Update number six! The dress in this chapter comes from another one that Rosie Huntington Whiteley wore. Again, if you google her name and then white backless, you'll be able to see it. This chapter comes with a bit of a warning. It's super, super long. The longest one i've ever posted in fact but there didn't seem like a natural break to it and I didn't want to just split it up for the sake of it. I also found it quite difficult to end so it stops kinda abruptly but it's the way it goes sometimes! Hope you enjoy! xxx

Getting Price into bed wasn't as hard as Soap thought it would be. The old man was completely out of it. You know that stage of drunk where the room spins and all you want to do is close your eyes and fall into the beautiful, uninterrupted sleep that drunkenness provides? Price was way past that stage. When Soap found him, the Captain was passed out on one of the plush sofas that lined the walls of the corridor outside the ballroom. There was no polite way for Soap to move Price so with minimal effort, he hoisted the old man up onto his shoulders, fishing the key for his room out of his jacket pocket. Price groaned some unintelligible words and made a small effort to clamber down from Soap's shoulders as they entered the lift. It was a strange thing to see. Captain Price. The man who could make Soap's balls retreat back inside him with just one withering stare, passed out and being carried to bed.

"Issss no right." Price mumbled.

"I know." Soap murmured in his most soothing voice.

"NO!" Price slurred. "She'sssss me."

Soap stifled a laugh as the Captain continued to talk to himself.

He finally managed to locate Price's room and let himself in with the key.

"Look at that nice comfy bed." he told the Captain. "You'll have a nice sleep and you'll be back to terrifying the life out of me and ninety nine percent of the population tomorrow."

"WEEEEEEE." Price squealed as Soap threw him down on bed. He stretched himself out in a starfish position. "Is nice my bed."

"Yep, it's a very nice bed." Soap laughed. "Very soft."

Price moved his hand. "SHOOOOOES. Why?" He drunkenly gestured to his dress shoes.

"Why are they shoes?" Soap asked.

"NO. Stupid." He gestured at the shoes again. "Off."

What was this life? Soap knelt down and untied the laces on Price's shoes. Carefully, he slid the shoes off and placed them at the foot of the bed.

"Ahhhhhhh." Price sighed, giggling to himself. "Is nice no shoes."

"Is that all you need, Sir?" Soap asked, laughing at his own formality with the man who probably didn't even know his own name because he was so drunk.

"Sleeeeeeeeeping nowwwwwww."

Soap took Price's mumblings as his sign to leave and quietly slipped from the room as the Captain began to fumble with the buttons on his collar. He paused, unsure whether he was supposed to help, but thought better of it when Price attempted to throw his bowtie at him and ducked out of the door and into the corridor. He found his way back to the lift and pressed the button to take him back to the ground floor. Wallcroft appeared as the doors began to close.

"How was he?" He asked, laughing as if he already knew the answer to his own question.

"He's surprisingly nice when he's drunk, isn't he?" Soap grinned. "I took his shoes off for him and he giggled like a small child."

Wallcroft looked at him, surprised. "He let you take his shoes off? Bloody hell mate. Meat was looking after him last year and he got a nice kick to the face when he tried to do the same thing. He must like you."

Soap laughed. "Mate, he didn't know his own name, let alone who was taking his shoes off for him."

The doors pinged open and they were back to the main corridor. Beside him Wallcroft groaned.

"Look at that prick." he growled, nodding his head forward. Soap's eyes followed his gaze to the spot where Lola was stood talking to a tall, blonde man.

"Is that Wellington?" Soap asked, focusing on the man.

"The one and only." Wallcroft muttered.

Soap's eyes shifted to Lola. She had her arms folded across her chest and a look of utter contempt splashed across her face. Wellington placed a hand on her arm and she shrugged him off. Soap's fists balled up instinctively at the sight of her personal space being violated.

"I'm going to go and introduce myself." Soap said, marching forward.

Wallcroft wrapped a hand around his arm. "Mate." His tone was low. Soap recognised it as a warning. "Don't get involved. You'd be wise not to underestimate Wellington. He has an awful lot of sway that could get you in deep shit if he took a dislike to you."

Soap looked back at Lola. She looked uncomfortable. The protective side to Soap was exploding out of him and he shook Wallcroft's hand away and walked towards her. Lola's face lit up when she saw him.

"Charles, let me introduce you to our newest recruit." The man span around and stared at Soap. "John MacTavish."

"We're busy." He growled to Soap without turning around.

Soap ignored him and reached for Lola. "Price isn't doing too well. He's asking for you."

