Blitz woke up the next morning, filled with more energy than usual and glanced over at his new love interest sleeping soundly in her own bed. The German shield-bearer smiled to himself, got out of bed, dressed in his civilian clothes and began cooking breakfast for his whole team.

IQ awoke to the sound and smell of sizzling eggs and sausages as she watched her brawny teammate cooking in the in-room kitchen. She noticed that Bandit and Jager were still sleeping and quietly walked up beside Blitz, planting a kiss on his uninjured cheek.

"Good morning." She said with a wide smile.

Blitz grinned like a madman. "And to you as well. How did you sleep?"

"Good, very good. Excellent actually." She replied with another smile.

Bandit yawned loudly, drawing both of their attentions to him. "Good morning Elias. Monika." He said with a nod to each of them. "I don't suppose you'd be up to making a stollen for me, would you?" He asked, hope dripping from his voice.

Blitz shook his head. "Sorry Dom, everybody's getting the same. Eggs, sausages and some toast. One more good meal before it's back to the grindstone."

The electrician groaned as he remembered that Team Rainbow would be back to work tomorrow, fighting off the terrorists who threatened to destroy their way of life. "All right. I'll take two eggs, sunny side up please." He said, going down to the mess hall to retrieve a cup of coffee.

"Elias?" IQ addressed her teammate.

"Ja?"

"Are you going to wear your balaclava today?"

Blitz smiled at his teammate and shook his head. "Nein, not today, I think."

IQ quickly hugged him back and grinned to herself. "I'm happy then. You have more going for you than you think you do."

Blitz cocked an eyebrow at the remark. "Oh? Like what?"

The blonde woman gestured to the frying pan. "Like that. Where did you learn to cook so well?" She inquired.

He shrugged. "Not really about where, it's more from whom I learned. When I was living at home, mother and father would come home from work, utterly exhausted and my grandmother would cook for them. Eventually, I got curious about what she was doing and helped out here and there. As time went on, she taught me different recipes, techniques and the basics of cooking." Blitz explained.

"And thank God for that." Jager said, just now waking up. "I don't know what we'd do without you, Elias."

"Neither can I." IQ said with a knowing smile as she gazed into Blitz's eyes. He smiled back and returned to his task at hand, trying to prevent the eggs from burning.

After breakfast had been served, and Bandit returned with his coffee, the GSG9 ate and discussed their plans for the day.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think I'll just rest for today." Jager declared.

Bandit shot him a confused look. "Why? You didn't drink yesterday, so you shouldn't be tired."

"And how often do you think we'll be sleeping once the missions start rolling in again?" Jager replied as he bit into a piece of toast.

"Marius does have a point." IQ added. "However, I also believe we should enjoy the day while it lasts. We don't know when we'll be granted another leave." She pointed out.

Blitz nodded in agreement. "You have to ask yourself, would you rather spend the day sleeping, or having fun and doing whatever you want until it's back to training exercises, people shooting at us and the constant stress of protecting a bomb defuser?"

Jager let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, I guess I'll try and do something today." The rest of the GSG9 smiled at the news. "What about you two?" He said, gesturing to Blitz and IQ.

Thankfully, years of being under fire had taught Blitz and IQ to keep their cool under pressure. "I'll probably just go see the new movie that came out in theatres." Blitz replied calmly.

"I think I'll just walk around town, clear my head." IQ added, trying not to blush at the fact that her new love interest was taking her to dinner.

"Hmm." Jager grunted. "Okay, you guys have fun with that, I'll see if anyone else is doing something fun today." He replied, finishing off his breakfast and placing his dishes in the sink.

The rest of the team finished their meals as well and did the same, deciding to wait until later to make the decision as to who would clean up. Blitz left to allow IQ to shower and change into her civilian clothes. When she emerged from the room, her hair was in a mess, getting in her eyes and otherwise unkempt. Blitz smiled and tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear and planted a gentle kiss on her lips. She reciprocated the gesture of affection and wrapped her arms around his neck as he hugged her waist and pulled her closer.

