Getting crushed between two men in the backseat in such a heatwave wasn't exactly how she imagined her first days in Mexico would be going.
Trying her best to avoid the awkward situation, she submerged in her thoughts, remembering how great it was inside the helicopter they came with.
Rora seated herself opposite of Soap and Ghost, the two of them talking about something - more like, the Sergeant talked, the Lieutenant listened. Occasionally, Ghost inserted one or two words here and there, keeping the mostly one-sided conversation alive, but as she looked at the duo, she could see that they were close. They probably knew each other for more longer than they knew her, and she couldn't even be mad at them for not including her in their activity.
Occupying herself, she pulled her lighter out from her pocket, flipping it between her fingers. Her thumb grazed over the smooth metal surface, her finger following the print of the carving. It was an old lighter, one of the first things she ever stole. This lighter has seen a lot of things.
It was there when she lit her first cigarette. It was there when Everett had to burn some evidence after their robbery, trying to cover their tracks. And it was there when she decided that, even though she quit smoking a long time ago, she lit her last cigarette after his funeral.
„You good, Wellsy?" the sweet lowness of MacTavish's voice brought her out of her thoughts. She snapped her gaze up from her lighter, it instantly connecting with Ghost's. His eyes didn't leave hers as she snapped her lighter back, extinguishing the fire.
„Just peachy," she sang, a smirk coming to her lips as she leaned her back against the wall. Mirroring their poses, she pulled her rifle between her slightly spread legs, barrel facing the floor, her eyes flicking to Soap's before they met with a brown pair again.
The way Ghost had let his head fall back against the metal wall, still holding eye contact, she couldn't help but find this little motion attractive. Sure, he was still one of her worst nightmares, sitting right in front of her, but right now, he didn't look anywhere close to Everett.
But that only lasted for so long, because her thoughts were already going back to the love of her life, and how he pulled her into his lap, that skull-printed bandana hiding his smile, but the smile reaching his eyes instead.
A slightly annoyed sigh left her lips as she tried to pull herself smaller, her legs either touching Soap's or Ghost's. After a few minutes, she got tired of altering her body in ways it wasn't supposed to sit, so she just mirrored their man spread, forcing their legs to close up a little, leaving a little more space for her.
Soap was far more interested in the sights to notice her action, but it didn't go past Ghost. He watched as her thigh was pressing against him, trying his best to scoot over, his entire body pressing against the door of the car, but seeing how limited their space was, he tried to accept the physical contrast.
It was much harder than it looked, so he just tried to ignore her and look out the window.
Upon hearing her sigh, Alejandro turned his head to the side, giving them a look over his shoulder.
„Cozy in there?"
„Really bringing those family vacations back," Rora forced a smile on her face, Alejandro chuckling at her response. As soon as he turned back, her smile fell, her eyes staring dead ahead.
Speaking of family, she glanced towards Soap, wondering if he had any family waiting for him outside all of this. But remembering the way he acted outside of the warzone, just chatting away or joking, she just couldn't imagine him settling next to a woman, or starting a family. To her, he gave off middle-child energies with ADHD.
Glancing to her right, her eyes caught sight of Ghost's hand, grasping the gun placed between his legs, finger close to the trigger. Rora noticed that he always seemed to be alert, always ready for a fight, and it was exhausting by just looking at him. After getting four hours of sleep the night before, she couldn't even imagine fighting off a toddler.
Whether he had a family or not, it was impossible to guess. She was sure as hell that he rather wait for hell to be frozen than tell her about it, and it was fine.
Honestly, it wasn't. She had an awfully curious mentality, always seeking answers, and probably that was the main reason she didn't know how she should deal with Ghost. He was the biggest secret she had discovered, and by taking a look at his face - or more like at his disguise, she was happy to leave his secrets in hopes that her memories would leave her, too.
„We're a family now?" Soap asked, only processing her sentence a few moments later, a grin plastered on his face.