She narrowed her eyes at him and her lips formed into the briefest of smirks. She knew that the old man would be barely coherent by this point, let alone requesting her personally.

"Tell the old man to get a grip." Wellington hissed, finally turning to look at Soap.

Any good will that Soap may have been feeling towards Charles dissipated immediately. The Viscount was roughly the same height as John with a thin pinched face and ice blue eyes. The two men stared at each other coldly. Soap had never been the kind of person to shy away from conflict of any type, especially with a man who now standing toe to toe with him.

"That old man..." he started. "... is the Captain of the SAS and you would do well to respect what he wants."

"What he wants or what you want?" Wellington sneered.

Lola came in between them, and faced Wellington. Silently she placed a hand on his chest and Soap watched as he eyes fogged over. He could only assume that she was flashing her most disarming smile at the Viscount. Blood surged through Soap's veins and he realised that his fists had been balled up since he had left Wallcroft. He flexed his fingers, his eyes remaining locked on Charles. Suddenly, he felt a warm hand wrap around his, and looked down to see Lola's fingers interlacing themselves through his own. It was her own variation of a warning to him, he was sure of that, and Soap responded immediately by giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Duty calls." She told the Viscount, her voice dripping with sincerity. "It was lovely to see you Charles." Lola said. "Didn't you mention something about visiting Credenhill at some point to admire those lovely purchases you've made?"

Soap gave a small snort of laughter. He was almost certain that the purchases would be the last thing that Charles would be admiring if he were to visit the barracks. Lola's hand flexed around his again and she pushed herself back towards him so that their hands were pressed together between his stomach and the small of her back and her bum, clad in that beautiful soft silk was pressed against his thighs. It was the smallest of motions but the feeling of the warm skin of her hand through the cotton of his shirt sent a shockwave of goosebumps through his entire torso and the hairs on the back of his neck stood to attention. He wanted to reach his other hand to the curve of her arse which was now snuggled nicely between his thighs but he refrained, only too aware that Wallcroft was probably still behind him watching the scene unfold.

"Yes, well..." Charles straightened himself up. "It would be lovely to see where all my millions have been going." He focused on Soap. "Not that there isn't much more where that came from." He raised an eyebrow and smirked.

The comment was clearly for Lola's benefit, but the Viscount was obviously attempting to put Soap in his place with the mention of his vast wealth. Soap gave a small shrug, too fixated with the intoxicating smell of the woman pushed up against him. It was perfume and shampoo mixed with her own natural scent and it was completely overpowering his senses.

"Fantastic." She enthused. "Now, I really must be going. Don't want to leave Price for too long. God knows what damage he'll do!" She stepped forward and pressed a cursory kiss against the Viscount's cheek before turning on her heel and facing Soap. Her mouth twisted up in a smile and she sucked a breath in and held it in her cheeks in attempt to stop from laughing before she dashed away down the corridor. Soap looked up at Charles.

"Lovely to meet you Charlie." He stuck his hand out in a friendly gesture to his rival.

"It's Charles." The Viscount sniffed at Soap's hand as he stuffed his own into the pockets of his finely tailored suit.

Soap gave a small chuckle. "I couldn't care less."

The Viscount narrowed his eyes. "It's not wise to make an enemy out of me, John."

"So I've heard." Soap grinned. "Good thing that I've never cared much for listening to what others tell me."

He turned quickly before the Viscount could muster up a comeback and followed Lola's retreating figure down the hallway. Wallcroft was watching him with a slightly amused look on his face. He caught up to her and she shot a glance at him, the laughter finally escaping her lips. Soap found himself laughing along with her.

"I've known Wallcroft for six years, Soap." She said. "And I know he wouldn't have let you walk up to Charles all guns blazing like that, without giving you a bit of a warning as to just how influential that man can be in this organisation." she stopped and turned to him. "So what I'm wondering is, are you just a bit of a mad bastard who likes to get himself in trouble? Or did you think that I needed your help back there?"

Soap gave a cursory look towards Wallcroft, who was now distracted by a pretty girl in a hotel uniform before reaching over and touching Lola's arm, his fingers stroking across the soft skin which erupted with goosebumps. She stared down at the patch of skin like it was on fire, looking up only as he moved in closer to her. The Duchess' words were in his head. He had to make his position here clear. If she was willing to break the rules, then so was he. His heart thumped against his chest so loudly that he feared it would alert the whole hotel to his feelings for this beautiful, beautiful girl.

"Maybe it's a mixture of the two?"

She looked up at him, her breathing deepening as the heat between their bodies mixed with the sexual tension that was beyond palpable.

