Thought of this while both writing up The New Arrivals Ch 8 and reading some other fics. Originally going to be a one-shot. But depending on length and reception, I might develop this into a smaller, 3-4 part series. Please rate and review.

Disclaimer - Some infrequent coarse language and mild sexual references. I do not own any official characters of COD and MW. Shade, and family, are OC/s.

Enjoy

Leave Pass

"Woo hoo!" Meat's voice was uncontained as he ran through the barracks. "Six weeks of leave! Home sweet home!"

"Can it Meat. Some of us have got some packing to do." Royce took this chance to stick a broom out in Meat's path, causing him to fly for five feet before making a hard landing into the cold floor. "Now shut it and pack."

Shade sat in his room, gathering his things. Having been with the 141 for over a year, he'd seen quite a bit of action. There was the operation in Kuwait, where they had to neutralise a gun-dealer who sold the wrong kind of weapons. There was Malaysia, where a terror cell had reared it's ugly head, and then this very base, where Shade had orchestrated a large scale Nerf war. He'd had fun and had done a lot of hard work. But living in western-central area of the USA had taken its toll. Shade was losing some of his tan, and despite the major workload and physical demand, he'd gained a little weight. Most like muscle, but still, a weight gain is a weight gain.

He took a break from his own stuff and walked over to Roach's room. He and Roach had saved each other's lives enough times to become the best of friends. It was to the point where the pair were constantly reading each other's body language. So when Shade noticed Roach just sitting on his bed, reading a magazine, Shade knew something was up.

"Oi, bug, what's with the mags and no packed bags?" Shade jumped onto the end of the bed and leant his back on the wall it was against. Other than Ghost, Shade was the only one who called him 'bug', and was the only one who used it in a non-demeaning manner.

"Not going anywhere mate. Don't have a place to go. No wife, no kids, parents have passed, brother is a peace-freak who hasn't spoken to me since I came home that day with the enlistment papers." Roach had brought this up with Shade a little while ago. When Roach, or Gary was he was known back then, was of suitable age and suitable educational level, he had made a stop on the way home from school. When he arrived, he proudly pulled out a partially filled set of enlistment papers to the British Army. It was no secret that Gary wanted to be a soldier. His parents were ok with it, only because Gary was committed to doing his dream job. His brother, a few years older, had other views. He'd been old enough to remember the 2001 9/11 attacks, and the news reports regarding the invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East as a whole. The news articles that stimulated Roach's interest and passion of the military were the same ones that cemented Michael's hatred of war and the military. So, that fateful day when Roach picked up and filled the forms out with his parents was the day that Gary Sanderson no longer existed in Michael Sanderson's life.

They had only seen each other twice after that, at each of their parent's funerals, and they never said a word to each other about each other's life since that day. Roach had no idea where Michael was, what he did, or how he was. But, it wasn't time to dwell on the past. Shade saw the displeasure of the idea about staying back, so he quickly formed an idea.

"Gary," Shade and Roach had an agreement where they would only use each other's real names if it was serious or life and death. "I want you to come to Australia with me. You can't stay here for the rest of your life. You gotta get out, spend some time away, even if it is only six weeks. When's the next leave segment going to be anyway?" Roach was thinking about this, too long. He didn't get to say a work when Shade answered for him. "Great, now get packing. Our flight leaves for LA tomorrow morning, then it's direct to Brisbane."

After a 14 hour flight...

"Name, and reason for visit?" The Australian Customs Officer was quick and to the point with her questions.

"Thomas Williams, and I'm on leave from my unit. Decided to take the leave and come home." Shade said this with a smile as he handed over his Australian passport. The Customs officer gave a curious glance towards Shade.

"Yeah? Are you serving with the ADF in Afghanistan?" The officer was referring to the Australian Defence Force.

"Ex-ADF. I got transferred out. I can't say much around here, but let's just say I moved up a step from SOCOMD." Shade left the officer with a smirk on his face. He was after Roach, who had a little issue in Quarantine when he tried to bring some MREs in his baggage. But that was cleared up now, and it was a clear route onwards. Shade's phone, his Australian phone, started to ring. His ringtone was 'Rise', a song used in an Australian Army recruiting campaign when Shade was first a recruit to the ADF. While he didn't mind that it was a song to get men into the Army, he admitted that the tune itself was inspiring. Roach had to agree, it was inspiring.

"William's here. Oh hey Mum. Yea, just got in. I forgot to mention I brought a mate with me. Nah, he's a mate from work. Where are you? Oh, I'll keep an eye out for you and the gang then. 'Aight. See ya soon Mum." Roach was stunned. He'd never heard Shade, or Rook for that matter, speak like that. Sure, Shade incorporated a bit of Aussie English into the conversations he had with Rook, but despite them both being Aussie's, they had different accents. Shade explained that he was a Queenslander from the East Coast, while Rook was from Victoria, a southern state. They apparently had slightly different accents and mannerisims.

"So, Shade, was that your Mother?" Roach just had to confirm it. "And why is she part of a gang?"

"Oh, Roach, you mis-understood. By gang, I mean family. Just that the way we act around each other, we would be considered a gang. Nothing negative though."

"One last thing, why'd you refer to the 141 as 'work'?"

"Well," Shade began, still walking towards the exit. "Like most of us elites, we need to keep secrets. I can't tell Mum that I'm a top of the line special operations soldier who can kick a terrorist's ass from here to kingdom come and back. She knows I was a 2CDO, and knew I was transferred. But she just thinks I'm consulting for the Para's. That's what I told her while I was packing. I had planned on bringing you with anyway. And the Para's were where you were poached from."

"Makes sense. But what happens if you were k-?" Roach got cut off as Shade was attacked by a person who at that moment had been running and jumped into Shade's arms. Roach was about to beat the person up until Shade wrapped his arms around him. Around her to be precise. A mop of long black hair was hanging over the back of the assailant, and was slightly shaking.

"Jessie! Never do that to me again! You do remember what I do for a living, right sis?" This remark caught Roach off guard, but allowed him to relax.

"Oh, I forgot about that Tommy," the woman said as she climbed off of Shade. "Just that I haven't seen you in ages!" Her face lit up, blue eyes piercing Shade's face, big smile erupting from her lips. "How long has it been, three, four years now?"

"Three years, 2 months, eleven days. And I've missed you every single minute." Shade picked her up again, hugging her deeply. "Jessie, this is my mate, Gary. Gary, this is Jess, my little sister."

"Well, nice to me- " Roach was cut off once again as this time the woman attacked him. "Gah, that the normal way to greet a stranger down here?" Roach's accent froze Jessie where she was.

"Tom! You said you were bring a friend down here. You never mentioned anything about him being a Brit," exclaimed Jessie, jumping off of Roach. "And a sexy Brit at that." Roach suddenly blushed at this remark, as Jessie looked at him from head to toe. Apparently Shade must have left a few details out.

"Jess, calm down. I don't want you freaking out and going mental just yet. Yes, Gary is British. But he also does the same kind of work as me. So he'd appreciate it if you didn't jump on him or do anything that might set off his killer reflexes. His right hook will remind you if you do forget." Shade laughed, pulling his sister under his arm.

Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into...

I wanted Shade to feel straight at home as soon as he got into the airport. His actions here will probably be different from any other fics I might write with him involved. Rate, Review (It'll help me follow the story up) and check out "The New Arrivals". That's Shade's debut and intro.