„You're the annoying middle child, Ghost can be the bigger brother who just yelled at the little brother for being a pain in the ass," Rora wondered aloud, Soap's feature taken over by a pained look.
„I didn't yell," Ghost spoke up for the first time they were seated next to each other. Soap leaned forward a little, so he was able to look at him.
„Well," Soap started, getting cut off by Rora.
„You did," Rora held back an eye-roll, puffing her cheeks out instead. „I've got daddy issues, I'm sensitive to shit. I feel things, guys."
„You speak your heart, hermana," Alejandro observed, another deep chuckle erupting from him. „We appreciate the honesty here."
„I can be a little too open with my heart and thoughts, Alejandro," she warned trying to get more comfortable in her seat. But, the way something dug between her ribs and Ghost's leg pressing against hers it was almost impossible to do so.
„Did I mention that she run out to the middle of a battlefield with a bloody RPG on her shoulder?" Soap started, excitement and a hint of pride glistening in the blue of his eyes.
A shit-eating grin pulled at her lips, satisfaction warming her heart as she heard a low sigh from Ghost, almost like was disappointed in her, but it only managed to fuel her pride. She was stupid, and she was impulsive, but she was Rora Wells, impulsive was basically her middle name.
„Oh, let me tell you about it," Rora started, leaning slightly forward to fully engage in the conversation.
Meanwhile, Ghost tried his best to ignore the way she pressed her thigh against his more.
°•○●⸸●○•°
„Nice glasses, Lt.," Rora humored, only noticing the dark shades on his head when they met up with the Las Vaqueros in front of the base where they held Hassan, according to their intel.
Holding his gun across his chest, he gave her a look that looked even more menacing since she couldn't even read his eyes anymore, her smile widening despite all of this.
Repeating the sentence, 'He's not Everett' in her head like it was a prayer, she was able to get back to her old self, which mostly consisted of platonic flirting and dark humor, the former coming to light the most. She knew that he was a tough cookie to crack, but she had her way of achieving that.
And she wasn't going to give up until she'll hear a laugh from him.
But by the looks of it, even a small smile looked almost unachievable. Just almost.
She wanted to ask further about the shades, but then the conversation about his mask came into her mind, immediately shutting her up.
When their poor driver, Rodolfo, Alejandro's second-in-command commented about it, he looked like he could kill him with his own hands, Soap desperately tried to motion beside her to shut the hell up, and even Alejandro told him off.
His disguise was a sensitive topic, and even though her favorite conversation starters were personal questions, she thoughts that she could skip those ones with Ghost, at least for a while.
Checking that every grenade and knife was in place, she hurried after Alejandro, brushing past Ghost in the meantime.
„Hey, Wells," he called, causing her to glance back over her shoulder, meeting with the dark glasses. A little piece of her heart missed seeing his eyes, this way he barely looked human to her. „No RPGs."
A light chuckle rolled off her lips, her mood slightly more lifted than it was in the car ride.
„Yes, sir."
°•○●⸸●○•°
After clearing one out of two possible buildings, her hopes of finding Hassan here were extremely low. A little voice inside her head was already very skeptical, to begin with, but by seeing no trace of their target, that voice got louder, bringing her previous good mood down.
Shooting down a pair of cartel members inside, her need to find Hassan grew by the minute. And that was the exact reason that she didn't even hesitate to dart towards the stairs leading up to the second deck.
„Hermana," Alejandro spoke up behind her, causing her to turn around, a confused look on her face. He walked past her, a hand clasping her shoulder in a friendly way as he shot her a quick smile. „I'll go ahead. Cover me."
„But-"
Ghost came into her view, idling next to a wall, and even though he looked like he was searching a room for more enemies, his eyes caught Rora's, forcing the words back down her throat.
They held each other's gaze for a moment, a silent battle between them, but understanding the hierarchy, she had to obey the order of her lieutenant. And Alejandro was kind enough that she didn't want to argue with him at the moment.
