Author's note: Alright, here's another one. Just a heads up, there's some suggestive themes here but nothing too crazy. This will also be the final chapter of Act 4. Again, special shout out to RStyle for being my beta reader. Enjoy.
What Will It Take?
Chapter 25
Seven days. Seven excruciatingly long days of being denied what they desired more than anything. Obviously there was much more than intimate physical contact in their relationship, but they both knew exactly what the significant other desired for; most importantly: they desired for the same thing. She wasn't sure who was going to lose it quicker: herself or her girlfriend. Either way, it didn't matter, that week long wait that Gustave had ordered for her was now over and Meghan was ready to take her girlfriend on a wild ride they would both never forget.
Meghan was the cold and calculating kind of person, but that right there was a completely different kind of animal. Ruled by lust and desire, a fantasy of Ela and herself was all there was in her mind. She burned in mere anticipation; she couldn't wait anymore.
Ela had spent the day training with the rest of the team, which was perfect for Meghan as it gave her more than enough time to get everything ready for the evening. Dimmed lights, a nice scented candle lit on the counter, a warm bubble bath drawn in the bathroom; she had it all planned out. And as soon as Ela stepped into that room, she would help her out of her sweat stained training clothes, only to then enjoy a relaxing bath in the tub for a while prepped for both of them.
She wanted to make sure Ela didn't have to lift a finger as she scrubbed and lathered the Polish girl, maybe even get a head start on the nights special activities right then and there. Otherwise, once they were cleansed, they would return to the bed where Meghan would give her girlfriend a nice full body massage to rid any lingering aches leftover from the days training. Finally once all the kinks in her body were nice and loose, the two of them would enjoy each other's intimacy until exhaustion completely runs them dry; Meghan hoped they would make it until the sun rises.
She made sure everything was perfect, even going as far as acquiring some 'special items' to spice their night up. Her current attire, in fact, was one of the most important of these items. Consisting of a purple silk robe with white lining that she purposely left open, revealing a provocative white and partially see-through lingerie set underneath, complete with stockings and garter belt. She was laying on the bed, ensuring that she would be the first thing Ela saw when she entered the room, she would be shocked if the Polish girl didn't melt on the spot. With everything set, all she had to do was wait… any minute, now.
As if on cue, here was a gentle knock on the door. Show time.
"Come in." Meghan said in an angelical tone, almost singing the last syllables.
"Meghan?" Came a familiar voice as the door was opened. She quickly recognized the voice not as Ela's, but of a certain blonde German.
"Shit." Meghan whispered as she closed her robe just in time for the German to enter, "Hey Monika, wasn't expecting you." She greeted, trying her best to conceal her embarrassment as her face begun to burn. She wondered if her friend had seen anything.
"Clearly." Monika responded, not helping but noticing the décor.
"What did you need?" The SEAL quickly changed subjects, on full damage control.
"Do you have a minute? There's a couple things I need to talk to you about." Monika failed to hide the fact that she looked a little distraught.
"Sure, what's up?" Instinctively, Meghan sat up. She failed to remember when was the last time she had seen that face.
"You and Eliza are best friends right?"
"Yeah."
"And I'm assuming that you tell each other about…major things going on in your personal lives?" It was painfully obvious Monika had no idea how to tell her. Now that Meghan managed to get a closer look at the German, there were clear signs of dried trails of tears below her eyes.
"That's a weird way of asking if we talk, but yeah."
"Has she…said anything to you? About me, or our relationship?"
Meghan thought about it, "Not recently, no."
"Has she seemed unhappy?"
"No."
"Anything unusual at all?"
"Well, unusual is a loose term for Eliza, but no." Meghan was now worried, "Monika, why are you asking me this?" She got up with her crutches and hobbled over her friend. Only then did she notice the German appeared to be on the brink of tears, "Hey, what's wrong?"
"She's hiding something from me."
"What do you mean?" Meghan asked, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"A few weeks ago, I noticed one of her drawers was locked, I didn't think anything of it, until she said that she kept some files in there."
"Sounds normal, what's got you so worked up?"
"She lied!" A couple of rogue tears landed on Monika's cheeks.
