I've Got Your Back (The Code, Harper+Maya)

[nothin2sneeze@]

Sooo I’m back with more Harper and Maya content from The Code after re-watching the series and getting re-obsessed! I’m in the process of writing a series of chronological one-shots and okay...MAYBE I also want to redeem myself after writing and posting that cringe-worthy train-wreck of a fanfic featuring these two a while back...ugh (read at your own risk...but I’d greatly appreciate if you didn’t...and yes, not linking it on here was definitely intentional...). If I could rewrite the thing, I’d tone down some of the more graphic descriptions of fetishy things that make me uncomfortable (and that’s saying a lot...) looking back on it now. I've learned less is more with these things... Anyway...I didn’t just come on here to complain about that fic, believe it or not. Not sure how many of these one-shots I’ll end up writing and posting, depends on the response I get. Also totally open to writing fics with other characters and pairings of the show! Enjoy my attempt at redemption. Here is the first one-shot! 

“Boot” 

2 weeks 

“Hhhuh-ishIEW!”  

Maya glanced up from her case files at the sound of a feminine sneeze to find the newest member of the prosecution department’s team of Marine Corps Judge Advocates, 2nd Lieutenant Harper Li, a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Stanford-educated attorney and newly-minted Marine from San Francisco, standing in the doorway to her office. Maya, who was double-checking and re-organizing case files for an upcoming audit and not in the mood to babysit this “boot” (a term of endearment insult for any Marine who had never been overseas or in combat), pasted a smile on her face anyway and nodded to the young woman. 

“Lieutenant,” she greeted, “what are you still doing here so late? You really should be at home in bed.”  

Harper tilted her head and gave her a puzzled look, before realization set in. “Oh,” she sniffled, “this?” She pointed to her nose. “It’s ndothing. I feel fide. The sndeezig is a little adoying,” she sighed, “but I’ll live.”  

“If you say so,” Maya shrugged. “Can I help you with something?” 

Harper seemed to interpret this question as an invitation to make herself at home in Maya’s office. She grinned and strolled over to the empty desk up against the far side of the room and casually leaned back against it. Maya bit back an irritated sigh. “Actually,” Harper answered, “I was godda ask you the sabe thig.”  

Maya furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “You...came into my office to ask for my permission to be helped by you…” She clarified haltingly, more of a statement than a question.  

“Correct,” Harper pushed herself up onto the desk, letting her legs dangle. “I was godda ask if I could help you help mbe by helpig mbe help you. Wait...” She frowned, her dark eyes squinting and darting upward. “Did what I said just ndow bake ady sendse?” She questioned. 

“No,” Maya replied with an unamused smile, “and you still haven’t answered my first question, Li.” 

“Oh,” Harper chuckled to herself, seemingly unaffected by Maya’s increasingly obvious irritation, “right. Well, I heard the defendse offices are gettig audited toborrow, ad I’bm assumbig that’s why you’re here workig so diligedtly ad tirelessly after-hours. Ad I’bm very bored. So I’b here to offer mby expert peer-review services ad I’bm really hopig you will take mbe up ond mby offer because if I have to lay eyes od adother ond-boardig madual I mbight just throw mbyself out of a fourth-story office window. I’ve read themb all ted timbes ad cad recite themb id—hhehITSHiew!—ugh, s’cuse mbe” she sniffled, “Id...” she continued before her eyes glazed over again. She brought the crook of her elbow to her face as her eyes slid shut. 

“In your sleep?” Maya guessed as her colleague’s breath hitched. 

Harper shook her head, her eyes still closed as she kept her bent arm hovering over the lower half of her face. “Hhh….hhh-uh—Ndo,” she hitched, a split second before she jerked forward slightly and muffled a sneeze into the fabric of her work uniform sweater. “Dot quite,” she mumbled into her elbow crook, sniffling, “was godda say ‘id a coba’ but—ishxxIEW!—close edough,” she finished breathlessly, snuffling to herself, her nose so stopped-up as she fished a packet of tissues out of her sweater pocket. 

