"Rachael..."

"Wash? Leave me alone." She kept walking down that hall, no doubt with that dumb pout on her face, that gut-wrenching hate for Texas roiling inside her.

"If you'd just listen, I could help-"

"Help what?" She spun one hundred eighty degrees on her heel, and I almost slammed into her, having tried to keep up with that natural, predatory top dog stride of hers. "Listen, Washington. I appreciate whatever it is you're trying to do here, but just leave me alone for a minute. I'd rather not have everyone crowding me right now, so just back off." And there she was, storming off again. Boy, could she lay on the charm. So I followed after.

"Come on, Lina, just calm down about it. It's not like you can't take Number One back?"

Her gaze forward, I kept my distance. Well, out of punching range, that is. "That's exactly it. I can. And I will. So I need to train. Alone. She's already taken One from me, I sure as hell won't let her keep it."

"There. I could help you train."

She scoffed a little, pace quickening. "You're not exactly the best training parter. Offence intended. Now get out of my face."

I stopped, but called after her: "Don't exactly see anyone else scrambling to help you."

She didn't stop. Then faltered. Then turned. Slowly. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

And a smug grin formed under my helmet. She was hooked. "You see, you lost One to a rookie. Let's say our good buddy Three thinks its worth a shot to get up to Two... or take One from the rook. Now let's say Four and Five get the same general idea. They get going on training hard as they can, they bump you down. Soon you're Seven. What keeps anyone else from pushing you down to the bottom of the heap?"

Silence. Good. "And why would you want to help me?"

"You're the right girl for One. And I figure having a favour wouldn't hurt, either."

"And if I say no, as I have been?"

I started walking back in the other direction, calling over my shoulder. "You seem to have made up your mind already. See ya later, Twelve."

My heart skipped a beat as I heard nothing, but my walk stayed steady, doing the trick. Out of nowhere, she slammed me against the bulkhead, ripping my helmet off my head. I could see a distorted Picasso of myself in her visor, grinning with all the genuineness I could muster. "Reconsidered? Great. When do we start?"

"Not so fast." Her words were sharp as knives, just like the one she had produced in one hand, and had dwindling near my face. "I don't have any reason to trust you, so you try anything, anything..." she let the back of the combat knife rub over the soft skin of my throat, brushing against some stubble. "And I'll make sure you won't be around long enough to get knocked up a notch above me." She stood there for a second, then let off me, backing up and sheathing the knife.

I kept the face up, not daring to show fear. "No tricks. We got a deal?" I held my hand out to her, which she took cautiously.

"Deal."

And we shook.

Another day at this idiotic base. At least that yellow one was still in Blood Gulch. But with Caboose and Tucker bickering like children all the time, I was beginning to think I was going to go insane.

Until the dead woman showed back up. Until Carolina was back.

It was a short walk to the training room, where we stripped to our black jumpsuits, and she went at the punching bag. Hard. It was easy to tell the black colour didn't help to keep her rage in check, but at least gave her an outlet that wouldn't be me. After it had been left broken on the floor, I suggested high-grav training to increase muscle build, and she started lifting weights as I spotted her.

She immediately set for an extra 30% gravity, along with a one hundred and fifty pound weight, equaling out to one hundred and ninety-five pounds. She lifted it twice, then demanded the hundred sixty pound weight, then the hundred seventy. She had a good sweat going when she ordered for the 180 pound, which I gave reluctantly. The weight struggled up, came down shakily; came up slow, and I could see her falter. I reached over to the control panel and dialled the gravity down to zero, dulling the inevitable crash to a small bump as the weightless thing thudded against her chest, the force travelling through her and rebounding; effectively forcing her into the air.

I smiled at her as she got a vice grip on the bench, unamused. "Let me down, Washington."

"Yes, ma'am." I slowly returned her to the floor of the ship, and she stood tall. "You up for more training? Or is that it for today?"

"Hmm..." she thought it over. "Actually, antigrav doesn't sound too bad."