"I don't need you to save me, Soap." She said quietly, her eyes scanning his face, lingering on his lips.

"Then I'll ask again, Lo." Soap lowered his voice and threw another glance towards Wallcroft who had his back to the pair, his attention still focused on the pretty waitress. He turned back to her. "What do you need?"

She didn't say anything, but her jaw clenched tightly and her body tensed up.

"Because some rules are just mean to be broken."

Their eyes locked and the enormity of his words registered on her face. For a split second, the 'tough as shit' mask that she wore daily, slipped and her true emotions were splashed across her face. Soap wasn't exactly a ladies man, he could count his past sexual conquests on two hands, but he knew lust when he saw it. And he definitely saw it. It was in her eyes. It was in the shallow breathing that rose deeply from her chest. It was in the flush that coloured the apples of her cheeks. It was in the heat that rose from her body that mingled with his own.

"I've got myself a banker there!" Wallcroft grinned, his face appearing at Soap's shoulder. The spell was broken. Lola diverted her eyes away from Soap's quickly before Wallcroft's face turned away from the waitress and to them.

"I'm going to get ready." She said reaching towards the button for the lift. He noticed that her hand was shaking. "You two should go and wait in the main bar with the other lads. I won't be long."

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Wallcroft grinned. "Come on mate!" He wrapped an arm around Soap's shoulder and steered him down the hallway. "I put in a bit of groundwork for you pal and Megan has said that she'll bring some of her friends out to meet us." Soap turned back to look at Lola. She turned and looked at him from over her shoulder as his gaze landed on her. She turned away as the lift arrived, only looking back to Soap as the doors closed on her. Beside him, Wallcroft was twittering away about the girl he had been speaking to.

"Maybe it wasn't Megan?" he mused to himself. "I think it was Mary." They entered the bar and Soap saw the rest of the lads, milling around, pints in hand, their excitement at a night away from their duties absolutely palpable. "No, it was definitely Molly."

They stopped at the bar and a pretty blonde girl smiled up at Soap.

"What can I get you gents?"

"Four glasses of your most expensive scotch and a yes" Wallcroft grinned at her, leaning against the bar.

"A yes to what?" the girl asked, setting out the glasses on the bar and pulling a bottle of scotch from the shelf behind her.

"To a wonderful night in the city with this gorgeous man." Wallcroft nudged Soap.

She laughed and filled the glasses with ice.

"And he can't ask me himself?" She looked up at Soap.

"He's a bit shy." Wallcroft said, reaching out for one of the glasses that she had filled. "But he has a massive -" He took a sip of his drink, pausing for dramatic effect. Soap laughed and reached for his own glass. "-appreciation for beautiful blondes." Wallcroft winked at the girl. "Among other things, if you catch my drift."

The girl laughed and looked up at Soap. She was very pretty, long eyelashes framing clear blue eyes. But he could only think about Lola. Was that what Wallcroft was doing? Attempting to distract him from her? The atmosphere between the two of them had been absolutely radioactive and although Wallcroft was an idiot on so many accounts, he wasn't blind.

"Where are you all going?" the girl was looking at Soap again. He drained his glass and reached for the second.

"We'll head straight to KoKo." Wallcroft clapped Soap on the back. "We get one of the VIP booths thanks to Lola, so all your drinks would be on us."

The blonde grinned. "I have to be in at 7 tomorrow morning, so I wouldn't be able to get too drunk."

"I'm sure this handsome bugger would be happy to provide you with a space in his bed for the night. You could come out, stay here and then still be in work for 7." He smirked at Soap. "Everyone's a winner."

If Soap was that way inclined, Wallcroft would be the best wingman in the world, bar none. He was the perfect combination of cheeky and forward and he could see that the blonde was seriously considering his offer. There was a brief moment where he wished that he was interested in her. But his mind was on Lola. Before Wallcroft had broken their spell there had been something completely tangible between the two of them. He wasn't one for counting chickens, but Soap knew that if they had been locked away behind a closed door that something would have happened.

"He doesn't seem so sure." The blonde was looking at Soap again but was directing her words towards Wallcroft.

Soap offered her a smile, hoping that it would placate her long enough the he would be able to excuse himself away from the bar, so he didn't have to feel Wallcroft's eyes burning into the side of his face.

"Excuse us a second."

Too late.

Wallcroft's arm snaked around Soap's shoulder and he was steering him towards the huddle of their comrades.

"Mate. Are you gay?"

Soap laughed.

