Reviews and comments are always appreciated.
"italics" = thoughts
Pharah yawned as she stepped out of her room and into the hallway, nodding politely to Mei who was passing by with a book in her hands. Once again wearing grey sweatpants and a blue sweatshirt, Pharah made her way to the cafeteria. As she passed by several large windows Pharah could feel the cold emanating off of the glass and shivered slightly. Entering the cafeteria, Pharah was glad to see Winston sitting at a table with tracer and chatting amicably. Going over to the kitchen counter, Pharah made herself a plate of scrambled eggs accompanied by some toast and an orange. Looking around to see where she should sit, Pharah arched an eyebrow curiously when she noticed Torbjorn beckoning her with his mechanical arm. Noticing that the squat Swedish engineer sat at a table with Zarya and Reinhardt, Pharah walked over and set her food tray down as she gently took a seat.
"Good mornin Fareeha! How're ya feelin?" Torbjorn greeted Pharah in his usual loud voice.
"Aha! Welcome Fareeha! Is that all you are going to eat?" Reinhardt smiled and spoke as he waved a fork around with a piece of sausage on the end.
"доброе утро Pharah, have you been lifting any weights recently?" Zarya grinned and spoke as she chomped on several apple slices.
Smiling warmly at the various greetings, Pharah took a bite of her eggs before speaking. "Good morning to you all. Why did you call me over Torbjorn?"
Torbjorn took a gulp from his coffee cup before answering. "We need an outside perspective. See we were talkin about my youngest daughter. Her name is Brigitte, a chip off the old block if I do say so myself. I love her with all my heart and I want the best for her, but sometimes we disagree on a few things. Long story short I found out a while ago that ol' Reinhardt here had taken her under his wing as a squire. At first I thought nothing of it, this was before the recall happened so I was glad there was someone around to maintain Reinhardt's suit. The problem is Brigitte has gotten it into her head that she wants to follow the same path Reinhardt did. I worry about my little girl and just thinkin about the trouble she might get into ain't helpin. Thank goodness Reinhardt didn't take her along when he came back here. Well lately she has been callin and messaging Reinhardt at all hours of the day wanting to know what he's doing and if she can help. Am I a bad father for not wanting her on the team? I know she is an adult and can handle herself, but if she were to get hurt here I would never forgive myself."
Pharah frowned slightly as Torbjorn unloaded his fatherly worries. "Well...that is a tough decision to make. If you asked me this a few weeks ago I would have said to let her join us. But after what happened recently...I am not so sure. I know what it is like to lose a loved one and I would not wish that pain on any family. It really boils down to if you think she would be safer in the dark or by your side. Sorry for not being much help."
Torbjorn stroked his beard as he listened to Pharah. "No worries Fareeha, sorry for asking you that. I know that is...a sensitive subject for ya. But you are right. I think I need to talk this over with her personally. Thanks for your input."
Pharah ate her breakfast with the others as they talked about lighter topics. At one point Reinhardt and Zarya got into a debate over specific weightlifting styles, causing Torbjorn and Pharah to share a look and a laugh. Eventually everyone finished their meals and bid each other goodbye as they left to go about their day. Standing up, Pharah took her empty tray back over to the kitchen and was about to leave the cafeteria when she almost ran straight into Mercy.
"Woah! Sorry Angela I was not paying attention." Pharah apologized as she righted herself and stepped into the hallway.
"Actually I was looking for you Fareeha. Come with me, I have something to tell you." Mercy smiled excitedly and grabbed Pharah's hand as she turned around and began quickly walking back the way she came.
Letting herself be dragged along, Pharah came to a stop when Mercy stopped at the door to her office.
Unlocking the door, Mercy pulled Pharah inside and gestured to a datapad that was sitting on her desk. "Take a look."
Pharah walked over and picked up the datapad, furrowing her brow in confusion as she read the article that was on the screen. "Umm, am I supposed to see something? This just looks like a news article from...Denmark?"
