After Keegan and Logan's mission, it was going to take a day or two to get to where the weapons facility in Brazil was, so Logan had some time to heal and Keegan was able to catch up on some sleep. He slept in late the next morning and Alex knew better than to bother him when he was tired. When he was asleep, he was dead to the world, especially after the mission in the Atlantic Ocean. Merrick was with Elias for most of the day planning out the final details for the mission so that left Kick and Hesh for Alex to waste the days away with.

Alex went to find Kick first with a deck of cards in her hand. Kick was always her best opponent out of everyone. She found him in the rec room watching the news and when she got there and leaned against the doorway, holding the deck up. "Wanna play some cards?" she asked. Kick looked at her and smiled. Kick always had a nice smile. Between that and his hazel eyes and messy dark blonde hair, Kick was pretty good looking. That was the first impression Alex got from him when they first met; that he was a pretty boy. Keegan was the quiet one, Merrick was the protective one, Elias was the leader, Ajax was the irritating one, Neptune was the reliable one, and Kick was the pretty one. At first Alex just looked at Hesh and Logan as FNGs (Fucking New Guys) and the replacements but now she had new names for them. Logan was the punching bad since it seemed like he was always getting hurt and Hesh…well Alex didn't have something for Hesh yet. She still needed one.

"What's the game?" Kick asked as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Alex smiled and walked over to him. She shuffled the cards the way her brothers taught her and then split the deck. "You pick." She said.

"Now I'm assuming strip poker is out of the question." He stated. Alex rolled her eyes. "So how about Russian Poker."

"What do you wanna bet?" Alex asked as she dealed the cards.

"Loser has to wake Keegan up when we finally need him conscious."

"Deal."

Alex and Kick played a total of five games, Kick winning three and Alex winning two. She would have to wake Keegan up. Alex collected her cards and put them back in the box as Kick stood up. "As much as I'd love to stay and kick your ass in more card games, I have to go talk to your brother." He said.

"Whatever…" Alex mumbled.

Kick laughed to himself as he left the room and Riley came trotting in. Alex kneeled down onto the ground and called him over. "What are you doing here?" she asked as he went over to her. "And shouldn't Hesh be with you?" She scratched his ears and neck with a smile on her face. A few weeks ago she wouldn't be in a fifty feet radius of a dog, but now here she was showing affection to one. And that was thanks to Hesh. Alex smiled at the thought of him and now wanted to go and see him.

"Come on boy." She said as she stood up. "Let's go find Hesh. Riley's perked up at the mention of his handler and walked out of the room with Alex.

OOOOO

Hesh was down in the files room once more because he wanted to know every last detail about Rorke. He's been reading every last file and field report on him they had documented. He wanted to be thorough and well equipped in knowledge and fire power. He was in the file room once again sitting at the desk surrounded by papers reading about the man he wanted to kill more than anyone else. Not only did Rorke almost kill the only family he had left in this world, he tried killing his new family as well. Merrick, Keegan, Alex…they might as well be his family. Although Merrick could be cold and Keegan could be threatening when he wanted to and Alex could have her mood swings, they were his team. The thought of Alex made Hesh smile. When he first got here, she wanted nothing to do with him and now they were becoming close friends. The only problem? Every time Alex was around Hesh found himself looking at her when she was looking the other way or finding an excuse to put his arm around her. He didn't know if he liked or not. It's been a long time since he was in a relationship and Alex was Merrick's little sister. MERRICK. The man shot him a death glare if he so as much had his arm around Alex…imagine if he knew how he thought or felt about her.

Hesh thought Alex was strong, confident, and a damn good soldier. But just like everyone she had her flaws. She was stubborn for one and extremely naïve. She possessed the quality of being fearless, but that also led to carelessness in the field…like when she jumped from the platform on the oil rig onto the helicopter. One wrong step and she could have fallen into the Drake Passage. And Alex wasn't what every guy would find attractive. She had pretty blue eyes and her auburn hair matched them, but her nose was a little long and she had smaller ears than what would be considered normal and they stuck out just a little bit. But Hesh ignored the imperfections because looks weren't everything. Her heart was in the right place all the time and she cared for those who were close to her.

It wasn't until the door to the room opened that Hesh realized just how long he was thinking about Alex. He looked at the door and his German Shepherd came trotting in with Alex a few steps behind. "Hey." She greeted with a smile. "Hi." Hesh replied and he pet his dog. "What are you doing here?"

"Someone needs to entertain me." Alex told him as she walked over to the desk to see what he was looking at. She instantly realized it was all files on Rorke. "What are you doing with all of these out?" she asked Hesh as she picked the one file up and scanned it. "Just…trying to be thorough." Hesh explained as she sat down in the other chair.

