AN: just to let you know, I change Mark's name from Strank to Straka when I realized I already used the surname Strank in one of my other stories.

A Situation

Freddie pulls the cigarette away from his mouth and releases a puff of smoke as he leans against the wall of the building Mark is clearing. He looks to the center of the encampment and watches as the ODSTs carry away their wounded and dead as the others inspects the remains of the dead alien species. He wonders how Hirako and Seymour are doing; he shivers as he thought of the Gunny and his unbelievable strength.

He hears some scrapping noise behind him and he releases a pent up sigh, "Finally," he moans as he throws the cigarette away, "did you find anything?" he asks without turning around.

"Uh, yeah," he hears Mark reply, "You won't believe what happened."

Freddie smirks, "really?" he turns as he says, "and what would that…"

Slowly the PFC's jaw drops at what he sees.

Mark is standing before him covered in blood. His green armor now appears to be maroon, the wet substance is still dripping from his body and making a small pitter patter sound as the droplets hit the ground. There is a crack on his helmet while his neck and face is slightly purple as bruises slowly develop on the Corporal's skin. His SMG is hanging from his shoulder as it always done, but the barrel is releasing a whirly tendril of smoke, signs of it being overused. Mark looks like he has just been in a fist fight and had lost, badly.

Yet that isn't what catches Freddy's attention, it's the small and oddly brightly colored buddle that is wriggling in his friend's arms that concerns him.

Unconsciously, the Private reaches for his shotgun as he says, "Uh…what is that?"

Mark shakes his head, "something we need to take to Seymour…and maybe Skipper."

"What is it?" Freddie asks again.

"Tell you later," Mark answers again as he walks past his comrade, "now where's Seymour?"

"I think he and Hirako are still on the other side of the camp," Freddie answers as he trails behind, keeping a close eye on the blanket in Mark's hands.

"Let's move then," the Corporal announces before stopping in his tracks as he observes a Drop Shock Trooper a few meters away who steps up next to a wounded Elite lying on the ground. The alien gives a small hiss before the Trooper casually takes out a pistol and shoots it in the head.

The mortar man than turns back around and says, "On second thought, lets skim around the perimeter." Before Freddie can offer his own form of opinion, Mark is already on the move, cradling the buddle closer to him as he goes.

Freddie has to pick up his pace until the two Marines are abreast and he looks back at the moving blanket. He almost staggers when he hears a small whine emerge from the cloth.

"Seriously dude," Freddie says, "what is that?"

"Look, this isn't a story I want to repeat twice ok?" Mark states before slowing, "We'll cross here."

They stop at the corner of the first domed structure and walks down the small path with the Covenant base on one side and the hill on the other. Mark slowly becomes twitchy, especially when a Falcon flies in from overhead. It isn't long before Freddie is clutching his weapon with a death grip and he haunches over, like he is a fugitive on the run.

"This seriously can't be good," he calls out to Mark, "what exactly are you-"

"Later!" Mark shouts back in an agitated and obviously stressed tone.

They strode forward until Mark comes to a stop beside the twelfth building they are passing when he sees a familiar shape not far from them. Emerging from one of the structures is Gunnery Sergeant Seymour with Hirako trailing behind him. Neither of them looks the least bit worried, it appears as if Mark is the only one who has seen some action.

Peeking out from behind the side of the building they are behind, Mark whistles a loud tune that immediately got his teammates attention. Hirako turns with a curious expression while Seymour reaches down to his holstered Magnum, but doesn't pull it out. Mark makes eye contact with them and uses one hand to frantically gesture for them to walk over to his position. Hirako continues to wears a confused expression before she looks to the higher rank Sergeant next to her. Seymour is still for a few more minutes before he lopes over to them, leaving Hirako to follow in his wake, again. Mark wanted to shout at them to hurry up, but keeps his lips sealed.

He has no idea what he is doing nor does he know why he is practically hiding from the UNSC. All that he knows is that he needs to find someone higher up the chain fast so he can dump his little problem unto them.

He feels a moment of guilt at this thought. He promised the Sangheili that he would take care of the little girl, but honestly how is a Marine in a battlefield supposed to do that? He'll be lucky just to keep her alive and besides, it's probably for the best since he doesn't the first thing when it comes to child care, but he's pretty sure keeping them away from a warzone would be a pretty good idea. Hopefully they can put her on a shuttle and...and then what? Drop her off at the nearest orphanage?

