Hotel Six: A Call of Duty Fanfiction

Chapter 45: Snuff the Flames

Galaxy paced on the top of the hill by the team, legs stiff and hide rippling. Price came up the hill and tripped, falling into a deep drift of snow, and he released a chuckle in a puff of white. She wrinkled up her muzzle at him, azure eyes narrowed.

"Price, what the fuck?" asked Ghost.

"It's part of a plan, Lieutenant," Price replied. "Trust me."

"What fucking plan?!"

Soap cut between them. "Everyone, keep your heads on, we've got to get movin' before the Russians regroup and track us down. We're headin' for LZ Echo to the east. Ghost..." He looked to his Lieutenant. "Take point, we'll talk more about this when we're out of enemy territory."

Ghost raised his eyes to Price, rage glowing in them like a wildfire. "... Yes, sir." He took a step back, motioning for Bravo Team to follow. "C'mon, you heard the Captain." And with that, they were gone.

Galaxy stayed in the back, doing her best not to look at Price. She felt something hot deep inside her like she had swallowed an ember. It made her sick, but she couldn't decide if it was because she was worried about the fate of America, or because she was so livid with him that it made her stomach feel curdled.

She felt his hand graze her back and whirled around with a savage snarl, her nape bristling and tail raised aggressively.

"I thought you knew better than to bare your teeth at your Captain?" Price jeered with a crooked smile.

"In case you haven't noticed, you're not my Captain anymore; MacTavish is," she growled in response.

She brushed past him and he scoffed. "Rank isn't muscle tone; you don't lose it just because you haven't used it in a while."

"You've been gone for two years," she said, looking over her shoulder at him. "You don't get to suddenly come back and run the show. It's not about your rank, it's about how much I trust you, and as of right now, I don't."

"You don't trust me?" he asked. "How could you not trust me, you know me..."

"How could I possibly know you? You fired a goddamn nuke at my home country, Price! My family and my friends are there! You risked the lives of people I care about, that I'm fighting to protect, just so you could, what? Make a statement? Show Makarov how little civilians mean to you when you're set on winning? The Price I knew wouldn't do that... But the Makarov I know, would."

He was eerily quiet and there seemed to be a shadow cast across his face. "You wound me," he rumbled, walking past her. "I didn't risk anyone's life, Lone Wolf, that nuke is set so it detonates in the atmosphere over the east coast. It'll down the power and Russians' equipment, and the Americans will have a fighting chance to push them back. So, actually, I saved your people, and if you think for a moment that I'm so cruel and uncaring as Makarov..." He saw that her expression had softened to a look of surprise and confusion, and he felt a pang of hurt. He could bear to see it and turned away. "... Look, the only life I put at risk out there was mine; if I'd died on that sub, you and Bravo Team all still could have gotten away. The Makarov I know, wouldn't do that."

She was trembling ever so slightly and her eyes stung with tears. "We wouldn't have gotten away because I couldn't leave you again," she said, her voice deepened by a lump in her throat. "Before you launched that missile, I was getting ready to come after you. I lost you once, I couldn't do it again."

Price was silent, and for a moment, she wondered if she'd said too much. He began to walk again, this time more slowly. "Come on, Gal," he said softly. "We can't keep them waiting for too long."

Galaxy shifted as he walked on without her, keeping her distance. "I'm sorry, Price," she said after a minute of quiet. "I've been through a lot, even just in the time you were gone... When someone deviates from the plan, it scares me; people die- people I love die- and when someone threatens my people..."

He halted so that she ended up beside him and he grasped her wrist. She flinched and he loosened his grip a little. "I know. You defend them; I've always admired that bout you," he said. "Makarov took a lot from me, too, when I was in the Gulag, and I don't want more people. That's why I need you to trust me." His blue eyes met hers, calm and surprisingly gentle compared to how dark they had looked moments before. "I'm not going to hurt anyone, especially not the people we're fighting for."

Jessica held his gaze, however vulnerable it made her feel, and she finally closed her eyes and bowed her head, exhaling a thin, white cloud. "Okay... I'll trust you," she said quietly. "But please tell me the next time you do something that might give me a heart attack; I can't hack that kind of stress."

Price chuckled and pulled her close into a side hug as he continued to walk. "I can manage that," he said.

She put her hand on his shoulder and fell in step with him. "I've really missed you, John. You're scaring the hell out of me, but it's good to have you back."

He grinned warmly, his grip on her side tightening. "I've missed you, too, Jess. It's been a long two years."