Not So Fragile

An Inu-midoriko Production ;)

A/N: I usually don't write a fanfiction for ANYTHING until I have more to go on than just four-five episodes but I couldn't help myself. I'm completely convinced Taylor and Wash are going to be a thing at some point in the series, assuming they aren't killed off at some point. I really hope not because they are my favorite characters and current fandom at the moment. I'm also convinced Wash is a modern 2011 Xena. It was the first thing I thought of when I saw her fight in The Runaway. She was friggin amazing!

Anyways, enjoy!

Warning: There will be smut. Eventually!

The day was finally over- not that Lieutenant Washington complained, ever. Yet she'd privately be the first to admit that it had been a long day and she was exhausted. Commander Taylor had given her the task of teaching the survival classes and that was fine- until she had to teach them how to defend themselves- against both the Sixers and carnivorous creatures beyond the gate.

At the moment the lieutenant was convinced that they were all hopeless, save for a few of them that had either a Martial Art background or had previously been in the army themselves. So you could imagine her frustration when the majority in her class of fifty had three left feet when it came to moving out of the way of an attack. It was simple. Just move away from the thing coming after you.

Did they? Of course. In various ways with various results. One in particular stood out because she was a Shannon. The Elder Shannon girl had moved out of the way like she was supposed to-but instead of using the foot work Wash had shown her-she had panicked and tripped over her own feet, effectively falling over onto her back with a hard thud. That was first time. On the second try the girl moved into Wash's attack, momentarily taking them both off guard, causing them to stumble into each other and fall over in a tangle of limbs.

At the humiliating memory Wash rubbed a hand over her face, dreading the next day's class. She was just extremely happy that tomorrow was the last class and it was a review of what they'd been taught throughout the week.

"Call it a night Wash, you've got another long day ahead of you tomorrow." at the deep voice, the dark haired woman turned to attention. She would know that voice anywhere.

"Yes, sir." glancing back at the descending sun, she signed herself out of duty and left for her home a few paths away from headquarters. Her home was right beside the gate, not something she was fond of, considering they discovered new carnivorous creatures everyday, big and small, but she didn't complain. It was far better than the home she used to have in the future.

Opening her front door, she stepped in and kicked it closed. Going into her room, she set the gun down beside her bedside table after putting the safety on and toed off her boots. She had just taken off her vest and let down her hair when she heard a knock on the door. A frown marred her features. Generally she didn't get knocks on her door unless it was an emergency but loud commotion usually tipped her off to that.

Her foot steps made soft padding noises as she made her way to her door and was surprised to find the eldest Shannon daughter at her door. "Hi…" said the girl but she paused, looking as if she wanted to say a ton of things but drew a blank the last minute.

"Is there a particular reason you're here?" asked Wash, trying to prompt the girl to speak. It worked because as if snapping out of whatever internal dilemma she was battling, the girl spoke.

"Yes! Sorry, I hope I'm not disturbing you, well I guess I am, you're at home and you look tired so you were probably about to relax and then I showed up. Not that you look like you need rest, I mean when everyone's tired they look like it but…Hi…I'm Maddy Shannon," the girl grimaced as she realized she was rambling and directed the conversation the way she needed it to go. "I'm in your survival class. I ran into you today, literally and I just wanted to say I'm so sorry if I hurt you or humiliated you, that wasn't my intention. I'm just not really good with the whole defence thing. I'm more of a book smart than street smart… not that I'm implying you're a street fighter or anything like that. I'm sorry, I ramble when I'm nervous."

"I noticed." the amused smile Maddy was able to bring to Wash's lips, visibly relaxed her. "Don't worry, I'm seen rougher days. Besides, I don't foresee you getting into a 'street fight' in the near future." At Maddy's embarrassed shake of her head, Wash glanced at the nearly set sun and turned back to the younger girl. "You should get home. It's getting late."

"Right. Sun's going down." Maddy held out her hand with a smile that was, damn it, contagious. With a small smile of her own, Alicia took the hand that was offered. "Have a good night, Lieutenant Washington."

"You too, Miss Shannon."