"Hold on, hold on now. How do you know she's lying?"
"Because of the way she said it. You know the tone of voice she will use when she lies to Six about all the destroyed walls. She used the same tone with me. She's never talked to me like that…she's never lied to me."
Meghan was shocked, she never expected Eliza to do something like that to her girlfriend, not after they had been through so much together. But then, she remembered one key detail, "Wait, you said one of her drawers was locked?"
"Yes." Monika answered, wiping her tears away.
The engagement ring! Oh poor Monika. She was hands down the smartest member of the team, her technical abilities and her intuition when it came to people were above reproach. However, it was now the cause of her downfall in this case. She was right, Eliza was hiding something from her, but not in the nefarious manner she feared. Now all Meghan had to do was calm her down without revealing Eliza's plan.
"Monika," Meghan brought her friend in for a hug, "listen to me, Eliza LOVES you. She might have some loose screws and totally unsure about anything, but that's something that you can be damn certain about: she's head over heels for you. She would never do anything to hurt you."
"But she's never lied, or hidden anything from me. We tell each other everything. Why wouldn't she trust me?" Monika had a look of concentration on her face as she was contemplating all possibilities, "After two years, do you think she's tired of me?"
"Definitely not. In fact, I'm fairly sure that she's just as, if not more excited to be with you than ever." If only Monika knew.
"I don't know." Monika took a second to reflect on her time with the redhead, "You know, when we went on our first date, I thought that it wouldn't go anywhere, that it was just going to be a quick fling. I had never even been interested in seeing a woman, and I thought a date with a redheaded pyromaniac would only reaffirm that. At most I was just giving her a curtesy date before telling her that we should just stay friends." Monika smiled, "Then we went on another date, and another. Next thing I knew, I was calling her my girlfriend. Now here we are, two years together and it's been the best relationship I've ever had. I don't want it to end."
"And it won't, not as long as you two still love each other." Meghan reassured, "Listen, just give her a chance, who knows, maybe it's nothing. For all we know it could be something good."
"Do you think so?"
"Do you still trust her?"
"Yes."
"And you still love her?"
"Of course I do." Monika answered with sheer determination.
"Then have faith in her."
Monika thought hard on the matter, "I suppose regardless, all I can do is wait and see what she does."
"I'm telling you, you don't have anything to worry about."
"Thanks Meghan." Monika said, relieved to have her mind put somewhat at ease.
"No problem." Meghan gave her another warm hug, "You should go be with her. Where is she anyway? Where is everyone else for that matter?"
"Oh, right." Monika took on a more formal tone, "That's the other thing I needed to talk to you about."
"What is it?" Meghan asked.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're going to have to put your plans with Ela on hold."
"What do you mean?"
"The training session was extended overnight."
"What?! But we never do training overnight!"
"Six said we need to increase the amount of training and boost our performance, which means longer training exercises and more of them. She told us this morning, she seemed upset about something."
"Well, when are they coming back?"
"I'm not sure, there was talk about even extending it to a few days."
"A FEW DAYS?!" Meghan shrieked at the top of her lungs, completely losing the calm she's famous for. She couldn't help it; she was horny beyond belief. A wave of anger and frustration replaced her excitement.
She needed someone to stop her, otherwise, she was going to demand an explanation to Six herself.
"I'm sorry, I know you two were looking forward to seeing each other."
"I can't believe this." Meghan felt frustration as all of her planning had gone to waste, "Wait, then why are you here?"
"Mark, Emma and myself had to come back because we are getting some new operators tomorrow and we're their guides for the week."
"That's neat I guess. It's always nice to have some new faces around here." Meghan said, still clearly upset as she blew out the candle and flipped the lights on fully.
"I guess Ela really is missing out." Monika said with her eyebrows raised.
Meghan looked down to see that in her moving around, her robe had opened again, giving Monika a full view of the display, "Oh my God!" She yelled as she did her best to cover herself up and her face turned red.
"You know, doing an op overnight is one thing, but in England during the winter time?" Jordan complained as he shivered.