After parting, they could do nothing but grin at each other.

"Elias Kotz, when did you get to be such a romantic?"

"Probably around the same time I realized how much you mean to me." He said with a shrug. "By the way, how does dinner at six sound?"

"Good." IQ giggled and let go of her teammate before shooting him one last smile as she walked away. Blitz then scratched the back of his neck nervously as he now realized he had the responsibility of trying to find a restaurant that IQ would find enjoyable.

After several minutes of finding no viable solutions, Blitz did the one thing he knew he would regret for the rest of his life: Get advice on women from Mute.

The reason the young Brit was the German's choice on the topic was because he was the youngest of everyone, and most likely had a relationship before joining Team Rainbow. He just hoped the prankster of the SAS could remain serious enough to remain on topic.

The German man knocked on the quarters to where his only hopes lie and waited until Smoke opened the door, dressed in dark blue jeans and a t-shirt with his symbol emblazoned over the right breast.

"Oi, lookie who's here, lads! It's the greatest military cook known to man!" The gas-master said, his voice taking on a fake regal tone.

"Real funny, Mr. Gassy." Blitz said with a smirk.

Smoke grunted at the nickname and opened the door to let him in, all of the team present and doing their own individual thing.

Thatcher was reading 'War and Peace' on his bed, Sledge was dodging blows from an invisible enemy while Mute sat at his desk toying with the innards of one of his signal disruptors, all of them wearing similar clothes as Smoke, the only difference being their symbols.

"Hey Mute, can I talk to you for a second? I want to see if one of your jammers is able to disrupt my shield." Blitz said, proud of his feasible lie.

The other man shrugged. "Sure, why not. Not like I'm doing anything important anyway."

Blitz nodded and with his savior in tow, walked down the halls. About halfway to the training floor, Blitz stopped and let Mute walk a few steps ahead of him.

Mute looked back at Blitz and gestured down the hallway. "You know the training floor's this way, right?"

Blitz scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Actually Mute, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something."

Immediately, the other man's face paled significantly. "Look, whatever deal you made with Fuze, I told him several times it was just a joke, no one was hurt!" He said defensively.

The German shield-bearer tilted his head and furrowed his brow in confusion before he realized was Mute was babbling about. He chuckled and put a comforting hand on the young Brit's shoulder.

"Mute, I haven't talked to Fuze for about three days now. I actually wanted to talk to you about women."

Mute breathed deeply and the color returned to his face. "Okay, thank god. I thought I was going to have to make another run for my life for a second." He said with a chuckle. "But why talk to me about this? Why not Bandit or Jager?"

"Because they're both idiots who probably can't remember what they had for breakfast, much less the last time they were out with their girlfriends." Blitz replied.

"Okay, point taken. What'd you want to know?" He asked, leaning up against the hall with crossed arms.

"Well, say you're going on a date with a woman you've lov- liked for a very long time, but you have no idea where to take her. What do you do?"

The British electronics expert shrugged. "Well that depends."

"On what?"

"Do you know if this woman likes you back, what she does in her spare time or what her tastes in restaurants are?"

Blitz thought for a moment. "I think she likes me, I have no idea what she does in her spare time and have no idea what she likes in a restaurant." He said, somewhat ashamed about how little information was in his answer.

"Okay, then you'll be fine." He said, heading back to his quarters.

Blitz grabbed the other man's arm. "Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean 'I'll be fine'? I have no idea what in the hell I'm doing!"

"You said she likes you, right?" Blitz nodded and released his arm. "Then she really won't give a damn where you're going. You could be eating burgers at a McDonalds in Texas or munching on croissants at the Eiffel tower in Paris, it doesn't matter as long as she's with you."

Blitz just stood there, stunned at the young man's response. He had just provided him with an answer he thought was only true in fairy tales. "How do you know this?" He asked.

