Author's note: Here's the next chapter. Heads up, slightly sexual content. Enjoy.
What Will It Take?
Chapter 22
They wrapped their arms around one another before slowly bringing their lips together in a gentle yet hungry kiss. The two lovers were currently in Ela's room. Ela pulled Meghan as close as she could, wrapping one of her legs around the blonde, longing for as much physical contact as possible, oh how she had missed this. Meghan had her arms around Ela's waist, just as eager for her touch. They kissed and made out in the way they always had, until oxygen was desperately needed.
The two pairs of lips parted ways and as she caught her breath, Ela couldn't help but moan her lovers name, "Meghan."
"I heard you missed me." Meghan said, in a lustful manner.
"Every damn second you were gone." Ela said in response, her mind running wild in the moment.
"Heard you were…desperate for my touch." Meghan said as she began to run her hands up and down Ela's back.
"Very." Ela moaned, Meghan's hands running chills down her spine. Lust was radiating around the two of them, Ela was growing desperate for Meghan to take her right here.
"Hmm I guess I can oblige." Without warning, the blonde grabbed her and spun her around before shoving her against the wall, pinning her with her own body, "And where exactly do you want my touch?"
The move took Ela by surprise but she soon realized that she enjoyed the rough action. The SEALs strong muscles meant she would never be able to get out of her grip, but she oddly found herself not wanting to, "Mmmm." Her eyes closed and her breathing heavy.
"What was that?" Meghan whispered in her ear before giving it a quick nibble.
"Everywhere." Ela finally moaned.
"As you wish, my dear." Meghan reached under her girlfriends shirt and began to rub her fingers along her stomach. She went up and down a few times before moving upwards towards Ela's bra. She cupped her breasts and groped them on the outside of the undergarment.
This caused Ela to moan loudly, "Meghan!"
"You like that?" The SEAL asked, already knowing the answer.
"I need more." Ela said, her voice filled with nothing but desire.
"Desperate are we?" Meghan said, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of you." She reached down and grabbed the waistband of Ela's pants and underwear. She pulled them both down enough to expose her rear and her crotch. Ela gasped as she felt the cold air reach her hot womanhood.
Ela loved this feeling, she was experiencing cloud nine with every touch by Meghan's gentle hands. Speaking of which, said hands then moved behind her and grabbed both of her cheeks. Meghan squeezed and fondled her soft rear as she slowly planted soft kisses along Ela's neck. Ela bit her lower lip as she enjoyed the sensation.
"You have the nicest ass." Meghan complimented between kisses. She gave her right cheek a gentle spank before slowly grinding her still clothed hips against Ela's exposed rear.
Ela jumped from the light smack, "Mmm, and it's all yours."
"And I shall cherish it forever." Meghan said before giving Ela's neck a playful nip. She then moved her hands to Ela's front, rubbing them around her warm center, but not actually touching it. "What about here?"
Ela was only growing more excited, "Yours, and yours only."
"I like the sound of that." Meghan responded, still only touching around the sensitive area, caressing her inner thighs.
"Meghan, please."
"Please what?"
"I need it." Ela begged.
"Well, since you said please." Meghan teased.
She was about to make contact where Ela needed it the most, when suddenly the door opened and Ashe stepped in, "Sorry Ela, it's time for physical therapy, you have to leave."
*BUZZZZZ*
"AHH!" Ela was shaken from her sleep so violently that she accidentally fell out of her bed onto the floor, "Oof!"
"What the hell was that all about?" She thought to herself as she got up.
It was still early enough in the morning where it was still dark outside. Part of her regretted making plans this early, especially after drinking heavily the day prior, but she knew this was necessary. She began rubbing the side of her head, which was throbbing in pain, but she wasn't sure if it was from the fall or the hangover. Probably both.
She was more confused about the dream she just had, she had never had a dream like that before. Then again, she had never felt such intense feelings for someone like this before. In fact, Meghan was the only person that she had been intimate with, ever. And that part where Ashe walked in, only made her more confused, and slightly embarrassed.
Was that drool running down her face?
"Oh God, I'm turning into Eliza." She thought as she wiped the mess off of her cheek.
*BUZZZZZ*
Her phone vibrated again, indicating that it had received a message, she unlocked it to see what it said.
"Are you up? We're here."
Ela quickly typed out a response. "I'll be down in a minute."
She quickly got up and got dressed before heading downstairs.
The first rays of sun were just barely cresting above the horizon. Meghan was still fast asleep, resting peacefully before starting the day of more physical therapy and possible teasing from Eliza and/or murderous jealously from Ela.
