Author's note: Well here's the next chapter. I'm really sorry I haven't been keeping to my two week schedule, I'm still preparing to move. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Enjoy.

What Will It Take?

Chapter 9

"So, Amelie, I hear things are going very well between you two."

Meghan was sitting in her favorite coffee shop across from Lena and Amelie. The French girl was giving her a cold stare, as she did with everyone, but Meghan could see through it, she could tell that the girl was afraid. She was able to tell by both girl's actions. Normally, whenever they were together, the two girls would always maintain physical contact with one another, Amelie would always have at least one arm wrapped around her girlfriend, and Lena would always have her head buried in Amelie's neck. Now the two of them, specifically Amelie, were keeping as much distance from each other as possible. Meghan wasn't actually mad at her, in fact, she honestly thought the two of them were absolutely adorable. But, she couldn't resist messing with the girl, and she had to keep herself from laughing.

"Yes, I would say things are going very well." Amelie answered calmly.

"I heard Lena finally introduced you to her parents. How did that go?" Meghan asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"They seemed to approve of our relationship, they said they were happy for us."

"That's good." Meghan began stirring her drink and gave the French girl her most menacing stare. "I also heard that you took advantage of Lena once you two were alone."

Finally, she saw it. Ever since Meghan had met Amelie, she kept up this cold dark persona at all times, and it always creeped Meghan out to the point where she was concerned for Lena's safety. Now, she finally saw it break. Amelie was now showing both surprise, and a little bit of fear. "Quelle?" Amelie looked at Lena who was keeping her gaze towards the floor. Of course, Meghan already knew that Lena was really the one who came onto Amelie, acting like it was Amelie's idea made so much more fun.

"You know Lena is like a sister to me, right?"

"Yes, and I-

"And you know that I'm a Navy SEAL, right?"

"Of course, but-

"And you understand that I don't like the idea of a twenty-two-year-old creep hurting my seventeen-year-old sis."

Amelie reached over and grabbed Lena's hand, her face filled with concern. "Lena, did I really hurt you?"

The British girl looked up in surprise. "Wait, what?"

"Lena, I didn't mean to. I'm sorry, maybe we weren't ready. You have to believe me, it wasn't my intension." Amelie almost looked like she was about to cry.

"Awww, luv." Lena's heart was practically melting

Meghan had to hide her surprise as well, here was Amelie being threatened by a Navy SEAL and her only concern was Lena's wellbeing, or maybe Meghan just wasn't all that intimidating. Either way, if she had any doubts about the French girl, they were gone now.

"Oh, for goodness sake, alright. You two can stop being adorable now." The two looked back at her. "Amelie, I was just kidding, I know it was Lena's idea, and I know you didn't hurt her."

"You were joking?" Amelie asked, confused.

"Yes, I'm not really mad, in fact, I'm happy for you two."

By now Lena was trying really hard not to burst out laughing. "Got you good, luv."

"Such a cruel prank." Amelie crossed her arms and tried to look away to hide her embarrassment. She also tried to bring back her usual cold stare, but it was too late.

"Aww, don't be like that babe. This is good news, everyone who cares about us now approves." Lena wrapped her arms around the French girl.

Amelie looked back to Meghan. "You are okay with this."

"Yes, I am." Meghan smiled. "Just, take care of her when I'm gone alright?"

For the first time ever, Meghan saw Amelie offer a smile back. "Oui."

"Thank you."

"Oi, Meghan." Lena piped up as she pointed toward the window. "Isn't that the girl you went on a date with?"

"It wasn't a-

Meghan turned around and saw Ela and Jack walking by the window of the coffee shop. She couldn't tell for sure, but she thought she saw Ela look through the window at her, or maybe it was her imagination. The two continued walking passed the shop and Meghan turned back to face the other two.

"I can't believe she turned you down for a guy like that." Lena commented.

"She didn't turn me down."

"Seriously, you're leagues above him."

"I'm not even sure if she likes girls."

"He looks like a creep."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Why is he wearing sunglasses at night?" Amelie asked.

Jack had brought Ela to one of the local restaurant's in Hereford. It wasn't anything too fancy, much to her delight. As a child, the only time she ever went to any high-end places was when her father would have meetings with other commanders and politicians. Right now, she wanted to stay away from anything that reminded her of him.

