"Howl!"

Tac, tac, tac!

As his blood pooled across the ice, Novaleen could feel her temples aching from the pressure of the water around her. Her vision was growing dark, her lungs burned with a voracity for oxygen, and she nearly breathed in a gasp of cold water when another shot pierced the ice, splitting the Captain's skull like a clam shell. She was sick with terror and hoped the enemy would pass her by. Even if she never got out before they left, she would rather drown than find out what they would do to her if she came out of the water.

"Что, черт возьми, происходит?- What the hell is going on?" The man unwittingly standing over her shielded his eyes from the sun, peering out into the distance. Before he could flex a startled muscle, he staggered backward with the handle of a knife sticking out of his neck, his throat spilling its contents and bathing the ice scarlet under him. He winced and jerked, muttering something that she could only assume was a plea as he stretched out an open hand. His plea turned to a hoarse attempt at a scream, scrambling away on weak legs. "Пожалуйста... Пожалуйста, отойди от меня!- Please... please, stay away from me!"

Shunk!

Another man stamped his foot down on his neck, pushing the blade through it. With a final kick, the Russian's head fell against the ice and he was silent.

Novaleen released a burst of bubbles from her mouth and immediately felt the sting of suffocation in her veins. She was going to die here, under the feet of someone who scared even the Russians. And desperately, she hoped this man didn't find her either.

Crack...

Her vision was grey and she couldn't make out the shape of the man anymore. All she could hear was the water around her shuttering in terror as the ice crumbled.

Crack, crack, crack!

A hand burst into the water and suddenly, her eyes were filled with unfiltered sunlight. She gasped, choking on the water in her mouth and nose.

"Come on, get up."

Novaleen could barely hear the man's voice, like the faint ringing of tinnitus. She looked wearily up at him and wondered if she was hallucinating, or if in fact, she was dead and looking into the face of the Grim Reaper when his face seemed to be no more than a sun-bleached skull.

"On your feet, we can't stay here. Can you walk?"

She did her best to summon the strength to stand, but her knees were weak and she nearly collapsed.

The man gritted his teeth at the sound of the ice cracking with a deep, guttural groan. "Come on! We need to move, let's go!" He picked her up roughly and charged for the lake shore, half-dragging her until they were close enough that he could throw her.

Novaleen winced as she landed in the snow, shivering against the cold. The man had landed at a kneeling position beside her and he panted, looking back at the choppy ice as it swallowed the men who had been laying on it. She was breathing slowly, nearly too tired to keep her eyes open, but she was just able to muster the strength to speak:

"Who are you..?"

He sighed, peeling off his coat. "Call me Ghost." Ghost quickly slung it over his shoulder and reached for her coat, tearing it and her shirt underneath off. She normally would have been alarmed and fought back, but being too weak to even lift her hands, she lay helplessly in his arms. He wrapped his coat around her and zipped it up, tugging on it so it lay properly on her smaller frame. "This should keep you warm enough until we get to the evac. Now: can you walk?"

Strange. She remembered her face stinging by this point and seeing her own blood trickling on the snow. Yet now, she couldn't feel anything but a radiating warmth.

"Miss..?"

The snowy banks of Khazakstan melted into the late morning light that peeked through the slats of the blinds between the curtains, painting stark golden beams on the walls of the dark bedroom. Novaleen cracked an eye open and looked at the man lying beside her. His broad chest slowly expanded with deep breaths, his eyes closed softly. She laid her head on his left breast and looked up at his face; he must have gotten up in the night because this mask was different; a soft balaclava with a white skull printed on it, laying crooked on his head. She could just make out the shape of his face; she so badly wanted to see it plain, naked with nothing between them, so she could see the man who had saved her life those three years before. Gingerly, she reached out with delicate fingers and rolled it up, revealing the underside of his jaw. It was beautiful and her heartbeat quickened as she revealed more of his face. Next she could see his chin, then his lips, and then-

His hand clasped around hers and his eyes snapped open. "What do you think you're doing?" he growled.

Novaleen jumped, trying to pull back but his hand was too tight around hers. "I-I thought you'd be more comfortable without the mask..."

"I'm plenty comfortable." He let go of her hand and readjusted his balaclava, laying back with his eyes closed. "Just let me sleep."

"It doesn't get stuffy in that thing?"

"Let it go, NAG..."

She shrunk back. With a heavy feeling in her stomach, she started to sit up; now that she had overstepped, she felt too embarrassed to stay.

Ghost's arm draped across her back and pulled her back down to his chest. "I didn't say you had to go, just don't touch my mask." He sighed softly, stroking the furrow of her spine. "Besides, I'm not done with you yet..." He rolled her on top of him and pushed her back against his morning wood, and when she gasped, a grin tugged at his mouth.

Bzzzzzt... Bzzzzzt... Bzzzzzt...

Novaleen hurried to answer her phone, nearly dropping it and her coffee as she did. "Philip."

"Hey, NAG," he said brightly. "Heard Al Mazrah was exciting."

"You're telling me." She sighed and took a bite of her sandwich, feeling the sense of dread return from the night before.

"Listen, Shepherd is trying to get all boots on the ground to find out about these missiles. How soon can you get back to HQ?"

She looked at Soap sitting across from her, who cocked his brow and she cleared her throat quietly. "Umm, within 24 hours, I suppose."

"Can you make it sixteen? The faster you can get here, the better."

"I'll see what I can do. Let me get ahold of a pilot and I'll let you know." She said her goodbyes and hung up, slouching against the table.

"Everythin' okay?" Soap asked, tilting a glass of water into his mouth.

She rubbed her forehead and sighed. "Yeah, Shepherd wants me back asap, so I have to find a ride out of here."

"Already leaving? It's only been a day."

Novaleen bristled upon seeing Ghost's shadow fall over her and she turned around, a nervous smile spreading across her face. "Yeah, I've got to head out. Graves needs me back. How soon do you think I can get out of here?"

"I can get you a pilot in an hour. Will that work?"

She nodded and he silently strode away, tapping on his phone. NAG folded her arms and sighed to herself. "Yes, I suppose that will work just fine..."

Novaleen hauled her bag over her shoulder, carefully balancing the weight evenly across her back. As she approached the plane, she recognized the tall stature of the man standing beside it. "Ghost?"

He lumbered toward her taking her bag. "You got everything?"

"Yes. Even if I don't, you can keep whatever I leave as a memento, yeah?" She winked at him playfully but he hardly seemed amused. NAG cleared her throat and brushed past him to the plane, keenly aware of his presence shortly behind her.

He set her bag down on the seat and for a moment, they hesitated with an awkward silence between them. Ghost quickly turned his eyes away from her and out the door when she looked at him. "It was a pleasure working with you. If our paths cross again, I'd be glad to have you fighting alongside me."

NAG grinned hopefully. "Likewise. I certainly hope they do, sir." She pursed her lips trying to think of what to do next, and ultimately decided on a salute. "Until next time, Ghost."

The Lieutenant nodded solemnly in response and stalked out of the plane, disappearing in the bright sunlight. She sighed, watching him go; she had hoped- no, expected him to be less aloof after they had spent the night together. It left her feeling hollow as if she had stood up from the dinner table still hungry. Novaleen took a seat and looked down at her hands. What had she been thinking?

One should never sleep with their heroes...