He had to stop himself.

Before this situation escalated any further, he needed to put an end to it.

What have I done?

Inappropriate. Immature. Irresponsible.

He'd done something no Lieutenant ever should. Something that could destroy his reputation, or even his career.

Yet there he was, laying awake at night, silently wishing he hadn't stopped himself when he did. The feelings that had overcome him in those few moments were unbearable. He almost couldn't bring himself to stop.

That thought bothered him.

But he wanted to keep going. He wanted nothing less than to spend the entire rest of the night in that small, cramped room with Y/N. He craved the feeling of her body trapped beneath his. Wanted to keep on doing whatever he could to draw out those lovely little gasps of pleasure.

There were many things he wanted to do to her.

This caused troubling thoughts to rouse within him. He found himself constantly taking mental steps backward to evaluate the situation, continually second guessing himself. As much as he hated to admit it, it had been so long since he'd come this close to anyone of the opposite sex - he struggled to determine if he actually had real feelings for her, or if he was being selfish and solely lusting after her. He fought with himself internally, partially wishing he hadn't developed any feelings for her at all. But the truth was that he'd found himself looking after her far more than anyone else. The rage that he'd felt when he entered the bar and witnessed that slimeball leaning into her, brushing his grimy fingers through her hair, had made him consider taking Drake out of the picture for good. That bothered him as well.

He recognized himself as a cold, merciless, violent man. He'd always been a bit… predatory, in nature. Never gave a second thought to any person he'd previously shot in the face, stabbed in the neck, or strangled to death. Human lives were his to take. He couldn't care less about these people, their lives, their families. He knew every single time he killed that he was stealing dreams, experiences, and futures from people whose souls he'd effortlessly snuffed out.

He didn't think he was a "good" man, by any means.

Every time that girl looked at him, it shot an icicle through his heart.

Her beautiful eyes that stared up at him when she had something to say.

The sweet, pleading sound of her voice when she asked him for favors.

The way she bounced merrily to and from her destinations on the encampment.

Her playfulness in the times she'd found something to tease him about.

And finally, most intoxicatingly, those feelings that had shot through him when she asked him for a kiss. His thoughts often went back to that moment in particular. He'd been so caught off guard and taken aback, looking down at this angel of a girl who was half his size, staring up into a murderous, skull-faced man's eyes and unabashedly asking him for a kiss.

Adorable wasn't a word he used often, but in that moment, that's what he thought.

It was almost too much for him.

He didn't deserve her, at all.

He couldn't bring her further into his world. Couldn't justify his selfishness if he allowed her to get any closer to him. What horrors she could possibly face if she ever got that close to him.

With a heavy, pained sigh, he ruefully made up his mind.

Excitement flowed through your veins.

You bounced along the sidewalk of the encampment, getting ready to head to the first team meeting you all had had in ages. You'd gotten up early even though the jitters had been keeping you up well into the morning hours every day since your last encounter with Simon.

You hadn't spoken to him much since then, and neither of you had talked about what happened. Drake had texted you once to let you know he saw L.T. dragging you from the bar and apologized for getting you in trouble. That didn't even bother you anymore, and you didn't care at all about leaving him at the bar alone. You'd do it a hundred times if it meant Simon would come and give you a hundred more kisses.

Holy shit, you thought to yourself as you thought back on it. You hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since it happened. His soft, delicious lips. The way his strong hands grabbed you and pulled you into him time and time again. The way he'd ground his hips into yours. That deep, ravenous growl that escaped his throat when you told him not to stop. Just the thought of it caused your stomach to churn, that ache in your pelvis coming right back.

You craved him now.

You pushed open the door to Price's office and you were greeted by the sight of your unit members all sat casually around the table. Price, Gaz, Soap, Drake, and Ghost huddled around it, each of their heads turning when you entered the room.

You avoided Ghost's dark eyes, knowing that if you met his gaze it would cause you to blush.

You pulled out a seat next to Soap, playfully jamming your elbow into his side as you settled in.

"Cunt," he whispered quietly. You stuck your tongue out at him in response.

"Alright, since we're all here, let's get started." Price's eyes shifted around the room, looking at everyone's faces with a smirk. "Ready to go back to Russia?"

You and Soap groaned. Gaz shook his head.

