After the battle, there had been countless medical check-ups, debriefings and consults from scientists. But they were fine.
Doctor June Moon and Colonel Rick Flag. They were fine. No lasting damage. None whatsoever.
Once the Squad's demands had been met and the check-ups were finished, and Waller couldn't think of any reason to keep them, it was time for Rick and June to go home.
Home was Rick's apartment. Before June it had been sparse and barely lived in. An unmade bed with unchanged sheets, a bag always ready by the door, a TV resting on some unpacked boxes and six used bowls on the built-in counters. No curtains, no chairs, no table, no photographs. It had told June nothing of the man who had been tasked with her protection when she had first entered.
But now, thanks to June, there was curtains, photos of them decorated the TV stand, a couch faced the TV and a small table, and two chairs were occupied by their dishes, unwashed because they had been needed in Belle Reve. The bedroom now contained a chest of drawers adorned with nick-knacks and the sheets were new and fresh.
It was now home, thanks to June.
Rick entered their apartment slowly. The air was stale, but it made his heart ache with the level of familiarity. It smelled of home. Not like the stink of Belle Reve or the harsh odor of the infirmary. It was sweat and perfume, and their soap, and June's unwatered plants. He took a long inhale. He didn't want to forget this smell.
He pulled off his coat and draped it over the back of a chair while June kicked off her shoes and folded herself onto the couch. She curled into the slight groove left in the furniture. They both watched the other expectantly. With a sigh, Rick moved and sat beside June.
"It doesn't have to be this way."
"Yes, it does," June disagreed, that calm, placating smile on her face. "I can't stay."
Rick shut his eyes. "And I can't leave."
Fingers danced across his brow. "Can't or won't."
He caught the fingers in a gentle hand and brought them to his lips. Kiss her while you still can, he thought. "Don't," he whispered, begging. "You know she'd find us."
June nodded, taking back her hand. "I know."
They both looked at each other for a long moment. They loved each other so much, but it was because they loved each other that they had to be apart. They couldn't be together.
"I don't want to break your heart," Rick murmured.
June smiled, softly, gently – god, he loved her. "I haven't got one."
Rick smiled back at her. He couldn't remember smiling so much before he met her. He probably wouldn't smile after her. He would miss her jokes. "I love you," he whispered.
June grasped Rick's hand and held it tightly. "I love you too, Rick. That's why this is goodbye."
Rick nodded. He understood, even if he didn't want to. "This is still your home. I hope you know that. Wherever you go next, you can always come back here. I'll never turn you away. You're my best friend." Especially now that Edwards was dead. He still had to call his parents. Presumably Waller had already told them, but Rick knew that GQ would want his parents to have some closure, and Waller wouldn't do that. GQ died a hero, his family deserved to know that at least.
"Thank you, Rick." June squeezed his hand. "What will you do now?"
Rick shrugged. "I guess I'll stay with Task Force X. The Squad."
June smiled. "Those maniacs? Is that safe? Especially considering that you're already strange in the head. I mean, you dated a woman possessed by an evil deity."
Rick didn't want to smile, but it was hard when faced with June's genuine mirth. Truthfully, everything about the Enchantress scared him. It still did. He had spent every night in the infirmary waking up from nightmares about June dying, the Enchantress winning, him dying, GQ dying. Even the imagined deaths of the Squad had had him waking up in a sweat. Especially since Chato had died.
"Rick," June said, drawing Rick's attention back to her. "I need you to do something for me?"
"Anything," he answered. He knew the danger of those words. Waller had said them plenty of times. Only they weren't requests then. But June would never ask him to do anything dangerous. She loved him like he loved her. She would never hurt him. He trusted her completely.
"Don't…" June sighed. "Don't become 'Colonel Flag' again. Especially with the Squad. You can't go back to being Waller's… soldier. Her puppet. You need to keep being 'Rick', you can't go back to just being the soldier. Rick is the man I fell in love with. Rick is the man that I found under the fatigues. And, if the Squad falls apart, Rick is the one who is going to get hurt most of all. You need to promise me that, with me not here, you won't retreat into yourself. You need to promise me that you will go out with your friends, that you'll find someone else to be with – even if it's only for a night.
"Call your mother. Meet up with your old buddies. Don't become Waller's again. You need to be your own person. I know what it's like to be under someone else's control, and you're under Waller's right now. Without me, Waller doesn't control you. But you still need to be something more than just a soldier. You are so much more."
Rick looked away. "I can't be with someone else like I am with you," he admitted. "But I'll try, I guess."
"That's all I ask. Don't be alone again. Don't belong to her."
"I can't put someone else in danger, June," Rick murmured. "If I find someone else, they'll still be in danger. Waller is never going to let me go. With you gone, she'll find something else to leash me with. Or she'll put one of those bombs in my head."
"She won't," June replied. She didn't sound entirely confident. "She needs your brains too much to splatter them on the walls. And, as for finding someone? Just don't fall in love so easily next time," she said, a teasing tone in her voice.
"You're an easy woman to fall in love with June," Rick defended. Their epic romance had begun only days after they first met. Then again, they had spent every waking moment together.
"And you're a wonderful man under those fatigues, Rick," June answered.
Rick hoped the blush didn't show on his cheeks.