"Alright." I grinned and flipped the switch, taking the time to jump into the air, my grav boots resting on my armour in a pile across the room. I spun midair and landed gracefully on the ceiling, beckoning Carolina. "Come on, chicken. You wanna spar or what?" The challenge wasn't a smart one to issue.

She sprung at me with a grimace, and I had just enough time to go flying in the other direction, hitting a wall. She was already upon me as I gathered myself, throwing punches as I blocked as well as I could. She connected with my chest, my stomach, then brought an elbow down on my back as I doubled over. She pushed off the ground hard and kicked my sternum, sending me sprawling to the floor as she landed on the adjacent wall. "Come on, chicken," she echoed. "I thought we were sparring. You're no better than a Simulation Trooper."

At this I jumped at her with a strong kick... just as she had predicted. She caught me off guard by jumping at the same time, then catching my leg and sending me flying the way she had come. "Not bad," I said after a quick recovery. "Not bad at all."

We sparred like this for ten minutes, twenty, thirty, an hour, and our tiredness began to show up until our last attack. On opposite walls from each other, I jumped, and faked a punch at her, waiting for her jump to grab at her for a kick, but instead, we both rocketed back in her direction and slammed together on the wall, bodies against each other.

I looked at her and blushed, realising how close we were. I pushed off and we jumped to the ground as a soldier came in over the intercom. "We're sorry for the turbulence, crew. We ran into some people who weren't too happy about our last mission, and jumped to Slipspace. We're sure you understand."

I brought gravity back up to one hundred, and we got our armour back on. "Well," I broke through the silence. "Guess that's all for today. Up for more tomorrow?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Sure."

She had shown up at the base while I was out on patrol. And by patrol, I mean using the Reds' base as target practice, with them occupying it.

I got a radio call from Caboose telling about a "new lady" like Tex, which piqued my interest immediately.

The next day, we met again in the training room for boxing, where she once again taught me why she deserved to be Number One. Which I didn't argue with; whoever this "Tex" chick was, she didn't deserve One after just blowing some stuff up and grabbing the Package. At least not in my book. And as for my reasons for helping Carolina... well I was still figuring that out.

After boxing, we went to the shooting range, yet she still excelled with an assault rifle at ranges my pistol was dwindling in. Over the next hours, we switched from ranged weapons training to spars to high gee manoeuvres, even brushing up on melee weapons.

Later, around 2100 hours, we hit the mess for a late dinner and got a good night's rest in. We were going to need it with all the training ahead.

I just sighed to myself at the idiot's comment and headed back to base. Twenty feet out, I thought I heard a familiar voice. A voice I hadn't heard in years. It silenced and I dismissed it. Peering over at Red Base, I was oblivious to to the others as I asked who was here. Then I turned my head.

And saw cyan and white.

The next day was a longer training session, as we were up till 2200, and we ate by ourselves, making chit chat over the day's training. The next day was similar, then the next week, ending in an extra long day of training, mostly helping Carolina peak over 180 lbs.

That night lasted till 2300, past the mess hall's hours. In return for the help, she invited me over for dinner.

"Enjoy," she said humourlessly, placing down a meal that looked like nothing short of an expensive MRE.

"Thanks," I replied as thankful as I could, and took a bite. Not half bad, for what supplies she could've gotten on the MoI. "Not nearly as bad as I thought it'd be." I smiled up at her, showing I was just joking.

Still, she dismissed it without much in the way of verbal response. "Are we on for training tomorrow?" she asked.

"Sure. You did good today, reaching one eighty."

"Could've done better. I should've pushed myself more."

"No, you were great. That's over two hundred pounds with the extra gravity."

"There's still room for improvement. Always is." I subsided at that, and ate in silence with her, thinking of how difficult this was going to be if she kept the attitude.

I stared in astonishment at the living ghost before me. "Carolina..."

"Wash," she observed, levelheaded as ever. "Good to see a friendly face around here."

We got right to training the next day, running speed and endurance drills that I couldn't nearly keep up with her in; rather, I kept an eye on the clock and recorded her times.

After just an hour or two, we decided to take an early night, and she showered off before we headed to the mess, sitting down and talking freely, already knowing we were going to train tomorrow. In the free time before heading to bed, we paced the halls of the Mother of Invention, going over battlefield strategies and tactics.

