Chapter 7

It took about two months for me to fully recover, and by that time Noble Team had completely wiped all trace of the Covenant in the area. Carter had surprised us by taking us on vacation to a pretty much deserted base in the middle of nowhere.

"Beth! Come back here!" Emile shouted.

"No way! You want to tie me into a warthog and send it off a cliff! YOU'RE A PSYCHOPATH" I yelled back.

"Oh come on. It won't be that bad!" I heard him shout back.

I groaned. Emile had come up with this ridiculous idea about thirty minutes ago. As soon as he had gotten the idea, he looked straight at me thinking I would be perfect for the job. I had been running away from him ever since. Panting hard, drenched in sweat, I had really had enough of this already. I ran into the lounge room where everyone was either reclining on the sofas or sitting using their data pads.

"Help me please!" I said between gasps for air.

"No can do, Six, we are all enjoying ourselves, and as long as Emile is busy chasing you, we are able to sit here in comfort. You are on your own!" Carter laughed at me.

Nearly in tears, I suddenly had a great idea. Even though I was big compared to Marines and ODSTs and humans, I was actually quite small compared to the Spartans, and miniscule compared to Jorge who was a Spartan II. I lay down on the ground in the doorway, and curled up into a ball. Emile came running into the room, but didn't see me. He tripped over the ball in the doorway and stumbled towards Jorge. Jorge caught him in a big bear hug, giving me time to escape.

As I jogged through the corridor, I heard Emile shout:

"Let go of me Jorge! Now is not the time for hugs! I must complete my objective!"

I kept jogging and I burst out laughing, but then heard Emile's footsteps in the hall behind me.

I ran around the massive base once again, and then back to the lounge room.

"I've had enough!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I seriously felt like I was going to pass out and die. Damn my drama queen side. I hid behind Jake just as Emile ran into the room.

"Where, oh, where are you?" Emile asked me.

He spotted me hiding behind Jake and ran around so he was in front of me. Before he could try and grab me, I punched him, and he retaliated. I dodged and decked him, and he went flying. I turned to walk away, but he grabbed my foot and pulled me down. As I fell towards him, the only emotion on my face was that of anger. I twisted around in the air, and brought my hand down onto his jaw, making an imprint of my fist on the skin. Jumping up I waited for him to stand up. When he did, I kicked his shin.

"Ouch! That's not fair!" Emile squealed with one hand on his injured jaw, and another on his shin.

"Aw come on you big baby! You are the assault specialist on the team, but I think I should take your place!" I mocked.

Toughening up, he was just about to punch me, and I was dropping into a fighting stance, when a robotic arm blocked us from each other.

"Come on, Kat! I was having fun beating Emile up!" I whined.

"You two are Spartans and you are fighting like children!" she shouted. "Now grow up!"

"Yes mum," I said sarcastically. As she turned away, I kicked out at Emile, and got him in his lower stomach. He yelled in pain and fell to the floor. I chuckled and sat down beside Jake, snuggling into his side when he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

A couple of hours later…

Carter had been off doing some paperwork and was walking back to the lounge room where the rest of Noble Team was. When he got just a few corridors away, he heard a yell and ran into the room. He looked down to see Jake on the ground doubled over in pain. Emile was laughing his head off a few feet away.

"What just happened?" Carter asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Emile found a rubber band…" Jun started to say.

"He put it around Jake's head and stretched it back, and…" Jorge added.

"And I let go!" Emile said with a proud and triumphant look on his face earning not only an extremely stern look from Carter, but also a slap across the face from me.

Carter sighed and helped Jake to his feet.

"OUCH! There's going to be a mark! Is there a mark?" he asked, mock sobbing.

"Yep, right there!" Emile said, smacking Jake on his forehead, and I immediately got between Jake and Emile and hit him.

"Back off, Emile," I said, protective anger surging through my voice.

Carter sighed to himself as he watched Emile, Jake, and me. Why did I get these three on my team? He thought.

I walked over to Jake and hugged him. He smiled down at me and I couldn't help but laugh at the purple line across his forehead. Walking over to Emile, I gave him a hug too. Surprised, he returned the hug, but was then shoved down onto the couch.

"You are IT!" I yelled at him. Noble Team laughed and started running away from Emile. We played Tag until the sun went down, then we collapsed in a heap in the lounge room.

"Ugh, we are being so childish," Kat said.

"Come on Kat! You are so boring and mature!" Jun said. Everyone but Kat laughed as we sat around stuffing our faces with pizza.

The next day…

We were all standing around the bench island in the middle of the kitchen, drinking coffee and finishing up breakfast.

"Hey! Want to see what I found?" Emile said. His big blue eyes lighted up.

"Okay, what is it," Jorge asked. Emile ran off to get whatever it was he found.

"Its probably an old lolly pop," Jun said, chuckling.

He came back with an odd looking gadget.

"It's a leaf blower thingymiggar," he said proudly, mischief in his blue eyes.

"That thing is ancient!" Kat exclaimed. "From the 21st century and all!"

"But its still fun to play with," Emile said. He turned it on, and pointed it at me, blowing my honey coloured hair all over the place.

"Hey! Stop!" I said laughing. I scooped all my hair up into a pony tail so it wouldn't get in the way.

He looked cheekily around the room and asked, "Does anyone have an office chair?"