Finally, Seymour and Hirako make it behind the building and both looks at the Corporal and Private. Hirako's eyes harden when she notices that Mark is covered in the red liquid that could only possibly be blood.

"Ok," his Sergeant starts off, "What's up boys?"

Before Mark could say anything, Freddie announces, "The Corporal found something, but he's not sharing," and he gestures at the squirming quilt in Mark's hands. Hirako frowns a little at the sight and Seymour's hidden expression didn't exactly fill Mark with confidence.

He suddenly feels very exposed and had a sudden urge to sprint as if he is the one in danger. But these are his brothers and sister in arms, the people who he can trust with his life, so surely he can trust them with what he is about to say…right?

Hirako crosses her arms, "Come on Straka, spill it."

Mark is about to say something when the baby makes another small whine that could probably be heard from ten yards away. Hirako's eyes widen, Freddie stares and Seymour stiffens. These people aren't making the young Corporal feel better.

Finally he just sighs, grabs the top of the blanket and yanks it free, revealing what he was hiding.

Hirako gasps, Freddie jumps two feet away as if he was struck by lightning while Seymour remains motionless, which for some reason makes Mark nervous. He knows from his friend's reaction what it is they are thinking, but he has no idea what is going through the Gunny's mind right now.

Carefully, Hirako walks forward and stares with shock lace in her eyes at what is being held before her.

"Is that…a baby?" she asks in a disbelieving tone.

"Can't be," Freddie mutters, "it just can't be," his eyes suddenly becomes cold, "there's no way those Covies are innocent and caring parents."

Mark sighs as he glances down at the girl he is holding in his arms. Her eyes are dry now, but that left them practically glowing their normal amber color that all but scares him. Her shark like teeth and claws doesn't help either, but he forces himself to remember that she is actually quite harmless and rather cuddly once the initial shock is over.

However, the shock hasn't passed his squad yet, far from it, instead they all appears to be enraged.

Hirako slowly glares before looking at Mark, "Straka, what in the world is this?"

"Hirako, she was alone in the middle of a pile of dead Elites-"

"What happened to the Elites?" Freddie suddenly injects, "did you kill them yourself?"

"No," Mark says as he tries to remain calm, "they were all dead, killed from a mortar round, or at least I think that's what killed most of them, it's either that or the Brute-"

"What Brute?" Hirako suddenly breaks in.

"There was a Brute in there and it was killing the remaining Elites-" Mark started saying before being cut off again.

"Why was a Brute killing the Elite?" Fred demands, "Aren't they allies?"

"That's what I thought," Mark growls as he feels his patience starting to wane, "but-"

"Why didn't it kill the baby?" Hirako questions.

"It was going to kill it and the mother but-"

"There's a mother?" Freddie asks.

"Arrghh!" Mark suddenly cries out, "Yes there was a mother! But she was killed and so would have the baby if I didn't step in and help, ok!"

The Squad falls silent, but soon it is broken when the little alien slowly starts to cry after the sudden shout. Mark's tired frustration quickly fades away as he hefts the baby up further along his chest and gently cradles it, slowly calming the little Elite. He looks up to see his squad, minus the face covered Seymour, gawking at their squad mate.

"What?" Mark suddenly demands, "Haven't you ever seen a baby cry before?"

He is surprised when Freddie growls out, "that's not a baby Mark, that's a Covie."

Mark stares at him, "are you nuts? It's just a kid-"

"Mark," Hirako says in a more restrain voice, but the fire in her eyes betrays her real emotions, "what did you really think was going to happen? Did you honestly think we are going to spare this…thing?"

Mark couldn't believe his ears. They are Marines, they fight as a single unit and trained to be faithful to one another. Yet here he is, looking to his brother and sister for help and they aren't doing a thing but glare and curse. Honestly Mark didn't think this was going to happen, he thought, he hoped, that they would see things his ways, but that's obviously not the case.

He glances at the Gunny, "Sarge, what do you think?"

Immediately, Seymour shakes his head. Mark suddenly feels his stomach drop. Once the Gunny makes a decision, everyone follows, and this latest decision feels like he just gave a verdict.

Hirako must have seen the panic in his eyes and sighs as she rubs her eyes, "Mark, do you honestly think we are going to take that thing with us?"

"It'll eat us in our sleep," Freddie adds in.

"It," Mark stresses, "is a she and she," he nods down at the Sangheili who is now resting her head against his chest, "isn't dangerous, how do you think she will be able to slice us with an energy sword?"

