Hey all, I just want to say, I have officially decided to end Alison's first person POV for the rest of the story. I used it so you could see a bit more of what she was thinking and get into places when she and Roach were hundreds of miles away. So, it's all back to Roach now. And, this chapter has almost no editing, I'm sorry. I just felt like I haven't posted in forever, and just wanted to get this out there. And I am still beta-less. So, working on that right now :-/
Roach wandered down the hall, peeking in the empty doors until he found one that was closed. He was currently on the hunt to find Matvei, and do what he knew was needed. An apology, and explanation, and then demand an explanation of his own. He had a feeling the boy would be sticking around for a while, and if so, Roach knew things needed to be set straight. The third door he tried opened, and through the dark he saw a figure lying on the bed. Judging by the size, it had to be Matvei. Roach's hand took a few seconds to grope for the light switch, and was rewarded when if flicked on. He saw Matvei immediately, and saw the boy cringe back from the suddenness of the bright light. Roach sat down in the near identical plastic chair next to the bed, and waited for his eyes to adjust.
While he blinked, Roach took a quick inventory of his health. He had been in relative good health, and the only thing that he was hindered by was an IV in his arm, which surely would be gone soon. He had a few deep scratches that were patched up as well, but Roach had about the same, and definitely nothing close to Alison or Ice. He finally looked over to Roach, and when he did, he startled. His eyes were left wide, and his breaths were coming in little gasps as he calmed down a bit. Roach waited for him to calm down a bit more before he spoke. To Roach's surprise, he didn't manage to make eye contact again, his small body seeming to cringe away from Roach. Surprised, Roach cleared his throat and started to speak.
"Hey, Matvei, please, look up at me. Please, buddy, I'm begging you." Roach actually found a hint of the want he had for the boy to understand him, make peace with him. Matvei's head barely turned, and Roach was surprised to see eyes that were shining with tears threatening to spill over the brim. Confusion filled his mind when he thought of the boy who had done so much for them, why he could possibly be crying now. He gently prodded the boy into words.
"Hey, Matvei, I need to talk to you, but you need to tell me what's wrong first." When Matvei didn't respond quickly, Roach snapped a bit.
"Matvei! Talk to me." Roach saw the boy cringe back and snap his eyes back down to the sheets on top of him. Roach ran a hand through his hair, trying to push any cruelness in his voice aside.
"Matvei, talk to me, whatever it is. If it is about how much you hate me, I don't care. Just tell me. Nothing bad will come from it." Roach sighed when Matvei looked up to him, but to he was surprised once again when he saw the tears finally escape. Matvei did manage to stutter a few words though.
"You lie. You're lying to me." Roach's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to make sense of the words the boy was speaking. Why would he assume that anything said was a lie? Roach tried to make sense of what Matvei was saying, but only came to the conclusion he had to ask another question.
"Lying about what Matvei? That I don't care? I honestly don't. You have plenty of reasons to hate me. I apologize." The words were spoken with immense sincerity, and Roach could feel it deep in his heart. If he had honestly frightened the boy to tears, sorry was something that was due. But the words didn't seem to soothe Matvei in the least. Stuttered, poorly spoken words slid from the boy's mouth in a sudden flood as soon as Roach let out a sigh.
"Y-you are lying about not hurting me. I know what will happen now. Once you have what you need to know, I am of no use. Of c-course. I a-am the enemy. I know of y-you Americans. You get r-rid of your enemies quickly. I w-won't hide information, I p-promise you! J-just please, be q-quick with it." Roach's head spun as he tried to take in all the words that Matvei practically screamed. His eyes had gone wide and his breaths shallow, each sentence seeming to make it harder for him to think. Roach couldn't even connect the pieces of what the boy was saying. He didn't want to frighten Matvei anymore, so Roach tried the soothing tone again.
"I don't understand. You don't have to hide it with riddles. Just say it." The brows on his head furrowed as Matvei tried to swallow back tears that were coming much heavier now. The boy's words came out in much the same way as before.
"I a-am not welcome here. O-once you h-have found the information t-that you w-want from me, y-you will kill me. I j-just beg of you, b-be q-quick about it. I w-will not h-hide a-anything." Suddenly, everything made sense to Roach. Of course, the boy must have been raised to think that. The Americans were bad, and would kill and torture any that fell into their grasp. And then, of course, they would be killed. That was what Matvei believed was coming now. He knew everything, and was in the heart of the enemy's camp, in his mind, a prisoner. The only logical thing that could come to his brainwashed mind would be death. And now, he was begging for it to be swift while the only thing Roach wanted was forgiveness for the way he had acted. Roach knew there was no time to waste in soothing Matvei's nerves, so Roach grasped his hand with a firm grip. Matvei flinched back at first, but Roach held firm. Roach looked straight into the watery, heartbroken eyes, and spoke the words that he hoped would snap Matvei from his fear.
"Matvei, listen to me. No one here would lay a single hand on you, much less kill you. You are only a boy, you are innocent. You saved us, Alison. We would all be dead now if it wasn't for you. If anything, I owe you. You have nothing to fear from me, or anyone here." Roach knew his words were true, but the way that Matvei was frozen and the suspecting glint in his eyes told Roach that the boy didn't believe a word he spoke. Matvei swallowed, and spoke again.
"I am not innocent. I have hurt innocent men, I have killed. I only just brought myself to free your friend, Alison. And I know you are lying. I will be dead before the end of the month." Roach shook his head, and tried to continue on with what he had originally come to Matvei for. The apology the young boy deserved.
