#valkela

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The first time Ela had ever come across the woman, she was singing a damn Disney song. Not that Lion King wasn’t amazing, but she honestly didn’t think her timing was the best.

They were meeting at a busy cafe under the guise of school friends for an intel hand off, but when when Ela wandered over, pretending to be excited, the woman just grinned goofily and continued humming some random song as she stood to pull her into a hug, slyly dropping something into her pocket.

“Amanda! It’s been far too long wow, I’m glad I found some time to see you while you’re in town.”

“I’ll actually be here for a bit! Jack’s got a job in one of the law firms downtown so maybe a few months?”

She made up something about loving to show her around if their schedules match up, before starting to gossip about something one of their supposed ex school mates had gotten up to.

The woman she knew to actually be the Seal ‘Valkyrie’ started humming the same tune again as she talked, and it finally clicked in her mind what it was.

Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase.

She paused and squinted her eyes into an accusatory glare.

“Are you humming… Hakuna Matata?” She regretted asking the minute humming changed to singing. Loud, obnoxious singing. Immediately she sprung across the table to slap a hand across the woman’s mouth.

“What are you doing?” She all but hissed as laughter bubbles under her palm. They were meant to be inconspicuous and believable, she doubted bursting into Disney counted as that.

“Ok, ok.” She removed her hand, settling back into her seat as she glared off looks from other customers. “Sorry, I’ve had it stuck in my head all day.” A disarming smile was shot her way and she sighed, deciding to let it slide.

They met again a little while after operation Orange Sky and it soon occurred to Ela that it wasn’t a one off. No, it seemed to be a regular thing around the operative.

The next time it happened, they were on their first practice operation as Rainbow Six members in a killhouse.

They had both wandered from their objective room and had ended up in a small room with a hatch on the floor and two windows, one of which was half busted open. Ela had her gun aimed steadily through it and into the yard below them when it started.

“Be prepared for sensational news! A shining new era is tiptoeing nearer.”

She moved from view in seconds, spinning to glare at her teammate for giving away their location.

Valkyrie hadn’t moved from her careful angle on the doorway, hardly even moving as she continued to sing, doing the next line in a silly voice.

“But, where do we feature?”

Ela couldn’t help herself as she said the next line with a growl.

“Just listen to teacher.”

The smile she received was blinding and she rolled her eyes in response, turning back to the window to peek. At least she shut up.

“I know it sounds sordid, but you’ll be rewarded-”

She spoke too soon.

With a huff she gave up and left the room.

__

Despite the usually ridiculous timing of her Disney songs, Ela realised she found it amusing. It bugged her at first but Valkyrie more than proved herself plenty of times as a fully capable operator who never got stunted by her silly habit. If it wasn’t causing issues then Ela didn’t see it as a problem.

As a matter of fact, it was kind of endearing.

Today they were both laid across the couches in the Rec room, Ela quietly drawing while Meghan scrolled through some app on her phone.

It happened gradually. She didn’t notice at first, too focused on her drawing.

The tapping was quiet and repetitive and so she passed it off as a bit of boredom. After a little bit she recognised that it was a regular beat and not just random, around the time she also decided it was distracting her from her work. She glanced up, ready to tell the other woman to shut up, only to catch a gaze that was locked on her with a playful smirk.

Meghan was sat upright, tapping against the table and waiting for Ela to finally look up. When she did and met her gaze, humming started to match the beat.

It look her a second to recognise it, but when she did she wanted to literally facepalm. Huffing a short laugh, she gave the Seal her ‘are you serious?’ eyes, before giving in.

After all, she didn’t doubt the woman’s persistence. She probably wouldn’t stop until she did.

“I’m gonna be a mighty king, so enemies beware.”

“Well I’ve never seen a king of beasts with quite so little hair!” Valkyrie immediately jumped in for the birds part- Zazu if she remembered correctly.

“I’m gonna be the main event, like no king was before. I’m brushing up, I’m looking down, I’m working on my roar.” She couldn’t help but return the amused smile the blonde sent her, snorting when she exaggeratedly threw out an arm for her next part.

“Thus far, a rather uninspiring thing.”

She couldn’t help humouring her as she leapt to her feet and shouted “Oh I just can’t wait to be king!”

Meghan stood too, dancing her way over as they continued the impromptu duet, slowly getting louder and louder until they were basically belting the lyrics, arms waving around as they ‘acted out’ the song.