"So what are you thinking?" Hirako demands, "raise it? Keep it as a pet?"

"I don't know," Mark responds, "I just couldn't leave it back there."

"Why not?"

Mark gapes at her, "are you serious?" he demands before hefting up the Sangheili, "she's completely helpless, I can't even imagine leaving her in a place like this."

"Then give her to the Troopers."

Mark shudders at the suggestion, "they would sooner kill her than take her prisoner."

"Exactly."

Mark stares at his Sergeant, unsure if he just her correctly.

"What?"

He gets his answer when he hears a click. He glances in the indicated direction to see Seymour holding his magnum pistol in his hand, all the while his gaze never wavers as they watch the child.

Mark instantly backs away, only to have his back hit the wall of the building behind him.

"No," he mutters before looking up and declaring, "No, you're not going to kill her."

"Mark be reasonable-"

"Since when has killing kids ever been seen as reasonable?" Mark demands.

"Since the Covies glass our own kids without a second thought," Freddie answers with cold fury.

Mark shakes his head, this couldn't be happening, "so that justifies that we should act the same?"

"Yeah," Freddie continues, "why not?"

"I'll tell you why not," Mark says as he squares his shoulders, "if we stoop as low as killing children then how much further down the ladder will we go? How long until we start devolving?"

"This is war Mark," Hirako says, "people die all the time."

"I know, sarge," he says in disgust, "but we should just kill the enemy and nothing more."

"The enemy is in your hands, Corporal," Hirako said sharply, "Who knows, if we let that thing grow, it won't care about anything, it'll just be another killing machine."

"That's not true, you don't know that," Mark claims, "Look," he takes this time to analyze each of his comrade's faces, "I just don't want to do something that will fill us with regret for the rest of our lives."

"We won't have any lives or future to look forward to unless we kill that thing," Freddie states in a loud voice before turning to Seymour, "what's the play Gunny?"

In answer, the Gunnery Sergeant points his pistol at Mark before dipping it down towards the floor, a silent order.

"Gunny," Mark tries again, "please."

Seymour repeats the action.

Mark looks down at the girl in his hands as shame and anger fills him. She is so small, so innocent, this isn't right and he knows it. The Sangheili stares back up at him; her small amber eyes are so full of life, her little hands waves at him while her mandibles come together forming that smile like expression. Despite the situation, Mark couldn't help but smile at the child, he than realize this is the first time he smiled in a long time, a genuine smile. He hears the click again and his happy expression gave way to one of remorse. After tonight, it's going to take a lot of effort to get him to grin again.

Finally he sighs and does as ordered. He slowly takes a step forward, pause for a second to look into Seymour once more in an attempt to plea again, but all he saw is the cock and lock weapon aiming at the bundle. There is nothing to stop the Gunny when he is determined.

Mark looks down in defeat as he kneels and carefully places the baby on the cold ground, one last act of kindness before she is sent off to oblivion. He remembers his grandmother once telling him it is her belief that all children go to Heaven because they are too young to understand salvation, because God loves them. He dearly hopes and prays that God's love will also stretch out to this child.

He is withdrawing his hands when the Sangheili tiny clawed ones grapples onto his gloves. He feels a small pinch on his skin, but knew the child didn't mean to do any deliberate harm.

It's all he can do to look into her blazing warm eyes once more as she releases a sound that can only be described as a squeak. Mark forces a smile onto his face as he reaches down and strokes the child's forehead. She has calmed since the destruction that had occurred earlier, but now he wonders if it was better that she should have died then, when he didn't know her, then to die now after he had created…a form of bond that was made after ensuring the girl's mother that he would care or her.

It looks like he is going to break that promise.

He looks away and stands up, disentangling his hand from hers. He hears her whimper in protest, but he walks away leaving her on the ground. Seymour then steps forward till the Sangheili is at the base of his foot. She looks up at the near two ton man as he holds his pistol out and it hovers from above by about two feet. The girl then smiles at him.

This is suddenly too much for Mark as he turns away and covers his face with one hand. He can't believe he is feeling this way, honestly he only met the kid half an hour ago. Now he feels devastating pain erupt in his chest, something about the child smiling at the face of her executioner, unaware that she is going to die, is a kind of cruelty that suddenly became too much for him.

He feels a hand on his shoulder, he can't tell if it's Freddie or Hirako, but he shrugs it off. He doesn't want comfort at the moment, not from them, not from the ones who condemn a child to death.

