Sorry it's been so long, but I've had such a bad writer's block after the "big bang". The ending to this chapter is all thanks to FrickinRaft for giving me an idea to go off of. I OWE YOU MY LIFE! *u* Hehe~ I have another story in the works that will be coming out right after Corps Electrique that is a very new and risky take for a story on the Rainbow Six series, so I hope you all stay with me til then! Thanks for your continued support~! ^^

Lion walked into the cafeteria to meet up with Montagne and Rook. He noticed that a few of the other operators along with some of the recruits were shooting him looks. He looked around as he sat down to a disgruntled Montagne trying to teach Rook French. "No, no, no. It's 'aujord hui'. HWEEE," Montagne said pushing a finger away from his mouth as he enunciated. "Aujord weee," Rook said back. Montagne held his face in his hands. Lion silently laughed to himself as he watched the two go back and forth. Montagne was trying his best, and poor Rook just wasn't getting it. It was like watching a comedy skit being played out in real life. Montagne grumbled shaking his head after the tenth time of Rook not getting it. He turned to Lion and asked him a la French, "What is so hard about the language? Can you please help him understand?" Lion shrugged and turned to look at Rook flashing him a smug smile. "What did he say?" Rook asked. Lion shrugged again, "I guess you'll just have to put in the effort to learn if you want to know."

Lion's gaze returned to his surroundings as Montagne continued his attempts to help Rook learn his language. He was still receiving scowls and frowns from a few faces amongst the crowd. "Hey, Gilles," Lion said making eye contact with Castle. "Ouais?" Montagne replied. Lion watched as Castle stood from his table with the FBI SWAT and made his was over to the GIGN's. "Could you tell me why everyone's not happy with me again?" Montagne put his head in his hands again as Rook fumbled over his words. "Qu'est-ce que vous avez dit? (What did you say?)" Montagne said looking over at Lion. "Too late," Lion said as Castle reached the table. "Flament, what the hell man?" he said with a playful yet aggressive tone. "I don't know," Lion said as innocently as possible. Castle pulled a folded piece of loose leaf paper from one of his inner vest pockets. He held it at the top and the paper fell open. It seemed to be a letter that had the bottom half scribbled over in some areas. There was even a tiny hole near the bottom right of the paper. Lion shrugged unsure of what to say.

Castle pointed at the letter as he shoved it closer to Lion's face. "I was writing a letter to my Mama when you decided to drop the bass on us today. How is my Mama supposed to know I love her when it looks like I started having a stroke towards the end?" Lion pressed his lips together in an effort to fight off a smile. Castle was normally scary, but the fact he was trying to be lighthearted and was failing at it couldn't have been any funnier than it was now if he tried. "I'm sorry, Miles. Is there anything I could do to help?" Montagne asked. Castle shook his head as he put the piece of paper back in his vest pocket. "I already wrote another one. I just wanted to see if Lion here would chill out with testing his drone over base." Lion nodded and apologized to Castle as he walked away. He turned to look back at Montagne who looked fairly amused. "Was it so fun now?" he asked. Twitch opening one of the doors to walk into the cafeteria caught Lion's attention. She glanced over at him giving him a smile as she took her place in the service line. Lion smiled to himself before nodding his head. "Ouais. It was definitely worth it."

Twitch wandered over to the GSG-9's table and took a seat beside IQ. The German boys seemed pretty surprised to see her with them instead of with the other members of GIGN. IQ turned to give her a hug which Twitch happily returned. "I'm happy to see you've made it through to Lion," IQ chirped. Twitch smiled giving her a shrug, "It's nothing really. He wouldn't dare to do anything as long as I'm here," she joked. Blitz and Jager were listening a little too hard, Bandit being Bandit didn't really seem to give a damn as he drank his beer. "What happened with Lion now?" Blitz asked. IQ turned to speak but Twitch intervened, "He just had a little episode is all. Everything is fine now." Bandit chuckled to himself. All eyes at the table naturally turned towards him. "Try telling that to the mirrors in the gym." IQ stole a glance at Twitch who now scowled at Bandit. "The mirrors in the gym was Lion? Was he the one who also broke the dumbbell rack? That thing has to be at least 500 pounds!" Jager exclaimed. "More like 650, mes ami," Lion said placing his hands on Jager's shoulders.

Twitch looked down to smile to herself. She had never heard someone shut up so fast before. Lion pat the top of Jager's head before musing his hair, "Maybe I can teach you how to do that someday," he teased. Twitch stood and grabbed her tray turning her focus onto Lion. "Come on you big bully, leave poor Jager alone. I'll catch you later, mon amour," she said aiming the last bit at IQ. Lion pat Jager's head once more before following Twitch back over to their table. Bandit smirked to himself as he took another swig from his bottle. Everyone at the GSG-9 table turned to look at him again. "Well? Are you going to tell us what's so funny or not?" IQ asked. Bandit began to roll his beer bottle between his hands as he smiled. "You know why he's up her ass all the time, right?" Jager and Blitz shook their heads, 'no'. IQ, on the other hand, spoke up. "Emma is the only other person here who acts like they can stand him. Of course Lion is going to hang onto her if he..." Her words trailed off as Bandit shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Then what do you think is the reason?" IQ spat. Bandit took another swig of beer topping it off with an ahhh. He slammed his bottle down and turned to face his teammates. "He obviously wants to bang her." Jager and Blitz snickered as IQ scoffed. "You shouldn't start rumors. It's juvenile, even for you." Bandit shrugged as he moved to stand up. "Just because you can't see it- doesn't mean it's not true."

