"I don't think it's safe. She shouldn't be on the ground alone." Henry practically spat, unable to hide his dislike of the idea of sending Elizabeth to meet with a source with no backup.
"She won't be alone; the unit will back her up into the village and she'll meet up with them once she makes contact. She's a trained spy, McCord, she knows what she's doing." Mather explained, although his face conveyed he clearly wasn't completely sure about this idea himself.
Elizabeth grabbed Henry's arm gently, "Captain, I've got this." Her face was serious, she had called him Captain instead of Henry to emphasize that this was work and not personal."
He sighed, "I have no doubt in your abilities Agent Adams," he truly didn't, "I would be worried about sending anyone in there without proper backup." That was true, sending anyone in without proper backup seemed unwise. The problem was that while sending anyone else in would make him uneasy, sending her in was going to make him sick.
Mather and Perez moved on quickly from the discussion and Elizabeth noticed Henry still looked uneasy. She squeezed his arm again, "Hey, I'm gonna be fine." She whispered.
Henry pursed his lips and nodded. "It's not that I don't trust your abilities, I know how amazing you are at your job." He whispered back.
Elizabeth nodded, her hand slowly sliding down his arm and brushing his fingers before she pulled away. For the first time she was sure she wasn't just imagining things and he was clearly struggling with the same feelings she was. She knew exactly what he was feeling, hell, she was feeling the same things and she couldn't say she wouldn't be upset if Henry was going to do what she was about to do. It was definitely dangerous but her intel could save innocent lives and that made it all worth it. In fact, it was the whole point of her liaising with the Marine Corps, to prevent casualties. She was going to do this and everything was going to be fine.
He glanced over at her when her hand left his and he opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something before remembering Mather and Perez were still in the room. He closed his mouth and sighed. Now wasn't the time or the place. Truthfully, he wasn't sure if there was ever going to be a right time or place.
Elizabeth noticed his confused expression but didn't question him. There would be time for that later. Right now, she had a job to do.
They decided they would send Elizabeth in country the next morning. She needed time to get in touch with her contact before it got dark. After they had arranged the details of the op everyone finally headed off to bed. Mather always seemed to run ahead of Henry and Elizabeth. Henry wasn't quite sure if it was just Mather's disdain for small talk or if he sensed some kind of vibe between Henry and Elizabeth. Henry didn't want to think about that. He wasn't sure Mather would really care about anything going on between him and Elizabeth but he also didn't really think Mather was the type of person to notice these types of things. And then there was the fact that nothing was actually going on between them.
They walked back to their bunks silently, that was odd for them. They were usually talking all the way back to their bunks. And this silence was awkward, it was loud, both of them thinking things they couldn't-or at least shouldn't-actually say to each other.
Elizabeth kept looking straight ahead, she thought that if she caught any emotion in his face she might break down. She just tried to focus on her breathing and maybe she could get her heart to stop racing.
They arrived at their bunks and it was still awkward but neither of them seemed to be able to walk into their rooms just yet.
Henry spoke first, "Look, I'm sorry, I feel like an ass. I hope it didn't come off like I don't think you can't do your job. That wasn't my intention at all."
"Oh god, no of course not. I didn't think that even for a second." Elizabeth responded.
Henry sighed and smiled just a little, "I'm glad, I'm just worried." He paused, oh god he was making it awkward again, "I'd be worried sending anyone in there alone."
Elizabeth nodded, "Right, it's dangerous. Of course you would be, I'd be worried if someone else was going in too. It's…it's natural." She cringed, god she was making this worse.
"I…I just like you a lot. I consider you a good friend and I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you, especially when there was a way to prevent it."
"Henry," she started, and he felt a chill go up his spine. The way she said his name, her voice all low and soft like that, he didn't know how the hell he was managing to keep his feelings all bottled up inside. "I'm going to be fine, you're sweet to worry though."
He smiled and shook his head and practically glued his eyes to the ground. If he made eye contact with her he was going to end up spilling his feelings for her and he couldn't do that. It wasn't fair, especially since she had enough on her shoulders right now. Even though she was confident-as she should be-in her abilities, he knew how heavily an op could weigh on your shoulders. They had a lot riding on this and she had to be stressed. Confessing something as silly as his romantic feelings would be selfish and he couldn't do that to her. He wanted her to be as clear-headed as possible, she deserved that. He would feel like a jerk if he piled on her right now.