The following day, we got to training fast: antigrav sparring and light weapons fire simulations. Lina even brought out a stolen Insurrectionist weapon, a huge hammer that sent out destructive shock wave when it hit dummies.

And just like before, we called it an early night, but this time she took me back to her quarters for a meal, though the mess was open. I didn't question it, Number Two had her reasons.

The dinner was much better than last time, and we talked openly, chatting over each other's progress, some of the other agents, training plans for the next week. After we finished eating, I gave a quick goodbye and went back to my room.

Something had been up with her lately... ever since we started training. Maybe it was her being more open... I just had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever we were together. Not weird bad, but... It was hard to describe. That night, I decided it best to just sleep on it, rather than let the feeling keep me awake.

"What are you doing here, Carolina? I thought you were supposed to be... y'know, dead?" It was a big shock seeing her here again, after all these years, but I tried to keep it from the Blues as much as possible.

"Guess the Director needs to try a little harder next time. As for what I'm doing here? I came for Epsilon."

The next morning, I left for training as usual, and tried to push down those odd thoughts from last night. But they surfaced immediately as Carolina met me halfway, coming late from her duties and going the same route as me.

We went over the plans for today: 120% gravity sprints, melee defence, enemy fire evasion, stealth takedowns, and hiding from enemy patrols. And yet again, she invited me over for later that night, and those feelings returned, taking me off focus for the first bit of training.

But soon enough, they were gone, and I put myself to training as hard as I could. I pushed myself that day, and could see she was, too. Drenched with sweat by the end of the day, we showered and met at her room. The meal was good, the banter friendly, and the feelings from the last two days was back.

"Thanks again, Lina. It was great."

"It's fine, Wash. You're welcome here any time." We got up and tossed out the trays, and she followed behind me to the door.

"I'll get going now, see you tomorrow." And she placed a hand on the shoulder of my armour. She spun me around to face her, and I began to recognise what that feeling was.

She cupped my face with one hand and stood on her toes, pressing her lips to mine. After a couple seconds, she pulled away, blushing hard. At a loss for words, I simply stammered as her door slid shut in my face.

"You two know each other?" Tucker asked, confused.

"Yes." I said bitterly. "We have unfinished business."

The next training session was... well, silent. We only talked on how we would train, and at the regular time we stopped.

"Wash... Come on back to my quarters... We need to talk about last night, and I'd rather no-one walked in on us now..."

"Y-yeah..." I averted my gaze as I followed her, and leaned awkwardly against the door as soon as we were in.

"Wash," she leaned she stepped within arm's reach and looked into my eyes. "Last night I... acted on my feelings..." she looked as if she were searching for the right words "And it was... unprofessional of me. We should just... leave it at that, David." She looked away, seeming almost embarrassed of it. David. She never called me David. That had to mean something. And at that moment... acting on feelings just seemed right.

I took her hands in mine and spoke what came to me. "Rachael, you didn't offend me with a kiss. It was... nice. I sure didn't mind it." In as progressive a move as I could manage, I brought an arm around her back, pulled her close to me, and returned the last night's kiss.

"Whoa, no fighting here. We've had enough of you guys trying to kill each other." Tucker was less than happy at my facade of hatred for her.

"Listen, Agent Washington. You know these soldiers better than I do; I'll debrief you and you can pass the details along." She turned to the Blues. "In private."

Her eyes went wide with surprise; that must've been the last thing she'd have expected me to do. But she didn't falter: her lips held fast to mine, and she shut her eyes. My tongue ventured into her mouth, exciting hers into a slow rhythm.

Soon enough though, lack of oxygen claimed me and we broke apart. Her hands had weaved into mine, betraying her previously calm, almost shy attitude. "Lina... Rachael, I... you were backing off and I thought-"

She cut me off, staring right through my eyes with more lust and desire than I had ever seen in a woman. "Shut up and kiss me, Wash."

I paused for a moment, long enough for her to bring us into a deep kiss, running her fingers through my hair and holding herself to me. As her remaining hand rested itself behind my shoulder blades, I let my arms hold her to me, and our tongues wrestled between us. She was the dominant one.