Toward the end, Sledge appeared in the doorway with an eyebrow raised and yelped in surprise when he was immediately drawn in, the two girls bouncing around him like idiots as he joined in for the final lines, arms wiggling above him like one of the inflatable tube men some stores use.

As they came down from laughter, Sledge decided it was time for a party and put music on, leading to all three dancing until they tired themselves out, much to the amusement of the crowd they gathered. Other people continued to dance while Ela dropped back to the couch she originally was in, sending a cheeky wink to Valkyrie as she fell to the floor and spread out, winking and wiggling her eyebrows back only after situating herself in an appropriate starfish position.

_____

A few months later they were in a boat on the way to an op, and Ela was nervous. This wasn’t the sort of operation she was used to. No, she’d never been comfortable on the water so securing an oil liner that had been overtaken and planted with a bomb wasn’t ideal for her.

Heck, the only reason she was chosen was because there were so many opfor and they felt that her mines would be ideal for disorienting, especially as they were on high waves.

Her sister unfortunately was on another mission so that left her. There were two teams, both lead by the Rainbow Six Seals. Alpha was tasked to clear and secure hostages while her team, Bravo, disarmed the explosives. Bravo included herself, Echo, Jäger, Rook, and-

“Deception, disgrace, evil as plain as the scar on his face.” Valkyrie sent her a wink before lifting her voice a little. “Deception-”

“An outrage.”

“Disgrace!”

“For shame.”

Everyone laughed at Echo joining in, clearly knowing the song well. Jäger looked a little confused but still amused by the antics, clearly not used to Valkyrie at all.

“He asked for trouble the moment he came!”

Their boat bounced over the water but Ela didn’t even think about it as the whole team morale lifted and they all carried on singing to random songs, tapping beats on the metal of their vessel.

They fell silent, serious modes engaging as their comms came to life to announce their approach. All the same, Valkyrie send a reassuring smile to the girl next to her, squeezing her leg before responding to her radio to say their team was ready for boarding.

The boat stopped and they climbed outside, shooting two grappling hooks upward before starting their ascent.

_____

The mission was successful overall, but due to a mild explosion from an undetected bomb, Valkyrie and Jäger had been injured, the latter more drastically. All the same, they were both returned to base unconscious and now resided in the medical bay.

It was really a shame that IQ wasn’t available for their mission. Really, Ela was angry at their superiors for their planning despite the fact that she knew they couldn’t simply send the German girl back for immediate redeployment.

Still, as she sat by Meghan’s bed, she couldn’t help her grumbling. The beeping of her heart monitor was as irritating as it was relieving. The injured woman had woken briefly earlier but fell back asleep shortly after from her pain medication, but all the same Ela was glad because, much the same as the beeping, it meant she was ok.

A ruckus out in the hall caught her attention as she heart the raised voice of Doc.

“Bandit, Dominic! Don’t you wake her!”

The GSG9 rushed through the doorway, Doc tailing him. He stopped in the doorway when he caught sight of her repositioning herself to the end of Valkyrie’s bed and crossing her arms, radiating hostility.

The Bandit completely ignored her, marching past her- or attempting to. Her hand shot out to grab his arm and push him back, causing him to stumble in surprise before turning his dark glare to her. She merely returned it with her own.

“Get out of the road, arschgesicht.” She didn’t need to understand German to know he was throwing insults so she bristled a little at the word.

“Leave.”

“Your friend here is the reason Jäger is in the room over! She has some fucking explaining to do.” Her fists were clenching and unclenching in hopes of keeping calm, for Doc’s sake, the man watching exasperatedly from the door.

“No one noticed the bomb. We’re all to blame and have all been chastised.” Her voice was cold but calm and her words measured.

Clearly that wasn’t the reply Bandit wanted.

“She should have seen it, Jäger could be dead and it’d be her fault! Maybe she’s not a fit team l-“

Ela’s fist met his jaw before he could block it.

He stabilised himself and came back in heavy retaliation, more than ready for the fight Ela would happily provide.

Doc rushed in and yelled for them to stop, trying to push himself in between them without success. When he realised they weren’t going to stop, he rushed out to get another ops assistance.

They traded a few blows before Bandit took them to the ground, punches landing across Ela’s ribs and face before she rolled out from under him and wrapped her elbow around his throat in a choke hold.

The bastard squirmed valiantly but he couldn’t escape and in moments he was out cold. She dropped him unceremoniously for the others to deal with when they returned, sparing him a kick to the stomach before she moved back to her chair.

Valkyrie was awake, merely watching the fight through hazy eyes. When she turned her gaze from Bandit to Ela she frowned at her bruises, getting a careless shrug.

