scars do heal

10. the company of whiskey

"So," Soap cast you a wavering glance. "How long you been fucking the Captain, Nix?" If your finger was on the trigger, you probably would have pulled it accidentally. Your head whipped round so fast it almost detached from your neck.

"What?! The fuck are you talking about?" You glared at him, but he had this mischievous smirk on his face, as though your facial expressions had confirmed it for him. Only he would feel so confident asking such an out of pocket question.

"Don't play dumb with me, Phoenix," he rolled his eyes. "I've had my suspicions for a while now. Just answer the question."

You sighed, your face showing a nonchalant expression, but inside, your heart was erratically racing in your chest. "You don't know what you're talking about, Soap. Where did you even get that idea from? It's so ridiculous that I'd be sleeping with my-"

"Gaz caught you both when we were all waiting for Nik to show up in the helo." Well that stopped you dead in your fucking tracks. You side eyed him, and he noticed, causing him to laugh. A proper belly laugh erupted from his throat at your 'caught red-handed' expression.

"Ummm...so...right okay. Yeah, I can't defend myself here," you admitted, shaking your head defeatedly.

He chuckled again. "Nope, you can't. So answer my question. How long?"

You huffed, turning towards him.

"Since Chicago, when we were hiding from Shadow Company," you admitted, it felt a lifetime ago that you were in that motel room.

Soap's eyes widened. "Jesus, that long? I'm surprised you kept it hidden so long. Cap wasn't nearly as subtle about it as you though."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You didn't see him after you got kidnapped by Hassan, Nix," he looked over. "He was scary. Protective. Never seen him like that before."

You smiled a little, casting a glance outside the door. "Huh. Never knew that."

You waited in silence until Soap finished off, grabbing the receiver and following you outside, the two of you descending down the rig to the bottom level where the guys were waiting for you.

"Feel like I'm gonna have to apologise to Gaz," you giggled, walking down the steps hurriedly, Soap following close behind.

"Yeah, probably."

-

The heat from the blast burned at the back of your necks as the boat drifted away from the rig. The missile was gone, as was General Shepherd's leverage. He was going to be on all of your tails now, figuring out your every move. All you had to do was stay one step ahead.

"Laswell is meeting us tomorrow evening so we can plan our next move against Shepherd," Price said as you boarded Nik's helo.

"Our next move?" Gaz asked, looking puzzled as he took a seat beside you. "I thought that explosion was our last." Price just shook his head, speaking through comms since it was the only way to hear him over the blades.

"Shepherd's going to do everything to find us after he finds out what we did. That's why Laswell is coming to us. She has ideas for a plan. But nothing she could discuss over the phone. Too risky."

The ride was quiet. Price was no doubt thinking of what to do next, and it looked like Ghost was doing the same, from what you could see as he sat across the helo from you. His eyes were like pin fires, darting around the floor as the cogs turned in his head.

Soap was asleep. Completely flat out. His head lolled to the side and he nearly whacked it on the metal walls behind his skull until Ghost noticed. He gently laid his palm on the side of Soap's head, and guided it to his shoulder. Soap didn't wake up once as he slept against Ghost's broad shoulder.