Russian Roulette

Chapter Seventy-Three: Exit, Eko and Doc

---Isador---

Doc gave a light laugh as she watched him as he happily strode back toward the warehouse. She had grown comfortable working alone, but she also enjoyed when she had someone to chat with. Someone to share memories with. As she began to get in, waiting for him, Aodhan approached the car. "So, ya takin' lover boy?" He had a smile on his face, and was holding a travel mug that held dark brewed coffee with french vanilla creamer. Aodhan certainly knew his friend well, she loved her some coffee. She returned his smile.

"He wanted to come... Who am I to deny the man a different type of adventure?" Doc leaned a bit on her car again as Aodhan handed her the coffee. "Plenty of times before ya'd done it." He himself did not like when Doc left, either. But unlike Eko, he remained behind, in solidarity. Doc caught onto Aodhan's lingering mood darkening cloud and patted his shoulder.

"Plenty of times before... I decided to change my stance on that... After all, right now it certainly would not hurt to have a man around who can functionally work in this chaotic hell we seem to like calling home." With that she stood, gave Aodhan a quick hug, and slid into her driver seat. Aodhan gave her a smile, and stepped away from the car. "Finn would be proud of ya, Doc... for finally filling that seat." Aodhan pointed at the passenger seat, and before Doc could respond, he turned and disappeared into the building, as he had many times before to her. Doc didn't get to dwell on that heart wrenching phrase long. The sight of a grown man skipping happily all while sounding off like Sponge-Bob on his way to work made her laugh ever so slightly. After he buckled himself in, she flashed him a smile. "Wonderful, let's be on our way then, shall we?" With that she started the car, shifted it into park, and pulled out of the building's towering gates. "Off on an adventure..."

Isador gave a light blush at Aleksei's words about hating that wink. *Me too, love... me too.* Only problem was no matter what, Isador just couldn't seem to stop himself from doing it. He listened intently to Aleksei's words, trying to pick up on just how Aleksei felt about his question. His heart rate once again quickened as Aleksei posed his own question. "N-no.. I..." He stammered, barely getting any words out. Isador felt the fear turning into terror, he no longer was looking at Aleksei. "No, y-you wouldn't...Which... which is why... I trust you... so much..." He began to shake lightly, his mind spiraling down the path of everything that could happen. Isador felt like he was about to burst at the seams with how many emotions were welling up inside him.

Isador's heart just about stopped when he heard the words. *Is this about me? Yeah, love, it is. It really is.* Slowly he brought his gaze back to meet Aleksei's. *This is it. You could be dead here in about two minutes.* He felt tears well up in his eyes as he quietly attempted to speak. "Y-yeah... it's... it's about..." He did his best to maintain eye contact, even though the threatening tears blurred his vision ever so slightly. "It's about me." He gave a nod. A quick, simple nod. Then he closed his eyes, causing a few tears to fall. *Why are you crying? You damn baby!* The cruel voice was back. Isador finally could place who the voice was truly from, but refused to believe that the man it came from could possibly be still haunting him. Softly he spoke, not once opening his eyes nor moving more than his mouth. "My.. my name isn't Ben." He froze then, awaiting a response. *You did it. You told that little girl you'd tell him yourself... Be proud of yourself Isa... even if it does get you killed.*

---Aleksei---

"Yes, we shall." Eko replied as he looked outside of the car's window and he felt conflicted, the destruction was clear but at the same time something about it was oddly calming to him in a weird way. Like a forest fire leaving a path for new life to grow after the destruction. He too could heal and grow after this destruction.

Aleksei felt his heart drop when noticed how much Isador was stammering, he was still scared that Aleksei would hurt him? He is, isn't he? Aleksei looked away from Isador as he continued to speak. You trust me? Do you really? He looked up at Isador just as Isador looked back up at him, he kept his eyes maintained on Isador the entire time as he spoke, reading every single drop of emotion that was vibrating off of him. As he confirmed the obvious, that this topic was about him. Aleksei chuckled, "Yeah, I could guess that it was about you." Aleksei gently pulled his hands away from Isador so he could instead pull him into a hug, "why are you crying? I promise there is no need to cry, no matter what it is we can get through it together. Together. Like we always have" Aleksei kissed the tears off his face as he allowed Isador to continue to speak about the issue, but he froze after hearing Isador admit to his fake name, he knew...he knew where this was going, and he refused to accept this.

He pulled away from Isador with a very fake laugh as he tried to make it seem like he couldn't care, "Okay, your name isn't Benjamin. That's fine, everyone goes by fake names, Eko, Ghost...it's no n- no big deal really, everyone in the mafia does it. See, you were freaking out over nothing." Aleksei started to ramble, he wasn't trying to calm Isador down by not making a big deal about the fake name, no no no, he just wanted Isador to stop talking so he wouldn't say more. He could not say more, Aleksei knew deep deep down what more would be "Ben..don't." Aleksei finally said again, he looked up at Ben...or well...Isador up with his own tears in his eyes.