Her sublime rest was sadly interrupted by a gentle tap on the shoulder, "Meghan?" Came Ashe's voice.
Meghan was now awake but refused to open her eyes, "Ashe, it's a little early for to start therapy don't you think?"
"Actually, you have some visitors."
"Who could possibly be wanting to see me at this hour?"
"Meghan?" Came a familiar British voice.
The SEAL's eyes shot open at the sound of her name. She immediately sat up and looked over to see none other than her adoptive younger sister, accompanied by Amelie and Ela, "Lena?"
Without saying anything more, the seventeen year old instantly closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around the blonde as tightly as she could. Meghan returned the embrace as hard as she could without crushing the girl. She heard Lena begin to softly cry as she buried her face in her shoulder.
"Hey, hey, it's okay." Meghan soothed, "I'm okay."
The teenager responded by holding on to her tighter, "You said you'd be careful." Lena wept, "You promised."
"I know, I know…" Meghan gently rocked the girl back and forth, "I'm sorry."
Ela and Amelie stayed quiet and decided to let their girlfriends have their moment. Afterall, it was the first time they had seen each other since Rainbow had left for China. Ashe seemed to realize how personal this visit was and left the room out of respect.
Setting this visit up wasn't easy, and since Lena wasn't technically Meghan's family, she was never notified of Meghan's incident. The night before, Ela had to bear the burden of going to the coffee shop alone, and breaking the news to Lena and Amelie. The British girl had broke down, Ela was thankful that Amelie was there to comfort her the way only she could. She didn't want to think about how bad things would have gotten for Meghan's younger sister had the French woman not been there.
"What the hell happened?" Lena finally backed off a bit to look at the SEAL, not sure if she really wanted the answer.
"I got a little banged up." Meghan said, sparing the young girl the more graphic details, "My leg took most of the damage, but it's better now." She moved her blanket to show Lena the decent sized scar she had received.
She thought Lena would feel relief at seeing how much her wound had healed, but instead it only grew Lena's concern, "That scar is gigantic, and deep. That's not something you get from being 'a little banged up', how bad was it?"
"It wasn't that bad." Meghan tried to lie.
"How bad was it?!" Lena shouted, tears still fresh in her eyes. Amelie placed her hands on her girlfriends shoulders in an attempt to calm her down, "Don't give me any bullshit."
Meghan was extremely hesitant to tell her sibling about the horrors of war, let alone the horror that happened to her, but Lena was growing up. The two of them were family, this was going to be something that they both had to deal with as long as she was serving in the military. Meghan was surprised that a conversation like this hadn't happened sooner, "Are you sure you want to know?"
"Damnit Meghan, we're family and you're in a bloody hospital." Lena let go of her and settled for grabbing both of her hands. "I need to know what happened."
Meghan took a deep breath, knowing Lena wasn't ready to hear what she was about to tell her, "I was caught in an explosion. I got hit with the fire and shrapnel, most of it wasn't too bad, except for this." She pointed at her leg scar, "It tore my femoral artery and I lost a lot of blood."
"What caused the explosion?" Lena asked.
"A suicide bomber. A man so crazy, he was willing to strap explosives to himself and push the detonator to kill those around him."
Lena made a face mixed of both shock and disgust, "Why?"
"I don't know." Meghan answered, "None of us do, I guess its something that you could only understand by going inside of one of their heads."
Lena was still in shock over the concept, "So that was it? You got hurt and then they took you to the hospital."
"Yes." Meghan answered before looking away.
"You're lying." Lena noticed, "There's more to it isn't there?"
"It doesn't matter Lena." Meghan snapped, "I'm fine now, what difference does it make?"
"It matters to me, Meghan!" Lena argued back, "You got blown up by a psychopath, and you think a simple 'I'm fine' is going to put me at ease? Hiding me from the truth is only going to make me worry about you more."
Meghan realized that instead of comforting the girl and showing her that she was alright, she was only raising her anxiety, she needed to come clean, "I flatlined. For only a few seconds."
Lena took a moment to process the revelation, "You mean?"
"I died, yes." Meghan looked away from the Brit and to her girlfriend, "Ela brought me back."
Lena turned to look at the Polish operator as well, "You did?"
"She performed CPR on me and didn't stop until I was breathing again. Even after it seemed pointless, she didn't give up on me."
Ela didn't know what to say, but before she had the chance, the British girl got up and wrapped her arms around her, "Thank you." She whispered.
Ela still didn't say anything back, but instead returned the embrace. Since returning from the mission, she was slowly beginning to become more comfortable with physical contact; and not just from Meghan. To be fair, Lena was not a person you denied when offered a hug.
