A/N: Another chapter, I tried to go a different route with this one, be sure to let me know what you think.

Carolina's gait was swift but relaxed as she made her way out the infirmary after checking in on the rookie. Washington's wound had been embarrassing but luckily nothing serious, he would be out of commission for a while but he would make a full recovery. She did not let her thoughts dwell on the rookie for too long however, she had something to do and she would not let herself be delayed any longer.

She stopped briefly by her bunk to retrieve what she needed before making her way towards her destination. It was these brief moments of relaxation between missions that she cherished with her teammates, it was this time that reminded them all that they were not simply machines of war, and that they were indeed still human.

Upon reaching her goal she knocked on the door twice more out of habit than anything before simply entering the room.

"Okay guys I've got the scotch…hey where are the others?" she inquired seeing only Maine before her. York and the Dakotas were supposed to meet up with them after they had debriefed with the director for their usually post mission tradition of drinks and ribbing. It wasn't much but it kept them close to one another.

"Just heard, technical problems, probably won't be back from their assignment for another twenty four hours" Maine's tone was even, but she could hear the slight disappointment in his voice. Although she knew he would never admit it, Carolina knew Maine had grown quite fond of the other three freelancers.

"Well shit, I guess that plan's out the window sooo… I guess it's just you and me" she tossed him one of the bottles as she spoke; which he caught easily in his massive hand, eyeing her with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't want to wait?" he inquired simply.

"Nope, that mission was a pain in my ass and I need a drink" she spoke almost dismissively as she opened her own bottle and took a swig. With a grin on his face Maine mimicked her actions.

It was unrefined and to a normal human it would have seemed insane to consume scotch whiskey like these two were, but with artificially augmented biology their metabolisms made quick work of the alcohol and it took a lot more than a few beers to get freelancers buzzed, and the high alcohol content of scotch seemed to do the trick, plus it had the added bonus of being Carolina's favorite drink. She extremely glad it was her turn to pick, after that mission she didn't feel like downing the strait vodka Maine seemed to enjoy so much.

After a few moments of drinking in silence both of the freelancers began to loosen up. Carolina dropped down with thump onto Maine's recliner that sat next to his bed. While she enjoyed the silence it wasn't the same as when the others were there. They would normally swap stories about how their assignments had gone, poke fun at one another; she could only imagine how the others would have reacted to the rookie getting shot in his ass, and she smirked at the thought.

"So…what do you want to do big guy, we can't swap stories since we were both there…you got a movie you wanna watch or something?" she offered her suggestion not sure if Maine actually owned any form of entertainment for himself apart from the music he listened to when he exercised and worked on his weapons.

She swore she saw a ghost of smile on his face as he stood up and walked over to a cabinet and retrieved a disk that he tossed to her. She caught the projectile easily despite her slightly elevated blood alcohol content and read the label.

"Robocop huh… country music and classical movies, you just keep surprising me Maine" her tone was joking as she stood to place the disk into the player thinking to herself for a moment how odd it was Maine actually owned on a physical format, but the inconsequential thought pasted just as quickly as it came as the two theme sat down to enjoy the film.

"Nice shooting son, what's your name?"

"Murphy"

With that the credits rolled, and Carolina had to admit that she had enjoyed it despite ancient graphics and somewhat goofy tone at points. What really intrigued her however was Maine's reaction to the movie, he must have seen it serval times but he watched each scene with rapt attention. She had chanced glances at the much larger freelancer and noticed how invested he was in Murphy's story, this movie; though well over 500 years old, clearly struck a chord with Maine on deeper level.

"So that's your favorite movie huh? It was pretty good … not exactly my cup of tea though." She said him teasingly causing him to quirk an eyebrow at her.

"Romcoms?" asked a smirk stretching across his face.

"Ha…ha smartass, but if you must know I enjoy historical war films" she replied with an artificial air of sophistication as she took another swig from her now almost empty bottle.

"Psssh, boring" Maine scoffed at her statement.

"Watch Zulu, and then we'll talk Robocop" she replied finishing her bottle "Damn, all out and the evening is still so young" she tossing the empty container into Maine trash with a practiced ease.

Maine followed her lead polishing of his own drink before going to the small refrigerator nestled in the corner of his corridors. He opened it up and pulled two beers out tossing one to Carolina.

"You own Zulu?"

With a smile Carolina stood up; a little off balance much to her surprise, and approached Maine's monitor. With a few quick strokes on the key pad her personal account was logged on. She accessed her admittedly limited entertainment library, she mainly used her account for files related to her assignments and personal records; like they were supposed to, but soon enough she found her goal proceeded to play the classic film.

"By the way, where the hell did you get that disk? Movies haven't been released on physical format in…well centuries" she inquired flopping back down into her seat with a distinct lack of grace.

"I found it" he said simply.

"You found it?"

"Yep"

"…okay" she relented the line of questioning for the time being and focused on the movie starting before them. Admittedly it had a bit of slow start and it couldn't compare to the action of 'Robocop" but everything that was portrayed actually happened and that's what struck Carolina about the movie, sure it had a script but these were real men fighting a real war, she just hoped Maine saw it that way.

