Disclaimer: Yeah, come on, I still don't own it. I'm writing my own stuff while I do this for fun. That stuff and any characters you don't recognize I own.

Author's Note: Brownie points to those who can guess why I named the chapter this way. Enjoy!

100 Degrees Centigrade

Sonya was in Quan Chi's fortress strapped to a slab of chipped marble by leather restraints. She looked to her left to see Jax standing over Johnny twirling a long and thin pole in his metal hands. On her right side, she saw Raiden and the necromancer battling it out with each other. From her angle, the Thunder God was losing terribly. She tried to loosen her wrists from the binds before Sub-Zero shoots another blast of ice in her direction. "Shit!" she moaned, hissing from the freezing temperatures.

"You are at our mercy!" he informed her in his robotic voice.

"Oh please, as if Humpty Dumpty has a real say in this!" Johnny mocked. His punishment was a fire ball to his feet, eliciting a blood curdling scream. "Fuck you, Scorpion!"

She cringed at his pain as her heart rate increased rapidly. "Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Jax," she tried reasoning with them again, "this isn't like you. Please, I know you're in there somewhere. Quan Chi is using you!"

Jax stalked over to Sonya. "And Raiden played you like fools!" he yelled at her. She gulped audibly as he raised his arms above his head.

"Jax, no!" she begged him as her contents of her stomach began to churn uncomfortably. She fought the urge to vomit down as she looked into his red eyes. "Jax," she whispered.

"You should join us," he says before bringing his arms down…

Sonya abruptly wakes up at exactly 4:48 am with wide eyes and a grumbling stomach. "Stop," she whispers into the air at her body. The past couple of days have been a nightmare for her. She has never experienced extreme illness in her life until now.

Her stomach doesn't settle down after fifteen minutes of lying completely still; she notices the now familiar feeling of bile rising to her throat and she makes a mad dash to her personal bathroom to empty the little contents of her body for what she feels is the umpteenth time this week. "Fuck," she curses, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Her cell rings and she glances at the ID to see Sandy calling her. "Blade," she snaps when she answers the phone.

"Uh… hi? Sorry if I caught you at a bad time. I was just wondering if you spoke to Valdez about my warrant officer training?"

Shit. "I'll let him know in a bit, Sandy," she tells her charge. Her stomach rumbles again and she begs her body to settle down.

Sandy is also quiet on the phone. "Oh," she says softly after a few moments of awkward silence. "I thought I was getting training today, that's all."

Her epiphany hits her like a ton of bricks. "Oh… shit," Sonya moans. "I forgot." Sonya can tell Sandy seems disappointed. "I promise to make it up to you. I'm so sorry."

"Is everything okay, Blade-y?"

Sonya closes her eyes, fighting off another wave of nausea. "Yeah," she lies. She's about to throw up again, so she says, "I gotta go," in a rush. She pushes her head into the toilet bowl once again.

And for the first time in almost ten years, she takes a personal day.

Hours later in a dressing room inside of a banquet hall, Johnny grunts miserably as he tries to fix the bow tie around his neck. "Piece of shit," he grumbles again as he undoes it and starts over.

"I told you let me help you, Cage," Chuck says, arms folded conceitedly.

"Fuck off, Montgomery," Johnny barks at him. Frustrated, he throws the tie on the floor and steps on it, digging the ball of his foot into the ground. "Why the fuck am I even here?!"

"Because Brian—" Chuck starts.

"Did I ask for your opinion?!" Johnny snaps at him.

Stasi bursts into the room huffing. "If you guys don't shut the fuck up in here!" she yells at them.

"What the hell's got your panties in a bunch, Chambers?"

"The fucking bitch of an expecting mother, that's who!"

Johnny huffs again. Even though she was already legally married, Cindy invited them to the ceremony and reception of her nuptials. "Is it too late to fake being sick? I am pretty convincing," Johnny asks Stasi.

She narrows her eyes at him. "If I have to suffer, then so do you."

"This is stupid," Johnny grouses miserably. Stasi picks up his discarded tie and wraps it around his neck. "Thank you, doll. You're the best."

"I thought Sonya was the best?" she teases him as Chuck grumbles and leaves the room.

Johnny smiles. "She's the best at a lot of things, but you're one of the bests at being a sister."

"Speaking of, how's Becca anyway?"

"She's great. She's livin' her life in San Diego," he explains, smirking at the thought of his little sister and her new family. "Cameron is a handsome little dude. Looks just like his uncle," he brags.

Stasi laughs as she pets the new bow she created. "You plan on giving him cousins to play with?"