“Right,” Maya chuckled humorlessly as Harper pulled a tissue out of the packet. “Listen, Lieutenant, normally I would take you up on your offer…but clearly you’re in no state to be expertly peer-reviewing anything. Also…aren’t you, like, twenty-six? Do you even have experience with this type of thing?” 

Harper gave her a pointed look as she blew her nose. “Twendy-eighdt,” she emphasized, crumpling her tissue and tossing it in the trash as she recomposed herself. “I spedt a few years workig at mby paredt’s firmb before I joined the Mbarines. So, yes, I’ve donde mbore thad by fair share of case file self- ad peer-reviews for audits, ad I amb bore thad qualified to help you with yours.” Maya opened her mouth to respond but Harper didn’t seem to notice. Or she simply didn’t care. Probably the latter, Maya decided. “As mbuch as I despise the fact that mby paredts sue people for a livig…they rud a very successful firmb ad I learned a lot frob theb. Id additiod,” Harper continued without taking a breath, “I’ve had pledty of highly successful medtors od mby law career jourdey. For example...”  

Maya looked longingly at the open chart in front of her as her new colleague tried to convince an invisible jury that she had all the necessary qualifications, but her stuffy voice was making it increasingly hard to take her seriously. “Furtherbore,” the brunette was saying, “I interned for onde of the best—DA Harris id Sad Fradcisco two sumbers id a row back idn undergrad. Wasd’t the mbost excitig work per se...but Kambala always madaged to mbake thigs fud,” she recalled with a nostalgic smile, which quickly faded as her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth opened. “Hhh...Hhih-unxxgt!” She stifled a sneeze into the tissue in her hand. 

“Bless you,” Maya offered, silently thanking the universe for that perfectly-timed sneeze that left her colleague too sniffly to continue speaking, before sighing and leaning back in her chair in discreet relief. “Okay okay...I’m sorry for doubting your expertise. And I’ll admit, you’ve presented some solid evidence, but,” Maya paused, shaking her head, “what I don’t understand is why you’re in such a hurry. Your time for some big cases will come, Harper. I can promise you that. There is never any shortage of code-violating Marines on the eastern seaboard, trust me. And once you’re assigned a caseload...that’s it. You will forever be so busy that you won’t have time to realize that there’s never enough time to do it all.” 

Harper nodded, sniffling. “I dow... I just...” she began quietly as she dabbed at her pink-rimmed nostrils with a tissue. “I’ve worked so hard to get here...ad ndow, agaidst all odds, I’b fidally here.” She paused, looking around Maya’s office, smiling softly to herself before directing her eyes back to her colleague. “You of all people should uderstad where I’b cobig fromb whed I say that I’bm very eager to prove all the ndaysayers wrog...”  

“I understand that more than you know. And you’ve made it this far, which is much further than almost all of the people who’ve attempted to get where you are now. Even as you stand here, you’re already proving the naysayers wrong.” As silly as you may sound, she thought to herself. 

Harper beamed. “Thagks, Captaid. But...” she started sheepishly, “cad I still help you with your charts? Please?” She interlocked her fingers and gave Maya her best puppy-dog face. “Dod’t mbake mbe beg. I’bm ndot above doig that, but I’d really prefer ndot to.” 

Maya threw up her hands in exasperation but couldn’t help the genuinely amused smile that formed on her lips. “You’re relentless, Li. In fact, I’m starting to think you just argued your way to the top.”  

Harper chuckled wearily and shrugged. “I cad ndeither condfirb ndor dedy that.” A beat passed. “Sooo...whaddya say?”  

Maya looked at Harper’s pleading face for a few moments before giving in. “Okay. Fine,” she resigned. She grabbed a stack of files that were sitting atop a file cabinet behind her as Harper cheered triumphantly.  