A few hours later and several beers later the movie wrapped up, Carolina smiling at the look on Maine's face. While his face didn't betray any dramatic changes, she could tell by the look in his eyes that the movie had captured and held his attention, which was more than she could say for York who had fallen asleep when he had shown it to him.

"So what did you think?" she half laughed a smirk plastered on her features.

"… It was pretty good … not exactly my cup of tea though." His smart ass response earned him an empty beer can being pitched at him from Carolina, which he easily batted away.

"You liked it admit it" she readied another can before he relented, and she threw it at him regardless.

For a short time two of the most stoic and fearless freelancers shared a laugh, and just for moment let their guard down. This is was the whole reason York had started this little tradition, to remind them that they were indeed more than just soldiers, they were still people. After a short time the laughter died down.

Taking another long drink from her beer Carolina let her mind wander to something that had been weighing on her mind about her teammate for some time. While was remiss to bring it up; not wanting to ruin to comfortable air between them. Maybe it was the alcohol in her system, but the two of them were alone and now might be her best chance to ask.

"Hey…Maine, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot"

"Well, back when I first met you…when I asked you about your name…" she trailed off seeing his face grow dark and grim.

"You what never mind, you don't have to tell me" she dismissed herself hoping she hadn't crossed a line and done something that couldn't be undone. As she made to get up and leave when Maine spoke.

"No…I'll tell you" he replied simply turning to face her fully.

"Are...are you sure?" a nod was all the response she received before he took a long drink followed up by a deep sigh.

"When I was born, my parents abandoned me, they left on the steps of a government facility" he paused for a moment before continuing "I don't recall the planet but the orphanage was run more like a prison than anything else, and since my parents never saw fit to name me I assigned a number…00-0731" Carolina looked at the large man before her his normally proud posture reduced to a slump, she was beginning to regret asking him such a personal question.

"Maine… if you want to stop…" but he raised a hand to silence her, he was going to finish this.

"That was my identity for my whole life there no name just a number, but even that changed the day she came"

"The day who came?" she inquired her interest pique by this development and his change into tone. Maine raised his eyes to meet hers and spoke with a tone colder than ice.

"Halsey" the moment he mentioned the doctor's name Carolina's eyes widened in shock. After the war with the Covenant the UNSC had released all the files on what Dr. Catherine Halsey had done and denounced her as a war criminal, and while impressive, it was also truly monstrous. "Wait you were a Halsey's child? ... You were a Spartan?" the shock was quite evident in Carolina's words. She was working with a Spartan II just like the Master Chief. It was no wonder why the Director has such faith in Maine. But as these thoughts raced through her mind Carolina noticed Maine shaking his head.

"No… I never completed the program, I was dismissed before final augmentation due to not meeting psychological requirements… I was deemed too emotional to be of any long term use" Carolina almost gave an audible scoffed at this prospect, but she bit her tongue. This clearly quite painful for him to talk about and she would not disrespect him like that. "So they took me, trained me, tortured me, experimented on me and cast me away when I didn't live up to their expectations… we all lost any identity we had before, and for a child who never had a name it was…" he trailed off lost in his thoughts for a moment before facing her once again "Well.. Now you know"

Carolina had known that asking this question would lead to some sensitive topics, but this was worse than she could imagine. Raising herself from her seat with some degree of effort; now feeling the effects of the alcohol more acutely, and made her way over to the mountain of a man and did something that surprised even her. In a very uncharacteristic shown of affect she gently wrapped her arms around the large man's neck and held him in a tight embrace before whispering softly in his ear.

"I'm sorry Maine" there was nothing else she could think to say in this moment so she said only what she could. For an instance she felt Maine's body stiffen and she was certain he was going to throw her off but she couldn't bring herself to care about that right now, when he did move however it not was not aggresive, but slow and very unsure. Carolina then felt his massive tree trunk arms wrap around her gently still very unsure with this familiar contact.

"Not your fault" his voice rumbled through her as he repeated the same words he spoke to her when she had asked the same question so long ago, the exact same phrase but the tone was entirely different. Carolina was unsure how long that sat like that before she gently pulled herself away from him.

"If you ever tell anyone about this, I will end you" she half joked with damaged man before her, and she was pleased to see that her comment had earned a small smile from him. The two shared a short laugh at her comment, but it only lasted a moment before Carolina felt her eyelids grow extremely heavy. Had she really drank that much? She began to secretly wonder when she had become such a lightweight, as she steadily grew more and more drowsy. Maine clearly noticed her current state as he stood from his seat on his bed pulling the sheets up before effortlessly hefting the now half-awake Carolina up and placing her on his bead before covering her up and moving to take seat in his chair. Carolina began to sit up to protest but she was silenced.

"Sleep, I'll be fine right here" Maine spoke with finality. Normally she would have protested, but she was just so tired the warmth of the bed was practically calling her name so she relented. She thought for a second she would get him back in the morning for daring to boss her around, but before long she had drifted off into a deep sleep surrounded by warmth and Maine's distinct scent of pine and leather.