Johnny's eyes widen in shock, something she giggles uncontrollably at. "No? I don't know."

"You know, for supposedly dating Sonya, there's a lot about your relationship you're unsure about."

"Uh… I'm not even entirely sure we're even dating, if we're being totally honest," he laments.

Stasi rolls her eyes at Johnny. "Jesus Christ dude. Have you guys even talked?"

He snorts as he fusses with his hair. "If by talk you mean have sex, then yeah, we did a lot of talking."

She stops applying lip gloss long enough to cast a scathing look at him through the mirror. "Oh, my God. I could've done without the image, bro."

He laughs at her incensed face. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. No, but seriously, we're just… it's weird. We're exclusive in the sense that I'm not dating anyone else but her and she's not dating anyone else but me. Other than that, I… well, I want to make her my wife eventually, but I'm not entirely sure how well it'll play out.

"I tried the whole marriage thing once before," he continues as she sits down and listens intently. "Look how well that worked out. And if Cindy wants to give it another shot with someone else, then that's her prerogative. But me? I'm not sure I'm ready for a second round of do-si-do around the nuptial bush."

"And yet, you know enough to wanna risk it with her. I think it says a lot about how you feel," she reminds him.

He shrugs. "Yeah, true," he concedes. "What do you think I should do?"

"Be honest with her. Tell her what you want. But you also should take into consideration that she might not take you up on your offer," she warns him.

He nods. "Yeah I know. So, just tell her how I feel but you know, no pressure," he clarifies.

She nods in response. "Exactly."

Sonya's personal day turns into a personal week with Blake giving her another week off from her duties, so she finds herself sneaking into his condo on a brisk Tuesday in early March. She walks around his condo wearing his favorite Terry cloth robe until she falls asleep on his couch.

A few hours later, Johnny returns home to see a pair of legs kicked up on his couch. His defenses immediately go up and sparks his glowing fists; he's had random fans breaking into his home before, so he's not taking any chances. She hears his breathing and goes for her desert eagle on his dresser, pointing it at his head without sitting up. "State your business," she growls.

"State yours first!" he yells.

She sits up and lowers her weapon. "Oops?" she squeaks.

"Sonya?!"

"Hi Johnny!" she greets him excitedly, finally sitting up to see his confused and angry face. "Sorry," she adds.

The glow around his fists disappears and he lowers his arms. "Nice to see you too, honey," he mumbles, rubbing his face.

She stands up and wraps her arms around his neck. "Sorry I scared you. I thought someone was breaking in."

Unable to stay mad at her, he hugs her waist and lifts her gently from the floor. "That's okay, babe. Glad to know you're ready to protect me from any threats."

They let go and she sits back on the couch, scooting over and putting her legs in his lap. "It's part of my job."

"Oh yeah?" he jokes. His smile falls flat. "Oh, right…" he sobers up.

She scoots closer to him and kisses his neck. "Nobody gets past Johnny Cage unless they're ready to deal with Major Blade," she says, snuggling closer to him. He strokes her hair tenderly with a pensive look on his face. "What's on your mind?"

"You," is his simple answer. She looks up at him. "Well, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while," he starts.

"Uh oh," she mumbles.

"Hush. Anyway, I was wondering if you want to make us official?"

She stares at him with a goofy grin on her face. "Do you have to ask?"

He looks down at her and smirks. "What do you think?"

She climbs into his lap, straddling him. "Sure, I'll be your girlfriend. But don't get crazy," she warns him.

He laughs. "Says the woman sitting on my lap." She closes the distance between them with a kiss. He pulls her closer before twisting them around so he's on top of her. "Not that I mind," he adds between kisses. "Because I missed you."

She moans and rubs herself against him. "I missed you, too." Before they can get into it, she feels her stomach lurch and she springs up from the couch, accidentally head butting him. "Ouch, fuck," she groans for more than one reason. Without explaining herself, she runs into his bathroom and throws up again.

Alarmed, Johnny stands by the door and knocks softly. "Baby?"

"Don't call me that!" she berates him before throwing up some more. He raises an eyebrow at her. "Sorry, I've been feeling weird lately."

He pauses. "Do… do you wanna talk about it?" he asks carefully.

She sighs. "It's nothing. Sandy took me to some restaurant and I don't think the food agreed with me very much."

"Want me to sue them?" he asks, laughing softly. When she doesn't respond, he clears his throat and says, "Sorry, I shouldn't joke like that. Want me to make you some tea?"

"Please," she moans from his bathroom.

