Well I am pretty positive all of you Hesh and Alex shippers will enjoy this chapter more than any other chapter so far so enjoy!

OOOOO

The next morning, Alex woke up before her alarm was set to go off. She knew she wouldn't get her usual waking from Merrick after their argument last night and spent the better half of the last couple of hours staring at the ceiling lost in thought. She thought about Merrick, the mission, how she was going to go and wake up Keegan later, but she also thought about Hesh. Merrick said he didn't look at her the way the other guys did. Was that a good thing? Did that mean he…liked her? Alex never caught him looking at her, but maybe that was the point. He looked at her when she wasn't looking. No, she wasn't the kind of girl guys liked. Merrick was just being a paranoid older brother.

A loud beeping noise broke Alex from her thoughts and she simply kept staring at the ceiling as she reached over and hit the button to stop the beeping. Turning her head, she saw it was eight o'clock. The briefing was at ten, so she had time to shower before it was time to get Keegan up. Letting out a sigh she pushed the covers off of her and headed into the bathroom, falling over as she attempted to take her sweatpants off while continuing to walk. It was going to be a long morning.

Once she was showered, Alex towel dried her hair and let it down so it could dry properly. For clothes she just pulled on basic grey pants and loose white muscle shirt. She left her boots half untied like she always did and put her dog tags around her neck. As she walked out of her room, Alex thought of the ways to wake Keegan up. She could just jump on him, but last time she did that she ended up getting thrown halfway across the room. Plus she didn't have the energy. She was still feeling guilty about how she treated Merrick last night. She wasn't fair to him and should have just talked to him rather than arguing with him in the hallway. But maybe that was the only way to get her point across.

Getting to Keegan's room, Alex knocked gently. He didn't answer. She knocked a bit harder. No answer. "Keegan you better be decent." She said as she opened the door. The room was dark and there were some shirts scattered on the floor. On the small coffee table sat some files and a jacket was tossed over the one chair. It wasn't really messy, but the man could pick up the clothes.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty." Alex said quietly as she closed the door behind her. She walked over to Keegan's bed where he lay on his stomach, his arms tucked under his pillow and head turned to the side. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but he wore sweatpants that were covered by the sheets. Alex sat on the bed side and ran her nails down his back. "Come on Keegan." She said, him shivering from the feeling of her nails. He grunted, causing Alex to smile. She climbed over him and sat next to him. "Come on get up and we can get some caffeine in you." She reasoned. Keegan opened his eyes and scowled at her. "I get up when my alarm tells me to." He said through a gruff tone before closing his eyes again.

"You and I both know you won't get up, even then."

Alex nudged Keegan. "Wake up you lazy sack of bones." She grunted. "Or I will push you out of this bed."

After nudging him a few times, Alex flopped down next him. "You are worse than me." she said. Keegan opened one eye. "I wouldn't go that far." He replied. Alex pulled the sheets over her. Alex could see why he didn't want to get up. It was so warm in his bed. And it smelled nice; like detergent and the distant scent of axe body wash. Alex closed her eyes. "Can I ask you something?" she asked Keegan. He opened both his eyes and saw Alex curled up like a cat next to him. "What is it princess?" he questioned.

"How do you look at me?"

Keegan saw this at an odd question, but Alex wanted to see if Merrick really was being paranoid or if he was right. "What do you mean?" Keegan wondered.

"Like when you look at me, what do you see?"

Keegan propped himself up on his arms. "I see what I would describe as one of my best friends and a grade A pain in my ass at times." He answered truthfully, but playfully. Alex smiled and opened her eyes. "You have to get up." she told him.

"Says the one curled up in my bed." Keegan teased.

Alex threw the blankets off of the both of them and stood up. "Shirt, pants, coffee. Come on." She said. Keegan got out of bed and over to his closet while Alex sat on the chair where Keegan's jacket sat so he could change. After he was done, they headed down to get some breakfast.

OOOOO

At breakfast, Keegan and Alex ate with Kick and Neptune, Hesh and Logan joining them shortly later. Hesh took a spot next to Alex and put an arm on the back of her chair like before. Alex smiled at him and while everyone talked about the mission, she watched Hesh. She watched him laugh and smile and interact with the others. She watched the way his green eyes lit up when he smiled and how he kept looking at her in the corner of his eye which made Alex blush. She made sure he didn't catch her looking his way, but she mentally counted how many times he looked at her. Let's just every time she looked away, he stole a glance.

