"I feel like I'm... forgetting something." I was sitting in the middle of the rec. room, in armor, holding a book with my helmet in my lap, "... What am I forgetting?" I began looking around for the answer.

"This is Freelancer Tex, broadcasting on an open channel." Tex's voice went off, sounding slightly muffled.

"Shit." I rapidly put my novel back in storage, locked my helmet into place, and started running.

"You want me O'Malley? Come and get me." Tex spoke again as I turned the corner.

"This is Private Leonard Church, broadcasting on an open channel." Church went on the radio as I finally made it out of blue base, "Attention all blues! Turn on your radios and start broadcasting now."

"Okay! I'm on the radio too now!" Caboose started talking, "This is fun! What do you want to talk about?"

I turned on my radio, still sprinting, "Everyone, do NOT turn on your radios! Turn them off, now." I turned the radio off right away.

"Yeah, Church. Stop broadcasting." Tex sneered.

I turned my radio back on, "That goes for you too, Tex! I'm not afraid to beat you to a bloody... Pulp." I collapsed to the ground as my breath became short.

"Tsk tsk." The sound of the Omega AI went off, "You're smarter than this. If you knew better, you would've stayed out of the way." Slowly, I slipped out of consciousness as I saw Tex hauling ass in order to catch Omega.

Many Years Ago: Freelancer.

"How are you so stupid?" Omega complained as I tried to eat my dinner.

"Omega." I tried to speak in a not so irritated tone, "I'm still having a bit of an adrenaline rush from the mission."

"Yeah." He sneered, "A failed mission, at that."

"Could you please just give me some time to calm down?" I grit my teeth, hurting my jaw in the process.

"How are you two still not getting along?" Lazerus sat down on the bench across from me.

"She's way too dumb." Omega motioned toward me.

"It's hard to reason with someone focused on anger and hatred." I defended.

"That has nothing to do with your intellect." He laughed.

I stood up, still facing my AI, "Just shut up about that!" I shouted, "I know I'm dumb, but that gives you no right to rub it in!"

"Wow." He laughed again, "Didn't know I could so easily strike a nerve."

"Log off." I growled as he was forced to comply.

"Wow." Lazerus laughed, "A lot of anger in a little container."

"Oh, shut up." I sat back down and continued to eat my "meal."

"Hey, I know the two of you will eventually get along." He remarked.

"And why do you say that?" I let out a slow exhale as I tried to calm myself down.

"He hasn't jumped to another person, yet." He smiled.

Present Day.

I woke up, taking a really deep inhale and sputtering, to find myself being carried piggyback style. I felt too weak to open my eyes, but I really wanted to know who it was that had been carrying me.

"Look who's finally awake." The vague, but distinctive, voice of Tucker went off.

"You don't have to carry me." I spoke meagerly as I felt nausea and exhaustion flow through my body.

"You can say that after you get enough oxygen to your brain." He laughed.

"No need to be an ass about it." I cracked my eyes open somewhat, flinching at the light as I noticed my helmet wasn't on, before resting my chin on his shoulder.

"I'm not being a ass about it." He scoffed, "I'm being the hero of this."

I couldn't help but laugh as I nuzzled my face into his neck, smelling his faint cologne that was still somewhat distinct through the sweat, "Sure you are." I spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"I am too." He laughed with me as we turned to corner and went into the rec. room so he could set me down on the couch, "You need anything?" He asked before sitting down next to me, taking off his helmet.

"No." I spoke with a smile on my face as I rest my head once again on his shoulder.

"You sure?" His tone changed to the likeness of an anaconda snake hunting it's prey.

I moved my head in order to look him in the eye, "For the last time, I'm not fucking you." I let out a soft giggle.

"No one said you have to." He grinned as he leaned in closer, pushing me back slightly as he pressed his lips on mine... and for a moment, I felt as if time has stopped.

:3 Happy New Year's Eve, guys! We stopped at a good place for 2014's portion of this story! I hope you guys enjoyed it and have fun watching the mirror ball thing drop! Give you're lover a good kiss once midnight starts, or be one of those stalkers that checks their e-mail every 3 seconds to see if I end up posting a new chapter. (I admit, I'm guilty of doing that every once in a while XD). Enjoy the end of this year and the start of a new year!