**DISCLAIMER!** I am a journalist used to writing non-fiction articles and feature stories. Fiction isn't really my forte, but I haven't written anything in so long so I decided to write a story about my favorite game- half-life! I came up with the idea for a love interest for Barney Calhoun after playing half-life 2 and seeing that Alyx is a love interest for Gordon----I feel that Barney should get a girl, too! : )

Like I said, fiction isn't my strong suit, so be gentle : ) hahahaha and the layout is very newspaper-like (lots of spacing and shorter paragraphs) which I find easier to read, so I hope you enjoy!

Welcome to Black Mesa

Today was an exceptionally boring day at the Black Mesa Research Facility. Barney Calhoun was stationed at the monitors watching the sector 8 living quarters- not particularly exciting, not even worthy of bringing his trusty pistol. To Barney, it was a made-up position to make sure the people in the living quarters were able to get into their dormitories- which had been a huge problem lately because of frequent system malfunctions, power outages, and general chaos erupting around the facility.

Yes, it was a boring day- which he passed by playing a hand-held video game. He felt in a rut lately, and took the boring job today because he didn't feel like running around the facility putting out fires and administering first-aid to zealous scientists who push their equipment to the breaking point- or, rather, the exploding point. He had been bored out of his skull all week- his drinking buddy Gordon Freeman along with his other scientist friends had all been busy day and night with weird, top-secret experiments, leaving Barney feeling annoyed and dejected with the secrecy.

Barney looked at his watch and sighed, he had an hour left before the end of his shift. He was about to duck out early when suddenly he heard the *click* *click* *click* of what sounded like women's heels coming down the hall. He looked up just to see the figure rounding the corner. She was a woman, indeed. She didn't seem exceptionally tall, Barney guessed that she was only about 5'7 or 5'8 out of heels, but she had commanding features. She had athletic, toned arms and strong calves that were visible underneath a blue v-neck blouse and black pencil skirt. She had deep brown eyes, full pink lips, and a cute sloped nose. She had long, silky brown hair that dropped down past her shoulders, framing her face lightly. She walked up to the desk, smiling in a shy manner.

"ca…. Can I help you?" Barney choked, clearing his throat.

"Hi," the woman said with a slight laugh, "you're gonna think I'm an idiot. See, I'm Jenna Brandenburgh, the HECU scientist assigned to sectors C and E..."

Barney stared at her, confused.

"Hmm… you have no clue who I am. It's ok. I'm the marine with the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit assigned to research here. I have retinal and handprint clearance, and was assigned to a dorm, but the paper with my dorm assignment was in my bags, which were taken to my room so I'm pretty much lost. Is there any way you can help me?"

Barney had to restrain himself hard from almost dropping his jaw. A marine?!? He thought to himself. She was fit, but still not that tall. And the skirt and blouse didn't exactly scream "grunt".

"Uhh, yea. I should be able to look it up. Just look into the retinal scanner right here and try not to blink" he said motioning to the scanner on the wall.

She looked into the scanner and instantly, her personal profile popped up on the computer in front of him:

Jenna Brandenburgh

Female, age 28

Education: PhD, Military Post-Secondary Education program- Theoretical physics

Position: Research and Development Scientist

Assignment: sector C and sector E levels 2-3

Clearance: Level 4

Housing assignment: Area 8 topside dormitory unit 145

Administrative sponsor: US Military- Hazardous Environment Combat Unit

"Alright," Barney said, "You're in living area 8, number 145. That's actually right around the corner from my own. I was just about to leave and head back home. I can walk you there, if you would like?"

"Ya. That would be great," Jenna said.

Barney grabbed his hand-held game, stuffed it in his pocket while turning off the computer on the desk and headed down to hall. Jenna followed.

"So I never caught your name-What it is?" Jenna said

"Oh, it's Barney. Barney Calhoun." Barney said, offering her a slightly hesitant hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Calhoun," she said taking his hand in hers and giving it a quick shake.

