It's been some time, but here is the next chapter. And we finally realised that writing on Tumblr (what we're doing every day) makes much more sense XD

We hope you enjoy this chapter, we're looking forward to your feedback :)

Unfortunately, they didn't reach their goal of the day – when the sun started to set and dipped the forest in a red and golden glow, they were still a good mile away from the river. Rafael's broken ankle slowed them down more than she'd anticipated, even though he'd found a thick stick to use as a walking aid and Olivia had shifted the heavy gear into her pack. But nothing could be done about the uneven forest ground, often threatening to throw Rafael off balance if he wasn't supported by her.

The only good thing was that they'd found a small stream to refill their canteens at and they decided to set up their camp for the night, both too exhausted to walk any longer.

"Well, it's not the Hilton, but I guess it'll do for the night," Barba said as he shifted his pack off his shoulders and practically collapsed onto the ground next to it. Benson followed suit, dropping her noticeably larger pack next to his.

"It's sheltered from the wind, close to water, and the moss should help with comfort. It's the Hilton of the woods," Benson said with a wink, earning a tired smile from her comrade.

"I love it when you humour me, Benson," he replied wistfully and leaned back against a tree.

"Don't get too used to it." After wiping a little bit of sweat from her forehead she opened her pack and pulled two energy bars out, tossing one at him – her stomach was growling loudly. "Dinner is served."

"Ah, the room service at 'Hilton of the woods' is just as legendary as I've heard," Barba joked, grinning at her mischievously. "Where's the entertainment program?"

Liv rolled her eyes. "Maybe you stay at hotels featuring exotic dancers, but the Hilton is a classy joint, Colonel. The Hilton of the woods is no exception."

A mocking pout wiped the pained expression away from his face completely for a moment as he looked at her. "I thought you could…"

He didn't finish the sentence immediately as he saw her rising her rifle ever so slightly, rolled his eyes and continued with a wink: "... could demonstrate how to remove a sports bra easily."

She pushed down the blush that was threatening to expose how much his words affected her. World's biggest asshole or not, Rafael Barba was a damn good looking man and she couldn't deny that he had his own kind of charm. And well, trained elite soldier or not, she was still a human being with needs. He wasn't completely unappealing to her with his daring way and hell, her body was calling out for relief. In that moment she wanted to throw her weapon aside and stride over to him. She imagined the look of surprise on his face if she stripped down to the bra in question and settled herself on his lap.

Maybe that could render him speechless for once… green eyes wide while he looked at her, unsure if she was only teasing him or seriously wanted him to touch her…

Heat rose inside of her and a part of her begged her to do it, but then the rational part of her brain took over again, scolding her for her unprofessional thoughts. She really needed to get herself laid when they got home, if she was getting the hots over Barba it really had to be bad.

Surprisingly it took her some more willpower than anticipated to bring herself under control, but upon replying she congratulated herself when her voice came out even and unbothered. "In your dreams, Barba."

He smirked at her in a way that made a shiver run down her spine and replied: "Well, those are going to be sweet dreams."

She unbuckled her rifle from the harness and put it next to her on the ground before ripping the wrapping of the bar open and biting a too big bite off.

"You should get your foot up," Liv said, her mouth still full of energy bar.

"Sorry, what was that, Benson? I couldn't understand you with the entire energy bar in your mouth."

She glared at him, but waited until finishing and taking a drink from her canteen before repeating herself. "I said, you should get your foot propped up. It will help with the swelling, as I'm sure you know."

He grumbled something under his breath she didn't catch, then he asked: "Can I get more painkillers? My ankle is hurting like hell and the boot isn't helping it."

Olivia was just shoving his pack over the ground with her foot, but as she heard the pained tone in his voice she stopped."You do remember that we have to ration them, right?"

"Oh, come on, Benson. Don't make me say 'please'! It would ruin my reputation if I had to beg!"

"Barba, you're going to have to wait until the eight hours are up. We just don't have enough for you to take them closer together," she explained, trying not to sound patronizing. In an attempt to distract him, she bent over to drag the pack the rest of the way, stopping right in front of him. "There, put your foot on your pack. The change in position will help with the pain."

