Chapter 30:

Everyone, and I do mean everyone turned and looked at the two of us. I felt my cheeks burn, with embarrassment or shame I wasn't sure and quickly lowered my head to look at the very fascinating floor.

"So... Is it true?" Toad asked, confusion evident in his voice and I looked up to see his was looking between us.

"Yes." Ghost replied, glancing at me and I just shrugged, it was out now so might as well tell the truth. "But not the year part, only a couple of months."

"Wow." Meat informed us and it became official, he had a way with words. "So you've been..."

"Don't go there." Ghost warned, shaking his head and Meat just shrugged before grinning at me with a wink and I smiled back, at least he seemed to have forgiven me for what had happened.

"So... Congratulations?" Archer offered, looking at us both unsure and I nodded.

"Thanks I think, so you're ok with it?"

He shrugged and looked at everyone else who just copied the action. "Sure, why not? As long as I don't see it, I don't care. I'm just jealous you get some action around here, the locals want nothing to do with us."

I chuckled and looked at Ghost again with a soft smile. "Ok, I promise you won't notice any difference."

"Well then, back to the party!" Ozone shouted and the group took up a cheer, Scarecrow starting the music back up. I looked towards base and smirked when seeing Shepherd storming off, unsatisfied with the teams reaction.

Poet walked over and nudged my arm so I smiled at him. "Thanks man, you really helped me out there."

"Ah, no worries. I could see by your face that wasn't how you wanted it to go down. You shouldn't have worried though, you're one of us so it's not like we were going to push you away because of it." He handed me another beer and slapped my shoulder. "Just keep the contact private, I don't need to see no kissing or anything else."

I laughed, taking the drink gratefully. "Trust me, you won't even notice the difference."

"Hey Roach!" Ozone called and we both looked at him. "Because you and Ghost are in a relationship, does that mean we can't beat you up now?"

"And why would you want to do that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Because you left us man!"

I snorted, rolling my eyes but smiled anyway. "I don't think Ghost gives a shit either way."

"Good, because you need a good ass whooping after what happened!"

"I look forward to it." I muttered the words but Poet heard and laughed before joining the others as Ghost walked over to me. "What is it?"

"Can we talk?" He asked quietly, almost hesitantly and I nodded, following him inside base and frowned as he led us to my room. I unlocked the door and followed him in.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked, leaning against the desk as he stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"Well… you see…" He paused with a heavy sigh and shook his head with a soft chuckle. "God, what the hell am I doing?"

I frowned, walking towards him and took his shade off, placing them on the side carefully before dipping my fingers under his mask to pull it off. Ghost looked at me, an odd expression on his face, he looked terrified. "What's wrong?" I whispered, tracing the side of his face. "Simon, whatever it is, you can tell me."

He relaxed at the call of his name and exhaled slowly, giving me a quick smile. "Alright…" My eyes widened in shock when he got down on one knee, pulling a box from his back pocket. "Marry me?"

Whatever I was expecting, it sure as hell wasn't that and I just stood there, looking at Simon in utter shock. After a few moments he coughed pointedly and shifted slightly. "An answer would be good Gary." He half joked, half pleaded with me.

"You're off your nut." I told him and he sighed, standing up and went to put the box away and it was then I realised what I said must seem like. "No, no I'm not saying no."

"So what are you saying?"

I smiled, moving forward to cover his hand with my own and nodded. "Of course I'll marry you, idiot. But the likelihood is it won't last long, not with our life span anyway."

He grinned back and lent forward to kiss me. "Mmm, I know what you mean. Between getting our asses shot at, at least twice a week and your death wish, I'll be lucky to keep you for a year." He kissed me again before pulling his hand free to open the box and I saw it contained two silver rings.

I held out my hand and winked at him. He just scoffed and slid one onto my ring finger before handing me the other and I read the inscription on the inside. "Roach?"

He shrugged. "Yours says Ghost."

"And here was me thinking you weren't a romantic." I joked, sliding the ring onto his finger before grinning at him. "Hell I didn't even think you'd want to get married."

"Guess you changed my mind. I honestly didn't think I'd ever have a serious relationship until you came along and screwed things up."

"So romantic." I sighed, placing a hand over my heart before grinning. "So… do you want to go back out to the party, or stay in here and do some celebrating of our own?" I asked, sitting down on the bed to look at him coyly.

Simon rolled his eyes, walking over to me and sat down, quickly pushing me back to lean over me. "I vote for the latter." He murmured against my lips before kissing me again. After a few moments he pulled back and smiled softly at me, gently tracing his thumb over my cheek. "I love you." He spoke the words softly and I'd never believed him more than I did now and couldn't help but grin back.

"I love you too."

He smiled back, leaning down to kiss me again.

Of course, our blissful solitude didn't last long as the comms rang out sharply after a few hours. "New mission, briefing room, ten minutes." Soap spoke out in broken fragments. Apparently our captain had too much to drink and was now suffering the consequences.

I groaned, untangling myself from Simon's body and stood up to stretch. I paused when I felt his eyes on me and turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "What? See something you like?"

"Nah, not really."

"Bastard." I laughed, throwing his clothes at him before changing myself.

"Ouch, careful or I might start thinking you don't love me." He teased, wrapping his arms around my waist to pull me back against his chest. "Can't have that now, can we?"

I snorted, nudging him in the ribs to let go and sighed. "Come on, Soap sounded pissed off, we don't want to get on his bad side by being late."

He shrugged and pulled his jacket back on before grabbing his shades and mask from the table. "Shepherd is probably been on his ass about earlier, so I can't imagine he's in much of a good mood." He pulled his mask on and slipped his shades into place, becoming Ghost once again and opened the door for me. "At least we don't have to sneak around anymore."

"Well, one good thing came of Shepherd's announcement then." Ghost chuckled, shutting the door and fell in step beside me with practiced ease as we made our way towards the briefing room. "Do you think this will ever change?"

"What?"

"Being dragged out of bed and ungodly hours for missions?"

"Nope, some things never change." He grabbed my hand, giving it a soft squeeze before letting go again. "Us included."

I nodded in agreement and smiled at him as we reached the briefing room. "Now that, I can agree to."