I woke up at the sound of door closing and freaked out since I had no memory of what happened after fourth drink. I fell off the bed and rolled onto my stomach. "God damn." I mumbled and felt two strong arms take me by the sides of my waist and pull me up from the ground. Once I was standing on my feet I turned around to see Roach.
"Gary!" I cheered like a little girl and jumped up to hug him since he was quite taller than me. I pulled him towards myself with all my strength and gently kissed his cheek. He was very surprised but hugged me back. "Yeah, I missed you too, Cat." He held me close for a while and then started moving towards my bed and then pushed us both on it.
"Oh wow, Roach, not that fast." I joked and he laughed honestly. Gary held me close and it felt so good. He already had all of the equipment taken off and I could finally be so close to him I could hear his heartbeat.
"We have a little less than 2 hours until the next mission. What shall we do during this time?" He asked and softly stroked my back.
"Mmm. Maybe a shower and breakfast would be nice. And then probably chill here."
"You are genius. After hours and hours of Captain telling me what to do I completely forgot how to use my own brain." He said and rolled to the side. "Okay the faster we deal with the first part the quicker we get to chill here. Let's go."
20 minutes later we met up at the cafeteria. It was cramped just like the whole sub. Once we took our meals we walked up to Captain MacTavish who was sitting at one of the tables. He nodded to us and we sat down in front of him. As we enjoyed our meals Roach decided to break the silence.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
Captain laughed. "We are in a cafeteria with no one around I'm pretty sure there is no need to ask for one. But just in case... remember I have a knife in my right hand."
"Well, I just wanted to know how you got your nickname." He explained. I kept my mouth shut listening to them talk. It was thrilling to finally find out what Captain's nickname was.
"To be honest... I don't feel like explaining that to you." Captain laughed probably remembering some funny incident back in Britain. "Our young Carmen doesn't even know what it is and I would like to keep it that way. We continued our meals until Captain spoke again. "Permission to speak freely, Sergeant." He joked and it was directed towards Roach.
"Huh?" Gary was confused which made Captain laugh a little more. "Are you two..." he trailed as he pointed to us. We looked one at another with serious faces and when I smiled Roach turned back to Captain and nodded.
"Well I'm happy for you. And here is a surprise for you, Carmen." Said Captain as another man walked up and sat down next to him. "Captain Price. That's the man we found in Gulag. He was my superior back in the day."
"Nice to meet you, sir. Sergeant Catherine Shepherd but just call me Carmen." I said and we shook hands.
"What such pretty lass is doing in army?" He asked looking me in the eyes
"I guess my last name is a hint that I had no other choice..." I sighed and continued my meal. My head was still pounding from last night and I made a note to self 'Never drink with the Task Force again'.
"I heard you were supposed to come with us this mission today. Well, I'd rather you stay in with MacTavish today." Price said to me and looked at our Captain who nodded.
We then continued our breakfast in silence. Captain MacTavish left first and when Roach and I decided to leave Captain Price asked me to stay as he wanted to talk with me so Roach walked out alone. I stayed sitting in front of Price waiting for him to start talking.
"How are you doing in Task Force, lass? I hope you don't feel pressured to be just as strong as others." He asked in a while.
"I'm fine more or less. Everyone support me and the only person who pressures me is Shepherd." I answered honestly.
"That's good. You know I looked at all the results of when you graduated from college. They are very impressive; you were the best one this year."
"Sir, may I ask where is this leading to?" I decided to ask trying not to sound disrespectful.
"I know you might be young but you have brains of a mastermind. You're not a stupid young girl you want everyone to think you are. I like this role but it's time to shake it off and use your skills to take out Makarov." Price said and leaned forward putting his arms on the table. "I know you might be worried what others will think when you show your true self but naïve little girl won't save Roach. How far are you willing to go to save him?"
I was shocked on how quickly he saw through it. I knew that pretending to be weak would get me out of battlefield that I didn't ever want to enter especially after fucking up at the very first mission. Though I wasn't pretending that much. I was physically weaker than anyone else though I got at least one good thing from my father – mastermind brain. "I know it's not going to save me. It barely helped me save my own ass." I sighed avoiding eye contact. "Thing is… Roach fell in love with that little girl. How will he react when he sees me manipulating everyone around? I mean I look and feel like that teenager but I know it's time to toughen up."
"He will understand it. At least it's better to have him a little angry and alive than lose him forever. Now after this mission we are going to attack Makarov and you have to be ready to give it all." He said knowing that would convince me. I had a soft spot for Roach. I loved him.
"I will. Not only Roach but the whole world is at stake. Time to grow up and stop the evil from destroying the world." I said.
"That's what I wanted to hear." He said and smiled at me. "You can go now, lass."
I stood up and wanted to go but decided to warn him. "One more thing, sir. If I were you, I wouldn't trust Shepherd." I knew I couldn't just tell him about Shepherds chats with Makarov but a warning is better than nothing.