He realizes a few seconds have gone by. He closes his eyes and is tempted to cover his ears, he doesn't want to hear the blast, he doesn't want to see, he doesn't want to be here, he suddenly has an urge to run, to leave this planet and never return.

A few more seconds draws by. Will it be a fast and painless shot in the head? Will it be a slow gut wrenching pain as she is shot in the gut? Will she make a sound when the bullet hits? He shudders and nearly screams in agony himself at the mental image that are being drawn in his head; the Sangheili lying on the floor, blood oozing out of the side of her head while her brains litters the floor, ember eyes that are bleak as they gaze at him. He shudders and actually feels his eyes starting to burn.

However, a realization strikes; a full minute must have gone by and there hasn't been a single shot fired.

The anxiety and unknown is killing him, he doesn't want to look back only to watch as Seymour fires his weapon, but he has to know what is going on. Slowly, he lowers his hand and glances over his shoulder.

Everything is exactly the same as it was before. Seymour is standing over the child, the hammer on the Magnum is pulled fully back while its barrel is solely aimed at the Sangheili's little head, yet she still has that smile on her face. Hirako and Freddie are watching as well, arms by their sides as nobody moves, afraid that they will miss something. It's as if the whole world has come to a stop and is now holding its breath to see what the Gunny is going to do next.

Mark has the urge to run the small half foot distance between him and the Sergeant and push him out of the way, but he doesn't dare move. He tries to see what the Gunny is thinking, but he is as still as stone, eyes covered by goggles, stance strong and hands steady. He doesn't look like a injured soldier, now he is a picture of a Marine displaying his strength, but despite all the inner might, Mark is starting to wonder if the Gunny has it in him to pull the trigger.

Than the unexpected happen, so small and quick Mark wonders if he had seen it at all. Seymour's hand quivers slightly, bringing the sights on the gun out of line with its target by a half inch before it returned to it's original position.

Slowly, the pistol is pulled back and holstered again. Mark, Hirako and Freddie, stares with utter shock at what they have just witness, their Gunny, the scourge of the Covenant, the strong monster of the Marine Corps; is sparing the life of a Covenant soldier.

No, not a soldier, Mark corrects himself, a baby.

With his skin covered from head to toe along with his eyes, it's hard to see what the man is thinking. But when he turns away from the child on the floor, Mark knew what the gesture meant.

Quick as a flash, Mark rushes forward and scoops up the Sangheili before retreating back to a safe distance. The Sangheili squeaks again as she starts nuzzling into Mark's chest, as if she knew how close to death she had been and is now showing a whole new kind of affection.

Mark couldn't help but laugh out of pure relief before looking at the Gunny's back. He doesn't know what prompt the Marine to spare her, but Mark is, for some reason, eternally grateful for it.

"Thank you sir," Mark says softly, unsure if Seymour had heard him. However, when he sees the Gunny look over his shoulder and at Mark, before glancing down at the baby, he knew the Sarge heard.

Hirako still looks utterly shellshock as she walks forward and asks, "what now sir?"

Seymour is completely still for what feels like minutes until he finally giving orders through his hand gestures.

Head back to Delta Company and gives field report… he pauses for a few seconds before signing, avoid the Troopers.

Everyone eyes are wide. Does this mean they are bringing the Sangheili with them?

"B-b-but sir," Freddie stutters, "what about the split lip?"

Mark has used that term hundreds of time before, but now he feels like giving Freddie a real split lip if he ever says anything along those lines again.

Seymour is quiet before signaling, Head back to Delta Company. With that he starts to stride with the occasional limp towards the hill where their Spade rests on the other side.

Hirako follows after the Gunny, but not before throwing a concerned look at Mark as she takes her leave. He stares after her for a while before Freddie walks up next to him.

Freddie stares at the little alien as it wriggles its hand, flaps its mandibles and occasionally cuddles with Mark, and all the while the man wears a scowl.

Mark isn't sure what to say, he never seen his friend act like this and he is starting to grow a little concern.

Exhaling once, Freddie looks Mark in the eye and says, "If that thing makes one wrong move, I'm blowing it away."

Mark couldn't believe what he has just heard, but before he could try and put Freddie's mind at ease, the young man has slowly turned and is now walking away.

The lone Marine sighs to himself as he lifts the Sangheili up until they are eye to eye and he asks, "What am I going to do with you?"

She puts her mandibles together in a grin like fashion.

