North should have known that something was up when York almost desperately tried to involve him in a talk about their Freelancer days.

It was common knowledge what they were talking about, really. Being best friends brought with it that you knew exactly what the other was thinking back then.

So, when York suddenly started to stir up old stories, he should have become suspicious. But he had chalked it up to York usually not being the best when it came to remembering things, so he was patiently talking with him through these episodes again.

That was, until his phone went off.

In hindsight, York hadn't really been subtle about it. He was checking his phone more often than usually. He never checked his phone so much unless Carolina was about to call in.

And, to be honest, North had to admit that York currently looked fucking nervous.

Upon answering his phone, there was a short exchange between York and obviously Tucker given the way he was talking.

After hanging up the phone, he looked at the screen.

"Oh shit! I have a meeting with 'Lina!"

North already had a sneaking suspicion as to how this 'meeting' would play out.

"Tucker needs help with getting gun oil out of the closet on their floor. Shortie can't reach it." York further explained.

North didn't react on it on the outside, but inwardly he was raising an eyebrow at York. It wasn't like Tucker was that small.

Sure, he was a tad shorter than him and York, but it wasn't like he was as small as Sarge who was only five feet and five inches tall.

That old man always remembered North of a Chihuahua: small, loud, annoying, and vicious.

York was now grumbling something before he started to grin widely, "Know what, buddy? You're bigger than me, why don't you go get Tucker the oil? I'm pretty sure you can reach it. I gotta go, however, since 'Lina's probably already waiting."

With that, the tan-wearing soldier got up and left the room before North was even able to protest.

With a sigh, the taller of them got up and walked to where York said he was needed, saying to himself that he might as well do it since York obviously couldn't or wouldn't.

Walking up to the building complex where York, himself, and the other members of the Blood Gulch Crew including Ala had their homes until the first apartments were rebuilt, he couldn't help but think about the black-haired woman turning his world upside-down at the moment.

Wait… No, not at the moment. She had been doing that for quite a while, if he was being honest with himself.

Sighing, he walked past Sarge and Donut, the latter of which who was not able to hide an excited squeal, though North decided to chalk it up on one of the odd Donut-typical-behavioral-scenes that the pink-wearing man often had.

Reaching the floor, he could see that Tucker and someone else, most likely Ala, were in the little storage room on the floor. Obviously neither of them had been able to get what the dark-skinned man wanted.

Walking up to the little room, he could see Tucker noticing him. This was shortly followed by Ala doing the same as well.

"York said that he wanted to discuss something with Carolina. You need some help up here?" He asked casually, his eyes scanning the environment before landing on Ala who quickly looked away.

It was strange, seeing her that flustered and awkward, but he decided to let it be and look over to Tucker who was sporting a wide grin.

Stepping aside, the young male made space for North to walk up to the storage room, "Yeah, the gun oil is too far up and mine is used up. I need it to clean my gun." the dark-skinned man explained.

Looked at in hindsight, this should have gotten North's attention, since Wash always had to shoo Tucker to clean his gun if he wasn't doing it himself. Tucker rarely ever cleaned his gun out of his own accord.

He didn't really put much thought into the whole situation at the moment, deciding to put that realization aside and get the gun oil before questioning Tucker as to why he needed it when he was not even cleaning his gun regularly.

He couldn't finish the task as readily as he had wanted to do, since as soon as he reached up to get the oil and Ala pressed herself up in one of the corners of the room to get as much space between her and him as possible since she hadn't been able to slip past him earlier, he heard the audible and telltale 'Clap' of the door and how a key was turned around in the lock.

Immediately, the gun oil was forgotten.

North stood at the door, banging at it and demanding to be let out.

Luckily there was a geriatric light bulb, spending just enough light to see the outlines of things when the door was closed.

"Tucker!" There was a bang at the door, "Open this door!"

"Nope, not until you finally talk shit out!" the dark-skinned man replied with a huge grin, standing in front of the door and looking at the rattling knob.

