"I'm just saying, there's a lot of talent here, and we would win." Dalton said simply.

Jaz scoffed,

"Please, Hannah and I could easily take all of you."

"Those are fighting words Jazzy" McG said with an amused grin.

"You're saying you could take out four trained soldiers, just you and Hannah." Preach said.

"I'm willing to bet on it," Jaz said, and glanced over at Noah. "I'll even let you have Noah"

"Wait I don't see how I just got roped into this," Noah said

"All right I'll take that deal. Losing team buys drinks." Dalton said

"I thought we were supposed to be heading to a military ball?" Noah said as the group stood, talking smack as they gathered weapons. "Anyone?"

Preach put a paintball rifle in his hand and patted him enthusiastically on the back.

"We'll get there" he said.

Noah looked down at the weapon in his hand and shrugged.

"If you can't beat 'em" he muttered to himself.

"I've got eyes on two tango's coming up on our left," Hannah said, crouched beside Jaz.

Jaz turned her scope slightly to the right and was barely able to make out the forms of Preach and Amir.

"Oh they are making this way too easy," Jaz said, easing her rifle up on the outcropping of rocks they hid behind. She aimed for the center of Amir's chest, knowing if she took Preach out first, Amir would dart off too fast for her to line up a second shot. There was a loud thwack behind her, and orange paint splattered her arm as a paintball exploded on the rocks. A second shot whizzed by so close it moved the loose strands of hair at her temple.

"Dammit Top!" Jaz grunted, hitting the ground and signalling for Hannah to sprint for different cover. She fired a few retaliating shots off, and smirked as Dalton dove for cover.

"Told you I could outsmart you!" Dalton yelled from behind a large tree.

"Keep dreaming pal!" Jaz shot back.

"You're already split up, you should probably just give up!"

Jaz rolled her eyes, and had a retort at the tip of her tongue when she heard loud shuffling approaching from behind. She frowned briefly before recognizing Dalton's plan and squeezed herself between two rocks, out of sight of the approaching person.

Noah snuck in hesitantly, and Jaz leapt out, grabbing him from behind. He let out a strangled cry and dropped his gun.

"God, Dalton was right, that is terrifying."

Jaz grinned.

"All right, why don't we walk out of here nice and slow, and lets hope your teammates aren't too trigger happy" she said, easing out from behind her cover and heading into the open.

"How did you know I was sneaking up behind you?"

"You walk like you've got sandbags in your boots"

"You guys take paintball way too seriously," Noah sighed.

"No argument there," Jaz replied, maneuvering Noah in front of her, and giving him a forward shove before darting behind a stack of crates where Hannah had been hiding. Hannah popped up and fired a paintball into Noah's back before ducking back swiftly.

"Oh! In cold blood!" Preach crowed as Noah looked at Hannah in disbelief.

"Sorry!" Hannah dove back behind the crates as a volley of paintballs blew past her.

"They're trying to pin us. Fire off some cover shots and I'll get up on the roof" Jaz instructed, bellying past some lower crates and disappearing behind the dense brush near the building.

Hannah managed to drive off the encroaching men long enough for her to scramble up onto the roof. There was just enough cover that Jaz couldn't quite line up the shot on Preach, so she fired blindly, hoping to at least give Hannah enough time to move up beside her. The shots from Preach's side stopped, and she saw him backtrack.

There was a popping sound and Hannah sent Amir tumbling back behind a copse of trees.

"Ooh, nice shot," Jaz murmured.

"Moving up," Hannah said.

Dalton eased himself carefully up onto a ledge to get a better eye on the building where he suspected Jaz and Hannah were currently hiding in. He struggled to find her for a moment before he spotted slight movement on the roof. The glint of a scope gave her position away and he slipped back down. He was determined to get a shot on Jaz, considering the last time they'd run a drill with the paintball guns she'd taken him out in an embarrassingly short amount of time.

Although he'd been careful, the moment Dalton stepped out from behind cover he heard the pop of a gun and jumped back, glaring at the splatter of blue paint where he'd been standing just moments ago.

"She's got us pinned, Hannah's up there too" he said glancing back at Preach, huddled with McG and Amir.

"We could move up around back, sneak up on her that way." Preach suggested.

"She's got Hannah covering the rear. No way we're making it across that empty spot without being spotted." Amir said.

"I've got an idea," McG said suddenly, pulling out his kabar and hacking at the base of a bush.

—

Jaz scanned the empty field. She hadn't gotten eyes on anyone for several minutes, and it was making her twitchy.