Although she was perfectly fine with the venue, the food choices were questionable. She had never tried British food before, and she could tell that it was probably for the best.

"The food here seems…interesting." She commented.

"I'll be honest, I've been out here for three years, at first I wasn't too keen on the food here, now I've come to enjoy it." Jack responded.

"Maybe I still need more time."

Eventually their waiter came and took their orders, Ela simply picked something she thought she might be able to tolerate. In actuality, she just wasn't hungry, the events from the past week had been eating away at her, she hadn't really eaten or slept since seeing Isaac again.

"So, Ela, you said you're from Wroclaw, how was that?" Jack asked, wanting to know more about his date.

"Well, my father was the commander of GROM," she started without much enthusiasm, "as a child, my sister and I wanted to follow in his footsteps."

"But he was hard on you two, wasn't he?" Jack interrupted.

"Yes, he was." Ela answered, a bit surprised. "I eventually dropped out of the program."

"But your sister stayed in, and he favored her for that."

Now Ela was shocked. "How did you know?"

"I can tell by the way you talk, I'm an expert on reading people's behaviors and speech patterns, sometimes how you say something tells me more than what you actually said. It's how I became an expert negotiator for the FBI." He bragged. "For example, your dad being a high ranking military officer probably means he was very proper, you dying your hair green is a way of defying that."

Ela knew he was trying to impress her, but now she was a little uncomfortable. She knew she was trying to open up to people, but she would have felt better telling him that information when she was ready. Now she felt creeped out that he was able to find out so much about her without saying very much. The only one she ever told that about herself was Meghan.

Her thoughts drifted to the blonde, she remembered when she had told the SEAL about her past. She had done so willingly and felt safe while doing so. As much as she knew Meghan wanted to pry and get as much out of her as possible, she let Ela do it only when she felt like she could trust her, and so far, that trust hadn't been broken. Ela had seen her friend when she and Jack walked past the coffee shop earlier, looking back she wished she had stopped to say hi. The two hadn't spoken in about a week and Ela was starting to miss her company.

"Ela?"

Ela was broken from her thoughts. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

"I just wanted to hear more about you."

Ela wasn't sure if she wanted him deducing more secret information about her. "Actually, I was curious about you, where did you grow up?"

He seemed to notice her purposely change the subject but answered anyway. "Well, I was born in North Carolina, but being that both of my parents were in the military, I moved around a lot. Like you, I followed in my parent's footsteps and became an intelligence officer."

An intel officer, just like Meghan, but why was he so much less interesting. "Hmm."

"I can tell you not that interested." He commented.

"No, it's not that, it's just…"

"Wow, now I can believe you've really never dated anyone."

"I don't think it's going that bad." Jacobson and Stevens had now made an appearance, at this point Ela wasn't sure if she was going to freak out again, or thankful for a distraction.

"Bosak, ditch this guy, he's weird."

"I don't think he's that weird, I mean, you're talking to a couple of dead guys in your head."

"Stevens, we don't get paid to think."

"You don't pay me, we don't even exist. We're just a clever visual metaphor used to personify the abstract concept of thought."

"Ela?" Once again, Jack pulled her from said thoughts. "You alright?"

"Sorry, I was distracted."

"You're uncomfortable that I can tell these aren't you."

"No, no." She was just trying to be nice.

"Your body language says otherwise."

"I guess I would like it if we talked about something else."

This was going to be a long night

"Wow, that was amazing."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Eliza and Monika were both laying on the German woman's bed, catching their breath. This was the first time they had slept together since the video incident and Eliza indulged as much as she could. Monika would never admit it, but she was just as restless as her girlfriend and had been eager for her touch as well. Now the two were physically exhausted.

"Am I finally allowed to stay the night again?" Eliza asked, half-jokingly. Although things had been going well between the two, Monika had still refused to let her girlfriend spend the night due to how upset she was when she saw Eliza practically drooling over the images of another woman.

"Hmm, I guess I could let you stay," Monika gave the red head a lustful look, "just in case I feel like going for round five."

If Eliza weren't so spent, she would have taken the blonde woman right then, but instead she decided to grab the sheets and cover their still naked bodies. "Well that's very kind of you." She said sarcastically.

