Author's Note: If you have any writing tips, please feel free to comment.

Again, I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills as a writer.

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Chapter 14

Williams walked outside and started jogging towards Ghost who was wearing the same white t-shirt and dark green pants.

"I thought you weren't going to come, love," he said smirking.

"Me? Not come? No way; and don't call me that," she said sternly warming up.

"Whatever you say, Marine," he grinned.

"How do you wanna do this?" she asked.

"Let's start jogging and then we'll see. I'll try to go easy on you," he winked.

"Worry about yourself, Brit," she replied raising her eyebrows as they started jogging together. They jogged for about half an hour when finally Ghost spoke.

"Let's sprint until the shooting range. Three, two, one, go!"

They sprinted as fast as they could but Ghost was faster and finished first. He went near the range where there was some water and threw a bottle at Williams and she caught it in one hand.

"Better luck next time Fox," he said panting drinking some water and wetting his head and water started dripping from his face to his chest. The white t-shirt got wet and stuck to his body revealing his muscles bulging from underneath as he breathed.

"Is everything ok, sunshine?" he said smiling noticing she was staring at him.

Williams rolled her eyes and drank some water. She ignored him and said, "What's next?"

"Shooting range; the one that shoots the most targets wins," he said checking her out from her top to bottom. "I can't wait to see that body," he smirked.

"You won't because I'm going to win Lieutenant," she said shoving him aside.

They both grabbed a USP .45 and Williams started shooting. She shot down all the targets at once and looked at Ghost and told him, "Beat that."

Ghost went up to the range and started aiming and shooting at the targets. As he aimed for his last target, he shot and missed it.

"Bloody hell," he said with a grimace lowering his gun. "I lost."

"You did that on purpose!" said Williams grabbing his arm and turned him around so that he could face her.

"I swear I didn't!" he said raising his arms.

"Meh, that was a waste of time," she said placing the gun in its place. "It was obvious that I was better."

"That seems the case," sighed Ghost. "So! Saturday at six?" he asked smiling at her.

"Whatever," she replied as she walked away leaving Ghost smirking.

--- --- --- --- ---

The Captain was on her bed reading a book for the umpteenth time. She needed to buy some new books because she had read everything and it was getting boring. Williams entered the door all sweaty; she grabbed a t-shirt and shorts she wore as PJs and went to take a shower. Malloy went into the bathroom as Williams was in the shower which had frosted glass.

"Let me guess," said Malloy, "you have a date."

"That Brit lost on purpose. He's an idiot."

"Because he's hot doesn't mean he's an idiot Charlene," said Malloy leaning against the sink.

"He's ok I guess. He didn't even put on a shirt when I went in with the papers before."

"You saw him half-naked?!" exclaimed Malloy. "Is he a 10?"

Williams grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her before going out of the shower. She stared at Malloy for a moment and giggled.

"He's a 100 girl!" she finally said. "That body was chiseled by Michelangelo."

"When's the date?" asked Malloy going back outside to sit on her bed.

"It's not a date! It's an... outing," she replied drying herself and putting on some clothes before joining Malloy. "Saturday at six; what am I going to wear?"

"Jeans and something warm I guess. It's cold outside. Wear some make-up, let your hair down and show him your awesomeness!" laughed Malloy hugging her.

"Oorah," cheered Williams. "Enough about me; did you talk to MacTavish?"

Malloy sighed and rubbed her forehead before shaking her head. "It's embarrassing. We're not even looking at each other. After the incident with Collins, he's been avoiding me. I think he feels guilty about it."

"Then that's one more reason to talk to him. He's blaming himself for what happened. Go talk to him, at least you'll ease his conscience; he must feel miserable right now."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow," said Malloy.

--- --- --- --- ---

The day after was quite relaxing as everyone was taking it easy after the mission. Malloy and Red decided to pay a visit to Collins to the sick bay.

"It seems Roach beat us to it," said Red as she saw him sitting on her bed laughing with her.

"Hello guys," smiled Malloy and Roach jumped from the bed and nearly fell.

"M-ma'am!" he stammered saluting her.

"Relax Roach," she replied and he lowered his hand and turned to Collins.

"I'll come back later," he told her and she nodded and smiled.

"How are you feeling?" asked Red.

"I'm a bit numb and dizzy from the medication," replied Collins.

"What exactly happened yesterday?" asked Malloy with a serious face. At that, Collins looked down ashamed when she remembered of the day before.

"I told you, ma'am, I was careless."

"Distracted is more likely," said Red and Collins stared at her.

"How's your family Lainey?" asked Malloy.

"Everybody's fine," she replied looking at the side.

"Don't lie to me Private," said Malloy and Collins' eyes started watering and after a while she talked.

"My dad got drunk again and beat up my mother. It was so severe she ended up in the hospital."

"Why didn't you say something?" said Red sitting next to her.

"I don't know, I panicked I guess," said Collins tears streaming down her face.

"Would you like me to send you back to the US so that you can tend to your mother?" asked Malloy.

"No ma'am, my aunt is taking care of her. I will stay here where I am needed the most," replied Collins trying to keep a straight face.

"We're a family Lainey, we're all sisters," smiled Red holding her hand.

"We're here whenever you need us," smiled Malloy and Collins nodded trying to hold back the tears.

--- --- --- --- ---

Malloy went back to the soldiers' quarters where MacTavish's office was. She decided to clear up some things between them. She knocked on his door and a voice said come in.

