John sat on a bench, smoking a cigarette as he waited, content to just enjoy the moment. His time with Overwatch had been some of the most exciting, and most painful, moments of his life. He was lucky to get any time alone, between his relationship and the amount of paperwork he'd begun to receive as Strike-Commander, it seemed there was no end to his responsibilities. He laid back on the bench, panning his view around the park he sat in, it wasn't a terribly large space, a large fountain sat in the center with various groups of civilians conversing or taking pictures. He let out a sigh, staring into the afternoon sky as he took a drag of the cigarette. The sound of footsteps approaching him broke his trance, he quickly turn to face the source of the noise. A small child stood, sheepishly looking at her feet as her mother stood behind her, pushing her towards John.
"E-excuse me… Are you Commander Hudson?" The girl spoke, her voice quiet at she spoke at the ground in front of her. John chuckled, extinguishing his cigarette in a nearby ashtray, before crouching down to meet the girl's height.
"I am, can I help you with something?" John spoke, smiling as the child visibly calmed down. Her brown eyes stared up at him, she bore a large smile on her face, similar to someone else's.
"Could I get a picture with you?" She cheerily asked, her demeanor a complete reversal of the shy child that had walked up to him. John nodded, motioning for the child to stand next to him, he placed his right hand in her hair and smiled. The child's grin grew larger, her mother chuckled as she raised her phone to take a photo. A blue light blinked near John, Lena appeared next to the child, crouching as she gave her two-fingered salute. The mother quickly took the photo, worried at how long her daughter would be able to stay still. John laughed as he stood back up, ruffling the child's hair before turning to Lena. She was still crouched down, quietly talking with her, before she laughed and pulled her into a hug.
"You know, the world could always use more heroes!" Lena giggled as she let go of the child, waving as she and her mother departed. John chuckled, slipping his hands into his pockets as he began to walk around the park, quickly glancing back at Lena.
"I'll never understand how someone with powers like yours can still manage to be late." John sighed, stopping to allow Lena to catch up to him. She laughed as she blinked to him, hooking her arm around his, bearing her trademark smile. "It's about time." John whispered, giving Lena a quick kiss before they continued through the park. It had been a wild ride, but it was good to finally get some time to properly relax, they had earned that much. The sun began to set as they walked off into the London streets, the world was at peace, and time flowed onwards.
Hey guys,
Just wanted to do a quick little Epilogue to end the story, this has been a fun one to write. I think I made some mistakes in terms of pacing, I felt like the Talon arc was way too short for the impact it would have on the story as a whole, but hindsight is 20/20. I want to thank everyone who's read either of my stories, it's been a ton of fun writing both of them, and I plan to do more in the future. I've been going through some personal stuff towards the end of this story, so it felt good to finally write it an ending that I felt fit properly. I hope John made sense as a character, most of what I wrote for him felt right, but I can never look at my own work in a truly objective sense. I currently don't have any plans to continue this particular story, I think I managed to tell the story I wanted to tell, and continuing past this point would end up with me just making up villains and plot points. I hope you guys enjoyed the story, I certainly enjoyed writing it. Thanks again for reading it!
Alerestus