Chapter Text
Ghost
Ghost was alone in the common room, empty, as usual with only having a very small task force. A computer was on his lap and papers of varying sorts lay next to him in neat folders, a few out. They were mostly about the upcoming mission, or well, missions. Because lord knows this is gonna take longer than just a singular mission. The whole idea is still being ironed out and finalized, but it’s going fairly well.
A small group is going to enter the shifter facility and find the control breaker room. From there, another group will enter and take out the guards and most of the scientists, but some will need to be kept alive for questioning. Then, the shifters (which is only a few small amount, around 2-3) will be released and taken to a rehab of sorts. After that facility was taken care of, the main compound will be delt with, the one housing Alexei Yukovich. Once he gets notice of the other facilities getting taken over, he’ll go into hiding like a fucking coward. But luckily, they know his bunker locations. It took some time, but Laswell managed to find a guy on the inside who was willing to sell Yukovich out for some money. The exact thing that Yukovich fretted and worried about actually happened, like a fucking miracle.
Ghost knew that Soap was going to push to go, to finally put a bullet in that bastards head. But the other fact that was tearing at Ghost is that he’d have to leave Sadie behind, have to leave her outside of his sights. The little girl was so innocent, too pure to be involved in all this shit. She deserved to have nice things, to enjoy being a little kid, to not know what cruelty is, to not be aware that she was genetically made into a weapon. It killed Ghost because it hit too close to home. His own father had been cruel, worse than cruel. He ripped Simon to shreds, tore his childhood apart with venom stained hands. Then only for Simon to become Ghost. He only wanted Sadie to know what safety is.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear, the door to the common room opened and in walked Sadie and Soap. Johnny had taken her to the medical wing to get some blood tests done, as per requested by the head doctor. She was being given a piggy-back ride from Soap, she little arms were wrapped around his neck, face peeked over his shoulder to look at the side of his face while she rants about some movie.
“An’ then, they jus’ take Lilo away! So now Nani an-and Stich have ta go get her,” Sadie said, flailing her arms while talking, accidentally hitting Soap in the shoulder a couple times.
“Uh-huh, and then what else?” Johnny asks with a smile, looking at Simon with a smile and a sweet look in his eyes that could give a fucking vegetable a cavity.
“Stich and Nani team up with, with the other aliens to go save he–Ghost!” She shouts, looking up and noticing Ghost in the room.
“Woah! Calm down lass,” Soap sets her down to stop her wiggling from making her fall down. Once she’s set on the ground, Sadie runs full sprint toward where Ghost was (who thankfully put the paperwork and the computer to the side) and he catches an armful of blonde energy. She stuffs her face into his collarbone and wraps her arms around his neck, legs sprawled out across his waist.
“Sim’n!” Sadie clambered up and looked him in the eyes with a wide smile. One that was contagious and wormed it’s way onto Simon’s own face. Her eyes were bright blue, the color of a cloudless sky in June. There was a red tinge around her eyes, indicating that she had been crying, which just makes his heart clench. Her face was pale with a small smattering of freckles around her face, freckles that make her look so much younger than she was.
“Hey lovely,” Simon says with a smile, gently rubbing his hand up and down her back, seeing that she was exhausted.
“The-the doctor people put a-um, a needle in my arm. It hurt, but Soap was there. He held my hand, which was-which was nice,” Sadie’s eyes were dropping, body falling lax under Simon’s hand. “They said that, uh, they said that I should change into my wolf or something. The doctor people talked to Soap after that…”
Her words trailed off as her eyes closed, head falling onto Simon’s shoulder. Her mouth was open slightly, soft breaths puffing out. Claws scraped against Ghost’s heart, the beast in him screaming at him that he shouldn’t be allowed to have soft things like this, that he shouldn’t know what kindness feels like. But he beats that beast back with a stick, shoving it down. Sure, he was scared. His father was horrible person, and it just made him all the more scared to be around Sadie, fearing that he’ll end up like his father. But Soap, Johnny. The man stood by his side and told him over and over that he can have nice things, that not wanted to be like his father already made him ten times better than that bastard.
A camera click snaps him out of his thoughts. There stood Johnny, a dumb grin on his face, phone in hand, held straight towards Simon. “If you show anyone that, I’m killing you in your sleep.”
The Scot simply laughs and flops down on the couch next to Simon, careful not to jostle Sadie too much. “You’d miss me too much,”
Simon only rolls his eyes and adjusts Sadie slightly, trying to make sure she wasn’t suffocating herself. Using the small knowledge that he held from when Tommy’s wife, Beth, made him hold Joseph, assuring him that he wasn’t going to hurt the small child.
“I’m just kidding, L.t.. I wouldn’t show anyone, no one else gets to see you like this, just me. And the lass,” Simon looked over toward Soap, admiring him, appreciating him. The man was simply too good to be true. Something that Simon only dreamed of. His bright blue eyes that he could get lost in, the plump pink lips that just screamed for Simon to kiss them, the strong chin dusted in stubble that tickled Simon when they kissed, but he’d never tell Johnny he’s ticklish. That’d simply ruin his reputation. Johnny leaned over and kissed Simon, almost reading his mind. It was a deep kiss, but nor was it chaste. It was strong, filling Simon with love and adoration, and he pushed to make that feeling reciprocated to Johnny.