Barba rolled his eyes and muttered profanities under his breath that Benson tactfully ignored, moving to reposition her own pack and retrieve the blanket.

"You should try to get some rest. I'll take the first watch." She tossed the blanket towards him, then took another few sips of water.

"Is this the turn down service Hilton of the woods is famous for?" Barba joked. "I must say that I prefer a chocolate on my pillow, but I'll take what I can get."

Olivia grumbled something about him being an ungrateful, nit-picky ass and wished she could just cuddle in and forget where she was.

Of course she was just as exhausted as he was, maybe even more, as she'd been half carrying him for several miles, but she was relatively positive that she would be able to stay awake for some more hours. "If you sleep the time until your next dose will pass a lot quicker, and you're not able to annoy me."

"Yes, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you with my pain and suffering, Colonel," Barba snarked at her, arranging the blanket over his torso and settling back against the tree.

They were both quiet for a few minutes, Liv focused on the sounds of the forest around them and Rafael trying not to cry out in pain. Finally he couldn't hold it in any longer, and almost gasped out, "Okay, the change in position did nothing for the pain. It's getting worse."

Olivia looked at him, trying to think of anything she could do for him, but no matter how much she wrecked her brain, she only came to the conclusion that she'd done everything that she'd been taught in the first aid courses. She didn't know where it came from, but she suddenly felt sorry for him; she didn't like to see him grimacing in pain.

Maybe they weren't best mates, tended to have a fierce rivalry about whose unit was the better trained one and usually communicated over insults when they happened to come across each other. But still he was a comrade, and she didn't want him to suffer, even if she thought that he was one of the most annoying persons she'd ever met.

And then, she did the only thing she could think of – talk.

"Once Fin and I were on a Special Ops mission as support. I was the sniper, he was my spotter, and it was damn boring. We were lying on that rooftop for hours, the sun cooking us alive, and we told us stories about our youth to keep us occupied."

A light chuckle left her at the memory of what came after that. "So, time passed, and I noticed how Fin's stories about his life in the hood were getting weirder, but I thought that the sun was messing with our heads. Well, until he claimed that his father left the family to join the circus to become a dancing bear. It turned out that the abandoned building we took position on was actually a drug lab for some local mob and we were both high as fuck. Needless to say that we weren't of much use after that, and the guy who'd planned the mission got a decent ass chewing for being fooled by his local contacts."

Barba tried to force a smile but a pained grimace was all he could muster. "Sounds like an op Calhoun and I were running a few years ago. Except we discovered the lab, seized the drugs, and arrested the drug lord while still eliminating our target."

Liv glared at him and his seemingly pathological need to one-up her. "Well I see that at the very least the pain hasn't affected your ability to be an ass."

"You're just mad that I worked with the best people while they left you two in a situation that made everyone look like rookies. It annoys you that I'm better than you."

"You, better than me?" Olivia cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "The painkillers are making you delirious, Barba."

They glowered at each other for a long moment, then he rolled his eyes and said stiffly: "Look, I know what you're trying to do, and I appreciate the effort, but I think I'll see if I can get some sleep now."

He moved around slightly, trying in vain to get more comfortable. Finally he sighed, stopped moving and just stared up at the darkening sky.

Benson moved to sit against a tree a few feet to Barba's left, the position giving her the best lookout. She could feel the night creeping in, and wanted nothing more than a warm bed to snuggle in for a solid week. Trying to get rid of those tempting and frivolous thoughts, she shook her head. While holding her rifle she leaned her head back against the tree, her eyes adjusting to the fading light while she listened into the forest. Everything seemed so peaceful – a light breeze was rustling through the leaves, the animals of the forest went to sleep while others woke, and nothing reminded her of the chaos they'd been in a few hours earlier.

For the first time she really had time to think about what might have happened to Fin, Rollins, Carisi and the others, and she hoped that they'd made it out. At least with Fin she had no doubts; he'd survived situations that had been way tougher, and sometimes she was convinced that nothing and nobody was able to bring him down.

The last bit of light vanished from between the trees and Olivia found it harder and harder to completely focus on her surroundings, her exhausted body begging her for rest. Her eyelids were getting heavier and her head sank towards her chest from time to time.