"You are going to make up and kiss!" Caboose said loudly, North sighing on the other side.

The Freelancer could tell that the other members of the Blood Gulch Crew were showing up one by one now.

"Come on, buddy." This was York speaking up, "It really is time. Talk it out." The grin was evident in his voice and North sighed again.

"And how do you think being locked in a closet helps?" He asked, turning around to look at Ala incredulously.

The woman was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall behind her. She snorted, the sound slowly turning into laugher.

He couldn't really believe his eyes or his ears in this case. Was Ala seriously laughing right now?

Looking at her as if she had grown a second head, he waited for her to calm down and explain, which she did only moments later.

"This is the Blood-Gulch-Style way of saying 'sit the fuck down and fucking talk about it.'" She shrugged after that, continuing to look at the wall on the other side of the room, pointedly avoiding eye contact with North.

"Yeah and you better do that, or we're not going to let you out!" Tucker's voice rang out from the other side of the door.

North could see Ala roll her eyes and get up from her spot on the floor, slipping out of her boots while walking over. Drew decided that he better take a step back from her and see what she was up to, since he didn't want her boot in his face.

In hindsight, it wasn't necessary since she slammed the heavy boot with full force against the door, presumably where Tucker's face was pressed against it on the other side.

This earned them a distinctive yelp from the other side, "We're definitely not going to talk it out with you gossip whores having your ears glued to the door." She raised her voice a bit, sounding utterly annoyed and done.

The blond man couldn't help but feel like there was a tiredness and awkwardness to her voice too, but that it was only audible when you knew her well enough.

There was grumbling and shuffling on the other side of the door. Ala was leaning against the frame beside the door, her arms crossed and eyes closed.

When it became silent and North had the notion that everyone must be gone, she snorted again, "As much as I appreciate you being fucking quiet for once, oh dear little brother of mine, I suppose you better start digging your own grave. You're so dead when I get out of here."

North was quite surprised when he heard another snort from the other side, "You wish."

Opening her eyes, Ala grinned, "Wanna try it out?"

If they were in a shitty earth-cartoon, you would now see Tucker swallowing nervously on the other side of the door.

It was silent again, until there was a quiet shuffling and the male blond could see the woman relax visibly. Or it was more like slumping forward and sounding utterly defeated.

"You okay?" He couldn't help but ask, taking a step forward and resting a hand on her cheek. He knew they were far from being a thing again, but he couldn't help it after being around her for so long and not having been able to talk.

North couldn't say if Ala still was the same. However, the way she was behaving now was how the old Ala would try to pretend sometimes: faking something that wasn't true and trying to fool everyone with it.

It mostly seemed to work out. Or most of the guys knew when to keep away and when to talk to her. Tucker seemed the best at it: knowing exactly when he could tempt her and when he better give her space to sort things out on her own until she was ready to talk about it.

He blinked, rather surprised when he felt how the woman was leaning into the touch as if craving this kind of contact, though he could also feel some kind of reluctance towards the motion all the same.

"Now that our friends started an intervention… we might as well talk about it, don't you think?" Andrew asked, a bit of a crooked smile on his face.

Ala sighed, a defeated sound that made North cringe. This sound almost pained him physically.

"I know…" she then said, lifting her head and looking at him.

North could see defeat and some sort of sadness in her eyes.

"But?" He asked, feeling the reluctance coming off of the woman in waves.

"I don't know what to say after what I already told you." Turning her head a bit, North could see her look away to a distant point somewhere far away and not here in this room.

They were both talking lowly, so that none of the guys would be able to catch up on what they were talking about and gossip it around the base.

"About you having changed during the past years." He concluded, seeing how she was sighing again and nodding.

"As much as I still love you, Drew," the mentioning of his real name from her and that she still loved him made his heart flutter and his head feel light, but he had to focus, "I changed. Unlike you, more than ten years passed for me. I changed. Every single member of the Blood Gulch Crew did. I can't just jump back into what we had then and act as if nothing happened. That's not me. I can't even promise if it's going to work out between us again with the time in-between." She explained, a shuddering breath forcing its way out of her throat.

