Disclaimer: Red vs Blue is the property and creation of Rooster Teeth, while Halo games are the property and creation of Bungie, 343 Industries, Ensemble Studios and Creative Assembly. I own none of the characters and places mentioned in this story.

Special thanks to my beta-readers Prim_the_Amazing (from AO3), Escalated Omega from FF and darwinsdonut (from AO3) for beta-reading this chapter for me.

Update 02.05.2019:

AgentMaryland93 (from FF) helped me improve this chapter, so re-corrections are in order for this chapter.

The next morning, Carolina wakes up early. A lingering habit from her Freelancer days.

Then she prepares a mug of hot coffee and drinks it slowly. By the time she's done, the sun is up and the day can begin.

After drinking the coffee, Carolina looked through the kitchen for something to eat and came up empty handed.

"Damn it", Carolina muttered as she went through her credits stash she had been saving to keep herself situated. She had barely enough to cover both the bills for the apartment and some food.

She grabbed her credits and got dressed.

"Guess I'll have to worry about the bills later" , she muttered as she walked out and headed off to deal with her every day activities as a civilian.

She starts with the grocery store, seeing as she was starving and in need of food and, despite the heavy bags, decides to take the long route home, knowing full well that no one would be waiting for her back home.

As she walked around without a certain destination in mind, she hears a commotion in a dark alley to her right.

"Hey, give me back my purse! No, someone help me!".

That's all that Carolina needs to hear, as she makes a dash for the alley. She runs towards the voice and is welcomed by a surprising sight: a well-built woman fights off the thug that grabbed her purse while another thug waits with a knife for an opening to stab her. Carolina drops her groceries and springs into action.

She grabs the wrist of the second thug squeezing it until the thug is forced to drop the knife on the ground, then she finishes him off with a well placed fist to his chest, making him fall on his knees in pain.

Then Carolina grabbed a trash bin lid, swung it, hitting the first thug in the head with it, rendering him unconscious.

Lastly, Carolina's gaze falls on the young woman, assessing her body for any wounds, when suddenly the woman screams panicked: "Look out! Behind you!".

Carolina turns around too late, as the thug that fell to his knees earlier scratches her arm with his knife.

Unfortunately, for him, Carolina head butts him and the thug share his friend's fate.

The woman she had come to help grabbed her arm gently, looking the wound over, "You should get that bandaged up before infection sets in...who knows what has been on that blade...". Carolina waves her off.

"I'll be fine, really. It's just a graze. What about you? Are you alright?", Carolina asked trying to change the topic of her wellbeing.

The woman gave her a stern motherly look, not prepared to accept such an answer as she responded:

"Don't worry about me, young lady, I'm a tough one . Have to be, this it's a dangerous neighborhood".

Carolina gave the woman a look at being called a young lady but let it go when the woman saw the dropped food on the ground.

"You dropped these to help me?", the woman asked with an Incredulously tone.

Carolina could only nod, perplexed why this woman seemed so upset over her own decision to abandon her food to help someone.

Not a big conversationalist, Carolina moved to salvage what she could so she could just go home and deal with her bleeding arm and just eat. She was stopped by a gentle hand to her shoulder as she went to walk away. Turning to see what the woman wanted, she stopped before she could utter a word at the look she was being given. Instantly she thought back to her own mother when she was just a child.

"Megan Wu".

Carolina blinked in confusion.

"I'm sorry?", was all that Carolina could reply.

The woman smiled as she took some of the bags from Carolina, an act that only further confused the red head.

"My name, it's Megan Wu. Figured it was only right to introduce myself to my rescuer", the woman said with a motherly tone.

Carolina didn't know what to say or do. She'd saved plenty of people before, this wasn't new...but none of the people she'd saved ever really cared. Most just went on their way once out of harm.

"Look, seeing as you lost some of your food trying to help me, why don't you come with me, my husband and I would love to have you over. We could also tend to your wound while we're at it".

She didn't know what to say. This was the first time anyone was ever kind to her. At least, as far as it went for strangers. She didn't know how to turn her offer down without seeming ungrateful for the offer. The thought of returning to that dreary, empty, depressing hole she called home for now...didn't seem as appealing as going home with this woman who radiated warmth and love...

"Well? What do you say, dear?", Megan asked as she waited expectantly for an answer from the other who shifted on her feet as she contemplated her options.

"I...will...accept your offer, that is. Thank you."

The woman nodded and guided her towards her car.

"This way, miss…?", Megan added as she pointed towards her car.

"Carol…you can call me Carol", Carolina said as she got into the car.

As Megan got in the car and just sat there before turning to face Carolina, a knowing look on her face. "Carol, do you believe in destiny?"

"What an odd question...", Carolina thought before nodding: "I suppose so, why?"

Megan shrugged, a smile on her face: "Just wondering. When I look at you, I have a good feeling. Like something life changing is about to happen. It's quite exciting!"

Carolina shook her head, the idea seemed ridiculous. Things like that only happened to people about to fall in love or lucky enough to win a lot of money. From her experience, she was neither looking for a relationship nor was she lucky.