"Team leaders, circle up on me.", Alejandro ordered as everyone stepped out their cars.

"Copy, Colonel.", Rodolfo replied and gave you a signal to follow him.

With your lips pressed into a thin line, you nodded and tried to act as unnoticeable as possible. You could sense that your husband was still upset. There was no need to relight this fire with gasoline.

"Weapons hot, Vaqueros.", Alejandro said. "Let's move."

He exchanged a glance with Rudi before his eyes briefly jumped to you. It seemed like he wanted to say something but was cut off by the Brit with the very much not British sounding accent.

"Where are they holding Hassan?", Soap asked.

"White two-story building.", the Colonel gestured to the south. "Back of town."

He did a fist bomb with his partner before he let him off with his own unit. Wordlessly, he walked off, not a single sign to follow him into your direction.

You decided it would be wise to follow him anyways. But Alejandro cut you off.

Awkwardly, you froze. You were ashamed to admit it but you weren't able to look him in the eyes in that moment. And he seemed to struggle to look at you as well.

With a deep breath he closed his eyes.

"I'm mad at you but I'm still your husband.", he exhaled. "I won't take risks. You'll be with me. No arguing."

Your mouth opened to protect. But you chose peace, closed it again and just nodded.

Satisfied, he took the lead. You followed with the Brit. He had a Scottish patch on his chest, you noticed. So that was why he didn't sound all that posh.

All the other teams got moving as well.

"I haven't had the chance to introduce myself properly, I think.", Soap met you with a bright smile as you two took cover being an old fence. "Sergeant MacTavish. Soap's fine though."

Still a little out of yourself, you glanced at him. He offered you a hand to shake. You did with a polite expression.

"(Y/N).", you said. "Pleased to meet you."

"You and Alejandro are married, I heard."

"We are...", your eyes wandered over to your husband who worked with Ghost on breaking open a gate. "I wonder for how long..."

"All Victors, stand by.", Alejandro called out over the coms all of a sudden and took a step away from the gate. "3, 2, 1... execute, execute!"

With a nod, Ghost kicked in the gate and pushed forward. Everyone sharpened.

With your gun raised you followed Alejandro past the fence and into the town.

Old brick houses stood on the mountain side, their rooms damaged, trash spread everywhere. The smell of something old was in the air, like entering the house of grandparents.

Adrenaline rushed through your veins. Almost immediately your old narco habits returned and you let your eyes jump through the area.

"Clear. Move.", Alejandro informed as he rounded a corner.

"Civilians?", Soap asked next to you.

"I don't think so.", you said and pushed a door open for safety reasons as you walked past. "Town looks abandoned. No laundry hanging, can't hear kids."

"There's some sheets out there.", Ghost did a gesture towards some old bedsheets that danced with the wind.

"At least a few months old.", you exchanged a look with your husband. "Dust all over them. Windows blocked with panels."

"No matter how dangerous, no abuelita would block out the natural light from her home.", Alejandro agreed. "Civilians are gone. Cartel took over. Stay alerted."

And with those words and a gesture he ordered the men to sweep the area. You remained glued to his heel. Despite your differences you couldn't bare the thought that something could happen to him while you were busy somewhere else.

"Sabia decisión, Coronel.", you said as you caught up to him.

A low snort made his nose curl.

"I'm still mad at you.", he whispered over his shoulder. "But not mad enough to deny you treating me as your man."

"So no ranks and titles out of my mouth?", you asked with a thin smirk.

"Not outside the bedroom.", he replied sarcastically and moved on.

Forcing the smirk on your face down, you pressed your lips together and shook your head. You let yourself fall back to join Soap once more. Meanwhile Ghost made sure to never leave Alejandro's side. It was as if he tried to battle with him over the leadership.

"He doesn't seem like the type of guy who likes to be ordered around...", you noted to yourself.

You pushed another door open to peak into a house that was, once more, empty. It seemed strange to you that there couldn't even be weapons or traces of drugs be found. No dogs either. If this was truly a cartel hideout it would have looked so abandoned.

"Oh, don't worry about the Lt too much.", Soap said with an audible smirk in his voice. "He's just a bit on the rough side."

Chuckling, you glanced through a window that you passed.

"Reminds me of Alejandro. Even though he's more communicative."

Soap hummed in agreement.

"I thought so. You two seem like a good match. Made in heaven, if I'd believe in that."

A huff escaped you.

"We we're blessed by many, but heaven wasn't one of em'.", you admitted. "Just like every couple we went through highs and lows. Quickly too."

"Really?", Soap took position opposite of you as the sound of footsteps echoed through the town. "This looks like years of building a relationship."

You shook your head.

"Not at all. We did what everyone would have called pure insanity. Met at a bar after a huge shootout in Las Almas. I was wounded, he bought me a drink. Or two. We danced through the night and parted ways. I thought we'd never meet again after that."

"What happened?"

"I don't know.", you shrugged. "He found me. Hell knows how. Two weeks after that he asked me to marry him."

"Just like that?", one of Soap's eyebrows rose.

"Just like that. A month later I was a Vargas. It was stupid but what about it? From the moment I've seen him first I knew he was the one. We took a risk. And I don't regret it. Not at all. That was almost two years ago."

"I admire your faith."

"This wasn't about faith or wonders, Sergeant. It was about trust. I trusted him to be a good man. And he trusted me."