"So, you're a marine?" Barney said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously

"Yep. Eleven years and counting," Jenna replied, "I graduated high school at age 17 so I was considered eligible for enlistment as an emancipated minor."

"So what are you doing here? Is the government declaring war on all of the crazy scientists?" Barney said with an almost hopeful smile.

Jenna gave a quick laugh, "No, they are getting their use out of me in inactive duty. I got my knee practically blown off about a month and a half ago during a firefight. I was covering someone and stopped moving. Coulda been worse, I guess. Anyways, I had reconstructive surgery done, but I'll take about 12 months to get even close to combat-ready mode. Since I can't do missions, they assigned me to this place to develop some new weapons since I have a PhD in physics and have a lot of special weapons development experience in the marines. I wanted to just do the research from my base in Arizona, but they have a special interest in this place, for some reason."

"So what did you do in the marines?" Barney asked.

"I spent the first 4 years training, mostly. That's when I did a brunt of my college work. I finished my PhD work in only about 7 years because 4 of it consisted only of eat, train, study, sleep. After the first four years of training, I specialized in precision tactical support--- I was a sniper," said Jenna, noticing the confused look on Barney's face, "I kinda had an advantage because I'm shorter than the guys, so I could squeeze into tight places and take out my targets with discretion."

Suddenly, as they were proceeding towards another corner, a lab-coat clad scientist rounded the corner in a fury, knocking into Barney's shoulder.

"Sorry, sir," said Barney.

"WATCH IT," the scientist barked, "WHY DON'T YOU GO BACK TO GAURDING SOME DONUTS AND GET OUT OF THE WAY OF REAL EMPLOYEES!"

"Ok, sir. Can do" mumbled Barney, trying to sound nice while secretly dreaming about the scientist spontaneously catching fire.

The scientist stormed off. Jenna watched him march down the hall, then whirled around to her guide, "What was that?!? Why didn't you say something to him?" She half demanded.

"Whatever," Barney said with a sigh, "most of the scientists are jackasses to us security guards. I think they got their PhD's in belittling security guards," he said with a slight saddened smile.

"Man, you are a lot more patient than I am," said Jenna, shaking her head, "if I were you, I probably would have pistol whipped him and gotten tossed on my ass."

Shortly after, another figure came walking down the hall, but this one was different. The man looked much more disheveled than the previous scientist. He had thick, black glasses over sharp green eyes; a brownish red goatee that looked kind of unkempt; and a wrinkled lab coat that had a coffee stain on one side and what looked like tomato sauce on the other side. Also unlike the previous scientist, he actually smiled as he approached.

"Don't you owe me a beer, Barney?" the man said, "I'm going to start charging you interest. That would be, what? Like 12 beers by now?"

"You can't retroactively charge interest, Gordon!" said Barney with a large smile, "besides, if I charged you interest on all of the beers you owe me for beating you in the vents, I would be a very happy, drunk man by now."

"Ya, but who won on Thursday? I finally beat your coffee-swilling ass. You should lay off the donuts, buddy. You're getting sluggish."

"ha ha ha, very funny. You beat me when I was hung over. Let's not start polishing an Olympic gold medal quite yet."

The Gordon guy gave a smile and finally said "Well, I gotta go. I'll collect later. Try not to scare the newbie" he added, nodding in Jenna's direction.

Barney blushed. They continued on, with Barney filling Jenna in about the surrounding living areas. Jenna was surprised at the amenities offered in this area: pools, athletic facilities, cafeterias, Laundromats, arcades, even a bar. They finally arrived at number 145.

"Here's your room," Barney said, gesturing towards the door. "I'm number 167, right around the corner there and down a little. If you need anything, feel free to knock."

"Sure, thanks for helping me out, Mr. Calhoun" said Jenna, smiling.

"Uhm, you can just call me Ba… Barney," he said, rubbing his neck again.

"Alright, I'll see you later, then." She opened the door with the scanner, walked in and closed the door behind her.