The whole gang was outside in a makeshift camp, ordered to set up 'defensive positions' which were supposed to last throughout the night. Several tents were set up, used for sleeping and storing equipment in, the team had split up into groups that took turns in guarding the encampment site while the others slept. Several of them were taking their turns at the outer guard posts.
"Well, you heard Six: 'We need to improve the team's performance' whatever that means." Miles said.
"We're known as being the best counter-terror unit in the world and she still sees that as needing improvement?"
"Why can't we at least go inside the training building?" Jack asked.
"Apparently it's being renovated. Also in the name of improving training." Miles answered.
"How convenient."
"The place is made of concrete anyway, no insulation to help with the cold."
"How you ladies doing over there?" Jordan called to Eliza.
Eliza and Ela were huddled together about twenty yards away in their position. Eliza gave Jordan a thumbs up while Ela simply let out an annoyed growl.
"How are you holding up?" Eliza asked.
"I've been better." Ela answered.
Everyone was displeased about being out in the cold overnight, but Eliza could see that the Polish girl was especially annoyed for a different reason, "You wish you were with her don't you?"
"Of course not, I would much rather be out here freezing my ass off than be in a warm bed with the person I love." Ela rolled her eyes, it took all her willpower to keep her from shooting herself with her PR-15 and going home.
"Hey, I get it, my girlfriends not here either, not that she was talking to me anyway." Eliza muttered that last part to herself, "At least it's only for one night."
"Right. Sorry for snapping."
Both women missed having their significant other by their side, but at least they could take solace in the fact that Meghan and Monika would be warm tonight, unlike themselves.
"I see you two are enjoying the cold as well." Another female voice joined them.
"Hey Yumi." Eliza greeted, "How's your evening going?"
"About as nice as it can be."
"Where's Masaru?"
"He was on guard duty earlier, now he's getting some rest."
"Are you sure he's not with Siu?" Eliza teased, exploiting the obvious jealousy she felt from the Chinese woman.
"That's not funny. They've gotten too close for my liking since coming back from China." Yumi snapped.
"Yumi, relax. Masaru would never cheat on you, he's too lazy to handle two women at once, I'm surprised he's not too lazy to handle one."
"Touché," Yumi chuckled, "I still feel like I need to keep a close eye on those two."
"You're worrying over nothing." The redhead reassured.
"Hey," Jordan called, "could one of you go and make sure Shuhrat's awake, his post begins in five."
"I'll do it. Walking might make me forget how miserable I am.." Ela offered, moving around might help to get blood pumped back into her legs
The tents that the operators slept in were about a hundred yards back, set up in rows of five. Each member got their own for the night. Ela began weaving through each one, trying to find the one that housed the Russian man, finally finding it near the back. As she approached, she heard a rustling coming from the inside, indicating that he was awake and getting ready for his turn at the guard post.
She unzipped the flap, "Shuhrat, you have five minutes, are you ready for-WHOA!"
Ela was shocked and even jumped back a bit as she looked into the tent. Shuhrat was indeed inside, but he was definitely not ready, in fact he was completely naked. Even more shocking, on top of him was an equally shocked and equally naked Siu Mei Lin.
"Ela, I'm so sorry!" Siu called from inside as she did her best to cover herself up.
"I could have gone my whole life without seeing that." Ela responded as she turned away from the tent and its occupants.
After a moment, Shuhrat stuck his head out, "When did you say my shift started?"
"In five minutes." Ela answered, still not looking in their direction.
Shuhrat looked back at the Chinese woman, then back at Ela, "I will be there in four." He said before disappearing back into the tent.
Ela covered her ears and let out a groan as she walked away, trying her best to cover up any noise the two were now making. As for her eyes, unfortunately the image of the two engaged in intercourse would now forever be burned into her mind, "What did I do to deserve that?" Ela asked herself as she made her way back to the others. To be fair, if Meghan were out here, she would probably be tempted to do the same. Eliza and Monika would definitely do the same.
Back at the guard post, the others were still endearing the cold while making small talk.
"Is he coming?" Jordan asked.
"What?!" Ela responded, her mind in a totally different place.
"Is he on his way?"
"Oh. Yes, he'll be here."
"Good."
