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Part 2

The stray dogs

Chapter 6

Pray to the Gods of good and evil

Hereford, Great Britain (UTC+0)

16th of February 2023, 0513 hrs

The fist slammed into the punching bag.

How could it happen? How the hell did they allow it to happen? They have made the same mistake as Nighthaven, not ensuring proper security. How could they be so stupid?

The man punched the object again, taking a step back. He was pissed. So fucking pissed.

His heart was racing, sweat dripping from his forehead. Taking a seat on the floor, Dima took a few deep breaths, looking at the still swinging bag.

"Kid, have mercy. It's 5 a.m., go back to bed." The Russian tapped his finger on the doorframe of the gym entrance. "We'll have a lot of things to do today, so you better be well rested."

"I can't sleep. I'm too pissed to sleep."

"Dima. I understand your anger, but it won't bring Harry back."

The Moldavian rubbed his face, leaning back. Lying on the floor he muttered something in his native language. Aleksandr really felt sorry for the man, but what could he do?

"They took away Captain. And now they took away Six… I'll kill every single one of them." Soarele muttered.

"We're not sure yet if it was White Masks operatio-..."

"Dumnezeule, don't be an idiot! Director Pandey was killed by a QCR bullet. We had already established that their weapons were stolen by White Masks, so I think that's quite obvious that it's their fault."

"Don't jump to conclusions, Soarele."

"That's called deduction. But if you say so…" The man picked himself up from the ground. Brushing his light brown hair back, he walked to the Russian. " Who else could kill Six? Who else, sir Senaviev?"

Dima's voice oozed irony.

"I don't know." Tachanka snapped. "I wish I had answers for you, but I don't have them. So now, please, calm down. We'll find whoever is responsible for the murder."

"You better do. Cause if you won't do it, I'll find them myself."

The words hung in the air like a death sentence. Neither of them made a movement, as if they were getting ready for a fight. Who would strike first? Aleksandr? Or Dima?

In Tyraspol, the Russian had seen what the soldier was capable of. That made the phrase sound like a threat rather than a promise. Staring motionless at his eyes, one thought hit Senaviev. What if the Moldavian was right? True, they couldn't just assume that the White Masks took part in the attack, even though they found the QCR bullet. On the other hand, what were the odds that Deimos, or whatever his name was, had them from some other source. One thing was sure- Harry was murdered in his own office and none of the super elite soldiers did anything to save him.

"Now, if you don't mind…" Soarele hissed through his teeth. "I have things to do."

The slam of the door of the changing room was almost like salvation. Throwing his shirt on the ground, Dima turned on the water stream. The freezing cold liquid flowed down his warm neck and head, dripping on the floor.

Another time when the Captain died and he could have done nothing to prevent it. Or maybe he could? If not him, maybe Tachanka could? He wondered how Thomas, Del and Léja felt when they found the body. Did they feel the same as him when the Captain said his last words? So many questions were in his mind.

Sighing heavily he took a towel, starting to dry out his hair. The anger he was feeling didn't disappear, though it felt as if the cold water dimed it. At least for now.

The most reasonable thing he could do now was to walk back to his room. He didn't want to blow up and discharge all those bottled up feelings on somebody as he did moments earlier on Aleksandr. The Russian was in an even worse situation than Dima. He lost two friends he had known for years.

Taking a seat on the chair he leaned back, sighing heavily. His heart was still racing like a horse on the wild steppe. The rumbling of the hooves on the dry ground getting louder and louder with every step. He truly hated when the adrenaline kicked into his veins in moments like this. Clenching his fists so hard that the knuckles were getting white and the nails left marks on his palms, he tried to name five things he could see.

The blinds covering him from the rays of the rising sun.

Soarele was always a problematic kid. Always the first to do stupid challenges, always the first to start a fight. He wasn't really sure why, but picking on smaller and defenseless kids was somehow enjoyable for him. The advantage of height and strength allowed him to be the bully without consequences. Nobody opposed Dima Ursu. Nobody.

