A/N: Been a while for this story. This chapter is kind of short, but I wanted to warn you that the next chapter will be rated M for slight sexual content. So please adjust your search parameters accordingly when searching for this story, thank you! And as always, let me know what you think of this chapter as well.

"Other than being in Iraq, you mean?" He asks on a chuckle.

"Yeah, other than being in Iraq, what was the thing you hated the most?" She asks.

He thinks for a minute, feeling her tug on his arm, which she has hers wrapped around. "Camels."

"Camels?"

"Camels." He nods.

"Why camels?"

"They're nasty, they're mean, they spit, they bite, they smell. Everyone in my company hated them. Eddie even had one kick him once, he asked our CO if he could shoot it."

She laughs, which brings a smile to his face, as it has all night long. They agreed to take a walk and just talk, and now find themselves walking along the waterfront, the part of town where the leafless trees are being lit up by lights, the restaurants are full, and people are fluttering through the streets, taking in the night, just as they are. He put his sport coat over her shoulders just a few minutes after they left Nemo's, then she put her arm through the hole made by his arm with his hand in his pocket. He hasn't said anything on the matter yet, fear it might scare her away.

It's been a long time since he felt like this, this at peace, in a long five years.

When her laughter subsides, he glances over and sees the same look in her eyes he saw in the car on their way here. He decides to just look back down to the bricks passing under their feet and let it go for now. "What about you, what was the worst part of being in the Peace Corps?"

She chuckles bitterly, "Other than being captured by Ethiopian bandits?"

"Yeah, other than that."

"Well, there really wasn't a worst part. I mean, the children I was teaching were always so grateful, the people were all so happy, even with what little they had. The tribe I was with in Tanzania could only get one gallon of water a day, and they were all still happy. It made my problems back home seem so petty and meaningless. I loved what I was doing, and I never really thought about any of the bad things about it. I mean, sure I went through hell when I was being held hostage, but I made it out. Most people who go through something like that don't, right?"

"Do you uh... remember anything else from when you were rescued?"

"Not much, really. I remember that I had just gotten fed maybe... an hour or two before I started to hear gunfire. The room I was in didn't have any windows, so I could never tell what time of day it was. I remember seeing the lights go out, then right after that, the room shook with an explosion. I heard everybody outside start yelling, then I started to hear gunfire outside, then a few seconds after that, I started to hear it inside. I thought that that was it, that I was going to die."

She's telling this story so nonchalantly, but the images of that night are still running clear through his mind. Snowman taking out the sentries in the towers, Red calling over the radio that the power was cut, then Eddy taking point as he always did, while he took up the rear until they were on the second floor where prelim recon and thermal imaging from the recon drone showed where the hostage was most likely being held.

"I heard some more gunfire down the hall, then two voices start calling out orders in English. That's when I saw my door open, and the guy who usually fed me was pointing a gun at me. I thought I was going to die, so I closed my eyes. When I heard another gunshot, but didn't feel anything, I opened my eyes and saw he was on the ground holding his arm. Not even one second after that, I saw two bullets go into his back. I had no clue what was going on, but I knew I wasn't going to make it out of there alive."

She has a ghosted look in her eyes now.

"When he turned the corner and looked at me, I heard him yell that the hostage was secure. Then he swung his rifle around his back and knelt down next to me. He said that it was okay, and that he was there to help. He reached up and pulled down the gag I had in my mouth, and asked me if I was hurt. In my head, I remember thinking that I was okay, but all I could do was scream... at the top of my lungs. I hadn't spoken a word in months, I just felt like screaming. When I did, I just broke out crying."

The sound of her sobbing in that tiny room echos in his head.

"My hands were tied together, so he lifted them up and put them around his neck and carried me out. I asked him who he was, and he said he was with the military. I didn't think the military would save me, but they did." She says with a smile. "I didn't think the military could get involved in something like that, but I guess I was wrong. The one thing I remember about him was he had this tattoo down his forearm. It said uh... no emotion."

His breath catches, his chest tightening, and his forearm starts to shake. He closes his eyes and stops himself. He can't tell her. Op Huntsman is still classified, need to know. He hasn't even told Eddy that she might be the one hostage they actually managed to save. Hell, he didn't even tell Eddy what he found when they ran that mission out of the Yucatan. Didn't tell anyone.

"I never did get to thank them, whoever it was that saved me. I always thought that the government didn't negotiate with terrorists. I guess they made an exception."

He chuckles halfheartedly. "Yeah."