Ela went back to her spot next to Yumi and Eliza. The Japanese woman noticed the look of horror on her face, "You okay?"
"Uh huh." Ela answered, "I don't think you need to worry about Siu."
"What do you-" Yumi's question was suddenly interrupted by the sound of gunfire.
"Contact!" Miles yelled, immediately clicking his UMP-45 off of safe and returning fire.
Before they knew it, they were being rushed by a horde of enemy fighters. They were really just new recruits wearing ski masks and everyone only had paint rounds, but everyone treated it like the real deal, it's one of the best ways to get better.
"There's a group of them coming up on your left!" Jordan shouted to the female group.
"Got it!" Eliza answered as the three women began shooting back.
They were out numbered greatly, but that was nothing new to them. The six of them made quick work of the inexperienced recruits and after only a couple minutes, had dispatched all of them, none of them even getting close to their defensive perimeter.
"Easy." Said Jack, unloading his gun - the magazine was completely empty - and immediately loading another magazine filled with twenty-five paint rounds in.
"Enemies regrouping, prepare for assault." Came Kowalski's voice over the radio.
"There's more coming!" Yumi shouted.
Sure enough, another wave of foes began rushing the outpost. This group was larger than the last, but still clearly inexperienced. Slowly but surely, the operators began picking them off, one by one. By now, all the other operators were awake and making their way to the front line to assist, making the defense of the place even easier. Shuhrat and Siu had brought up their LMG's and Timur had taken perch in a nearby tower. Again, after a few minutes, the assaulting wave had dwindled.
"There's only a few of them left." Jordan pointed out, "There behind cover, I can't get a shot."
"Oh for fucks sake." Ela said. Her tolerance levels had officially been peaked. The long day combined with the bitter cold, the lack of sleep, being out here when she should have been getting laid. Everything had just pushed her over the edge as she hopped over the barrier that they were using for cover.
"Ela, wait!" Eliza's protests went ignored.
Ela quickly spotted the remaining nine enemies taking cover behind some trees and more concrete barriers, pinned down by suppressive fire, they were too busy hiding to notice the flash of green hair approaching. She smiled wickedly as she pulled out a GRZMOT and tossed it behind them, after a few seconds the loud pop went off, indicating the mine had done its job. The rest was easy, she flipped her scorpion to full auto and quickly sprinted over to their location, they were dazed and stumbling from the blast. The first recruit looked up just in time to receive a face full of paint from the Polish operator, who immediately took a knee to take out another. She then side stepped behind a tree to take out one more, using the new cover, she was able to flank two more combatants and eliminate them with another long burst.
By now, the remaining enemies were recovering from the concussion and were about counter attack the lone operator. Deciding not to give them the chance, she quickly moved out of cover and did the last thing they would expect. She ran over and leaped over the barrier they were hiding behind, taking them by surprise as she emptied the remainder of her extended magazine into three more unfortunate fighters. Once her mag was empty, she saw that there was still one more opponent standing right behind her. He raised his rifle to shoot, but Ela was close enough to smack the gun away and deliver an immobilizing punch to the throat. As he recoiled back, she drew her sidearm and fired into him. He was 'dead' after only three rounds but her frustration got the better of her and she emptied all sixteen shots into the unfortunate man, causing him to break character.
"Okay okay, you got me, sheesh!" He said, now fully covered in paint.
Ela felt sorry for him, she knew he had absolutely nothing to do with her current predicament, but gosh did it give her the rush she needed to vent her grievances away.
By now she was breathing heavily and gave the all clear signal as she made her way back to the group. Some of them looked impressed, others looked at her like she had completely lost her mind.
"Feel better?" Eliza asked, with a smirk on her face.
"I think I would still rather get laid." Ela answered.
"Amen to that." Eliza answered as she laughed at the out of character joke.
"Another wave of enemies incoming." Came over the radio.
"Oh come on!"
This was about to be a long night.
Meghan was finishing up her daily leg exercises, which consisted of the usual bending and flexing. Even though it was now a part of her recovery routine, she was really just looking for a distraction until Ela and the others got back. They were getting easier by the day, but she was still itching to be able to walk and run again as she was seriously concerned about her cardio, you don't get to be a Navy SEAL by running slow. She wanted to try walking without her crutches, it would hurt but she was confident that she could eventualy do it. However, she knew that she would never hear the end of it if Gustave caught her.
