Chapter 3 - Chapter 3-Aftermath

[Day 3, 2011]

{Credenhill,UK}

Nat sat in the rec room, still recovering from the wound on her leg. She watches the news, her brown loose and a little tousled. Her leg is bound over by a while bandage that's covered by her pants. Gaz sat next to her, glancing at her every so often.

A satellite tracks the nuclear detonation in the Middle East. 'Something has happened...What appears to be an explosion of an epic proportion... Reports remain sketchy and unconfirmed at this time...Damage appears to be total... to set off what appears to have been a nuclear explosion in his own country... Maybe the start of something larger that on whether Al-Asad was among the victims in what may have been a suicidal...What I can see from the hotel here is a mushroom cloud, about 45 by...Continue burning across a massive wasteland, that was once a capital for this thriving nation...'

A satellite uploads a list of 30,000 Marines that are MIA or KIA in the explosion, including Sgt. Paul Jackson, whose name is highlighted. The satellite then tracks Jackson somewhere in the blast radius.

"Dad? You need to see this," Nat looks over to Price, who walks over, his eyes wide seeing the list.

The radio gets garbled up with noises, and a woman begins transmitting. 'Be advised, nuclear detonation detected, fallout predicted within a radius of 7.4 miles, epicenter located at N-G-0-5-8-6-8-0. Personnel within primary affected zone are ordered to commence immediate evacuation. Contamination centers are being established at this time, and they should be operational within 2 hours. Personnel is advised to be there; Personnel with highly elevated levels are advised to seek medical attention at the first available opportunity.'

Later that night,Nat kept Gaz company in the outdoor shooting range. She sat in a chair nearby as Gaz was practicing with his pistol. It was a comfortable silence with foolish talk between Gaz's rounds. Eventually, he sat across from her, taking a beer from a cooler near them.

"Beer?" Gaz offers the young brunette. He's close to his thirtieth birthday while she just had her eighteenth birthday months prior.

"I'm more of a whiskey kinda' girl" She playfully crosses her arms, leaning back against her chair more.

He pulls a bottle of whiskey from the cooler and handed it to her. She grins and opens the bottle.

"So what brought you to the SAS?" Gaz asked her, having always been curious of her background.

She sips her whiskey before she answered "My mom died when I was three,so it was only me and dad. He hated leaving me alone at the base while he was out on missions, so he started training me to join the SAS when I was ten. When I was sixteen, I joined the army then I joined the SAS as soon as I could."

"I'm sorry to hear about your mom." He sincerely says.

"I don't barely remember her," She sighs, "After she had died, my dad wanted me to be able to protect myself so I wound up learning how to shoot when I was six."

Gaz tried to lighten the mood "So he raised a mini version of himself?"He chuckled.

She laughed and grinned "I guess so."

Soap walks alone, listening to the quiet night. He paused hearing quiet noises. He realized it was from around the corner. He glances around the corner and was surprised of what he saw. Natalie was standing against the wall behind her, and she's kissing someone. Soap had taken a second glance before he realized it was Gaz. Soap quickly went back behind the corner before they saw him. He was more in shock then anything.

Their like ten years apart? and isn't Gaz one of Price's best friends? Soap thought.

Nat tries her hardest not to make a sound as Gaz leans down and kisses her neck, she merely closes her eyes and relaxes. Her hands tangle in his hair.

Soap tries to stop glancing around the corner, but he couldn't get his eyes off Nat.

Nat isn't paying any attention, her head stays tilted back as Gaz kisses her neck. Once he stops, he leans back up and cups her cheek, his green eyes looking to her blue eyes.

"You're a mess Lass" Gaz whispers, chuckling a bit. Nat just rests her head on his chest, out of breath. He puts his coat on her, then picks her up bridal style and carries her inside the base. Soap swiftly went into a different building before they saw him. Gaz carries Nat into her bedroom and lays her on her bed. He presses a kiss to her forehead before he vacated the room so Nat can sleep.

Nat slept peacefully that night. Soap, not so much.