“If it’s mby cogtagiousdness that you’re worried aboudt, I’b happy to go get the hazbat gear fromb the jaditor’s closet.” Maya eyed the brunette incredulously. Harper chuckled softly. “Kiddig. I’bm desperate, but ndot that desperate.” She walked over to Maya’s desk and squirted a generous helping of hand sanitizer into her palm before thoroughly coating her hands and wrists with it and taking the charts from Maya’s outstretched arms. 

“Just know that if you screw anything up, I’m never letting you near my files again,” Maya warned. 

“Deal.”  

“I’ll get you a copy of our chart guide.” 

They worked in silence for the next thirty minutes. After Harper had sneezed for the twentieth time or so, Maya grumbled softly to herself and rubbed the back of her neck before glancing over at her colleague. Harper blew heavily into a tissue before closing her eyes and slumping forward in her seat.  

“So, you about ready to throw in the towel or what?” Maya asked with a smug smile.  

Harper opened her eyes and turned to glare at Maya blearily as she breathed congestedly out of parted lips. “As I stated earlier, I’b fide,” she insisted hoarsely. Maya said nothing, allowing her raised eyebrows and smirk to speak for itself. “Dod’t give be that,” her colleague scowled as she folded her arms over her chest, “I’b fide.” 

“Maybe if you could pronounce those two words properly, I’d believe it.” Harper rolled her eyes as Maya stood up and stretched. “I’m going to the kitchen to brew some coffee. You want anything?” 

Harper sniffled as she propped her head up with her arm, seemingly hesitating for a few moments before sighing defeatedly. “Tea,” she muttered sheepishly.  

“You got it. I’ll be back in five.” 

Minutes later, Maya walked back through her office door, holding a steaming mug of liquid in each hand. “Hope you’re okay with Lipton, it was the only decaf flavor we…had,” she trailed off as her eyes landed on her snoring colleague. Harper had passed out, lying flat over an open chart with her cheek pressed against a folded arm. Maya bit her lip, stifling laughter as she tried to decide what to do. She set both mugs down on her desk before walking over to the other desk and carefully taking the last remaining charts that her colleague hadn’t reviewed yet before setting them back with her own pile. She pealed her long coat off the back of her chair and carefully draped it over Harper’s shoulders. “Sweet dreams, boot,” she murmured. “Enjoy them while they last...” she added with a sad sigh.  

-------------

Hope you enjoyed!  

[nothin2sneeze@]

Thanks for reading!

Here's another. Had wayyy too much fun writing this one. 

“Medical Advice” 

2 months 

“HhhAHtcchh-oo!” Maya sniffled and muffled a heavy sigh into the crumbled paper towel she held to her mouth and nose, where she had kept some form of paper or cloth incessantly for the past hour. With her other hand, she dabbed at her watery eyes with another towel. Keeping the towel on her nose and not even bothering to wipe it since she felt another sneeze coming, she put her forehead in her hand as she silently waited with dread. To her extreme frustration, this one seemed hellbent on hovering just inside her nasal passages, keeping her trapped just on the edge of impending relief. “Oh…uh-hhhH mby god,” she groaned in between hitches of breath, fanning her face. “Dod’t do this to mbe,” she pleaded with her itchy nose. “If you’re godda…uhh,” she inhaled, “Hhhsdeeze thad just get it over with, gahdambit.” She looked up just in time to see Harper appear in the doorway to her office. 

“Hey Captain,” Harper greeted, before the sneeze finally relented, but not without snapping her upper body forward so that it slammed into the edge of her desk on its way out.  

“Hi,” Maya choked out, wincing and rubbing her lower rib cage as she silently debated whether she had time to grab a fresh towel before another relentless tickle hijacked her nose.  

Harper walked up to Maya’s desk and set a bundle of tissues in front of her. “Heard you sneezing, so I scoured the offices and found these.” She offered a soft smile of sympathy. 

