when each member of the team found out
GHOST
In Las Almas.
He was scanning the room, paying attention to nothing and everything.
Next thing he knew, before everyone actually geared up, Vaughn caught him in a semi-empty hallway and grabbed his arm, quickly retracting once he gave her his attention.
"I know you don't owe me anything, considering we met… three days ago," she started with a hushed tone and he was instantly confused. "But between us: you didn't see that back there."
He blinked, trying to recall anything that the agent could be referring to. As he towered over her, he heard Captain Price calling everyone to round up. "See what?"
Clearly she misread his question as a playful agreement as she smirked and gave him a playful smack on the arm, "very good. Thanks, Lieutenant."
He shook his head as she walked back to the group, standing next to Sergeant Garrick and whispering something to him, while minimally gesturing towards the superior officer.
Ghost walked in the room, puffing his chest out as he took his place beside Alejandro as he and Price debriefed everyone once again before they took back the base. He made brief eye contact with Gaz as he tried to recall what he may have seen and once Gaz noticed they were making eye contact, he made a face, then it clicked.
Holy shit, Garrick was kissing the agent.
LASWELL
A few weeks after it started.
How could she not know? She spent more time with Vaughn than anyone else on the job.
Kate knew her agent and Price's new protégé hit it off back in Paris, but she didn't realize it would wind up leading to anything. Vaughn always said she was too into her work and shrugged off the idea of having a partner.
But that changed three and a half months after Paris. After a four week leave that Ballinger scheduled because she worked so many long jobs for over a year and felt she needed a break.
Laswell didn't mean to snoop, she truly thought she was doing a good deed when Vaughn left for lunch out of office, accidentally leaving her phone on the chair opposite Laswell's desk along with her wallet.
Kate sighed and placed the younger woman's personal effects neatly on her desk, she'd be back for them.
In a moment of silence as she clicked through emails, contemplating calling her wife, there was a loud ding and the phone lit up.
She didn't mean to look, to read the text that popped up from a contact called KG reading: "got home alright, love. call tonight?"
Laswell quickly flipped the phone over and slid it over to the edge of her desk, hoping Vaughn wouldn't notice that her supervisor moved it from its original place.
Within a minute there was a quick knock on the door and then Vaughn peeked her head in, "sorry," she chuckled as Laswell waved her into the room, "I left my phone."
PRICE
About a week after Laswell.
Kate informed him on their regular-but-also-incredibly-irregular lunch meet that she believed that their subordinates may have been getting intimate. He shrugged and brushed off the information with a gruff laugh, "they're young and in similar fields, I'm sure it's not anything serious."
"London is a bit far for just a booty call, John."
"They're young and stupid then." He brushed it off. It was really none of his business, especially if it wasn't affecting their professional lives.
The Captain could read his Sergeant pretty well, so when he (Gaz) had an extra kick in his step when Price informed him that they'd be working with Laswell and 'her agent,' it was noticeable. What else was noticeable was the fact that they hugged too hard and for too long when they met up at their homebase just outside of Antwerp.
Brushing it off again, Price knew well enough that Agent Ballinger was a hugger, it never bothered him enough to bring up and it wasn't an issue, it was just kind of odd.
What really cemented the pairing to him was the night, about four days in, when he left his 'office' and ran into the aforementioned agent getting startled exiting a room that he didn't believe was hers.
"Captain." She greeted, adjusting her posture and stepping away from the door.
"Ballinger," he nodded, "getting some rest?"
She had a long day scoping out their target for the next evening, she retreated to bed a couple of hours ago. "Yeah." Vaughn crossed her arms over her midsection, it was then that Price noticed she was wearing one of Gaz's button ups. "I got up to take a walk and remembered I, um, I needed to talk to Sergeant Garrick about something." Jesus Christ she was bad at lying.
They parted ways after the hasty response and instead of going to his room, he turned around and knocked on Laswell's door, knowing she'd still be up.
"Yeah, I saw her scoping the surroundings. I didn't think she'd be out of there 'till morning." Laswell informed, letting him in the room with a drink in hand.
SOAP
When they told the team.
Johnny never believed anything Ghost told him casually, especially if it sounded like it could be considered gossip. On missions he trusted his word. Anything official was believable. But when they were playing pool and after the couple in question got whisked away and his superior nudged him and asked what he thought of Ballinger and Garrick? Nah, not like that.
And six months later? When Ghost nudged him in the cafeteria and posed the question again, gesturing to the couple across the room who were basically standing toe-to-toe, Cowboy brushing something off of Gaz's shoulder and letting her hand linger on his bicep just a bit too long? Still not a chance.
"Johnny, come on." Ghost was more aggravated than he should've been about the situation but he really thought that if anyone was gonna believe him when he suggested that Ballinger and Garrick were messing around, it would've been Soap.
Soap, frankly, would believe that those two were together if it were anyone else telling him. But it wasn't, so he shrugged with a shake of his head, "Ghost, have you met Vaughn? She's like that with everybody."
With a grumble, Ghost turned away and walked out of the room.
It took another two months before the idea was even brought up again to him as they were called into a debrief by Laswell and before she could start, Vaughn stood up from the table and called the meeting to attention. "Good morning, everyone. Laswell's letting me do this, by the way. But we, kinda, had some news for y'all." She greeted, messing with her hands as everyone's eyes went to her, "it doesn't really have to do with this op, but I– we– Kyle and I figured it was time to tell you that we're… engaged."
Soap couldn't help his response and he whipped around in his rolly chair and looked at the Lieutenant on the opposite end of the table, "I thought you were fucking with me."
Gaz barked out a laugh, "you didn't know?"
