Lonely Nights
Disclaimer: I do not own "G.I. Joe." That belongs to Hasbro.
The Pit was quiet. Considering the time of night, that wasn't unusual but to Falcon, it was disconcerting. He couldn't sleep so he decided to leave his quarters, taking a walk around the base.
He'd had a long day whose low point was the debriefing with his brother. Duke hadn't been happy with the way his mission had turned out and Falcon couldn't blame him for being so angry but Duke had nearly stepped over the line with some of his comments.
Falcon had wanted to say a few things back, crossed over the line himself but he'd managed a measure of self-control, mainly because Hawk had sat in on the debriefing. And he knew what he wanted to say would've driven Duke absolutely over the edge, even though it was the truth.
As he walked by Ops, he saw it wasn't empty. Falcon stopped by the door and looked in to see Firewall tapping away at one of the keyboards and occassionally checking monitors.
She looked up, nodded and pushed a chair his way and he sat down, turning the chair around, sitting so he could rest his arms across the back.
"Give me a minute," she said, not looking up from the monitor.
Falcon watched Firewall tap a few more keys, look up and down the screen, hit return, and turned to face him.
"What're you doing in these parts this time of night?" Firewall asked, slightly suspicious.
"I couldn't sleep. Is that illegal? Besides, I thought I would give you the heads-up. I think Duke suspects us. At least me," Falcon said.
Firewall raised an eyebrow. "Let's not talk about that," she said. "I'm off duty as of now. Wanna watch a movie?"
A little more than two hours later, Falcon was surprisingly not bored. He was listening to Firewall talk and she had kept up a running commentary the entire movie, even though she'd warned him to keep his mouth shut. And he'd actually sat through "The Matrix" without flinching. Hardly his usual fare.
He was brought back to reality when she finally directed a question his way.
"Well, what did you think?" she asked.
"It's like some sick, twisted techno version of alice in wonderland," he said.
"What did you expect?" Firewall fired back.
"I don't know," he said. "Look, thanks for the movie. I think I can finally get to sleep now."
Falcon got up and left, and Firewall watched him go.
His exit was abrupt and bordered on rude, but she knew he didn't mean it like that. It was actually kind of cute. Sort of. And so was he. If you could get over his cocky, narcissistic personality. However, she knew that also wasn't what he was really like. He'd volunteered to help her with the mother of all pranks, and on his own brother no less. It had given her a little insight into his personality, a side she bet anyone rarely saw.
She'd heard rumors about him, his reputation, and tried to steer clear of him for just that reason. But he seemed like a good sort. He'd gone out of his way to be kind, and he was always polite to her, especially after the memorial service. He sometimes stopped by to say hello, and she appreciated that. But she just couldn't reconcile the rumors to what she knew to be true.
Firewall tried to push the thoughts out of her head but she knew one thing for sure-she wanted to make sure she was right.