Hannah was behind her, scanning the field with binoculars.

"Is that bush moving ? Hannah asked, puzzled.

Jaz shifted her scope to the dense rounded bush Hannah was pointing out and stared at it. The bush remained motionless for several seconds before very subtly moving horizontally across the dirt.

"Unbelievable," Jaz said shaking her head. She watched as the bush moved slowly across the ground again and fired off a warning shot in front of it. The bush jerked to a stop, and then suddenly sprouted long legs and darted across the clearing. Jaz was laughing too hard to line up her next shot, and it went astray. She missed the two figures darting up to the building behind her.

"He's a damn idiot" Jaz said,

"A smart idiot," Hannah supplied "how much you wanna bet that was a distraction?"

"Good point" Jaz said, and they moved slowly off the roof.

Hannah had just made it off the roof and was sneaking to cover when she startled at the sound behind her and turned to see McG, gun pointed at her chest.

"Hey Hannah", he grinned.

Hannah sighed put her gun down beside her and put up her hands. She cocked her head and eyed him.

"You know, you really are too pretty for your own good."

McG's expression warmed, and he gave her the kind of smile designed to make a woman weak in the knees. But she had a smile of her own, and she used it to distract him so that he lowered his gun and she could pull out the small rifle stashed at her back. She shot him high enough on the thigh to make a point.

"Ah dammit,"

"Sorry McG, but not tod-" Hannah stilled as an arm wrapped around her from behind, and a gun pressed into her waist.

"Maybe today," Amir's soft voice said from behind her.

Her pulse scrambled, and not from the element of surprise.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered, and she swore her knees turned to water when she felt Amir's soft chuckle against her back.

"Got Hannah!" He yelled out, striding triumphantly out from behind cover, arm wrapped tightly around her.

Hannah struggled to free herself, but his arm was like banded steel around her. Amir shifted her so she blocked any shots coming in from Jaz on the right.

"Jaz! Last chance to surrender!" Dalton shouted from inside a building.

"Drop down," Jaz said into Hannah's earwig.

Hannah looked questioningly in Jaz's direction.

"Go limp, aim to fall right, he'll lose his grip on you. In three, two, one" Hannah let her body go limp and heard a thwack close enough to her that blue paint lightly splattered her neck.

Amir let her go and wiped at the paint that stained his collar and shoulder.

"I don't even know how she does it anymore," he muttered dropping his weapon and walking off the field to join Noah and McG.

"It's called accuracy Amir, you should try it sometime!" Jaz yelled.

Hannah laughed as she scooped up his rifle and sprinted for cover, but took a paintball to the back before she could make it.

"So close," she muttered, relinquishing the stolen weapon and striding off the field to join the others.

"All right, I've got five on Dalton," McG said, slapping a bill into Noah's hands.

"Hmmm, no, definitely Jaz," Amir said forking over a crumpled bill.

They looked expectantly up at Hannah.

"My girl Jaz", she said and then looked at Noah "IOU?"

He fished a bill out of his pocket and added it to the pile.

"Nah, now we're even for coffees"

Noah frowned and cocked his head, pressing a finger to the ear that held his com.

"Besides the fact that that's blatant cheating, I would have considered it if you hadn't used me as a meat shield to draw Jaz out" he said dryly.

The guys chuckled and Noah held out a hand, "hand them over," he said, and waited until all three coms dropped into his hand.

—-

Dalton grinned. Hell, it had been worth a try.

"All right Preach, lets-"

"Oh come on!" Preach complained, cutting Dalton off "How did you even make that shot?"

There was silence followed by Preach's chuckle.

"You better watch out Top shotter, she's on her game today."

Dalton stepped back silently, knowing Jaz was close since there wasn't the usual taunt that followed a shot. He strained his ears, waiting for the slightest sound to reveal her location. Dalton was aware that it was a mostly hopeless endeavor. If she didn't want to be heard she wouldn't.

He might have been caught unaware if a slant of sunlight hadn't chosen that moment to land perfectly on the reflective surface of her scope. The dot of light wavered on the floor and moved away. Dalton pressed himself tightly against the wall and waited for Jaz to appear. She did so, slowly, and without sound. He grabbed onto her forearm and the rifle, yanking her into the room, but she moved like lighting, whipping out the secondary weapon at her thigh.

Jaz let out a grunt as Dalton knocked the pistol out of her hand and shoved her up against the wall.

"Told you I could outsmart you," Dalton said, grinning down at her like an idiot.

Jaz struggled against his grip. He was much stronger than her, a fact that she could usually outmaneuver, but he'd gotten the jump on her.

