I let Rebecca did the talking. Mostly because she had the power over Chris in just a wag of a finger. I only listened to the two and they eventually argued about letting me go in the first place.
Rebecca seemed to be winning the argument.
"That's it, Caelith, you're getting discharged. I'll have your discharge paper in an hour," Chris decided. "You're going home!"
"She's not a kid anymore, Chris, stop treating her like one!" Rebecca argued. "Besides, the last time I check, you're not anymore either, so stop acting like one."
"This is a violation of our rules. She should be put in a lab. I'm talking as her superior officer," Chris stated.
"Why haven't you put me in a lab, then?" I questioned.
Chris only looked at me.
"Sending me home means nothing different than putting me in a lab," I stated.
"So, what, I should just deploy you? Look at what happened to you this time," Chris pointed out.
"What happened is that at least the people in 141 trust me more than you do," I said. "They don't care whatever bio organic bullshit I'm having, they care I get the job done. You're welcome, by the way, BSAA rep just get boosted."
"If you're part of the BSAA, you should be fighting with us, not them," Chris said.
"Fuck you! You sent me while you should've sent an SOA," I replied.
"Well, I shouldn't have," Chris replied.
"Yeah, you shouldn't have, but you did," I challenged. "So, discharge me all you want. Just know I just killed another terrorist. This time being the only BSAA in a squad and I'm not the last man standing. Again."
"I will discharge you, Caelith, that's for sure. I'm not gonna let what happened to Piers happens to you," Chris stated.
"I'd rather die like him than in a lab or in my own bed," I replied.
"I'm not letting that happen," Chris insisted.
"I'm working on a cure," Rebecca stated.
"Then, you're staying off the grid until it's done," Chris stated.
"Won't happen," I said.
"You'd be disobeying order," Chris concluded.
"I'll call Barry," I challenged.
"I already did. Last night," Rebecca said. "He thinks she's good to go."
Chris looked at Rebecca in disbelief.
"She's one of the best SOUs and we can consider the latest mission a trial run, which she nailed pretty good," Rebecca reasoned. "She's also been wearing a helmet because she's worried she might turn."
There was a tense silence clouding us.
"Fine," Chris said. "I'll get you a helmet."
"Thank you," I flatly said. "It's not so bad, right?"
Chris exhaled.
"I'm not that kid anymore, Chris," I reminded again.
"The switch doesn't work on me like that, Caelith," Chris stated.
I looked at Rebecca who lightly shrugged at me.
"I'll see you again tonight," Chris informed before he walked away.
"Tonight?" I repeated.
"Tonight," Chris confirmed.
I looked back at Rebecca as soon as the infirmary door was closed.
"Now, let me take a look at you," Rebecca said.
***
So, instead of Alejandro, we left with Kyle. We left about two hours before the designated time where Laswell told us to gather. It seemed Chris would be there as well after what he said he would meet me again tonight.
I basically just brought them to a decent chain bubble tea shop. I personally thought it was more hilarious than awkward. The barista was looking at me and the three men back to back, kind of confused and intimidated at the same time.
We had a light chat at first. Eventually, it got pretty casual. I sat across Simon, next to Kyle. John took the remaining corner.
"I can't believe Caelith doesn't have a proper alias, she's got quite the stories," John said at some point.
"They call her the princess, though," Kyle participated.
"That's a mockery," I said.
"Counts," Simon said.
"Los Vaqueros do call you El Zombie now," John said.
"Graves called me a ticking bio organic bomb," I responded.
"If they really do start calling you Zombie, we have two undeads in the team," John said.
"Doctor named you a vacuum cleaner," Simon reminded.
"Fucking cheerful that one," I commented.
"I mean with a name like Caelith and not much nickname is insane," Kyle commented.
"Shall we pitch in, then?" I suggested.
"Key," Simon started.
"Cat," John named.
"Kale," Kyle said.
"Sunny," Simon named.
I turned to the masked man. He looked at me and I liked to imagine that he was giving me that slight curve on the end of his lips kind of subtle smile behind that mask.
"I can't be the only one who thinks you're fucking depressing," Simon reasoned.
