Capt. John "Soap" MacTavish

Task Force 141 – Disavowed.

Cape Town, South Africa

Once he had been cleared to travel by the team at the Médecins Sans Frontières in Qinghai, China, Soap, Price, Anya and Yuri relocated to Cape Town in South Africa with Nikolai. As it turned out, the remnants of the Loyalist faction had been active there, because of suspected Ultranationalist activity in the continent.

However, Soap had to still be under medical observation. With what Anya could scrap up from her Swiss accounts with money earned from her days in Makarov's service, they found a relatively discreet and more importantly, better equipped private hospital where he could have a room of his own. They also rented an apartment nearby so that they could take turns visiting Soap.

"You need to go back to the apartment," Soap told Anya, cupping her cheek in his hand. He could have sworn that she had been the first thing he saw when he woke, and the last thing before he slept. "You've not slept in days." He could see that the dark circles around her eyes were getting more and more severe.

Anya smiled weakly. "Between Yuri's cigarettes and Price's cigars, I'd rather not die of secondhand smoke," she said. It was the perfect excuse. She was deathly afraid that she would lose him and guarded him like a watchdog. She had been like that ever since they were in Qinghai. She had been hardly sleeping, and when she did, she would wake up screaming. Price and Nikolai were afraid that anything should go sour and kept her company whenever they could pry her away from Soap.

"Maria…" Soap tutted and kissed her forehead. "I'm not gonna go anywhere, lassie." Anya nodded, but tears pooled in her eyes. "What's wrong?" It pained him to see her in this state, the light in her eyes extinguished, plagued by nightmares and soul-crushing guilt. Without any hesitation, he drew her into his arms and held her.

"I see them whenever I close my eyes, John," she sobbed. "Everyone at the airport… I saw… Ghost and Roach in the safehouse…"

"Shh…" Soap cooed into her ear, tightening his hold over her. "None of this was your fault. You were carrying out orders." He should never have agreed with Operation Honeypot. He should have confronted Shepherd, that exposing Anya to such danger was too much to ask of a soldier. "No one in your position could have been blamed for what you had to do."

He felt her nod, and loosened his grip so that their eyes could meet. Sapphire met sky-blue, and their lips came crashing together. He loved her. He did not remember when it started, but it was her absence that made him aware of it, of how deeply he longed for her company, to hear her voice. Now, all that mattered was she was in his arms, that she was alive. Everything else would come in due time.

Anya rested her head on his chest. She had never felt safer than being in his arms, even if they were now wanted fugitives instead of the planet's elite military squad. She climbed onto his bed and laid in his arms. "I love you," she murmured, before drifting off to sleep.

Half an hour later, Price and Nikolai knocked on the door. "Come in," Soap said, as quietly as possible. He did not want to wake Anya, not after successfully coaxing her to sleep.

"We brought goodies for the both of you," Nikolai said, gesturing to the plastic bags that they carried with them. Korean fried chicken. Being a New Yorker, Anya always had a taste for the latest trends in food. At the time, it had been anything Korean. It smelled wonderful, though.

"Nikolai's even got her this," Price chuckled, gesturing at the copy of this Japanese cartoon that she had fawned over at a store the previous week. Attack on Titan. "Apparently it's all the rage with the kids." They were lucky that they were in Cape Town, where such international indulgences were all the rage and easily obtainable. Price did not want to know why a grown woman would ever want to watch cartoons, but Nikolai explained that Japanese cartoons were different.

Soap thanked them on her behalf. "I finally got her to fall asleep," he said, with a twinge of pride.

"Da, that's great. Price tried sneaking her one of your sleeping pills," Nikolai said. "Didn't work."

"She's not even eating well," Price complained. If she had eaten anything that they got her, his plan would have actually worked. "It'll do her good if you can make her finish at least half of the food. She can't face her own demons if she's half alive."

Soap nodded, softly patting her back.

"What did the doctors say today?" Nikolai probed. They came because Soap was due to be observed by his doctors.

"I'd be out of this hole in a few days," Soap answered. More than anything, he had been amazed that Anya could even come out with the sum required to finance his stay in the hospital. She huffed it off as one of the perks of working with an international terrorist, and even showed him a stash of jewelry that she had kept in a decrepit looking sandwich bag. "They did say, that if I were to have, say, a large fall, it'll undo everything, and I'd bleed to death."

"Now why the hell would the doctor even think that it'll happen to you?" Price asked. They were soldiers, of course that would happen to Soap. It could happen to anyone.

"Beats me."

Outside Soap's ward, Yuri could hear everything. While Nikolai and Price tried to take care of Anya while she tended to Soap, he knew the true reason for her struggle, but could not assist them in any way.