"Some might qualify it as obsession."

"Do you?"

Alex looked at him. "No." she answered. "But I think you need a break because I have a feeling you've been in here all afternoon."

"Only a couple of hours." Hesh defended.

Alex set the file back down and held her hand out to him. "Come on." She said. Hesh looked at her for a moment before accepting her hand, his fitting in hers perfectly. She pulled him up and didn't let go of his hand when he was up, but instead kept their hands together in between them. She met his pine green eyes with hers and felt her heart beat start to go faster. Why was that happening?

"What do you wanna do then?" Hesh asked with a smile.

"Well I have already lost to poker today so how about we go sit in the rec room and watch another old movie?" Alex suggested.

"Sounds good to me."

Alex finally released Hesh's hand recluantly and the two walked out of the room together with Riley at their heels.

In the rec room, Hesh put two mugs of hot chocolate in the microwave while Alex dug through the crappy movie selection in the cabinet under the TV. She pulled out Sleepless in Seattle and figured it was good enough. She also wanted to see if Hesh could last through a chic flick. She put in the DVD player and pressed play as he walked over to the couch with the mugs of hot chocolate in his hands. Riley hopped up on the love seat next to them and got comfortable before closing his eyes. Hesh handed Alex her mug and sat down next to her. Hesh swung his legs up and put them on Alex's lap. She barely flinched at the gesture which Hesh half expected her to do, but instead she just pulled the recliner up and used his shins as a resting place for her mug. He smiled and then focused his attention on the movie.

OOOOO

The movie lasted a little over an hour and a half and if Tom Hanks wasn't in it, the movie probably would have sucked. The thing about Tom Hanks movies is that you could walk out of the world's crappiest movie and still say, "Tom Hanks was great in that."

When the movie ended Alex felt herself getting tired. Part of her wanted to go to bed, but it was still early evening and she still hadn't eaten yet so she asked Hesh if wanted to go get some dinner.

"Yeah, I'm starved." He responded as he took his legs off of her lap and stood up. He took her empty mug and put both of them in the sink before heading out of the rec room with Alex, leaving Riley on the couch where he slept.

Walking towards the mess hall, Hesh and Alex bumped into Logan. "Hey little brother." Hesh greeted. "Where you heading?"

"Dinner. I'm about to eat my hand." Logan told him.

"That's where we're heading." Alex said. "Come on, their serving spaghetti tonight."

Logan joined them on the way to the cafeteria and Logan asked his brother where he's been all day. "Well Hesh here watched a chic flick start to end with me." Alex said with a smile, placing her hands on Hesh's shoulders. Logan let out a laugh. "How'd you sucker him into that?" he asked.

"Well he didn't complain." Alex said, her hands still on his shoulders. Hesh put his hands over hers and pulled her up onto his back. She laughed and slipped her arms around his neck and Hesh put his hands under her knees to support her. "What have you been up to today?" Hesh asked his brother.

"Slept in and then talked with Neptune and dad for a while." Logan said as they entered the cafeteria where several people already were including Keegan. His hair was messy, like he'd just woken up, and he was dressed in a large grey t-shirt and black sweatpants. Yup, he just got out of bed. Hesh, with Alex still on his back, and Logan all walked over to the table where he sat. Alex unhinged herself from Hesh and the three of them sat down at the table. "Looks like someone finally got out of bed." Alex teased as Keegan took a bite of his pasta. He looked at her. "Your one to talk Princess." He retorted. "Your days off you would sleep all day if Merrick let you."

"Very true."

Alex, Hesh, and Logan all stood up and got their dinner. It was spaghetti and meatballs as a main course that was served with garlic bread and a salad, and Alex got a bottle of water to drink. They sat back down with Keegan and talked as they ate when Kick walked in with Merrick. Alex waved them over and Merrick nodded in acknowledgement as he and Kick walked over to the food line.

Once they had their dinners, Kick and Merrick joined the others. "We'll most likely get to the facility tomorrow in the early afternoon." Merrick told everyone. "So be up at ten for a quick final briefing and then we'll gear up and head out."

"Sounds like a plan." Alex said as she took a bite of her garlic bread.

"So what chic flick did you watch anyway?" Logan asked Hesh. Everyone looked at him. "What does he mean chic flick?" Kick questioned with a laugh. "Well Alex was sick of playing cards and I was sick of reading files so we watched a movie." Hesh said as he twirled his pasta on a fork and put an arm on the back of Alex's chair. This caught Merrick's attention. He instantly looked up and at his sister who had a smile on her face. "Well I wanted to see if one of you "tough as nails" guys who can kill man thirty different ways with their bare hands could last through one romantic comedy and Hesh actually did with zero complaints." Alex laughed. Everyone at the table chuckled a little and Merrick eyed his sister for a moment. Since when was she loose and relaxed? Since when did she and Hesh watch movies together? Since when did she watch romantic comedies? "And to answer your question Logan, we watched Sleepless in Seattle." Hesh said, taking a sip of his drink.

