Chapter 4
Reed
The cafeteria at Waypoint was vastly different from the station where I was posted. Granted, I had been in Antarctica for less than a week, but I could already see the cultural differences between the two research stations.
Waypoint was tiny, and that made it feel more like a small family than a formal research station. People gathered during mealtimes just like an extended family, and you got to meet everyone. Mealtimes were peak social hour, and I loved that.
I was already wondering how I could get posted here. The problem was that they didn’t have an airbase.
I stood in line for dinner and served myself the delicious Thai cuisine that was on the menu tonight.
The aroma of coconut milk and lemongrass drifted through the space.
After what Daniel had put me through with all the running and sweating, and then missing lunch because he had let me sleep through the entire afternoon, I was starving.
We loaded our trays, and Daniel led me to a table where his friends were already seated.
“So, Daniel’s husband,” the Russian scientist addressed me with a grin.
“Yes, Daniel’s roommate,” I grinned back.
“Former roommate.” He pointed at me with a finger.
I nodded to acknowledge. “Correction. Yes, Daniel’s former roommate?”
“We are all dying to know how you two met.” He threw Daniel a dirty look before turning to me and putting on a sweet smile. “The esteemed doctor here and my roommate for four fucking years apparently considers it beneath him to share that he has been married to a man all this time!”
His voice rose the longer he spoke until he was pointing a finger at my husband and glaring.
Sam, who was sitting next to Viktor, gave him a chiding look. The accusing finger lowered.
“People have reasons,” Sam said. “Sometimes we want to share… but…” He shrugged. “It doesn’t work that way. Doesn’t mean we don’t care.”
I watched the wind go out of Viktor, and he visibly deflated.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”
Daniel put his fork down. “It’s okay.” He smiled at his roommate.
Daniel took a deep breath and glanced at me. I squeezed his knee with my left hand and gave him a small nod.
“Reed and I met when we were both deployed on a classified mission that I can’t talk about.”
The shift in the air around our group was immediate. I wondered if they knew anything at all about the life their beloved doctor had before they met him.
Daniel continued, “I was a field surgeon as part of the U.S. Special Forces, and Reed was part of an Australian team that was sent to help us. He provided air support.”
“That’s where the accent comes from,” Grant said.
“Yeah. We were… thrown into an ugly situation. The country’s government had sought our help to take care of the civilians affected, but the rebels were steadily gaining ground. We were there for about a month, and during that time, he and I… we got close.”
“Must be veryyyyyy close,” Viktor teased.
The men laughed.
Daniel blushed. “Not just… that. You have to understand that life under those circumstances takes on a whole new meaning. Every moment can be your last. You get to learn about people—who they really are—very fast. When the shit hits the fan, the ones who stay back, who lend a hand to the weaker and smaller ones, who stay calm while bullets are flying… they are the real brave ones. And Reed… he saved my life more times than I can count.”
“And Doc saved mine and everyone else in our unit,” I interrupted.
I needed his friends to understand just what kind of man he was.
Everyone looked a bit stunned.
I was right. They didn’t really know who their friend was. I didn’t blame them. They were scientists and researchers. They understood adventure, but not the extremes that came with being a veteran.
I leaned back, one hand draped across Daniel’s chair.
“I’ve been part of many deployments. Special forces are small units.
We are meant to be efficient and quick. One of us usually has medic training, but an actual physician is rare.
The mission we were assigned…” I paused.
“I can’t explain the details, but it required a full doctor.
Finding one was so challenging that it took us months.
Finally, it was the Americans who let us borrow Daniel. ”
“Damn. You’re some special shit, huh?” Viktor whistled.
My modest husband was turning pinker by the second. He rubbed his forehead. “Don’t believe him. He—”
I cut him off. My chest swelled with pride.
“Daniel here has the rare combination of being a soldier and a surgeon and… did you know the man can fly planes too?”
“No, I can’t.”
I bumped his shoulder. “So modest.”
There was a moment of silence as each of them seemed to absorb all this.
“Okay, now I feel like a complete ass,” Viktor mumbled.
Sam said with a chuckle, “What’s new?”
“Hey!” Viktor glared back.
Laughing, Sam ruffled Viktor’s hair. They were adorable. Sam’s gesture was so intimate that it made my heart clench. I wanted to touch Daniel too. The ache intensified to the point of pain.
“How did you get married?” Grant asked.
Daniel turned to me. “Did you want to take that?”
“You bet!” I leaned forward. “Picture this… a dark, stormy night… wind howling, the cries of the fallen—”
“Oh my God,” Daniel groaned.
“Yes! Story time!” Viktor clapped his hands. “Sorry, Doc, you suck at narration. It’s okay because you make up for it by being the best doc ever.”
