„What did you do before this?"

„What do you mean?" Ghost gruffed out, pushing his elbows into the ground as he tried to take up a solid position.

Relatively soon, they found the perfect lookout spot where they (well, mostly Ghost) could overwatch the whole mansion. Him being a skillful sniper, it wasn't that big of a task. But for her, well... Rora was mostly there for moral support and because her possible concussion didn't let her do much.

Lying on her stomach next to him, she let her head rest in the palm of her hand, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

„Well, I trained dogs for the military. Y'know, to seek out explosives or to find bodies and whatever. Or to protect," a smile appeared on her lips as she remembered her dogs, holding each one close to her heart. „That kind of stuff. What did you do?"

„Solo missions," was his short reply, placing the sniper in front of him. The way he did everything screamed specialism and routine, and she could watch him stand the sniper up so professionally all day.

„That must've been lonely," she wondered, pouting her lip.

„And quiet," Ghost sent her a pointed look, trying to get her to stay quiet, but Rora decided to ignore it.

„Yeah, whatever," she brushed him off, trying to get into a more comfortable position as something was digging into her ribs. „I've got to keep one of the dogs I trained. His name's Kilo."

She waited for a moment, waiting for him to cut her off again or just tell her to shut the fuck up, but she took his silence as a sign to continue.

„He's a black German Shepherd, my best dog yet. You guys would love him," she smiled as she thought about her dog, currently staying in her apartment in New York, her flatmate taking good care of him.

She didn't want a flatmate at all, but she worked so much that she felt bad for leaving Kilo all alone all day. And the prices were ridiculous, so getting a flatmate was her best shot. Her name was Leilani, a Hawaiian girl that was too sweet for this world, loving Kilo just as much as Rora did.

So when she got back in the field, she knew that Kilo would be okay with her.

„What happened to it?" Ghost asked, his tone not that cold anymore.

„He almost died on me," her lip pouted as sadness took over her eyes, feeling that heavy feeling in her chest again when she desperately tried to get the bleeding dog out of harm's way. „He pushed me out of a grenade's way. Went blind to one eye, and almost completely deaf. He's the sweetest boy, though. You kind of remind me of him, Lt."

Just as he placed the sniper so the butt pad was in the crook of his shoulder, his head snapped towards her, an unreadable look in his eyes.

„Did you just call me a dog?" Ghost dead-panned, his eyes boring into hers. Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought about what to say.

„Well," she ran her tongue along her bottom lip, turning her attention back to the mansion, trying to spot any movement with the binoculars in her hand. „You can take it that way but I intended that as a compliment."

With one hand, he let go of the sniper so he could turn to face her more comfortably, just about to ask her how the hell was that a compliment, when a gasp left her lips, still looking into the pair of binoculars.

„Movement!"

He shook his head, positioning himself back again, looking through the scope, scanning the ground for movement.

„Shadows on station," Graves' voice called through the comms, startling her a little.

„Copy. All set here," Ghost replied, eyes set on the guards at the front gates.

„Seein' room to set down on the roof," Rora's eyes scanned the roof, spotting the place the Commander had registered, her shoulder brushing past Ghost's shoulder by mere inches.

„Yep," she popped her lips. „See it."

„Eyes on two, armed at the front door," the lieutenant stated, his smooth, deep voice brushing her like the summer breeze.

If she didn't look at him and he wasn't aggressively throwing around orders, his voice could be pretty soothing. She never found the British accent that attractive, but with him, it somehow worked.

The thought of being attracted to him made her shiver, pressing her lips together to shut out the image. He was her lieutenant, after all, and he was just... So close to being one of her worst nightmares, that attraction was out of the picture.

But still, she involuntarily glanced his way, eyes idling on his hands. She wondered if he had nice hands, he sounded like he did.

„Alejandro, how you doin'?" Graves' voice caused her to snap out of it, bringing the binoculars back to her eyes.

„Un Vaquero inside..." the Colonel informed, his voice a little breathy.

„Goddamn, how'd you do that?" the Shadow sounded impressed, just like Rora. He was fast, compared that they only wandered off somewhere, trying to find a lookout while he sneak into the mansion.

„Violently."

„Sneaky cabrón," Rora mumbled into the comms, earning a small chuckle from Alejandro, her smile flashing in the night.

„Pickin' up on Spanish, hermana," he sounded impressed, his quiet voice coming through like he was a little out of breath.

„Only slurs," she shrugged her shoulder. „That's the only way I need to know."

„Good thinking, Sergeant," Graves mused, her smile widening, but it faltered soon enough when she spotted Soap.

His hands were in the air, but nonetheless, one of the guards fired a warning shot, the bullet landing just before his foot. He was missing his gear, standing only in jeans and a blue t-shirt, nothing to protect his body from a shot.

„Visual on Soap," Ghost informed the others, his shoulder tensing as he watched the scene unfold in front of them.

„Moment o' truth..."

The guards circled Soap. He said something to them that earned a blow to the back of his knee, forcing him to kneel on the ground. Her heartbeat quickened, watching anxiously as they checked for weapons on him.

„They see him?" Alejandro urked.