"That's enough for today." She said to herself, having worked up a sweat from the seemingly menial movements. Her stomach growling indicated it would be a good idea to go downstairs and get a bite to eat.
As she managed to hobble her way down to the lounge, she noticed Mark and Monika standing by the door, "Good morning Meghan." The German greeted.
"Hey, you off to meet the new guys?" Meghan asked.
"As soon as Emma's ready." Monika answered.
As if on cue, Emma came walking down the hall from her room, "Sorry about that, is everyone ready?"
"Affirmative." Monika answered, "Let's go meet our new friends."
"Let me know if any of them are interesting." Meghan called out as they left.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll find at least one of them interesting." Monika muttered to herself. She had decided not to tell Ela or Meghan that Zofia was about to join the team, she thought that letting Ela see her sister in person would be a nice surprise for the Polish girl.
Now Meghan was alone in the barracks lounge, grabbing herself some breakfast. She had just finished her meal when she heard the front entrance doors open. That was odd, she didn't expect the three of them to be back so soon. To her surprise, it was not the three operators she had spoken to earlier, but everyone else coming back from training.
All of the operators who had spent the night out in the cold were now trickling into the barracks. Meghan was shocked, and a little humored, that they all looked tired, and covered head to toe in paint. Even Taina, who was normally composed during this sort of thing, looked fatigued.
"Hey guys, welcome back." Meghan greeted. Some returned the greeting, some just grunted, too exhausted to form a response.
It was clear that they were all just happy that it was over, thankful to be in the warmth of the indoors. Most of them immediately made a beeline for their rooms, eager to get cleaned up and sleep in an actual bed. Meghan couldn't help but notice that Siu had turned and stayed on the first floor, despite her room being on the second. Others couldn't even be bothered walking that far and just took a seat in the lounge, not caring if they got paint on anything.
Finally, Meghan managed to find her best friend in the crowd, "Hey."
"You missed a fun night." Eliza said, sarcastically.
"Really now, how was it?"
"It was…interesting, as in absolutely fucking horrible." The redhead described, "By the way, how many recruits do we have on this god damned base?"
"I'm not sure, but I know it's a lot. Why?"
"It's a long story." Eliza answered as she looked around for a certain blonde German, "I'm just happy it's over. Where's Monika, by the way?"
"You just missed her. She went to go meet the new team members with Mark and Emma, they should be back in a few hours."
Eliza was completely unfazed by the fact that Rainbow recruited new operators. She was so tired that she just couldn't care less about it, "I guess that gives me enough time to get cleaned up." She was about to walk up to her room before Meghan grabbed her arm, stopping the redhead in her tracks.
"By the way, you have to talk with her." Meghan said in a slightly more serious tone.
"Why, what's up?" Eliza worriedly asked, combined with the serious tone and the look in her friend's eyes, she knew some serious shit went up.
"She came to me earlier, she was pretty stressed about where your relationship is going."
"What do you mean she's stressed? She's the one that's been barely talking to me for the past few days."
"She's just letting her nerves get to her, it's not that big of a deal. Just tell her that you love her, she needs reassurance, that's all."
"I do, I tell her every day, but for some reason she's been cold and distant lately. She refuses to talk about it and I have no idea what I did wrong."
"She thinks your hiding something from her."
"What?"
"Did she almost find your ring?"
Eliza pondered for a moment and quickly remembered that one time a few days ago, "Oh. She tried to open the drawer I'm hiding it in, but I panicked and made something up one the spot."
"Yeah, I figured. Well, she saw right through it, now she thinks you're lying to her about something and she's upset and worried."
"Well, it's not like I can just tell her what it is."
"I mean, you could. Why not just propose to her already?"
"I'm waiting for the right moment. I love her to death and I want my proposal to be absolutely perfect."
"Well, you might want to get on with it, while she still has the patience."
"Is she that mad at me?"
