I Like Pink

Leading my girls out the back door, we headed for the eastern horizon going into the sun. Alex's curiosity got the better of him. I thought you said that Crèche 290 is south of us, why the easterly dog leg?"

I replied, "We need to keep undercover, no one knows about these suits except my team."

Jennifer popped up with, "And if you don't keep your mouth shut we will shut it for you! Boss? Why is the flat-chested newbie going with us?"

Zhōu Ai chimed in with, "How are we going to get this job done with a rank amateur under foot?"

Chimlin got in, "Yeah! ..." when I cut them off."

"Enough, She is with us because I asked her to come. If that is not enough for you, then I'll find replacements for you. Got it?"

I got a snappy and loud, "Yes, Ma'am!" as a group reply. Alex's satin voice even chimed in.

By now, we had leaped over the surrounding twelve-foot fence that keeps our crèche protected from the outside world. And were on a direct bearing for crèche 290. I figure we going around one hundred klicks an hour.

I snapped out, "Jen, Take point! Everyone stay frosty. This just a recon, so no one get tight!"

I drifted to the tail of the patrol looking to see if we had anyone following us. I had not really noticed before, but Alex had a slim but definite triangle build. Broad shoulders to a narrow waist. And I stayed in the last man spot for some time. Inside my mind kept buzzing around the thought, 'Why did Alex look so hot?'

As we closed in on crèche 290's outer fence, I took point. We had been in stealth mode all the time, but I was the cautious type. What one set of technological magic could do, another could undo. I felt it was best to not rely on technology. So we entered 'by the book.' Sneaking from one advantage point to the next, check to make sure everything was clear and then on to the next. Why such pains when all we were doing was a wellness check? Simple, I was not a trusting person, and besides my internal radar was telling me to do so.

What we found was nothing, I mean, yes the buildings were there, but the people were not.

Taking it even more cautiously, we entered each building by the book. Clearing it before moving on to the next. In the main house, we found girls sleeping. All of them were all laying in a terrible mess and dehydrated.

Jilian was the first to figure it out, "Boss, notice that the only ones here are littles and the prepubescent."

Tatiana quipped, "Hey Alex. It's a good thing you weren't here, or you would be missing also…"

The rest of the team giggled. And I relaxed a bit. If my team could joke around, then they were probably taking this appropriately.

I decided that we needed to take care of these girls first. Mysteries could wait. "Alex, you check the infants, clean them up, and make sure that they are OK. Ariel, get some formula hot and get Alex some full bottles ASAP."

Zhōu Ai, Chimlin, Jilian, and Tatiana clean up and check the older girls. "Ai Chan? And I tossed my Medit to her. "You're the medical officer for now."

Turning to Jennifer, "Jen, you're with me. Let's finish inspecting the area and see if we can find any clues."

Eventually, we had checked and inspected the area as best as we could. It had to have been a gas attack at night as everyone was in bed. I had sent Jen to see how the older girls were, while I checked and Alex and the littles. When I entered the littles area, I saw Alex with an infant in his arms, feeding her a bottle. And my heart rolled over in my chest a few times.

I sat down next to him and picked up a sweet little girl who was fussing and simply needed some loving attention. Alex looked into my eyes, "Well 'boss,' any ideas?"

"None. I've talked to the crèches around here, and everyone is sending one lieutenant and their second-best team. They should be here by tonight. How are you on KP?"

Alex grinned and said, "I have no idea do you want me to find out?"

"Would you? I need to think this through so I'll take over the littles for now. Ariel, can you help Alex on KP? Jen, Grab a baby and let's bounce ideas around."

Now Ariel was a well stacked raven-haired pixie. She was a cuddly as they came. As I watched the two of them leave seeming very much in sync with each other, I paused to wonder why had I sent him with her. As cuddly as Ariel was if she acted like her usual self, I was afraid that something might come up that I did not want to be revealed.

Turns out that Alex is a great chef. He and Ariel had hot food on the table within the hour. Not fancy but it tasted good, and they got it done fast. The older girls were starving. Simple food was exactly what they needed after fasting that long.

I noticed that Alex was all over the place. The girls were all upset, and he hugged and cuddled them as needed. Teasing one moment, soothing the next. Even my team was noticing him. In fact, Ariel came up to me and whispered in my ear, "She is going to make a great mother. Can't the caretakers do anything about her physical abnormalities?"

We had to change out of our armor before the other crèche teams arrived. Alex did not faint on me this time. But I noticed him wiping his nose surreptitiously. He did about jump out his skin when Ariel grabbed him from behind plastering herself to his back in one of her trademark cuddles. What really blew me away was how every girl on my team found an excuse to hug Alex before we finished getting dressed. I guess he was proving himself to them. No one teased him about being flat, and his plastron was something medical, so no one was crass enough to even mention that.

It was after midnight when we arrived home. We flew back in the truck that had brought over our contribution to caring for the girls in crèche 290. Everyone but the littles were still up, and the kitchen had baked brownies and made ice cream for us. There wasn't much to tell them, but we all were hugged endlessly as everyone could see themselves being the ones to need help.

After getting ready for bed. Alex stopped me as I was about to climb up to my bunk. His face turned bright red, and he said, "I like pink."