They seperated and right as Simon opened his mouth to say something, he felt Sadie shift. The little girl was kicking slightly, arms wiggling and jerking a small amount. Her face was relaxed with soothed his worries about it being a nightmare, it was jsut a dream. Johnny chuckled and smoothed her hair back, “Like a pup, wigglin’ around.”
“Reminds me of how you sleep, Sergeant.”
“Away an’ bile yer heid! I do not kick in ma sleep,” Johnny huffed and crossed his arms, pouting.
“Bullshit, you’ve given me a bruise before from kicking me.”
Johnny turned to face him and poked him in the cheek. “Whatever, just know that you snore, like a fucking chainsaw.”
The conversation was once again cut off by a noise from Sadie, and checking again, she was still asleep. The two men looked at each other and nodded, agreeing to take her to bed, lest Simon get a foot shaped bruise on his chest. So they walked to Sadie’s room, the girl being carried by Simon, careful so that her wiggling doesn’t end up with her on the floor.
In the little amount of time that Sadie had been here, her room already had traces of her. The soft pink blanket she picked out at the store lying haphazardly on the bed, a weird space moose squishmallow oddly named Rufus, and some clothes seen in the open drawers of the chest. Simon gently sets Sadie down, covering her with the blanket and giving her the stuffie. He ran a hand through her hair one more time before moving toward the door, giving Johnny time ot say goodnight, knowing the sentimental sap that he is. Soap leaned down made sure the blanket was snug around her before turning toward Simon. The two men walked quietly back to their room, just down the hall from Sadie’s, hand in hand.
It was hard to describe what was normally going on inside Simon’s head. Filled with strategies, murder methods, the job, flashbacks, and a whole bunch of other fucked up shit that shouldn’t belong inside a normal man’s mind. But then again, Simon wasn’t normal. Not since his father threw the first punch. Hadn’t been normal since being reborn as Ghost, since clawing tooth and nail out of that coffin. But now, in this moment, as most moment’s with Johnny are, his mind is blissfully empty. Body doing all the work of keeping him moving, his brain quiet. Like the very early hours of the morning (around 2-3) in his childhood neighborhood. When the dogs settled down to sleep, the traffic noises trapped to the later hours of the day, even the birds stopped singing and shut their eyes. The only noise would be the summer cicadas, the restless roar of their noise, a nice barrier from complete silence. It was moments like this with Johnny that he appreciated, moments where he didn’t need to think.
------------
It was hard to say how exactly he ended up in this situation. Standing in the kitchen, black shirt covered in flour, mask forgone to instead show his face. A face that was also smeared in flour. Johnny was standing over next to Sadie, a bowl of heavy whipping cream, vanilla, sugar, and a mixer out in front of them. He was trying to explain how to make whip cream to her, but Sadie was just interested in eating the strawberries. Gaz was intensely focused on the bacon that was in the oven, trying to see whether or not he should pull it out now or in two more minutes. Price on the other hand was sitting at the table, drinking some coffee from a “world’s #1 dad” mug that the team got for him during a Christmas one year. Laswell had needed to stop by to inform Price of some information, so Sadie had managed to wrangle her into staying for breakfast. So she was now making some scrambled eggs.
Normally, Price was the one to cook if it wasn’t the kitchen staff making the meals. But Sadie had asked if Ghost knew how to cook, to which he promptly said no. It’s not that he’s bad at cooking, but just that he doesn’t cook, unless you count pouring water into MRE’s or making tea. Johnny had outright refused to cook, after the last time he nearly burned down the fucking kitchen trying to make mac and cheese. But luckily, following the directions exactly, he managed to make a batch of pancakes successfully.
“Are they done yet?” Sadie asks for the tenth time in the past 5 minutes, standing on her tippy-toes peeking at the pancakes.
“Yes, after the tenth time you asked, yes. They’re done,” Ghost smiled, picking Sadie up with one arm, the other one holding a spatula with pancake on it, putting the pancake on a plate that was already stacked up.
“Bacon’s ready too, too forever though,” Gaz sighs, pulling the bacon out of the oven. RIght as he set it on the stove, Johnny’s hand shoots out and snatches a peice. “Hey! Soap!”
Johnny just play-growls, mouth full of bacon and dodges Gaz’s hand trying to smack him. As Gaz was turned around, Soap grinned at Simon, who sighed, knowing what he was trying to do. Soap quickly snatches another piece of bacon. He rips it in half and gives half to Sadie who gratefully takes and chomps on it. But unluckily for the two of them, Gaz turns around.
Ghost pushes sadie into Soap’s arms. “I’m not getting in the middle of this.”
“Soap! Get back here!”
Sadie growls playfully at Gaz, lips pulled back to reveal fangs. Soap runs away from a chasing Gaz, narrowly avoiding smacking Sadie’s head on the doorframe. Ghost simply watches from the kitchen counter, eating a pancake.
“The pancakes are gonna get cold!” He yells toward all the runners, who come barreling back into the kitchen with the promise of pancakes.