Hello everybody!

Here's another one. I don't know how many of them I'll post today, but hopefully a couple of them will follow.

I'd like to remind you that this fiction is a LOT shorter than the others, so there aren't many chapters left. Maybe five or six.

All constructive comments and/or suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy your reading,

Pavs.


Chapter six:


There was never much time to just sit back and relax. June had learned that the hard way. As much as she'd laughed about the good times with John in Tool's kitchen, she hadn't forgotten the bad and the ugly either.

It had been hard to watch John go the first year she'd been with him. He used to make sure she was somewhere safe while he went off to work, leaving her alone for days or weeks on end, training her in between to make sure she had the basic defense techniques right.

She'd been wondering back then if he'd cared at all or if he'd kept her with him just because she had made him promise not to leave her alone after she'd almost been shot to death as they'd been escaping the camp. It was the memory of his pain and fear that had made her heart believe that she belonged with him. That he did, in fact, cared very much.

"Run and don't look back. I got you!" John had told her as she was struggling to hold her newfound weapon correctly.

She'd listen without questioning it, as she'd heard so many tales of his exploits. She did believe all of them, for some reason. Her father always used to tell her that you never really knew somebody unless you'd seen them at their lowest, that only then you cool see if they were inherently good or bad.

After a month of starving, beatings and sleepless nights spend together, she knew that John Booker was neither and both at the same time. He was a man of values and honor that nobody should push too far. His kindness had been forged in fire; she could tell.

So, she listened to him and ran straight into the jungle, under the heavy rain, her speed slowed by mud that made her slip and branches that slapped her face. Each new step brought its very own pain with them.

But John had told her to run, so she did. He was good to her, she believed him. She could see the river he had been speaking of when she heard him scream to take cover. She was too slow and felt a searing pain in her chest as her skin and muscles were torn apart by a bullet.

She fell to the ground and heard more shots being fired. She closed her eyes again as she felt the cold of the mud and smelled her own blood as it poured out of her. She couldn't tell if John was screaming at her or at the Sangs over the sound of the rain. She succumbed to the darkness as she was being lifted off the ground.

John wouldn't let her die, not like that. He ran with her in his arms until he saw the river. Then he spotted the boat and ran faster. There wasn't much farther to go to reach the other side of the Barh Aouk River. The Sangs wouldn't follow them into the Central African Republic. They would be somewhat safe there.

If she lived long enough.

He couldn't apply pressure, he had too much on his plate already just trying not to die or to drop her. A month was a very long time for a man not to eat enough and it took a toll on his body. He wasn't young anymore; he could feel it then more than ever.

He was about to reach the boat when he saw armed men jump into it. He jumped into the water instead and swam as best as he could. As long as he could. He was feeling himself getting more and more tired. He looked at her face and felt his pain slipping into his heart. They'd fought so hard to get out of there. She was too young. She shouldn't have been there.

He screamed and kept swimming until the bullets stopped raining on them. He went on until his feet could finally touch the ground below water. He let himself fall beside her as tears of pure tiredness rolled down his cheeks. His whole body was on fire. He turned his head to look at her.

"Don't leave me, promise me!" She'd begged him after they'd taken her from him to be sold. "Please! Help me!"

"I promise, I'll get us out of here!" John had said to her as fear made its way to his heart, then, as he forced against his chains, he'd screamed at the men. " Leave her alone!"

But she was as pale as death, barely breathing and still bleeding.

"HELP!" He screamed before the last of his energy run out and he lost consciousness while holding her hand.

"June, are you alright?" Toll asked her as she looked at him packing his stuff into bags and small reinforced military grade chests.

"I'm fine, it's just weird not to go on a job." She said and he nodded with comprehension in his eyes.

She liked Toll. He was easy to be around. Hale, she found nice, but was very energetic and a tad too social for her. She'd been used to what Booker had called "team meditation" or in her own words, shutting the fuck up and be ok about it. She hadn't been talking to Gunnar much if at all. She knew that the man was walking on eggs around her and she felt bad about it, but he was a constant reminder of where she'd fucked up with her own brother. She'd abandoned him. Gunnar's team had been there. Gunnar was alive. Her brother was dead. She felt shivers running down her spine.