"After a sleepover in a BSAA base, I conclude that's just how everyone is," Kyle said. "No offence."
"None taken, just the truth," I said.
"What'd you call your knife?" John asked.
I thought for a moment, looking at everyone on the table.
"Knife," I answered flatly.
There was a pause.
"I'm not sure if she's funny or not," Simon stated.
"She's not," I casually said.
About half an hour before our designated meeting, we left for the bar. Kyle was driving, John called gunshot. So, I was on the backseat with Simon. I sat behind John.
The drive was mostly quiet. If it was just the two of us with an Uber driver, I would have hold his hand. I really liked it the first time, I would like to do it again.
I really liked him, to be honest. In the getting noodles together at four in the morning kind of like. In the... would do that again in other places kind of like. In the I would give him my dog tag for keepsake kind of like.
When we arrived at the bar, there were three familiar faces. Laswell, Price, and Chris.
"Three sergeants and a lieutenant walk into a bar," I muttered.
I felt Simon looking at me.
"Go on," Simon encouraged.
"That's the whole joke," I said.
We joined our superiors by the bar. The TV was broadcasting news about last night's event. When I walked passed him, Chris gave me a pat on the shoulder.
I sat at the furthest end of the bar, next to Simon. Chris, Laswell, and Price had just got their own drinks served. Simon, John, and Kyle placed their orders. I asked for iced water in a whiskey glass.
Everything went quite casually, starting with Price commenting on the CIA regarding the news. Chris was used to that. They cheered on something. The three next to me and myself just got our drinks served.
At some point, Laswell stood up out of nowhere and that caught our attention.
"It's not. They're working with someone new," was what I first heard.
"Who?" Price asked.
Laswell slid a photograph. Price took it and looked at it. His face changed.
"We don't know his name," Laswell said.
"He's not new," Price stated.
Price started passing over the photograph. Chris looked like he recognised it. When I looked at it, however, I had no idea who it was.
Everyone started paying close attention, huddling over.
"Who is he?" Laswell asked.
"Makarov," Price named.
There was a long silence. The bosses started talking about it.
Simon looked at me.
"We're talking about this and you're still here," Simon quietly said to me. "What's that mean?"
Just then, lifted his glass.
"Alright, before we move on to that, let's have a toast," Price said. "First, to you lads and lasses, good job well done."
We drank to that.
"To Caelith for the killing blow," Laswell said.
I deployed a bittersweet smile, but not drinking to that, simply lifting my glass.
There were a few toasts after that. It got pretty serious and by the end of it, everyone looked very tired.
"I'm paying tribute to Captain Price's good cigar," I said, lifting my glass.
"Aye," Simon supported.
A little bit of laughter were there.
From there, everyone was left to their own accord.
Simon looked at me again.
"So, what's next for you?" Simon asked.
"Hell if I know," I answered. "You?"
"This Makarov prick, likely," Simon answered.
"You'll do great," I assured. "As long as you don't get dead."
"I've been dead before," Simon sighed. "I've been buried and crawled my way back up."
"Sweet metaphor," I commented.
"It's not a metaphor," Simon said.
I looked at him. Simon looked back at me seriously.
"I would've given you a hug, but we're in public and people are watching," I said.
"I'd like that," Simon said. "Maybe soon."
I could not help the bashful smile on my face.
"If I tell him, do you think I'll get promoted?" I questioned.
"Your promotion's fixing one issue," Simon replied. "Of many."
I chuckled.
Simon and I shared a glance and his eyes seemed to be showing amusement.
From the other end of the bar, Chris saw me and walked his way towards me. He stood in between myself and Simon.
"Caelith," Chris greeted.
"Yes, sir," I responded.
"The base would be grey without you for a while," Chris said.
"Which base?" I pointed out.
"Lieutenant Riley," Chris moved on.
"Sir," Simon simply replied.
"Don't let her get in trouble," Chris said.
"Roger," Simon said.
Chris patted me on the back before walking away.
A moment after that, I only looked at the surface of the bar. Eventually, however, I looked back at Simon finding he was already glancing at me.