"This is wrong," she spoke through a break in our kiss, not retracting an inch, only pushing on harder. "And stupid," "Not to mention disobeying orders," "But whatever you do, don't stop."

"Whatever you say, lady." Tucker and Caboose left us in silence, and we sat not talking till they were out of earshot.

"Rachael..."

We stayed like that for some time, just held close as the hurt and work and weathering of Project Freelancer was shed from us, replaced by a primal sort of need for the other. But Lina was never one to do anything too irrational.

After we broke away from each other, she sent me back to my room with a small kiss goodbye, and a reminder that we were still on for training tomorrow.

On the corridor back to my room, I noticed York, leaning against my door in civilian clothes, a bored look on his face and his working eye staring in the other direction.

I walk up beside him, confused as to why he was here. "Hey, York. What's up?"

He snapped his head towards me, and pushed off my door with his foot. "Oh, hey, man. Where've you been? I was looking all over for you."

"Oh, sorry, I was with Lina." The look on his face made me realise how that sounded. "T-training, York. Training."

"Right. Likely story, there, bud." He chuckled and dismissed it.

"So why were you looking for me, York?"

"I wanted some advice. Funny you should mention Carolina; it's on her, actually." My heart skipped a beat. What was I going to do? There was only one question he was going to ask, and no good way to answer it.

"Advice?" I asked jokingly, trying to play it off. "From me? You must've hit your head on something, York." We chuckled a little, but he wasn't shaken off.

"So, Carolina and I have been friends a long time, right? Good friends, great friends, really. And I started feeling something for her these past couple weeks... I'm not sure if she feels anything back though, she's been kinda distant. And since you started training with her so much, I was wondering if you could... pursue a lead. You know what I mean?"

That definitely caught me off guard. Pursue a lead. What did he think she was, some sort of lock to be picked? "Hmm... I've been training with her a lot... She hasn't really mentioned you, but maybe it because the topic never came up? I could ask if you want? Stealthily, though. Not to make it look like you were asking me to do dirty work for you."

"Really, man? You'd do that? You're a good friend, you know that?"

"Yeah."

"David..."

I stepped up to her and drew her into a tight hug. "What did they do to you, Rach?"

Training went by like normal that day, with a slightly more cheery mood. It was definitely an odd relationship, her and I. But somehow, it didn't seem to interfere. Lina and I trained harder that day, and the air overall air in the room was nice and just... happy. Much better than the regular, no-nonsense approach that had been present before.

Training went by fast, and dinner was, surprise, at her's again. We sat next to each other, in close company as we ate, and our lips once again found each other as soon as dinner was done with.

She made no move to take it further, and neither did I. She wanted to take her time, and I was in no particular hurry to speed it along either. A break appeared, and she furled up in my chest as I told her about York.

She just shook her head slightly and hugged my chest. "Let him down gently," she told me. "He's a good friend, and I don't want to lose him over this."

I thanked her and left after a couple more minutes. York was outside my room again, and he seemed happy to see me. "So?" he asked. "How goes it? Was she interested at all?"

I sighed and averted my gaze, trying to formulate the right words on the spot. "She said she was... Emotionally unavailable, or something like that. You know how girls are."

York just smiled, looking at me with a grin from ear to ear. "I knew it! You two are something!"

"W-what?" I stammered. Whatever I had said, it didn't work one bit. "York, that's cra-"

"Oh, save the bullshit, Wash. You and I both know something's going on between you and Lina."

"York..."

"You're a terrible liar, man. Besides, you've spent all your free time together for the past two weeks. I figured it was only so long bef-"

I stepped forward and tried to look as intimidating as I could, my body language telling him to back off. "Listen. What we do is our own business, so don't go around telling every person with earshot what you think you know."

"Okay, okay, dude. I'm not telling anybody. By the way, you might wanna wipe off that lipstick smudge." He tapped a corner of his mouth and started off.

"Lipst-" I hurriedly drew the back of my hand over my mouth, and it came up clean. "Oh, you asshole."