He knew that Anya would not find peace until she faced Makarov. What she had done at the airport gave her so much grief, because she had no other choice. To trigger her fight or flight response, Makarov had revealed to her that she had been exposed before the operation. He was amazed then, that Anya had not broken. Each and every step she had taken that day would have been torture. He himself could not be brought to commit such atrocities, but she had to, not only for the success of the operation, but to survive. She could not find an excuse for herself, a line that she could retreat behind.

"I killed them, men, women and children, because if I took a step back, Makarov would have killed me. I did it, because the more steps forward I took, I was a step closer to ending him…", he remembered Anya telling him one night, when Nikolai and Price were away. Only she knew that he was the one who was tracking her, that he was the only one Makarov trusted to do so. It had been evident that Anya did not speak of how she had felt that day to anyone else but him. "Each step I took, I asked myself 'Why? Why would Shepherd do this to me?' I served in the 141 for three years, haven't I proven myself?"

Yuri knew that it was part of Makarov's twisted strategy to get her to turn against Shepherd. What Makarov did not know was that her loyalty to the 141 trumped everything else, even her own regard for her life. He could see it now, because he had spent the time with them. Price and Soap were exemplary soldiers. She had learned from the best, and it showed. They cared for her in every way. Brotherhood… was something that he thought he had lost, but it would seem that he had found it again.

"I hear his voice in my head sometimes," she said to him once when they were alone, after Yuri had made it known to her that he was the one tasked to observe her. "Calling out to me… But when I close my eyes, all I remembered was the fear. Fear that one day, I'd compromise myself. Fear that… I might actually choose him." Anya was fearless on the battlefield, but she was only human. Makarov had his charms, and Yuri did not blame her if she struggled to shake him off. He was the one who still remained with the monster although they destroyed the lives of more than 30,000 lives in the Middle East five years ago, after all.

Makarov had twisted Anya's resolve so stay alive as utter courage. He had sung her praises even after she knew that she had been exposed. He was enamored of how she was able to act with what little information was provided to her, and the Task Force 141 was beginning to become a thorn on his side. She was able to have Alexi install a jamming tower in their Siberian weapons cache to alert the 141 of her presence there so that they could recognize her voice without giving herself away and to direct them to destroying all the weapons there, a noteworthy show of her mettle. It was proof to Makarov that her will was strong enough to match his, in his eyes.

It was one of the few times when Yuri discovered that Makarov had not always been right. The girl was more resilient than he thought, but the scars of her ordeal went deep. Yuri saw how soundly she slept in Soap's arms and was relieved on her behalf. She had chosen a fine man for herself, and from his actions, it was evident that Soap would see to it that her nightmares end.

If his presence with these soldiers of the 141 could not bring any further benefit. He would see to it that at least he could bring them closer to their goal. Chief of all, was Anya.

Cpl. Maria "Anya" Allen

Task Force 141 – Disavowed

Cape Town, South Africa

She awoke in Soap's arms. "How long have I been asleep here for?" She asked him as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"Around six hours," Soap replied, kissing her temple. He pulled her back into his embrace and added, "Price and Nikolai were here too…"

Anya jumped at the realization that the others have seen her in his arms, and blushed. She was not ashamed of the fact that she and Soap were now…together… but she did not know how to personally navigate the display of this relationship with the others in a setting where she had been the only female in the unit and Soap was the CO. It had always been so, which was why she never dared to pursue anything before she was inserted into Operation Honeypot.

Of course, because they had been huddled together in the MSF in Qinghai that was little more than a long shed for some time, they would have witnessed Soap proclaiming his feelings towards her.

"They brought you something," Soap gestured at the table with his chin. "The food has gone cold, though…"

Anya chuckled when she found the Korean fried chicken, but almost squealed in excitement of the DVD. "I've always wanted this!" She exclaimed, showing off the DVD. "I have the previous season in… Moscow…" She knew that Price and Nikolai meant no harm by getting her this gift. They only gifted it to her because they saw her wanting to buy it last week. Throughout her days in Moscow, she was given finely made suits and beautiful dresses to wear as Makarov paraded her about, even some jewelry here and there. Yet, the one thing that she cherished the most was the box-set of season one of Attack on Titan, because she had watched it with Chemo and Ghost in the rare times when they were back in the land-base.

"We can binge it together if you want," Soap suggested. He remembered seeing Chemo, Ghost and Anya watching it. He called them nerds then. Of course, he caught that pause when she was brought back to a memory of Moscow, but he intentionally put it aside. She did not need to be further reminded of those times.

At long last, Anya smiled. "I would love that," she replied and returned to Soap's side. "Shall I microwave the chicken?" Soap nodded and she started to potter about. They ate in relative silence, but once they finished their meal, she asked, "Can you please indulge me, John?"

