Bittersweet | Simon Riley

FIVE

Belle shifted awkwardly as Captain Price stood in front of her, his arms crossed as he awaited an answer from the girl. An answer which she had to give now, as in right now. She stared up at the man, not quite sure how to answer though. It was the offer which could help her get closer to the men who she was working with, help her create a bond with them and even give her a chance to help people who she'd never meet. Captain Price stared down at her and while he wasn't intimidating to her, the weight of his question was heavy. But she took the risk.

"Yeah, I can sit in." Belle answered with a small nod, her eyes shifting between the Captain and the notebook which she'd been writing in before he had walked in the room. While she'd been at the base for some time now, she only saw the busy man when he showed up to her office to bring something to her attention.

"Good," Price nodded as if that was the only acceptable answer and Belle glanced back to him. She could understand why Price would want her to sit in on a meeting, yet she didn't know that that entailed. "I want you to see my men in a different environment then here." Belle raised her eyebrows at that, looking around her cozy office for a split second then returning her eyes back to Price with a small frown.

"Should I be worried?" Belle asked and this caused a small, amused smile to appear on the older man's face. Belle knew deep down that the men who she spoke to within the safe walls of her office most likely didn't act the same way outside of them, especially in such a professional environment, but the way that Price worded his sentence made her mind race. "About their behavior? Is it different?" She added on, elaborating her question further to try and better understanding on the situation to come.

"They're soldiers in a controlled setting." Price simply says as if that explains everything which makes Belle shift her feet a little, trying to decipher what that exactly meant in her head. Her thoughts went in a thousand directions, but she hoped that if anything, the early morning meeting with the group of men who she'd been speaking to over the last few weeks would roll over without an issue. "You'll see." Price said which was probably meant to be reassuring but left Belle packing her bag and thinking about how she didn't even know the topic of the meeting which was quickly approaching.

An hour and a half later Belle found herself walking down a hallway which she hadn't been down before, passing by empty large meeting rooms which tables in the center and dark turned off televisions which in normal circumstances would show details of normal meetings amongst soldiers and leaders. Yet it was too early for that, not even ten in the morning on the base and she knew most commanders liked to hold their meeting during the afternoon. With the seeming exception of Price. Belle finally found the room she was meant to be at and slipped inside, holding a notebook and her eyes scanning over the familiar faces with a soft smile. She was relieved when a few of the men nodded to her, some smiling yet none seeming thrown off by the fact she was joining them. Price patted her gently on the shoulder as he moved past her, entering the room only a few seconds after her and he glanced to an open chair near the head of the table.

"You can take a seat next to Ghost." Price informed her and Belle's eyes moved to the masked man who was sitting with his eyes locked on her. Belle's eyes locked with his and she shifted her footing a little, not really wanting to sit with him, preferring the company of Gaz or Soap more then Ghost's. At least they would give her something to talk to about during their sessions, even if it was just stories from their missions rather than topics which were usually talked about within therapy. She spotted the two of them sitting across from Ghost.

"Sir, I don't think," Belle went to say but Price had already started to move away from her and she wasn't going to make a fool of herself by chasing after him to ask if she could sit somewhere else. She was an adult, and she could deal with sitting by Ghost for an hour, maybe she'd even get to hear him say something which wasn't completely argumentative. With a small shift in her stance, she made her way towards the free seat and placed her notebook and journal down before taking a seat. Gaz and Soap smiled at her from across the table, welcoming as the rest of the room full of soldiers could be. "Hello Simon." Isabelle said as she took the seat, rolling the chair closer to the table and making sure to keep some safe distance between the two of them.

"Isabelle." Ghost greeted her back with a grunt, clearly not happy about their assigned seating. Isabelle waited for a moment to see if he was going to say anything else, but he fell into silence, keeping his eyes on his two best friends across the table so Belle moved her attention to one of the other soldiers sitting at the table who happily started a conversation with her. Before long though, the room fell into silence and the group of soldiers locked their attention onto Captain Price as he began telling them about a mission coming up within the next few weeks and how they would need to prepare for that. Part of that very preparation was getting a psychological clearance from Belle herself and when he announced that part, Belle could feel the eyes shift to her which made her shift just slightly in her chair. She offered the eyes a smile, knowing she wouldn't make it hard for them.

"Moving on from that," Price said and continued on with the meeting as other soldiers walking past in the hall, glanced into the room curiously as to what the elite team could be talking about so early. As time passed in the meeting room, Belle took small notes for herself so she could ask the men questions in their upcoming sessions and she also paid attention to the body language of everyone in the room, seeing how they responded to different pieces of information being handed out. She glanced over when she could practically feel Ghost's hot gaze locked on her rather than Price who was still speaking.

"You frustrate me incredibly." Ghost simply said to her, his voice low and eyes flickering between Belle and the notebook in her hands. She shifted in her seat so he couldn't see what she was writing because it was none of his business.

"Then stop paying attention to me." Belle responded, just as quietly as she wrote down another detail she had picked up. She watched as Ghost tried to tilt his head to see what she was writing but she moved once again. If he wanted to make her life hard, she would return the favor.

"Can't." Ghost said with a roll of his eyes and picked up his own pen to write something down in his own journal, keeping his own notes on the meeting but more focused on the information being thrown at him then the behavior of those around him. Except for Belle who kept shifting every few minutes, always writing something down, her soft eyes focusing on everyone. Everyone except him. He felt solidly annoyed at her mere presence in the room of soldiers.