A book he was half way done with.

Until she appeared. A shy, ginger girl. Nadejda, that was her name. A Little Hope how he started calling her. Whenever she was around it made the man feel weird. Vulnerable. It took him a while to accept parents' divorce. Living alone with mom was fun, since she barely said no to anything. She didn't mind the 15 years old Dima to get back home at 2 a.m. on a school day. She didn't mind him having bad grades at school. Sometimes he was getting mad with her, wondering if she cared at all about him. But it was rare. More important thing was that he could do whatever his soul wanted.

His bed with a tangled quilt.

Nadejda and her dad moved into their house almost from day to day. It was a weird feeling to have somebody other than mom around. At first he was pissed, obviously. Why didn't she tell him in the first place? An unknown man and girl just came to his home and started living here.

The phone plugged into the charger.

He still remembered that day when he was walking back from school. Something told him to take the longer route. That one time he was so glad that he listened to his intuition. If not that he would not be able to help the girl. Nadejda stood between three boys from the highschool, being pushed around like a doll. The anger Dima had felt that moment was the same anger he was feeling right now. The anger that allowed him to protect the girl. Till that moment he was feeling mad at her. She wasn't welcome in his house. But seeing her being bullied shattered something inside of him. He knew how much his mom loved the girl and her new partner. The words "It's all that matters" echoed in his head as he had punched one of the boys.

Ion's black eyes staring at him.
The image of a hedgehog sitting on his desk snapped him out of his thoughts. He frowned slightly, stretching his hand to take the animal. Running fingers on its head he sighed.

"Sorry to wake you up, small one." he chuckled, gently patting the hedgie. "I hope you'll accept my apologies in the form of some snacks for you."

Turning an apple in his hand, Dima took out a small knife and cut a piece of it, giving a slice to his pet. Ion ate with relish, making a low purring sound.

Although it has been just a few months he really bonded with the animal. On the warm morning of June last year, he noticed something laying on the road. He stopped for a second taking a closer look at whatever it was. A wound on the hedgehog's stomach stretched almost on its whole body length, probably as a result of fox's attack. He wasn't really sure why he took it back to base with him.

He still remembered the annoyed look on Del's face when at 6 a.m. Soarele woke him up and asked the medic if he knew something about veterinary. Lawson obviously agreed to patch the animal up, but simultaneously he made it clear that if the dose of painkiller the hedgehog got won't kill it, the chances of survival after such injuries were low. Dima didn't bother.

The animal got its own pillow localized on the desk, a small bowl with water and cat food. That was the first thing that came to the Moldavian's mind. What the hell were hedgehogs eating if not cat's food?

"One more?" He placed another slice in front of Ion. "Damn, where did you get so dirty? I bet that you again wandered behind my bed. You need a bath, Ion." he sighed, standing up from the chair and heading towards the bathroom.

Filling the sink with warm water and baby soap, he looked over at the pet finishing its meal. The hedgehog definitely wasn't a fan of baths, but all of his needles were covered in dust, so he had no choice. As soon as he had placed Ion in the water, his phone rang.

"Jesus Christ." he cursed, answering the call. "Yeah?"

"Hey son."

"Mom? Oh, hello, good to hear from you."

"I'm calling just to make sure that you remember about your sister's wedding."

Dima's heart skipped a beat, as he realized that the ceremony was taking place next month. Well fuck.

"Uhhh, yeah, sure, I remember." the man muttered, stopping Ion from getting out of the sink.
"But?"

He couldn't hide anything from his mom. The woman was perfect in reading him like an open book, detecting even the smallest hesitation in his voice.

"But… I have a tough time at work. We're having some… troubles, to say it gently." he sighed, brushing the hedgehog's needles. "I'm afraid that it's something big and that we won't be able to solve it within three weeks."

