Chapter 6- In Your Dreams

It had been three weeks since I was transferred to the 141. We hadn't had a call for a mission yet, but we all knew it was coming any day now. I woke up early this morning, wanting to get a good workout in. I changed into athletic wear and headed to the training room. It was empty when I got there to my surprise. Roach had told me that normally Ghost was in here early in the morning, I swear the man never slept.

I put my headphones on, putting on an upbeat rock playlist, and hopped on a treadmill, doing a 5-minute jogging warm up. I moved over to the mats, stretching out as usual. I didn't really want to lift weights today so I settled for some different tumbling tricks I'd learned over the years. Something to get my blood pumping and challenge me. Was it helpful for missions? Not really. But did I enjoy it? Absolutely.

I ran a few more passes before calling it, heading back toward our hallway of the complex. I got tired after a few days of bringing my toiletries caddy back and forth so I left it in one of the shower stalls. The guys had their stuff in there all the time, it's not like they'd use my products. I grabbed my towels from my room, tossing them over my arm and coming face to face with Ghost as we both exited our rooms. I loathe having this man directly across the hall from me.

He was wearing joggers and a fitted black athletic t-shirt, showing off his tattooed arms. I couldn't help but look at him, I felt drawn to him. If he didn't hate me, I'd actually compliment his tattoos, the black ink was intricately done. I wanted to know more about the story behind them and ask who his artist was.

He glared at me from under his mask, his eyes catching mine quickly, I glared back. I didn't understand what I said or did for this man to be so..hostile to me? No, hostile wasn't quite fitting. Cold? Cold felt more correct, he wasn't really mean per se, just frigid and really hard to read.

He broke eye contact first and headed to the training room. "Don't use up the hot water," he said, his voice carrying loudly down the hallway.

I rolled my eyes yelling after him, "Oh back off already. My showers are never that long!"

"Until I figure out everything about you, never."

What the hell was that supposed to mean? I ground my teeth, staring after the man that made my blood boil with only a couple words. Soap poked his head out of his room sleepily, clearly Ghost and I's yelling had woken him up. "What the hell is his damage?" I asked him raising my free arm in a questioning manner.

"Not my story to tell. He takes a while to trust, just give him time." He rubbed a hand over his face, yawning deeply. "I'm going back to bed."

He headed back into his room, the door shutting with a soft click. I headed into the bathroom starting the shower I left my stuff in, letting it warm up. "Don't use up the hot water" I mocked quietly to myself, frustration digging its claws into me.

I undressed, slipping into the shower. I sang quietly. This was my new routine, singing in the shower, it's when I felt the safest and the guys couldn't hear me.When I was finished I toweled off, wrapping up and stepping out of the bathroom. Padding back to my room I changed into some loungewear. I was so ready for a mission at this point, I was getting antsy.

I still had my hair in a towel when a knock came to my door. I opened it to see Roach standing at my door. "Hey Roach, what's up?"

"Mission briefing 1200 sharp!" He smiled and we high fived. We'd just been talking about how ready we were for this last night! He and I had gotten closer over the last few weeks, conversing with him was easy due to our age.

"Let's go! Where do we meet?"

"Common room"

"Copy, thanks!" He headed off towards the common room and I headed back into my room. I pulled my hair out of the towel, it was still pretty damp but I hung my towel up on its hook on my door and headed toward the common room.

Roach, Gaz, and Soap were sitting smushed together on the couch playing Mario Kart on the TV. How they could be so competitive at 9am was beyond me. I had no idea who was winning but they were elbowing each other like no tomorrow. I headed into the kitchen, pulling out what I needed to make an egg casserole for the team. "Y'all hungry?" I called out.

It was a second before anyone responded but I got a resounding "yes" from the three men on the couch. I quickly prepped the dish, popping it into the oven for 30 minutes. I grabbed a banana to snack on while I waited. I headed back into the living space, curling up in the arm chair. I broke pieces of the banana off to eat while I watched them game. They were screaming at each other, elbows flying. They had me dying of laughter when Gaz and Soap collectively decided to shove Roach off the couch after he won for the 5th time in a row.

"Y'all are such poor losers!" I choked out between laughing fits.

"And you eat your banana weird Ms.Open-It-From-The-Bottom. Who even does that?" Soap said calling me out.

I rolled my eyes, "Hey! Monkeys open them like this, and thats their primary diet, so they must be on to something."

"Girl that's weird." Roach commented, shoving himself back between Soap and Gaz.

"I agree with Roach," Ghost said as he walked into the room.

I scoffed, turning to glare at him. "Like you have any room to talk, Ghost. You literally wear a balaclava and a skull mask everywhere. That is weird."

"Having your file redacted and not talking about your past is weird. Makes you real suspicious." He fired back at me but the irony of it made me laugh. At this point my blood was boiling, I had a fire under my skin and it was itching to come out.

"Pot calling kettle black." I spat, my voice laced with venom. I knew his file had some parts redacted, such as his name and picture. He had zero room to call me out for that when I have no control over it and still had zero clue regarding why. I had also been very clear and honest from the beginning that I had nothing to do with the redacted information and tried to be as open as possible.

"Can you two kiss and make up already, your bickering is annoying," Gaz said, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked visibly uncomfortable, even more so than just simply being squished on the couch.

"Over my dead body."

"Only in his dreams!" We said at the same time, disgust evident in both of our tones. We shared another glare at one another. Me kiss Ghost? Not in this world, not in this life, not in this universe. Never.

I all but jumped of my seat when I heard the chime of the oven timer. I wanted out of this room more than I realized, my face flushing. I threw my banana peel away before I grabbed the oven mitts and pulled the casserole out of the oven. I grabbed a spatula and cut it into squares, dishing equal portions out onto 4 plates. Ghost could make his own, if he even decided to eat my food that was clearly not poison. I didn't care what he did.

I carried the plates to the men on the couch and handed them each one and a fork, shoving past Ghost as I went.

On my return, he grabbed my arm, it sent a tingle down my spine. "Y/N, that's enough."

Irolled my eyes and yanked my arm free of his grasp.

"There's food in the kitchen, serve yourself if you're not afraid of me having poisoned it." I smiled sweetly at him despite the obvious venom and hatred in my words. Then I turned, grabbing my plate from the counter and headed back to my spot in the arm chair.

Price walked into the room carrying an iPad a few minutes later. "Oh whatever that it is smells good," he said, eying the food on our plates.

"There's more in the kitchen!" I told him.

"Copy. Since you all are already here, we can go ahead and knock out this briefing. First things first, we're splitting up. Gaz, Roach, and I will be heading to Amsterdam to meet up with Laswell. Ghost, Siren, and Soap, you will be headed to Al Mazrah." I wanted to groan, I hated UAR. What I hated even more that I was on a team with Ghost and that he's my superior. "We have a lead that Hassan is in Al Mazrah, you are to track him down."

"Sounds simple enough," Soap said.

Price pulled up a satellite image of the compound. "You'll be going in with Alpha team, they'll drop Siren here," he circled an area of high ground on the map. "You'll be their cover."

"Copy," I said.

We continued going over the rest of the plan. It seemed like it would be an easy get in and get out. I know it would never be that easy, but I would also never say out loud that it would be easy. It's like saying 'quiet' in the medical field. You just don't do it.

——————————A/N- Fun Fact! I wrote the previous two chapters while on a 7 hour plane trip and this one was written when I was awake for 24 hrs straight! I hope you enjoy!!