"You're still here, Cae. What if they put you in the task force?" Simon questioned.
"Maybe because I did a good job," I said. "I'm sorry about that."
"It's your fault, yeah?" Simon teased.
"Aye, right, it's me fault, yeah," I tried to do his voice and accent.
A couple of lazy chuckles came out of the lieutenant's lips.
"Did you just laugh?" John pointed out.
John looked at me. I shrugged.
"Lass, what did you say to him?" John asked.
"I didn't say anything," I opened my palms in surrender.
John draped an arm around Simon's shoulders, amused.
"Stop it," Simon said, brushing John's hand off him. "Fuck off."
I heard John chuckling.
"I'll go... take a piss," I decided.
"Don't leave me with him," Simon protested.
"Five minutes," I named before leaving the bar.
I left to the bathroom. Mostly because I was sure I would be going insane if I got stuck next to Simon making casual social interaction and not craved to hold his hand.
When I returned, Simon and John were talking with Kyle. The bosses looked like they were having a serious conversation. Just as I sat down, the bosses turned to us, they were nodding.
"Wait for orders," Price said to us. "You boys have fun. You may not be working with Caelith any time soon."
Chris looked at me.
"Take care," he said.
Laswell gave us a nod. The three left the bar.
Now, the remaining three looked at me.
"What?" I asked.
"You can drive us back, right?" John asked.
"Ah," I hummed. "Go get drunk, then."
About four hours later, we were by one of the booths, Kyle had passed out on the table about half an hour ago, John could barely lift his head, and Simon was just putting down his glass onto the table. Eventually, John was also passed out on the table.
I looked around the area. There was a lot of people, busy on their own accord. Hopefully non of them recognised us.
As if reading my mind, Simon slipped his hand to hold mine under the table. Immediately, a smile bloomed on my face. I still not looked at him.
Feeling his thumb brushing the back of my hand, I squeezed his hand that I could barely put my fingers around. After some time, Simon moved our hands and slipped our fingers in between each other. He slipped our tangled hands into his jacket pocket.
"Are you drunk?" I asked.
"Not in the slightest," Simon answered.
I knew that, he hardly had any of the drink.
"How do I know?" I questioned anyway.
"Because I made sure I'm not," Simon said. "You don't drive the left side."
I chuckled lightly.
"I'm driving," I decided. "Your lives depend on it."
"You'll need my help to take these blokes into the car," Simon said. "So, I can't be drunk."
"Right," I nodded.
Simon only hummed in response.
By then, I leaned back and carefully rested my temple on Simon's shoulder. At first, I felt him tensing upon contact and squeezed my hand at the reflex.
"This is okay, right?" I asked without looking at him.
"Yeah," Simon confirmed.
We stayed like that for a while.
"Shall we go?" I asked. "They're gonna have back pain."
"They'll have more than back pain, love, let them rest for now," Simon replied.
The way he said love to address me was indeed charming. It surely did made my stomach flutter. It certainly made me press the side of my face against his arm.
I was not sure how long that lasted, but I knew it was quite a while. Simon eventually took his phone out. He unlocked it, opening a contact named Princess, and handed the phone over.
"Call yourself," he said.
"You could do it yourself," I said.
"It's assurance," Simon reasoned.
"Alright," I took the phone.
I almost pressed the call button when I decided not to.
"No, you do it," I said.
"It wouldn't be tonight, then," Simon replied.
I hummed in understanding. I brought Simon's phone to the homescreen, opening the camera in the end.
"For someone who's strict on obeying orders, you're not that obedient when given none," Simon said.
"Should I do it from down here or up here?" I asked, positioning the phone in such nonendearing angles.
"Neither, I want good pictures, Cae," Simon answered.
I ended up snapping a photo from my chest level. It was not that bad. I returned the phone to him.
Simon only looked at me for a moment. With his free hand, he flicked a finger on the tip of my nose and took his phone.
"Chris gave me a condition if I wanna go back out on the field," I informed.
"What's that?" Simon asked.
"He said I should put on a helmet, like... full face helmet in case I turn," I answered. "Maybe I'll put on a ghost helmet."
"Don't steal my franchise," Simon said.