Suddenly her senses all went into high alert and she reacted automatically, jumping up onto her knees with her rifle pointing toward the danger.

"What, is it a crime to lay on your side now?" Barba said snidely, looking at the business end of her rifle with a bored expression. "I might as well take over watch. You're obviously exhausted and I can't sleep from the pain anyway. I'll wake you when it's finally time for my next dose."

She wanted to decline but ultimately nodded and curled around her pack, a brief thought crossing through her mind – maybe he wasn't such an ass after all? Barba held back a comment about her actually listening to him for once, and watched her fall asleep in mere moments.

Her head was lying on her pack while her fingers were curled around her rifle, holding it tightly as if it anchored her somewhere. The fact that she hadn't even noticed that she didn't have a blanket to warm her or simply didn't care showed him that it had been the right decision, and while he listened to the natural sounds of the forest he kept an eye on her sleeping form.

OoO

The helicopter blew dust and leaves up as he landed on the dry meadow, and the soldiers, some sprinting, others limping towards it, had to squint to keep the sand from landing in their eyes. One heavily wounded man was carried by Carisi and Dodds and was loaded in first, then the others followed, all looking battered and exhausted. Rita grit her teeth as she approached the helicopter as one of the last ones, blood staining her right shoulder and upper arm, but nonetheless she kept her finger on the trigger of her rifle, ready to give the others cover.

Fin stepped next to her while his eyes continued to scan the terrain for any signs of trouble. "We're almost ready to leave, Calhoun. I'll cover while you get in!" he shouted over the noise of the helicopter.

Rita's stomach clenched. "I don't think we should be leaving without Benson and Barba!" she yelled back, flicking her gaze over to him for only a second; both their faces were coated with dirt and dried blood. "What if they see the chopper and are one their way here now?"

"Ma'am, our order is to get back to base!" he replied, puzzled by her words – he'd always thought Calhoun to be a 'stick by the books' type of officer.

"Never leave a man behind, that's what we swore! We don't know if they're dead, and if there's the slightest chance for us to find them alive, I'll take it! I'll stay behind with a small team!"

Determination and stubbornness, mixed with pain, were shining in her green eyes and Fin could barely believe that she was saying this.

"With all due respect, Ma'am, we barely made it here alive! We need to retreat! You're injured, we're low on ammo, and everyone's exhausted. It's not like we're not coming back!"

He knew exactly that he was stepping on thin ice, and while he didn't feel good about leaving Olivia behind in enemy territory either, he thought it to be worth the risk to keep Calhoun from sending the ones of them who were still able to fight on a suicide mission.

He was right.

She knew it, she just didn't want to admit that what was supposed to be a simple extraction mission had gone so badly that both of their unit's commanding officers were currently MIA. Maybe it was guilt that was driving her to think that going back with a small team to rescue them was a good idea; she'd taken command of the rest of the soldiers once they'd realised that the Colonel's Benson and Barba were missing, and on their run to the extraction point they'd lost two more soldiers.

Also, in all the years that she'd been Barba's second in command, he'd never let her down. The thought of leaving him behind, and that that could mean his and Benson's death… it almost made her feel sick. Or maybe that was from the burning pain coming from the bullet wound in her shoulder, she didn't know.

"Colonel, please!"

Rita looked at Tutuola and realized that he was the only person who could convince her to get in the chopper right now. She chose to believe that was due to his deep friendship with Benson, and her belief that he wouldn't leave her behind unless absolutely necessary. Anything more just wouldn't make sense. Resigned to the decision to retreat, Rita gave him one sharp nod before she turned to board the helicopter.
Fin stayed behind her ready to steady her if necessary, then climbed in himself. Calhoun turned to signal the pilots that they were ready for take off.

When the chopper ascended quickly, Rita slumped back against the wall, knees pulled to her chest while she closed her eyes in exhaustion and defeat. All her muscles were aching and for a moment she felt like she'd failed.
She didn't notice that Fin was gazing over to her and saw how she shook her head to get rid of her own negativity, told herself to pull herself together.
It wasn't over yet.
They would come back and bring Benson and Barba home.