"Also, you're sleeping on the wet spot."

"Fair enough."

Eliza wrapped an arm around her girlfriend and pulled her close, Monika took her normal spot and rested her head on the redhead's chest. Eliza kissed the top of the blonde's head, neither would admit it, but they both missed this more than the actual sex. They had grown accustomed to sleeping next to one another, the past several days that they had spent in different rooms felt unnatural. Eliza was beginning to think that there was no way she could ever handle being without the blonde angel in her arms. "Ich liebe dich, Monika."

Monika smiled. "I love you too."

For a while, they didn't say anything more, just basking in each other's company. Eliza absentmindedly began running her fingers through Monika's hair, almost putting the blonde to sleep.

"Hey, good idea by the way." Eliza said, breaking the silence.

"About having a larger team?" Monika asked, opening her eyes.

"Yeah, you think Six will allow it?"

"Well, if not, I don't know what our options are," the German elaborated, "because what we're trying isn't working, and we're running out of time."

"Well, judging by the captain's tone, he seems to be getting frustrated as well. Did you hear the way he spoke to Ela?"

"Yeah. I know not everyone was performing at peak performance today, but he seemed to have it out for her in particular."

"Yeah, I wonder why that is?" Eliza thought for a moment. "Did you notice how well she was doing with the team? But then she started to become closed off again as soon as we got that brief on Blood Orchid."

Monika took a second to recall. "Yes, and I believe that was when she was first introduced to him."

"Hmm, something's going on with those two and it seems to be affecting Ela negatively."

"I hope she's not taking things too hard."

"I'm sure she's fine, now that she's on a date with Meghan."

Monika looked at her girlfriend in confusion. "What did you say?"

"I was looking for her earlier to check up on her and I heard she went on a date, I didn't hear who with, but I couldn't help but notice that Meghan wasn't here either." Eliza smiled, happy for her friends. "I mean, Meghan clearly has a thing for her, and who else would Ela agree to spend time alone with?"

"Um, Eliza." Monika hated that she had to break the news to her. "Meghan didn't take Ela out on a date, Jack did."

Eliza sat up in surprise. "What!"

"Jack asked Ela out, Meghan was hanging out with that weird girl at that coffee place." Monika explained. "I saw her come back right before we started our little session."

"What the hell?!" Eliza immediately got up and walked to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to talk to her and ask her why she let Jack of all people take her girl."

"Ela already agreed to the date, what good is yelling at Meghan going to do now?"

"I don't know but apparently I need to help that dumb blonde take what's hers while she still has a small chance." With that, Eliza opened the door and stormed out.

Monika simply stared at the door and waited a few seconds for what was bound to happen.

"COHEN, WHAT THE HELL?!" Mike's voice could be heard through the walls.

A few seconds later, the door flung open and Eliza stepped back inside, her face as red as her hair. "Babe, could you hand me my clothes?"

Monika had already gathered her girlfriend's shirt and jeans and threw them at her. "Hurry up, I can't sleep without my pillow."

Eliza quickly got dressed and opened the door again. "I won't be long." She then blew Monika a kiss as she left again.

Monika simply rolled her eyes and laid back down on the bed. "I really am in love with an idiot."

It was almost midnight when Ela and Jack made it back to the barracks. The rest of the date hadn't gone much better, now they were walking in awkward silence. At least, Ela thought it was awkward, Jack seemed to think the date went well. Ironic that he was able to pick up on everything except the fact that this had been one the most uncomfortable experiences in years for Ela. At least he was kind enough to walk her to her room.

"I think tonight went well." Jack said.

"It was… a new experience for me." She responded, trying to be polite.

"Maybe we can do it again sometime?"

"Um…"

Next thing she knew, he was leaning in, clearly going for a kiss. She immediately put her hands up and stopped him. Now she had no choice but to be honest.

"Look, Jack. You're a good friend, but I think that's all we should ever be."

She could see the disappointment in his face, but still only responded with. "I understand."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." With that, he turned and walked away.

Author's note: I think we've all been on awkward date's, throw in the people from Rainbow Six and things will definitely get weird. As always, hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave a review. Also, Valkyrie elite skinIQ elite skin, you can't change my mind. Until next time.