As much as she still loved the Freelancer currently locked in the room with her, she couldn't jump back into how she was ten years ago. That wasn't her anymore. She had seen a lot of shit and had gone through as much horror as the others had. Even after overcoming her fear of the Meta, she still tended to dream of the Meta during some nights. There were also the dreams about the day that North and Sasha had died. It haunted her, despite now knowing that North at least had returned.

But those years had taken a toll on her, no matter how hard she tried to deny it.

It was silent for a long while, neither of them saying a word. It seemed deadly silent outside of the room, but both of them knew that the others were out there listening, itching to hear more from them and always inching closer to the door once more.

After a while, Ala banged against the door again, getting a yelp in return and the end result of the others backing away once more.

Those fuckers just couldn't stay away and give them some space.

North sighed, unnerved.

Seriously, as much as he loved the guys as friends, didn't they see that they were putting unnecessary pressure on them right now with their unquenchable thirst for gossip?

While Mac was doing her best to keep the guys out of earshot, North thought about the things he had just heard and talked about on the night when Ala had told him that he would have become a dad if he hadn't died on such a crucial day. He shuddered a bit when thinking about the baby who had died on the very same day that he had.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. He knew that Ala had changed during the last several years. He understood it, even when for him only a few months had passed.

But how did that help the situation at hand? Would they ever be a couple again? Well, okay, given the fact that they both felt strongly for each other still, there was always hope. But in the end, they were still strangers to one another, no matter if they had known each other since for quite awhile in the past.

Given the time distance between their separation and last meeting, it was understandable that at least one of them changed in character and interests. So they were on square one so to speak. They were about the same as when North had woken up from unconsciousness in New-Bangkok, in Alas apartment, wrapped up in bandages and recovering from the crash of the Mother of Invention.

Rubbing a hand over his face, North leaned against the frame on the other side of the door. Seriously though, how should he approach this situation?

Knowing that the black-haired woman still felt strongly for him appeased a part of his anxiety at least. One of his biggest fears when thinking about how to talk to Ala now was due to thinking that she didn't love him anymore, that she had moved on and now was with someone else or had decided to stay alone for the rest of her life entirely.

It would have been a logical and understandable thing to do, but hearing the opposite of that so clearly now set him at ease. Sure, he already had the suspicion that she still felt strongly for him when they were talking some time ago, but hearing it from her was the best confirmation that he could have gotten.

But there still was the problem about them dancing around each other like planets with neither of them knowing how to approach the other or react towards them.

They really were like strangers now.

So, what was the best way that they could get to know each other again, without one hurrying or pressuring the other?"

That was when he had an idea.

"We're starting anew." He muttered lowly.

Ala stopped her banging on the door in order to turn around and look at the man with a confused expression on her face.

"What?" She asked, looking at him a bit incredulously.

"I mean if you're okay with it." He hurried to add with an awkward smile, "You said it. We are like strangers to each other now with all these years in-between. And how do strangers get to know each other? By starting at the beginning."

He scratched the back of his head, suddenly unable to meet Ala's gaze, "Look, it's a bit of a stupid idea, but how about we start anew? Get to know each other again as friends and possibly through dating, and the rest will be left open and we'll see to where it carries us from there? At least we can't say that we didn't try it later on." His laugh was slightly pained, as he was feeling horrible in that moment.

He felt like an idiot for bringing the subject up and it hurt him to have to start anew when he wanted nothing more than to walk over and kiss this beautiful woman standing on the opposite side from him.

He still loved the girl dearly, but he could understand her arguments too. Ten years was nothing to sneeze at when it comes to people changing during that time.

It was silent for another long while before Ala then slowly nodded, "Okay." She said simply.

The Freelancer gaped at her, having not expected such a response at all, "What?"

