Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Unit characters.
From here on in, I will say that there may be adult content. No more graphic than in the show for both sexual and violent content.
Chapter 9
Jenny and Lissy ran into the house yelled for Liz. They had picked up Liz's trophy and ribbon for the class.
"Shh," said Molly, grabbing the girls before they could storm into Liz's room. "Liz is trying to sleep. Why don't you two take a shower and then I'll see how she's feeling." The girls ran off to the bathroom.
Mack settled the take home bag on the counter. "I thought you'd be home. There's food, if you want some," he said, trying not to show his acute concern about Liz.
"Thanks," she said, sitting down.
"What's going on?"
"You need to leave her alone," she said, opening up the takeout box.
"Excuse me?"
"He's back, her ex-fiancé." Molly sighed. "She's scared to death about what he's going to do to you."
"I can take care of myself," he said, walking towards the bedroom.
"Mack," said Molly standing up. "She won't tell me who he is, but she's truly scared, don't push."
He sighed, walking into the bedroom. He sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked Liz's hair. He could see the tear spots on the pillow.
"You shouldn't be here," she whispered.
"I want to be here. I'm not scared."
"You should be. He's bigger than the Colonel. He could destroy you without ever flinching."
"I think you underestimate me."
She smiled. "I don't want to ruin your life. You love this and you'd hate me if it all disappeared."
"Come on," he stood up "I want to take you somewhere."
"Mack, I look like shit."
"No one's going to see you. Come on," he helped her out of bed and threw his sweatshirt at her. She pulled on some jeans and followed him out.
"Molly, can you stay with the girls for a bit?" asked Mack.
"Of course."
Liz stepped into the car and rested her head against the back seat as Mack drove. "Where are we going?"
"You'll see," he said, pulling into the shooting range. He opened the door for her and walked with her to the front box. He got some firearms from the clerk who was almost ready to leave for the night. Mack promised to lock up for him and despite the clerk's hesitancy he left.
"A gun?" she asked.
"Correct, Sherlock," he teased.
"I know you can shoot straight, Mack. No need to prove it to me."
"See those red dots in the middle of that targets' heads."
Liz nodded looking at the obscure dot. "Yea."
"Stand behind me and set that stopwatch for thirty seconds. On your say."
Liz sighed and set the stop watch. "Go." Mack swept down the line shooting at each target. He hit the button to have the targets move forward. The watch hadn't even gone off yet. "You got them all," she said. "In the dark."
"I can protect you against whoever it is that you are scared of."
"He doesn't use bullets; that's way too clean for him."
"What's he use, bombs?"
Liz laughed. "Still too painless. Persuasion and favors. He ruins lives for a living." She sighed. "For now, can we just be friends? I'll take care of him somehow."
"All right."
"Now, why don't you give a lady a shot at this?"
Mack smirked, "All right." He set the targets back and then stepped behind her positioning the gun in her hand.
"Now just focus on the target," he whispered, huskily into her ear.
She shot the gun and got a clear chest shot. "I always focus on the target."
Mack laughed. "The Colonel taught you?"
"What I can't be a natural?" she asked, smiling. "I used to go target shooting with my grandfather when I was younger. Another one of those things I haven't had time for in awhile."
Mack studied her as she took the next three shots. "Well you've got the body shot down, what about a head shot?"
"In the dark?" she asked. "I'm not that good."
"Well you just pull the trigger and I'll aim," he said, stepping up behind her again. She sighed, relaxing into his body. His hands were over hers and she watched the angle at which the gun was at. "Now."
She pulled the trigger and let reverberation push her closer into Mack.
"Perfect, shot," he said kissing her behind the ear.
"I don't want to say good bye," she whispered, relaxing against his chest.
"Then don't."
"I can't be selfish." He turned her around.
"You've been anything but selfish."
"It sounds dramatic but if I refuse him he'll destroy you. I don't care about myself, but I do care about you." She wet her lips which were drying from the harsh wind. "Mack, I don't know exactly what you and the team do, but I do know that you are extremely important to its success."
"He can't touch you here."
She laughed. "For him there are no walls and there are no boundaries. I could run to South Africa and he would find me." She started crying. "He would find me, Mack." She wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Why?"
"I'm not usually like this all weak and weepy, you know really girly."
"Please don't tell me I make you weak and weepy," he whispered with a small insecure laugh. The woman before him was beautiful, smart, and kind. There was nothing in him that understood why she would love him or want him, but when she smiled at him it made him feel like he might have finally done something right. And if she answered yes to his question, he wasn't sure what he would do. He'd hate himself and he was tired of hating himself.
She shook her head. "No," she looked at the ground and then brought her eyes to his "for some reason with you I feel strong enough to cry." She walked away towards the fence. "Ever since I was little, I was taught not to cry."
Mack followed her towards the fence. "Why?"
"I don't know." She shrugged. "When my mother died, I cried and I cried. Finally, my Uncle's wife yelled at me and then slapped me across the cheek." Liz touched her cheek in remembrance. "She told me that big girls don't cry and if I didn't shut up she would hit me again." Liz laughed off the memory. "And I never cried again. It wasn't that I feared being hit, but rather I hated disappointing someone."
