The title means Love, Trust and Loyalty in German.
"Snuggle time" Jay says as soon as Mouse closes the door.
"In a minute, Jay-bird" Mouse says, he walks the two of them to his bedroom and they both change into more comfortable clothes. While Jay climbs into Mouse's bed, Mouse grabs his photo album, a flashlight, and both of their phones and chargers. He also grabs a couple of water bottles before heading back into his bedroom. He puts the items on the bedside table before climbing in beside Jay. Jay immediately curls into his alpha and lets out a soft purr of contentment. When they are comfortable, Mouse reaches over and grabs the photo album and puts it into his lap before opening it.
Mouse's is very similar to Jay's, with very subtle differences, like the color of the border, and the language of the captions. Some of the captions are one word, some are more than that. Some of the borders are red, some of them are blue, others are green or white. One of the pictures is of air force jets flying in formation in the sky above the USS Cimera. The caption underneath this photo is "команда" meaning team in Russian. Some of the photos don't have descriptions underneath, just dates and places. Like the ones of destroyed humvees after they've gone over IEDs. The photos of destroyed villages have dates, names of the village or the nearest city, the name of the group that destroyed them, and the before and after count of villagers underneath them so we never forget. These photo albums are the most precious items that the T1s have, other than each other.
As Mouse flips through the pages, reliving memories, good and bad, Jay's eyes start to slowly droop and it isn't long before the omega is fast asleep in his alphas arms. Mouse looks down at his sleeping omega, his gaze filled with pure love and adoration. What did I ever do to deserve him? Mouse thinks. Mouse and Jay had been together since they were fourteen. Everyone they knew said they were the perfect couple, complimenting each other perfectly. At first they were a bit hesitant, thinking that Mouse would now have control over Jay, but Jay proved that Mouse had no control over him whatsoever, submitting to him not because he was forced to, but because he wanted to. Jay had made it perfectly clear when they had their first kiss that Mouse had no control over him in any way and if Mouse ever tried to do something Jay didn't want to do, he would be gone before Mouse could finish the sentence. But Mouse would never do anything to hurt Jay, nor would he force the omega to do anything he didn't want to. Jay was strong, nobody could force him to do anything. He was loyal, smart, swift and handsome.
He had alphas coming from left and right trying to court him. He always brushed them off but some of them tried to command him into saying yes, but it never worked. The only time he would obey a command was if he was in OM, and the only people that knew how to put him there were people that he trusted with his life and he knew that they would never hurt him with that power. Mouse pulls his gaze from Jay's sleeping form and puts it back on the photo album. He flips to a page with a photo of him and Jay sitting side by side in a grassy field with their arms thrown around each other and Jay's head resting on Mouse's shoulder. Underneath the photo was the caption "Liebe, Vertrauen, und Loyalität" meaning "love, trust, and loyalty" in German. Those three words perfectly summed up their relationship. It was built on years of trust and loyalty to each other as best friends and as brothers in arms. Just then Mouse's phone rang. He put down the photo album and picked it up seeing it was Conner and Matt.
"Hey guys" Mouse greets
"Hey Mouse, just heard that you were back in Chicago, why didn't you tell us you were coming home?" Matt says
"Yeah" Conner echos
"Well first it was really quick, I put in a rapid leave form and 50 minutes later I was on a plane headed to Fort Benning, I fell asleep on the plane and passed out in the bunks at the base before falling asleep again on the plane to Chicago the next morning. Tell me when I could have called you?" Mouse says with a laugh
"Good point I guess." Conner says
"Jay tell you about the apartment fire?" Matt asks
"Yup and about everything else that was going on here" Mouse says
"What else?" Conner asks confused
"He didn't tell you guys?" Mouse asks
"Tell us what?" Conner and Matt both ask
"I'll take that as a no, his father is back in town and making it a point that Jay is his target." Mouse says
"Fuck" Conner curses
"That's why he was staying with Voight instead of being at his apartment when the fire started." Matt puts the pieces together.
"Yup" Mouse says
"I cant believe he didn't tell us" Conner says
"That's just the type of person that he is, he doesn't want to make a big thing of anything" Matt says
"Oh Matt, could you drop the bottle of suppressant off at my apartment instead of Jay coming to you, I don't want him in the open anymore than he has to be." Mouse asks
"Sure, I'll drop them off before my shift in the morning." Matt says.