When breakfast concluded, everyone headed to the Operations Room where Elias and Merrick were already waiting. Alex immediately went over to her brother and pulled him aside. "About last night," she began. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so pissed, but I guess I wanted you to finally hear me." Merrick met his sister's eye. "Alex it's okay. You were right." This caught Alex's attention. "I don't treat you the way I should when it comes to you handling yourself in missions and just for yourself in general. I just…I feel bad. I wasn't the brother I should have been when you were growing up, but I always made sure you were protected. That's why I trusted Ian, Stephan, and James to look after you after I left. But that doesn't mean I didn't love you. I loved you as much as I do right now. Only now I see who my siter really is."

Alex smiled. Merrick was never like this and she didn't know what to say, so she just hugged him. She knew he wasn't big on hugging in front of the team, but at the moment neither of them cared. Merrick didn't hesitate to return the hug and hold his sister tight. "I love you." Alex whispered to him.

"I love you too, Alex." Merrick replied, kissing her head as he pulled away. Then the siblings returned to the others.

The briefing took a little over thirty minutes to do and by that time, the submarine wasn't far from the weapons facility. Everyone split and went somewhere until it was time to gear up and put on the mask. Alex wandered around the halls for about twenty minutes, trying to clear her head when Hesh came to mind. She wasn't one to be shy, so she could always just ask him. What's the worst that could happen? She could be totally wrong about everything and brush it off as a joke or Hesh could…maybe by some unexplainable reason, could actually like her.

Figuring she'd just get it out of the way so she could go on the mission with a clear head, Alex went to find Hesh, He wasn't in his room, the file room, or the cafeteria so Alex guessed he went down to the armory. Well she was right. She found him sitting at the one table cleaning his hand gun. A Desert Eagle to be exact.

"Hey." She greeted as she walked in. He looked up from what he was doing and greeted her. "What are you doing down here?" he asked.

"I was looking for you."

"How come?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

Hesh began to reassemble his gun. "What about?" he questioned. Alex leaned against the table and bit her lip. "If I ask you something, will you promise to be honest with me?" she asked, her tone filled with nervousness. Hesh looked at her as he stood up and took his gun over to where his gear sat. "Ask away." He told her.

"When you look at me, what do you see?" Alex asked. Hesh turned towards her. "What do you mean?" he retorted, slightly confused.

"What do you see me as?"

"A friend."

"I don't think so."

"What do you think then?"

"You only look at me when I'm looking away. Why is that?"

Hesh fell silent and his heart beat began to quicken. Did she know he liked her? He swallowed. "Because…" his voice trailed off.

"What do you see when you look at me?" Alex asked again. Hesh met her eyes from across the small room. "I see a lot of things." He told her. "But when I see you smiling or laughing…it's like waking up."

"From what?"

"The nightmare we're living in. You're like a breath of fresh air. Your laugh fills the room and your smile…it's just refreshing."

Alex blushed and averted her eyes. Her heart began to beat faster. "And I look at you when you aren't looking because… I don't want you to see me looking at you." Hesh told her.

"Why not?"

Hesh stepped closer to her, the space between them lessening. " I didn't want you to know I looked at you."

Alex met his eyes as he now stood directly in front of her. "Because then you'd know how much I liked you." He added before putting a hand on the side of her face and pressing his lips down to hers. Alex froze to where she was on the floor. She couldn't think. She couldn't breathe. Hesh was kissing her. Hesh. Was. Kissing. Her. She didn't even have time to process what was happening because by then he pulled away. He met her eyes again and saw the surprise that filled them. "I guess you have two options." He said, dropping his hand from her face. "Option one being you can hit me and leave or option two being we can pretend I did not just do that." Alex looked at him. She knew she liked him. He was kind. But he was also smart, gentle, loyal and he had a good heart. There were a million reasons why getting involved with him was a bad idea. But there was one good reason to get involved. Hesh was the one who made her forget the bad and focus on the good.

"Is there a third option?" she asked, releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding. Hesh eyed her for a moment. "What?" he replied.

"The option you kiss me again."

Hesh searched her eyes for a moment before smiling and leaning in again. He pressed his lips to hers gently and put his hands on her waist. Alex moved her lips with his and slipped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him. He smiled and picked her up enough to set her down on the table behind her. He stood between her legs and continued to kiss her, all his worries and fears getting washed away.

I loved writing this chapter. So. Much. I hope all of you liked it as well and now that they finally kissed, I have to refocus my attention on my other story, so I hope this is enough to hold you over for a few days! Please review!