"Hold up, are you saying that you won't come to the wedding? Dima, we talked about it. You don't have to bring a girlfriend, although I really wish you would start dating somebody. You're over thirty years old, the clock is ticking, my son."

"Mom, it's not about a girlfriend or anything. I've told you-..."

"Oh, you always say that it's not about that, not about that, but it ends up being exactly about that."

Mistress Ursu always knew better than anybody. Even if the thing didn't include her.

"Mom, stop. I've told you my-…" The phone beeped, announcing the end of the call. "My boss has been murdered. And she hung up, great."

Dima sighed, wrapping the hedgie in a towel as he looked at him.

"What am I supposed to do now, Ion?"

Geneva, Switzerland (UTC+1)

16th of February, 1048 hrs

The tie was unpleasantly pinched on his neck. Harry's death, Ash's and Thermite's injuries, Deimos, White Masks. All those things crushed his back like a building falling apart, burying him in the debris of guilt, self-doubt, anger and fear. A single drop of sweat ran down his temple.

"Seamus...?" Female voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Yes. I know that you already have called all operators from your squads, but I need them to be on standby in the HQ 24/7. We can't risk letting them go until the investigation is finished. Tachanka will take the role of the Captain of Redhammer. And I'm taking over Team Rainbow temporarily, since nobody is in charge right now. At least for now, until Jordan will be back on the field. Do we need to vote on this or do we just agree that the situation is critical and we need somebody to take care of this shit?"

"Agreed, I doubt that anybody has anything against it." Cav said.

"Fine with me." Doc shook his head. "Yumiko? Bruno?" The medic looked at the two other people standing with them. The Japanese woman nodded her head.

"You sure you want to deal with this bureaucratic bullshit, Seamus?" Sykora crossed his arms.

"Obviously not. But if not me, then who? Zero is on his way to Singapore, Thatcher is working with Dokkaebi and Dvasja to find something on this fucker, Deimos."

"What about Kaid?"

"He's still at the Fortress. There had been some complications."

"Well, then I don't see any other option."

The Scot sighed "Don't say anything stupid. We're already fucked without that. I'm looking at you, Cav."

The woman rolled her eyes, not saying a word. Her long hair, now was pinned up in a neat bun. Pearl white shirt with navy jacket made the Brazilian look even more serious and terrifying than usual.

The door to the conference room finally opened, letting the operators in. At the semicircular table most of the seats had already been taken by the ambassadors of the Security Council. The ones in the middle were left free for them.

"As for the defendants." a thought crossed his mind.

"Good morning to all of the United Nations Security Council members and observants. Today's deliberations of the Counterterrorism Committee will cover the topic of the current crisis connected with Team Rainbow's director- Harishva Pandey's murder." the woman cleared her throat, flipping the page of her notes. "Firstly, the delegation of Poland, as the current President of the Security Council, wants to address the guests, representatives of Team Rainbow, expressing deep condolences. A situation like this should not have taken place and all members are concerned about the reasons and people who had committed this ugly act of violence."

Seamus nodded his head. That was going to be a hard conversation.

"The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The President yields the floor to the delegations of member countries and the guests."

It felt weird to sit in here, among all of those politics, listening to the debate. It wasn't his place.

"Firstly, we want to establish whether there are any suspects." the man with the French badge spoke up.

"Yes." Sledge cleared his throat. "Thanks to a recording made by Director Pandey we have the name of the murderer. He is called Deimos and right now we're researching any affiliations he can possibly have with terrorist organizations or other groups."

"And the bullet you have found? I heard that it was made by Quantum Concepts and Robotics, the supplier of your former ally. Is Deimos affiliated with them?"

Nighthaven. He completely forgot about them and the whole mess with the PMC.

"We highly doubt it. For the past year Team Rainbow has been conducting investigations on the QCR and their clients. They had some security problems causing their equipment to be stolen by White Masks."

