INFERNAL WORLD » kyle GAZ garrick

25 - he's one jealous boy

''Well, I'm proud of you, Hermosa,'' Alejandro said, Elena, returned the smile, as she averted her eyes away from the laptop. She had borrowed Gaz's to make a call. She only hoped Gaz wouldn't be upset for using the device for almost forty minutes, as the call had prolonged. She and Alejandro finally had time to catch up. ''I know Laswell's proud of you too. The Captain is honored to have you on his team.''

Elena looked back at the screen and released a deep breath of satisfaction.

''It does feel crazy,'' she said and shrugged. ''I could only hope for something like this.''

''It's what you deserve,''

''I hope so...''

''It is,'' Alejandro nodded and replied in a more serious tone. ''Samuel only wasted his breath trying to break your life again... You've got good people around you. I don't think he does...''

''Yeah,'' Elena chuckled. ''Someone would have been looking for him for the days he was here.''

Alejandro softly laughed.

''No one did! You're right...'' he agreed and nodded, looking down. ''I know... I know things were really tough when everything happened and I wish... I could have been there to kick that asshole to the ground... but I know you're safe with the team. They're... really good people.''

Elena paused before continuing with her retelling about training. Whenever she and Alejandro talked, they sidetracked often, getting away from the original steer of the conversation.

''But yeah... it was good... went well, honestly,'' she spoke. ''It just all... came back to me.''

''I knew it would,'' Alejandro smiled. ''You've kept yourself well over these years. Of course, you never lost your skills.''

''Y-yeah... more like- I just kept wondering whether I'd have the spirit to do them... guess it wasn't a challenge really once I knew I was being tested,'' Elena chuckled. ''I hadn't freerun like that in years... still... it worked out.''

''Well, you keep working and training,'' Alejandro nodded. ''The Vaqueros need me...''

''Yeah,'' Elena laughed softly again. ''We've been on this call for almost an hour.''

''I know we'll see each other soon...''

***

Gaz eagerly kept checking his watch in the hope that Elena would soon open the door and exit, handing her back his laptop. Not that he had anything to hide there, nor was Gaz, as he told himself, jealous of Alejandro.

And soon, after what felt like ages and constant eye flicking toward his watch, Gaz saw Elena's door open.

''Heya,'' Soap greeted, giving her a wave, as he eyed Gaz for a second. ''Took 'ya long.''

''Oh, well- just... sort of had a lot to cover,'' Elena shrugged and smiled, sitting down next to Gaz. ''Plus, we sort of sidetracked every time we started a topic.''

Sidetracked. What did they talk about? Gaz thought, as he had been told, that the two had simply worked together before. Not that it was forbidden to talk to former colleagues but- Gaz stopped himself before he got lost in his thoughts. He had no right to worry or think like that, he told himself.

He looked at Elena, as she passed him the laptop.

''Thank you,'' she said softly but then turned her head to look around. ''Where's Ghost?''

''Off somewhere with Price,'' Gaz replied and placed the laptop on the table in front of them. That evening, it was free from beers or other things.

Elena nodded and sat deeper on the couch.