„I haven´t seen him since were back, but I´m sure he´ll make it. John´s a tough bastard." Ghost answered her with a smile.
"Good." Julia simply replied and closed her eyes again.
The room went silent again and the only thing Ghost heard was her steady breathing. Ghost looked into her face, recognizing she was crying silently. The tears just rolled down her face and Ghost didn´t know what to do. Should he wipe them away? Would she allow it? Why was she crying? Was it because he told her he didn´t know how Soap was doing? Or did she cry ´cause she recognized what she did? Was the whole situation too much for her to handle?
Unsure Ghost raised one of his hands, approached her cheek and as he touched her skin gently she opened her eyes again, staring up into his. Ghost froze in his movement and returned her look for a while, trying to figure out what he saw in her eyes. He couldn´t get a clue and removed his hand from her cheek. Somehow ashamed he dropped his eyes and stared at his hand, which still laid on top of hers. She has loosened her grip around it and Ghost slowly started to remove his hand. As he did it he leaned back in his seat, tilted his head back and closed his eyes.
"I did it to save him." Surprised Ghost looked back to Julia, who has spoken.
"What?" He asked, watching her get up and sit on the edge of the bed.
"I shot Andrew to save Soap." She responded, smiling afflicted.
"He would have killed him if I hadn´t done anything. I looked Soap in the eyes and told him I was sorry and that I didn´t know him, but I didn´t mean him. I meant Andrew. He wasn´t himself anymore. He was out of his mind; he even said he didn´t do it for Makarov." Julia shook her head.
"Although he knew Makarov´s dead. I think he was caught in his own world. He was that much out to kill Soap that he displaced reality and made his own. A reality where he was one of the good guys, a reality where Makarov was still alive." She snorted, shaking her head again.
"He even made me believe that he was still in love with me. I really believed him that he wanted to live a normal life with me; for a short moment I even thought about shooting Soap and flee with Andrew."
"But you did the right thing!" Ghost leaned forward and placed his hands on hers, trying to cheer her up.
"I know but it still feels strange. I never thought about shooting someone I care for. If I only had known you were in the building, maybe Andrew would be alive right now."
"Julia! He captured you and Soap. Why do you regret what you did? He got what he deserved." Ghost raised his voice a bit in anger.
"I know! Damn Simon, I know he didn´t deserve to get away with all the shit he did but you have to understand my point of view. He was my first love and to tell you the truth as I was alone with him he acted like the man I fell in love with. I even assumed I would have a better life with him." She told him and pulled her hands away from his, crossing them in front of her chest.
Ghost shook his head, of course he was aware of the fact that she had feelings for her ex-boyfriend. He could tell it from her reaction as Price checked if Andrew was dead, but she needed to get over her suppose that she did something wrong. Sure Ghost wouldn't have shot Andrew in the head and kill him, he would´ve shot him in the legs or the arms, to harm him but even if Julia served in the military, she still was only a nurse. What she did was probably the only way she knew to stop him. He looked pitiful at her and once more he tried to make contact with her. He stood up from his seat and placed himself next to her on the bedside. He put one arm around her shoulder and pulled her onto his chest. First Julia didn´t move, her arms stayed crossed in front of her chest, but as Ghost rested his head on hears and whispered something to her, she sighted and flung her arms around his waist.
"How you´re doing?" Price asked Roach as the Soldier entered the infirmary´s group room.
"I´m fine Sir. How´s the Captain doing?" Roach asked as he took a seat next to Price, looking curious.
"The doctor said he had luck. If Andrew had strangled him a few minutes longer he would be death right now." Price answered him and smiled slightly.
"That´s good to hear, so Julia saved him twice?"
"Yes, you could say that." Price spoke, stood up and walked over to coffee dispenser, which was next to the entry.
"Want some?" He asked Roach as he poured himself a cup of coffee. The Sergeant just shook his head and with a shrug of his shoulders Price walked back and sat down again.
"So, I heard Anna´s going to be your personal nurse." Price stated as he took a sip.
"Yes, she said she´s going to watch over me night and day." Roach answered a little embarrassed, he didn´t want to talk with Price about his daughter.
"Well then. I wish you luck with her." Price said smiling.
"What do you mean?" Roach asked him concerned.
"You see Roach. As my daughter was younger she always got what she wanted. She annoyed me and my wife so long till we backed down. I know I haven´t seen her for six years but the last days I recognized her character hasn´t changed much. All I can tell you is to not try to argue with her, she won´t listen to you anyways." Price explained and watched Roach switch uncomfortable in his seat.
"No need to get nervous. Just think about my words." Price patted Roach on his back and went back to his drink.