While the two were having a moment, Amelie finally decided to speak to Meghan, albeit a bit awkwardly, "I'm…glad you're alright."
"Come here, Amelie." Meghan said, before grabbing the French girl and pulling her in for a hug, "I know you missed me too."
Amelie went stiff for a few seconds before relaxing; she and Meghan had never so much as shared a handshake before, "Maybe a little."
"Thank you for looking after her while I was gone." Meghan whispered.
Amelie finally returned the embrace, "Of course." Meghan couldn't help but notice that she was shaking a bit and her voice cracked.
After a while she finally let go of Amelie to ask a question she had since she woke up, "I know this is way off topic, but how did you two even get in here? Civilians aren't allowed on base normally."
"I called in a favor from Isaac." Ela answered, "I got them visitors passes. They're free to visit certain areas of the base as long as one of us watches over them."
Meghan looked at her girlfriend with appreciation. She knew getting civilians access to the base was asking for a lot and was rarely authorized. But allowing her to see Lena was hands down the best thing any of her relationships had done for her, "I knew I was dating the best girlfriend ever."
Ela could only blush.
"I knew you picked a good one." Lena commented, finally smiling, which brought relief to the other three women in the room.
"Hey, I just remembered." Meghan said before pulling something out of her bag on the nightstand, "Check it out."
"What's that?" Lena asked.
Upon closer inspection, the British girl noticed it was the picture the two of them had taken together before they left for China., "Just had it developed."
"That's a good one." Lena commented, "We look nice."
"Here." Meghan said as she handed it to her, "You can frame it and put it up somewhere."
"It's going up in the shop." Lena said with joy.
"You sure?"
"Absolutely."
The two admired the photo for another moment before Amelie spoke up, "If you don't mind me asking, how long are you going to be in recovery?"
"A few weeks, a month at most." Meghan answered.
"And we'll be here with you the entire time until you recover." Lena declared.
"You sure you won't get bored?" Meghan asked, "There's not much to do in here since I can't walk around yet."
"Of course not." Lena reassured, "Besides, it'll be worse for you if we just left you all alone."
Meghan smiled at the girls enthusiasm, "You guys are the best."
"So how is the investigation coming along?" Six asked.
"I still have the ground teams tearing apart the sight. All of the narcotics have been collected and safely disposed of." Isaac reported. The two were currently in Six's office discussing current matters for the team.
"And the bombs?"
"Currently being held and examined in our labs."
"What have you found so far?"
"Well, if there was any doubts about our HVT being among them, they've been quelled." He took out an enlarged photo of a fingerprint, Peterson's fingerprint, "We found this on one of them, it matches the ones in our database."
"So now we have physical evidence as well." Six acknowledged, "Any word on how he escaped?"
"Not yet," He answered, "The ground team is still scouring the area for any escape routs he may have taken, so far they haven't found a thing."
"So as far as we can tell, he just disappeared like a ghost?"
"Well, we taught him the skills to do so."
Six let out an exasperated sigh, having one of her former agents working for the enemy raised the stakes and catching him was priority number one, "What about the one we have in custody? Surely he knows something."
"We're still trying to get the prisoner to talk."
"Has he said anything at all?"
"Not yet, but I have Pereira with him now, it'll only be a matter of time."
"How long has Caveira been interrogating him?"
"Since last night." He said, rubbing the side of his head, "I'm honestly surprised he's lasted this long."
"You alright?" Six asked.
"A bit of a hangover, I'll be fine."
"It's not good practice to be drinking before a work day." Six chastised.
"I know, but with Norman and Irvin being released from the hospital, we figured it was a good time for celebration."
"Suit yourself, as long as all of you are able to complete your duties." Six answered, "Speaking of hospitals, how is Valkyrie coming along?"
Isaac always found it very strange how Six would never call an operator by anything but their codename. Maybe it was so she didn't get too attached, maybe she genuinely thought of them as nothing but tools for the mission, "Castellano is recovering at surprising rate."
"Do you have the report from Doc?"
"Right here." He pulled out the folder and gave it to her, he explained Meghan's recovery as she read along, "As you can see, she is already recovered from the severed artery and has begun the physical therapy program that Dr. Kateb made for her."
"Impressive." Six commented, "So, the new nano technology worked as expected?"
"Almost," He explained, "according to the report, during the time that the nano bots were activated, the patient would experience seizure-like symptoms and lose nearly all muscle control."
"So there's still some adjustments to be made?" Six asked.
"Some, yes. But the main job of healing physical wounds was a success. Minor wounds were healed almost instantaneously, while the major wound was healed at a much faster rate than using normal practices."
"Any negative side effects?"
