Ghost was sitting in his office staring at Mai's missing bag, checking to see if it counted as a threat or contraband, he knew he shouldn't be snooping- after all she herself wasn't a threat at all but maybe The 7th King planted something in her bag- but what if there was a bomb, a camera, a microphone, or any other suspicious wires? But the possibility that the bag could just be harmless was there too; Simon's head quickly flooded with thoughts of filth as he continued to ponder what was in the confines of the girl's bag, pairs of cute laced panties, strawberry scented perfume; his head ran scenario after scenario of what could possibly happen if he chose to confront her about her bag. He felt an all too familiar warmth tingle from within his stomach, moving to his member, he just wanted to pin her to a wall and use her all night…

He began to unzip the bag slowly, his breath caught in his throat as the excitement of what he would find grew, he jumped and quickly hid the bag behind him when a knock came from the door and he fixed his composure. It was Laswell, "Oh," the woman smiled, "Didn't know you were still up, Simon."

"Can't sleep," Simon tried to shrug off the now forming tent in his pants, "what do you need, Kate?"

"Oh, just getting Mai's bag." Laswell started to move some things around as she searched the table, "Have you seen it?" Simon shook his head in response, hoping she would leave soon, unaware that he forgot to zip up the bag. Laswell could've sworn Soap had placed the bag in this room, with no luck she wished Simon a good night and left. Once he was sure she had gone, Ghost let out a sigh of relief only to get startled by the sound of a few things clattering out of the bag and onto the linoleum floor beneath him. He let out a startled string of curses before looking behind him to see what had fallen out; 2 wooden frames hinged together like a book, an old pink rabbit stuffed animal, and a jade dragon pendant.

He picked up the hinged frames, curious as to what pictures they housed; the images of a beautiful woman who strikingly resembled Mai- her parents- he couldn't make out the face of her father in the second frame but noticed that he was in his dress uniform. Vinh Phan. He wanted to get a better look at her father's face so he made an attempt to slide the man's photo out.

"It should be in here." Johnny's muffled voice came from behind the door as it opened, "I remember puttin' the damn thing in here-"

"It has a few things I need-" both Mai and Johnny stopped dead in their tracks when their eyes landed on Simon who was staring back at them, frozen. The room fell silent for what felt like an hour, Simon felt so ashamed of himself- he had more self control than this, he swears, but when it came to Johnny, when it came to her, when it came to them… Mai looked in the masked man's hand only to find her hinged frames, her eyes widened with rage as she stomped over to Ghost. When she stopped in front of him she aggressively held her hand out, the man was confused at first but then she spoke.

"You have something of mine." She almost hissed, "Give it back."

"Oh this?" He smirked under his mask, he wanted to test her- push her limits farther than they have already been pushed, "Gotta ask nicely sweetheart." He stood up, realizing the obvious size difference between the two, he towered over at 6' 2 while she stood at a mere 5' 0. He held the frames above her head in jest watching as she tried her best to jump up to grab it from his hands, Johnny groaned for Ghost to cut it out and that his behavior was not funny. Mai snatched her bag while the masked man was distracted by the other man, catching Simon off guard- he was impressed- which in turn led him to giving her the frames back with a soft chuckle.

"I'm sorry," he apologized as he patted her head, "I didn't mean to go through your things, darling." That was a total lie and Johnny knew it but stayed silent, Simon explained how it was left open and he just happened to stumble across it, another lie. Mai huffed at the man before storming off, leaving both Johnny and Simon alone. Soap closed the door behind him when he was sure she was gone, glaring at Ghost he stepped forward.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, voice laced with annoyance, "Look, I know you didn't plan on 'babysitting' but this is our situation now, and she has intel like you said."

"I don't know." Ghost sighed before plopping into his chair at his desk, taking his mask off, "She's just- she's so pathetic it's amusing."

"So that's what this is?" Soap crossed his arms, brows furrowed in anger, "She's just gonna be your little toy? That it? Your pet you can just torment whenever you feel like it?"

"It's not like that Johnny-"

"Oh," Johnny rolled his eyes, "of fuckin' course it's not, Simon." his ocean blue eyes darkening into a storm as he peered into his superior's forest brown ones, to Johnny Simon was a mystery even though they've known each other for a while and worked and fought alongside the other. They had a bond of sorts, admiration? Whatever you'd call it, but it angered Johnny to see Simon picking on the "little guys" for his own amusement. He'd just wish his ginger companion would show a little more kindness once in a while.

Simon ran his gloved hands through his hair, he honestly had no clue why he was acting like this either, he always seemed to be pissing off the people he cared for the most with his stupid actions, he wanted to tell Johnny how he felt- how he really felt- but answers won't come to the ginger man's head anytime soon. Not while she was around.

"Look," Johnny rubbed his temple, "you better get your act together by the morning, Simon.'

"You don't give me orders," Ghost growled, "sergeant."

"Then start acting like a lieutenant."

"Piss off."

"Good night," Soap started making his way out, he turned to look at the LT one last time, "Simon." and with that he strode out the door, leaving Ghost all alone in the dimly lit room. The silence hit him harder than a freight train as he started to adjust to being alone again. Simon whispered a pained 'I love you' under his breath, knowing that Johnny would never hear those words or ever feel the same. No. Johnny was too focused on her.

Johnny made his way to Mai's door, he knocked letting her know it was him outside. The girl timidly opened the door a crack, she shyly fidgeted in the oversized shirt that was way too big on her small form, "Hey, bonnie," Soap smiled, "Sorry about the LT, he's just stressed that the target got away."

"It's my fault," She mumbled, the door fully open now, "I got in the way and let the 7th King get away." tears rolled down her face as she stared down at the floor, ashamed to meet his gaze. Soap didn't realize till now how cute this girl was, it didn't help much that she was in an oversized shirt that covered her body all the way down to her knees. His mind flooded with thoughts of holding her in his arms while he stroked her hair until they both fell asleep, being close to her and keeping her warm. Soon those innocent thoughts became clouded with lust and sin, sure she was cute but she was too cute. He couldn't control his thoughts, he hadn't been intimate with anyone in a while and seeing her like this only made the growing warmth in his pants worse.

Ghost was right. She is pathetic. Soap did his best to shake off those thoughts, he patted her shoulder to let her know that she wasn't to blame- no one is to blame. He did his best to comfort her, to be quite frank, he didn't know what to say to make things better- he didn't know if it could even get better. Emotions were a tricky thing, humans are a complicated bundle of emotions and Johnny just tried his best to not get too involved with emotions. But here he was, a pretty girl crying in front of him.

"Aye, you've got nothin' to be sorry for, lass." He smiled, "Get some rest, yeah? I'll see ya in the morning'."

"Good night." Mai hugged the man tightly before closing the door and heading to sleep, leaving the Scotsman to drown in his thoughts, speechless, and wanting more. He wanted to knock on her door and get her attention, he wanted to just barge in there and kiss her, have his way with her, just be with her. He felt his jeans grow tighter as he only riled himself up more. Not wanting to leave her alone, Johnny stood outside her room the whole night, "keeping her safe" he thought to himself. But who was he kidding? Protecting her was just his shitty excuse to spend more time with her, to learn more about who she was.