And it wasn't like anything could be done about his feelings even if he confessed them. He wanted to think she felt the same way, but there was a little part of him that was fearful that he was reading her all wrong and mistaking her kindness for attraction. That would be humiliating and he didn't want to be one of those jerks who thought a woman simply being kind meant she was interested. Dammit, this whole situation was so frustrating.
Elizabeth noticed he seemed to be dealing with something internally so she decided to let him off the hook. "Well, I'm going to get to bed. I'll see you in the morning, McCord, and I swear to you, everything is going to be fine."
The next morning, Henry saw Elizabeth off on the helo with the ops team. He felt like he was going to be sick. They were sending her into a remote village to meet up with a source and although the Marine ops team would be outside the city the entire time, she was still going to be alone and barely armed for a period of time. If anything happened to her he was going to lose his mind.
She smiled at him from the helo, her words from earlier echoing in his head. She was right; she was going to be fine. She had to be fine.
The aircraft disappeared into the sky and Henry felt like someone had filled his stomach with cement. He had so much he wanted to say to her but it just was never the time or the place.
He headed back into the ops center and went over her plan until the helo had them on the ground and they contacted him to let the team on the carrier know they were headed toward the village.
Elizabeth would be in contact with the team on the ground the whole time but he would have to have information relayed back to the carrier from them.
Elizabeth felt strangely confident as she exited the helo and made her way to the checkpoint in the village before she headed off on her own. She'd been in country several times before but this was the first op she was in charge of, she thought she'd be more nervous but she was really just ready to get her intel. She was confident in herself and her ability to do her job, she was going to make sure this went well.
She navigated across the village with ease and she met up with her source. She felt so much relief at the fact that he'd showed and he'd clearly been relieved she had showed as well. The intel he had was big, it was going to be able to help them precisely target several weapon storage facilities further into the desert and a base camp in the area as well. This was good intel, really good intel, she was glad to have taken this risk.
Back on the carrier Henry was full of anxiety and trying to keep a level head. The team with Elizabeth was keeping in constant radio contact with them and he was pretty sure he wouldn't actually breath until one of them announced Elizabeth was in sight.
Mather kept glancing over at him and it was making him even more anxious. "Mather, what the hell?" He practically whispered so no one else heard.
Mather shrugged, "Nothing, it's nothing. We're all worried about her but she's going to be fine. Sometimes I think she's tougher than all of us. You see how she took Lewis out the other day in training? She scared the hell out of quite a few of the guys. And I'm pretty sure she wasn't even giving him all she had. That woman is someone who I'd be proud to have my back, and I'm proud to have hers."
This made Henry laugh, Mather was right, she was tough as nails and he completely agreed, "Me too." He felt a little levity finally, like the cement in his chest had lightened. "She's pretty damn incredible."
He suddenly heard Elizabeth's voice over the radio. She was calling to say she'd got their intel and was heading back across the village. Henry felt even more relief. So far, she was okay and this whole thing was almost over. She'd be back safe and sound on the carrier in no time at all.
She signed off and they waited. It would take her about forty minutes to get to the checkpoint where she was to meet the team. About thirty minutes later everything seemed to be going well when all of a sudden there was gunfire. "What's happening?" Henry demanded, as calmly as he possibly could be when he was pretty sure his heart was beating so hard and so fast that it was going to pound right out of his chest.
"We're taking fire sir. We..." that was when the transmission cut off.
"What the hell just happened? Get it back!" Henry practically screamed, his voice terrifyingly low and serious. Now he was more than anxious, he was terrified.
"McCord, they'll get it back when they can. Calm down." Mather said, his voice calm and reasonable but his face conveyed that he was nervous.
Henry scowled at him, "We need to know if they've got her. I swear to god if they don't get out with her I'm going in myself."
Mather nodded, "They won't leave her."
That wasn't what Henry was concerned about, he knew they wouldn't leave her, but he wasn't sure that if she was having an issue getting back and saw things were getting bad, that she wouldn't order them to leave without her.
The whole ops center stood there silently. Everyone was clearly on edge waiting for the team to verify they were able to find Elizabeth and get out. Several minutes later they were still waiting on any transmission cluing them in on the state of the unit, when suddenly, the alarm went off signaling the squadron for an air raid.
Thanks so much for reading & all the kind reviews! I'll try to get the next chapter up asap!
