?
"Ok," he lets out a deep exhale, "Why did you want to see me?"
Knowing he wanted her at the gym soon to train some recruits.
"I don't know," she chokes out, "When the corporal said your name I knew I had to find you, though."
"Hey, hey, you're ok," he soothes, "Why don't you just talk about yesterday? I heard one of rookies got pretty rowdy."
He was worried at this point, out of all his team, she's the only one, aside from Ghost, who wouldn't come to his office alone without a good reason, and whenever she did, she was always accompanied by Gaz or Soap.
"Yesterday?"
"Yeah, yeah yesterday."
She thinks back.
Yesterday?
What happened yesterday?
...
Why..?
Why can't she remember what happened?
Her breath picks up again, and her head starts to throb.
Her heart beats faster, and sweat prickles her skin.
'Woah, easy, easy now. What's going on?"
"I don't know!" she says sharply, panic setting in, "I can't remember. Why can't I remember? It was yesterday! Why can't I remember?"
Tears start to gather at her waterline, but before they drop, Price is kneeling in front of her, hands on her knees, his eyes wide.
"What? What do you mean you don't remember?" his voice is heavy laden with concern as he speaks.
"I... I don't remember, Price. I don't remember what happened yesterday, or... or the day before... I don't remember."
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