"How is that even possible?"

"We are suspecting that the limited activity of White Masks over the past three years was caused by them finding resources and powerful allies. That's how they managed to steal the equipment."

The silence that this phrase had created was terrifying. All the people gathered in the room staring at him, judging as if all of that was his fault.

"But what are you going to say about Deimos' being a former member of Team Rainbow? How can you explain that?"

Seamus's lips pressed into a thin line. He tried to find proper words to explain this, but what the hell was he supposed to say? Yeah, our old friend just murdered the director because yes?

"We haven't confirmed those accusations yet." Bruno spoke up, seeing that Cowden struggled to answer. "If Deimos was affiliated with Rainbow in the past we'll investigate it for sure and keep you updated."

The resultant murmur in the room was so uncomfortable, making Sykora regret his words.

"So you're telling us that you don't even know who used to be a member of your unit? Now that's ridiculous."

"That is not what I had sai-..." Bruno took a deep breath. He didn't have enough patience for such idiotisms, but blowing up in such a moment wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. "We need time to investigate. It has been barely a day since the incident and we're struggling not only with that case, but also continuing the investigation on Nighthaven and being on stand-by in case of White Masks activity. Please have in mind that right now in front of you sit soldiers, not politicians. We don't like playing your games, trust me, we're bad at it. But the person who was always taking care of such matters is now dead." he sighed. "We understand that it's a threat directed at international security, but without Six the unit might have some problems with proper functionality."

"So does it mean that Rainbow is not capable anymore of ensuring security?" one of the men spoke up, pushing glasses up his nose.
The Czech was sure that he got red on his face from the whole anger he tried to keep inside of him. God, he hated politics.

"No. Dear…" he leaned forward on the table, pinching his eyes, trying to read a badge on the man's shirt." Dear ambassador of Canada, mister Grayson. I meant that we need time to pull our shit together after we lost not only a boss, but also a friend. Director Pandey was a pillar of this whole unit, for the love of God. I can assure you, that if not the unit, I'll find Deimos by myself."

"Why is the leader of Nighthaven not here?" the ambassadors of Kazakhstan asked a question.

"Because it's fucking Jaimini Kalimohan Shah, that's why." Caveira muttered under her breath.

Seamus rubbed his face. It will be a miracle if he won't go insane today. A fucking miracle.

Hereford, Great Britain (UTC+0)

16th of February 2023, 1913 hrs

The sound of a keyboard falling on the floor pulled her out of this weird state of absences. Tucking her golden hair behind her ear, the Lithuanian looked at Grace cursing. The other woman was picking up the object she threw away just moments earlier, seemingly exhausted and annoyed. Léja had to admit, she had never seen Dokkaebi in such a state. But it shouldn't be a surprise.

Almost the full last 24 hours the operators had spent in the office, going through all the possible documents, camera footage and notes made by Harry. At the beginning the room was full of people, but now just three of them stayed here. Just her, Grace and Mike. None of them even thought about taking a break, not as if they would be able to fall asleep anyways.

The numbers and letters swirled in Dvasja's eyes, as she was scrolling through another file. She was still waiting for the police report from the crime scene. For some reason they were really hesitant to send them the documents, although the recording from Harry's dictaphone almost immediately crossed out current Team Rainbow's members from the list of suspects.

"Son of a bitch!" Dokkaebi growled as she set the keyboard back on her desk. "There is nothing on Deimos. Not a single mention, the guy literally doesn't exist in any of our databases."

"It can't be possible, Grace. If Harry knew him, so did we. The words "my unit" indicated that he used to be part of the Team, so don't say that he's not in the files." the Brit rubbed his temples. "He has to be somewhere in there."

"But he's not! I went through every single page we have-..."

Léja closed her eyes, leaning back on the chair. Her head throbbed with pain from sitting in front of the screen for so many hours and listening to constant arguments and discussions. She just ignored the talk in the background, letting her muscles relax, slumping on the chair back.

