Chapter 26

The morning sunshine that glistens over the sea beams through the small cabin window when Axel opens his eyes. Straight away he feels like the luckiest guy in the world holding Blaze next to him who is fast asleep. The pair stayed up most of the night drinking, talking, making love again and again before finally around 5am both of them fell asleep. It's crazy how just over 24 hours ago he thought they were going to die but with a stroke of inner strength and determination, they defeated Mr X and killed him. In 24 hours so much has changed from one of the hardest days of their lives to the best night they can remember.

He observes Blaze peacefully sleeping next to him knowing that everything is going to be ok and that there's no place he would rather be than by her side. He lies there thinking about the future when they reach Wood Oak City, how much he wants them to travel together then settle outside of the city. He's never felt happier than now.

#Door knocks#

He cautiously moves his arm that Blaze is sleeping on then gets out of bed without waking her up. He puts on his jeans then quietly walks towards the door.

"I thought you could use some breakfast as you missed dinner yesterday" he hears Sammy's voice as Axel slowly opens the door as quietly as possible to see him standing there with a tray of food.

Sammy gazes up at Axel surprised when it's him who answers the door only wearing his jeans.

Sammy: "err…. I'll come back later then" he says awkwardly.

Axel: "Thanks kid" he grins as he takes away the tray of food from Sammy's hands then kicks the door closed to go back inside.

Sammy who is feeling speechless pauses with the door closed in his face then he walks away to leave and have his own breakfast upstairs.

Blaze tiredly opens her eyes and stretches after the door shuts. She looks around the cabin whilst waking up to her surroundings before she notices Axel. Her face lights up with a smile when she sees him.

"Sorry about the noise waking you up" he says.

Blaze laughs when she sees the tray of food "I bet it was Sammy, he is so sweet and was checking up on me yesterday because he knew I hadn't eaten".

Axel: "He's got a point" he replies as he hands over to her the tray of croissants, a bagel, fresh fruit and orange juice then he gets back into bed with her.

"You don't understand how much I have missed real food!" Blaze says when she bites into a croissant.

"Me too" he replies. "All we ate for the last three months was porridge, rice, more rice and chick peas" he laughs.

She leans forward to kiss him then says "let's hope we never have to go through a war like that again".

He puts his arm around her, sitting up as he replies "it was so fucked up. There were at least three occasions I thought 'this is it' I'm dead. That day when the bomb hit us and I buried Jax I walked for hours until I just lied there on the ground knowing that they were this close to capturing me but I couldn't move. Then I saw you, well in my head at least and you gave me a reason to not give up. Then yesterday it happened again, we were about to die but I saw my mom and dad…"

Blaze: "I don't know how but that day I knew something was wrong. I'm so sorry about Jax, I know he was a good friend" she replies as she takes his hand.

Axel: "Every day we did what we had to do and now it's all over. But you know what, I know everything will be ok. We've made it through a lot of hard times but we still got each other".

They lie there holding one another realising that they have never felt this lucky to be alive.

Blaze questions him "so what now then? When we get back to Wood Oak?"

Axel: "Let's move away from the city".

Blaze: "What like to the wilderness?" she jokes

Axel: "Yeah I could just see it, Blaze Fielding catching her own food and camping outside".

Blaze: "I could do it!"

Axel: "You wouldn't last 3 days remember you're scared of rats" he laughs.

Blaze: "Okay then, maybe not that far out then" she smiles.

Axel: "One thing's for sure, I ain't going back to being a cop."

Blaze: "What would we do then?"

Axel: "Well, we could use out reserves, travel around the world then come back. I could reopen the dojo and the gym now the war is over and we could build you the dance studio you've always wanted".

Blaze: "really?" she smiles.

Axel: "Yeah, I want to make things work for us".

She happily kisses him then takes a look at his watch.

"Oh wow it's 12 noon, we've been in bed all morning" she observes.

Axel: "as much as I'd love to stay in bed with you, I just realised I gotta check up on Zan!"

The two of them quickly get showered and ready before travelling upstairs to meet the others.

"What's up with you?" Max asks Sammy as he eats his lunch sulking.

Sammy: "nothing". His response is blunt whilst he pokes his bowl of noodles with his chopsticks.