Maya didn’t respond at first, afraid that merely daring to breathe would set off her angry nasal passages. She cautiously blew into her towel and tried to muster up a smile of gratitude. “Thagk you,” she responded, keeping her voice lowered as not to wake the sleeping beast in her sinuses. “Where did you fide these? I looked everywh—hhuhkxxntch-oo!” She wiped her nose with one of the tissues, practically melting into the softness that starkly contrasted against the roughness of the industrial paper towels from the restroom at the offices. 

“I stole these from the box on Glen-One-N’s desk,” Harper explained nonchalantly, shrugging. 

“Wait,” Maya sniffled, eyeing the tissue in her hand in amazement and glancing back up at Harper, “you stole these?” 

“Of course I did,” Harper replied dryly. “I caught that conniving little neck-braced egghead stealing my soymilk,” she grumbled.  

“Ah,” Maya nodded, “takig the high road, I see.”  

“Don’t judge me. That soymilk was organic and hormone-free.” She huffed angrily. “That stuff does not come cheap, and I already have thousands of dollars’ worth of student loan debt to pay off,” she muttered under her breath, her lips turning downward into a pout. 

Maya sneezed into the same tissue before clearing her throat and chuckling. “Dare I say...that dnever id mby thirty-two years of existednce have I ever witdnessed sobeone this bedt out of shape over soymilk,” she teased.  

Harper grabbed the pile of tissues from Maya’s desk and held them just out of her reach, tilting her head slightly and eyeing her colleague with a smirk.  

“Hey,” Maya protested as she reached for them, “give those back, Li.” 

“Show a little gratitude and I’ll consider your request, Dobbins.” 

Maya felt a twinge of irritation in her nasal passages. She glanced down at the sopping mess that was once a tissue in her hand and groaned. “Okay,” she conceded. “I’bm…hhHHuh…husorry,” she breathed. “Thagk you for…” she closed her eyes, cupping a towel over her face, “hhHcombitting a cribe od mby behalf…hhh…hhHHIH—” Suddenly she felt a tissue being pressed into her free hand and in the nick of time she caught the remaining half of her sneeze into it.  

“You’re welcome,” Harper replied, eyeing Maya empathetically. “I have some leftover cold medicine in my desk if you want it,” she offered. 

Maya shook her head as she slumped back into her chair. “Thagks but…that wod’t do mbe mbuch good, I’bm afraid. I’bm ndot sick…it’s allergies,” she sighed, rubbing her eyes a little, not caring if she smeared her make-up. 

“Really?” 

“I mead…I thigk so? I dod’t typically get colds.” 

“Oh,” Harper uttered, surprised. “I didn’t realize you were an allergy-sufferer.” 

“I rarely have sybtombs adymore because I’bm od sombe pretty strog stuff,” Maya clarified. “It’s beed months sindce I’ve had ad attack...” She sniffled, her expression puzzled. “I have ndo clue what’s setting themb off today. I took mby afterdood dose as per usual,” she mused. She glanced up at Harper from beneath increasingly droopy eyelids. “Mbaybe it’s you,” she mumbled with a tired smirk. 

Harper rolled her eyes. “If you’re not sick, then why do you look like you’re about to pass out?” 

Maya yawned. “I duddo. I guess it’s just beed a long week.” She picked up the prescription bottle on her desk and eyed it groggily with a sigh. “Guess I’ll call mby allergist ad tell her that this ndew stuff isnd’t doig squat.” Maya looked back up at Harper curiously when the brunette didn’t respond.  

Her colleague was studying the bottle in Maya’s hand with squinted eyes, tilting her head to read the label. Suddenly, shock commandeered her features, and her eyes widened as she put a hand to her mouth. “Oh my god…” she mumbled into her hand, eyes still big as her mouth slowly turned up at the corners before she burst into muffled laughter.  

“What?” Maya whined, sluggishly bringing the label on the bottle up to her face before peering at it. “Oh. Well…shit.”  

