Got a few more of these coming your way, so stay tuned. and I've taken the liberty of naming Corporal Reilly, Laura. So until we hear otherwise, that's what her name will be in my fics. Enjoy

She'd loved the image in her head, which Commander Nathaniel Taylor had put there, that one day she'd be in uniform. She always did love uniforms. That conversation with the Commander never left her, and she always modeled herself after one person who had a very weighted impact in her life. One week after being settled into her new home with her brother she'd started running. It didn't matter where, she was always very good with finding her way places, and had already developed a good understanding of whereabouts inside the Colony. So she'd go, blond ponytail bobbing (just the first of many ways she modeled herself after that important person) early in the morning before school, and return red faced and breathing hard to take a refreshing shower.

Leah Marcos, from the very moment Commander Taylor said he'd have to put her in uniform, she'd wanted to be like Lieutenant Washington. She was beautiful and strong, and no dumb boys ever messed with her. That's how she wanted to be. To Leah the Lieutenant was like her mom and like Mira, strong, capable, and a 'take-no-crap' like kind of woman (like her dad had used to say). If she got up early enough for the month leading up the when the Phoenix Group arrived Lieutenant Alicia Washington would run with her. It put the biggest grin on her face, even when she was reduced to huffing and puffing, it never ceased to be some of the greatest runs she'll ever remember.

When the Phoenix Group came she'd been in the market with her brother and some other kids from the school. She'd seen Lieutenant Washington through all the chaos, shielding a mother and her baby from an explosion as she guided them as near to shelter as possible. Leah, swelling with courage had told her friends and brother to run to the school as fast as they could and even held onto a younger girl's hand while they ran. The last thing Leah saw before taking cover was Lieutenant Washington dragging one of the soldier boys away from an ashen crater in the rubble.

Just as Commander Taylor had said, she's a feisty one. Their teacher wasn't in the school. She'd told the others with as much authority she could put into her wavering voice to stay in the corner while she went outside to check what was happening. The moment she did so she was scooped up very forcefully by none other than the Lieutenant herself and carried right back into the building.

"Leah Marcos, you stay right here and don't you come out until someone you trust comes to find you. You hear me, Cadet?" That she'd called her by her nickname gave the seriousness of her tone all the more impact.

"Yes Ma'am." She nods, catching the Lieutenant's sleeve before she can bolt back out the door.

"You're one I trust, Lieutenant. So you come on back, when we're safe." The seriousness in her tone made the Lieutenant smile. A wail of fear from the back room had both Leah and the Lieutenant bolting to the other kids. A Phoenix soldier has his gun trained on Sam and he didn't notice Leah until she'd kicked him in the shins. He moves quickly and hits her jaw with the head of his gun. It wasn't that hard, but she fell and quickly scrambled over to her brother as Lieutenant Washington knocked the man unconscious with two punches. Leah swore to herself in that moment that she'd be able to do that one day. Lieutenant Washington returned a moment later after throwing the Phoenix soldier outside and barricading the back door.

"Stay here. Stay quiet. Leah, as soon as this is over, I will see you for our run, got it?" She manages a smile and Leah nods back and then the Lieutenant is gone. Gone in a heartbeat.

Leah Marcos runs with Lieutenant Alicia Washington every day after the Phoenix Group leaves. It's that authoritative voice in her head telling her to hustle that keeps her determined. Every day that image would have her hauling her ass out of bed to run. She'd find herself getting up earlier, same mental image of the stoic Lieutenant using her C-O tone to keep her motivated, was late for class a couple times, so the earlier she'd rise the longer she could run. She never missed a day; built herself up enough to avoid the worst parts of seasonal colds, ran even if she was stuffed up.

