Shadow's POV

We sneaked through the dingy alleys of Moscow. Ethan's cover had been blown, and we needed to call the CIA for emergency exfill. Ethan had taken point, and Prophet was covering our six. The only weapons we had were three pistols. No extra ammo. Six rounds was all we had.

Suddenly, Ethan held up a fist. I stopped, and held up my fist indicating to Prophet he should stop too. He was completely in SF mode. As soon as we stopped, he turned around, and devoted his attention to watching our back. I followed Ethan's line of sight, and saw a payphone. I tapped his shoulder twice to let him know that I understood. He slowly stood up and started moving cautiously towards the phone.

Prophet and I stood guard outside while Ethan made his call. I heard snippets, but it was the usual CIA bullshit. "Code Alpha century", "Exfill at Bravo Charlie 5543", something like that. After what seemed like an eternity, Ethan got out. "Well, they're sending a car to get us out of here. We need to meet them 4 streets away." I nodded.

We got moving again. The order was switched this time; I took the rear, while Scott was in the center. We had just reached the pickup, when Prophet, now in the lead, held up a fist. Right in front of us, were two men smoking. Oh and they were carrying AK-47s. Prophet looked at Ethan, and nodded. The two of them sneaked behind the guards, and then swiftly grabbed them and twisted their necks, snapping them like twigs. Then, they dragged the soldiers back. I looked at them, and they didn't seem to be soldiers to me. From Ethan's grim expression, I figured he didn't think so either. "Fuck. These guys are Mafia mugs." He said. Prophet looked like he was going to question, but then, remembering the events from the previous part of the evening, he decided to shut up, which I was grateful for. We took the thugs' weapons. Prophet got one, because shooting shit up was his strength as a soldier and I got one, simply because I am a much better shot than Ethan. We silently moved into place, still hiding in the shadows.

After 5 minutes, a black sedan pulled up. Ethan opened the door, and got in. Prophet and I followed. Inside, there was a driver, who had his face turned to us, and a man with a long scar running down the left side of face. "Ethan" he said with a slow, gravelly voice "What the fuck happened there?" "Nice to see you too Smith." Ethan mumbled. Smith and Ethan obviously knew each other, and from the sound of it, this wasn't the first fuckup Smith had to get Ethan out of.

"The Mafia figured out I was CIA. I'm not sure how." Ethan continued.

Then he looked ahead. The car carried on, the engine was the only sound. We reached an empty field, where a helicopter was waiting. "That's your ride son." Smith said. "Aren't you coming?" Ethan asked. Smith shook his head. Smith just tapped Ethan on his shoulder, and Ethan looked a little sad. Looking at me and Prophet, he said "Sorry guys. I gotta go with him." Then he gave us both strong hugs, and got into the car. Prophet had tears in his eyes, but he understood that Ethan couldn't stay. Then, he and I got into the waiting chopper.

When we took off, I felt a great sense of relief. The pilots seemed chatty. Once we were in the air, they were telling us about how much fun night flights were. The CIA pilots were amongst the best. A night landing was easy for them, without night vision, add the high tech goggles that were standard issue now, and you've got some pretty beast pilots. We flew out of Russian air space, and then I nodded off to sleep. I woke up to someone shaking me. I looked around, and saw that we had landed. "Welcome back home, Shadow" Prophet said with a grin. I smiled back, a little amused that this whole rendezvous somehow worked out.

But I remembered why this whole thing happened.

"Hey," I said, and Scott turned. Before I even opened my mouth, he cut me off.

"I've got your back, don't worry." I breathed a sigh of relief and we hugged.

One long trip later, we reached the 141 base. Ghost was standing there waiting for us.

"Hi Ghost." Prophet said.

"Welcome back ya muppets!" Ghost said, with a playful edge to his voice. Prophet rolled his eyes. I reached to pick up my bags, when Ghost stopped me. "Hey Sergeant Martin, pick up the lady's bags for her." The playful tone still present Scott's jaw dropped, and then he picked up the bags, with a scowl on his face. I could tell Ghost was grinning behind his mask.