Wallcroft pulled a face at him. "It's just... I'm grafting pretty hard for you and you don't seem interested."

"I'm not gay." Soap smiled.

"So what's the problem then? Let the pretty blonde fuck your brains out."

With no warning, the subdued chatter that had been in the air stopped. The faint clicking of heels across the expensive marble that decorated the floors of the hotel diverted Soap's attention to her. The new dress she was wearing made his dick twitch. White. Skintight. The hem falling just above the knee with cut out sections either side of her waist exposing her toned and tanned skin. The soft loose waves in her hair had now made way for an artfully dishevelled look that made it look as though she had just got out of bed and her natural makeup had been replaced by dark brown smoky eyes that made the green of her pupils shine. She sashayed towards the bar and began talking to the blonde girl. Of course the dress was backless, the material starting just below the small of her back. She turned and looked at Soap over her shoulder, as if she could feel his eyes burning into her skin. Her eyes flickered to the left slightly, settling on Wallcroft before she turned back to the girl behind the bar.

"Ah..." Wallcroft groaned. Soap looked at him. "You're not interested in the pretty blonde because you've got your eye on the one thing that you can't have."

Soap stared at him. Wallcroft held his hands up in a surrender gesture.

"You're going to do, what you want." He told Soap. "But don't say I didn't warn you, mate."

"I won't." Soap told him, earnestly.

The two friends knew that the less said about the situation, the better. If anything did ever happen with Soap and Lola, he wanted Wallcroft to have complete deniability should it ever get back to Price. The less heads rolling the better. Soap looked back at the bar, she was walking towards the group, a silver tray balanced on her hand.

"Everybody does a shot." She said, placing the tray on one of the tables at the centre of the group. The lads all huddled around, picking up a glass each and holding it out in front of them.

"What are we toasting to then?" Wallcroft asked. "World Peace?"

"And give up all of this?" Lola asked. "Not a chance."

"Then how about we cheer to us all getting laid tonight?!" Wallcroft shouted, grinning.

"Still a big advocate of romance." Lola smirked at him. The lads were all laughing. "Weirdly enough, toasting to your dick isn't high on my agenda right now."

Wallcroft grinned at her in his wolfish way and slung his arm around her shoulder before nuzzling his face into her cheek. Her eyes flicked up to Soap's. No malice intended. It was just his way.

"How about to our Captain?" Meat asked. "The lovely drunk fool that he is."

Everybody nodded and held their glasses in the air.

"To Captain Price." Lola said. "Currently the drunkest man in all of London."

"THE CAPTAIN!" The group shouted. Soap joined in with a laugh and threw the shot back.

"Drink up lads." Wallcroft called. "We have fair maidens to woo!" He turned to Lola. "Is that better?"

She laughed. "It's as if Shakespeare himself has risen from the dead."

"That's what I was aiming for." Wallcroft grinned and gave her a nudge as the group began to file away from the bar.

"Give me a hand with the glasses?"

They loaded the empty shot glasses back on the tray before heading back towards the bar. Soap followed her, his eyes following the curve of her arse in her dress. She placed the tray down on the bar and smiled at the blonde girl.

"Have a good night." The girl gave Soap a meaningful stare, urging him to make a plan to meet her. Soap turned to watch Lola walking away, before he span back to the bar with a shrug. The blonde rolled her eyes and scoffed, his silence apparently speaking for him. Leaving the girl to her baleful looks, Soap ran after Lola, catching up to her as she stepped out into the brisk April evening. They fell into step and a comfortable silence surrounded them. Soap stared down at her hand. How nice would it be for him to be able to reach out and slide his fingers between hers? Sensing his eyes on her she turned to him.

"Has anybody ever told you about my family?"

He nodded, remembering one of their first conversations about her parents. In the months since she had barely mentioned their passing and it seemed to Soap like it was just one of those things that was better left unsaid.

"I don't mean my mum and dad." She smiled. "I mean my brothers."

He didn't recall the mention of any brothers. He shook his head at her.

"I have three older brothers." She said. "Triplets. George, Archie and William. We don't speak."

"Any particular reason why?"

She shrugged and wrinkled her nose as if remembering something unpleasant. "Arch isn't so bad. Will is just trapped in his own little bubble of stocks and investments and doesn't really ever stop to actually notice that there's a whole world just existing around him." she paused. "But George, the eldest of the three, is like a combination of everything that is terrible about people in human form. Picture Satan, but in a nice suit."

"Nice guy then?" Soap laughed.

She smirked. "Oh yeah, a real angel."

"So you don't see them?"