I chuckled.
"Maybe I could get horns on the helmet," I shrugged. "You know, there's this character named Keyleth, she's an elf druid and she has this... antlers kinda like crown."
"Character from what?" Simon asked.
"A popular D&D campaign," I answered hesitantly.
"Cyber security and board games. You're a fuckin' nerd?" Simon teased.
"A proud one," I replied.
"You think you could get the helmet made?" Simon asked.
"Didn't you get your mask made?" I asked back.
"No, made it myself," Simon said.
"Oh, gorgeous," I commented. "I got my knife made. Well, not at first. I taped knives to my brass knuckle. I used it a lot, got quite popular. Chris got it made for me."
"So, another princess privilege handed over," Simon concluded.
"Seems to be. I don't get to be the only one using it, though. It was mass produced," I nodded.
"Anyone uses it better than you?" Simon asked.
"No," I answered simply.
"Good," Simon commented.
For a moment, we said nothing. There was nothing to be said. Just to be felt.
"Let's go get these boys back, then," Simon finally said.
I detached myself from him, but Simon still held my hand. He took our hands out of his pocket and pressed the back of my hand against his masked lips before returning it to me.
It was hard to look at him more than a brief fleeting second.
"You get Soap, I get Gaz?" I suggested.
"You sure?" Simon asked.
"You're asking that because I'm a woman?" I questioned.
"I'm asking because you're fucking tiny," Simon clarified.
"You only say that because I'm almost one foot shorter than you. You think," I got out of the booth, then doing his voice saying, "I'm Ghost, mate, I'm fuckin' huge, I'm doing all the heavy works, except the emotional one."
Simon stood in front of me, a glint of amusement on his eyes.
"Should I get Soap instead?" I offered.
"No," Simon said. "Just bring the car around, I'll take care of these guys."
"Ah, yeah, mate, I got this just bring the fuckin' car around and we'll shove these boys into the boot," I did his voice and accent again.
"You're a tragedy," Simon said, but he was not hiding his amusement.
"Just get Johnny and I'll get Kyle," I said. "Please. The sooner we get these guys to bed, the sooner we can question the meaning of our lives while looking at the stars."
"A tragedy," Simon insisted.
Without much argument, Simon and I brought John and Kyle into the car. I shoved Simon into the passenger seat. Right away, I drove us back to the base.
We dropped the boys off at their barracks. As it happened, the three were put in the same barrack. It was quite cosy, actually. It had been a while since I was put in a barrack that was not private.
By the looks of what was going on around the beds, I could guess which one was whose. I made sure that Kyle was sleeping okay as I put Kyle down on his bed while over by the next bed, Simon just dropped the sack of meat that was John. Simon looked at me when I was fixing Kyle's position.
"What are you doing?" Simon asked.
"Making sure his limbs aren't falling asleep," I answered.
"His whole body's falling asleep," Simon said.
"You're next, Simon?" I asked.
Now, I moved on to John and untangled him from the awkward position Simon dropped him on.
"You're really gonna leave him sleep like this the whole night?" I questioned.
"Should be putting himself to bed, then," Simon replied.
I looked at him in disbelief.
"This is why I'm the one not drunk," I pointed out.
"I'm not either," Simon replied.
By now, I started making my way towards the door. Simon was following behind me. I stopped in front of the door with Simon leaning by the door frame. He looked at me with not a distinct expression.
There was a huge chance that we would be sent home tomorrow and we would not be going on the same plane. We might see each other in the morning, but then it would be it for now. Or maybe we could spend the night somewhere other than the base, because clearly, this was not work appropriate at all.
It was stressful to say the least and realising that it was upsetting me, I felt my shoulder throbbing in pain.
"Oh, shit, I forgot to take my meds," I realised.
"Say that again," Simon challenged, offended.
I opened my palms in surrender.
"I'll go," I said. "I haven't take it from the infirmary either."
"Say that again," Simon repeated, more menacing than before.
I had to bite in my smile.
"I could... use supervision in case I went cannibal on the way to the infirmary," I reasoned.
Simon exhaled.
"Fine," Simon agreed.