"Thank you" Mouse says
"How is he?" Conner says
"Asleep right now, but otherwise he's pretty scared, and Conner?" Mouse says
"Yes" Conner says
"Don't tell Will anything, Jay doesn't want him to know yet." Mouse says
"Got it" Conner says
"Have you told B T?" Matt asks
"Told them but 2 hours ago, they're flying here later today from D.C." Mouse says
"Figures" Matt chuckles
"Yeah" Conner says
"What time do they get in?" Matt asks
"Around 7 is what Luke said." Mouse says
"I get off at 5 so I'll go and pick them up from the airport and drive them to your apartment." Conner says
"That would be great" Mouse says
"I would come but I actually have to sleep tonight and that never happens when we all get together" Matt says making them all laugh.
"True" Mouse laughs, this makes Jay wake up
"Whaaa" Jay whines groggily
"I'm guessing we just woke Jay up" Matt says still chuckling
"That you did" Mouse says while running his free hand through Jay's hair.
"Blue?" Jay asks
"Yeah its me Jay" Matt says
"And me" Conner says
"Conn?" Jay says
"Yup" Conner says
"I'm going back to sleep," Jay says and crawls on top of Mouse and buries his head underneath the army sweatshirt that Mouse was wearing.
"Jay!" Mouse says laughing, trying to squirm away from where Jay's head was tickling his stomach. He pulls his head out and gives Mouse a pouty look.
"Wwwhhhyyyyy?" Jay whines, making Conner and Matt laugh.
"Because it tickles" Mouse says trying to be mad but really he can't be
"But it's snuggle time" Jay whines again.
"Fine, cmere" Mouse says and pulls Jay into his arms, the latter burying his face in his alphas neck. Mouse scoots down a little on his bed so he's lying down with Jay on top of him. Mouse puts his phone beside him and wraps his arms around his omega. It doesn't take long for Jay to go back to sleep with Mouse rubbing his back. Once he's asleep, Matt and Conner start talking again.
"He's in omega mode isn't he?" Conner asks
"Yup, has been since this morning." Mouse says
"Make sure he drinks something soon, his body is gonna need it." Matt says
"Got it" Mouse says
"My break is just about done so I gotta go" Conner says
"Bye" Matt and Mouse say before Conner leaves the call
"How are you Blue?" Mouse asks
"Fine, a couple of bruises from yesterday when Andy decided it would be a good idea to wake me up by jumping on my bed and ended up jumping on me, but otherwise good." Matt says.
"Okay then, how are things between you and Clarke?" Mouse asks, he is the only one that Matt told about Clarke and the thing between them.
"They are okay, though he has yet to make a move" Matt says with a chuckle
"He's probably scared about losing his job if he asks" Mouse says
"I guess, but still, aren't marines supposed to be brave." Matt says chuckling
"Most of them are, some of them are downright scary" Mouse says
"Oh god yeah, remember the case when a Navy seaman was murdered here in Chicago, and NCIS came and questioned every Ranger in the city." Matt said.
"And why did Gibbs have to be so mean to us? I mean, that stare is brutal." Mouse says
"He was just keeping his cover, we would have done the same thing." Matt said.
"Yeah I know, but why couldn't he have sent someone else from his team to do the interviews?" Mouse says
"Because that would look suspicious, but I know what you mean, he was questioning me and when he left he ran into Clarke and was nice to him, I mean, come on." Matt says
"Haha" Mouse laughs softly as not to wake Jay
"It was so annoying being questioned by someone who used to take orders from me" Matt said
"I know, anyway, so you responded to Jay's apartment fire, right?" Mouse asks
"House 51 yeah" Matt says
"Cause?" Mouse asks
"The arson department is still trying to figure that out, it looks like an accident, but I've seen damage like this only once before, in Baghdad." Matt says
"The church fire?" Mouse asks
"Yes, it looked like an accident, but was actually caused by a chemical, close to cyanide but with some subtle differences that I couldn't figure out at the time."
"Do you think..?" Mouse trails off
"Do I think that Jay was the target, he might have been, but the ignition point was three floors above his apartment, so if he was the target, they did a poor job of scouting the place first." Matt says
"Could it have been his father?"
"I don't think so, unless he turned out to be a criminal mastermind with a high understanding of physics and pyrokinesis, which from what Jay has told us, I don't think he is." Matt says
"He has proven to be a criminal mastermind though, maybe he hired someone?"
"Maybe, there are very few people on the planet who could have pulled this off, from the test I did on it in Baghdad, the chemical is unstable yet very powerful when put next to an open flame or heat source." Matt says
"Have you told the arson department about this yet?"
"No, because that would mean revealing the full extent of my past to people I don't trust." Matt says.
"And all of the records were destroyed in the bombing two months later." Mouse says
"Along with all trace elements of the chemical from the fire site." Matt says.
"We'll figure something out, we always do." Mouse says
"Yeah, anyway, I gotta go, Andy's banging on my door." Matt says with a soft chuckle.
"Ok, take care Blue, and for god's sake, make your move on Clarke." Mouse laughs and hangs up before Matt can respond.