The man was a ghost. Being a hacker, Léja knew best that it was almost impossible to stay completely invisible in the network.

"Rainbow used to be feared in my times."

She frowned. She had heard the recording so many times that the voice literally imprinted in her memory, but now the words felt like getting a completely new meaning.

"Rainbow used to be feared in my times."

She rapidly stood up from her chair, almost tripping it. She came over to the board that had been brought from Harry's office, staring at it in silence for a few seconds.

"What are you up to, Léja?" Thatcher rolled his eyes, tapping the finger on the desk.

"We had assumed that Deimos had to be a part of the old Team, right?"

"Right. We already had ruled out that it's anyone from current Rainbow members. But what are you getting at?"

"What are the odds that he deleted his name from all of the documents before our Team was even reactivated?"

"I doubt that he could have done it by himself." Dokkaebi shook her head. "Those are state documents, you can't edit them as you wish if you're not the important guy on the top."

"What if he was the important guy on the top?"

"Ex-Six murdered new Six because he bought a stadium, God, that just sounds ridiculous. It's impossible that he deleted all of the information about himself. How do you think that nobody would notice the lack of one of the directors of the most elite counterterrorism units in the whole wide world?"

"Nobody would notice if they wanted him to disappear." Léja raised her eyebrows.

"Why would anybody want for the director to disappear?"

"Operation Patriots." Mike muttered.

Geneva, Switzerland (UTC+1)

16th of February 2023, 2028 hrs

The door closed with a slam. On the one hand leaving the room felt like taking something extremely heavy off Seamus's chest, but on the other, the stress did not go away. His hands were covered in drops of sweat. The conference was like a death penalty verdict.

"Sit down, Seamus. You're paler than my ass." Caveira patted his shoulder. "They're idiots."

"But they are the ones in charge. And you've heard them, Taina. They want to disband Rainbow. There won't be a way back if they'll do it."

"Fuck them, Sledge. Politics are not our job."

"You're right. It was Six's job. But Six is dead. Meanwhile Ash is in a coma, Jordan can't even stand up from his bloody bed. That means that the politics are on me, right now. The politics, the team, the Nighthaven, and the murder." he sighed heavily.

"You'll manage, my friend. We're going back to Hereford. Dokkaebi and Dvasja better have some good information.

"I have to stick around here for bureaucracy, but y'all get on a plane."

"Aye, Viperstrike is ready to take a hit whenever we'll get some intel." Hibana waved at him, heading towards the exit.

Cowden was ready to add something, but the footsteps coming from the corridor stopped him. At that moment the UN's headquarters was surprisingly quiet. The deliberations lasted till late evening, so it probably wasn't that weird, but the whole place didn't feel as if they were about to face an international crisis.

The man's head automatically turned to see whoever was approaching them. The short, dark brown hair was styled perfectly, just as he remembered it. His heart skipped a beat when the person stopped a few steps ahead, waiting for them to finish the conversation.

Seamus looked at Taina. He didn't have to say a word, the Brazilian just nodded, walking away and leaving the two alone.

"I'm sorry about director Pandey."

The Scot sighed, rubbing his hands together. He wasn't ready to meet Aurelia again. Not today.
"He was a good guy."

"If he wasn't I wouldn't give him my team. Listen, no matter what people on the debate have said, Rainbow is still strong and you still can fix the situation."
"My team?" the question echoed in Cowden's head. Did she really say that? It couldn't be the truth.

Not getting any answer she continued. "If the White Masks are back they must have found a really powerful ally to carry out such action. I would suggest disbanding the teams and getting back to the old structure. It definitely will make it easier to manage the team. The UN didn't suspend the unit for the time of the investigation, you're lucky."

The man listened to her with his eyes wide open. Was she serious? Coming like this after years of silence.