Mark shakes his head, unsure if that could be considered an answer before he puts the alien child against his chest and rushes to catch up with his departing squad mates.

Va'lorn's eyes widen when Bree puts her stylus down as she stands and stretches.

"Wait," Va'lorn says desperately, "that can't be it, why did Seymour spare you? Were you accepted by the humans that easily? Didn't you stay with them? What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering, Bree smiles at him before shaking her head. It takes a moment for him to understand, but Va'lorn realizes he has just been blabbering away like a idiotic youngling. He couldn't help it; intrigued doesn't even come close to describing how he is feeling at the moment. He was raised with the belief that the humans are mindless destroyers, yet seeing things from Bree's point of view is so mystifying and strange.

Finally the female twirl her fingers into various shapes and positions, making Va'lorn wish he could know what it is she is saying.

He just stares at her, hoping she would know that he couldn't understand what it was she was trying to tell him.

Bree gestures to the window and the young warrior looks outside. Two of the suns have set while the third, but least bright of the stars, remains in the sky, the Sangheili time for the sleeping period.

Seeing understanding in Va'lorn's eyes, Bree slowly makes her way to the hallway, but pauses to look at him and gestures that he should follow. Curious, the Minor stands and follows her. She leads him down the short corridor before pointing out one room that is position parallel to her own.

He moves forward and peeks inside only to find the guest room that he already inspected earlier. It only has one simple bed, one window, a small chest for his few possessions and a chair. He sees no threat here so he glances over his shoulder at the female, raising an eye ridge in question.

She signs towards the room before ending with a hand on his shoulder. This was to be his room.

He frowns as he ponders the situation, was a guard supposed to have his own room? In the past cycle he was being treated more like a guest than a protective guardian and that was really causing him to reconsider his past actions. However when he thinks about it he suppose it makes sense, no Sangheili could remain awake for hours on end and it would be irresponsible of him to be weak when his charge could be in a dangerous situation. He hopes it will be acceptable for him to leave her alone for the night, besides, should anything happen he'll just be a few steps away. Hopefully though, a few seconds is all that an assassin needs to slit a throat.

He shudders at the grim logic, but he becomes absolutely still when he feels a hand being placed lightly against his skin. He looks to see that Bree has her hand on his own and now was starring at him with fire in her eyes. He then realizes the humans, these Marines, didn't just teach her how to survive, they taught her how to defend herself. There are female warriors, but he has never met one in the field, in fact he was taught that by all means the males are the superior gender of the Sangheilis. Yet there is a look in Bree's eyes that makes him certain that she knows how to fight and she certainly doesn't want to be treated like a weakling.

Slowly he bows his head and says, "Thank you Bree."

Her hard eyes soften before she gives him her familiar grin and makes a gesture that he is sure means "good night."

He lowers his head in agreement to her silent statement. He turns to inspect his new room when she suddenly grasps his arm, and from the way her nails are digging into his flesh, there is an important reason.

He looks at her once more and sees her serious eyes as she points out the window. At first he thought she is trying to get him to see something in the outdoors, but than her fingers smoothen out and is directing his attention to the bottom of the space. It is then that he sees some sort of device attached to the wall, a long brown cube with something like a wire sticking out and stretching across the window's span. Nobody can open the window without hitting and snapping the taught line.

He looks to the female and asks, "Are you speaking of the wire?"

She nods, points at it again and shakes her head violently.

He tilts his head in the sign of confusion. She repeats the sign. Finally she holds her hand towards the device before swatting at her limb with the other hand and shakes herhead once more.

"You don't want me to touch the device?" he asks.

She nods.

"Will you tell me why?"

She makes rapid gestures that leave him even more baffled than before. Finally she shakes her head before indicating more sternly that he is not to touch the mechanism. That isn't really much of an explanation but he finally nods in agreement, he isn't going to interfere with the object.

Clearly happy with his answer, she grins and does something else that just about stops his hearts. She leans forward and embraces him. It only lasted half a second before she pulls back and signs that she is leaving to rest. She left with her usual grin and leaves Va'lorn in the room, his mandibles slightly hanging open, completely shock by what has just occurred.

A moment after Bree departed, he finally return to his sense and shakes his head in puzzlement and holds a hand to his spinning head.

"This is defiantly no normal female," he mummers to himself as he slowly starts to strip off his armor in preparation for the sleeping cycle, deciding to wake up early in the morning and ask the female to continue her story.