Chapter 15: The Unlucky Shoulder

Chloe was once again caught with a full bladder and an occupied bathroom. This wouldn't be a problem if they were an actual married couple. Surely they wouldn't mind being caught naked in front of each other. But Beca's complete lack of modesty and shame was mildly infuriating to the ever professional Chloe Beale.

"Beca! Are you almost done?" Chloe pounded on the door. "I have to pee. And I need to shower, too, I still smell like outside and sunscreen." No response. Chloe pounded on the door once again. When she was greeted with silence in return she finally burst through the door. Beca was just standing in the shower, completely nude, watching TV.

"You're watching TV?!" Chloe shrieked. Beca glanced over her shoulder, completely unbothered this time by being walked in on.

"Wanna join?" Beca shot Chloe a wink before returning her attention to some movie about acapella singers that she thought would be kinda lame, but had its entertaining moments, making her even laugh out loud sometimes.

"Ugh!" Chloe quickly covered her eyes and felt around for the toilet.

"You can look, you know." Beca rolled her eyes. "We have the same lady bits."

"Just hurry up." Chloe washed her hands with her eyes closed. "If you waste all the hot water, I'll actually make you sleep on the couch."

"Party pooper!" Beca called as Chloe fled the bathroom. "Alright, aca-bitches, I'll have to finish you another time." She switched the TV off and finished her shower.

That night, after Chloe had made sure the motion sensor to Gunther's room had a loud enough alarm on to ensure they knew if someone came or went from his room, the two easily feel asleep. It was a much quicker trip to REM cycle than their first night sharing a bed.

There was a midnight fireworks celebration at the end of the night, which Beca and Chloe had chosen to skip. They were both tired and knew Gunther had been in his room all evening after the prostitutes had left. It started with a few small crackles and pops but turned into a full blow firework assault. The lights even illuminated part of the room.

There was one thunderous burst of fireworks that caused Chloe to wake up momentarily. She shook it off and almost closed her eyes until she felt Beca collapse on top of her and roll her off the bed. She was about to scream at the brunette for disrupting her sleep until she saw the look in her eyes. Beca was hovering over Chloe, frantically looking to her left and right. She obviously wasn't fully connected with reality. After another *pop pop pop* of fireworks, Beca put her forearms close to Chloe and leaned in with her head tilted as if she was shielding Chloe from something.

Chloe watched in shock, realizing Beca was clearly having another nightmare...or night terror it seemed like. Beca had her eyes clenched shut as her whole body tensed around Chloe in a protective manner. Chloe just wanted to tell her everything was okay, and it wasn't actually guns or bombs going off. She clearly knew it was PTSD, and realized for the first time she knew very little about the things Beca had experienced in the military. Chloe let her hands rest on Beca's forearms.

"Beca." Chloe whispered. Beca didn't seem to respond in any way. "Beca, its okay." Chloe started running her fingers along Beca's forearms to try and calm her down. She noticed Beca's chest actually slow in its heavy breaths. "Beca...can you hear me?"

"What?" Beca shook her head and seemed to come to. When she noticed their positioning, felt the fear in her heart and the sweat on her skin, she panicked. She quickly flew back away from Chloe, feeling completely embarrassed. "Sorry!"

"Don't be sorry!" Chloe sat up too. "Its okay." She reached out to try and grab one of Beca's arms. Beca responded by shuffling quickly backwards away from Chloe. She ran a hand through her hair and tried to catch her breath.

"Beca…"

"Don't!" Beca held a hand up. "Please…"

"Its-"

"Don't say its fucking okay." Beca slammed her hands on the ground, forcing herself to stand up.

"Beca, you can talk-" Chloe started to get to her feet when she was interrupted by the motion sensor beeping on her nightstand. "Dammit...we have activity in Gunther's room." They both quickly threw on regular clothes and grabbed their guns. Chloe looked at Beca as they were about to walk out, trying to read her eyes to see if she was okay for this right now.

"Don't look at me like that, please." Beca took a step back from the door before they left.

"Like what?" Chloe turned around, nervous they were wasting precious time.

"Like I'm either some sort of mental patient or damaged goods."

"I wasn't looking at you like that. I'm just worried, and want to help."

"Look, I appreciate it." Beca kept her head down. "But if I want help I will ask. Please don't handle me with kid gloves, okay? If I'm not okay, I'll tell you. Just treat me like normal."