„Okay," nodded his way, her eyes narrowing Ghost's way. He simply mirrored the cold look through his shades, not even bothering to spare any more glances her way as he turned to go after Soap into another room.
With silent steps, they moved up, her finger hovering over the trigger, ready to fire at anyone that dared to look their way funny. She was on edge, ready to jump at any threats, especially with the looks Ghost was giving her. She wasn't irresponsible, just a little impulsive.
„If Hassan's here, he's in this room," Alejandro cleared, his voice low.
„Let's hope this fucker's here," Rora grumbled, her shoulders tensing under the pressure.
Alejandro opened his mouth to reply back, but a loud gunshot caused both of them to pull back to cover, her back slamming against the cold white wall. Brown eyes met with icy ones, the woman nodding his way, gripping her rifle tighter.
The urge to burst inside and shoot at everything that moved grew inside her, but the cold stare Ghost gave her reminded her that she had to learn again how to work as a team. So instead of running in, guns blazing, Rora gritted her teeth together, swallowing down the probably suicidal urge.
„I'll cover you," she nodded towards the Colonel, him nodding in acknowledgment, motioning to her to get ready.
Slightly sooner than him, she emerged from the cover of the white brick wall, shooting her rifle aimlessly, trying to spot any enemies while Alejandro ran upstairs, barging inside the room she was firing at, quickly taking out the man behind the couch he was hiding behind.
„Clear!" Alejandro yelled behind his shoulder, Rora rushing after him in a heartbeat.
In her peripheral vision, she saw Soap and Ghost marching behind her, everybody scattering around the room, trying to look for clues. And sadly, her gut feeling was right, that there was no trace of Hassan inside.
It would've been too easy, wouldn't it?
„No Hassan," Soap said out loud her thoughts, a low growl emerging from the back of her throat.
This was the second time they just managed to miss him, and it really started to piss her off.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me
Fool me the third time, next time I'll see you, you're dead.
And she held that promise close to her heart.
Alejandro talked to his men through the radio, while she watched as Ghost rummaged through a few papers that were scattered on the table. Rora wondered how he was able to see seemingly fine inside with the shades on, let alone read the papers with not much of light coming through the few windows.
A loud sigh from Alejandro caused her gaze to leave Ghost's form.
„They must've moved him."
„When?" Soap interjected, defeat deepening his tone. The defeat caused her mouth to shut up for a few minutes, her thoughts all over the place, trying to find out where they went wrong.
„Recently."
Rora huffed out a breath, her eyes hanging on the cracked, dirty ceiling. Of fucking course, she cursed in her head, he always just happens to fucking disappear like the morning dew.
„Quds Force," Ghost's accent seemed to calm her mind a little, grounding her back to the present. She had to concentrate on the task before her, not let her impulsive thoughts to take place. Again. „That's his flag."
„It looks like shit," the words rolled off her tongue involuntarily, Alejandro snickering at the woman's bluntness and earning a cheeky grin from Soap. Ghost just turned his head to her way, obviously not pleased by her humor at the moment. „Sorry."
„It means that he was here," Alejandro observed, his eyes glinting with a hint of amusement remaining from her remark. Deep down she felt proud flourish inside her, she liked when she had a positive effect on people. It was the best feeling on the world. „Whether it's shit or not."
The mood just started to lighten inside the room, when frantic Spanish words erupted from the comms, her eyes snapping towards Alejandro immediately. Since she didn't understand a single word of Spanish, she hoped to read something from the Colonel's face, trying to figure out what happened.
„Please let it be good news," Rora muttered to herself. But at that exact moment, Alejandro let out a few angry Spanish words, and she didn't even have to know Spanish, she just knew he was cursing at anything and everything.
„What is it?" Ghost stepped closer to him, concern dulling his voice.
„The army."
Oh shit.