"You are choosing to ignore me, and that's fine. I will just do what I came here for. An apology. I acted out on you, and I hurt you. I didn't have any right to do that. I judged you too quickly because of where you came from, and besides, Alison is very close to me. I think of her as a younger sister, someone from my family. I overreacted, was way too overprotective. I know that, and I'm sorry." Searching for any sign of forgiveness in the boy's eyes, Roach waited for some answer. Matvei was silent, and Roach could only sigh. He knew he couldn't force anything from the frightened child, because that was all he was. Still a child, too young to be caught in the war game. Too young to be afraid of death, torture, or anything of the likes. Too young to be afraid of the consequences that came with being 'the enemy.' Roach knew that Alison was too much the same, just too young for everything that she had been through. Things that many a grown man haven't seen or survived, or come back forever scarred. Roach got up, and walked out of the room.
He closed the door gently and turned off the lights once more, and meandered down the hall to Alison's room. He opened the door to see her lying on the bed with her eyes closed and her breaths steady. He smiled and felt a warmth rise in him as she opened her eyes, and smiled weakly at him. Roach was relieved to see she already seemed stronger as she was soon completely awake, and seemed well rested.
"Matvei's fine" he assured her. She smiled even wider, and her mouth opened as if she was about to say something, but the door opened. Roach turned to see who it was, and saw the doctor he talked to earlier. He motioned to Roach, and drew him to the corner of the room. Alison cast Roach a worried glance before he shot her a thumbs up, and then listened to what the doctor had to say.
"Uh, Roach, there are some visitors here. Lots of them. They say they know you and the girl. A, um, John MacTavish, and a few others. Would you and her be willing to see them?" Roach felt weak in the knees at the mention of their names. He nodded vigorously.
"Yes, please send them in." The doctor looked over to Alison out of the corner of his eyes.
"Are you sure she's up to it?" Roach nodded, knowing for a fact that if anything, they would help the healing process. The doctor gave him a disbelieving look, shrugged, and walked out of the room. Roach went back to sit down next to Alison, who immediately asked him a question.
"So, what was that? Is there anything wrong?" Roach shook his head, not being able to say a word because just then, the door opened.
MacTavish walked in, a huge bouquet of flowers under his arm. He saw Roach and Alison sitting there together, and smiled. Roach stood as his Captain neared him, and waited for MacTavish to arrive by the bedside. Alison smiled in awe at seeing someone she knew, someone from her family of soldiers. MacTavish handed her the flowers, and she cradled them in her arms. Roach didn't speak, just watched as the Captain silently surveyed the scene. He seemed to take into account just how injured Alison seemed before he spoke. When he did, his voice was firm as always, though Roach swore he could detect a hint of kindness.
"You know Alison, you are quite a brave girl. You went through a lot, and look at you now! Still smiling, like nothing was wrong. I wanted to make sure that you were all right before I brought in the real surprise I have for you. Do you think that you can handle a big surprise today?" Her eyes widened in anticipation and she nodded. Roach had a feeling he knew exactly what that 'surprise' was. MacTavish walked over to the door, opened it, and Roach watched as almost the entire rest of the team poured into the room.
Ghost came first, followed by Archer and Toad and Meat and everyone else. Dressed in anything from combat uniforms to cargo pants and t-shirts, they came until they seemed to fill the whole room. And it wasn't just themselves either. They all came with full arms bearing gifts for Alison. There were anything from clusters of balloons to cards and flowers to even a few GIGANTIC teddy bears. There was chaos as everyone pushed forward, trying to talk to Alison and give her their gift. Almost all of them stopped by Roach as well, and gave him a greeting.
Though it was like a storm rushing through the room, Roach could see Alison's face. It was glistening with tears of pure joy, and her face looked joyful beyond anything Roach had ever seen. It was almost as if she was a sun lighting up the entire room. When the 'storm' cleared, Alison was near buried. Three teddy bears about half as big as her took up most of the room, one in yellow, another in pink, and the last in purple. There were flowers on the table beside her bed as well as cards, not to mention flowers on her bed too. There were balloons both on the bed and floating above it, and plenty of smaller stuffed animals as well. And some jokester even had got what looked like a cowboy hat and had placed it on the pillow above her head. She was smiling so wide, and her eyes kept shifting from face to face.
To see Alison so happy, Roach was swelling inside with happiness himself. The captain was giving him a knowing glance, and Roach suddenly felt Ghost's presence next to him. Roach didn't have to look back or confirm what he felt. He just knew. The noise died suddenly when Alison opened her mouth and spoke in a tearful, yet happy voice.
"Thank you all so much. There aren't words to say how much I am happy to see you all right now. This-" she gestured to the gifts nearly burying her "is amazing. I never could have even dreamed this. The gifts are astounding, the flowers are beautiful, and you are all the most thoughtful people on the face of this planet." Everyone smiled and laughed, but quieted down again when they realized she had something else to say.
"You know, I do have a question though. How did you manage to all get here, and bring all of this? Where did you even get it all?" Everyone looked to Meat, a few even glared, and he held up his hands in surrender.
"Alright, alright! So, I was flying one of the helicopters when I realized we were actually passing a rather large city, oh, about fifty or so miles to our left. So I took a detour, landed on the helipad at a hospital, and we took a stop in the gift shop." Roach knew there had to be more to that story judging at how there many glares were directed at him, and the way that he blushed red, but he knew that no one wanted to make Alison the slightest bit upset.
Roach knew by the way everyone was smiling and seemed itching to speak, it would be until 'visiting hours' ended that they would be here. But Roach didn't mind. Alison was happy, and after risking his life to make sure they both got here safely, he would enjoy every minute of it.
I also forgot to mention I am currently recovering from a sprained wrist, which is why I might not post for a bit longer. If you want to know what happened, no, I did not get stuck in a mosh pit. No, I did not push someone out of the way of a falling rock, and no, I did not get beat up or protect myself from being beat up. I tripped. Yep. Brave, I know.