"Okay." Chloe hesitated, wishing she could convince Beca to just express herself a little bit. "I'm here for you, though. You're my partner."

They stood awkwardly staring at each other before Chloe shook her head, like she was shaking the cobwebs out.

"Ready?" She nodded at the door. Beca gave a quick nod, gripping her gun tighter. They made their way down the hall and chose the staircase over elevator. Chloe kept her eye on the motion detector as they approached Gunther's floor.

They saw the group heading to the elevator going down. Chloe watched as it hit the B1 level, which was where the kitchen, laundry, custodial room, and employee lounge were located.

"Stairs. Hustle." She gave Beca a little shove to run to the staircase. They got to the basement floor and peeked around the door to see Gunther, the anonymous terrorist and their four bodyguards enter the lounge.

"Six versus two?" Beca ran her tongue along her teeth, thinking. "I think I like our odds."

"Are you ever not over confident?" Chloe shook her head as she thought through a plan. Beca just shrugged. "Okay, we take out the two guards outside the door, then we wait for whatever meeting they're having in the lounge, then take em out when they come out. There's no windows or other doors. So they have to come out here." Chloe looked to Beca, who analyzed her plan and nodded in agreement.

"Taser or gun?" Beca asked.

"You have your silencer?" Chloe checked. Beca nodded, and put it on. "I know you have a better shot, take em both out quick and we'll move the bodies." Beca silently moved to the end of the hallway to get the best view. Chloe stood a few feet away, aiming her own gun, just in case Beca didn't get both down quickly. Beca took a deep breath and fired two quick headshots and before the guards could even reach for their guns, they fell to the ground. Beca let out a long breath of relief. Chloe looked proudly at her partner, who just a few minutes ago had been in the throws of a night terror.

The other two bodyguards stepped outside, apparently leaving the Gunther and the unknown to discuss things in private. Beca quickly brought her gun back up when the guards noticed their fallen comrades. She fired two more shots, one in the head the other in the shoulder. He took a shot at Beca as he groaned but missed. Chloe fired two shots to his chest and he fell to the ground too.

"Four down. Two to go." Beca smirked, which quickly disappeared when she saw the anonymous terrorist appear outside the door. He saw the guards and bolted for the kitchen. Beca took off in a sprint after him, ignoring Chloe's calls to wait. She followed them to the kitchen doors cautiously, keeping an eye on the lounge door.

Beca crouched down behind one of the stainless steel counters, looking for the terrorist. She heard his clumsy movements and figured the best spots for her to move. She heard him on the opposite side of the kitchen, so she did her fastest squat walk to catch up to him until she saw his shadow. Beca quickly moved her leg to swipe the terrorists feet from under him.

"What's your name?" Beca grabbed him by the throat. "And where's the USB?"

"Foolish woman." He just smirked. Beca kicked him in the groin, twice.

"I'll give you another chance." She growled impatiently.

"Omar." He groaned in a higher pitch. Beca then grabbed his wrist and twisted.

"And where's the fucking USB?" She demanded.

"Gunther has it…" Omar groaned. "He heard commotion and started backing out of our deal."

"Mhm, likely story." Beca was unconvinced as she picked him up by the collar and threw him against the wall. Chloe was carefully watching from the small circle window, in case Beca needed her help, while keeping her eye on the lounge door. She couldn't decide if she should help her partner or go after Gunther. Considering Gunther had no other exit than the door she was looking at, she decided to keep her position.

Omar came back with a knife from the counter at Beca, who skillfully dodged it. She ducked when he swiped at her again, and quickly brought her leg up to kick him in the stomach and he went crashing into the pots and pans. He grabbed one and hurled it at her head, which she ducked again as the pot clanged loudly into the wall. She lunged at him and connected her left fist with his face. He returned the favor with a kick to her back. She only faltered slightly as she bought her elbow to his nose, satisfied with the loud cracking sound.

"Bitch!" Omar brought his hands to his bloody nose. Beca grabbed him by his neck and slammed him into the wall.

"Who do you work for?" She whispered angrily.

"I will never give that information." He gasped out. "But they are no match for you and your stupid country." Beca pulled him forward and slammed his head on the counter. Chloe was watching nervously, her head whipping back and forth between Beca's fight and the lounge door. She could tell Beca's temper was starting to get out of control.

Omar was getting dizzy and having trouble holding himself up. Beca held him by his collar and kneed his groin yet again.

"Tell me who you work for!"