Mute lightly chuckled. "Experience, my friend. I once went out with a bird who only ate at fancy restaurants and a few weeks later, dumped me for somebody richer. Few days after that, I dated a woman who was happy no matter where we went. I spent all my money on the other gold digger and when I asked my girlfriend why she was always smiling, you know what her reply was?" Blitz shook his head, intrigued. "She said that it was because I was with her. That her happiness was caused by my presence. I'm still dating that same girl to this day. Every minute we're not on mission, I communicate with her, and she wishes that she could just hold onto me and never let go." Seconds later, Mute's phone vibrated in his pocket and as he pulled it out and looked at the name of the caller, grinned widely. "Speak of the angel." He mumbled.

Mute then walked off to hold a private conversation, leaving Blitz to digest his advice.

Schiesse. He may have pissed off the strongest Spetsnaz operator, but the guy gives decent advice. He thought, walking mindlessly back to the GSG9 quarters.

Two hours went by before Blitz finally thought of a decent idea. He made the proper dinner arrangements and found his teammates sitting at their usual table in the mess hall at noon.

"Hey guys." Blitz greeted his team and the FBI SWAT, who sat across from them.

Thermite looked up from his lunch. "Hey. We were just discussing what Fuze might do to Mute."

IQ looked at the American. "I say that Fuze won't do anything too complicated. He's a Russian, they much prefer straightforward methods rather than anything too complicated."

Bandit and Jager both shook their heads in disagreement. "No, Mute embarrassed him in front of everyone from Team Rainbow. That's something that I think Fuze is going to carry with him until either one of them dies." The electrician interjected.

Castle sighed and looked at Blitz. "How about you? What do you think Fuze is going to do?"

He shrugged back as he sat down and bit into his sandwich. "Who says he's even going to do anything? Fuze might just let bygones be bygones and completely forget about the whole situation in a week."

IQ gave him a quizzical look. "You sure about that? The guy's got a temper like a roman candle."

"True, but given enough time, I think that Fuze will find the humor in the joke."

Pulse and Ash, who had quiet during the conversation, were puzzled beyond recognition. The day before yesterday, Blitz was quick to anger and otherwise introverted. Today however, he appeared cool, calm and collected.

"Hey, Blitz?" The Israeli redhead asked.

"Hmm?"

"You okay? You seem a little more… happy than the day before last."

Blitz shrugged again. "I guess I just had a bad day. Yesterday was a bit better though." He said with a smile, remembering how IQ had reciprocated his feelings for her.

"Ah." Was all she replied with.

After some more friendly banter between the two teams, they split off again and the GSG9 occupied themselves by seeing which of the other three team members could use Blitz's shield the most effectively.

Bandit fired a few rounds at a target from behind the handheld protection, none of them hitting their mark. He sighed frustrated and dropped the shield to the ground. "Elias, you must have a gift for this sort of thing. I can barely keep the damn thing up for less than a minute!"

IQ and Jager chuckled while Blitz smirked. "Takes lots of time and practice, my freund." Blitz then glanced at his watch, which read 5:30.

Time to duck out. He thought. "Well, my movie's starting in a few minutes, so I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow." He said, shooting a quick look at IQ.

"Okay, have fun!" She called back. "I think I'll take my walk now, while it's not too dark out." She said to Bandit and Jager, who then were left by themselves as their two other teammates left.

"So do you think they know that we know?" Jager asked.

Bandit shook his head. "Nein. They're too busy falling head over heels for each other." He said with a smile.

"Just remember to keep your mouth shut around the others, okay Dom?"

"Ja,ja. I'll keep it quiet so long as you do the same." Bandit replied, waving off his teammate.

A few minutes later, Blitz and IQ were off Rainbow's base riding in the German man's own vehicle: a dark red sedan. Both of them had forgone their normal civilian clothes in favor of something a little more formal: Blitz dressed in black dress shirt with pants, shoes and a jacket to match while IQ wore high heels and a gorgeous (at least she hoped, but Blitz thought) light yellow sheath dress.

"So where are we going?" IQ asked, her voice filled with excitement.

"Well, I've heard once or twice that my cooking isn't half-bad, so I figured, if it's all right with you," He said quickly. "That instead of going to a restaurant, we'd go to my friend's apartment and I'd make a homemade meal for you."