York just chuckled and walked down the corridor with a knowing smile.

Carolina bowed her head into my chest, hugging me back. "They did terrible things, unforgivable things. Which is why..." she puased, dancing around the subject.

"Why what, Lina?"

York left without any more trouble, and I was left with my own thoughts as I lay in my bed. Was this really a good idea? Was it worth the trouble if we were caught? Could York be trusted with this big of a secret?

I let my mind rest and welcomed the peaceful embrace of sleep... one that would haunt me with nightmares.

At first, the dream seemed normal. Rachael and I were at her place, and she was on my lap, nestled into my chest as I pet her hair. A knock came at the door, and we ignored it, preferring the company of each other over others.

But the knocking persisted, and she left me with a kiss to answer it. Halfway to the door, it busted open and two suited up Freelancers—no; our suits—came in. Rachael's pinned her to the wall and mine picked me up and drew my arms behind my back, kicking me onto the table where I could do nothing.

I watched helplessly as Rachael kicked her suit back, and was slammed against the wall, her head bouncing off at the force of it, and made a sickening noise.

I screamed her name, but my armour dragged me from the room. I was brought in front of the Director (or at least a menacing, obscured version of him), who told me I was dishonourably discharged from the project. I heard a pistol being cocked behind me, and shut my eyes.

I awoke with a start, almost leaping out of bed. I might've, actually, if it weren't for the pair of strong arms woven around me. Instinctively, I turned around to attack my armour, but stopped when I saw Rachael's concerned face behind me.

"Bad dream?" she asked.

I simply nodded and laid my head down, not questioning her reasoning for being here. "Same here," she added quietly. I still said nothing, just hoped that her being here could subdue any thoughts I was having over us.

We sat in silence, just thinking. Maybe she fell asleep. I couldn't tell. Either way, I came to a realisation. After just these two weeks, with hardly any physical contact with each other, I had already fallen for her. This was what I wanted. What we wanted. Freelancer be damned, I loved this woman. I didn't care what her rank was, I didn't care if she was better than me in all fronts.

I loved her.

So I turned around in my bed and pressed my lips against hers. She pushed back into the kiss a little, but not nearly with the passion I had offered. Something was up.

"Waahington..." And I almost knew what was coming next. "I... have something I need to say... You and I... We can't work. With the project and everything... it's just too hard on us, even at this stage... I think... I think we should break it off, before it becomes something more than it is."

I sat next to her in silence, noting how her arms were retracting by the word. Whatever had brought this on her, it definitely wasn't right. Was it the Director? Was he responsible?

"Don't get me wrong, Wash. I have feelings for you, it's just... I don't want this to hurt even more later on. I'm saving us the pain of it all. Please understand..."

"I'm going to... I'm going to kill the Director. For all he's done. To us. To all of us."

"Rach..." I removed our helmets and took her up in a strong kiss. "You don't have to do this."

Carolina got up and left after a minute of silence, then one last kiss goodbye. After all, she was just Carolina now. Not Lina. Not Rachael. And sure as hell not Rach. I just closed my eyes and silently wished for it all to be over. Why tonight? Why tonight? After all that, she just left without another word. It wasn't like her. It was wrong.

That night, I just curled up and slept a dreamless, unhappy sleep. The worst I'd gotten years. I'd finally found someone that was worth the effort of trying for, and she just left me without a second thought.

The next day, I went in for training, as nothing before had stopped us from it. I was a little surprised when she wasn't there ahead of me, but it wasn't exactly shocking. I finished off late that night, and ate away from the others in the mess hall.

Carolina was missing, and York had a confused look on his face. I could imagine what he was thinking. Where's Lina? Shouldn't they be eating together? I thought that was like them? Whatever anyone thought, I was alone now. And didn't feel like broadcasting it.

After dinner I fell to my bed and had a sleep similar to last night's. I awoke and trained by myself. I finished by myself and ate by myself. I went to my room and slept by myself. I fell into a similar pattern for the next week, ignoring all attempts at socialisation from other agents.

I was completely and totally by myself.