"I managed to calm her down. But she does need reassurance that you're still just as invested in her as she is with you." she spared her friend of the details.
"I see, I'll make this better. I've always managed to make her love me again no matter how much I've upset her."
"How you do it, I honestly have no idea."
"Thanks for the heads up."
"No problem. Now speaking of girlfriends, have you seen…Ela?" As if on cue, Meghan looked towards the doorway and saw that her girlfriend was the last person to enter. She noticed that she was covered in more paint than anyone, and she had a very annoyed look on her face as she walked toward the blonde, "Hey Ela, welcome back."
Ela said nothing as she grabbed Meghan by the collar of her shirt and pulled her toward the stairs, almost dragging her as she had trouble keeping up on her crutches.
"Hey hey hey, Ela slow down."
When they made it to Meghan's room, Ela gently sat her down at the foot of her bed, "Wait here." She firmly demanded before she disappeared into the bathroom. After a few seconds, Meghan heard the shower turn on.
She didn't expect to see her girlfriend being so demanding and proactive. Some might find it unusual at the very least, but not to the Navy SEAL. Seeing her girlfriend like that excited her more than anything. She knew exactly what was on her mind, and she couldn't help but want the exact same thing.
"So how was it?" Meghan asked, trying to distract herself from the building heat in between her legs.
"One of the most ridiculous training missions I have ever done." The Polish girl answered from inside the shower, annoyance still in her voice.
"What exactly happened?"
"They just sent wave after wave of recruits to try and 'take over' our base. All throughout the night."
"Did you get any sleep?"
"No! They just kept sending more and more enemies at us, each wave bigger than the last. I don't see why Six thinks we're the ones that need more training, those recruits don't know the first thing about fighting. Suka's"
"It sounds like Six is really cracking down on us."
"It got to the point where we failed on purpose, just to say that it was over and we might as well pack up and go home. But Six wasn't having it, she made us start the whole thing over."
"That sounds absolutely horrible, but at least it's over." Meghan picked up one of her black eyes and began tinkering with it. Another source of distraction. She realized that her girlfriend was exhausted and just needed someone to vent, and she was happy to be that someone.
After a few minutes, Ela turned off the shower, Meghan didn't notice when the water stopped running, however she did notice when the Bosak tempest was suddenly standing in front of her. She looked up in awe as the Polish beauty was still soaking wet from the shower, and had neglected to put on any clothing, "Can I help you Ms. Bosak?" She asked in a playful tone.
"It's been over a week. We're now free to do whatever we want in this bed." Ela answered as she sat down on Meghan's lap, her chest positioned right in front of the blondes face.
"I don't know." Meghan responded in the same playful tone, "I mean, you've been up all night and you're clearly fatigued. I really should leave you alone so you can catch up on some rest." She pretended to get up and began to remove Ela from her lap, when the Polish girl pushed her back down by the shoulders and pinned her to the bed.
"Either you take these clothes off or I will rip them off with my teeth." Ela growled.
Meghan smirked at the threat, not sure which option was more enticing.
"So what are the results?" Six asked.
"They were doing fairly well in the beginning, as expected. However, as the night went on, it was clear that fatigue was setting in and performance began to suffer. As a result, we did experience one failure." Isaac explained.
"Which is when you contacted me."
"Right, and you said to try again. This time, training was successful."
"Not bad, but one failure is still one too many." Six concluded, "Were going to need better results if we want our spot back." There was a knock on the door, "We'll discuss this later. Come in."
Mark, Monika and Emma walked into the office, "Good morning ma'am. We're here to pick up the new operators." Emma greeted.
"Perfect. Isaac, will you please bring them in."
"Yes ma'am." Isaac stood up and walked over to door that lead to an adjacent waiting room. He opened it and beckoned whoever was inside to come in. Soon, three figures walked into the room, one man and two women.
"You've already been assigned your partners for the week." Six said, "Dokkaebi, you will be with Twitch."
"Yes ma'am." The younger woman responded with a smile and cheerfulness as she went to shake Emma's hand, "Hi I'm Grace from the 707th Special Mission Battalion, nice to meet you."
"You as well. I'm Emmanuelle with the French GIGN, but everyone just calls me Emma."