"The last time I saw them was a couple of months after my mum and dad passed away." She said. "Words were exchanged, bridges burned etc etc." She sighed. "I think about it a lot y'know? They're my flesh and blood but there's nothing there. We're complete strangers. And it's horrible because growing up, I had completely worshipped them."

Soap nodded and she sighed again. Ahead of them the lads were singing loudly and Wallcroft was doing his to chat up a group of girls walking on the opposite side of the road. Lola laughed and shook her head before turning her big green eyes onto Soap.

"When my parents died I lost my family, Soap. My two best friends and my parents. That was it. That was all I needed." Her eyes searched his face. "And then I met that group of bloody idiots. And whether I wanted them to, or not, they all became my family. They love me unconditionally, the way that my brothers should. And in return, I love them."

Soap felt a knot in his stomach. He looked into her eyes.

"Even Price, the scary bastard that he is..." She chuckled, softly. "He once told me that I'm like the daughter he never had." She paused. "He was pissed at the time, but he still said it."

"What are you saying, Lo?"

He wanted her to spit it out. Wanted to hear the words come out of her mouth before he'd dare to believe it.

"I love my life. For all the horrible, awful things that have happened, I absolutely love it." She sighed. "And as much as I really, really want to... I'm never going to put myself in a position where I jeopardise it."

It was like taking a bullet.

"Believe me when I say, that in my six years with the SAS, there has never been anybody that I've wanted to break that rule with." She bit her lip. "And I have thought about it..." She stared up at him. "A lot. More than a lot. A lot plus infinity."

"But..." Soap sighed, looking in her eyes.

She gave him a sad smile and quietly slipped her arm through his. Her smell hit him like a brick wall. Ahead of them, Wallcroft had started a rousing rendition of 'We are the Champions'.

"But we just can't." She looked up at him. "Okay?"

He nodded.

But it wasn't okay, really. Soap wasn't an idiot. He knew that there was something between them. Something powerful. He had felt it back at the hotel and he could feel it now, as she leant towards him. The alcohol was finally starting to catch up with him and the shot that she had given him had made his brain fuzzy, but he could still feel it. It was magnetic. They were magnetic. He had never felt drawn to somebody in the way that he did with her.

"Yeah." He heard himself saying. "I think it's for the best."

She squeezed his arm appreciatively and smiled up at him.

"I'm glad you agree."

Ahead of them the group had stopped. Soap had been so caught up in their conversation that he had failed to notice the queue of revellers snaking around a non de script black building to his right. The air was thick with voices, laughter and the deep thud of music. Lola slipped her arm from his and skipped ahead. Wallcroft signalled her forward with a wave of his hand.

"And now the real work begins..." She span around and looked at him, her golden halo of hair following her, a coy smile on her face.

To Soap, she had never looked more beautiful. The crisp air had turned her cheeks pink and the excitement of the night made her eyes shine. It was all he could do to not reach forward and kiss her. She stopped at the edge of the group.

"You got this, Lo?" Wallcroft asked. He turned back to look at the two doormen guarding the entrance. "I've already seen about fifteen girls that I'd bang, so the immediate happiness of my cock rests solely on your shoulders." He grinned. "No pressure."

She pulled a face. "I don't want to think about your cock resting anywhere near my shoulders, thanks." Soap laughed. "Give me thirty seconds."

She detached herself from the group and sashayed over to the door. Soap watched as every eye in the line turned to watch her. She stopped in front of the doormen who greeted her warmly with tight bear hugs. Within seconds she was gesturing for the lads to follow her. Soap followed the group, stopping within earshot of one of the doormen.

"No trouble tonight, lads." He looked pointedly at Wallcroft. "We want you to all have a good night but if there's any bad behaviour you'll be out, got it?"

Lola reached over and kissed them both on the cheek, offering them her most devastating smile "I'll keep an eye on him. Brownies honour."

The doors to the club swung open and they were being ushered inside.

"Why do they always single me out?" Wallcroft said. "Every bloody year."

"Because you manage to get yourself kicked out every bloody year, that's why?"

"Look, Lo... If taking your shirt off and tying it around your shoulders like a cape is wrong, then I don't want to be right."

"Oh, Wallcroft, believe me, there is absolutely no danger of you ever being considered right." She grinned as he threw his arm around her shoulder. "No need to worry there."

She snaked her arm around Soap's waist and pulled him into their embrace "Now let's just get absolutely wrecked and pretend like national security, not your penis-" She threw a look at Wallcroft who laughed loudly. "-doesn't rest entirely on our shoulders."