Lion placed a hand on Twitch's shoulder just before they made it to their table. "I'm going to go get a drink, I'll be back before they drive you crazy." Twitch gave him a look of humored confusion, but shrugged as he turned to get in line. Twitch sat down and chirped out a 'hi' at Montagne and Rook who were in what sounded like a heated argument. "You say: Est-ce que je peux payer l'amende (May I pay the fine). L'amende, not l'amande. Stop saying 'almonds'!" Rook held his hands up in frustration. "I'm saying the same thing as you, but you're telling me I'm wrong!" Twitch could only stare in complete confusion. Lion had made it back just in time to catch Rook slam his fists on the table shouting "almonds" in French. "This is what I've been dealing with while you were having fun with Monika," Lion said dryly. Twitch opened her mouth to speak, but was at a complete loss for words. The only thing she could think to say was, "I'm sorry." Montagne grumbled obviously frustrated as he stood up from the table. He stormed off towards the doors leading to the cafeteria to make his exit. "Guys, I was saying the exact same thing as he was, wasn't I?" Twitch nodded her head 'yes' as Lion said 'no'. Rook frowned as he too stood up to leave. Twitch watched him with a worrisome expression as Lion smiled to himself opening his soda. "You just couldn't tell him he was doing good, could you?" Twitch said with mock disapproval as she turned to face Lion. He tried to fight off a smile as he took a swallow from his can. "I tend to leave the positive reinforcement to you. I'm not good with such things, you know."

Twitch had started to say something when the loud speaker clicked on through heavy static. "Would all operators report to the briefing room. All operators report to the briefing room." Twitch sighed as she stood picking up her tray. She and Lion disposed of their items and started towards the briefing room ahead of the others. "Looks like we're going to be as busy as Doc," Lion teased. Twitch scoffed shaking her head. "Come now, Olivier, don't threaten me with a good time." Lion and Twitch laughed amongst themselves as they headed down the stairway to lower level of Hereford. The Briefing Room's doors were already open- a stroke of luck Lion cheered for in his mind. "Come in," Six said invitingly. Lion's awareness honed in on how upbeat she was. It was rather unusual for her to be so chipper unless they were celebrating a successful mission. This could only be something about Doc and Finka, he thought as he took place next to Twitch. All the other operators filed in to take their seats except for Thatcher. He knew when he was needed, and when he wasn't- and usually when he wasn't needed, it would be smooth sailing.

"Now that you're here, I have some news for all of you," Six began taking her seat at the front of the room. "You all know how tensions have been with the White Masks new assaults on corrupt governments. We have suspicion to believe that they may target England due to the elections for the Queen's new council. The men running for a place in the GDP have been nothing short of scandalous, and I'm positive a group like the White Masks are keeping their eyes on every politician at all times. So I've come to an agreement with Thatcher. To protect the integrity of Hereford, I'm going to put the majority of you on a short leave from base only. You'll still be on active duty, so under no circumstance should you allow yourself to become lazy and unguarded. Everyone except for the S.A.S. and recruits are to vacate the base by the end of tomorrow evening. Any questions?" Monika's hand was the first up. "Specialist Weiss?" Six acknowledged. "Why all but the S.A.S.? If I'm needed then I would like to be here." Six nodded in understanding. "I know how dedicated you are to your work, but to minimize suspicion of our teams whereabouts, we need Hereford to fly under the radar as much as possible. For now, it will serve as a regular training base for S.A.S. recruits until further notice. Remember, this is for your safety as well. Does anyone have anything further to add?" Everyone glanced around the table before shaking their heads 'no'.

"Alright then, dismissed." The low hum of chattering voices filled the room as everyone stood to file out. Twitch, who was behind Lion and the last one out, turned around at the last second to talk to Six alone. "Madame Six?" Twitch said wringing her hands as she approached her director. "Yes, Specialist Pichon?" Twitch took a deep breath pressing her lips together in anxiety before continuing. "Have you any word on Gustave and Finka?" Six stood from her chair and stepped around her desk to rest a hand on Twitch's upper arm. "They're both doing their best. I know how closely you and Kateb have grown these past years, so I understand your concern; but you must keep your faith in the team. It will all work out in time." Twitch nodded despite feeling unanswered. She knew Doc and Finka were doing their best. She also knew that Six wouldn't breach the confidentiality of ongoing operations; but Twitch needed to know. Gustave was still her partner after all. "Anything else?" Six asked. "No, Madame. Thank you," Twitch said barely above a whisper. She turned to leave out the room and head up the stairs where a very disheartened Lion waited for her. "Hey, why so gloomy?" Twitch asked beaming a smile. "Just thinking about how hard it will be to come up with a reason to be everywhere you are now that we'll be on duty outside of base," Lion joked. Twitch gave him a short laugh as she looked down to hide a slight blush. "Well, you know," she began looking back up. "I don't exactly have another place to stay that's not on base." Lion raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her. "Ms. Pichon, are you suggesting what I think you are?" Twitch shrugged as her smile grew wider. "Well, if it's what I think you're asking- then ouais, you can stay with me."

I know this chapter was short. I wanted to give you all something so you wouldn't grow tired of waiting. I'll try to improve on my uploads, but I've just been unable to have time to myself to really think of where I need to take the story to bring it to the ending I want. I'm trying you guys, I promise :c Once again, thank you for your continued support! Take care, and happy reading~! ^0^