Last she had spoken to her parents, she had seen them at her graduation from her AST school. However, she didn’t have a location to give them on her apprenticeship; they had still been trying to find her a spot. Then they’d told her she’d be with the unit down in Charleston. She was pretty sure that this was her dad’s unit. If he had pulled strings then so help her she was going to give him his own parenting back mocking something up about hand-holding.

She wasn’t even sure if she was going to be able to focus. No, she HAD to focus. This was the last piece of her career in place. She’d done the hard part. The grueling hours of training and feeling like any second could be her last as she’d been throw in the water under the roughest of conditions. But now she had someone looking over her shoulder, and if she was to guess it was probably more than just the person she was shadowing.

Tag: Lt. Victor Gauthier

"Alright, gear up, Gauthier. You're helping out with the apprentices today."

Victor nodded, patting his co-pilot on the back as they went over to get ready. A smile was on his face as the proceeded down the corridor, this was a day he had circled in red in his personal calendar for his daughter - Olivia - was doing her apprenticeship with his unit.

It had certainly put his mind at ease, as much as it had done for Isabella, who they had only spoken to her when she had graduated.

Maybe strings had been pulled and a recommendation had been made, but she was in through her own merit and hard work, but he certainly felt safer with the knowledge she was closer to home.

Reaching the helicopter, he and his co-pilot began to go through the final pre-flight checks; as they waited. It was never an idle moment, nor did he want it to be - Victor was a man of motion, always moving and always thinking of his next moves. His helmet rested in his lap as he glanced around, making sure that he had everything with him.

This was important, not for him but for his daughter. Aside from being the pilot and flying good, there was not much else that was in his control.

Olivia had her gear in her hand as she came out walking next to Wright. He had a much more confident walk than she did, though she was matching him stride for stride when it came to speed. ”Gauthier, what is this?” Wright asked as he held up part of her harness.

“The harness they gave me.” Her response was hesitant. What was wrong with it? She’d checked it over to make sure that there were no safety issues like she’d been told.

“You are going to swim in that. Let’s see what we have in the helo, see if something can fit you a little better.” There was a shake of his head as they approached the helo.

That was when Olivia caught sight of her dad. “Lieutenant.” she called being the first to spot him. How could she not spot her dad. Though she didn’t forget protocol as she saluted him properly. Olivia was at the bottom of the food chain and she was well aware of it.

Tag: Lt. Victor Gauthier

Victor had been making the final preparations and double-checking everything as his co-pilot nudged him gently in the shoulder to grab his attention. He looked up to see two approaching figures and having to suppress a growing urge to smile, his eyes fell upon a very familiar face - the one of his daughter.

Though he had mentally prepared himself for the moment, it seemed that there was really no amount of preparation when it came down to the real thing as he stepped out of the helicopter to greet the duo, his helmet left on the seat behind him.

His daughter was here in Charleston.

Pride swelled up in his chest but he once again pushed it down.

He needed to focus, knowing that this was something that required 125% concentration for both parties. He needed to swap his parenting hat right now for his Lieutenant hat as he watched Olivia's hand come up in a proper salute. Victor's hand snapped upwards to return the salute. "Seaman Gauthier," He knew, even without looking, that his co-pilot was hiding a growing smile. Something that would definitely talked about before they headed home when they were done for the day. If they were done for the day. "Welcome aboard."

Victor turned to the man standing next to his daughter, giving him a very quick once over before his eyes flicked back over to his daughter. "We've performed final checks, so we're all set when you are."


Tag:: SA Olivia Gauthier

Olivia didn’t relax her stance. Her eyes didn’t even flicker. Though it was polite to acknowledge he’d said something. She could be a quiet kid but she was also always polite. “Thank you sir,” Olivia kept out of the exchange between her mentor and her dad. She was more learning doing everything through osmosis right now. It was her way of things.

“Need to see if we have a better fitting harness for her. The one she was given is going to be too big. Someone wasn’t paying attention.” when you fit people with harnesses for your job, it became easier to tell. “Then we should be ready to go. I’ve already taken inventory.” Wright looked towards Victor.

Olivia was still keeping quiet, something about this helo was different and her nerves were going though she just followed her mentor for now. “After you.” He stated tossing his gear up in the helo and trying to take hers from her though she had a very independent streak.

”I’ve got it Petty Officer Wright.” She was being formal in telling him that she was very capable. Olivia gave her dad one of those looks. The kind she where she needed a small confidence boost. She was sure he could see the nervous body language. Though for the teams sake she was trying to hide it best that she could. She’d worked so hard to get here and she didn’t want to mess up.

Tag: Lt. Victor Gauthier

Being a good leader didn't mean just making sure you knew what you had to do, but also having the backs of your team members and learning from them.

It was a two-way process and as such, Victor had learned to pick up on the subtleties of body language; this in particular bordered the line of his professional and parental duties. He had noticed the look that his daughter had given him; one looking and searching for some sort of confidence boost and although he was not going to straight out throw a confidence line, he knew he had to say something.

"Petty Officer, she's got a handle on it. Got to find her feet somehow." Victor stated with a small gesture indicating 'get on.'