This set Harper off again. She snorted before more laughter overtook her, muffling them into her hand for the second time. Maya moaned pitifully and propped her head up with her fist, blinking heavily and waiting for Harper to get ahold of herself. “A little…medical advice,” Harper breathed in between giggles, “don’t use Ambien to—” she heaved out more giggles, “to treat allergies,” she concluded, panting and wiping the tears from her eyes.  

Maya blinked sleepily up at the brunette, her head rocking forward on her propped-up hand. “Well…I dond recall…ever…szzeeig MD in the alphbessoup after your nambe…” she slurred, “sso I dod’t thigyou’re qualif—huhnxxgt!—ified to mbake tha…hhuh…assezzmedt—huhhAHchoo-uh!—Harper,” she finished, sniffling drowsily. She closed her eyes slowly before opening them again. “Or should I sszzay ‘Harpers’ plural…because there’s two of you ndow…” She slid her eyes shut again, giggling to herself.  

She heard her colleague sigh and call her name, and the sound of snapping fingers near her face jarred her out of her impending unconsciousness. “C’mon, get your stuff, Captain. I’ll drive you home,” Harper coaxed gently. 

Maya groaned with her eyes closed. “But I live…” she yawned, “od base.” She heard Harper start to collect items from her desk. She peeled her eyes open and watched the two Harpers place them haphazardly into Maya’s bag before slinging it over her own shoulder. “Are your real allergy meds in here?” Maya blinked. “Hello?” 

“Oh. Yes. But I cad’t take themb with the Ambiend. They wod’t work. I’b just godda have to suffer for the ndext eight hours or so…” 

Harper winced. “Tough break. Well, I’ll walk you home. I’ll recruit Trey or Abe to come with,” she chuckled, “just in case you’ll need to be carried back. Turnbull’s offsite today. I’ll call her and explain what happened.” 

Maya let out a long dramatic sigh. “Okay…fide.” She sneezed into her sleeve, before slowly pushing herself up into a standing position and swaying slightly.  

“Whoa,” Harper murmured, steadying her.  

Maya batted her away. “I cad walk…I’bm just a little drugged…ndot cadatonic.” 

Harper stifled a laugh. “Well okay, Ms. Grumpy Pants.” 

“I’bm sorry,” Maya apologized, sniffling. “Please don’t tell adyone about this…” She pleaded, trudging out the door of her office behind Harper.   

Harper turned her head to glance back at Maya as they made their way down the hallway, “Oh, don’t worry, Captain,” she reassured in a syrupy-sweet voice, smiling innocently, “your secret’s safe with me…” 

“Phew.” 

“Aaaand the dozen or so other people in the prosecution department…” Harper finished, cackling as she turned back around. 

Maya deflated as her steps slowed to a stop. She watched Harper continue to walk away, her colleague’s shoulders quaking with her infectious laughter. Maya shook her head and started walking again, unable to stop the corners of her lips from turning up.  

------------

Maya actually has allergies in the show and she sneezes like 4 times in 1x8 because it's part of the plot, which is what inspired me to write a sneeze/sickfic in the first place and there's also ANOTHER episode featuring a few sneezes from a recurring character...such a weird coincidence and makes me wonder if the writing team had a thing for sneezing or something...but hey I am certainly not going to complain about that...;)

[fieldofflowers]

as always, love. 

[NoV]

Haven't watched any of The Code, but enjoyed reading this - nicely written  

[nothin2sneeze@]

Oh thank you so much!! Glad you enjoyed!!

[MIN]

Absolutely no idea what this series is, but now I'm reluctant to watch it after reading this in fear it won't be anywhere near as good!! This is great! 

[jem]

What a fantastic story! Your writing is great and you've really mastered the stuffy nose dialogue. Super impressive! It makes the story very easy to imagine. I like these characters. I haven't seen the show, but maybe it's worth checking out.. Thanks for sharing!!