Chapter 3

After about five hours of movies ranging from the slapstick comedy that was The Colony, the horror thriller that was Unknown, and several other action and comedy movies that even drew laughs and chuckles from Carolina. That was saying quite a lot for those movies, as Carolina was a little preoccupied with York's arm around her for all but a few minutes of those five hours. After kissing for the first time the two of them had been quite hesitant to even say anything to each other, more out of caution than anything else. The two of them each separately felt some sort of deep connection that neither wanted to ruin with a simple selfish mistake like wanting just one more kiss, or by looking at the other in a way that would send the wrong message.

So when Maine suggested that they take a break to grab some dinner the two of them knew that talking about what had happened was unavoidable. North and Maine were the first ones out the door while South went to throw away some trash as Wash grabbed his modest collection of movies and hid them so no one would think about walking out with them. York and Carolina walked out together, unconsciously knowing that the other was dying to know if what had happened was real or just some sort of oddity.

"Uh…Carolina?" York said, walking right up next to her.

"York I…" she responded, rubbing her temples, "I think we need to talk."

"You don't say," the voice of Washington piped up from behind them.

"Wash, go now," Carolina growled.

Wash carefully crept back around the two Freelancers and listened as they watched him go, hoping to hear something, but alas, nothing. Carolina grabbed York and roughly dragged him into an adjacent armory empty of any crew by the hand. York felt that she meant something else by the gesture and about leaned in to kiss Carolina again, but then got a good look at her the expression on her face that said it all.

"So, about that kiss," York said, not trying to sound all cocky and whatnot about it, but not overtly regretting it, which he didn't.

"Was it real York? Did we kiss because we felt like it, or was there something-,"

"Yes it was real!" York blurted, not letting her finish, startling the normally stoic Carolina, "At least, I thought it was. I mean, I don't think I've ever really felt that way about anyone else in all my life."

Carolina raised an eyebrow, "You don't think?"

"Okay that came out wrong, what I mean is-,"

Carolina put a finger on his lips as he stuttered, trying to recover from that minute slip of the tongue, "I think, I know what you're getting at York," Carolina said, emphasizing the 'think' in her sentence.

"Really?!" York said, feeling a great ray of hope, "Was it the same feeling for you? You now know I felt like it was real. But you haven't really told me what it was on your end."

"I don't know," she whispered, turning away from York and walked a few paces, her mind turning over what she'd felt at that blissful moment.

"Well, what did you feel?" York said quietly walking up behind her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Well," she said, "I felt like I was almost in a trance. As wild as that seems," she chuckled.

"Not wild at all," York responded.

"And it felt like my stomach was turning over, in the good way. A nervous way."

"Go on," York whispered as Carolina turned around to face him.

"And, my head, it-it felt like it was on fire…" she said, drawing closer to York.

"I think I know what else you felt," York said, placing his right hand across her cheek, brushing aside a lock of red hair.

"Are you sure about that York?" she replied with an entertained grin.

"Wanna check to be sure?" he chuckled back and let his hand slide back behind her neck and pulled her into another gentle kiss.

This kiss was different than the last one, their lips brushed and moved past and with one another. Carolina unconsciously brought her hands up and around York's neck, tangling her fingers into his hair. It was absolute bliss for the two Freelancers, there were no friends and comrades nearby to spoil the moment. There wasn't any training, or missions, or routine, it was just them. After a few minutes in the clouds the two of them came back down to Earth, their breathing heavy, their lips tingling, and their eyes absolutely alight as they looked at each other from a foot away. All they could see were one another's eyes. York memorized every little speck and detail of Carolina's gorgeous green eyes as she looked deeply into his brown ones.

"I think we know what we felt now," York whispered with a characteristic grin on his face.

"I know so," Carolina said as well, "Come on, we're sort of making ourselves hard to miss."

Carolina sauntered out of the armory, consciously swaying her hips a little as York followed, a massive grin on his face. The two of them opened the door and Carolina carefully peered out and looked around and about gasped when she saw the unmistakable figure of South leaning against the wall to her right.

"Well, well, well, I can appreciate getting kinky in odd places but you Carolina? I'm shocked," she grinned, absolutely not caring what Carolina felt or said.

"South! How did-,"

"Relax Carolina, your secret's safe with me," South replied, sauntering on over towards the mess hall, "You're not the only couple to hook up in empty armories and closets. I see some of the crew and pilots duck into them all the time."

"And I assume you know from experience?" Carolina countered, getting an entertained scoff from South.

"Ha, these boys wish. Those that want to are too afraid of North to even approach me, and those that know North doesn't care are too afraid of me. Not that many of them are my type anyway," South chuckled.

"Well, have you taken the initiative with anyone?" York asked, getting a jab in the ribs from Carolina.

"Nah, not many of these guys peak my interest," South replied nonchalantly.

"Well I happen to know someone that has the hots for you. And I mean he has them bad," York slyly said.

"I probably already know," South said, walking into the mess hall where their team was at their usual table with Wash facing them in his spot and Maine stacking plates in line.

"Well you might be surprised," York said, "He's sitting at our table right now."

South furrowed her eyes brows at him, but then looked to their table. The only people sitting there were North and Washington, who had noticed them walk in. North had a concerned look on his face, knowing what and why South was walking in with York and Carolina. Wash was spreading a packet of ketchup on a hot dog and wasn't looking up.

"You can't mean…" South gaped, her jaw hanging.

"Oh I do mean," York said, walking past her.

"So how did you know Wash had a crush on South?" Carolina asked as they got in line, once out of Washington's earshot.

"Have you seen the way he looks at South behind her and North's back? I'm surprised that she hasn't noticed."

"Is it any different than the way you've looked at me when you think I don't notice?" Carolina responded, making York flush with embarrassment.

"Oh I don't about that. But let's just say that in class Wash spends more time studying what South's wearing than what is being taught."

"Wonder what North's gonna think about it?"

"Think about what?" the unmistakable voice of the tall blonde man in question asked.

"What you think about Wash having a crush on your sister," Maine grumbled, reaching between York and Carolina to grab a fork and knife he'd forgotten.

"What?!" North said, his voice showing more entertainment than actual shock or anger.

"It's true," York said, giving into the fact that he now knew, "Wash's had a serious crush on your sister for a month now. He told me the only thing stopping him from trying to ask her out has been what you thought. You're his friend, he doesn't want to make things really weird because he's going out with your sister."

"He can go ahead and ask her. Although the issue I have isn't whether he breaks her heart, it's if she grinds his into tiny pieces."

"I bet you ten bucks Wash gets ground into tiny pieces," Maine chuckled.

"Hey, what were you two doing to make you late?" North asked, now remembering that the two Freelancers hadn't exactly gone straight to the mess hall.

The two of them looked at one another, and then back to North, "Nothing much."

And done. Sorry that it's short, just felt like if I continued I would end up having something happen prematurely. I've got a few plans with this, and I'll be taking my time with it.

Next Chapter Preview: Meeting the other Freelancers, and going on the first mission.