"You're gonna have to let go of one of my arms if you wanna get a shot." She said snidely.

"Yeah, I do that and you'll wiggle yourself free in a second."
Jaz smirked "What's your move then?"

"I'm thinking," Dalton said, eyeing her.

"We could call it a draw, give each other a 5 second gap."
"The moment I let you go you're gonna pull out one of your hidden guns and shoot me"

"You took both my guns," Jaz said innocently.

Dalton bumped her hip back lightly with his thigh and there was the loud click of metal on concrete.

"Whoops" Jaz said with a laugh, her voice coming out a little breathier than intended.

"Thought so," Dalton murmured, eyes warm with humor.

She knew she was staring at him, but when he looked at her like that her brain clouded. His smile faded slightly as his eyes darkened. She felt his grip on her arms loosen, but that wasn't what kept her pinned to the wall anymore. Nerves set her pulse humming and she drew on that energy to slip out of his grip and grab for the gun at her lower back. He had his own paintball rifle pointed at her before she could get a shot off.

"Your move Jaz," he said, his expression normal again.

Jaz eased back, feeling for the door, and darted out, heading for the the storage building next to their barracks.

Dalton chased after her, managing to fire off a few shots that missed by centimeters. He eased into the building, and was stopped short by Patricia, rounding the corner in an elegant evening dress in light gray.

She raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at his gun.

"You better point that thing away from this dress,"

Dalton dropped the rifle he was holding at the fire ready position, and gave her a sheepish grin that turned into a look of disbelief as she pulled a paintball pistol from behind her back and shot him straight in the chest.

Jaz melted out of the shadows, grinning from ear to ear, and held out her hand for the pistol. Patricia smiled at Dalton.

"Guess that's a win for the blue team then"

"Well if I'd known you were gonna pull Patricia in I wouldn't have wagered a win," Dalton said, aiming a look at Jaz.

"I saw an opportunity and I took it."

Dalton chuckled

"I almost had you"

"Keyword 'almost'" Jaz replied.

"So you want to tell me again why your team is outside covered in dirt when the military ball starts in 45 minutes?" Patricia asked
Dalton winced and scratched the back of his neck.

"We had to settle an argument"

"Uh huh," Patricia said dryly.

Dalton leaned out the building and gestured to the team outside.

"We got mandofun in 45!"

They made a picture, the team standing in their dress ASU's while opening ceremonies commenced. Amir felt a surge of pride as he watched the flag being hoisted, and melted quietly back into the crowd as the ceremony ended. Patricia spoke with a group of generals with Noah at her side, while McG made a beeline for the open bar with Preach.

Amir headed for the empty table reserved as an homage to fallen comrades, and wasn't surprised to see Jaz standing there already. She was staring at the picture of a smiling soldier he knew must be Elijah. Amir started forward, but paused as he saw Dalton crossing to Jaz.

He wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying, but he didn't miss the way Dalton's hand reached out to brush slightly over Jaz's fingers in a subtle move that was over in a flash. Her smile was tinged with sadness, but she nodded and Dalton stepped away. Her gaze followed him, and then she too stepped away from the table, heading in the opposite direction. Amir moved forward and paid his own respects. There were too many pictures on the table, and for a moment he felt a helpless anger at the evil in the world.

A laugh pulled him out of his tumultuous thoughts, and he glanced up to see Hannah.

He couldn't help but be momentarily captivated by her. She was stunningly beautiful of course, but something else, something deeper, drew him to her. She made him want for something he knew he couldn't have, so he turned away, forcing himself to create distance and center himself.

McG walked up to stand beside him and gave him a sidelong glance.

"You really like her huh?"

Amir tensed at being read so easily.

"Nah man it's not so obvious, I just know you. You get that little crease right here," McG said, pointing to Amir's forehead.

"I don't get a crease, it's just my face."

McG snorted. "Yeah okay. You should ask her to dance."

Amir gave him a look.

"Well if you're not interested…" McG said, his gaze warming as he saw Hannah cross to them.

Amir felt instantly annoyed, but he kept his gaze calm as McG put a hand on Hannah's back.

—-

McG leaned over to whisper in Hannah's ear.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how handsome do I look right now."

"Oh definitely a solid 4," Hannah said, smile playing around her mouth.

"Ouch," McG said, enjoying her sharp wit.

To the outside eye, the arm he hung casually around her waist may have seemed flirtatious, but things had remained strictly friendly between them. McG had been somewhat surprised that the sizzle of chemistry he usually felt around a woman he found attractive had been completely lacking. He thought maybe it was because of the fact that Hannah's eyes always seemed to pass over him to land on Amir.

