Chapter 4: Love ain't easy
Now that I was officially promoted, I had access to so many more training equipment. The team saw how I was pushing myself to be better, to be one of them. They watched from the side-lines for the weeks as I trained and finally started to accept me as a capable member of their specialized group. I started having friends, talking to the other agents stationed in Gibraltar. Some even helped me with my training, throwing challenges and bets at me to keep me motivated to keep trying new things even if I initially failed. The team kept changing, people were called out for mission’s others came back home to take their well-deserved break after they had been called to duty.
One morning it was pouring rain onto our little save heaven. A summer storm after days of drought. Most agents moved their training inside for that day, traying to make excuses why a bit of lightning and thunder was stopping them.
However, for me, inside training sounded more like torture when I could be running around outside in the rain. Plants need water to survive and thrive and I still didn’t get a moments time to reconnect with my roots, in a literal sense. While everyone was standing inside the hall, watching on when the weather would change, I was out there, running barefoot in the grass.
I was all alone in the field, at first, until I heard a pair of hurried steps squelching in the mud. One of the new arrivals came jogging towards me, holding his red poncho over his head to keep him dry.
I sat in the mud, soaked to the bone. “What in the hell are you doin’ out here”, his southern accent laid heavy, making me listen ever more closely to his words. He looked like he really wanted to leave again, pacing on the spot constantly adjusting the clothes he draped over his head.
I did not see an issue with what I was doing, it wasn’t legitimate training but I was outside, moving. “Training. What’s it look like to you”, I laughed and got up, trying to wash the mud of my clothes. His eyes were full of worry and concern as he scanned me over, like I was the crazy one. Not him, who ran all the way over to me to stand there in the rain with me for no good reason other than to argue with me.
This man could still not believe a word I was saying and sighed, a little frustrated because he was getting soaked. “You’re gonna catch yourself somethin’, Better come back with me, boss sure won’t like a sick soldier.”, he tried to convince me and this time he had a point. Neither Gabe nor Jack would be happy to see me in bed with a fever from playing in a storm.
He led me back to the main buildings, opening the door for me like a true gentleman. The wind blew in as we opened the door and got inside. I was still smiling like before, barefoot, not in proper uniform, covered in mud and grass stains.
The southern man just took off his cape and wrung it out. I watched the water splatter on the floor and noticed that one of his arms was a mechanical prosthetic. I’ve seen lots of artificial improvements but this didn’t seem intentional. My eyes flickered between his arm and his face curious if I should ask him about it or if that was a too personal thing for a first conversation.
I couldn’t even start talking before Gabriel showed up, smiling with open arms and pulling the new guy in his arm, keeping him in a headlock and stole his hat in order to ruffle his hair. “Jesse, Mi amigo, what brought you back here. I thought you were deployed on the other end of the world somewhere.”, Reyes teased him like they were old friends, even if I never heard of him.
They were playfighting for a while until Jesse stole his cowboy hat back and adjusted it on his head, shoving Gabe away to keep him off for a moment. “Commander called. Somethin’ about my home, Route 66. I saw it in the news, fuckin’ bastards.”, he cursed under his breath earning a solemn look from Reyes.
Gabe hasn’t registered me for a good five minutes until his eyes looked away from Jesse for a moment. He stared at me for a moment, one eyebrow raised, looking confused and disappointed at the same time. He made a “Why” hand gesture, which made me giggle. Jesse who saw the interaction pointed his thumb at me. “You know this crazy lady?”, he wasn’t insulting me, I was sure of it. He probably had no idea who I was and how I was connected to his boss.
“Unfortunately,”, Gabriel replied jokingly. He walked over and looked down at my soaked clothes and immediately wrapped me in his uniform jacket to keep me warm. “This is Caitlin. She’s a newcomer. Morrison chose her personally on a mission and brought her back with him as a surprise. Cait, this is Jesse McCree, one of our best. He joined us right on his 18th and turned into a pretty solid member over the years.”, Gabriel introduced us and we shook hands. I could tell that McCree wasn’t sure about me yet.
Gabe had wrapped his arm around me, holding me against his side to keep me warm while I was still dripping water. There was a meeting set up for later that day with exactly one topic. The Route 66 attack was still a hot topic in the higher ranks if they called back overseas deployed heroes to assist with the investigation. I made sure I was clean and dry by the time we were all called together.
As it turned out, this thing was bigger than we all imagined. We sat in this stale room, just the four of us. Jesse, Gabriel, Jack and I. An emergency meeting. A known rebel group who named themselves “The Deadlock Gang” had taken interest in the small diner close to the site of the crash. At first there was nothing suspicious about that diner, it had existed long before the train tracks were even built. Tax reports looked legit, and everything was officially registered. But thinking back to the day of the attack, it was suspicious how quickly the first responders were at the scene. And how, coincidently, the diner was closed at the time, it was no bank holiday and it was in the middle of the day.
