Rainbow Six: November Sun

59: "OPEN ARMS & ACCOLADES"

Lera raised her eyebrows, hoping she hadn't misheard her. "Hm?"

"Okay," Natalya repeated with a toothy smile.

"Oh! That is... well. Amazing." Lera let out a mighty sigh of relief.

Natalya was still beaming. "Look at you, getting nervous on my account. Aw."

"Shut up."

Their laughter echoed through the hotel room. Natalya blew some air gently over her coffee. "Thank you, Lera."

"For what?"

"For having the balls to ask. I was trying to figure out how to ask it, myself. Honestly, I don't know if I would have."

Lera leaned in to kiss the woman's cheek. "No pressure," she said. "No expectations. I don't want you to worry about any of that, okay? Especially with all you have going on right now."

Natalya smiled ruefully. "Same to you," she managed.

"I was thinking - and, I mean, tell me if this is too much, but...." Lera cleared her throat again and shifted nervously. "You know what? No. It's too much."

"What is it? You can tell me."

Lera bit her lip. "Do you need help packing?" she asked. Her words came out shakier than she would have liked. Her mouth was dry again. "At y-your house, I mean. Of course. I mean, where else would you be packing, obviously, and I know this might be a little hasty, or even weird, and I just wanted to spend some more time together, and figured I could help and—"

Natalya's face softened. She watched Lera stumble through her feelings, and all she could feel was a fluttering of her heart that she had not felt in many years. Subtle tears wet her eyes, and Natalya set down her coffee and put a hand on Lera's knee. "I would love that."

"—you know? So just tell me if you don't—" Lera stopped mid-sentence. "Sorry, what?"

"I would love that," Natalya repeated. She took it upon herself to take Lera's coffee mug from her, and set it down on the table. "Come here," she whispered with open arms.

Lera obliged. The two hugged tightly and did nothing else but savor the solace they found in each other's arms. The minutes passed, but neither of them cared.

In those moments, in that thunderous quiet, the world beyond their hotel window mattered not - and Finka would not have had it any other way.

*               *               *

RAINBOW HQ - SITUATION ROOM

The entire Rainbow company of operators was
present in the briefing room later that afternoon, five minutes early as usual.

"It was bullshit," Blackbeard was saying half-sarcastically. "I didn't even get to fire a shot."

Warden chuckled. "Me neither."

"Or me," Alibi chimed.

"Good thing," came Caveira. "A job well done."

Castle crossed his arms over his chest. "You're not wrong, Taina. But it still would've been nice to squeeze the trigger." He raised his voice and pointed over at Blitz and IQ, who sat a few rows over. "And then you have these two over here, who are just like, "Nah. I got this. Hold my beer and stand the fuck back."

A round of laughter erupted throughout the room.

"And let's not forget our SDU comrades," called Tachanka. "Good shit. Siu and Liu killed it."

Bandit stood. He lifted his notebook and tapped it with a pencil gallantly. "Everyone, shut the fuck up. I would like to make a toast."

A balled up piece of paper arced through the air and smacked the man in the face before bouncing harmlessly to the floor. More laughter sounded all around.

Bandit remained standing. He turned and gestured towards a few rows back. "That was quite fast, Elena. I didn't even hear you roll that up."

"I had it ready," Mira answered. "I knew you'd be doing some bullshit."

The man put a hand to his chest as if in pain. "Wow. I will remember that in simulation when you ask for my devices to be posted at your mirrors. I will say, 'Fuck no.' Nothing more, nothing less."

Smoke tore a page from his notepad and began balling it up, and Bandit held up a finger. "Porter? No. Stop! You know not what you're doing!"

"Did you just quote the Bible?" Jäger asked with a grin.

"Yes. Maybe." Bandit shrugged. "Probably. But seriously, everyone." He gestured extravagantly to Blitz and IQ. "Let's hear it for these two. They rushed a counterattack and took down four hostiles - while taking a frag. Kötz, Weiss; cheers to you both. Glad you didn't die."

Blitz and IQ grinned, and waved their hands all around as if on parade.

"And, let us not forget..." Bandit turned and pointed to Tachanka. "Our Lord Tachanka, Savior of All. King of—"

"Dominic," Alexsandr boomed, "I will kill you where you stand if you don't stop with that bullshit."

"I don't know," came Hibana. She winked at Bandit before turning in her seat to face Alex. "I've always liked 'Lord Chanka.' Has a ring to it."

Tachanka narrowed his eyes. "Always?" he echoed. "How long has this been going on?"

The door opened before anyone could answer, and Director Six walked in briskly, folders in-hand. "Good afternoon," he called, and a volley of greetings sounded in reply.

Harry reached the front podium. Ash hit the switch in the back of the room to dim the lights while the man turned on the wall monitors and opened a dossier.

"And we find ourselves here again." Harry looked out at his operators with a smile. "I want to thank those of you who conducted the operation in D.C. It was a difficult situation, but that's what we're all paid for. Now, without further ado, let's debrief on the November Sun threat."