"Never." Omar mumbled as he reached behind him to grab another kitchen knife. He lunged his hand to try and stab her but his reflexes were a step too slow for Beca who skillfully avoided it. Omar gave her a kick to the ribs when her hands were off his collar. Beca stumbled backwards, but not all the way to the ground. Chloe decided to step inside. Beca whirled around to look at her in surprise.

"Where's Gunther?" Beca looked around.

"Lounge." Chloe responded quickly.

Beca was making her way over to Chloe when she felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder. She let out a painful shriek and Chloe's eyes widened when she saw that Omar had thrown the kitchen knife into Beca's shoulder. Before Chloe could help or even raise her gun, Beca reached behind her, grabbed the knife, flipped it around and in one swift motion spun to hurl the knife at Omar. As she released it she screamed at the stunned Omar, "That fucking hurt, you son of bitch!" She hit her target and Omar slid to the floor with the knife plunged into his throat. He croaked out a few sounds before falling lifelessly on his side.

"Did you find out who he worked for?" Chloe asked quickly, as she looked at the dead body.

"No…" Beca ran a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You were just defending yourself." Chloe turned Beca around to look at her shoulder. She was disappointed they didn't take Omar alive, and she was sure the Agency would be too, but now was not the time to get into that.

"Dammit." Beca winced as she felt her shoulder. "How bad is it?"

"Not that bad." Chloe gently touched at the bleeding shoulder. "Better than a dislocation." They grinned at each other for a moment before Gunther burst through the doors aiming his gun at Chloe. In an instant Beca jumped in front of her and pushed her to the ground. The bullet unfortunately hit Beca in the same right shoulder.

"AH, fuck! Not again!"

"What?" Chloe breathed heavily.

"He shot me in the fucking shoulder!" Beca grimaced as she hovered over Chloe.

Chloe snatched Beca's gun from her hip holster, peeked around her body, and emptied the chamber at Gunther. She carefully set Beca upright against one of the counters and checked Gunther's body. She found the USB on the inside of his coat. She looked at Gunther lying in a pool of his own blood, and thought at least she and Beca were even on killing possible informants.

"Got it." Chloe sighed in relief that they at least got the USB as she returned to Beca. "You okay?" Chloe helped Beca stand up and put her hand on the wound at the back of Beca's right shoulder.

"Yeah. Just pissed. Same fucking shoulder, I mean come on." Beca whined as Chloe just rolled her eyes, leading her back to the hotel.

"Let's go call Jesse and get you cleaned up then." Chloe grabbed Beca by her left arm as her right just hung limply at her side.

Chloe once again found herself sitting in the hallway of the medical wing at HQ, waiting for Beca. When the brunette appeared through a door, Chloe quickly stood up and smiled.

"Deja, vu." Beca smirked.

"How's the shoulder?"

"Not as bad as last time. Just a few stitches."

"How long are you out?" Chloe asked nervously.

"Only a couple days once the stitches come out. I think Dr. Sanders is a little scared to force me to take any time off now." Beca chuckled.

"Want a ride home?" Chloe offered. Beca wasn't in a sling and knew she could probably drive Stella home just fine, but accepted anyway.

They sat down at Beca's small kitchen table as Beca poured them each a drink as usual. Chloe took a deep breath as she prepared to say what had been on her mind the past day or so.

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to...but if you want to talk about your um sleep issues, I'd be happy to listen. No judgement."

Beca just slowly sunk into her chair across from Chloe, staring at her glass like it had the answers for her. Instead of talking about her issues yet, she turned the conversation and asked Chloe a question of her own.

"Do you ever regret accepting the mission that led to Agent Price...you know." Beca felt uncomfortable saying death or dying as if the words sounded to cavelier. Chloe was a little taken aback by the question, but was ready to answer honestly, in hopes of gaining some more of Beca's trust so that maybe she'd really open up to her.

"No, not exactly." She took a sip, thinking of the right words. "I mean, for one, I didn't really have the option of saying no. I regret more what I did on the mission that made things go wrong."

"Same." Beca nodded. "I don't regret a single directive I've followed, I regret my actions that were mistakes and led to casualties. I don't think I'll ever stop having regret."

"I don't think we ever will." Chloe continued. "But we learn from our mistakes. And the pain of our mistakes gradually lessens over time."

"It sucks, doesn't it?" Beca sadly smirked across at her partner. "Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"Yeah." Chloe let out a short laugh. "I guess that's why the Agency makes us have partners. We can help each other carry that weight."