"Nice to meet you Emma." Her smile never fading, "I look forward to working with you all."
"Likewise."
"Vigil, you will be with mute." Six continued.
Chul stepped forward and didn't say anything as he seemed to eye the British man before him. The two simply stared each other down before Chul gave an acknowledging nod. Mark nodded back and the two shook hands.
"And Zofia will be with IQ."
The Polish woman walked over to Monika. She stood tall and proud with her chest out, almost as if standing at attention. She was about an inch taller than the blonde, but her posture made her seem so much taller, "Hello." She greeted.
"Nice to meet you." Monika said as they shook hands, Zofia managed to keep a neutral expression on her face. Out of the three, she was clearly the most disciplined one - a polar opposite of her sister.
"Zofia Bosak, GROM."
"Monika Weiss, GSG-9."
"Alright, now that introductions are out of the way," Six interrupted, "Take these three to the administration office and get them checked in, then introduce them to the rest of the team."
The six of them left the office, eager to get the newcomers integrated into the team.
"So how long have you been with Rainbow?" Zofia asked, walking with her hands behind her back.
"Two years, since the day it was reactivated." Monika answered.
"Impressive." Zofia responded, "How many missions?"
"Too many to count, and in too many places to remember."
"I understand. It makes sense that being a part of the best is a taxing lifestyle."
"It is, but it's worth it."
"So I take it as a veteran of the team, you know all the operators fairly well then?"
"Indeed."
"Then may I ask, how is my sister doing?"
So she does know Ela is here. Monika thought, "Ela is doing well. She's proven herself to be a capable soldier. She's well respected among the team."
"Hmm. Very well." Was Zofia's response.
"You seem surprised."
"Growing up together, I was concerned that there may be some…issues, with her being on a team like this."
"It sounds like you don't have much confidence in her."
Zofia decided not to answer to the accusation, "One of the reasons I joined was to check on her, to make sure she was alright."
"You couldn't just call her?"
"It's a little more complicated than that."
"Well, I won't interfere with your family business, but I don't think you have much to worry about." Monika reassured, figuring that pushing that subject wasn't the wisest of decisions.
"I guess we'll see soon enough."
Ela and Meghan were both lying on their backs, staring at the ceiling. Their breathing heavy as both of their chests heaved up and down. Their bodies covered in sweat, among other fluids, and physically exhausted. Their minds just coming down from pure bliss.
"Wow." Ela heavily breathed, trying to get a grip of her rampaging heart.
"That was…" Meghan started.
"Amazing." Ela finished.
"Yeah."
The two of them laid there for a moment longer, still catching their breath.
"Do you think…you could untie me?" Ela asked, referring to her wrists that were bound together and tied to the headboard.
"What, you don't want to keep helping me with my endurance?" Meghan asked playfully, "I mean, in this position I clearly do all the work anyway."
"First of all, your endurance is clearly fine." Ela said pointing to the clock, which indicated that they had been going for nearly three hours, "Second, you have no idea how much I would love to continue this, but I'm afraid I might die of exhaustion. Third, unlike you I have to be able to walk tomorrow."
"Oh honey," Meghan sat up, "we both already know you're going to have trouble walking tomorrow." She gave the green haired girl a kiss before moving to untie her wrists.
Once she was free, Ela sat up as well, she tried to move her arms only to feel that Meghan still had a grip on them. Meghan appeared to be examining the area that had been tied, noticing that some light bruises had formed. Now these were very minor, to the point where Ela hadn't even noticed them, but Meghan was still looking at them with intent, "What is it?"
"Kind of reminds me of when you first came here." Meghan said, referring to her first week with Rainbow and how she got hurt during her first training exercise. They remembered the bruising Ela received on her side and the time Meghan spent to take care of the Polish girl.
"That was an interesting first week." Ela commented, "It's been a crazy journey since then hasn't it?"
"It sure has." Meghan placed a gentle kiss on Ela's bruises, "And I don't ever want it to end." She moved and gave Ela another gentle kiss on the lips. It took them all their willpower to break free from the contact - they both noticed how easily they got carried away.
"I love you, Meghan."