"Price, have you seen MacTavish?" she asked.

Price looked up from the papers he was studying and said, "The last thing he told me was that he was going to the gym."

She thanked him and went to the gym which was near the shooting range. She entered the building and heard the rhythm of the sounds of weights being lifted and dropped. There weren't a lot of soldiers, probably all were resting or goofing around. She spotted MacTavish at the far end of the gym who was sitting down lifting weights with his right hand listening to music from his mp3. He was wearing baggy shorts and a tank top looking at his own arm while lifting the weights. Malloy observed him for a moment his biceps bulging with every movement, his neck was strong and muscled. She exhaled slowly noticing how nervous she was, probably because she had no idea what to tell him or maybe it's because she was remembering the way he held her and kissed her. She cleared her mind before approaching him.

"Hey," she said smiling slightly at him. MacTavish looked up surprised, put down the weights and yanked out the earphones.

"Hey mate," he said panting, standing up and drinking some water. "Is everything ok?"

"Yes, I just came here to talk to you."

MacTavish looked at her for a few seconds and nodded, "Aye, what do you need?"

"It's about Collins."

He looked down and sat again lifting the weights, this time with his left arm and concentrated on it. Malloy sighed and sat down on the floor, crossed her legs and looked at him.

"It's not your fault, Soap. I went to talk to her this afternoon, she admitted she was distracted."

"If I had been more careful, all of this could have been avoided," he said huffing.

Malloy touched his arm to stop him. He looked at her and put the weights on the floor.

"She has family problems," continued Malloy, "these things happen and it's no use going over the 'could've' and 'should've' understood?" and MacTavish nodded. She sighed and continued, "Well, that one point is cleared."

"Is there something else?" he asked her.

Malloy gave him a puzzled look. She had hoped they would discuss the situation maturely but the way he was acting, it suggested he wasn't interested in discussing the matter further.

"Yes, there is. The situation where... you know..." she said trailing off. She did not know how to explain it without getting red.

MacTavish sighed and looked down and said, "Ignore it, it was a mistake."

She stared at him, taken aback by those words. Wait, what? Ignore it like nothing had happened?

"Mistake?" she asked raising her eyebrows.

"Yes," he said coldly looking away from her.

"I understand," she said sternly standing up. "You should've thought of it before you kissed me then."

"No use going over the 'should've' and 'could've', right Captain?" he asked looking at her.

"You're an asshole," she said her eyes watering. She turned on her heel and walked out leaving MacTavish sighing and regretting what he had just said.

Malloy ran back to her quarters to avoid stopping and talking to people. She just wanted to be alone in her room. Angry at what had happened, she slammed the door and kicked the desk hard while letting tears flow freely from her eyes while grinding her teeth. She forgot the last time she had cried, her job does not permit her to be weak but she was human, everybody had their moment of weakness in their lives. It was a long time since she felt rejected by someone and it's never a pleasant feeling. Hearing the loud noises, Price opened her door shocked, seeing her looking down her face in her hands. He closed the door behind him and walked towards her.

"Lisa, what happened?" he asked concerned.

Malloy wiped away her tears and tried to calm herself down.

"Nothing," she whispered.

"I may be old but I'm not daft," he said and saw Malloy smiling at him her eyes red from the crying. He hugged her for a brief moment and led her to her bed where they sat down next to each other.

"Is it Soap?" he asked.

Malloy's eyes shot upwards looking at him. Price realized that he hit the nail on the head.

"What did that bastard do?" he continued angrily.

"It's nothing Price. I'm a grown woman, I can handle this on my own don't worry about it."

"You sure?" he asked raising his eyebrows and Malloy nodded and hugged him.

"Thank you, John," she smiled.

"I haven't heard you calling me by my first name in a long time lass," he chuckled, patted her on her back and got up and went to the mess hall to eat something leaving Malloy alone with only her thoughts to keep her company.

--- --- --- --- ---

Ghost was whistling while aiming down his billiard stick.

"Come on love, get in the hole," he said to himself. "Bollocks," he said as he missed the shot. MacTavish approached him, grabbed a stick to join him and shot a ball right in the hole. Ghost glared at him and then softened when he saw his face.

"You look terrible mate."

"Aye," he said sadly.

"Did you talk to her?" asked Ghost aiming down again.

"She came looking for me actually," replied MacTavish leaning against the billiard table.

"When are you going out?"

"I kind of told her that it was a mistake and to forget about it."

Ghost stared at him and put down the billiard stick. He walked towards him and slapped him at the back of his head.

"Ouch! What the bloody hell's wrong with you?!" asked MacTavish angrily rubbing his head.

"You schmuck! You don't kiss a woman and then tell her it was a mistake! I'm surprised she did not punch you in your bloody face. That's disrespectful towards her; in other words it's like you said, 'Hey, thanks for the good time but you're not good enough for me'," said Ghost imitating his Captain's Scottish accent.

"I get it! There's no need to push it!"

"You've been telling me that you did not know how you were going to ask her out and things just fell into place when you kissed her," said Ghost.

"I got cold feet, ok?! I remembered what Price told me and panicked. I sure as hell don't want to hurt her," said MacTavish sighing.

"Too late mate, 'cause you already did. Go and apologize to her and if you're lucky she'll accept your apologies," said Ghost getting back to the game. MacTavish walked outside and Ghost said to himself, "What an arse. When it comes to being a Captain he's ace, but when it comes to women, he sucks at it."

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