She grinned at him her trademark lopsided grin, "I said okay. I think it's worth a shot. You can get to know me anew, but there's no pressure to get back to what we had earlier again. If it doesn't work out and one of us says they don't want that anymore, then the other will just have to accept it. Starting as friends and seeing where it takes us. Sounds like a good deal."

North could see her cheeks darken while she started to ramble, an uneasy smile appearing on her lips.

"Okay, deal." North muttered, lowering his head a bit and smiling happily. At least they were on common ground now and could continue with that, "How about we go for a walk tonight after dinner?"

Mac snorted at that, looking rather amused. "Not wasting any more time than necessary, huh?" She asked with a snicker in her voice.

North smiled in return, "Hey, I have a woman to woo, no time to lose." He replied, using one of York's lines whenever North had asked the other man why he was going out with Carolina so much so quickly after being released from the hospital.

Ala laughed lowly, looking at the door, "I won't run away, don't worry."

It was spoken so lowly that North didn't know if it was meant for him to hear.

He wouldn't have been able to ask anyways since he could hear a commotion outside as Wash evidently had appeared with Carolina in tow. He could hear the younger Freelancer asking just what the fuck was going on.

Knocking at the door, Ala called out. "Hey, Caboose?"

"Yes, Mac?" The childlike member of the team asked.

"North and I made up, so can you let us out?" Her tone was sweet, like she was talking to a kid.

"Did you kiss?" Caboose asked in return and North could see Ala's shoulders shake at her suppressed laughter.

"Yes, are we allowed to leave now? The air is getting pretty stuffy and you wouldn't want to suffocate us, would you?"

"No, that's something Tucker would do." Caboose replied, North hearing steps coming closer, followed by a "Hey!" from Tucker at Caboose's implication.

"You're a good boy, Caboose." Ala praised him before a smile appeared on Ala's lips that made North shudder in negative anticipation, "And when the door is open… could you stand aside, please?"

"Okay!" the biggest soldier of Blue Team chirped, the key scraping in the lock moments later.

Just when the man stepped aside and said that he had done so in his booming voice, Ala kicked the door open and was out of it with a horrible battle cry moments later.

The last thing he saw of her was when she was chasing after Tucker, who was hauling ass with a horrified screech.

Sauntering out behind the woman, he chuckled lowly, looking at an utterly done Washington and a Carolina who looked rather amused more than annoyed.

"So, you got to witness one of the Blood Gulch Crew's quirks firsthand, huh?" She asked deliberately, looking at the guys grinning like idiots.

"Looks like it." The oldest of the Freelancers replied, an amused glint in his eyes.

He felt someone nudging his side, looking over he could see that it was York. The guys of the Blood Gulch Crew were keeping their distance, letting the Freelancers talk amongst themselves.

"It's okay. I think." North explained, knowing why York nudged him.

"You think?" Wash asked, looking doubtful.

North shrugged, "It's not okay yet, but another step towards it has been taken. We're good. Not together but on the way there." He explained, seeing how the tension seeped out of his friends' postures.

"That's good. You both had us worried for a while." Carolina replied with a small smile, before her features hardened and she turned around to the group.

"And you guys are now going down to the warehouse to clean up the mess you caused!" She ordered the Reds, including Donut, Grif, Simmons, and Sarge.

As she shooed them off, North could hear Sarge complain, "This is a plot from those filthy Blues to try to subvert our commando structures!"

Wash beside him sighed, dragging a hand over his face while Carolina continued shooing the Reds down and over to the warehouse.

"You got your work cut out here, huh?" York asked with an amused glint in his eye.

Wash grunted at that, "In more ways than one, but they're not that bad if you put their quirks and shenanigans aside." He smiled over to the one-eyed man.

North replied with his own smile to the ones that the other two were wearing, "Glad to see you found your place. And friends to go along with it." He could hear Wash chuckle and saw the fond smile on his face confirm North's previous statement.

"Well…" He said after a moment, "We better go check on Ala and Tucker. She looked ready to skin him alive when she got out." He continued jokingly.