Jack wanted to go back to investigate the scene again and look at the diner more closely. He wanted us to join him on this mission, to “avoid dragging anyone else into this mess” how he put it. We were the only ones actively involved in the scene and since this was just an investigation and not an official deployment I was allowed to tag along. My first ever mission. Nothing exciting but a big step none the less. We would leave as soon as we booked a hotel, meaning as soon as tomorrow arrived.
I was jumping with joy, not my finest reaction to the aftermath of an assassination but no one would stop me from being overly excited about traveling and getting more insight on what happened back. I felt personally responsible to see this investigation to the end, I wasn’t going to leave this matter unresolved. I was immediately off and packed a small bag with the essentials for a week of travel and was ready to jump at a moment’s notice.
The moment I got the call I was already dressed and rushing down to the meeting spot. Everyone was already there, sitting on the ramp of this huge aircraft. I asked what this was all about until Jack told me that we were on official business and therefore would be taking the official transportation aircraft of Overwatch agents. I flew here in economy because I wasn’t a full-fledged member at that time, they didn’t want to give a civilian exclusive privilege if it wasn’t proven I could handle myself as a soldier.
We boarded the aircraft and they helped me store my bags. It was just one big spacious room that had everything we needed, food, drinks, tables and sofas to sit together. Books, board games and cards, like a miniature flying Livingroom. For take-off and landing we had those specially designed seats that looked like the ones from roller-coasters.
There was a staircase leading up to the open cockpit controlled by a few Omnic pilots. A huge glass front displaying all sorts of metrics while still showing the sun rising over the horizon. I loved to just stand by the glass and watch the ocean fly by under me.
Gabriel and Jesse were busy playing their silly card games, arguing over the other one cheating. Jack was mapping out the mission with notes and markers. I watched over them from the higher platform before I turned back to look at the pilots at work. Jack must have seen me looking at him and put his work aside to join me up on the second deck. “Hey”, he snapped me out of my thoughts while I was mindlessly staring out the window.
I gave him a bright smile, pulling him to the window with me to show him the colourful islands we just flew over. My mind was a jumbled mess of worries and excitement. “Have I really packed everything? Would the press be there? What if we encounter an issue?”, the voices kept talking over each other in my head.
Jack stood behind me, looking out the window just like I did. Maybe with similar thoughts and worries. This mission, like any other was his responsibility, a strength I admired so much about him. He was the one that stepped up, the one that took charge when the world needed it most, and even after the war, he would not stop his work.
We watched the clouds move over the soft orange sky as I felt a hand move around my waist, then another, then a soft pull that moved me right against his chest. At first, I was frozen, standing stiff, back straight, trying to give him space, until he gave me a gentle nudge closer to him, resting his chin on the top of my head. “You’re going to do great.”, he whispered to me while secretly taking my hand. I couldn’t stop smiling anymore, and neither could he.
It was a rare moment of peace between us, alone, without judgemental eyes everywhere. It felt like reigniting a feeling I thought I had long lost in my personal life. I was happy being alone, content with the fact that I did not need a man by my side but times had changed. Now a life without him seemed almost meaningless and the more I tried to deny it the clearer it became; I fell for him.
I looked back at him over my shoulder, leaning my head further against his chest wanting to be held just a little tighter. They all said you know it’s real when the hugs start to feel different, intimate, close. We shared this moment together in silence, the world slowly fading as we enjoyed the simplicity of each other’s company without work, training or obligations coming between us.
But we did not consider our nosey companions, their card game already forgotten. Gabriel had excused himself from the table, giving Jesse the win, he wanted to rub under his boss’s nose until he saw Reyes walk off without a single word. He came up the stairs to see where Jack and I had disappeared to, and why the Commander had abandoned his beloved spreadsheets on the table “Am I interrupting something lovebirds?”, he teased.
Jack’s face started to go red, but he did not let go, no matter how embarrassing it might have been for him. I smiled at Gabe allowing him to enjoy the “I told you so” moment. He came up to us, congratulating his friend to soon “no longer be a virgin” which made Jack even more flustered, softly patting the blond man’s back while squeezing my shoulder. His smile seemed so genuine, happy for us, but his eyes looked…empty.
I worried for Gabriel, I thought he might be worried about losing his best friend to a relationship. I reached over to put my hand on his, trying to get his attention but he immediately retracked his hand, rather placing it on my head and ruffling my hair like he always liked to do. He had never reacted this way towards me, so I stood my ground and took his hand again, tightly this time. His had never pulled away from me, no matter what we did, hugs, sitting together after a long day while I napped against his shoulder. He let me do almost anything without a complaint
His smile became less beaming as he slipped his hand out of mine again, he smiled as he turned around, already walking back to Jesse to share the news, his head hanging lower than before. I looked back at Jack, who was still hiding his face in his hand, blushing madly.