He still remembered how she left without a word. Ever since Rainbow was reactivated she mentioned how important they were on the international stage, just to leave them like this. The situation on one hand was hilarious, but on the other they all felt betrayed. Abandoned by their leader who promised to stay with them no matter what danger they were facing. Apparently the White Masks couldn't defeat fearless Aurelia Arnot. But power from the USA government could. With astonishing ease.

Six… As Harry said one time, she left some very large shoes to fill.
"Fuck you." Seamus stopped her mid sentence.

Her eyes widened. She stared at the soldier in pure shock. That definitely wasn't an answer she expected to hear.

"Pardon?" that word was the only thing that she was able to spill out of her mouth.

"You left the Team. Don't tell me what to do or not to do. You disappeared as if we didn't mean anything to you."

"Sledge, don't cross the line, I'm just trying to help."

"Help…" he bit his lip. "Right now it's too late for that. Ash and Thermite almost got killed. Harry is dead and the whole world is now blaming us for that."

"It doesn't change the fact that you still can fight."

"Fight? As you did four years ago, leaving us for the cozy office in Washington DC? C'mon, air sgàth fuck, stop that bullshit. You never cared about anything else than power, Six." he muttered. "I shouldn't even call you like this. You didn't deserve that title. You left us. For what? Secretary of Defence. What next? Vice President? President? What are you? Dick Fucking Cheney?"

He broke. The stoic and proud Seamus was gone. He wasn't sure if it was because of the politics, or Aurelia herself, but he felt an urge to smash something with his hammer. Obviously he couldn't, not right now at least. As soon as he would get back to Hereford, he was ready to ignore all of Doc's recommendations and hit the gym. He didn't mind the pain in his fractured wrist or the stitches on his leg.

The person who made him want to leave Rainbow a few years back stood right in front of him and the only person who stopped him from doing this was gone. So what stopped him now from disappearing forever, ignoring this whole political mess?

"Sledge!" The Japaneese's voice pulled him out of his anger. Turning immediately he growled at the woman who called him.

"What? You were supposed to get back to Hereford, why aren't you on your way to the airport yet?"

"The White Masks. They carried out a series of terrorist attacks in the US." Hibana tried to catch her breath.

Aurelia and Seamus looked at each other. The anger now was gone, being replaced with terrified expressions on both of their faces.

Hereford, Great Britain (UTC+0)

16th of February 2023, 2132 hrs

The door to the room opened slightly. Thomas knew he should have waited for an answer after knocking, but the lack of response made him even more worried.

He didn't talk with Lawson since they came back from Oxford. Both of them, not exchanging even a glance, went to their rooms right after arriving at the headquarters. The American didn't think clearly throughout the last hours. He didn't answer Bruno asking him to come to the briefing room, he didn't mind the noise of people walking on the corridor in front of his room either.

Going through the Hereford base now he felt like an animal being hunted down. The hallway seemed more narrow than usual, the rooms felt more crowded. Everything was out of place. He truly hated it.

But the pitiful looks he was getting from his teammates were even worse. Especially the one that Selin gave him. She noticed him sitting on the balcony. Surrounded by cigarettes the American silently watched the forest surrounding the headquarters.

The Turk's voice felt so weirdly distant when she called him.

"Tommy…"

He should have ignored her back then. Çağlar's voice broke him. He couldn't hold back the tears anymore. They both cried, holding each other as if they were going to fall apart any second. Harry had helped them to go through a lot of shit and now… he was gone. It felt like a shot straight to their chests. Losing a part of them.

It took him a while to calm down, but he really appreciated Selin's company. Only God knows for how much longer he would be stuck in such a state if not for her. She also asked one important question.

"What happened with Del?"

Thomas was somehow mad at himself. He should have checked earlier how his partner was feeling, especially after his first reaction in Oxford. The Brit was really impulsive when it came to his emotions, so Garcia just hoped that the man didn't do anything stupid. And that he wasn't mad at him for leaving him out for such a long time.