"Not used to sit one out?" Christmas asked and she knew he was analyzing her answer carefully as Tool looked at the exchange intently.

She'd been there for three days now and she knew it would take a whole lot longer for them to trust her fully. She couldn't blame them; it was part of the job. She was still occupying Tool's apartment, only they had traded her spare bed for Tool's king's size bed.

She was still having nightmares; he was still not able to sleep alone. Nothing even remotely sexual in nature had happened between them, it was simply a good way for them to get some rest without being overwhelmed by bad dreams or cold and empty feelings. Pain was less heavy when it was shared. So, she guessed that Tool at least trusted her. Pain had that strangely uniting power too. She noticed Barney waiting for an answer too and she sighed.

She knew that they were still trying to know who she was, but Barney had a way to make her feel like he was looking for the tea. For a man who didn't want to have any drama related to him, he sure as hell wanted to hear about it.

"I am not used to it anymore." She explained. "It took about a year and a half and two sacrifices to Satan to get Booker to let me work with him."

She saw Barney's amused expression and smiled a little. They both knew how stubborn the man was.

"What did it?" Barney finally asked and she looked at him with a somber expression.

"Work followed him home." She said as they all caught the hidden meaning of that sentence.

"Yeah, sometimes it does that." Barney commented as Christmas was still looking at her.

It's not that Lee wanted to make her feel unwelcome, it's just that her arrival had been . . . chaotic . . . to say the least. There was also the fact that he hadn't known John Booker at all and certainly not what the man meant to his friends.

He didn't like that. He was good at what he was doing because he knew what he was doing. This was uncharted territories; they always represented a greater risk. He'd reread Yang's info again and again, and had combined them with his own research. Her story checked out; he knew that much.

He didn't know her, though, and that was a risk on its own. Being suicidal didn't help him not to consider her a wild card. Not that he held it against her. It was much more common in their line of work than anyone might think. It wasn't as if therapy was a popular practice.

And for good reason too. Toll might have been going often, but he always had to say that it happened while he was in the military. So, he couldn't really talk about it all to normal people. And mercenaries weren't notorious for their communication skills, their empathy or their healthy emotional management. They tried to when they had to. Like while trying to deal with hostages, rape victims, children, etc.

"Alright bitches I am here!" Hale exclaimed as he entered the shop and June was glad for the distraction.

"I guess I'll be on my way then." June said before she looked at them all. " Be careful, and don't bring back homework for Gunnar."

"Of course." Barney replied before they did a last check out while June was going back at Tool's apartment and Gunnar was heading out to his AA meeting.

Tool stayed with the guys until they left, giving them a last warning to be careful before he went to retrieve June.

.

He found her sitting on his couch, with a bottle of Jack wearing what he guessed to be John's shirt and a pair of training shorts. Tool sighed and sat with her. She offered him the bottle and he took a sip.

"You know, I ought to pay for my drinks. I must cost you a fortune." June commented and Tool frowned.

"It's not about money, it's about your health." Tool replied and she scoffed.

"You sound like him right about now." She said, unable to hide the pain in her voice.

"He wouldn't want to see you like that." Tool said to her and she sighed before she put the bottle on his coffee table.

There was a moment of silence before she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I hope they'll be fine." She said to him as Tool passed an arm around her and he could feel her shaking a little. " It's hard to be left behind."

He held her a bit tighter as she cried softly.

"I know love." He said, feeling his own pain as the memories of his life flashed before his eyes. "Fuck do I know it."

"Thank you." She finally said.

"What for?" Tool asked her, a bit surprised.

"Everything." She replied and he kissed her hairs.

"Always." He promised her as he felt a warm feeling spreading in his chest.

He was bad at not falling in love and he knew he was failing at it more and more as the days passed. He'd met her a week ago. A week full of pain, grief and tears. Full of whispered confessions, comfort and warmth. One fucking week that felt like years, or seconds. It was getting confusing.

"Chaos" He thought to himself.

"A very beautiful chaos." His heart whispered to him as she raised her head to look at him.

He passed a hand through her hairs as he got closer to her and she closed her eyes as their lips touched.

"A perfect chaos." They both thought to themselves as the kiss deepened and they got lost to each other.