When she had met them back at the base after a mission they'd gone out on, they had been the happiest she had ever seen them. Even for the ones with more glum dispositions like Ghost.
"I never thought I'd see your pretty face again." Gaz had brought her into a one armed hug while she had smiled down at the floor, accepting the embrace with equally tight arms.
Soap had patted her on the shoulder with a grin and Ghost observed her, scanned her up and down with folded arms.
Her hair was longer than before, grown out to halfway down her back. She had it tucked behind her ears. It was a strange thing to see, so used to her bob.
"Good to have you back in one piece, Spider." Ghost commented, nodding in greeting to her.
Her eyes lit up a little bit, more than they had since the incident had happened, and they all saw it. Even with her hopping up to perch on one of the tables they began chatting amongst the group while Tina silently observed, Soap being the loudest of course. It made her feel warm as she fiddled with her fingers stiffly in her lap.
If anyone noticed that she hadn't said much they didn't mention it.
They all bid a quick goodbye with promises they'd celebrate after showering and changing out of their gear, to which she had pulled a face when they'd gone past.
Ghost had been the only one to have caught it, the last one to follow them back to their assigned rooms and even if she couldn't see it, there had been amusement in his eyes as he left.
When they came back in their regular clothes one by one quicker than they'd ever done, she had quickly plastered a smile on her face.
She hadn't taken her fingerless gloves off despite the others having done so. But she had curled her legs beneath her in the chair, perching her arm across the back of it, the first sign of calm they'd seen in her in a long long time.
Soap insisted they crack out some beers and she had accepted one. Price even came out to join them in the betting over their card games, which took up most of the evening.
It felt good to be apart of the team again and she appreciated their attempts to keep everything normal, even if she still felt a bit disjointed.
"Yer fucking having me on." Soap pointed at her with narrowed eyes across the table while Gaz chuckled. They were all either sat or standing around it, watching the match. "You told me you didn't know how to play last time!"
"I said I hadn't played much." She corrected him, voice quieter than the usual, confident Tina they came to know. She had on a sly smile, finger tapping the back of her cards.
"And she won then, too." Ghost said dryly.
"We'd have thought you'd have figured it out by now." Price shook his head.
"Nah, I just assumed you got off on the humiliation." Gaz stated while sipping his drink.
Tina rose an eyebrow, lounging back in her chair.
"This is just depressing, now." Price shook his head, patting the men on the back as he went by. "I don't think I cant stand watching more of this massacre."
He gave the others a raised eyebrow to ask if anyone else was going to follow but Ghost and Gaz shook their heads. "Never."
The man with the mask nodded. "I'm waiting to get my winnings."
Soap narrowed his eyes up at his friend. "You're a fucking traitor, you know that?"
"And smarter than me." Gaz scratched the back of his neck, leaning down over Soaps shoulder to spy at his cards that he quickly hid against his chest. "I should have never bet on the underdog."
"Underdog?" He exclaimed, offended. "Just watch this, I'll fucking show you lot."
Bless the man, he had tried.
Tina slapped her cards down with a flourish and a neutral look.
Soap deflated. "Fuck sake, man."
The boys finished off their drinks and nudged Soap, who was staring dismayed at her cards.
Tina accepted a high five from Gaz as he whistled sadly. "You've lost me money, Spider."
She had hummed disapprovingly at him.
"That's what you get when you bet stupid." Ghost shook his head slightly.
Soap backed the rest of his beer at his loss. Gaz threw his empty bottle into the trash and went to leave. "I'm heading off too."
Eventually, Soap, Ghost and Tina were the only ones left awake.
Tina was the one packing away the cards, picking them up and slotting them into the deck in her right palm while Soap muttered to himself.
"I almost wish you weren't back, you know." Soap mused.
She picked up a card between two fingers and flicked it across the table at him, the corner jabbing him in the side of his face. He swore and jumped back from it.
"Alright, alright, I'll go fuck myself." He waved at her, a playful glint in his eye. "Night. See you in the morning."
"Night." She had responded, still shuffling the cards in her hands and looking down at them.
Ghost had ignored their banter and headed off to the kitchen to the side of the room a while ago.
Tina watched Soap go, not even realising Ghost was still there, he was so silent. She had forgotten after so long apart.
Tina absently watched the cards flick between her nimble fingers, following the repetitive motion in silence. The little smile had disappeared from her face despite the warmth she felt inside at being back.
She was jolted out of her thoughts when the full beer bottle in front of her was snatched up.
"If you didn't like beer, I think you could have just said so." A rough voice told her.
A couple of cards slipped from her hands and onto the floor as she snapped her head up, staring at Ghost as he gestured the nearly full bottle at her pointedly. No one seemed to have noticed everytime Tina took a small sip of her beer that the liquid level never went down. No one except him, it seemed.
She gave a small shrug and leant down to pick up the dropped cards. "Didn't want to break Johnny's heart."
"I'm sure he would have lived." He commented, voice like stone on stone as he headed towards the small kitchen area to throw his empty bottle and her full one in the trash. They clinked against the others.
He admitted after a moment of silence. "I don't like beer either."
She stood from her chair and gently placed the cards down on the table. "But you still drank it?" She eyed the masked man curiously.
His eyes glinted. "Like you said, can't be breaking the mans heart."
Looking down at the floor, she managed to twitch a little smile and shook her head. There were some things she wanted to say, things she had thought about regarding when she had been found and saved, but even now the words never seemed to pull themselves together in her mind to make much sense.
So she asked something else. "What do you actually drink, then?"
An old flame of curiosity burned inside her chest.
One of his shoulders lifted into a slight shrug. "Bourbon, mostly."
She hummed. "I pinned you as a scotch type."
"Yeah? Why's that?"
"Bourbons too sweet for someone like you," she shrugged lightly, tilting her head. She never would have guessed he had a sweet tooth. "Scotch has a bit of spice to it."
"That what you drink, then?"
She nodded, smirking down at her lap. "Yes, because I have taste."
She could tell by the way his masked shifted up slightly that he was raising his eyebrows at her. "Fighting words, they are."
"At least I don't drink that piss water that them lot do."
"Don't even know why I bothered, honestly."
She hummed again and the silence they sat in wasnt uncomfortable, just quiet. She wondered why Ghost hadn't gone to sleep by now like the others, but supposed she wasn't the only one that had trouble sleeping. She had seen him out here at ungodly hours before when getting a glass of water, so it shouldn't have been a surprise.
Eventually, with the light smile disappearing from her face, she ducked her head down and stood, hand lingering on the tables edge.
Ghost watched her every movement as she pondered something before speaking softly.
"Night, Ghost." She murmured with a flat smile shot his way.
He nodded to her as she went to leave. She looked tired.
"Night."
She wondered if at any point during that night if she would manage to fall asleep, but anxiety crawling up her throat had her lying there staring off into her lamps soft glow in the corner. She was back, and Price assumed she was fine, but she still couldn't bring herself to switch it off and plunge the room into darkness.
Tina wasn't the only one who had trouble sleeping that night, but for both of them, it was nothing new.