Before he left, Ghost tapped him on the shoulder and said "Just kidding mate. Relax". Scott grinned and dropped the bags. Picking up his own, he headed into the barracks. As I picked up my bags, Ghost asked "How was the funeral?".

"Not bad." I said, keeping my eyes neutral so Ghost had no inkling that we had something else to do. "So I guess you missed me eh?" He said.

"Someone's got a bloated ego: I replied with a grin. Then Ghost's lips were on mine. We kissed like we hadn't seen each other in a lifetime. In the back of my mind it did hit me that we could get caught.

"I thought something was up with you too." I heard a voice say. Ghost and I broke apart, and I was terrified. I turned to see Roach grinning at us. "Big bad Ghost has a soft spot for Shadow, eh?" His grin turned into full fledged laugh. Ghost growled. This just seemed to amuse Roach even further, if that was possible. "Wait till I tell Archer and Mactavish. You'll never hear the end of that!" With that Roach turned around to walk away. That's when Ghost let out a bull like bellow: "Get back here Bug!" and then the two men ran away. Roach's smile had been replaced with an expression of absolute terror.

Sighing to myself, I walked back to the barracks. On the way, I ran into Archer and Toad, both of who gave me big hugs and told me that we were getting ready for some major shit. When I asked them what it was, they just said, I should talk to old Scotland and/or Price. Speaking of Price, I hadn't seen the old man since he had been rescued. I decided that I should probably talk to him. I went up to his office and knocked. There was no response. I knocked again. Still nothing. Then I felt a hand knock on my head. I turned around to see Price, scowl and all. But there was a twinkle in his eye. "What do you want lass?" He asked me with his gruff voice. "Archer and Toad told me about shit we're getting into. They said you and/or Mactavish will give the details." Price grunted, "Might as well come in then."

We stepped into his office. I was surprised to see it was super messy. Files, papers and other stuff was strewn everywhere. A half drunk cup of coffee was barely hanging in on the table, and an untouched bagel sat on top of some books. "So Shadow. As you probably know, the Yanks are having some trouble with the Russians. Now, we have some intel suggesting that the Russians have a sub with nuclear missiles. The last thing we need is for one of them to be deployed. This is a volunteer mission only, so I am asking you now- Are you in or not?" I knew I was going to go. Even though I was supposed to spy on them, these guys were my family. I couldn't let Archer, Toad, Roach, Scotland, Ghost, Prophet walk into a black op and not be there with them. "I volunteer sir." I said. "Good Lass. Kit up. We deploy in 4 hours." I nodded. As I turned to walk out, Price added, "I see why Ghost likes you." I turned and saw him give me a knowing smile. The Captain John Price was smiling at me. That was a lot of information for my mind to handle.

As I walked to the training room, to get some running in to get ready for the mission, I bumped into Roach. He had a nice bruise on his forehead that I assumed was Ghost's doing. But when he saw me, he broke into a grin. "If you're looking for your boyfriend, he's in the mess." He said. I scowled at him and went into the training room and started to work out. I needed to get my muscles ready to work. I lifted some weights, ran a bit on the treadmill, and eased any tension out of my muscles. After that, I went to the range, and went through the process of firing at the targets to psych myself for the op. Glancing at my watch, I decided to take a shower, and then kit up.

4 hours later, we were getting ready to go save the US. The inside of C-130 was not the most comfortable, but hey, you don't join the military for comfort. "1 minute." the co-pilot said calmly over our radios. "Roger that. Everyone check up" Ghost ordered. There was the slapping of guns and rustle of parachute being checked. "Go! Go! Go!" The pilot called. We jumped out into the frigid air of Russia. This was going to be one hell of a mission.

A/N: Hi guys, yes it's been a long time, and I'm sorry, but I really have a ton of work. But, here's the chapter. SMakarov is once again thanked for being my awesome beta reader. Everyone who reviews, thanks a ton, you guys really motivate me to write. Hope you enjoy this chapter.