Max laughs: "Hangover?"

Sammy: "No!"

Max: "You need a girlfriend?"

Sammy: "Need a girlfriend? Ha, you're looking at an expert here- I've had at least five girlfriends in the past six months".

Max: "Really? Like who?"

Sammy: "Murphy's daughter Lauren for starters, we dated after I rescued her".

Max: "yeah?"

Adam interrupts their conversation after eavesdropping from across the table "Don't believe anything Sammy says he's still a virgin."

Sammy: "No I'm not!" he defensively replies feeling embarrassed.

"It's ok kid" Max pats him on the shoulder as Sammy tries to hide the fact that Max's heavy hand hurt.

Shiva interrupts: "Good afternoon" the others happily greet him, Angelina and the baby as they pull out some chairs for them.

Shiva: "Just checked on the old man. He seems to be ok but he has been on his own since last night".

A member of the crew interrupts their conversation. "Yeah, three of our men had to take Dr Zan back to his bed at 4am this morning. I think he was pretty drunk by then!"

Max: "I apologise, I didn't realise".

The guy responds: "That doctor is nuts! He just had an operation but wanted to stay up partying all night. Meanwhile it seems like Officer Stone has gone AWOL as we couldn't find him so we took Zan back to his room ourselves".

Adam: "Thank you and we're sorry if he caused you any trouble".

Just as he finishes his sentence, the group look up surprised to see Axel and Blaze entering the room together for lunch. Everyone except Sammy is shocked when they notice the two of them holding hands in the distance.

Max: "Those two look like a pair of lovesick teenagers" he says before they walk towards the table.

"Hey!" Blaze smiles to the rest of the team as she takes a seat next to Adam whilst Axel takes the last space on the opposite side next to Max.

"Sure you don't wanna swap places with me?" Adam jokes to Axel who responds with an unamused stare back at him.

"Where's the old man then?" Max asks.

Axel: "He needs more rest, he had a rough night".

Adam: "Ok I'll begin without Zan but we will brief him later".

Axel: "What's going on then?"

Adam: "The good news is it looks like we will reach Wood Oak City in the next 4 hours so we should be home by sundown. I've made contact with Agent Murphy and Keri who can confirm that the missile never struck and that the war is over. In fact it has been over four months now".

Shiva: "Months? That's impossible! We've been here for two weeks at most!"

Adam: "I know, and that's the bad news. I can't explain how this is possible but we should find out more when we reach home. The date today is the 12th of March."

Blaze: "That's impossible, I left Wood Oak City on November 10th and the wound from the explosion you found me in is still healing on my leg". She shows him.

Adam: "I know, it just doesn't add up!"

Shiva: "It's possible that Lima stands in another time or dimension. It is a sacred land after all you've seen it for yourselves that the people there possess mystical qualities."

Axel: "So our regiment had been gone for almost 7 months? This doesn't make any sense".

Adam: "Keri confirmed the date also".

The team pause for a moment in silence feeling confused.

Adam: "Murphy also confirmed that out of the five regiments who were sent to Lima to fight, only one returned with less than half of its soldiers after they retreated. This means that almost 5000 of our soldiers died during this war".

Axel: "We had spent days planning our assault, they couldn't have known. But the way we were ambushed? I think someone informed the General and Mr X".

Max: "What about the city how is it looking over there?"

Adam: "We will see when we get home. What I do know is the police and local government have gained back control of the city from Neo Chaos and the Syndicate. But the syndicate's drug traffickers are everywhere so the city is on a curfew every night."

Blaze: "Curfew? Who the fuck is in charge?"

Adam: "I don't know, just be vigilant when we get home. I will find out as much as I can from Murphy".

Skate: "But the war is over right?"

Adam nods: "Yes, as far as we know. We have lost a number of months as well as many people who were close to us. But know that those sacrifices we've made to save our city have made home a safer place again. So let's raise our glasses to all of those we have lost in this war and let's toast once again to freedom and appreciating life one day at a time in their memory."

"Salute" Max speaks out with his head down remembering Eliza whilst he raises his glass. Axel pats him around the shoulder as the rest of the team toast and respond "salute".