"I hear you loud and clear. This one isn't going to be fun. I need you all on your best behavior. We've discovered an almost exact location on our terrorist group. Not sure if Maghrebi is there or if it's a group of his associates. When we hit the main team, it's capture, not kill. Ghost's going to make them sing like canaries." He looked over at Ghost who gave a silent, quick nod. "Start packing tonight. We're headed out bright and early in the morning, 4 A.M. sharp. And Y/N - " His eyes fell onto you, looking at you with a raised eyebrow. "- bring a thicker coat. I don't have time for your chattering teeth."

Soap laughed at your side. "She's not gonna do that, Cap. She just wants to cuddle, I'm sure of it."

You rolled your eyes.

You were surprised when Drake spoke up on the other side of the table. "That's a job I'm well equipped for." He winked at you, unabashedly flirting with you in front of the entire time.

You blushed, and your eyes instinctively flickered to Ghost. He was leaned back casually in the chair with his arms folded over his chest. His narrowed eyes moved from Drake to you.

Thankfully Price spoke up again before it could get too awkward. "No one's cuddling with Y/N this time. Sorry to burst your bubbles, laddies."

Heat rose to your cheeks.

Of course, Soap just had to comment on it. "Aw, look at her. Blushing like a schoolgirl."

"Shut up, Soap!" You gave him a playful shove on the shoulder, your face burning more.

"Don't get embarrassed, Y/N. Be like L.T. over there. Never been embarrassed a day in his life."

You looked over at the Lieutenant with a playful gleam in your eye. "Is that so?"

His eyes met yours. He didn't look amused. "Never."

Price guffawed. "Don't let him lie to you, sweetheart."

Soap's eyebrows shot up. "Let's hear it, Cap."

Price wore a mischievous smirk on his face as he looked over at Ghost, still sitting there with his arms crossed. You saw Ghost's eyebrow raise as he waited to hear it. "First time he met Laswell, he walked face first into a glass door. Shattered it with his big, fat noggin."

Ghost shook his head. "That ain't true."

"We've still got the invoice with your name on it, L.T." Price teased him.

Ghost clicked his tongue. "Was an expensive door."

Your hand flew to your mouth to stifle your laughter, imagining the scene. "Was Laswell mad?"

"Oh, she was pissed," Price chuckled. "Still reminds him every time he visits."

You giggled at the thought, looking over at Simon who was looking at you. "I'm sorry, that's pretty funny."

"I'm glad I've finally got something to tease him about. Been thinking he's perfect this whole time,'' Soap chided him.

Price spoke up again. "There's more where that came from. But I couldn't tell you, or I fear my life would be at risk."

Ghost nodded his head. "Smart man."

You wondered if wore any hint of a smile on his lips as you and your partners teased him. "Do you ever smile under that mask, L.T.?"

"Nope."

"He's lying again," Soap said. "L.T. was grinning like a boy on Christmas day that night he rescued you from the bar. He told me all about it."

You giggled, looking over to Ghost again who rolled his eyes. Then his gaze met yours. He gave you a sly wink.

Price clapped his hands together then, adjourning the meeting. "Alright team, get out of my office. Start packing your bags and be on that plane before 4 A.M. tomorrow."

Everyone stood from their seats, turning and making their way for the door. You funneled in after Soap and Gaz, Drake and Ghost following behind you. You stepped outside, getting ready to head to your room when you felt a hand grab your wrist and pull you to the side.

You turned to see that it was Ghost. "Come here for a minute," he said, pulling you off to the side as everyone else walked away.

You saw his eyes following Drake, who gave you both a wave as he headed off.

"Bastard," Ghost growled before returning his eyes to you.

Your eyebrows raised. "You really don't like him, huh?"

"That's an understatement."

"I'm not going to hang out with him anymore, L.T."

"That ain't gonna stop him from following you around like a lost puppy. Anyway… I need something from you."

Your eyebrow raised. "Oh?"

"You've got that picture of Maghrebi, correct?"

"Sure do."

"Show it to me."

"Alright." You pulled your phone from your pocket and began navigating to your photo library. "Why don't you have it?"

"Forgot to save it."

