Disclaimer: Half Life and it's characters are owned by Valve. I also took the chapter title and few lyrics from Bob Marley.

Chapter Five
No Woman, No Cry

Good friends we have, oh, good friends we have lost

Along the way

In this great future, you can't forget your past

So dry your tears, I say

Barney was cruising. He was gaining momentum. He was a speed demon. His colors were red and yellow and his trademark was AMF. No other trike stood a chance against his Calhoun Race-trike.

"Barney! You slow down before you run someone over!"

Slamming on his breaks, Barney skidded to a half just in front of the neighbor's house. He looked over his shoulder innocently at Ma who was just getting home from work and relieving the babysitter of her trying duties. Bad timing.

Performing an illegal U-turn on the narrow sidewalk, Barney slowly pedaled back home, not so far away as houses in suburbia rarely were.

"I was showing off my moves," Barney said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, I know. Knocking down that little girl isn't gonna make her too happy, though, goof ball." His Ma sad as she opened their front door and went inside. Barney dismounted and followed her but could not keep the disgusted look off his face.

"Not her!" He exclaimed and saw the smirk on his Ma's face. She was teasing him! No fair!

He had been showing off for the moving men their new neighbors next door hired to do their muscle work. All afternoon he was making quick turns and skidding stops in the hopes of getting an awesome reputation in front of all those really strong dudes.

"Chill, little man. I'm just playin'." His ma said with a sweet smile and he could never help but smile back, not matter how much he wanted to keep up his scowling. She was thawing out chicken for dinner and his tummy started rumbling. The babysitter hadn't fed him again and breakfast with Ma had been an awfully long time ago.

"Yeah, I know."

She ruffled his hair as she passed.

"I'm gonna go get cleaned up while the chicken thaws. What do you say you go bug some neighbor kids for a while?" His ma asked. "Just cool it with the trike for a little while."

Barney went to his room and put his cowboy hat on and switched his tennis shoes with his cowboy boots. Checking himself in the mirror, he had to admit he looked pretty studly. No other first grader could match up.

With his hands deep in his blue jean pockets, Barney walked down the sidewalk and eyed the men with the moving van curiously. They were hauling out a grand piano and it was the first one he had ever seen in real life.

"Beep beep!"

Barney did not react quickly enough. Before he knew it, he had been creamed into the sidewalk by a pink and green trike. Though the pain in his knees and palms of his hands was really standing out, mostly all he could think of was how stupid colors those were for a trike.

"Lauren! You are in so much trouble young lady."

"We haven't even been here for a full hour!"

"I said beep beep!"

Barney didn't know he had tears running down his face until a worried looking lady helped him up and everything was blurry. A little girl stood in front of him looking very angry.

"Apologize Lauren," the man standing nearby said sternly.

"I'm sorry!" She said with a huff.

Barney wiped his face and only sniffled in reply. She was probably the prettiest girl his age he had had ever met. And he was pretty sure he was going to die of embarrassment.

Barney woke up. When had he passed out? The last thing he remembered was yelling at Gordon.

People were yelling. Always angry and faces full of frowns. Or maybe he was finally in hell. Well, he had been training for this over the past twenty years.

The world was moving. Cold, metal claws reach for him. His vision was filled with Alyx's angry face. Why was she angry at him? His head hurt so much. It hurt to think. It hurt to be awake.

As the world continued to spin, Barney got a glimpse of Gordon's bruised face just before he passed out again, this time in Dog's arms.

"My mom told Susie's mom that she saw your mom prostituting herself and that's how she can afford for you two to live here."

Barney didn't know what 'prostituting' meant and he was sure Abby didn't either but when she said it with that nasty voice and with her friends laughing at her sides... well it sure sounded like she was saying something really bad.

"Abby, you're just so damn jealous 'cause you'll never be pretty enough to go prostituting." Barney smiled at the sound of his best friend's voice. Making sure there weren't any tears on his face, Barney looked to Lauren and his smile turned to a grin when he saw she was wearing her cowgirl hat to match him.

"I'm telling my mom that you said bad words in front of me!" Abby squealed. Lauren simply showed a rude hand gesture and that sent them running home to their mothers.

Lauren was one of the bad kids. The ones who have to move to a new school after some innocent hijink turned so, so wrong. Rumors ran amuck in suburbia but only Barney knew the true story of what happened at Lauren's elementary school. Not even the psychologist the judge suggested her parents start taking her to knew.

And then there was Barney Calhoun. That poor, weird little boy who was obsessed with pretending he was a space cowboy shooting aliens. The lack of a father figure was obviously to blame. He was getting too old to be dressing up in his hat and boots and tackling that weird neighbor girl. There was nothing good to come of it.

Barney didn't know this. All he knew was that the coolest first grader ever was holding his hand as they walked to her front yard. And when she smiled at him, he knew he was in love.