"None so far." As enthusiastic as he sounded, Isaac was extremely uncomfortable with using one of their own as a guinea pig, the only reason that he was even remotely on board with the plan was because there was no other way to save Meghan. He was thankful that there was no extra damage caused by the nano bots and the SEAL made a full recovery, especially for Ela's sake.
"How soon can we get those improvements implemented?" Six asked, interrupting his thoughts.
"I've already informed them of the report and they're working on it as we speak." He answered.
"Good, good."
"It's amazing." He said as he also began reading the report, "Normally, a wound like that would take months to recover from, if you even survived. And if you did, it would still likely leave permanent damage for life."
"Normally, yes." Six agreed.
"But thanks to our new friends Olivier and Lera, a process that was expected to take several months is now only going to take several weeks."
"Impressive." Was her only response as she continued to scan the report.
Isaac's phone began to buzz, he took it out of his pocket and saw it was an incoming call from Taina, "I have to take this." He said as he answered the phone, "Has he said anything?" He asked immediately, skipping all formalities.
"Just giving you the heads up," Taina said from the other line, "the prisoner had a small accident."
Isaac pinched the bridge of his nose, with Taina there was no such thing as a small accident, "What happened?"
"He fell out of his chair."
"Oh, well that's not so-"
"And his neck landed on my knife."
Isaac face palmed, "Oh for God's sake, what's the matter with you?"
"Relax captain. Before he bled out, I got everything we needed to solve your little mystery."
"Really?!"
"Yes." She let out a quiet yet evil giggle. "Get down here and I'll show you what I found."
"Okay, I'll be right there. Just make sure everything's…cleaned up by the time I get there."
"Don't worry, Dom and I are working on that right now."
Isaac could hear Dominic's voice in the background, "How in the world did you get blood on the ceiling?!" Then the line went dead.
Isaac let out a sigh of annoyance, "I'll be back. There's something I need to take care of."
"See you later then." Six said.
"Oh, one more thing." He said before he left, "Speaking of Lera and Olivier, are they ready to be brought on board?"
"I'm still working with CBRN officials to get them assigned to us." She elaborated, "Since they're technically from two different CTU's, the process is taking longer than normal. In other words, it's still going to be several months before we're ready to add them to the team."
"I see." Isaac nodded, he thought for a moment, hesitant to ask his next question, "What about the…other three?"
It was late into the evening and Ela, Lena and Amelie were still at the hospital with Meghan. Earlier, Ashe had tried to begin another physical therapy session, but Ela's death stare was enough to even make Amelie uneasy.
Unfortunately, both Ela and Lena had fallen asleep. Ela was sitting with her head resting on the edge of Meghan's bed, holding her hand. Lena had moved some chairs together and laid on them like a bench, her head on Amelie's lap. For a while, both women simply watch their significant others sleep, not saying much to each other, which was normal since the only thing they really had in common was being close with Lena.
"Thank you for looking after her while I was away." Meghan said, breaking the ice.
"Of course." Amelie responded, it looked like something was bothering her.
"How were things anyway?"
"Not much different, she managed the shop all on her own amazingly, as always. Although, she was noticeably less cheerful with you gone."
"She's had to grow up too fast." Meghan commented, "How did she take the news that I was hurt?"
Amelie sighed, "She was very distraught. Your girlfriend kept saying that you were alright, but it didn't do much to calm her."
It broke Meghan's heart to think of Lena having a break down over her injury, "Was it that bad?"
"She wouldn't stop crying." Amelie nodded, "I held her through the night until she fell asleep."
Meghan was glad that Amelie was there for Lena when she couldn't be. In fact, she was grateful for the French woman to be in Lena's life at all, "Amelie," She gabbed her hand, grabbing her attention, "I haven't thanked you enough for what you've done for Lena."
"You don't have to thank me." She tried to counter.
"No, I do." Meghan continued, "I know we've butted heads before, but there's no arguing that you have been the best girlfriend that anybody could be for her. I'm glad she has you in her life."
Amelie let a single tear roll down her cheek, appreciative of the compliment, "Thank you."
"What's wrong?" Meghan asked.
"Lena wasn't the only one scared about losing you." Amelie explained, "I was worried too."
Meghan gave her hand a gentle squeeze, "You were worried about me?"
"Of course." She answered, "Like you said, we haven't always seen eye to eye, but you don't have to in order to be family. Even when you did not approve of me being with Lena, you still let us be together and supported us, for the sake of Lena being happy. You also gave me the chance to prove to you that I could take care of her and that I wasn't some cold-hearted widow maker. Neither of us may have asked for it, but we're family and the thought of never seeing you again broke my heart as well."
