"Pick me up Chief."


She mentally face palmed herself at the mistake. Instantly feeling her face become hot and only becoming more flustered at the thought of blushing.

"I mean.." She let out a long drawn out sigh.

"I'm Sarah and...well...I have no idea whats wrong with my car." She calmed down after finally finishing her sentence.

The Chief stepped up to examine the engine more closely.

While examining the engine he made a mental note about her voice.

Warm, sensual...almost...familiar,even.

He enjoyed hearing her talk.

He noticed the engine was much smaller than the ones he had studied as a child in training. He had always been accustom to working on heavy war machines and fixing bullet holes or shrapnel damage. This time it was a very small car with an odd-looking engine.

Does this guy even know anything about cars? Jesus, Sarah this guy could be some crazed lunatic. You should probably be running away right now...Well...No he could catch me...WAIT!

Sarah began casually going through her purse on the side of the car. Careful to hide her action from the stranger examining the engine. She found what she was looking for in her purse and slid it into her coat pocket very carefully.

"So do you live around here or what are you doing running through the National Forest." Sarah asked in a curious voice.

The Chief who had been looking for the cause of malfunction glanced over at the woman beside him. He immediately looked down at her hand in her pocket and noticed the way she stood.

Weapon, small calibre, most likely a small self-defense pistol.

"I live twenty-three miles South, South East." Chief replied in his usual somber voice.

Sarah had an obvious expression of surprise on her face at his unusually deep voice.

After acknowledging the weapon in her pocket the Chief began running scenarios in his head on why she was armed.

This small rather petite young woman weighed approximately 110 lbs, stood 5ft 6in and had long dark red hair that she had currently done into a pony tail. A few freckles doted her rather tan face and complemented it well. The Chief was never any good at deciding if someone was attractive or not, but he enjoyed looking at this woman for some reason. Her red and pink camouflaged t-shirt was covered up by a small dark blue jacket and her blue jeans...outlined her...hips, rather well.

It took the Chief a second longer then usual to process this new information and decide how to proceed. Usually when a weapon was seen he would act immediately, but he was confused at this young woman and wanted to see what she would do.

"So...You ran twenty-three miles?" The woman asked in a obviously impressed tone.

Chief nodded, then began moving some items in the vehicle's engine compartment. While keeping a careful eye on the nervous woman with a weapon, of course.

Ok he lives around here so he didn't just escape from some prison or something. Calm down and be polite.

Sarah watched the Chief work from behind him, eyeing his...figure similar to the way he eyed hers. She began noticing the scars almost immediately and started biting her fingernail again while her mind wondered about the reason for the various marks.

Oh my God. This guy has to be UNSC. Green outfit, scars, and the military base is really close. Yea, definitely a Marine...maybe even one of those special forces ODST Marines...Never relized they were this...BIG!

She started to let her grip on the item in her pocket loosen as she became more comfortable with her new acquaintance.

"Well thanks for the help. I don't know what I was going to do out here alone in the forest."

God Sarah, could you try to make yourself sound more helpless.

"Anyway, I'm Sarah Hollaway." She smiled and held out her hand in a polite manner.

The Chief like always, shook her hand with extreme care, putting almost no pressure on it.

Sarah was rather awestruck at just how big he was compared to her. His hand engulfed hers and the way he towered over her was just, ridiculous.

Chief went back to toying with her vehicle after shaking her hand and after a few moments of awkward silence and some intense staring on both sides, he deemed the vehicle fixed.

"Try it." Chiefs voice startled Sarah as she daydreamed and she jumped slightly into the air.

"Wha- What?" Sarah responded in a dumb struck tone as if she had just woken up.

Chief nodded in the direction of the vehicle and Sarah mentally face palmed herself again.

She opened the passenger side door and reached across the driver seat to the ignition switch.

Chief, who had been watching her in his peripheral noticed her tight pink shirt raise up a few inches as she stretched across the seat. It revealed a tan midsection and he made a mental note that she was in rather decent shape to have an abdomen like that.

His eyes lingered a second longer then he would have normally let them.

Sarah turned the ignition and the vehicle spun to life, with a very quiet hum.

Sarah smiled and walked back over to the Chief.

"Thank you SO much. I can't tell you how grateful I am." Sarah said in a very enthusiastic voice.

"Vehicle type?" Chief replied.

Sarah raised an eyebrow and looked confused.

"What?"

"What type of vehicle is this?" Chief said again slightly louder.

"OH! It's a safe-A car. You know, it runs of oil and solar power." She said in proud manner.

"That's why it sounds so quiet. It runs really smooth too." She added.

Chief nodded.

"A single plasma burn to this tubbing will render the vehicle out of commission." Chief replied in a very sober and serious voice. Pointing at a piece of plastic wrapped in a coil.

Sarah didn't know what to say. She had never thought about getting shot at with plasma.