Mack leaned against the fence. "How old were you?"
"I was six," she said, staring off at the woods.
"And if you haven't cried since?"
"A tear once in awhile, but except for tonight, never." She started crying again, "I hate him."
"Who is this guy?" he asked her, holding her against his chest. "I promise our team can diffuse anyone. No matter how powerful they are."
She looked up at him. "A distracted soldier is a dead soldier. Isn't that the wives' motto?"
"Well I wouldn't be distracted if I took care of it." He had his hands on her waist.
"I'll take care of it. Don't worry about it. This isn't a man that a man can fight off. It takes a female touch," she whispered into his ear.
"Well I don't know if I want to share," he said, he went to kiss her but she pulled away.
"That's too bad because for your safety, you're going to have to wait."
"I like danger," he said walking towards her.
"You get enough of that on the field," she said, running away from him, laughing.
He chased after her and finally caught up to her when she was at the edge of the fence. He scooped her up into his arms and kissed her deeply as he put her on a table near by.
"Not here," she whispered.
"Not here, not there, so where?" he whispered kissing her harder.
"Well not here, you could get court-martialed," she whispered back, leaning into his kisses.
"I think it'd be worth it," he said, unclasping her bra.
Pulling away was become more and more difficult. Her heart pounded as her brain tried to reason away out of her feelings. A beam of light coming towards them caught her eyes. "Flashlight," she whispered, quickly redoing her bra.
Mack stood straight up and looked ahead.
"Damn, it's the Colonel."
"Uncle Tom," yelled Liz, waving at him.
"Liz?" he called, walking towards them. "What are you two doing out here."
"Mack was trying to teach me how to shoot straight. He doesn't think you did a very good job," said Liz with a devilish smile.
The Colonel raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? I thought I did a pretty damn good job and so did your grandfather. Maybe we should discuss this tomorrow morning in my office."
"Sir," said Mack, standing at attention ready to explain.
"Relax, Sergeant, my girl's just pulling your leg." Mack glared at Liz. "I was actually just going out to my car when I heard shooting and I wanted to see what it was."
"You're working late. Assignment?" asked Liz, handing her gun to Mack. The Colonel nodded as Liz's cell phone went off. "I'll be right back," she said, walking away.
"I actually was on my way over to your house. You've been invited," he said handing the invitation to Mack.
Mack opened the white embossed invitation and looked confused. "The Pentagon Christmas Gala? Since when did we get invited formally to this-."
The Colonel cleared his throat. "Liz's grandfather requested that the Alpha Unit be invited this year for their outstanding services."
"Colonel I'd rather eat bullets than eat one hors d'oeuvre at this thing."
Liz walked over and saw the invitation. "They arrived! What do you think?" She gave him a stern look, "And don't say a waste of paper."
"I don't usually go to this stuff, none of the guys do."
"Well, you'll have to make an exception. Uncle Tom, are you going to be my date?"
"I wish but your grandfather has me escorting the recent widow of Rear Admiral Bernard. Maybe Mack can take you."
"Will you be my date?" she asked, looking at him.
"I'm not going," he said.
She hit him on the arm. "Uncle Tom, can you have him court-martialed for that?"
"Refusing the most beautiful woman on base, I'm sure there's a rule somewhere he broke."
Mack sighed. "If I have to go, I want to take you."
"That'll do."
The Colonel watched the two intently and sighed. "Mack, the team's meeting in thirty minutes. You might want to go home and get ready."
"All right."
"We still on for lunch tomorrow?" asked Liz.
"At 1200?" Tom asked as he walked away.
"At Not Your Average Joe's."
"I'll be there. Good night."
"Thirty minutes, that's plenty of time," she said, stepping closer to him.
"I thought not here?"
"That's before I knew you were leaving in thirty minutes."
"The Private did leave the distribution booth empty," he said smirking.
"I like the way you think," she grabbed his hand and dragged him into the cramped area. He sat down in the office chair and pulled her onto his lap. She kissed him, until he wasn't sure he could take it anymore.
"You're too good at that," he said, as she tugged her sweatshirt off. She had all ready pulled her jeans off. He cupped her butt as she slid down onto his lap.
"Let me tell you a secret," she whispered into his ear as she kissed his neck. "I've never done this before."
He grabbed her head and kissed her. "That's a lie." His cell phone went off and unfortunately it was set on loud and vibrate. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, taking it out of his pocket. "Gerhardt," he said.
"Meeting in ten minutes."
"All right, I'll be right there." He shut his phone and kept his hands on Liz's waist. "Can you wait till I get back?"
She smiled and kissed him on the lips, forcing her way into his mouth and then tugged on his lip as she ended the kiss. She stood up and pulled on her clothes. "The question, Sergeant Major, is can you?" She sauntered out the room with a smile on her lips. "I'll see you soon if not at the Christmas party."
Mack sat in the chair for a few moments, his body unwilling to move. "Well, hell if that isn't a distraction."
Please Review