Alicia closed the door when Maddy reached the end of the path and made for the one that lead to her own. She wasn't at all surprised to see Sergeant Reynolds accompanying her home. He had eyed her like a kid eyes a cake all throughout the survival training today. It was both endearing and humorous. Her and Reynolds had more of a brother/sister relationship. Only difference was when they were on duty, he wasn't allowed to argue back, no matter how much he disagreed with her.

An hour later, with her clothes in a pile on the floor to be washed tomorrow night, she stepped into her favourite secret sin. A bubble bath. She was far from your typical girly woman with fine wine at the bathtub edge and a sinful book to read with candles lit and flower pedals dawning the floor and bath suds. No, she was a Lieutenant but still a woman. There were times when even she couldn't resist the pull of a hot bubble bath after a hard day.

Sinking down into the hot water, she laid back and closed her eyes, allowing her bones and muscles to relax. Rolling her shoulder, she winced. She was getting stiff around there and no matter how much kneading she did, it was still tight. Sighing, she gave up on the knots and drew in a breath. Without a moment's hesitation, she sank her head all the way into the water for a moment and came back up. Grabbing the bottle of homemade shampoo, Alicia put a generous amount into her hair and scrubbed until it masked her hair in foamy white suds. Taking in a breath, she sank back down into the water and scrubbed at her scalp, ridding herself of the shampoo as well as the day's dirt and grim. After a minute, she came back up and sucked in a much needed breath of air.

Satisfied that she got all the soap out, Wash grabbed the homemade bar of soap from the edge of her tub and scrubbed at her skin until every inch of her body felt clean. Inspecting her legs, she sighed as she realized she needed to shave. She made it a weekly ritual but tonight, she just didn't feel like it. Taking in a breath, she reached for the razor she made herself, giving in what she knew needed to happen.

With her legs now completely smooth, Wash stood out of the water after pulling the plug and wrapped a towel around herself. It was at this point she paused and listened. She was sure she heard a noise right outside her window. Her bathroom faced the fence so it came as no surprise to her that she would hear a dinosaur, but she didn't recognize what this one sounded like.

The noise it was making only got louder and more insistent. And since she had already heard the damn creature, she was sure she'd be able to hear it in her bedroom.

Quickly drying her body, she put on her black and grey camouflage cotton sweat pants and black tank top before donning her leather jacket and hand gun. Doing a quick look on either side of her home to make sure no one was watching, she stealthily moved on to the gate and headed for the thing that was making the noise outside her home. Her eyes widened a moment later when she recognized the species of dinosaur literally beside her home.

She had only seen this one once and it was in a brief passing of the nest deep within the jungle. An Oviraptor, if she wasn't mistaken. Rumoured to be a six foot tall egg thief in the database, it was also carnivorous to small reptiles and insects. This one was small, looking to only be a foot long. The thing was whimpering and it was precisely at this moment that Wash had realized the baby dinosaur was caught in the vines that covered the lower half of the gate.

Knowing she should shoot it so it didn't come back as an adult and bite her in the ass, she stepped closer to it. It panicked for a moment and struggled even harder. "Shh…it's okay…" she tried to coo it. It must have been the fact she was tired or perhaps even the calming atmosphere of the night sky or even just temporary insanity that allowed herself to put her hand through the gate and rest her hand on it's back. Whatever it was, she was going to work on it later because the sharp peck it gave her arm made her wince as she watched the blood run from the wound, down to her fingers. She muttered curses under her breath at the throb but continued to pet it anyways. Eventually the baby dino realized that she meant no harm and stopped struggling but stayed alert, eyeing Alicia's every move. Looking around the gate on the outside to make sure a Slasher wasn't nearby, she used her free hand to put her gun away and take out a knife. Slowly reaching through, she stopped petting the baby to take hold of the thinner vines that were wrapped around it's limbs and started cutting.

It took Alicia about ten minutes to cut through all the vines and once she was done, she sat back on her heels, expecting the bird like raptor to make a run for it into the jungle but it stood there, in it's same place. Frowning, Alicia reached through the gate once more and softly nudged it, pleased that it didn't try to peck her again. Still, it made no move to leave.

"Fine, stay there. I'm not coming back to untangle you next time." Alicia said sternly, knowing the creature wouldn't understand but made the attempt anyways.