Sonya comes back to the base facing a multitude of paperwork on her desk ready to be filled out. "For fuck's sake!" she complains as she grabs the top folder and begins to skim through it. It turns out to be her final paperwork needing to be done before she takes another trip to the Netherrealm. They're so close, so close to finding Quan Chi and bringing him to justice. And bringing Jax back to Vera, she thinks to herself.

She and Vera formed a kindship as they both mourned the loss of a best friend and husband respectively. Having been afraid of getting her hopes up just to dash them, Sonya kept the prospect of being able to resurrect Jax a secret from Vera until she was sure she was able to fully bring him back home.

She comes back to Earth when someone knocks at her door. "Enter," she tells the person. Sandy walks in accompanied by Major Valdez. "Oh, shit, I forgot about your training again!" she whines, slapping a hand over her face in embarrassment.

"That's okay. I have all the paperwork now," Valdez informs her as he hands her a thick folder. "You think you can get it back to me by the end of today?"

Sonya growls lowly as she snatches the folder from him. "I'll try, only because it's for Pierson, not for you," she tells him nastily. Slamming the papers on her desk, she rubs her temples in a circular motion. After a few minutes, she sees the two still in her office. "Anything else, Valdez?" She snaps, trying to fight her unreasonable anger down.

Sandy blinks at her C.O. "N-no Blade-y… I mean Major," Sandy answers her obediently.

"Fine. You're dismissed Valdez. I still need to speak with you, Pierson," she says and narrows her eyes after Valdez leaves her office. "Ugh, he's such a Goddamn know it all prick!"

"But he's nice!" Sandy defends him. Sonya squints at her charge. "Sonya, what's gotten into you?"

Sonya gapes at the usage of her name by Sandy. "I… what do you mean?"

Sandy sits in the chair opposite Sonya and places her elbow on the desk. "You've been extra snippy with people lately. I can understand you being nasty to Blake, or Richardson, or maybe even Valdez to a certain extent. But why me?"

Sonya blinks back tears. There's a first. "I don't really know," she answers after a long pause. "I'm just… I'm worried about not being able to end the war with the other realms, I guess."

"The pressure of bringing your friends home alive is getting to you, huh?" Sandy asks gently. Sonya nods. "I guess I can understand that. But I feel like there's something else. Is everything okay with you and Johnny?"

Sonya nods again. "Yeah, everything is great though I've been kinda short with him as well. He understands."

Sandy frowns and takes a seat across from Sonya. "Then… shit, I don't know what else. Unless…" Sandy taps her chin thoughtfully, staring at Sonya. Sonya doesn't notice her pointed stare until she looks up from her papers. She raises an eyebrow at Sandy. "Um… are you on birth control?"

Sonya's eyes go wide as she drops her pen in shock. "Have you lost your actual fucking mind, woman?!"

"That's not answering my question, Blade-y," Sandy teases. Sonya growls. "Are you?"

"I know what you're trying to insinuate Cassandra. The answer is no."

"Pfft, you don't know what I was trying to insinuate," Sandy defends herself. Sonya narrows her eyes. "Okay, okay, maybe I was. It's the only other explanation I could think of, okay? Mood swings and irritability," Sandy starts.

"I'm almost always cranky. People are fucking incompetent, all right?"

"Crazy cravings at the most inconvenient of times," Sandy continues.

"I do not!" Sonya squawks.

"And getting sick suddenly when I know you have a stomach of virtual steel," she finishes.

Sonya growls again. "That stupid Chinese buffet you took me to sucked!"

Sandy gasps. "It does not suck!" she yelps defensively. Sonya rolls her eyes and signs off on a document. "And plus, I thought you hated bananas! And oranges! Since when would you ever drink a banana orange smoothie?"

Sonya pauses. "I," Sonya begins before closing her mouth. "Fuck," she mumbles. Sandy hitches an eyebrow in return. "I'm not because you're missing the most vital tell-tale sign."

"Oh yeah? Because we accidentally synced up. I'm on my period. What's your excuse?"

Sonya's heart sinks to the floor of her stomach. "I… it's… it's on its way," she says pitifully. It is, she reasons internally. "Sometimes my period comes late due to stress. I mean… my friends are still stuck in the Netherrealm! My best friend, Sandy, is not himself in another realm. Don't you think I have a reason to stress? Because it's the biggest source of my stress."

Sandy sighs. "I know, I know," she concedes. Sonya folds her arms and leans back in her chair. Sandy puts her head down. "I know you're older and my commanding officer and stuff, but I still worry about you. I just wanna make sure you're okay."

Sonya leans forward and pats Sandy's hand gently. "I know. And thank you, I appreciate it." A few moments of silence pass them. Then, "I won't forget about your training this time, I swear. I need to finish this paperwork first."