IQ's eyes shot up and beamed at him. "Elias, thank you! That sounds fantastic!" She gushed, making the man grin.

Blitz pulled into a parking lot and unlocked the building with a set of keys he kept in his pocket. He then led his date to the third floor of the building and entered the apartment, which had already been lit properly for the evening; the electric lights were off and a single candle sat in the middle of the table, illuminating the dining surface.

Blitz then gestured to a large, black leather sectional that sat a few feet away from a large HDTV. "I'm sorry I didn't think of pre-preparing dinner earlier. It's going to be about fifteen minutes but please, make yourself comfortable." He then headed took off his jacket, draped it across one of the chairs and headed into the kitchen.

"Do you mind if I take my shoes off?" IQ asked shyly.

"Not at all." His response came back.

She then heaved a sigh of relief and gladly took off the constricting footwear. Blitz heard the expression and chuckled. "I take it you're not one for dressing up?"

IQ let out a light laugh and rubbed her feet before turning on the TV to the news. "Dresses, yes. Heels, definitely not."

"Good to know we agree on something." He said with a smile, putting together all the ingredients he would need for the pasta sauce.

"So Monika, would you like white wine or red with dinner?" Blitz asked, dashing around the kitchen.

"Red."

"And what type of pasta would you like? Spaghetti, fusili, penne?"

"Um… spaghetti is fine."

"Meat sauce or alfredo?"

IQ sighed. "Meat. And Elias?"

"Ja?"

"You're trying too hard. Just the thought of you making a homemade meal for me is thoughtful enough." She said.

Blitz stopped for a second and let her words sink in. She's right; I'm running around like a decapitated chicken when I should be far more relaxed. "Forgive me. I've spent far too much time thinking about how tonight can go wrong."

IQ turned off the television and walked over to him bearing a smile as she kissed him once again. Once he realized what was happening, Blitz returned the display of affection and gently cupped her cheek with his hand.

IQ pulled back and looked her love interest in the eyes. "Elias, there is no possible way something bad can happen tonight." That was when Blitz heard the exact words he was hoping for. "Even if there was a nuclear apocalypse in the next five seconds, I'd still be happy because I'd be with you."

Like IQ had before, Blitz breathed a massive sigh of relief and found himself much less stressed. "Thank you, Monika. You have no idea how much those words mean to me." He said with a smile, which she returned.

"Dinner's almost ready?" She asked, gesturing to the pasta in the pot of water.

"Just five more minutes." He replied with a nod.

IQ then went back to watching TV until Blitz declared that dinner was served and they ate, conversation comfortably bouncing between the two Germans ranging from what their childhoods were like to what they would like to do once the White Mask threat had been dealt with.

The blonde German woman ate the last bite of pasta surrounded by the delicious meat sauce before wiping her face with a napkin. "You know Elias, you could always become a professional chef." She offered with a smile.

Blitz chuckled and put both of their plates in the dishwasher. "I'm good, but I'm not that good. Not to mention the money I would need would be astronomical."

She got up and put her heels back on. "I could help you if you'd accept it."

"Really?" IQ nodded back as he put his jacket on. "That would be great. But how would I repay you?"

She smiled and shrugged. "You could start paying me back in advance with a second date."

Although to IQ Blitz remained calm, the man's heart and mind raced with excitement, almost exploding at the fact that his beautiful teammate wanted to pursue their relationship.

He grinned back and opened the apartment door for his date, his brain too busy overflowing with joy to make words.

The two then made their way back to Blitz's car, and as they drove, the German shield-bearer placed his right hand on IQ's thigh and she made no move to remove it, rather laced his fingers with her own and kept it there.

The two were glad to have someone whom they knew they could count on when life became tough and affection was very much needed.

AN: So there you have it! This was only going to be a one-chapter story, but after receiving a message from someone who enjoyed it, I decided to get writing. Unfortunately however, this is going to be the end of this story as I don't think that I'd be able to top this chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it and I encourage you to check out my other Rainbow Six Siege stories. :)