"I didn't know I meant that much to you." Meghan felt her own tears begin to form, she pulled Amelie in for a hug, which she returned as best she could without disturbing the sleeping girl on her lap, "I consider you family as well."
The two sat in silence for a while, appreciating their newly found acceptance for one another. After a few minutes, Amelie broke the quiet with a question, "Meghan, can I ask you something? Something important."
"What is it?" The blonde asked.
Amelie began to run her hands through the British girls hair, "Lena turns eighteen in a few months."
"Right."
"Since you are her true guardian, may I have your blessing to…marry her?"
The question took Meghan by surprise, Amelie must have truly respected her if she was asking for permission to marry her little sister. Part of her wanted to say no, that eighteen was too young for someone to get married. But the other part of her thought that there was really no better choice for Lena, Amelie could without a doubt support her financially, and she already proved herself more than capable of supporting her emotionally. The truth was, young or not, Meghan would be thrilled for Lena to marry someone like Amelie. Besides, whether they got Meghan's approval or not, there was no way Lena wouldn't agree to marry the French woman, "Yes. You have my blessing."
"Merci." Amelie thanked, "It will make a wonderful birthday surprise."
The only thing that bothered Meghan was Lena's parents. This was really something that should have gone through them. Obviously, that wasn't possible, but Meghan couldn't help but feel guilty that she was the on to make the decision and that Lena's parents wouldn't be able to see their daughter walk down the aisle, "I'm happy for you two."
"Do you think she will say yes?" Amelie asked nervously.
"What kind of question is that? Of course she will." Meghan realized that she now had two weddings to plan for, Eliza and Monika's, and now Lena and Amelie's. She couldn't help but look at the still sleeping Ela and think. Obviously, they had just begun dating and it was way too early to even be thinking about marriage. Still, Meghan couldn't help but fantasize about the two of them still dating a couple years down the road, then maybe buying a ring and proposing to her. It was a thought that filled Meghan's heart with absolute joy. "Maybe someday.", She thought.
One thing was for sure, despite being in the hospital, things were going well in Meghan's life. She absolutely couldn't wait to sleep in her own bed next to Ela, spend her days at the coffee shop with Lena, and get back into training with Eliza and the rest of the gang. The past few months may have been a long and bumpy road, but life was good right now, and nothing could change that.
Monika was sitting in Eliza's room, writing down some notes while waiting for her girlfriend to finish her bath. She was trying to figure out a way to improve her detector to see electronics from further distances. The task was proving rather difficult, before she knew it, she had written so many notes that her pen went dry, "Scheisse." She whispered.
She looked around the room for a replacement, eyeing Eliza's desk, surly her girlfriend kept writing utensils in there. She walked up and began searching the drawers, to no avail. She tried to check one of the last drawers, only to find it locked. "That's strange." She thought as she noticed it was the only one locked.
"What are you up to babe?" Eliza suddenly asked from behind her.
Monika was slightly startled, not having realized that the red head had finished, "Oh, I was just looking for something to write with."
"Bottom drawer." Eliza pointed to one of the drawers she hadn't checked.
"Thanks." Monika said as she grabbed a fresh pen.
"No problem."
"Why do you keep this drawer locked?" Monika asked curiously.
"What drawer?" Asked Eliza.
"This one." Monika pointed out, "What do you have in there?"
Eliza's heart dropped as she realized Monika was referring to the drawer that she was keeping her engagement ring in. She wasn't ready to propose just yet and didn't want to ruin the surprise. She had to make something up quick, "Oh that? I just keep important paperwork in there. You know, secret documents and stuff."
"…okay." Monika noticed something was off in Eliza's demeanor, but before she could press the topic more, her phone buzzed.
The screen lit up, showing it had received a message from Six. Monika let out an annoyed sigh, wondering what on earth the woman could want with her at this hour. She unlocked the phone to read the message, "New operators inbound, be in my office tomorrow at 1100 for the brief."
Author's note: Well that proves it. Since starting this story, I've received a lot of comments and questions from you guys about Operation White Noise. I can now confirm that yes, Zofia will in fact be making an appearance in this story as well as Vigil and Dokkaebi. However, we still have a chapter or two before that happens so you'll all have to wait just a little bit longer. We have also hit a new milestone with this chapter as What Will It Take has officially reached 100k words! Thank you all for reading this story and helping it become the most followed and faved story in this amazing fandom in just a little over one year! Here's to another year full of compelling stories to be told. Again, thank you for reading and thank you RStyle for being my beta reader, you have no idea how much it means to me. As always, hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave a review. Until next time.