"No problem. Just know it's not me rushing you. It's Valdez," Sandy tells her. Sonya growls once more. "Will you calm down, Blade?"

"He's such a—" Sonya starts before Sandy gives her a death glare. "Fine. Only because you have a crush on him."

It's Sandy's turn to look scandalized. "I do not!" she squeaks. Sonya snickers evilly. "I… he's nice to me, okay?"

"Sandy has a crush!" Sonya sing songs. Sandy blushes and covers her face. "Okay, you're dismissed now. I need to finish my paperwork."

"Yeah, if I have a crush on Valdez, then you're having the Johnny Cage's love child," she rebukes as she struts to the door. Sonya narrowly misses hitting Sandy with her tin pencil case. "I love you, too!" Sandy teases from the other side of the door.

"Brat," she complains affectionately.

In Johnny's condo, Sonya sneaks out of bed and tiptoes into his kitchen. She opens his fridge and finds a container of strawberries and a can of whipped cream. Squealing softly with glee, she grabs the whipped cream and sprays an obscene amount into her mouth. "Oh, my God," she mumbled in relief after swallowing. "Wow, that's tasty," she says as she sprays some more into her mouth.

Unbeknownst to her, Johnny is watching her with an amused smirk on his face and his arms folded. Cutting her fun short, he whistles softly but sharply. She freezes, whipped cream crammed in her mouth and dripping down her chin. She turns to him with what she thinks is a sheepish grin on her face. "Having fun?" She struggles to come up with a rebuttal while trying to finish her mouthful. "Slowly Sonya. Don't choke woman."

He laughs as she's struggling to finish. When she finally does, she snaps, "Oh, shut up!" Unfortunately, some remnants enter her windpipe and she begins coughing uncontrollably. "It was tasty," she rasps.

He lightly rubs her back while shaking his head. "I'm sure it was, babe," he soothes. Taking the container of strawberries from her, he closes the fridge and leads her to the island counters to sit. "I bought that whipped cream for a different reason, but your way works too."

"Pervert," she mutters, clearing her throat.

"Says the naughty vixen who suggested it in the first place," he teases.

Sonya glares at him with a smirk on her face. "I said I wanted to eat it," she reasons.

"Yeah, off my body," he jokes. She pinches him. "Ow! You're such a mean military major!"

"And you're a major pain in the ass," she retorts.

He busts up laughing while pulling her closer. "Aww c'mon babe, I'm just kidding. You do what you want with it."

Sonya rolls her eyes and says, "No duh."

He shakes his head playfully at her. "Why the sudden sweet tooth though?" She shrugs and sprays the remainder of the whipped cream into her mouth. "I'm not judging, I'm just curious. First stealing my milkshake, then practically breaking into my house for ice cream—"

"I told you I misplaced my key!" she defends herself.

"Hush babe, I'm not judging. I'm genuinely curious," he finishes.

She shrugs again. "I really don't know… it's been weird lately. I usually get a sweet tooth when I'm stressed out."

He shrugs, accepting the answer. "Stressed spelled backwards is desserts, so I guess I can see that." They're both quiet for a long while, the sound of the ocean serving as their white noise. Then Johnny asks, "I'm not sure how ready I am to go back to the Netherrealm."

She shudders. "Don't remind me," she moans as she covers her eyes. He pulls her closer and hugs her. "I've had these awful nightmares about what could possibly happen." She feels him tense up slightly. "I'm sorry. I don't want to put the negative energy into the universe. But I'm genuinely scared. Can you blame me?"

"What, blame you for being human?" he inquires. She nods against him. "Honey, of course you're allowed to be scared. This thing is so much bigger than us. The war that is," he tells her grimly.

She sighs. "I know. I really want to punch him."

"Humpty Dumpty, right?"

She laughs despite herself. "You're an idiot," she giggles while slapping his leg. He stands up and holds out his hand for her to take, which she does. When she's standing, he pulls her closer to him and breathes in her scent. "I'm still scared," she mumbles into his robe.

"I know, babe," he soothes. "I am, too."

"We're going back on Thursday," she informs him, hugging him around his waist. "I don't want to lose you."

Knowing (or thinking he knows) her statement was as close to hearing her admit any feelings for him, he squeezes her tighter. "I don't want us to lose each other."

A/N: Aaaaannnnddddddddddddd cue Sonya's flashback scene when they finally, finally release Jax, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero from Quan Chi's control. How will any of them deal with three out of many of the fighters back to their normal selves? Read, review, and stay tuned as always.