"He is still in critical condition." The quivering voice belonged to Dr. Kleiner but Barney could hardly hear it. Where was everyone? Why were they so far away? He couldn't remember where he was or how he got there.

"My head," Barney groaned but speaking only made it worse.

"He's awake!" Alyx eclaimed and Barney saw two of his favorite people staring down at him. Gordon and Alyx. They were so blurry.

"Missing one amigo." Barney told them but that was all he was able to get out before sleep claimed him again.

"No, Barney Calhoun. I will not go to the homecoming dance with you." Lauren said through gritted teeth. At sixteen she was still the prettiest, smartest, baddest girl he knew. And Barney was still the one who knew her best.

"Liar." He said with a smirk and snatched her book away. She was attempting to read rather than hang out with him and that was just not acceptable.

"Barney, I swear, I am gonna beat the shit outta you." Lauren was glaring at him but did not move from where she sat on his front porch railing. He had never been skilled enough to balance on that and so he stood in front of her and annoyed her in his free time.

"Probably." He said with a shrug and set her book down. "I think you'd rather dance with me." He grinned and started playing with her hair just to annoy her. Instead of getting annoyed like she usually did, she just sat there and gave him a weird look.

"You dancing would be a very silly thing," she said seriously.

"If you're about to break my heart just do it quickly. I am a sensitive soul and you wouldn't want to -"

Laurned was quick to cut off that tired old speech and did so by learning forward and giving him a chaste kiss on the lips.

Their first kiss.

When she pulled away she was blushing. Barney always figured she was too hard to blush. It was cute. It was perfect.

"Oh," Barney said softly.

The doctors said he was well enough to sit up but there was always someone close by should he start to feel dizzy.

All this was way too sissified for him and Barney really wanted to go clear his head by kicking Lamarr around the lab. Barney quickly found out that was not a funny joke when Dr. Kleiner was in the room as the freakazoid headcrab had recently gone missing.

Luckily it was while Barney was gone so he could not be blamed.

Barney was staring at the ceiling when Gordon walked in. Every time he closed his eyes all he saw was Lauren's face. Sometimes he could go so long without thinking of her but when this time of year came around it seemed every well built wall crumbled and he was left shaking and sobbing should anyone leave him alone.

Gordon was breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

"You really smell." Barney told him.

"Yeah, well you got a funny looking plate in your head." Gordon shot back. Whoever said Gordon Freeman was closed mouth had obviously not sat down with him while Barney was in the room. Or they had failed to involve beer.

"Oh shove it, orange suit." Barney said, using his old nickname for him.

Gordon gave Barney a small smile and with a sudden pang he recalled introducing him to Lauren. The way she had teased and made Barney jealous of not getting any attention until Gordon shouted, whilst very drunk, that she was in store for an ass kicking.

Somehow that night had ended up with them playing scrabble but they had all been so drunk that Barney was fuzzy on the details.

Barney blinked back into the present and realized Gordon was talking.

"Sorry, what?"

"I was just saying that the doctors are pushing us to get in that helicopter." Gordon said softly.

Barney knew this helicopter. It was the reason he had been trying to to hurry back so that they didn't leave without him. He was used to being excluded from certain missions but not this one. He wasn't getting left with the doctors. Long nights surrounded by strangers with death written on their faces. Not when he was so weak.

"Really." Barney said slowly. "When do they want us to leave?"

When Gordon didn't answer right away, he knew what was coming.

"Barney..." Gordon started and sounded extremely awkward.

"Don't even tell me I'm not invited." Barney said with a hollow laugh. "That would be rude."

"It wasn't my decision." Gordon tried.

"What makes it there's?" Barney snapped back and immediately regretted getting pissy. Looking away, Barney stared at the other hospital beds, some empty but most full, and tried not to remember how sweetly Lauren would smile at him. Just at him.

"You aren't in any sort of condition to be going with us." Gordon tried a different approach. The make-Barney-feel-worse-than-he-is approach. People were real big fans of that one.

"I'm fine." Barney said. "Besides, it'll be a long ride." He turned to face his old partner in crime. "Sucks to what those lab coats say, Gordon."

Gordon was obviously trying to fight back a smile and it made Barney start to grin. "Besides, I know how to get to all the medication and junk. I'm one of those people trusted with security codes. Load me up with morphine and put a gun in my hand then we'll see who the real leader of men is in this room."

"Damn it." Gordon muttered, covering his face with his hands and Barney could tell he was trying not to laugh. That meant victory.

At last, he dropped his hands and a full grin was spread across his face. It was almost like old times. Barney was always a bad influence on Gordon, talking him into rolly chair races right in front of the hall cameras.

"They are going to kill us." Gordon said at last. Those were always the final decisive words in any plan Barney schemed up. "They," always meant the scientists and Barney and Gordon always deserved a regular death sentence from them.