McG glanced back casually and wasn't surprised to see Amir's gaze on Hannah. The guy had it bad, and knowing Amir, he would do absolutely nothing about it. The dude thought he was screwed up somehow, and hell, maybe he was, but if anyone in this business could come out saying they weren't a little messed up he had yet to hear of them.

"Dance with me," McG said suddenly, giving Hannah a little tug onto the dance floor.

"Um, can you have this dance? Why yes Joseph , you may. How courteous of you to ask," Hannah said dryly as he pulled her onto the floor.

"I'm trying to get that blonde's attention." He explained, smiling slightly as he glanced back to see Amir's tense gaze across the room.

"I'm not even gonna ask how this is supposed to work, or bother to be offended by the fact that you're blatantly using me."

McG flashed her a grin, trying to be subtle as he maneuvered her towards Amir.

"I excel in the art of seduction"

Hannah snorted.

McG smiled winningly at her and shot an arm out to grab Amir.

"Dance with Hannah, I've got a love connection to make" he said, depositing Hannah neatly in Amir's arms.

He strode off, resisting the urge to look back.

There were drunk butterflies doing battle in her stomach.

"We don't have to-"

"I could dance," Amir said, cutting Hannah off and leading her gently onto the dance floor. He had a proper hand at her waist, and clasped her hand lightly as he moved her around the dance floor. There was no reason for her to be sweating right now.

"Oh my god, you used to take dance lessons didn't you?" Hannah said with amusement as he began to lead her in a perfect waltz.

"I'm embarrassed to admit I took eight years of dance lessons," Amir said dryly

"Are there pictures?"

"An obscene amount."

A laugh bubbled out of her.

"Please tell me there were sequins"

Amir's eyes met hers and she threw her head back and laughed.

"Oh god, there were sequins."

He laughed, that quiet laugh of his that appeared so rarely, and she swore she melted. He stepped in closer, sliding his hand around to her back, and she hoped he wouldn't feel her heart hammering against her ribs.

"This stays between us," Amir said with mock seriousness

"My lips are sealed." Hannah said solemnly.

His eyes crinkled in amusement and then his gaze traveled to her neck. She tensed for a moment, thinking of the scars that marred her skin there.

"You've still got a little paint on you," he said, releasing her hand to brush the pad of his thumb at the base of her neck.

"Oh," she said, and the word sounded a lot more like a moan than she had intended, but her system had gone haywire the moment he'd touched her bare skin.

Amir's eyes met hers and for a moment she saw fierce desire bloom there as his fingers tensed at her back, but it was gone again in an instant.

"You know I'm gonna need more details about these dance classes"

"Well there was the Salsa, Viennese waltz, and there was an embarrassing brush with the tango." He let out a smile she hadn't seen before and spun her out in a quick move before bringing her back to him. She laughed in surprised delight, and her fingers curled up into the hair at his neck. His eyes snapped to hers and he fumbled a step. Hannah felt a satisfied glow. Seemed she wasn't the only one affected.

McG spied Jaz across the room and sidled over.

"Not in the mood to join the festivities?"

She gave him a droll look.

"I don't dance"

"If you don't know how I can teach you," he said, grinning at her scowl.

"Weren't you busy harassing Hannah?" Jaz asked irritably.

"I believe the word you were looking for is "charming", and no, because Amir wants to charm Hannah" he said, gesturing to the two on the dance floor

Jaz glanced at them and frowned.

"They're just friends."

"Sure, just like you and…" he trailed off, glancing across the room to Dalton. That was a situation he was decidedly not going to involve himself in.

"Me and who?" Jaz asked

"You and me, except you know, they want to see each other naked" he finished lamely.

Jaz tilted her head and looked back at Amir.

"How the hell do you come up with this crap?"

"I don't come up with anything, it's obvious." He glanced at Jaz, who looked confused. "Well maybe not to you,"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she demanded

"Nothing," he said, trying to backtrack "why are you so cranky anyway?" he asked looking back down at her. She had a slight frown on her face as she stared across the room.

"I hate this damn thing," she said, tugging on the sleeve of her ASU coat.

McG followed her gaze to see Dalton smiling down at a woman who laid a hand on his arm. Hell, he knew how shitty that felt, and he felt a twinge of sympathy for Jaz.

"Well since neither of us is getting laid tonight, wanna get drunk instead?"

"Not gonna say no to that," Jaz replied with a grin.