Day 9

A Quick Recovery

{RUNNING PGRM.}

[LAUNCHING SEARCH]

(LOCATED)

{AUTHOR POV}

"NO." Gadget repeats, crossing her arm over her chest (and yes, I mean singular), "No way, uh-uh, not for the entire world."

"You're being unreasonable, Gadge." Archer chuckles from his spot on the end of her infirmary cot. "You can't expect to recover in two hours."

"I'm not staying here." She pouts. "It smells like antiseptic."

"It's not for a month or anything," Ghost asures her from his perch on the counter, "It's just for 48 hours."

"UGH!" She throws her right arm in the air. "Strapped to IV's and having my left arm immobilized for two days doesn't sound any more enjoyable than 48 hours in that drug base."

"Now you're just exagerating, woman." Meat rolls his eyes, leaning against the infirmary room wall.

"Still." She glares at him. "Doesn't make me want to be here any longer."

"Doesn't change the fact that you have to." He grinned evilly. "Plus we're gonna have so much fun in the next 48 hours."

"I will injure you." She growls.

"Come off it you two," Archer laughs again, fully entertained by his two friends bickering. "We're just lucky we all got back."

The door bursts open and the rest of the squad enter. Royce takes one look at Gadget and his eyes widen, "Jesus I thought you three were joking."

"Unfortunately not." Ghost shrugs.

Scarecrow raised his eyebrows, examining Gadget's bruised face. "You all right FNG? They got you good."

"Don't remind me." She glances at the four men. "Where's 'Tavish."

"Still gettin' chewed out by Shep. He's sooooooooo ticked off right now." Worm scoffs joining Ghost near the counter.

"AND then he has to write up a report." Toad adds. "How long are you stuck here?"

"48 hours."

"Ooooooo, tough break."

"Not laughing."

"I am."

"Shut up Meat."

"I'll shut up when I'm dead, woman!"

"Again it can be arranged."

"As if you could kill me, you smurf."

"Toad would help me."

"Uh-uh, I'm staying outta this. Make Worm do it, he's slimy enough."

"I resent that!"

"You guys are all idiots."

"Watch yourself straw-boy."

"How 'bout you Mr. Meaty?"

"What did you just call me?"

"You heard me!"

Gadget watched the boys launch a full out argument, laughing inwardly. To think that not even 20 hours ago she'd been afraid that she'd never see them again. Now she was watching them tease and playfully-demean eachother. They were all fine. All the same people. She was fine too. Still the same…mostly.

The door banged open again, revealing one particularly annoyed medic. "All right, everyone out."

"Come-on, we're just here to visit." Worm argues.

"Out." The doctor points at the door.

After some argument, six of seven men filed out, leaving Gadget, Ghost, and the doctor. "Sorry about that Doc." Ghost's mask gets a little smile crease. "They've all been worried about her."

"Yeah, yeah. They're just lucky I don't ban them from the infirmary." He comes to Gadget's bed-side and looks over the cuts and bruises. "Good news; you don't have a concussion and you're arm should make a full recovery sooner than we thought."

"Bad news?"

"You still have to stay here for 48 hours."

"UGH!"

Both men had a little chuckle at the irked patient. "Thanks, Doc."

"Don't mention it. Just call if you need anything."

Then the doctor takes his leave.

Ghost spends his afternoon trying to cheer Gadget up. She'd never been one to sit still and after being locked up she really just wanted to go for a run or work out or something. They talk about all sorts of things and she teaches him how to play cards. Somehow the conversation shifts from light joking to life before the army.

"So, what did you want to do before you decided on the Rangers?"

"I also considered the Navy."Gadget laughed, picking up another card.

"I'm trying to be serious here."

She smiles and plucks the sunglasses off of his face, sliding them over her own eyes. He makes no move to retrieve them. "Well, if I answer you a question you have to answer me one."

"I guess." He shrugs, pulling a card for himself.

"I was going to be an actress."

"Really? Now I'm interested."

She knocks him over the head lightly. "Yeah. I took all kinds of classes and I was in the Drama Club and everything."

"Sounds nerdy."

"Now I get a question."

"All right."

She looks into his watery blues. "What's with the mask?"

He stiffened a bit, thinking hard. "Pass."

"No fair!"

"Yes fair."

She sticks her tounge out at him playfully. "I could make you go away you know."

"But you won't."

She pouts for a moment. "No, I won't…but I could if I wanted to."

"Sure, sure." He chuckles, picking up another card. "And I could teach a pig to ride a motor-bike…if I wanted to."

"Exactly." The two share a laugh.

The door slides open and Captain Mactavish enters. "Your turn, Ghost."

"Oh joy," He sighs, dropping his cards. "See you tomorrow morning Gadget. TRY not to bother your doctors too much."

"Yeah, yeah." She grins. "G'night."

