Disclaimer – Still own nothing. MAJOR HALGIE ALERT! Along with a little bit of Hal and Matt and Hal and Ben. Enjoy chapter 10

Chapter 10

The Armor Falls Off

Hal woke up to the sound of a bag being zipped up. He looked up from his pillow and saw Tector throwing his bag over his shoulder. Tector lifted his eyes and saw Hal was awake.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake ya." Tector apologized.

"Don't worry about it. I should probably be up anyways." Hal said, sitting up and noticing the sun shining through the window.

"How long was I asleep?" Hal asked.

"You were passed out when I came in. Probably a good 10 hours. Feel better?" Tector questioned, walking over to Hal.

"Yeah, I do actually." Hal answered. It wasn't a complete lie, he didn't feel 100%, but he did feel better than yesterday.

"Good. I gotta go. Anthony, Deni and I are scouting hospitals and pharmacies. Gotta get packed up for the long ride. Only two more days till we're outta here." Tector cheered as he left the room.

Hal smiled at his friend's antics before standing up off the cot. He wasn't going to repeat yesterday. There was stuff that needed to get done, and nobody could afford to waste any more time.

FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS

Hal found Matt right after grabbing a quick bite at breakfast. He was helping getting some spare food that they had into one of the trucks.

"Hey buddy. Want some help?" Hal asked, somewhat entertained by Matt trying to lift a bag that obviously too heavy for him.

"No, I'm good." Matt replied, trying with all his might to lift the bag. After two more failed tries, Matt looked at Hal and said, "Yes."

"Sometimes you need a little help." Hal told as they both lifted the bag up onto the back end of the truck.

"Do you really think you're one to talk?" Matt asked. Hal looked over to his little brother in surprise. Since when did his little brother get snarky with him?

"You have a point there." Hal acknowledged as he lifted another bag, while Matt grabbed a box full of canned goods.

"D*mn right I do."

"Hey, watch your mouth," Hal said before adding, "Matt, if I think there's anything, I need someone's help with, I'll ask. Other than that, somethings are better off not being told." Hal explained. Matt nodded and placed the box in his arms on to the truck.

"Now, you think you can finish your side before me?" Hal asked with a smirk.

"You know I can suckerfish." Matt responded using his old favorite insult, and the two laughing brothers got back to work.

FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS

Maggie felt her concern dwindle down slightly as she watched Hal help Matt pack some food onto one of the 2nd Mass's trucks. It showed her that he was trying to get things back to normal. Yesterday, his actions had scared more than she thought they would. He had done nothing but sat and stared, his thoughts a million miles away. She knew he was struggling, but at least he was trying to get back to normal.

"You're really worried about him." Ben voice came from behind her. Maggie wasn't surprised at his presence. The spikes in her back had become more alert when they felt the other spikes near.

"You are too." Maggie pointed out as she turned to look at the middle Mason.

"He's my pig-headed brother who never lets anyone know what's going on with him. I always worry about him." Ben explained, coming over to stand beside her.

For a few minutes, they stood in silence, watching Hal and Matt continue to pack up the truck. It looked a little like they were having some sort of race. Both of them smiled as Hal and Matt started laughing at some joke Matt had told.

"You love him." Ben stated after another few minutes. Maggie nodded, not needing to say the one thing she had known for the majority of the war.

"Then go tell him," Ben paused as Maggie turned her head to look at him, "He loves you, and you love him. I know it's just the spikes on your part, and I don't even know how I feel anymore. But I do know that you two are miserable, when you both deserve to be happy. Go."

Maggie smiled at Ben and headed towards the other two Masons before she lost her nerve. Ben watched her walk away, then turned and walked in the opposite direction.

FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS

"Hey." Hal looked up at Maggie, he didn't hear her come over. He smiled as he replied, "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing much. Do you guys need some help." Hal was about to tell her that he and Matt had it under control when Matt butt in.

"Actually, I have to go help Dad with something. See you guys later." Subtle, Hal thought to himself as Matt ran off to find their Dad.

"Sure." Hal responded to Maggie's early question, and together they continued where Hal and Matt left off.

"Hal, can we talk?" Hal nodded then added, "As long as it's not about me telling you what happened."

"It's not, well it sort of is." Maggie replied, thinking back to how she felt with the thought of Hal being captured and possibly dead.

"Then no." Hal stated and turned to walk away after he put the last bag in the truck. Maggie finally decided to screw it and say the one thing she needed to say.

"I love you Hal." Maggie practically shouted. Hal turned around and looked back at her.

"I love you, you and only you. And I'm so sorry about everything that I did but you need to know that I -" Maggie never finished her sentence because Hal had walked over to her and pressed his lips against hers, his arms sneaking around her waist while Maggie's hands found their way to his neck, where they would usually always go whenever he kissed her.

"I love you too." Hal whispered, his forehead against hers. Maggie smiled, and brought her lips back up to his.

FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS

Hal found Ben in the last room he checked, the artillery room. Ben had his back to him, putting some of the rifles into a bag. After Tector and his group had come back earlier that day, with a whole lot more medication, pain killers, IV stands, and even a few monitors, it was decided that no more missions were needed. Apparently, Ben had taken it upon himself to pack up all the extra guns and ammo the 2nd Mass had.

"Haven't seen you all day." Hal commented, knowing that Ben would've heard him come into the room.

"I've been busy." Ben claimed, having a very good idea why Hal had sought him out.

"Ben, about Maggie-" Hal started but was cut off by Ben.

"Hal, I know. I've always known. And it's okay, you and me, we're probably always going to argue, we pretty much have our entire lives. This time we just accidentally dragged Maggie into it, which we shouldn't have."

"You're right about that." Hal agreed before asking, "But, are you okay?"

Ben nodded, and turned back to packing. Hal knew he wasn't. He had girlfriends before the invasion, and he still remembered his first heart break. Hal knew that as weird and as slightly twisted as it was, it was probably what Ben was feeling.

"You want some help? We'd get it done a lot faster if we worked together." Hal offered, knowing that Ben didn't want to talk about his feelings, at least not to him.

"Sure. You can finish up this bag, I'm going to get another one." And with that, Ben left the room. Hal could tell that his excuse, while was probably valid, was just another way of going to collect himself before doing something stupid, like showing his older brother that he had feelings. So Hal decided to do what Ben had told and went over to the table and started pulling the guns from their spots and placed them into the bag.

It was a few minutes later that a sharp pain in Hal's skull made itself known. He bent down a little, closed his eyes and waited for it to pass. Then, Hal felt his nose starting to run. He opened his eyes and saw a spot of blood directly under him.

Hal rubbed his nose, and saw that his hand was now bloody. Then, the headache intensified to a 100 nails being jammed into his skull, and Hal was out before he even hit the floor.

FSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFSFS

Ben walked into the room, bag in his hand, fulling expecting to see Hal hard at work. What he did not expect was to see Hal laying on the floor.

He dropped the bag and ran over to his brother, finding a small pool of blood by Hal's face, more dripping from his nose. Ben went over and lifted his big brother's head and placed it on his lap.

"Hal, Hal wake up." Ben told his brother, hoping for once that he'd listen as he tapped Hal's cheek. When nothing worked, Ben looked at the opened door and screamed.

"HELP!"

AN – I warned you there would be another cliffhanger. If you don't believe me go back to last chapter and look at my note. Don't worry, I will post chapter 11 as soon as I can.