“It’s the circle of life.”

Meghan blinked and confusion and she laughed.

_____

She never got an apology from Bandit but she never expected nor cared for one. She understood worrying for a friend and the desire to defend them, despite the fact that she was sure those two were more.

Doc told Valkyrie to abstain from exercise for a few weeks while her bruised rib healed, but still she lingered around the gym. It was easily noticeable just how much she wanted to be working out but she did as told without complaint.

Ela of course noticed her friend lingering and invited her over to talk whenever she could, trying to distract her and keep her entertained.

By the end of the second week she had an idea.

She waited outside the gym room, lock pick in her pocket and cheeky grin on her face. Sure enough, Valkyrie rounded the corner at her usual gym time, eyes on the ground as she listened to Blackbeard talk. She snorted and punched his arm in reply to something, causing him to laugh.

He met Ela’s eyes and she respectfully nodded, getting a wide and goofy smile in response. He mumbled something else, causing Valkyries head to snap up. Her cheeks were slightly flushed as they stopped in the doorway.

“Hey,”

“I’ll leave you girls be. I can feel my arms going floppy-” he nudged Meghan but ignored her scowl. “Nice to see you Elżbieta.” He ignored Ela’s scowl too as he strut off with a laugh.

“What a dick.”

“Yep.”

They both looked at each other before breaking into laughter. They both loved the man and couldn’t deny it, he was like the big brother neither of them ever had.

“So anyway, I’ve got an idea.” She wandered across to the staircase door just beside the gymnasium entrance.

“Are we going to get in trouble?” Ela shrugged as she knelt and started picking the lock.

“It’s possible, but I’d say it’ll be worth it. Especially because I saw Buck and Jackal enter earlier.”

“…Buck and Jackal? What have they got to do with anything?”

The lock clicked and Ela quickly opened the door, ushering her friend inside.

“You’ll see.”

The climbed up to the room that looked down over the full area, moving to crouch along the furthest wall to cross to the room out of sight. When Meghan spotted the sound system she frowned before a mischievous smile lit her face.

“Oh, we’re not, are we?” Ela merely grinned over her shoulder in reply. “What song do you have?”

“Just wait. You’ll love it, I promise.”

They stopped next to it, Valkyrie watching over Ela’s shoulder as she plugged her phone in and brought up her song of choice.

“Oh my god. Wait I’ve gotta bring up my camera.” She laughed as she grabbed out her own phone and moved to the windows corner, laying on the ground to hide as best she could still.

Throwing a thumbs up to the green haired girl, they both giggled as the songs swapped.

“I can see what’s happening, and they don’t have a clue. They’ll fall in love, and here’s the bottom line, our trio’s down to two!”

‘Can you feel the love’ filled the air and caused everyone to stop, looking around in confusion.

As predicted, Buck’s face lit with red as Jackal winked at him, sitting down his weights to start shimmying toward him exaggeratedly. Buck just buried his head.

They didn’t miss the look shared between Sledge and the new member, Maestro, which definitely intrigued them.

Some people decided to continue working out while others started singing the song and dancing in a silly manner. Blackbeard glanced up to them while laughing, causing Rook- who had been spotting him while he did bench presses- to also look up and spot them. He shook his head while the two continued to record, giggling as Jackal draped himself over his flustered boyfriend.

_____

Ela had noticed something the other day. Valkyrie loved Disney and often randomly sung songs from it but… never Lion King. That was only for when she was around. It had unintentionally become their thing.

The idea warmed her heart and cemented her choice.

She wandered through the halls, seeking out her friend as she hummed the song that had been stuck in her head all of the past week.

She already knew to go to the shooting range, had been told where to meet the woman.

The air was warm when she stepped out into it, eyes meeting Valkyrie’s that had turned to see who had joined her outside. Thankfully, no one was around. She was confident in their relationship but she couldn’t help the small amount of anxiety bubbling in her.

Nonetheless she strode forward, humming the Lion King 2 a little louder to distract herself, the upbeat tune drowning out the nerves.

Of course, Meghan shot her a strange look as soon as she was within hearing distance, most likely recognising the song.

Ela didn’t stop, marching until she was within arms reach where she reached out and pulled her friend in, clasping their lips together. It took a moment for Valkyrie to respond to the kiss, most likely shocked. Still, she gradually melted into Ela’s hands, soft lips returning the movement before they broke apart, resting their foreheads together.

Meghan mumbled the next line with a fond smile.