"And I love you, Ela."
The two of them got lost in each other's eyes for a minute before Ela spoke up, "We should head down stairs."
"Right." The two of them got off of the bed to retrieve their discarded clothing, "Hopefully some of my clothes survived your mauling."
"It wasn't that bad." Ela defended. As the SEAL got dressed, she walked over to the dresser, only to realize two things. One was that she was indeed having trouble walking, thanks to her lovers ferocious love making techniques. The other was that this was Meghan's room, and she didn't bring any extra clothes when they came in. She looked over at her combat gear that she had been wearing, noting that it was still indeed covered in day old dirt and paint. Great.
She then had an idea, she looked back at the dresser and opened it. Hopefully Meghan wouldn't mind, it would only be until she made it back to her room anyway. She quickly rummaged through the drawer and pulled out a pair of the SEALs black pants and a grey hoodie with the US Navy logo on it, both of which were a size too big for her but they would do. She slipped them on, not worrying about any undergarments.
When Meghan had finished getting dressed, she turned around and saw her girlfriends attire and laughed, "Don't tell me you're going to be one of those girlfriends."
"What?" Ela asked.
"You know, the type of girlfriend who steals all of your hoodies and you never see them again."
"Sorry, I didn't think to bring a change of clothes before we started."
"Oh." Meghan responded, "Well, do you want to keep some clothes here? Maybe a towel and a toothbrush as well."
Ela smiled and blushed at the offer, "Are you asking me to move in with you?"
"Well, we live down the hall from each other so it's not like your really moving…but yeah, you spend the night here a lot anyway."
"Sure, I'll get my stuff tonight."
Even though not much was changing, they both knew that this was a significant step in their relationship. Meghan had never reached the 'move in together' phase in any of her past relationships and Ela had never been in a relationship at all. Both women were excited to see where this lead them. They shared one more kiss before leaving to go down to the lounge.
As they made their way downstairs, they noticed a commotion coming from the lounge as seemingly every operator had gathered in a group.
"What's going on here?" Ela asked.
"Oh, right." Meghan remembered, "We're getting new operators today."
"Really?" Ela asked in renowned excitement - it was, after all, the first time she's seeing new faces in Rainbow.
"Yeah, you, Siu and Liu aren't the new kids on the block anymore."
"Where are they from?"
"They never brief us beforehand, but they're right over there, let's go meet them." Meghan started making her way to the group.
"Do we have to? You know I'm horrible at meeting new people."
"Come on, at least say hi and introduce yourself."
"Ugh, fine."
The couple made their way into the crowd and quickly spotted the three unfamiliar faces. One was of a younger Asian woman with glasses, she was talking with Masaru and showing him something on some kind of tablet she had with her. She never stopped smiling and seemed to be slowly getting closer to the Japanese man. At the corner of her eye, Meghan could clearly see Yumi staring daggers at the new operator. She managed to suppress a chuckle.
The second person was an Asian man. Several operators were talking with him, but he never responded with anything more than a nod or a shake of the head. He looked like he really didn't enjoy being the center of attention and hated being in a crowd. Maybe Ela could get along with him.
The final person had their back turned, but something about her felt oddly familiar to Ela. She was slightly taller than the other two and was clearly not of Asian descent. They were currently having a conversation with Eliza and Monika. As Ela moved closer to the mystery person, Monika took notice of her and pointed in her direction. The newcomer finally turned around, and for Ela, time seemed to stop. Everything around her faded away as she came face to face with a piece of the nightmare that was her past, something that she had tried and failed to run away from. She froze as she looked into the eyes of none other than her sister. Zofia.
"Hello, baby sister."
Author's note: Well, she's here. How will Ela react? How will Meghan react? Will Mute or Vigil ever talk? Find out next time on What Will It Take. So yeah, no sex scene in this one, but don't worry, I'm currently writing a one shot of our ladies special morning. So if you were disappointed, fear not you will still get your smut. Well, Act 4 has been officially completed, I swear I feel like I just started it yesterday. Act 5 will now center on Ela and Zofia's relationship and Meghan trying to keep everything afloat. As always, I hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave a review. Until next time.