König and His Darling

Chapter Thirteen

I wake up and see moonlight peering in through the slits in the wood of the seemingly rundown barn. I sit up, every part of my body screaming with stiffness, dehydration, and blood loss.

After sitting up I look down to see that König dressed me in my sleep, donning an oversized black t-shirt and black cargo pants. I try to stand up but quickly realize I am weaker than I originally estimated and begin to stumble forward as two large arms grab me from behind,

"You shouldn't be standing up by yourself yet," I hear the distinct accent hum behind me, some mild amusement in his voice.

I turn around while still gripping König's arms and peer up at him, finding myself somewhat disappointed to find he has donned his hood again, covering his face.

"I'll manage," I say with a forced smile, "I've had worse."

König clearly wasn't happy with my answer and picks me up to carry me to a chair with a small table in front of it. He rifles through a bag and pulls out some food rations that he then places in front of me along with a bottle of water.

"Eat," König commands softly, "you've been out for over a day."

I look up at him surprised as realization dawns on me that the moonlight outside must be because I slept through the entire next day.

"Fuck, Alejandro... we need to get him out of that prison," I state while trying to stand again.

König pushes on my shoulder, pushing me back into the seat,

"Soap, Ghost, and Rudolfo are already on it, they'll be in and out before the Shadows even know they're there," König replies.

"And you're on babysitting duty?" I say while looking up to König, clear dissatisfaction in my voice.

"Shatzi..." König begins, "that's not what–"

"No, it's fine." I interrupt, "I mean, I shouldn't be complaining, at least you guys actually look out for me I suppose" I finish while taking a small nibble off the protein bar in front of me.

König got the hint and left me in silence to brew in my anger. I feel useless, no worse, I feel like a burden. My team needs me and I'm sitting here eating. König could be out there helping them rescue Alejandro but instead he's stuck here watching over me because I'm too injured to defend myself. Pathetic. I'm absolutely pathetic.

I'm jarred from my thoughts with a hand on my shoulder, I look up at König who's staring down at me intently, searching my face for something,

"Don't do that," he states firmly.

"Do what?" I ask sarcastically while rolling my eyes and looking back down to my food.

König grabs my chin and forces me to look back up at him,

"Do that right there, blame yourself," he responds, "no one asked me to stay, I insisted, I wasn't going to let you wake up to an empty building and think–"

"That you guys abandoned me" I interrupt, "I am just dead weight right now though," I finish while quietly trying to lift my injured leg.

"You saved my life," König answers earnestly, "I had no radio, I would still be out there had you not kept going and found me" he whispers as he leans forward and rests his forehead against mine and closes his eyes and breathes in deeply,

"I should have been the one finding you though, I promised to keep you safe."

"Oh, König," I croon while placing my hand on the side of his covered face, "look at our line of work, that's a fool's errand thinking any of us will be safe from injury," I finish while lifting his hood far enough to kiss him.

König deepens the kiss immediately, snaking his hand behind my head and pulling me tighter, I immediately open my mouth as our tongues dance with one another. I pull away breathless,

"Besides, I kind of like all the attention you're giving me" I say with a wink.

König chuckles low before absentmindedly petting the back of my head while watching me eat,

"When the team gets Alejandro back we will be planning for an attack on the occupied base to kill Graves," he says after he draws his attention back to me, "I already know you want to be there but you can't-"

"No, I have to be there König, I have to finish this" I say to him pleadingly.

König places his finger over my lips before answering,

"Stop interrupting me mein Shatz," he commands again before he begins gently rubbing my bottom lip with his thumb,

"I was going to say that you can't be there on the ground but you will be providing air coverage with Price, you'll be of more use to us up there right now," he finishes while looking at me for some type of reaction.

I break eye contact and look down at my leg. I know König is right but it doesn't make the news any easier to digest. I feel like I'm going to throw up, the rage inside me churning like the waves of a tsunami ready to overtake my senses when König once again breaks my train of thought,

"Look at me," he gently commands.

I look up at him with tears of anger clawing at the corners of my eyes.

"It's not up for discussing love," he continues, "I won't have you on the ground with your leg, you'll be moving too slow and make yourself a target and put the rest of the team at risk as well, you either get in the air or don't go at all."

"You're not my command, König, your rank in Kortac doesn't transfer here and you know it," I retort, clearly upset with his domineering attitude.

"I don't care, I'm not going to watch you die and the rest of the team are in agreement so you might as well get used to it," he answers back, unhappy with my unwillingness to listen to him.

König turns to walk out, his frustration with me clear in the stiffness of his shoulders, he leaves the door to the makeshift wall open as he stops in front of the main barn door so he can wait for the team's arrival.

He was right, I knew he was, but damn it if I was going to tell him that. He is insufferable trying to tower over me and command me around like a child. As I'm brewing in my storm of emotions the low rumble of an engine can be heard over the otherwise still night. The team must be returning. I stand up, feeling slightly less dizzy with the meal I had and begin slowly limping myself to König to wait with him.

I finally reach König and limp a few steps in front of him in defiance. I cross my arms and watch as vehicles break over the horizon, barreling towards us. As they get closer I can see Alejandro in the passenger seat. The relief I felt was noticeable as my arms drop to my sides and my shoulders sag just a little. The vehicles come to a stop and the rest of the team gets out, everyone is accounted for and safe.

The team walks up to me with Soap grinning from ear to ear,

"Well if the little American lass doesn't have a little fire left in her, glad to see you up" he grins at me as he gives a gentle pat on my shoulder as he walks by.

"Hmm, up and around, good to see it" Ghost nods as he walks by me.

"Better be good for tomorrow Grudge," Captain Price starts as he stops in front of me, "you will be–"

"In the air with you, yeah, the giant oaf filled me in" I interrupt while turning to shoot a glare at König. It wasn't fair to treat him like this but I was still irritated with his tone towards me.

König meets my glare with one of his own and as I walk by he grabs my arm, waiting for everyone to walk out of ear shot,

"You would do better to not call me names, little Shatzi, we both know how easily I can make you stop talking" he growls at me as he lets go and turns to join the rest of the team, leaving my to marinate in his words with a growing heat crawling up my neck.