Although all of them knew that Ala never would harm Tucker on purpose or with ill-intent, they all knew that she wasn't exactly going easy on him whenever they were training or fooling around together.

Walking down to the central area of Armonia, they could see Tucker running as fast as not even Wash had ever got him to run.

Ala was hot on his heels, shouting, "Stop running away, you coward!"

All three of the men could see that there was more amusement in her voice at being able to scare Tucker than real anger anymore.

"Are you crazy!? I'd prefer to live another day!" Tucker replied, running even faster and jumping over an obstacle: a cart filled with bricks for the rebuilding of one of the apartment complexes.

"Then don't lock me up in a closet, cockbite!" the woman replied, jumping over the cart as if it was nothing more than a little petal lying on the ground.

"That was a necessary thing! Otherwise you never would had made up and out, Bow-chicka-bow—ouch!"

Throwing a stick between Tucker's legs made him fall down face first, and Ala was over him the moment he was lying flat on the ground. She was now starting to give him a hard time by tickling him.

Rarely would anyone suspect Tucker to be that fucking ticklish aside from her and Wash. His sides were one huge playground for people who wanted to torture him by tickling him.

Indeed, the moment her fingers started to brush over his flanks over his shirt, the dark-skinned man started snorting, laughing, and squirming underneath of her.

"Stop it! You're killing me!" He pressed out between laughter.

"What… you or your reputation?" She quipped.

"My dignity, asshole." He replied, trying to push her hands away, which wasn't a very easy task given the fact that he was lying on his belly and his sister was sitting on his ass and keeping his upper body down with one of her hands firmly placed on his neck.

"That's already crushed, honey, didn't you know?" she replied sweetly.

She kept up the torment of tickling Tucker until he wasn't much more than a wheezing mess on the ground, pleading with her to stop.

"You know how." She replied simply, not stopping the tickling as a sadistic smile appeared on her face.

"Never!" Turning his head, he glared at her between peals of laughter.

"Your decision." She merely shrugged, continuing with her tickling until Tucker let out a high-pitched noise again and again until the woman stopped.

They both knew that this was Sangheili and meant nothing more than "Mama." It was not something a Sangheili or someone knowing their culture would ever do since that was something a baby did, and not grown ass men and warriors.

A least it was Sangheili, so not many would understand what he said.

Lying on the ground, wheezing and desperately trying to catch his breath, he felt how Ala's hands left his side and neck but didn't move off his back.

Shifting her weight, Tucker felt her leaning over until her face was next to his left ear, "Thanks though, brother."

Tucker couldn't do more than snort weakly, feeling her weight leaving his body to which he turned around to catch his breath with his eyes closed.

He opened them again when he felt a shadow fall across his face. It was Wash standing over him, about to crouch down beside his boyfriend.

"You okay?" He asked, looking a bit worried.

"Aw, you're worried about me?" Tucker asked, his breath back to normal though he wasn't feeling like getting up and walking off.

"Forget I asked." Wash replied dryly, but didn't make a move to walk away.

"But if you want to know," Tucker continued after a while, "It was totally worth it." He grinned broadly.

Wash huffed at that, a small smile creeping onto his lips when he got up and extended a hand towards the dark-skinned man to help him get up.

Grasping it, he let Wash help him onto his feet and steady him. The whole running around bit and getting tickled had used up almost all of his energy.

Leaning against Wash, he could feel one of the Freelancer's hands sneaking around his waist.

"I guess I'll only add five rounds to your lap count tomorrow for what you did today."

Tucker whined at that.

"I would add fifteen, but you already made up quite a bit with running around now." Wash replied to Tucker's whine.

"Wow, I thank you for your fucking consideration." Tucker replied dryly, grinning widely at Wash when they walked up to the other Freelancers waiting at the entrance of the building complex they all were living in.

Even Carolina had returned by now, having left the Reds to clean up the mess that they had helped to create on their own.