I continued. “We are hunkered down in an old building, half of it standing, and our platoon commander gets the message on the radio that the government has fallen. The one supposed to be our friendly ally.”
“Oh shit!”
I nodded. “And we have a few hours, at most, before the rebels surround us.”
“Surround you?”
“But our ammunition is almost gone.”
“No! I can’t take it!” Viktor flailed his arms dramatically. “Sam, hold me.”
The table burst into laughter. Sam smiled good-naturedly and pulled Viktor close.
I couldn’t hold back any longer. I did the same, pulling my man to me. Daniel startled and stared at me, but he didn’t say no or try to get out of my embrace.
Fuck, that felt so good.
I never got to do this: sit quietly with a bunch of friends around a table, eating delicious food, no one panicking, no one dying, just holding him. I had always been an adrenaline junkie, as Daniel liked to call me, but maybe I was getting old, or maybe I was just so in love.
I wanted this with him. I dreamed of a different life where I got to wake up with him and do mundane stuff like cook breakfast, bicker over how much coffee I drank, and touch him whenever I wanted. The longing hit me out of nowhere, the force of it so strong that I couldn’t speak for a moment.
No one noticed except him.
Our eyes met, and whatever he read in mine made his expression soften.
“So what happened next?” Adrien asked.
“The U.S. government sent a plane in the middle of the night. Emergency evacuation. But the locals wouldn’t let me get on.
I was the only Aussie left by that point.
They didn’t get that the U.S. and Australia had an understanding.
They were the low-level soldiers. They were trying to hold the last line of defense and fight the rebels off alongside us. ”
“People lose reason under pressure,” Grant said.
“Exactly.” I nodded. “And we had language issues. They didn’t understand English, and trying to explain wasn’t working. They were adamant that I couldn’t get on the plane. I know that sounds dumb sitting here, but it was mass panic and chaos.”
“Damn,” Adrien said. “So now you’re stuck? Getting left behind?”
I looked at Daniel, who had taken to fidgeting with his sleeves repeatedly.
“Yes. And I was okay with that. It’s part of war. The plane was almost done loading, and the pilot needed to leave before all hell broke loose.”
Remembering that moment had goosebumps erupting over my arms.
Viktor pointed an impatient finger at me. “And? What happened?”
“Well, your roommate here refused to leave me behind. He declared on the spot that I was his husband. That granted me American citizenship instantly. We had a small officiating ceremony… our unit commander acted as the officiant and our men as witnesses.”
“That’s epic,” Grant said.
The men around the table looked riveted by our story. Telling it aloud like this made me realize just how unusual it was.
I nodded. “It was quite something. We had an hour to find something to make our rings. Scrap metal, debris, lost items, anything.”
I glanced down at Daniel, but he suddenly seemed oddly subdued.
“I didn’t even ask his opinion or permission,” Daniel said quietly. “I didn’t give him a choice.”
I frowned. What did he mean?
Suddenly, with a loud noise, Daniel’s chair moved.
Before I could understand what was happening, he was out of his seat, running out of the cafeteria.
“Did he get paged?” Viktor asked in confusion.
I shook my head, just as dumbfounded. We watched him disappear. I thought everything was going so well. We were on our way to mend whatever rift had come between us.
“Reed.” Sam was watching me keenly.
“Yeah?” I turned my head to face him, still feeling extremely confused.
“Are you planning to end things between you both?”
I blanched at the very mention of it. “Of course not.”
Sam pinned me down with his intense gaze.
“Does he know that?”
I blinked. What did he mean?
“I am here, aren’t I?”
“You could be here for a lot of reasons. Technically, you’re here because of the rescue.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I should have left by now if that were the only reason.”
Sam didn’t budge.
“I’ll ask again—does he know that?”
I shifted in my chair uncomfortably. “Yeah… I mean… I think so. We’ve come very close to kissing.”
“Kissing and sex are not the same as a marriage, Reed. I think you need to tell him that. Dr. Park is a man of principle. Perhaps a bit too rigidly so, but he is the one who married you, took the decision unilaterally. For a man like him, who doesn’t speak his feelings, who follows the law to a ‘T’, it couldn’t have been easy.
And I don’t think he knows exactly how you feel about the whole situation. ”
Oh.
“We have noticed that you don’t wear a ring. He does.”
Oh, fuck.
My stomach sank to the floor.
I had been such a bloody fool.
“Go talk to your man.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I left the cafeteria feeling all kinds of fucked up. What did I say to Daniel? Would he even listen?
What if he thought I was just trying to bed him all this time?
I swore.
Sometimes I could be so simple-minded.