"Anything, Maria," Soap replied.

"If… all this is over, and we make it out alive, what will you do?"

Soap made it through the Second Russian Civil War, and they were facing World War III as they knew it. Although he had known nothing else but the life of a soldier, he was coming close to having to want to see an end of that life. "I actually have no idea," he said honestly, taking her hands in his. "What I do know, is that I want to spend every single moment with you."

Quietly, she laid her head on his chest. "I want to go back to school, to do my master's degree," she said. "I just want… a normal life…" When she enlisted, she just wanted to get a few years of service done so that she could pay off her student loans. She never thought that she would have caused such damage to the world. She was now fighting to put everything to right, but she knew that she would never want to do the same in the future if she could.

"Then that, is our future," Soap replied, kissing her temple. "It's something we can fight for." Those words made Anya's heart flutter, more importantly, they gave her hope. She responded with a deep kiss, fervent and fiery, something that they had never experienced before. This had been further proof to Soap that the way to bring Anya out of the despair that she was experiencing was to ensure that she felt safe.

As time passed, Anya started to yearn his touch all over his body, and brought his hands around her waist, while she wound her legs around his. She could feel his manhood press against her, and instinctively mirrored his movements.

"Do you want this?" Soap asked her, kissing the base of her neck, his voice a little more than a growl. It would be a lie if he claimed that he had never desired her. But he knew that she had her reservations, and of course, they were valid. But now that when it was only the two of them, if only she was willing to, he would bring the skies down for her.

"Yes," she purred, lifting his shirt. She needed it, to feel his touch. She wanted Soap to brand himself on her, to have his presence all over her body. It had started in Qinghai. Whenever they could have a private moment, he would embrace her, and she felt only his warmth. It felt like a shield around her. She wanted his warmth to envelope all of her now. She needed him.

With her answer, Soap did short work of all her clothes and marveled at the sight, while she did the same. Brought bare before him, Anya sighed as he kissed every single inch of her being. Tender, soft. It was a sensation that she never felt before. When he could feel that she was ready for him, he gently entered her depths, his lips never leaving hers.

"John…" she mewled, luxuriating in their joined bodies. She felt his tongue on her nipple and pushed his head closer to her breasts. It was ecstasy, a wonder that such a strongly built man could be so gentle. Every single touch was as light as a feather, even the first thrusts. She was broken, but she was not made out of porcelain. As time passed, she wanted more.

Climbing on top of him, Anya straddled Soap's hips and rode him. She arched her back and brought his hands to cup her breasts. "Taking charge?" he asked, with a raised eyebrow, sitting up so that he could rest his arms on her shoulders.

She smirked. "Did you want me to stop?" she returned in a similar manner of voice, pinning him down beneath her. Her hair grew long enough now to tickle his cheeks when she leaned towards him.

Reaching for her right ear, he nuzzled on her earlobe. "I'm all yours, Maria," he answered, his words barely a whisper, sliding his tongue into her ear, causing a chain reaction where she shuddered, and he could feel her walls clenching him tighter as a result.

Wasting no time, Anya picked up the pace, riding him as though her life depended on it. Aware that someone might come in at any time, they silenced themselves by locking one another in another kiss until they were both breathless.

He was hers. Her captain, her strong, stalwart captain. There he was, barely emerging from the brink of death, but already protecting her from the demons that plagued her. She had nothing else to offer to him as recompense, nothing else but her heart. He had given her the glimpse of a future that she could not have seen alone. By just holding her in his arms, he had given her a moment of peace in a world that was currently shattering around them.

Soap dug his nails into her shoulders when he felt her orgasm. She had to silence herself by biting into his "Go back to sleep," he cooed, and gently pinned her back down onto the bed. His member was still erect, but he retreated from her depths, and was barely grazing the entrance of her womanhood. He was slick with her essences, but it seemed that he was now happy to shower her with further kisses.

Anya looked at him in disbelief. "What about you?" she asked, gently stroking his shaft.

"There's plenty where that came from, love," he answered, and handed her clothes so that she could at least prevent been seen to be naked beneath his blanket when anyone came into the ward.

"I like that," Anya replied, nestling her head on his chest. Sleep was clearly catching onto her. Within seconds, she was already sound asleep.

HAN: HELLO THERE! I haven't updated this old thing in around 12 years, haha! I've come back because I watched cutscenes of the reboot Modern Warfare, which brought me back to the original series because of nostalgia and next thing you know, BOOM! The inspiration came right back! I actually might do a version 3 but before I get ahead of myself, I'll try to see if I can finish this first.

I have also removed Chapter 33: Turbulence for the time being, because this new one that I've put in is actually set before it, but don worry, it'll come back

Thanks for joining in on the ride!