Taking a step inside, he gently closed the door. It seemed like Del didn't hear him, sitting on the bed with a guitar in his hands. This view truly surprised Thomas. He knew that Lawson played the guitar, but the last time that he had actually seen him doing this was almost a year ago.

The song that the man was humming felt like a lullaby, calm and gentle melody filling the room.

"You've said some words, didn't hear you fall asleep. People were talking louder from my TV screen. I heard them scream, it was too dark to see."

Garcia stood there stunned.

"Don't cry, I've tried to say the right words at the right time, sing you lullabies. Please, don't make me wake, don't wake up."

Del leaned back, putting the guitar aside. The dark circles under his eyes just added to the image of an exhausted person. Seeing Thomas standing in his room, he flinched, tensing all of his muscles. Before he could say anything the American spoke up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I knocked twice, but you didn't answer and I got worried."

"That's alright. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

Thomas nodded his head, taking a seat next to the Brit. The man hesitantly placed hand on Del's lap and looked him in the eyes.

"It has been a long time since I've seen you playing the guitar." he said, but in answer Del just shrugged. "No, no, sorry if that sounded like something bad. If it helps you , then well, go on. I love when you sing anyways."

"Helps me with what?"

The awkward silence lasted for a few seconds before Thomas could think about some better words than "Harry" and "death". That was really the last thing he wanted to say at this point.

"With dealing with this shitty situation."

"It doesn't help. It's like putting a small patch for an open fracture."

"Darling... We all miss him. He didn't deserve that. But we need to stay strong to find out and beat the shit of whoever did that." Thomas gently ran his palm on Del's cheek, with the second holding the Brit's hand.

"You're right. I'm just fucking mad. Everyone but Harry. He did nothing wrong. And now... his wife and kids... What if it was Danny?"

Hearing his brother's name, Thomas snapped immediately. "Don't say that. Don't even say things like this, I beg you, Del."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop beating yourself up with such thoughts, okay? I promise it's gonna be alright."

"It's gonna be alright..." Del gently smiled, repeating the sentence. It made Thomas let out a sigh of relief. It seemed like the Brit was both fine and not mad at him.

"So, the song. What's the title? Did you write it yourself?"

"No, obviously not." The comment made him chuckle. "It's Aijā, a song from Latvian band. The last line Saldā miegā means sweet dreams."

"That's what I thought. It sounded like a lullaby,"

"It's based on a real lullaby, so well, you were right."

Thomas smiled, pulling his partner for a hug. Gently wrapping his hands around the Brit, running his fingers through the man's curly hair, at least for a second he could forget about all of this.

"I'm sorry I didn't come earlier."

"All fine. I needed time for myself anyways." Del closed his eyes, resting his head on Garcia's shoulder. "And I understand that you needed that time too. But I appreciate that you cared to check on me."

"Obviously I cared to check." The American tightened the embrace. "You're my boyfriend in the end, right?"

"Yes. I just… I love you."

Although so short and simple, the phrase always made Thomas smile. No matter how many times he heard it, it didn't stop sounding beautiful. Every single time his heart was skipping a beat, causing the butterflies in his stomach.

Through the year of their relationship he had not once regretted it. Del wasn't perfect. But it was the flaws that made him so loveable and charming. Sometimes getting mad at the Brit, the other time absolutely admiring him, he still was falling in love with him more and more every day. Was that even possible?

"Te amo, Del."

The soft lips touched his skin, making a shiver go down his spine. He wished for the moment to last forever. Just him and Del, laying in their bed. Just them two. Alone. Far away from all of their problems.

The door was brutally open, making the men look at the direction of the sound. Dima's eyes were wide open, his breath heavy.

"The White Masks."

Those words were the only thing that came out of his mouth.

Author's notes
This was hella speedrunned chapter, but I dont think its so terrible. At least I hope so. And it's the longest so far, so kinda proud of myself ngl