"Um, I'll get that fixed as soon as possible then..." Sarah sounded nervous and a little confused.

Chief nodded at her comment and then turned around and started to continue running.

"Wait!" She yelled after him.

Chief stopped and turned around to face her. A slight gust of wind blew leaves in circles around the pair in the road.

She had to think fast when she realized she hadn't thought this far ahead into her sentence.

Chief looked at her puzzled.

"Yes?" He asked in his usual growling tone.

In a curious, but polite voice she asked.

"Do you maybe, want a ride?"


"John? He had luck, Something none of the others had."


After a brief, but awkward moment climbing into her car and realizing there was no way he could sit right in this vehicle, the two started driving.

Chief examined the car's interior and noticed multiple large textbooks. As well as a few paper bags with a large golden M on the front. It seemed that she lived a rapid lifestyle and had little time to organize or clean out her car. Chief was slightly amused as she began moving items for him to sit more comfortably and throwing various things in the back seat to hide them from him.

Sarah hadn't been expecting anyone to ride with her and couldn't remember the last time she cleaned her car out. She felt mortified when the large man in the passenger seat dug a tampon out from under him and laid it down in the backseat.

Damnit Sarah! Oh my God!

She thought to herself rapidly trying to formulate an explanation for her cars current condition, but finding none.

Chief briefly explained to her where he lived and she was thankful for the distraction of driving to keep her mind occupied, on something besides him.

After a few moments of silence driving, Sarah started laughing. She tried desperately to hide her laugh, but that only made it worse. Making her normal innocent and sweet voice sound like a dry cackle.

Chief glanced over at her curiously.

"I'm sorry." She stammered.

"You just don't look like a hybrid kind of guy." She giggled, moving a strand of hair behind her ear.

He glanced at her briefly before looking back towards the road eyeing his surroundings. He made another mental note about her laugh, he enjoyed hearing it. It was a very sensual sounding laugh that gave him a strange warm feeling across his body.

Sarah realizing her companion was not the laughing type, immediately felt embarrassed and her cheeks began to darken again.

"So, you in the UNSC?" She asked trying to change the subject away from her previous mistake.

"Yes."

Was the only reply she received.

She was disappointed and had hoped she could find something he would enjoy talking about.

"Neat." After saying it she felt embarrassed again.

Neat, really Sarah. That's "NEAT" God.

Another face palm.

"I mean that's interesting. What do you do?" She asked in a probing way. She desperately wanted to get him to start talking and find out more about him. This giant of a man intrigued her, in more ways than one.

Chief was unsure about why she was asking about him, but felt obligated to give her an explanation.

Nothing about the Spartan program. Keep it short and simple.

He thought to himself.

"I train Marines on advance infantry techniques and ways to react to hostile alien threats." He replied.

Sarah nodded her head.

That sounds about right, yep.

"Wow! My brother was a Marine. Well, before he was stationed at Reach."

She was in such a hurry to keep a conversation going that she accidentally let too much out and said more than she wanted.

She let out a deep sigh and decided to just stop trying to talk to her new acquaintance.

"What unit was he with."

Sarah looked over at the Chief who continued to stare out the window.

"The last letter I got said he was with 5/6's 41st regiment. The ones stationed on the UNSC Circumference." She spoke in a low sad tone.

After a brief period of silence the Chief replied.

"They fought well."

Sarah looked over at him, confused.

"You were at Reach?" She inquired, while adjusting her position in her seat.

Chief nodded.

"Were you with his unit? I thought no one made it home alive?" Sarah sounded confused and obviously curious.

Chief looked over at her.

"No. I was only on board a short time." Chief replied.

Sarah wanted to know more, but doubted this statue of a man would be very forthcoming.

Shortly afterwards they reached his home without much more conversation.

She pulled up into his U-shaped driveway and stopped the car.

"Wow! You must be an officer to have a place like this." She stated.

"Master Chief Petty Officer." He replied in a rehearsed voice. That had stated his rank many times.

"Oh, well that explains a lot." She smiled at him and used the brief moment he was facing away to fix her hair.

Chief opened his door and stepped out of the vehicle and the entire car sprung up a few inches.

It was late and the sun was about to go down. A few rays of sunlight peered through the oak forest onto the driveway that was covered in leaves and a cool breeze swept up the Chiefs face.

He was about to turn to head inside his home when he stopped.

Sarah started to panic.

He's going to go inside, I need to get his number. Maybe see if he wants to meet up sometime.

"Hey wait!" She yelled after him through the open passenger side window.

Chief stopped and beant over to see what she wanted.

"I never did get your name?" She sounded almost hurt.

Chief thought about why she sounded that way and determined that it must have been rude for him not to give her his name earlier.

Chief wanting to make up for being rude to this nice, young, and attractive woman...

Smiled at her.

"John."