"If I hadn't known any better, I'd say you were talking to yourself, Wash." spinning around, Alicia's eyes widened a fraction at the Commander. What would he say when he found out she couldn't shoot the dinosaur because it was baby and it was helpless? There were so many possible reactions she could get from him that she didn't even want to think about it.

"No, sir." she said, casting her eyes above his head.

"Look at me." she did. And regretted it because the wave of attraction she felt for this man wasn't right. He was twice her age and he was her Commanding Officer. They'd known each other for years and even back then, when he was younger with darker hair, she did her damn best to deny and suppress any attraction she might have held for him then. But now, when they were alone and had private conversations, he looked at her like he knew about the attraction she held for him. In times like these, where she was helpless but to follow his instructions, it was like he used it to his advantage and said things in certain tones and looked at her with certain looks to get a reaction out of her.

"What were you doing just now?" Of course he asked the question she was hoping he would skip. It wasn't like she could lie to him either. She was literally incapable of the sin when it came to her Commander.

"There was a baby dinosaur… it was stuck and I… freed it." It sounded so stupid when she said it out loud. Lt. Washington was not going soft and that was exactly what it sounded like to her own ears. She didn't dare move a muscle, not when he was slowly taking steps closer towards her to better gauge her reactions to his questions.

"You hesitated when you answered. Why?" she almost visibly cringed but held the eye contact and steeled her emotions down. He was so good looking and when he was this close, she could smell the soap emanating off his skin. She would never, ever, not even on her life, admit that when he wasn't looking she would steal glances at him and his body. Especially his body. He was in amazing shape and it was one of the main reasons she was so attracted to him. She didn't know any other man in their fifties that kept up the shape of a ripped thirty year old. But she valued their companionship too much to allow her attraction to ruin what they had.

With this mindset, she went full into the conversation, damning the consequences because he was her Commander and she was his subordinate. "I wasn't sure how you would take my actions, sir." she confessed and clenched her teeth, bracing herself for whatever reaction he was going to have.

"I see." he said and raised a brow, looking from the gate, back to Wash. "It's not there anymore. What dino was it?"

"I believe it was an Oviraptor. I've only seen them once before but they aren't vicious or human eaters. They eat other dinosaur eggs and smaller reptiles." the crease of her brow furrowed as she tried to remember the dietary report on the Oviraptor from the database.

"If it's not dangerous to us, then there's no reason to be upset, now is there?" he asked with an easy grin. She visibly relaxed and nodded. "Right. If you don't mind my asking, sir, why are you here?" his own home was right beside headquarters, literally the opposite direction of her own home.

"Guzman was on camera duty and saw something odd. It was you crouched but it's at such an angle that the picture didn't come out right. I decided to see if everything was alright." Now it made sense. He never just appeared out of thin air for no reason. Wash was about to confirm that she was fine but when she moved her arm, his gaze trailed down and zoned in on the cut on her arm. "Were you planning on standing there until the cows came home with you're arm bleeding, Wash? Come on now." he sighed in irritation and motioned for her to follow him inside her home. "Kit still under the couch?" he asked after they were inside her house.

"Yes, sir." she went to the sink and ran water over her arm to help clean the area around the wound. "I'm okay to bandage myself." she said and turned to face him. The stubborn look on his face told her he wasn't going anywhere until he bandaged her arm himself. With her own sigh of irritation she reluctantly sat down on her couch and held out her arm for him to examine.

"The bugger wasn't nice to you." he said and kneeled on he floor. Going into the kit, he took out an alcoholic wipe and swiped over the open cut. It stung, but Wash would be damned if she let it show on her face. Taking a padded piece of gauze, he gently put it on the cut; catching the next flow of blood that was about to spill out onto her arm, and wrapped the gauze ends firmly around her arm to secure it in place. "That's a nasty cut, make sure you keep an eye on it." when she nodded in affirmation he put the kit away and stood. She came off the couch a not a moment after him and lead him to the front door.

"Thank you." she said before he left and he gave her a rare smile.

"Anytime, Wash."

Closing the door after he got onto the path to his own home, she leaned against the frame and took a moment to stare at the careful work Taylor did to her arm. He knew she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and yet he insisted on helping her. Confused and tired, she ran a hand over her slightly damp hair, she blew out a large breath the made for her room to finally get the sleep she'd been aiming for since she got home.

A/N: Let me know what you think!