Mercy chuckled softly and walked over to her desk as Pharah continued to read the news article. "It's not what is in the article, it is who it is about."
Pharah scrolled back to the top of the article where a small picture showed a middle-aged man in a suit accepting some kind of award. "I still don't understand. This...Oscar Hansen person, is important why? The article just talks about his work in psychiatry."
Mercy nodded and smiled knowingly. "Who do we both know that could benefit from seeing a world class mental health specialist?"
Realizing what Mercy was implying, Pharah looked up from the datapad and gave her friend a skeptical look. "So this is about Erik. First of all can we trust this Hansen? Secondly will he even be able to help Erik? He is not just some regular soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder."
Mercy rolled her eyes at Pharah's skepticism. "Sometimes you are a little too cynical Fareeha. Oscar is a good friend of mine and used to be part of the Overwatch global network. I trust him completely. He was also part of the original team assigned to try and find a way to rehabilitate Amélie Lacroix if she was captured. I sent him the file I made on Erik and he said he is more than happy to try and help."
Pharah looked back down at the picture of the chubby Danish man and sighed softly. "Well...if you speak so highly of him I guess that eases my doubts. So have you figured out when and how he will see Erik?"
Mercy beamed happily and handed Pharah a plane ticket she had been hiding in her lab coat pocket. "We leave tomorrow morning actually. You are coming with us as well."
Pharah widened her eyes in surprise as Mercy giggled and took back the datapad. "Angela! You...you had already planned this without letting me know?! What about Winston? What about the rest of the team here at the base?! Please tell me you actually thought this through!"
Mercy rolled her eyes at Pharah's exclamations and began digging around in a drawer of her desk. "This is something I have planned on doing ever since Erik joined us. I already cleared it with Winston and he has agreed to postpone any missions until we get back. Did you forget that I told everyone to take two weeks off to recover? There is still a week left. Plus this will be a great opportunity for you and Erik to actually do normal couple things. Don't you want to be able to be affectionate with Erik without worrying about hiding it from everyone?"
Pharah spluttered at Mercy's carefree attitude and blushed brightly at the blonde doctor's comments about her relationship. "That is...I mean I want to but...Gah! Angela, you are so hard to deal with sometimes!"
Mercy giggled and gave Pharah a comforting hug. "Oh you are being melodramatic. Now go get packed. You deserve some time to relax Fareeha, stop pushing yourself to live up to this unattainable standard you have in your head." Mercy turned Pharah around then gently pushed her out the door.
Sighing in defeat, Pharah walked back to her room while looking at the ticket.
"Hello Pharah, did something good happen to you?" Zenyatta spoke in his soothing synthesized voice as he turned his head from looking out a hallway window.
Putting the ticket in her pocket, Pharah tilted her head curiously and shrugged as she responded to the omnic monk. "I wouldn't say anything noteworthy. Why do you say that?"
Zenyatta nodded in her direction, and Pharah could almost hear a smile in his voice. "Well you are smiling with what looks like excitement. I must say you look quite lovely when you smile"
Realizing she was indeed smiling happily, Pharah coughed in embarrassment and tried to revert her face back to its usual stoic mask. "Oh! Well you see...um..I was remembering a joke someone told me a long time ago."
There was a moment of awkward silence and Pharah cringed inwardly as Zenyatta simply stared at her with his blank expression.
After what seemed like an embarrassing eternity, Zenyatta nodded knowingly and turned his head back to look out the window. "I see. I hope you have a good day Pharah."
Pharah mumbled a quick goodbye to Zenyatta then swiftly walked back to her room. Making sure to keep the happy smile off her face should anyone see her. Once back in her room, Pharah immediately pulled out her suitcase and began packing. It was when she was halfway done that Pharah realized she barely had any clothes suitable for a date. The only stylish outfit she had was the one she wore that dreadful night in Korea. Sighing in annoyance, Pharah finished packing and flopped onto her bed with smartphone in hand.
"Ugh...I know for sure that Angela is going to tease me, but I am going to have to ask her for some help picking out clothes when we get there."