"I'll keep that in mind, lass." He nodded and I walked out. Roach was waiting for me outside and I looked at him with a smile being back to my 'normal' self. I grabbed his hand and we walked back to our room. He sat down on his bed, pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around my waist. "So we're dating now?" He asked.
"Technically we haven't went on a single date but I guess you can all me your girlfriend." I joked putting my arms on his shoulders. Gary laughed and leaned in to kiss me. It wasn't anything like they say it would be; no sparks, no butterflies, but I felt my heart skip a beat and the shivers went down my spine and, oh dear, it took my breath away. Though the kiss was very gentle and soft I could feel his passion. Then he moved away for both of us to catch our breaths and then we went for a round two. Gary pulled me closer to himself while leaning back so I fell on top of him. Seconds later I was pushed onto my side as he was making his way to top.
"Really?" I laughed. "You're heavy, dude."
"And you're a mood killer." He pouted and kissed me again this time a little rougher and more passionate. "I completely forgot about our mission." He said when he moved away again.
"I think we have half an hour before you have to get ready." I giggled pushing him off of me and sitting up.
"Oh yes, because our princess is honoured with safety while I get to fight Russians and get my ass kicked." Roach mumbled pretending to be mad.
I curled up against his side and said "Well, there will come a time when every single one member of Task Force will be on a battlefield. And that day I'll stand by your side. Just know that whatever happens… I love you."
He gently kissed my forehead and whispered "I love you too, Catherine."
Half an hour later I was sitting beside Captain MacTavish who was typing things in the computer. Through an earpiece I could hear everyone talking. "Uplink nearly complete. General Shepherd, you're online with Captain Price."
I gulped at the name of my father. I didn't want him to know I was there so I remained silent.
"Back from the brink, Captain." I've heard his low voice.
"Out of the frying pan is more like it." Said Price. "This world looks more like hell than the one I just left."
"We thought we'd recover the ACS before Russians could crack it. We were wrong. Then Makarov turned the US into his scapegoat. Next thing you know there's flames everywhere."
'Lies. It's all lies' I thought at his response 'You planned this all along, you bastard.'
"What's this message you're sending me?" He asked when an image appeared on the screen. A Russian nuclear submarine was analysed showing its internal mechanical layout and nuclear payload.
"You wanna put out an oil fire, sir, you set off a bigger explosion right next to it. Sucks away the oxygen. Snuffs the flame." Explained Captain Price.
"Price, you been locked away too long. Better get your mind right, son."
"Shepherd, are you willing to do what is necessary to win?"
"Always."
"We got ourselves a pretty big fire. Gonna need a huge bang."
"You've been in gulag too long, Price. Focus on taking out Makarov."
'Now that he has his war going and can play a hero he is getting rid of his partner. Cutting loose ends.' I thought.
"No time, sir. We need to end this war today." Insisted Captain Price.
"I'm not asking you, Price. This is an order! You're to..." suddenly the connection with Shepherd was gone.
"Looks like we lost our connection." Said Price who obviously terminated the signal.
"You have guts, Captain." I said.
"I had your advice in mind and did what was necessary. We are ending this war today."
"Your advice?" MacTavish turned his head to look at me and I shook my head looking at the computer screen which had the satellite tracking Captain Price.
Captain MacTavish also looked at his screen and said "Price, I can barely see Roach's chute on my satellite feed. Too much interference. Do you see him, over?"
"Roger that, Soap. I've found Roach." Answered Price while I was staring at the other Captain like a weirdo. I was eyeballing him like mad. 'His nickname is Soap?' I thought.
Once our screens shown the same as Price and Roach grouped up Captain MacTavish switched to tracking Ghost. "Copy that. The rest of the team landed near Ghost, pretty far to East."
I shivered at the mention of teams location. Words 'Far' and 'East' didn't go along too well for me. I breathed in deeply and calmed down. 'Be tough, Carmen. Don't be a sissy. Get your grip on.'
"Tell them to proceed with the mission, we'll regroup if possible. Roach follow me and stay out of sight." I looked at them moving up through the woods probably freezing their asses in the snow. They kept a small chatter while they moved up to the enemy base. Roach did a very good job being stealthy and staying hidden. I felt less worried about him because Captain Price was with him. That man was in Pripyat and led Captain MacTavish many years ago. No wonder they were so badass.
"You look unusually serious." I heard MacTavish say. He looked at me a little concerned.
"I'm fine. Getting my mind ready for next mission. Something just feels off." I explained looking at him. He nodded and looked back at the screen. It took them a while to get through the base but we sat there patiently waiting for them. Soap was remotely arming AGM's for Roach to shoot but I basically had nothing to do and felt useless. It didn't help with overthinking too.
"Code Black!" I've heard Ghost shout through the earpiece and it brought me to reality. MacTavish was standing and getting ready to go out of the room. "Let's go get ready for the next mission." He said to me and I stood up to follow him.