Of course he was thinking of Lucia.  Of all the things that could be going wrong in this war, they were the ones who believed that Middleton - not any action of the enemy - was the one ruining her, as a person.  It was one of those things that came upon their thoughts unbidden, but couldn't help but be there because of certain truths.  Truths like 'Middleton is an ass' were irrefutable, therefore anyone near him was at risk of getting some of that behavior mixed in with their own.  He just didn't act like a human being, too cold and discomforting...  You couldn't let people like that ruin someone, certainly not a member of your squad and someone you cared about.  That was Michael's dilemma, and frankly that was just about Isaac's, as well.  The only difference was that they handled it differently.  Michael seemed depressed about it.  Isaac's mind was working on it.  He couldn't think in terms of defeat.  That defeated the purpose of thinking about it, at all.  he'd shared this line of reasoning with Britta, and now it was time to expand on that.

Upon being offered a seat, he sat across from Michael and began to work on maintaining his own machine gun.  After a moment, he began talking.

[color=f7941d]"I don't think she should be put out of mind, but rather we should all give her a helping hand.  Maybe you're thinking the now-Captain is causing some mischief we don't want.  Well, nothing says we can't undo all that.  I consider her part of the squad, so it's our duty to look after her, like we do everyone else.  I figure if we all agree to quietly thwart whatever she's having to go through somehow, it'll all work out.  Pretty sure the whole squad'll be with me on that.  Isn't even a rule-breaker.  In fact, it's orders.  [i]Middleton's[/i] orders."[/color]

It really was.  Lucia was a Private.  That meant that she was an enlisted person, which made her the responsibility of NCOs.  He just didn't need to know all that, and Isaac would smirk as he made sure his stuff was in good working order.  This was when Jean appeared at the doorway and spoke about Lucia and their various acts, yesterday.  Funny coincidence, that.  Isaac nodded his head at an empty seat.

[color=f7941d]"By all means, join the club for men inspecting their guns.  I dunno where Britta is right now, but I'll let her know.  Incidentally, I'm figuring we should get the squad to support and keep an eye on Lucia so that she can get through the harshness of it all and keep her humanity.  I was just talking about that with Michael.  Much-appreciated about the recommendation, though I dunno if it's necessary.  This war is, to me, what I can do for others.  You did great with that charge yesterday.  You really did, Jean.  My only regret is that if I'd known it'd all hit you so hard, I would've asked to switch places, because I'm [i]vicious[/i] at close-quarters and I can still handle a rifle.  Even so, if this is you recovering, I'm all the better for hearing it."[/color]

Oh, and if anyone IS wondering where Britta was, she had found food for rationing like Isaac intended to before he got side-tracked.  [i]Someone's[/i] gotta be the responsible one, right?