In Charge of Remembering

Three weeks after Church had left and Washington had joined their team, they had settled down into a new routine. Every day they would wake up, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and then meet outside of the base to discuss their plans.

Washington was good at plans. Because of him, they were capturing the Red Team's flag. For the first time, Caboose knew what it felt like to win. That was almost good enough to balance out the fact that Church wasn't back yet.

They met in front of the base like every other day.

"What should we do, Church?" Caboose asked.

"I'll go on patrol. You two stay here. Secure the perimeter while I'm gone. When I get back, we'll discuss how we're going to infiltrate Red Base." Washington sneaked away silently, like all Freelancers could sneak.

"Okay, Church."

"Will you fucking stop calling him that?" Tucker exclaimed.

Caboose turned away and started walking the perimeter of the base.

Tucker got in front of him and wouldn't move. "We need to talk."

"Get out of my way, Tucker," Caboose said. He lifted his head, asserting his full height, and gripped his gun harder. "I'm trying to patrol."

"Dude, stop trying to change the subject. You know that we need to talk, and you know what we need to talk about," Tucker said.

Caboose glared at him. "I need, to patrol for the Reds, because I need, to make sure they don't take our base."

Tucker steeled himself, planting his feet more firmly. "No, Caboose. You don't. And the reason you don't need to do that is because Wash is doing that. Wash is the reason the Reds don't take our base."

"If I talk to you, then you will go away?" Caboose asked warily.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Tucker said. "If I didn't need to talk to you, I'd already be away. Do you think I like standing here and getting attitude from you? Because I don't."

Caboose sighed. "What is it, Tucker?"

"It's about Agent Washington and Church," Tucker said.

Caboose shifted restlessly. "What about them, Tucker?"

"Don't think I haven't noticed you calling Wash 'Church' all the time," Tucker said.

Caboose frowned. "You don't think I know Church isn't here."

"Don't get all high and mighty with me," Tucker said. "You forget he's not here all the time."

Caboose said sarcastically, "I see. So it's me. I'm the one who is forgetting."

"Yeah. You are."

"If you had your way, Church would never come back."

Tucker snapped, "I'm sick of you blaming everything on me. Every time something happens and you screw up, it's always, 'Tucker did it'. Well, I didn't do it. Church is gone and it's not my fault he isn't here."

"Church went to rescue Tex," Caboose said, frustrated that Tucker didn't seem to understand. "I was there when it happened. Church told me -"

"Okay, I'm only going to say this once, but I want you to listen," Tucker said. "I know you'll just think I'm mean and you'll keep trying to ignore me, but this is for your own good. Church is dead."

Caboose stared at him.

Tucker clarified, "I don't mean like how he was always dead, because he was an A.I. I mean that Church has been destroyed. He went into that messed up memory unit because he couldn't live without Tex, and now they're both dead. Not like a little dead. Dead dead. The kind of dead you don't come back from. That's because A.I.s are electrical people. The memory unit had an electrical problem. It died. So Church and Tex died."

Caboose kept staring at him.

Tucker threw up his hands in defeat. "Okay. Fine. I'm going to go now, and I don't want you following me and yelling at me." He turned around and walked away.

Caboose just watched him. When he was gone, Caboose muttered, "Stupid Tucker."

Then something moved kind of far away on a ledge, and Caboose saw it was Washington. Washington was watching him with the sniper rifle like he and Church used to watch the Reds. Caboose didn't know what he was supposed to do, so he stood there and let Washington watch him.

Eventually, Washington came down from the cliffs and joined him. "Caboose, are you okay?"

"What do you think?" Caboose asked. "Do you think I'm forgetting, like Tucker thinks I'm forgetting? I am not forgetting; I am remembering. I am remembering just like Church asked me to."

Washington seemed confused. He asked gently, "What did Tucker say to you?"

"Tucker, thinks I should forget about Church," Caboose said. "Tucker, is stupid. I won't forget about Church. If I do that, Church isn't coming back. Church put me in charge of remembering, because Tucker would just mess it up, and Tucker is jealous, because Church likes me more, than him." He took a lot of deep breaths, but it didn't help him be any less upset.

Washington looked at the ground. "You're right, Caboose. Don't forget him."

"Thank you, Agent Washington."

Washington sighed and turned away. "If I knew where the UNSC took the memory unit, I would lead us there and take it back. I'd undo all this if I could, Caboose."

"I'm not mad at you," Caboose said. "I'm just mad at Tucker. Tucker doesn't want to do anything that could help Church. I would not let him help, because Church told me not to, but Tucker didn't try to help remember Church. Tucker also did not ask if we could go find the memory unit. Tucker, just wants to stay here, and forget everything. Tucker, is bad, and mean."

"I think Tucker feels helpless," Washington said without turning around to face Caboose. "He doesn't know what to do, so he's trying to run away from it all. I can sympathize with that; that's what I did."

Caboose grabbed his arm and turned him around. "No, you didn't! You didn't know what to do, but you still did what you could to find Church and try to help. You needed to escape the bad people. Then you needed to convince them that you were on their side. Then you needed to get away from them. I know you have a plan. Church isn't gone. Church is lost. That is a different thing. My mom said so. And you are here, and you are Church while Church is gone, and as soon as we get him back, you will go back to being you again and we will have another member on the Blue Team!"

Washington looked at him with shock. "You understand Church and I are not the same person?"

"You are Church because there needs to be a Church," Caboose said. "If there is no Church, who will lead us?"

Washington nodded slowly. "I think I understand. You mean 'Church' like a rank, don't you? While Epsilon is gone, I am 'Acting Church' of this team."

Caboose released his arm and nodded in return. "Yes. You are the Church. You are not the Captain or the Private or the Sargeant. You are the Church."

Washington smiled at him. "I can do that." He looked away. "And don't worry. I'll turn Tucker around. He just needs to see that there's hope."

"Thank you, Church Washington," Caboose said gravely.