„They do now..." Ghost breathed beside her, his voice not so calm anymore. It was such a slight change you could easily miss it, but she was sensitive to mood changes, and his spiked anxiety in her.

He kept his aim on the guard closest to Soap, ready to fire if it was needed. She was angry at herself that she wasn't better with sniper, that way she could be other than an inconvenience to Ghost. But she specialized in demolition and training dogs, and none of them have to do anything with her aiming skills.

She watched as the guards talked into the radio they had on themselves, and just as they waited for an order, one of them pulled a black hood from his pocket, pulling it over Soap's head.

„Is this good?" she asked in a small voice, afraid to pull her eyes away from the Scotsman's frame.

„They're taking him in," Ghost informed through the comms, as they watched one of the guards pull Soap to his feet, shoving him towards the gate that lead inside.

„Kid's got sand," Graves commented, but Rora didn't agree.

Watching him get shoved again, this time more aggressively she couldn't help but wish that was her, taking the danger off his shoulder. He had such a good soul, it hurt to think that they will probably execute him without a second thought if he said something wrong. And Alejandro's words definitely didn't make her feel better about herself and the fact she so easily agreed to stick with Ghost.

„I hope he makes it..."

A few moments passed by, her binoculars laying flat in front of her, and even though she knew he was a good soldier, probably better than her, even, she still got worried.

„Ghost?" Rora's small voice cut through the silence between them, earning his attention. „Do you think he will be alright?"

She waited for his answer for moments that felt like hours, turning his head to the left so he could finally look at her. He couldn't help but notice the way the stars reflected in her eyes, holding an entire galaxy instead of the world-consuming fire.

„Yes," Ghost replied confidently, watching as something changed in her eyes. Maybe it was serenity or hope, he didn't know. „He will be."

She nodded, occupying herself by ripping some grass from the ground, ripping them into smaller pieces till she couldn't anymore. When she was done with that, she reached for another piece of grass, doing the same to it.

She tried to be quiet for once, knowing that the man beside her preferred silence, especially over her rambling, but with every minute the urge to finally break the heavy silence grew stronger. In reality, it could've been a maximum of three minutes of silence, but to her, it felt like an eternity.

„What do we do now?" she asked, throwing the grass away, watching as it fell off the slope they were still laying on.

„Keep an eye on everything. That's the point of overwatch, Wells," he commented, and even though he sounded like he was slightly pissed, her silence was a little abnormal. He started to get used to her constant talking.

„Yeah, uhm, I'm not good with sniper, so I'm not that big of a help here," Rora's cheeks heated up after her confession, feeling embarrassed about it. „That's why I volunteered to get inside. I'm good in close combat."

„Not with a concussion," he breathed, feeling that this time she wouldn't leave this conversation so easily. „What makes you think you're a bad sniper?"

„My old Captain," she replied, a scowl twisting her features as she remembered the old man, feeling the urge to punch something. „He always shamed me in front of everyone for not being the best. After that, he offered that he could spend some time with me alone, trying to teach me to be better. But, uhm..." her voice broke off, the demons of the past choking her words. „As I found out, he wasn't as generous as he pretended to be."

He needed a few moments to see behind her words, looking for a deeper meaning, but by the hurt look on her face and broken eyes he didn't have to look deep. But then she forced a smile on her lips, the broken look in her eyes getting dimmed to the point nothing remained, only the starlight in her eyes and the scar on her face giving her face more character, adding more to her face than taking away. He thought the scar suited her.

Ghost put the pieces together: the information Laswell dropped, the way she spoke about her Captain and everything, it was clear what happened. Seemingly, both of them had unresolved trauma, and both of them sought different coping mechanisms. He buried himself in missions, seeking out more and more dangerous ones, the ones nobody would want to take, but somebody had to get their hands dirty, so the world could stay clean.

She was the other way, she left the military behind, running into walls every time she tried to run away from her problems. But this time she had run into such a solid wall, it didn't push her away like the other ones, it grounded her and looked into her eyes. Dark, brown eyes stared into hers, anchoring her to reality and not letting her get drowned by her dark memories.

„You're strong, Wells," he finally spoke up, his gruff voice somehow sounding much more welcoming than before. At least to her. „Don't let them tell you otherwise."

And for the first time, the most genuine smile appeared on her lips, warmth igniting in her chest. She knew he wasn't a man of words or good with talking about feelings, and she appreciated that he didn't ask about it. But, maybe, this was the exact reason that his words had much more meaning.

Her smile said thank you, and with the ever so slight nod of his head, he said don't even mention it.

And after that, she started to talk about New York, her shitty job before all this, her stuck-up boss, and he listened, half of his attention still occupied by the mission, asking a few questions here and there.

Only a few minutes into talking, both of them realized that the other wasn't even that bad. Rora liked to talk, and Ghost liked to listen, and somehow, in that few minutes alone, laying in the grass under the night sky, stars shining and blinking at them, a new kind of dynamic flourished between them.

slowly but surely, they are getting to know each other! like i mentioned in the beggining, this will be a REALLY SLOW BURN, so just bare with me here

i hope you're doing fine! don't forget to vote and comment your opinions so far, i like chatting with u guys!

also, i'll probably update every 2-3 days from now on :)