Reliant ~ [John Soap MacTavish]

XL. Frosted Glass

My eyes linger on the edge of the frosted glass door. There's a damaged bit there, catching my attention as I have nothing else to focus on. I hadn't noticed it before, even though I had been to Price's office several times.

Keegan's voice reaches me in muffled tones, the glass door acting as an effective barrier. I make no effort to decipher his words, though even if I tried, I probably wouldn't be able to.

I can, however, catch the tone of Keegan's voice, and there's no trace of anger or irritation. His words are delivered in a straightforward, matter-of-fact manner.

Price, on the other hand, hasn't spoken much. But each time his voice reaches my ears, it carries a tinge of hesitation and skepticism.

Keegan didn't tell me what he was planning on telling Price, even though I had asked multiple times. My mind is going over every possible thing he could be saying to him, waiting for the door in front of me to open, but my thoughts are going so fast that I can't quite keep up.

Finally, the door opens, breaking the tension that had settled in the hallway. Keegan emerges first, his expression betraying little to nothing. He glances at me briefly before his gaze shifts away. Price follows, his face adorned with a skeptical frown.

"Alex," he tips his head down, his voice still hesitant as he motions for me to sit.

My feet move before my brain registers, and I sit down in the chair as silently as possible. When I finally sit down, legs uncrossed, I look up at Price, and to my surprise, he does not look furious.

His brows hang a little lower than usual, yes, but he looks nowhere near as angry as I thought he would.

"Keegan told me what happened."

I instinctively bite down on the inside of my cheek, but I make sure to keep my eyes on his. If not in a way of proving myself, then in a simple gesture of respect. "I'm genuinely sorry, sir. I'm not quite sure what to say."

He nods, looking down at a stack of papers in front of him as he aligns the edges, waiting for me to continue.

"I didn't think everything would go the way that it did. I should've been honest from the moment I changed my mind."

"I couldn't have expected that from you," he says, eyes finding mine again. "I understand you were hesitant with that."

"I shouldn't have been," I drop my hands to my lap, sitting forward a little. "You and your team have given me nothing but trust ever since I got here. Trust that I did not deserve then."

"You weren't going to go through with it?" he nods, knowingly. "Why?"

"I-" I stop, clenching my jaw and thinking about what to say for a moment when I feel Keegan's presence shift behind me. "I'm not sure what Keegan told you, sir, but things haven't exactly been right at Spike."

He sits back as I tell him everything I figured out about my past. By the slight twitches of muscles in his face I can tell Keegan hadn't told him everything. And even though my main reason not to go through with the betrayal was Soap, I deliberately left the fact out. I'm wary of how Price might react, and I'm not inclined to dig my grave any deeper than it already is.

"Listen, Alex," he sighs, leaning back. "I'm not going to downplay this. Planning to betray us is a serious matter, and I won't pretend otherwise."

I nod, "I understand sir."

"—Price," Keegan tries cutting in, his hand finding the backrest of the chair I'm sitting on, but Price is quick to continue.

"—That doesn't mean I have no remorse or understanding for your situation," he says, placing his arms on the table again, shooting Keegan a quick look. "Since we still need to continue our mission of ending Spike's weapon plan, I'm willing to discuss your stance on that."