They keep walking along the waterfront, while he burrows his left arm deeper into his pocket. I counts himself lucky that he left his sleeves rolled down when he gave her his coat. "You ever think about going back?" He asks her.

She lets out a long breath and bows her head a bit. "It would be a lie if I said I haven't thought about it, especially with everything going on with Roy." He feels a stab in his chest at what she just said. "It may sound crazy, but things over there were..."

"Easier."

She looks over to him with a furrowed brow at first, but it softens after a moment. "Yeah... easier."

They fall into a thick silence again, and he can feel the words trying to push past the lump he's creating in his throat. He didn't want to get into anything serious tonight. He wanted to change the subject when she was reliving what happened to her, should have in hindsight. He decided when they were talking in the restaurant to just make her happy tonight, that it's not about him at all, that it's about her and showing her a good time. But... "Helga, if I'm complicating things for you, just tell me and I'll leave you alone." He says, not looking up from the bricks under their feet.

He feels his arm being pulled on, and looks back to realize that she's stopped in her tracks, looking over to him with her brow in a straight line. "Is that what you think I meant?"

"Helga, I'm just trying to make you happy." He tells her, pulling his hand out of his pocket and softly grasping her forearm. "And if that means me backing off, then-"

"Arnold." She says forcefully enough to stop him while pulling her arm away. "How long are we going to keep doing this? I thought we got past this in high school."

He shakes his head, genuinely confused as to what she means. "What do you mean, got past what?"

"This stupid dance." She says, motioning her hand between the two of them. "You've said in so many words that you want me back, and... and I..."

Trying not to be shaken that she just called him out on something so personal, he takes a small step toward her. "And you've made almost no mention of it. Hell, you even said that we were too different now to be together."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

"I think that's exactly what you meant, Helga. I think you just don't want to admit that you want to be with the guy you left lying in bed five years ago, and not the one he turned into."

"I meant that no matter what we go through or who we turn into, we still belong together!" She says with glistening eyes and a challenging step forward. It's only a second after that she realizes what just spilled out of her mouth and her eyes grow wide with that realization and she turns away from him, putting a hand up to her face.

He stops himself from turning her around and kissing her. "You really think that we belong together?" He asks while settling for taking a small step toward her.

She turns her head back toward him, but still doesn't look at him. "A part of me does... yeah." He keeps slowly drifting towards her, just a foot away from reaching out and ghosting his hands across her shoulders. "But that part of me feels like it's the weakest. When we were in high school, it felt like the strongest. But now... I-I know I want to be with you, but I don't know if-"

He stops her, putting his hand on her shoulder right as the word want left her lips and turning her, quickly leaning forward and finding her lips. They're just as soft and as warm as he remembers them being. She sucks in a quick breath in through her nose, her hands griping his shirt at the shoulders and seeming to push him back, her lips seem tense, and her breath is being let out erratically, and he stops kissing her the instant he reads all the signs and starts to pull away. But the hands that were pushing him away stop him and pull him back.

Their lips touch once again and he's met with her letting out a long breath, her whole body relaxing and melting under the hands he has gently planted on her waist. With a long motion of her lips, she leaves them open and sucks in a breath, he squeezes her waist in his hands captures her in another kiss. One of her arms go across his shoulders while the other goes into his hair, running her fingers up his scalp just as he remembers. She always knew how much that turned him on.

They share another long kiss, moving their lips against each other again, while he deepens in as much as he can by putting his hand on her cheek with his fingers lightly digging low into her scalp, his thumb grazing across her cheekbone. The kiss breaks, but they don't move to untangle themselves from each other. They just stay there, foreheads pressed together, breath hitting off each other, her hand still in his hair and his in hers. "Arnold." She says, her voice quivering.

He pulls her closer by the hand still on her waist, moving it to the small of her back. "Yeah?"

She moves her hands to frame his jaw and takes in a soiled breath through her nose, brushing her nose against his before pulling back. "There's something I need to tell you."

He brushes his thumb across her cheekbone again, "Anything."

Her eyes meet his, seeing the same pensiveness he's seen all night. But after a moment, he realizes she's just staring into his eyes, making no motion to tell him what's been bugging her. She puts her hand on top of the one that's on her cheek and her eyes drift shut. "I want us to be together."

A/N: Short chapter, I know, but it felt right. And remember, next chapter will be rated M, so adjust your search parameters accordingly. I'll try to make it tasteful, if you want, I will label said scene and you can skip over it, but it won't be a real graphic, it will be more about them talking about everything else, putting everything on the table. Just wanted to warn you.