As promised a better chapter than the last one... and as said before if you could vote on my poll I would be greatly appreciated... And of course review... this is the chapter I know the majority of you all have been waiting for so enjoy ;) xoxoxoxo

It had been a month since the Africa mission. Ever since the mission ended, Sarge was quite and standoffish towards me. Goat and Destroyer were please with the situation and the way things went down, even if it resulted in them getting hurt. John, well, John had been somewhat ignoring me, well rather avoiding me. I would walk into a room and he would make up an excuse to get out. He was either really embarrassed about the situation that happened in Africa, or he was just falling hard for me. I don't mean to sound cocky but I was used to this sort of thing, but mostly from computer nerds that never bathed. They're human too don't get me wrong but they were easier to ignore, rather than a pretty damn hot Marine. But this little charade of his was getting on my nerves.

"Hey Maddie, are you going to come run laps with us?" Duke asked as he was tying on his running shoes. I stood up and touched my side, a little bit of pain shot through my midsection.

"Not today. Think I'm going to go lift weights and make it a little stronger. At least the muscles around it so it doesn't break easier." I said. Ever since my last broken rib stint everyone decided to let me slide by on the running and some of the other exercise's, not wanting to make the bones weaker, or not heal properly. Duke nodded and was about to run out the door, but not before he playfully hit me and made me fall onto my bed. I glared up at him as he gave his infamous smirk and jogged out the door. I got up and walked to the gym. Everyone was out running laps giving me a little one on one with the equipment. I walked in and sat at a bench. I grabbed a 20 lb. weight and began to lift it up with one hand over and over again, then with the other hand. I set it down and got up walking to the pull up bar. Not sure if I should attempt to do a pull up with my rib situation I stared at the bar as if it was growing something around it, weighing the consequences.

"Don't even think about it." A very familiar voice said from the doorway of the gym. I spun around to see John standing there.

"I was just thinking about it, I wasn't actually going to do it." I said, ignoring the fact that these were his first words to me in a month.

"Yeah, right." he said as he walked to the gym storage room carrying a bunch of nets. I looked at the nets then up at him. "Some kids left them on the outside of the building. Sarge wanted me to bring them in." he said. I shook my head acting like I actually cared, I was actually surprised he was talking to me. As soon as he opened the storage room door I walked over to it, trapping him inside.

"Okay, since I have you trapped, you have no choice but to hear me out." I said as I leaned against the door. He spun around and rolled his eyes.

"Fine." he said bluntly.

"I don't know why you have been ignoring me for the last month but its got to stop. We're suppose to be a team. Now I know what happened in Africa was- well- different but-" I said as I was interrupted by John rushing towards me and crashing his lips to mine. Shocked, it took me a few seconds to realize what he was doing before I could react. My lips began to move against his as I melted into the kiss. His hands began to roam around as well as mine. I found the end of his shirt and pulled it up over his head. He repeated the same action to me. We continued to kiss as he unbuttoned my jeans and lifted me onto a shelf that once held the nets he had just brought in. The kissing became more passionate and was soon forgotten in a world that John and I were slowly creating.

…...

"Shhh! I think I hear someone." I said as John and I stood against one another laughing and breathing deeply. When the noise turned out to be nothing we continued to chuckle at our sneakiness.

"So, how long have you been waiting to do that?" I asked him. He smiled and kissed my lips.

"For a couple months now. Probably ever since before Thailand." he said as he began to kiss my neck.

"Nice going, Reaper." I said. "How long before?" He gave me a frustrated look. "What I am a girl after all. I like to know these things." He sighed and opened his mouth a couple of times.

"I started to want you, around the time you were healing from Burma." he said looking down. I looked at the wall behind him trying to calculate the amount of time that had gone by. My eyes widened and I looked at John.

"3 months?" I said in shock. "You just barely met me!" He rolled his eyes.

"I didn't act upon it now did I? And I am a guy after all." he said mocking my tone from before. I rolled my eyes and kissed his lips.

"I'm going to go take a shower." I said as I gathered my clothes and put them on haphazardly.

"Can I join you?" he asked as he put his pants on. I laughed.

"You just rocked my world and your asking to do it again?" I asked. He gave my a sly look and a small smirk. "Fuck yeah, you can." I said as we chased each other to the shower stalls.