She stared me straight in the eyes, no hint of lying on her face. "I have to. For all he's done. To all of us. He deserves to die."

"Rachael... you know there are alternatives. He's going to stay in jail and rot. You don't have to risk yourself over something like this."

That week was tough. Gruelling. Unbearable. And if I suffered another day of it... I didn't know what I was going to do. But it wouldn't be pretty.

After dinner, I walked to Carolina's quarters. I prepared myself for a debate on the way there, but the feelings I had for her would win. I just knew it.

I paced up to her door, and heard some commotion I ignored. I pressed the holobutton for the door; it didn't budge. I typed in the code she'd given me. It told me the code had been changed. I turned around and put my hands on the back of my head. How was I going to talk to her?

And that's when I heard it.

A dull thump. Another. It sounded wet, fast. A moan of pain... no, pleasure. And Carolina. Asking for more. York's breathless reply.

My mind went blank. A couple thoughts surfaced. Thoughts of confusion. Of betrayal. Of anger, hatred, disbelief.

I just stopped. A scream of rage surfaced, and I stormed back to my room, eyes to the floor. How could I be so idiotic?! She never loved me! It was a ruse, some stupid plot to get me to train harder! Was this all her? Or York too? The Director must've had some hand in this...

My enraged thoughts were interrupted by another bumping his shoulder against me, then York saying sorry. I ignored him, and kept going.

That asshole York must've... York... York! I turned around and ran to catch up with him. "York! York! Wait up!"

He turned around, the faintest trace of a smile on his face. "Yes?"

"Y-you came from your room, which means you're not... Come with me. I need your help."

"David. It's the only way. And Epsilon is how I'll reach him. Where is Epsilon, anyways? Didn't he get put back here with you?"

"Epsilon... he's gone, Rach. I've lost him twice now. He's stuck in a broken containment unit... At the UNSC archives. He's gone."

We were outside Lina's door. I knew something was up. That... sound was no longer there. It had never been real. "Lemme get this straight, Wash. You want me to break into Carolina's room? Are you crazy?"

"No, I'm not. Now are you gonna open this door, or am I going to have to find someone better suited for the job?"

"Better suited? Good luck with that, bud." He started on the lock, opening it with ease and decrypting it as fast as he could go.

"So how much will this be?"

"How much? Consider it free. Guess I owe you that much. And I'm sorry, man. Didn't think all this would hit you that hard..."

"Wait, all what?"

Silence.

"And... got it!" He stood up and gave a small salute. "There you are. I'll be seein' you later." At that he was off. Whatever he knew, it wasn't my time to question. I needed to be with Carolina. With Rach.

"He's gone? No way. That AI's a fighter. No way he'd let go."

"You can see the unit for yourself. It'd be almost impossible to get him out."

I ran into her room and looked around. A datapad with an audio recording was on the table, and Rach was on her bed in the fetal position, still drying tears on her face. Tears. I'd never seen her cry, ever.

I laid down behind her and snaked my arms around her, clasping her sides in an embrace I was now sure she'd never disliked.

Her eyes fluttered open and she turned to look me in the eyes. "David..."

"It's alright Rach. It's alright." I snuggled up behind her and she brought herself into my embrace as I wiped the salty trails from her cheeks.

We sat together, eyes shut, just quiet and happy. She didn't need to explain. It was the Director. He'd made her do it. Keep the team a whole, not prioritise others. I got it.

"I love you, David."

That feeling came back. The one from before, when we had first started training. A feeling of want. A feeling of need. A feeling of contentment. A feeling that with her, all that was wrong in the world was suddenly right. A feeling of love.

"I love you too, Rach."

"... He's not gone, you know that? He's got a woman he's fighting for. That he loves."

"As do I. Which is exactly why we shouldn't go, and why we need to go."

The next morning we woke together, and she told me everything. There was nothing between her and York, the Director had wanted us apart. But she made a deal. If I proved my worth by figuring it out, we would still be allowed.

He never said she couldn't tip the scales in our favour.

It was no coincidence that the door code was changed, or that I bumped into York, or that him coming from that direction proved he hadn't been with Rachael. She had outsmarted the Director. For us.