Great. Could it get any worse? I´m absolutely not in the mood to get treated like a little child. Why is she doing this to me? I haven´t done anything wrong, have I? Anna´s a cute girl, I give her that, but I don´t really know her. What if she annoys me and I tell her that? What will Price do to me if I break her heart? Wait…break her heart? Whoa, you´re too hasty Gary. It´s not like she´s in love with me. She only told me that I´m cute, nothing more. I still wonder why she told me this, I mean look at me. I have this huge burn marks all over my face and their absolutely not cute. Gosh, I should stop thinking about this kind of stuff.
Gary shook his head to clear it from his thoughts. He was happy that Anna hasn´t followed him as he left the room and told her he just need to go to the toilet. However he was sure it wouldn´t take long till she recognized he had lied to her and she would start to look out for him. As he heard footsteps coming closer, he stopped breathing, he was sure Anna was on her way to this room and he waited for the door to open. He stared at the door, seeing the door handle got pushed down and within a second someone stepped into the room.
Relieved Gary let out the air he was holding; it was Ghost. He eyed his friend as he approached the table and sat down next to Gary.
"Where have you been?" Gary asked him, seeing Ghost looked very tired.
"I was with Julia." Ghost answered yawning.
"How´s she doing?"
"I think she´s doing better now. She blamed herself for shooting Andrew, thinking she did something wrong. But I could convince her that she did the only right thing, she fell asleep not long ago. I wanted to pay Soap a visit as the doctor told me you were in here. Want to join me?" Ghost asked, standing up again.
"Yes, of course." Gary stated and got up too.
"What about you Price?" Gary asked looking down to his superior.
Price just nodded, stood up and followed his two teammates out of the room.
Soap sat in the bed of the treatment room he was in, trying to eat something. The doctor had given him some kind of mashed fruits and a chicken stock, not really what the Captain would call a good meal. But Soap didn´t complain, his whole throat was burning and it was hard for him to swallow, so this were probably the only things he would taste in the near future. The doctor wasn´t a one for softening the facts; he had told Soap that the burning would probably remain for a couple of weeks. His voice was also affected, Soap could speak but his voice sounded very croaky. He also felt to have a lump in his throat, which made him harrumph every now and then, only to feel that the pressure remained.
As Soap finished his meal he stood up from his bed and stretched his back. He inspected the whole room but didn´t see anything interesting; the room didn´t even have a TV. In frustration he looked out of the window and saw it was still dark outside. He hung his head and propped his hands on the ledge, thinking about what to do. Maybe he should leave the room and check on the others, he hadn´t seen anybody from the 141 since they were back, but maybe the all went to sleep as they got back. Soap looked up again, maybe he should check on Julia. He had heard the doctor speaking about her. Was it true that she had an emotional brake down? He also heard the doctor say that he had checked her whole body and that he discovered something from her that confuses him a lot.
Soap was about to leave the room as someone knocked on his door. Surprised he told the one in front of the room to come in and sat back on his bed, maybe the doctor had come to check on him once more. He prepared himself to give the doctor an annoyed look, as he realized it was Price who knocked. Soap´s face lit up and he smiled as he saw that Ghost and Roach had come too.
The three men entered the room and surrounded their Captain, looking released at him.
"How are you?" Price asked and leaned himself against the cupboard next to the bed.
"I´ve been better but I´m fine, thanks." Soap answered still smiling.
"Good to hear. So how long will you have to stay here?"
"Till tomorrow. I would leave immediately but the doctor already gave me a tongue-lashing of the consequences from my injury and so I backed down and promised him to stay till tomorrow." Soap couldn´t avoid to roll his eyes as he remembered how upset the doctor was.
"But you haven´t come her to ask me this. What´s wrong?" Soap asked, knowing that Price wanted something else.
Price sighted deeply, pushed himself away from the cupboard and placed himself in front of Soap, looking very serious.
"I need to ask you something personal!" Price stated.
"Ok!" Soap just replied.
"Did Andrew force you to sleep with her?"
"With who?"
"Julia."
"No, why you ask?"
"The doctor found out she have had sex not long ago!" Price answered and closed his eyes.
"You know what this means."
Ghost who had listened to the words which were spoken looked at Price with angry eyes.
"You mean Andrew raped her?" Ghost yelled in frustration.
Price just shook his head and took a deep breathe.
"No, the doctor hasn´t found any sign that the sexual act happened violently."
"Wait, you say she wanted to sleep with him?" Now it was Gary who asked surprised and earned a nod from Price.
"That means she was still in love with him?"
"I don´t…" Price began to speak but was cut off from Ghost.
"Yes, she was."
"You know?"
"Yes, she told me, but she didn´t mention that she had sex with him."
"What else did she tell you?" Price asked him very curious.
"She told me he talked about Makarov. He said he didn´t want to kill Soap for Makarov."
"What? That´s pathetic. Makarov´s dead."
"I know and she told me that Andrew only imagined that Makarov is still alive; she said Andrew had lived in his own reality. But what if Andrew was right? What if Makarov somehow managed to survive?" Ghost asked.
Everyone in the room stared at Price, who was thinking deeply. Could it be? Was there any chance that Makarov was alive?