A/N: Because I totally loved that scene.
He looked at the book the teacher had recommended to the teen. It had been a long time since he had read that - he couldn't remember how old he was the first time he had read it - but if it had been a school assignment he would have just skimmed it and took detailed notes from his other classmates. Back then it didn't matter if you actually read the book, as long as you understood it, or at least understood it the way the teacher wanted you to, you would pass the class.
When he actually had decided to read it - he had to pick some sort of reading material for the mission -it had kept him sane during the long blackouts where they were not allowed to talk to one another for fear of being overheard and the mission compromised. During one of the dust storms he got through a large portion of the book, before having to tuck it in his pack and pick up his gun, and watch his Delta comrades die around him while he was allowed to live.
At the time he believed all that religiosity that the book portrayed.
When he lost her, he tried reading the book again - and he nearly lost his mind. Dantes always had Mercedes to go back to, and he had only some kind of work, not her. Reese was good at killing people and at saving people, not just opening his mind and heart to someone. Something he would never do again.
He would deny that his tendency for many aliases came not only from his work, but from the book, as a safety precaution, the anonymity of many names had always served him well.
He was like Dantes, he had been betrayed many times, but he had no hope of vengence, or of getting the beautiful girl.
So when he saw the book, he smiled. Maybe not because the thought of that book amused him, but the bitter memory that went with it.