Purple | Cole Stewart

Chapter 5

 "Alban wants to see you for a debrief." Carter looked up to see one of Alban's many advisors, none of which she knew the name of. Ruby had mentioned to her once that the only way she was able to tell them apart was by calling them names like "Frog Lips" and "Horse Face". If she was being honest, Carter thought that was pretty damn funny.

"...What? I wasn't team lead, I don't-"

"Doesn't matter, kid. Alban wants you there, so you're gonna be there." The man turned on his heel and walked out the door, leaving the girl dumbfounded.

A debrief after such a crucial Op was normal enough, but being personally informed of it by one of Alban's closest men? And in Alban's office?

Carter arrived outside of Alban's office to see that Ruby and Cole were already there, and Ruby looked less than comfortable with that fact. "...chance to talk on the plane, did we?"

Ruby's cheeks were red as she looked everywhere but at Cole, which was how she noticed Carter's arrival.

"Carter, hey. You alright? I saw that you didn't go to Medbay when we got back." Ruby made her way over at a slight jog.

Carter shifted on her feet, uncomfortable with the pity she was getting from Ruby. "Too crowded. There wasn't anything they could do for me that I can't do for myself, so there was no point anyways," she mumbled, looking down at her feet.

"Please don't tell me you skipped out on Post-Op Med-Call again."

Ruby would make a very good mother, Carter decided. She seemed to have that dissapointed stance down, with the arms-crossed-over-the-chest and the one-hip-cocked-out.

"Again?"

Both girls startled at Cole's sudden entrance into the conversation. When neither of them answered his question, he repeats his question.

"What the hell do you mean, she skipped out on Post-Op Med-Call again?"

Carter looked up to meet his eyes, then immediately decided that was a mistake when she saw him looking right back at her.

"Ah, yeah, again. Cate says I have 'Medical Trauma', so I don't really... go to Med-Call. Ever. "

Carter was surprised her face hadn't caught on fire with how her cheeks were burning.

Cole stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest. He seemed to study Carter for a moment, taking in her too-large t-shirt and heavily bandaged arm. "Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Cole held his hands up in a placating gesture, fingers splayed. He opened his mouth to respond, but Ruby's beat him to it, knocking on the office door, then opening it to reveal Alban, sitting at his desk, as well as Rob and one of his advisors standing across from him, faces red from some sort of argument they must have been having.

"Sir," Ruby began. "You wanted to see us?"

"Goodness, sit down, sit down," Alban said, waving us into the office and towards 3 folding chairs set up in front of his desk. It reminded Carter of a parent-teacher conference (or at least what she remembered of them).

"It's just a bruise," she muttered as the group entered the room.

Ruby only frowned in response, unable to argue back in front of Alban, who gestured at the chairs in front of him again. "You all look dead on your feet."

"I'm fine, thank you," said Ruby, shuffling down to the seat farthest from the door to make room for Cole and Carter.

Carter let out a shaky breath as she finally sunk down into the chair, positioning her bruised arm awkwardly in front of her. Cole looked with a small frown- so small it was mistaken for a twitch by those who saw it. Alban paid no mind to any of this, beginning his speech as Carter was still shifting in her seat.