For the rest of the meal Merrick watched his sister and Hesh. They were acting friendly towards one another. Too friendly being that only a couple of weeks ago she practically cringed at his presence. What was going on between them? Whatever it was, Merrick didn't like it. He liked Hesh, he was a good soldier and a good man, but this was his little sister. His little sister that Hesh kept stealing glances at when she wasn't looking. The sister he swore to protect from any kind of danger or hurt since he wasn't there for her all those years before. It was getting harder everyday with Rorke in the picture, but he'd die before he could lay a hand on her. He entrusted his three other brothers to watch over her while she grew up under their father's authority and training since he couldn't be there, and he did feel guilty and selfish about that, but he was here now. And he wouldn't let anything or anyone hurt her.

At the conclusion dinner, Keegan returned to bed, Alex already cringing at the thought of having to wake him up in the morning since she knew he wasn't going to get up on his own time. Kick returned to his room as well for the night and Logan and Hesh went to go talk to Elias. Merrick and Alex walked back to the sleeping quarters together and Merrick was the first to break the silence.

"What's going on between you and Hesh?" he asked. Alex looked at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean why all the sudden are you two always together?"

Alex stopped in the hallway, causing Merrick to stop. "Okay before you even say one more syllable, let me remind you that you were the one who encouraged a friendship with him." She reminded him.

"Yeah a friendship as in where he doesn't have an arm around you when you're together." Merrick said in a stern voice.

"Do you know how ridiculous you sound?" Alex questioned, resuming her walk to her room.

"Alex I'm trying to be serious here." Merrick retorted as he stalked after her.

"Okay up until three years ago you could have lived the rest of your life without so as much granting me a phone call unless someone died."

"Don't pull that on me Alexandra that's not fair."

Alex arrived at her door and turned towards her brother. "Are we on full names now Thomas?" Alex questioned. Merrick scowled at her. "Look Hesh is my friend okay? I thought that is what you wanted. Me coming out of my shell and accepting others. He's as good a friend to me as Keegan is." Alex defended.

Merrick fell silent before replying. "Well Keegan doesn't look at you the way Hesh does." He growled. Alex was taken back. How did Hesh look at her? "Look." She said sternly. "You don't get to pull that card."

"What card?"

"The big brother card! I appreciate how much you care, I do Thomas, but I am twenty eight years old. If you wanted to pull this, then maybe you should have stuck around when I was a teenager."

"I left you with three older brothers and I'm here now!"

"It wasn't like you wrote me! It wasn't like you spared me the time of day when you came home because you had no idea who I was! All you knew was that I was your sister!"

"The sister I am here for now. How many times have I apologized for being a shitty brother in the past? More than I can count! Is that what this is about?"

Alex fell silent and looked away from her brother. "Alexandra…" Merrick said quietly. She looked at him. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "I know you're here now and I love that you care. But…you treat me like I can't take care of myself. I took care of myself after our last brother got shipped out and the years after that until you told Elias to give me a shot to get on the Ghosts. You've had Elias keep me out of missions and throw a fit when I go on a mission without you. You under estimate me and you look at me like I'm a kicked puppy. Well I'm not. I'm Lieutenant Alexandra Lynn Merrick. I was a helicopter pilot and sniper in the United States Delta Force until three years ago when I was brought onto an American Forces team known as the Ghosts where I continue to fight along my oldest brother and other teammates. For the past ten years I worked my ass off to get here and will until the day I die. So stop looking at me like a kicked puppy and stop looking at me like I can't take care of myself when I'm out there."

After her little speech, Alex disappeared into her room. Merrick stood outside her door and thought about what she said. She was right. He did look at her like a kicked puppy and always babied her. He was trying to protect her which was something he couldn't do until three years ago. Now he was being the over protective older brother that would beat the shot out of anyone who even contemplated hurting her. But he knew he was over playing that card. He had to have more faith in her. He had to believe in her and tell himself she would survive this war. He knew she would. She was a Merrick…and even if they had fallen siblings who didn't get to see then end of the line, he now knew she would.

So I really like how this chapter turned out. It's over 3,000 words so it's a bit longer than the others. The next chapter is most likely going to be the one all you eager beavers have been waiting for. (Wink Wink Nudge Nudge) Anyway please review!

-Backstroker98