Something felt…off, to say the least. Worries clouded the moment, giving me reasonable doubt that everything really was a lovey-dovey as I wished it would be. Jack noticed how my eyes were still focused on the stairs, seemingly following Gabriel’s movements. He gently redirected my face back to him, his fingers guiding my chin until I was looking up to me. His face turned serious, seeing me not smile anymore. “This is about Gabe, isn’t it?”, he said softly, placing an innocent kiss onto my forehead.
His insisted on kissing my face until I was no longer upset and making me laugh a little. I reached up to squeeze his face giving him a kiss on the nose then letting go, making his blush flare up again. I looked at him, then back at the stairs, a heavy sigh leaving my chest. “I fear you might not be the only one who had his hopes up.”, I confessed quietly, making sure it wouldn’t echo over to them.
I have never really talked about the weeks Gabriel and I spend alone, training, working out, him teaching me the basics of being a soldier. Jack was so busy during that time I didn’t want to bother him with how I was bonding with his Co-Commander and friend over silly things like endurance training. But I would be a lair if I didn’t admit to myself that these were good times.
The usual so closed of second Commander had begun to laugh, excited to get to training every morning, wasn’t yelling at soldiers as much anymore. He never raised his voice at me, except for motivational speeches or chants during training. He had treated me different from the beginning, suspicious at first but ever since the simulation training, he became more protective over me, sweeter towards me.
I looked back to Jack and expected a look of hurt or betrayal, but instead he had this understanding, knowing smile plastered on his face. “You knew didn’t you.”, I confronted him which he just nodded to as response.
I haven’t yet realized how deep their friendship ran under their skins Gabriel knew Jack had caught a case of feelings and relentlessly teased him about it in front of me, with small hints and jokes. It was highly possible that Jack also saw how protective Gabe had become over me, he might have heard things through his soldiers who were constantly around us. “Maybe I did.”, he admitted but he didn’t look sad or worried at this now complicated situation. “And I spend a lot of time considering and planning what to do with this information.” All this time he was cooped up wasn’t just for missions and meetings, but also for a plan that he conjured up.
I looked curious at what he came up with that would even remotely solve this situation. He leaned in to whisper his idea into my ear. “You’re out of your mind Jack, he would never agree to this.”, I objected. It was a rather controversial idea, a change of lifestyle I didn’t expect him to suggest.
He leaned down to wrap his arms around my thighs and lift me off the ground so I wouldn’t get away from him. “If I can make the two most important people in my life happy at the same time, I’m willing to do almost anything. “, he said with smile back on his face.
I held onto his shoulders to keep me upright while mulling it over. Jack was willing to let go of traditional social norms and allow his best mate to share his role as my lover with him. Not like an open relationship, we were not to date anyone else. As long as it was Gabriel, he would not see an issue with it. He cared for both of us deeply and seeing us happy together would fuel his own happiness.
I looked up the Commander Reyes, he was a source of comfort and security. Physical closeness felt so natural and not only during training. I loved to listen to him speak a soft Spanish accent with a raspy voice. He was objectively an attractive man from the army, tanned and well trained. It was us against the world, maybe with “a little” help from the other Overwatch agents.
It wasn’t a decision to be made in that moment, but it was something that needed to be discussed before moving in this direction. For now, it wasn’t the right time, not when there was work on the table. I still agreed that his plan was worth bringing up to Gabe and that I wasn’t going to object if things actually pan out the way Jack planned it.
We left the discussion at that and wanted to return to the other, we still had a good distance to fly. Maybe this would be a bit of an awkward flight with Jesse and Gabriel sitting just a few meters away from us but I promised myself I would give it my all for both of them to feel included and not forgotten by Jack and my developments.
The silence was heavy as Jack carried me back down the stairs, willing to celebrate this new stage between us. Soon Gabriel would have something to celebrate too.
We landed in California in a record time, economy was like a snail compared to the official jet. We had private transportation all the way along Route 66 until we reached a small western hotel, the closest to the scene that wasn’t in an abandoned area. It felt surreal to be in a place that looked like it was built in the late 1880s and properly maintained until today.
We checked in and McCree had taken the lead in speaking for us, he was in his full element. His whole persona was wrapped around the good old cowboy lifestyle. He put on his thickest accent, tipped his hat to the receptionist and all that jazz. I was seriously concerned if he was aware that this was just the hotels’ theme. He looked like he had his fun and I wasn’t going to stop him, even if he was embarrassing himself and us with his silliness.
No expenses were spared when traveling with the Commanders, everyone had their separate room, all expenses paid with access to the 24/7 bar and all-inclusive food and drinks. Not like we would have the time to use all that, we would be spending most of the sunlight out at the scene or at local police stations.
