Well, I decided I didn't like the first chapter, so I changed it. Now this is the first chapter. Thank you all so much for reading my work!

BLU Base; Freight

Sniper rolled over on the couch and brought his watch to his face. He squinted to see the small face in the light of the rec room. 6:00 pm, read the silver hands.

Sniper sighed heavily. Engineer had a BBQ planned for the night to kick off the week long spring ceasefire. In all, he had to admire the Texan for his efforts. There were few things that could bring the whole BLU team together, but somehow Engineer always managed to get them all together for food and beer when the time was right. Besides the food, the team couldn't miss an opportunity to get each other drunk enough to start telling old stories. Sniper himself tended to stay away from the drunk aspect. While he felt he could hold his liquor rather well, he refrained from going overboard ever since Spy ended up trapped as a head in the RED Medic's refrigerator for several weeks. After that, both he and Spy had taken to simply sitting back and watching the rest of the team loose themselves to either drink or exhaustion.

Tonight, though, Sniper had little desire to go to the BBQ. All day, he'd had a horrible headache that wouldn't subside no matter what he did. He swore he'd tried everything from drinking more water to having a nap. Yet, it refused to sleep. To top it all off, his back had begun to ach after he'd awoken from his nap, probably from the odd position he'd taken while sleeping.

Demoman glanced down at Sniper. "Ahy, Sniper, better get moving or you'll miss dinner. If Scout starts eating before you, you know there'll be nothing leftover."

Sniper grabbed his hat off the arm of the couch. "I'm coming."

He pulled his hat on so it covered his eyes. Despite there only being one light turned on in the room, he found himself squinting against it. Just another annoying side effect his headache had come with. The most he could hope for in going was that some food and beer would clear everything up.

Sniper nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Medic said as he pulled his hand back, "I didn't mean to scare you." He took up Sniper's pace toward the outdoor common area. "Are you feeling alright? You've hardly left the couch all day."

Sniper glanced at Medic out of the corner of his eye. The doctor never asked about a teammate's health unless he was the cause of it. Considering Sniper had no desire to spend the night in Medic's lab, he simply replied. "I'm dine doc."

"Ah, just me then…" Medic mumbled. Louder, he proclaimed, "I'll be in my lab if you need me. I don't want to end up naked in the desert like last time."

Sniper watched as the other man hurried away. While he'd received many strange responses from Medic, this one was new. Hopefully there wasn't some sort of sickness going around base. Then again, if he were to catch an illness, he'd only have himself to blame as he'd decided to spend a few nights on base instead of in his van to win a bet with Scout.

"Howdy Sniper." Engineer said from where he worked over a charcoal grill. From where he stood, Sniper could smell a mixture of hamburgers, hot dogs, and fine spices coming from the imported sausage Medic liked.

Sniper nodded in response. "Hey truckie. Where're you hiding the beer?"

"That's the spirit, lad!" Demo said. The muscular Scotsman slung his arm around Sniper and thrust a chilled, unlabeled bottle into his hands.

Sniper grabbed the bottle with both hands so he didn't drop it in his loose grip. "Thanks."

He pulled away from Demo's hold. Heavy, Soldier, Scout and Pyro were seated around a makeshift table fashioned from a board of plywood set over two barrels. Spy was propped up against the concrete wall of the base, watching Engineer cook with a hint of disgust betrayed in his features. Sniper opted for a small crate positioned just off the main table. While he was never big on conversation, Sniper did like to be close enough to listen to people talk. It reminded him of when he was little and watched the other kids play from the safety of the trees he climbed.

Sniper brought the bottle in his hands to his lips and downed half of it in one go. The beer was a little on the bitter side for his taste, but good regardless. He was ready to get rid of his headache, even if in doing so it meant he'd get a new one in the morning.

"Yo Demo, pass me a cold one!" Scout called from the bench.

Demo flipped the cap off a new beer with his thumb. "I'd love to Scout, but this beer's cold and you're not old enough for it."

"Jeez Demo, would you quit with that age crap? I'm twenty three, alright! Medic confirmed it last time we had one of these things, remember, or were you to friggin drunk?"

Demo chuckled as he plopped the bottle down in front of Scout. "You can calm down, lad, I'm just messing with you."

Sniper suddenly leaned forward. He barely managed to grab the edge of the table to keep himself from falling on his face. His vision swam, blurring the colors of the ground together. He wasn't sure what came over him. All he'd drank was half a beer. Yet, just as quickly as the feeling had come over him, it dissipated.

"Is Sniper trying to beat Scout as lightest weight team member?" Heavy asked.

Sniper pulled himself back into an upright position. "I'm fine." He drank the rest of his beer. "Thought I saw a tarantula."

Pyro squirmed away from Sniper's end of the table. "Mrhhf hur sprhurr?"

"Ah, don't worry Pyro," Engineer said as he deposited a large tray of food on the table, "there wasn't really a spider there. Sniper was just boing cautious." On cautious, Engineer shot Sniper a look to keep his mouth shut on whether or not he truly saw a spider.

Sniper diverted his gaze to the food. He helped himself to a hamburger, a hotdog, and an exotic smelling sausage. While Engineer wasn't always the best on the stove, but as soon as he got to cooking on a grill, he was a fantastic cook.

"Yo Shpah!" Scout called with his mouth half full of food. "You gonna help us eat here?"

Spy looked lazily at Scout from behind the haze of cigarette smoke. "Hardly."

Engineer offered up a dressed hotdog on a paper plate. "Come on Spy, I know it's not the chicken we did last time, but I promise it's delicious."

Spy turned his nose up at the offer. "I doubt that." He flicked the butt of his cigarette onto the dirt, then stamped it out with the toe of his shoe.

"What's his problem?" Scout asked as Spy walked away.

Engineer shrugged. "I dunno Scout. Some people just don't like hotdogs."

Sniper suddenly stopped mid bite of his hamburger. He felt his head spin as he was overcome with an extreme sense of vertigo. In response, he stood, causing the world to tilt around him. He knew he had to get back to his van before he was sick or passed out in front of his teammates.

It took all his concentration to keep from falling over as he walked away from the barbeque. He was vaguely aware of someone asking if he was feeling alright, but he brushed it off as best he could through the pounding in his head. Somehow, he managed to get away without suspicion, then made it to his van.

Once he pried the door open with fumbling hands, he was able to get into the safety of the dim interior. The achievement was short lived, though, as white hot pain flared up along his neck and back, and he collapsed.