Once everything had been sorted, he looked to his co-pilot and soon enough, the rotors spun faster and faster through the air until they were no longer on the ground. They were on their way. Weather conditions holding, it seemed as if they were going to have a pleasant flight. Victor relaxed into the seat, knowing that it was only a countdown until he would know his daughter was going out of his helo; which probably was going to be the only nerve-jangling part of his day today - even though, passing this, this would become a normal occurrence for his daughter as a rescue diver.

"Five mikes out!" Victor informed over the comms.


Tag:: SA Olivia Gauthier

Olivia was usually much more confident than this but the nerves were getting to her. She knew her dad wasn’t exactly the type to hold hands, but she was glad he’d said something. It made her feel better. She climbed on board and got the whole harness situation fixed before take off.

Then somewhere along the way she was stuck in her head. Going over everything until she heard her dad’s voice on the comm. It was going to be a long year, not that she minded being on her dad’s helo, but it made her feel like screwing up had double the consequences. She was still only seventeen, it wasn’t like she was living on her own. The military gave her some independence but she had hardly moved out of the house so to speak.

Olivia rubbed her face. “Take a breath Gauthier. You’ve already done this before. Just think of this as the first day of a job you’ve already been trained to do.” He could see the look on Olivia’s face it was pale as a ghost.

Ollie closed her eyes. He was hand holding wasn’t he? That drove her up the wall and back down again. “I got it thanks.” She was polite outwardly but she was screaming in her head right now. This wasn’t training anymore, this was real people’s lives on the line. It was different. She’d no idea what call they even had coming, she’d been so lost in her own head. When they arrived she was the first one out, having much quicker reflexes than her trainer. 

Tag: Lt. Victor Gauthier

Victor focusing on flying the helicopter, allowing his daughter to do whatever she was about to do back in the cabin of the Jayhawk.

He was fully out of parenting mode, and simply the Lieutenant in the cockpit. Of course, he still kept a close ear on what was going on and could tell that the hand-holding was going to be something he would have to talk to the trainer about, at some point.

He did not want to interfere, for it was not his branch of work. He was there to fly them to the point and allow them to do their job. Victor checked his surroundings once more, raising his brow as his co-pilot informed them that they were just about a minute over, that the conditions and their surroundings were still clear on the radar.

Victor began to hover above their designated location, above those who bobbed up and down in the water below. He took a steady breath, calming his heart rate the same as he used to do before disembarking the C-130 Hercules when he had arrived in-country. Anything could happen, and he needed to be ready to deal with the situation.

Once Olivia hit the water, she could feel the waves bouncing her all over. This wasn’t the kind of sea she liked. The choppier waters made things more difficult and the wind wasn’t really cooperating today. She ducked under with a harness to attach it to the person who needed it. They had to get them out of the water before they could do anything. Grabbing her breath she want back under and could feel the waves slamming against her body as she swam. “We need to get pressure on this wound.” She hollered the moment she came above water for the second time. “Otherwise, he’s not gonna make it to the chopper.”

Coming up with the rope she let the actual medics take over and she started tossing the sea water that she’d swallowed out of her system. Lucky enough she kept her stomach as she went to start cleaning things up and out of the medics way. It was the least that she could do to help. Normally, she would have been helping but she was the intern; she wasn’t really allowed to make decisions on her own yet. Her trainer had also instructed her to back off which kind of felt like she wasn’t going to learn anything. Why was she here again?

Tag: Lt. Victor Gauthier

(sorry took so long and that is so crappy)

Being in this mode, with such close proximity with his daughter - all Vic could do was sit back, fly the helicopter and trust in the training they would have given her. That was what he had done all those years ago as a private; he had placed his trust in his team and in return, Vic had been trusted to have their backs.

He breathed, glancing around and checking the scanner. There was nothing aside from them and the sea. Nothing was going to be problematic, which was nice. Victor heard that his daughter was back on board with those that were being checked out by the medics. Nodding at his co-pilot, Vic began to pull away from their location, turning the heli round with precision as they headed back to Charleston. He knew it was imperative to get them back quickly and at the same time, make it so the journey was not unbearable.

Vic also knew that he would have to save talking to his daughter about her experience until later on, when their wheels were on the ground and she was not busy. He glanced at his watch, just past two-thirty in the afternoon.

"How you feeling, Gauthier?" He called from the front.

Tag:: SA Olivia Gauthier

Of course her dad would be checking in on her. Of course. She smiled some but she couldn’t get the knot out of her stomach. “I’m alright, Sir.” She called up front as she swallowed her throat. Training and the real thing were very very different and she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to keep her stomach by the time they landed.

The whirling of the helo had her attention. “Gauthier hand me that, right there and come over here and hold the pressure on this.” Oh lovely just what she needed with her stomach the way it was going. Olivia closed her eyes and put pressure on the wound as she drowned out everything else around her. Maybe today would be light on calls and she could get her stomach out of her throat enough to eat something. Right now it was lunchtime and food was the farthest thing from her mind.

Tag: Lt. Victor Gauthier