It was already late in the afternoon and yet Jack insisted that he wanted to check out the diner at least once, even if it’s just for dinner. Eyes and ears open for anything suspicious. The team begrudgingly agreed, not ready to work the moment we arrived but whatever the boss said. We went undercover, civilian clothes, hair styled in a different way than we ever would, Jack even had this hair gel that had colour pigments in it to change his blond to a more of a dirty brownish colour.
We sat on these cushioned red benches, neon signs both inside and outside, an old record player still functional and playing what the guests wished. Waitresses in their blue dresses and white aprons. The food was good, the hygiene completely up to code. This place was perfect, maybe just a little too perfect.
The dinner was mostly silent, the mood was still a little down. Gabriel was trying to avoid me like the plague and Jesse was only slowly getting more information on what went down between the three of us. I wanted to have a quick look around the whole place, behind those swinging doors. I left my seat to find the bathroom, pretending to be this confused foreigner on vacation. “Accidently” walking into the wrong doors and pretending to be lost.
The oh so friendly waitresses became snappier and ruder when they confronted me of who I was and what I was doing. They hushed me over into the bathrooms and lingered just a little longer to make sure I was really just using the bathroom.
This place was giving me the heebie jeebies, the warm and friendly front crumbled the moment someone moved the wrong way or looked at the wrong thing. Once I came out of the bathroom, I made sure the waitresses weren’t waiting for me. I didn’t expect this to turn into a full spy mission. I looked around every corner three times, listening to the faintest footstep and checking for anything that resembled a security camera.
Door after door, mostly locked, stretching through the long hallways. This place seemed much bigger than the outside might led on. It physically wasn’t possible to have these hallways stretch this far and still be on the same property. The layout of the diner was already hiding secrets. The main visible building stood right in front of one of the Grand Canyon’s cliff walls. No normal person would just walk around to the back of the building suspecting they lied about the layout. Most people just came here to enjoy the Route 66 tour, eat and have a break.
I continued to sneak around the unfamiliar backrooms of this mysterious place, checking every door to see if it opened. None of the ones I could open held any significance, storage rooms, technical rooms with way too many switches and wires.
One of the doors had “Staff room” written in some red-ish font and a crossed-out hand symbol “Staff only do not enter”. As if that would stop me. I held my ear to the door, quietly breathing, trying to hear anything over my thumping heartbeat that rang in my ears. Silence. I checked; it was open. My first instincts were to call for help, or shoot a text to the team but I was so far in the canyon that I had no reception anymore.
That’s when I heard some heels clicking on the stone tile floor. All the doors around me were locked and I did not want to step inside this room. If there were cameras inside, I would be done for but what options did I have. I opened the door to a small and dirty looking staff room, franticly looking around for any little hiding spot before I would be spotted.
There was one more door in that room, leading further down the rabbit hole I uncovered. Lady Luck was looking over me as the door opened and I had a way to escape from my discovery. I closed the door behind me, not even looking what room I stepped into, I hear multiple steps entering the staffroom and casual chatter filling the air. “Shit. I’m trapped”, I cussed in my head, the only way out blocked by people.
At least now I had a moment to look at the room I walked into. For what I could tell it was just another room for storage. Looking closer however the boxes stored there looked suspicious. Old wooden crates, straws of hay sticking out the poor framework. It looked almost fake like a reused movie prop, but why would they be there? I couldn’t risk opening any of the dozens of boxes and make any noise but I noted where they were and how many, so that when we got back there, I could tell if something changed. In that moment my main goal was it to get back out of there and inform the others that this place indeed was hiding skeletons in their closets, or storages.
My rescue came in the form of another young waitress, sounding stressed and alarmed, saying that some guests were making a fuss about their food, about the prices being wrong and portion sizes being too small. None of the guests that sat around us looked like these typical Karen’s and I wouldn’t expect anyone to make such ridiculous accusations.
I heard the people get back up from their chairs with groans and muttered insults, following the young person out of the room to deal with the unruly guests. I didn’t hear any more sounds coming from the staffroom so I opened the door just a crack to peak out. Once I made sure nobody was there, I got out and darted directly back to the main dining area.
I walked back to the dining section to see those three people from before standing around my table while Morrison and Reyes used their best faked accents and acted poor English skills to complain about the menu not being to their liking.
I locked eyes with McCree, panic stricken. I didn’t know how to communicate without the servers knowing I was with them, I just walked to the jukebox and pretended to look at the songs while constantly looking at the door, shifting around uncomfortable.
I gave small gestures about leaving, urgently. By the time he understood what I was on about our meals had already been compensated for the “inconvenience”. The staff was just as done with us as we were with their fake establishment. Once the back and forth had stopped and the waitresses had left the table exhausted, I quickly strut over and grabbed my things. “You’re right this place is a fake, we have to leave.”, I whispered and was out the front door before they could respond.