With her blond ponytail bobbing she eventually has Commander Taylor bringing her into some of the training sessions for the newest soldiers. A whole four years younger she beats or meets every eighteen year old boy and girl in almost each different training areas. She excels in hand-to-hand combat, leaving some big boys on their backs with bloody noses. That's in her free time of course. Leah doesn't have to beg long for Doc Shannon to let her do an apprenticeship in the infirmary a good two years before she's required to. She drags herself to the Eye with a dummy to practice the 'medieval' medicine when the nurses and doctors can't tell her about something. She has the guilty pleasure of listening to Lieutenant Washington's recorded instructions on suturing and 'in field emergency medicine' and even copies them to her personal Plex; the recordings becoming her Bible. Leah has the chance to put these acquired skills to the test when a convoy returns with a handful of injured soldiers and one is left on a bio bed (seemingly one of the lesser injured) and Leah takes the liberty to check him out. The colony has done remarkably well considering the loss of contact with 2149 and she understands that resources ought not to be wasted. The solider is unconscious, all the other doctors and nurses are tending to the more seriously injured, he's bleeding (quite a bit, if she's honest with herself) and she's there to help. She cleans, disinfects, and sutures his two wounds within a time that even the Lieutenant she'd learned it all for would find impressive. It isn't until later that Doc Shannon finds out. Going over the medical files and finding a name that she doesn't at all remember treating, not even seeing during the earlier semi-chaotic mess. Leah is at her side always observing with great care. Dr. Shannon looks over the stitches with a contemplative expression and looks over her chart again.

"Is there something wrong?" Leah asks hoping that she hadn't made a mistake. Dr. Shannon shakes her head.

"No, the wounds look fine...But, I can't for the life of me remember seeing him earlier." She admits.

"Nor, does it say who treated him." Her brow is creased with confusion and Leah takes the opportunity to speak up.

"I treated him Doctor." She says, standing at attention, remembering the posture; having adopted it from four years of observing the soldiers and almost five months of part time training. Elisabeth Shannon's mouth forms a perfect o that lasts only a moment before she composes herself.

"I'll see you tomorrow, at nine in the morning; I want you to demonstrate for me."

After that day she'd been allowed to stitch up anyone, and even got to go into the field sometimes for OTG excursions with the Freshs. Got to show her 'In Field' worth two years short of getting her Military Credentials when one of the boys had decided to disregard the C-O's recommendation to "watch your step" and took a tumble slicing his calf a good fifteen centimetres. Lieutenant Laura Reilly had personally come over to watch with an impressed smirk when the official 'In Training" Medic's hands kept shaking and Leah had pushed him out of the way and fixed the inobservant joker right up.

When she finally got her Military credentials she was by no means a Fresh. She stood on the stage with the other new soldiers and imagined the great Lieutenant Washington smiling at her from the Audience next to the retired but still strong Commander Taylor. She ought to be there in the flesh but imagining it and keeping in mind that it most likely made the woman proud was enough to keep a grin on her face.

She stopped by the Lieutenant's grave later that evening, proudly wearing her uniform.

"I certainly wish you were seeing this, Ma'am." She starts smiling sadly down at the head stone. It reads:

Soldier, Friend, Sister, Martyr

Lieutenant Alicia 'Wash' Washington

"But I'd be lying if I didn't think you are already seeing all this from where ever you are. You're in the same place are my parents. I got to where I am today because I saw a super hero my first day here. Lieutenant Alicia Washington, that's the name I think of when I think of whom I want to be like. I'm a follower in your footsteps, and I hope that I've lived up to your name thus far." She takes a deep breath and places the bouquet of flowers she brought in front of the head stone.

"You've lived up to it alright." She turns to face the aging Commander Taylor with a nod and a small smile.

"I'm glad you think so, sir." His smile reaches his eyes; she finds her own smiles growing a bit, because she remembers how that privilege (to have Nathaniel Taylor truly smile in your presence) is something not many have.

"I don't think so, Peanut. I know so." She laughs at that and falls into step with him as they walk back toward the Gates. He gives her a pat on her shoulder.

"Wash's proud. I'm proud, and don't for a second forget that." He says. She nods.

"No, Commander I don't think I will."

When they return to the Gates Commander Taylor turns to her and takes her hand placing something into her open palm.

"She wanted you to have these. Never doubted for a second that you'd choose anything else but solider for your career." He smiles again and walks off toward the Command Center, he still works tirelessly even in retirement.

Alicia Washington left for Leah Marcos her first pair of dog tags, her very first. They were among the few possessions she had managed to keep over the many long years and many treacherous wars she'd been through. Leah Marcos received them the day she turned eighteen and got her Military Credentials. Leah Marcos modeled herself after Lieutenant Alicia Washington (the same way her brother took after the great Doctor Malcolm Wallace) and from the Lieutenant she took: courage, motivation and a 'take no shit' attitude. She would never be forgotten by this girl and her family.