Once the Lietenant leaves Mactavish takes his place in a folding chair. "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts and my arm is locking up, but I've seen worse." Gadget shrugs, examining Ghost's dicarded cards. "Hah! What are the odds?"

"What is it?"

Gadget points at the two hands. They matched. Ghost had a pair of aces and a pair of queens, his fifth card a five. Gadget did too, only the suites were different. "Really, what are the odds of that happening to anyone?"

Mactavish flashed a rare full-on smile. "I haven't ever seen it."

There was a pause as Gadget slowly gathered the cards, using only her right hand. "I never got to thank you."

"Don't worry about it."

"Everyone keeps saying that…" She sighs, putting the deck into its box. "But…I don't know how long it would've been until I cracked. I'd only been in there two days and look what they did. I can't imagine two weeks or two months!" She looks at her captain, sincerity clear in her eyes. "Thank you…for everything."

"It's what we do for eachother in the one-four-one. Orders or no orders."

"Best rule I've ever heard of."

(12 hours later)

"Hey, Gadget, I…" Ghost starts, pushing open the door to Gadget's infirmary room. The bed was empty and made neatly, the IV's put away, and her new gear was no longer hanging in the wide open closet. "Oh cripes…"

Jogging through the halls towards the rec room Ghost ran into Meat. "Have you seen Gadget?"

"Not since we visited her yesterday." Meat scratches his head. "Isn't she like prohibited from leaving the infirmary?"

"Yeah, but I was just there and she wasn't."

Little did either of the men know, but Gadget was perfectly fine and happy. She'd sprung herself from the infirmary and was now on the treadmill in the weight room. Keeping an even 6.5 mph she listens to the thudding music on her iPod. Her throat hurts a little and her endurance is low from the injuries, but it isn't anything she wasn't used to.

She'd promised her doctor she'd take it slow. Just a walk. Just walking. Then, it felt so good to move, she picked up the pace. Just a little. Then she went faster. And faster. Until she went from a brisk walk to a jog. It feels so good to be able to be able to move again, it's almost like she'd found freedom. 48 hours, HAH! She'd gotten out of there in a fraction of that time and felt just fine.

That is until the treadmill lurched to a stop and she practically ran into the display board on the front of the machine. Gadget looks over to see Ghost standing there, his finger hovering just above the 'Emergency Stop' button. His eyebrow was raised, speaking volumes about his own confusion. She mimics his look, pulling one earbud out of her ear. "What's your big idea?"

"What's your big idea?" He counters clearly amused. "Talk about an early recovery. Running with several fractured ribs and a sling?"

"You bet. What's with trying to give me a heart attack?"

"When am I not trying to give you a heart attack?" He chuckled at her angered expression. "It's too fun to make you mad to stop."

Gadget's frown falls into a smile, "I guess so. But yeah, I'm doing just fine." She swings her arm up and stretches, as if to prove her point.

He pretends not to notice her wince. "Good to hear. Does Mactavish know you've escaped?"

"Yeah…" She avoided eye contact.

"Really…" Ghost pauses, grinning evilly. "So if I went and talked to him he'd have no problem with you running."

"No, Ghost, Don't—"

And he's off, tearing through the base corridors. Gadget takes off after him, trying her hardest to keep up.

Yeah. This definitely beats dodging bullets, even if it is a lot tougher.

FIN

Yerp. That's where it ends. I will now have a quick series of one-shots, introducing Alex and Roach, along with changes with Gadget personally. Then I'll get to the MW2 outline.

Special thanks to: Jacob0392, ita-chan01, Erin Peepsta, SuddenSummerStorm, Josh-aka- The Rookie, Fenlon, ecto 1B, kuyoki1789, and AwesomeBlonde89 for their signed reviews.

Another special thanks to the anonomous reviewers and PM's from everyone full of encouragement :D

Also, thank you to my younger brother for watching me beat certain levels over and over, encouraging me each time. You're awesome kid and I promise your character comes in ASAP.

Gadget was based on yours truly, Hawkings and Paul Jackson were loosly influenced by friends of mine, and the plot came from my diseased imagination.

I do not own MW2 or and COD game…or any game…or movie…dangit…

Before I forget, I am officially a nerd. I finally did it. I bought the Modern Warfare 2 soundtrack. Jesus Hans Zimmer will be the death of me! x]

Please review! I need ideas and suggestions and (if possible) more reviews. Honestly, it's what makes me write. I write to become better and to do so I need feed-back. This means good and bad. Please, if you have something to say, say it. I don't care if you all out HATE my style and you want nothing to do with it, tell me why. I can't fix it if I don't know it's broken.

My next project could very possibly be a Ghost/Gadget. ;D I can't help it.

If not, it's gonna be something funny and a little pointless to pass the time until I have a long enough span of free-time to write the MW2 plot.

Bear with me. I have never touched a controller for MW1…so sorry if I screw somethin' up.

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