There was smooth Jazz in the air.

Although the radio made some crunching background noise, it seemed like time and the hustle and bustle of Mother Base stopped for a little while, leaving a moment to relax and find comfort.

She lay on her back, her arms crossed behind her head and snoozed. The hot afternoon sun was warm enough to heat up the metal container, but not to hot to make anyone sweat. Taking a nap on one of the containers on the command platform may wasn't the safest place to sleep, but she was somehow safe from anyone who'd argue with her about being so lazy.

Well, not everyone thought.

"Hard working, huh?"

She opened one eye, slowly. The sky was gorgeous. Not a single cloud, just pure blue, without any trace of problems. She turned her head to the right, not able to see down. She wasn't exactly enthusiastic about standing up, but she brought herself to it and lifted her upper body to stretch. A long yawn escaped her and she put her hand up to her mouth.

The moment she looked down she smiled. Of course it was him.

"Everyone deserves a little break, don't be angry with me Kaz."

"As if i could."

"How did you find me? I thought i made sure i'm save up here." , you smiled, lay down again, this time on your stomach and glared over the edge of the Container.

"I asked for you. One of the soldiers said i'd find you here."

She got kind of grumpy. How could he? What a traitor. She made a note in her head to find out who of the soldiers betray her to not bake him a cake at his birthday. Although that may seemed a little too mean.

"Well, Captain, if you asked for me, and found me, what was it you needed me for?"

Miller still looked up to your positition. Now shifting his head slightly to one side. He seemed as if he thought about what to say next. He seemed...troubled.

A few moments passed.

"Well, do you have anything planned today?"

"Not exactly." , you replied and watched him curious. Was this some kind of invitation for...

"Good. Would you come to dock 3 of the medical platform then? About six pm. I've got a task for you.", he started going on the moment he finished his sentence. She moaned slightly and turned around to lay on her back again. So much about a "pleasant surprise of some kind.

"Oh. Work. Perfect. That's exactly what i wished for. Not." she called, not getting any response.

Annoyed she turned around and jumped off the container. She put her hands in her pockets and walked away just as he did.

Even Big Boss wasn't there to cheer her up, he was on a mission again. So there was nothing to do. She let the radio go on playing. Some passing soldiers seemed to enjoy it.
"I should go to Quiet. I need a fellow woman to talk too..." you muttered.

"I've got a present.", Ocelot said. He hummed a song, which she knew, but couldn't remember the lyrics nor the name.

"Really?", she answered and turned around to face him. It was three and a half our ago, that she had visited Quiet. She even made her smile, which was a totally amazing thing in her eyes.

Ocelot held a stack of paper in his hands and smiled softly.

She sighed and faced all the other papers on her desk. "Wow that's really nice of you Adam."

He laughed and put them down. She lay down her Pencil to hold her head. "I don't like Intel jobs."

"I know. D'you want a coffee?"

"Sure. How do you manage to be so happy?"

"Hmm.", he looked out the window and blinked a few times, "I guess it's because i AM happy."

That made her smile. She always liked him, always found him pretty cool. The whole cowboy style was somehow strange but really special. Even when he was younger. He never really had a easy time. But whenever she approached him, or needed help with anything, he always was there. Always nice. Always the gentlemen. She never thought of him like that, till he was here on the Base. But she neither though that he was ever different than that. The times before, she simply stood on the wrong side. Now they were on the same side and it was, nice.

He still stood there, looking out of the window, as if he thought about something confusing, or even painful.

She slightly shifted out of her chair to stand up and walk up to him to hug him from behind. Her arms around his shoulders. She had to stand on her toes to reach him. A whole second passed before he seemed to recognized what had happened. He twitched, then realized it was her and chuckled with a small "oh...". His hands touched hers. The red leather of his gloves was soft and warm.

"Don't be sad, little cat.", you said and chuckled into his bad.

"You're a cutie you know that?"

"What? I'm a soldier. A cold hearted soldier! And i gotta go back to work. Someone brought me a present."

She couldn't see it, but he had a huge grin on his face. She let go of him and sat down again.

"I won't let the sun go down on me", played in the background. A song that came out this year. Ocelot started singing too it, better than Kaz probably would, but not a lot and she laughed until she started singing with him.

"It's almost 6 pm...", she said, taking a long look at her watch.

"Sure is, why your asking Lady?", one of the soldiers replied, smiling softly.

"Gotta go. Captain Miller gave me some kind of instruction. I have no idea what it is but...", she leaned back in her chair. Ocelot went away about two hours ago and she worked together with some other soldiers from the Intel team.

"Well. He can be strange. We all know that. Ah..um..don't tell him that i-"

"I'll keep my mouth shut soldier.", she laughed and stood up.

"Have a nice evening Lady.", he called after her and she raised a hand to say "Bye" too.

The evening was nice indeed. It was great a great place to build motherbase. Sometimes it rained, but not often and not much. The soft murmur of the ocean went with her, wherever she went here and the sun was always nice and smiled down on everyone. Still she felt bad. Something inside her bounced. Her hand went to her heart and she took a few deep breathes before walking on. Not long for long. A few meters and she had to sit down. Her heart raced and her head hurt. Her arm did too. Phantom Pain. The Boss wasn't here. On a mission. And probably hurt. You sighed and went on as soon as she felt better.

On the medic platform, music filled the air again. Quiet seemed to love music and that was a great thing indeed.

She whistled to the song as she climbed the stairs up to the third platform.

There was no soldier around, which was strange. She looked around, a little scared. There always were soldiers around. This wasn't normal. This was bad and this-

There was a table. With a single candle on it. Two chairs. Kaz sat on one.

You slightly blinked and looked around again if there was anyone else than Miller.

"So...that's my job?"

"That is the task i've given you.", he replied.

"There are smoother ways to ask me to have dinner with you."

He laughed. "Don't be like that. Come on. Sit down."

She walked up to him and took her place.

"Soo. Whats for dinner?"

"Later.", he replied and leaned forward, "We used to do that alot."

"We did. It's your turn then. So i guess its coffee."

"Of course it's coffee."
She looked down on the table. Chess. He took the white side, as always. He'd done his first move already and you studied the field.

"Horse to F3", she said while she moved her figure.

"Its a knight. Not a...Horse.", he complained.

"Well if you could see, you'd see that there is no knight. This my dear Kaz, is a HORSE."

"It's a knight."

"This is going to be a long night..."

"Don't even try to cheat."

"Oh my..."