"Okay," you said, clicking on one of the pictures. You pulled it up and saw that this wasn't a photo of Maghrebi, but one of his associates. "Oh wait, that's not it." Your fingers began scrolling through the pictures you had saved. Maghrebi's dead associate, a few pictures of the desert, a photo of you and Soap being silly, and then -

Your heart jumped to your throat. Your fingers frantically slid the picture away.

Simon's ass.

"Wait a second -"

Your heart dropped even further.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" You said, quickly scrolling some more. I thought I deleted that!

"Hang on," Simon's hand quickly reached out and snatched your phone away. You squealed, instinctively jumping to grab it from him as you saw with terror that he'd begun scrolling back the way you came. He moved to the side, staring at your phone and scrolling some more as you jumped around, your hands desperately reaching out to take it back. He raised it higher and higher until you couldn't even reach it anymore - when you jumped to grab it, your hand only grasped hopelessly at his forearm.

He finally found it.

He looked at the photo above his head, and then back down at you. His eyebrows were knitted together. He did a double take, glancing at the picture again before shooting you an exasperated look, phone still held high in the air. "Why've ya got a picture of my arse on your phone?"

Your eyes were wide, cheeks burning. You didn't know what to say to that. "Um - I, uh - it sounds weird but I had a good reason!"

He continued looking at you for a few moments.

You stood there, staring at him wide-eyed with an embarrassed smile on your lips - a look that said Am I in trouble?

He blinked once, shook his head, and returned your phone to you.

"Find the damn picture, Y/N."

You took the phone from him with your cheeks still burning, grateful for an opportunity to turn your head down and hide your embarrassment. Your thoughts scrambled to come up with some excuse for the picture, but all of it sounded bad. Why didn't he delete it?

Finally you found the picture of Maghrebi and handed your phone back to him. He took the phone and you saw that he had his own device in his hands. He held the two together and you stood up on your toes to get a glimpse of what he was looking at, anxiously awaiting his response so you could determine how angry he was. He glanced at you, turning the two phones down for you to see.

"Do these guys look similar to you?"

You stared into the photos, the one of Maghrebi and his picture of another man who did look a bit similar. Both with dark, scraggly hair, long, unruly beards, sunken brown eyes and one defining feature that stood out - two crooked noses.

"Yeah, they look similar."

"Thought so too. Go start packing your bags. I need to have a word with Price." He turned then, but stopped to look back at you once more. He was giving you some look you hadn't seen before - then he shook his head, and disappeared through the doorway to Price's office.

Simon burst through the doors of Price's office once again, earning him a slightly annoyed glance from the Captain. He ignored it, taking a seat in the chair directly across from him and pulling his phone from his pocket.

"What's going on, Simon?" Price asked with a heavy sigh, as if he had been ready to be done with work for the day.

"Take a look at this," Ghost replied, setting the cell phone down on Price's desk.

Price picked up the phone and looked down into the photo. "Maghrebi? Where'd you get this?"

Ghost shook his head. "That's not Maghrebi."

Price's eyes flickered upwards before returning to the phone screen. "Who is it then?"

"Not sure. Can't help but notice they look quite similar."

Price nodded his head, pursing his lips. "That they do. Where'd you get the photo?"

"That's what I'm concerned about." Ghost leaned back in his chair, eyeing Price. He knew Price would respond with the same air of caution that Soap had given him back in the cafeteria. He wasn't really sure how to go about this. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "I saw Drake looking at this picture earlier today. He didn't bring it up during the meeting. Something's fishy about that, if you ask me."

Price's eyebrow raised, catching onto Ghost's implications quickly. He rolled his eyes. "Always giving me trouble over recruits, Simon."

Ghost shook his head once again. "I mean this, Price. I don't like him one bit." He paused to look seriously into the Captain's eyes for a moment before he continued. "If he actually decides to share this with us, he'll be off my radar. Until then, I'm keeping an eye on him."

Price's eyebrows raised and he shrugged his shoulders, clearly dismissive of Ghost's concerns. "Do what you want, mate. He's come a long way to get here. Been scrutinized and watched after by plenty more than just you."

Ghost felt a twinge of annoyance flare up within himself at Price's dismissiveness. He swallowed it down, standing from his seat and turning his back to the Captain. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about him.

He'd just have to keep waiting for a slip.