Chapter 27: The Vote

Something was definitely wrong with John. Mathew 'Holly' Hale was sure of it. He knew he hadn't seen his friend for a few years but he knew John well enough to know that he was hiding something. TC seemed more… intense than usual. TC had always been a pretty intense guy. Ever since Holly had met him when they served in the Fifth Northumberland fusiliers together, TC had always been the one who made sure everything was done right. The one who pushed them and himself as hard as he could, all the while making sure they stayed healthy. It was why he had pushed TC to go into the special forces and why he had pulled a lot of favours to get him on his team.

But now… it was just… different. John was the first one up, the last one down and always on the move. He worked himself to the bone keeping up with the recruits, who all thought the doc was crazy and kind of liked him for it until John chewed them out over not taking care of themselves. TC hadn't broken any of their noses yet but Holly wouldn't be surprised if it would happen sometime soon. Because underneath all that effort John seemed to hide a lot of anger and frustration. He wanted go and talk to John, figure out what was going on, but held back because of the other things that were happening.

Like the people that sometimes suddenly appeared. It had happened twice now. Their base was supposed to be classified, not even the recruits knew where they were, and here there were agents just suddenly popping up and cornering John. The first time TC looked ready to put them both into the ground until they flashed some ID and he calmed down. Holly had watched as they exchanged words before TC reluctantly handed over something from his pocket and received something else. He signed a form after which the two left immediately. TC stared after them for a minute before he put his new phone to his ear and walked away. Holly had just made out the words "Why did you confiscate my phone, Mycroft?" before he couldn't hear anymore.

The next time John was approached by someone was just that morning. Holly hadn't been there to see it but Pan told him he had been coming out of the loo and had spotted the exchange across the square. John had been handed a briefcase and had been given a short message before the man in a suit slipped away. And now John wasn't anywhere to be found. They were waiting for him to start the days debrief. The recruits were all nicely tuckered out in their bunks after a full day of yomping through the forests with a full kit and a couple of trees to represent equipment.

He knocked on the door of the med office before entering, expecting John to be working on a patient. What he found was John hurriedly closing the briefcase he had been given that morning.

"John?" Holly asked hesitantly.

"It's nothing, Mat." John sounded angry. Angry, defensive and underneath it all exhausted.

"It's clearly not nothing." Holly tried again. "But I can tell classified when I see it."

"Then you know I can't tell you anything." John snapped back.

"Except you aren't dealing with it very well." Holly pushed and for a flash of a moment he saw the walls around John crumble to dust under an anguishing load of sadness, pain and anger before they were quickly restored. But it had been enough for Holly to see just how badly John needed help. He tried again.

"You know, my clearance has gone up since you left. You might be able to share more with me than you think. It wouldn't hurt to check you know." And crossed his fingers in his pants that John would just accept some help.

"You know I had a therapist when I got out who wasn't cleared. Bloody useless that was." John argued. Holly rolled his eyes.

"Bloody hell, will you just check, mate." He huffed annoyed. "If you can't share, we'll just go share old stories over a pint to get your mind of it. But it can't hurt to try."

John stared at him in silence for a while, his expression unreadable, before he reached into his pocket and pressed speeddial on his phone.

"Mycroft… I want to read in lieutenant Mathew Hale…" John winced. "Yes, I know… Because it was noticed I'm not dealing with it well…" John sounded angry and bullish. He got up and started pacing. "He wants to play psychologist… Well, my last one didn't work out well now, did it… Because that's what friends do, Mycroft, now I know you don't have much experience with that…" John let out an explosive frustrated sigh. "I know… I know… Yes, I know how classified works, Mycroft…" He stopped pacing and just listened for a while, tensed. And then, with a huge sigh, the tension drained out of him. "Thank you, Mycroft… Yes… Yes… Okay." And he rang off. Before Holly could ask though, the phone at the desk rang. Holly looked at it, startled. He didn't even know that phone had a number attached to it. He thought it was for outgoing calls only.

"It's for you." John said, grinning. Holly looked up at him before staring at the phone some more. Finally, he willed his body to move towards it.

"Yes." He answered it, slightly anxious. What the hell had John gotten him into.

"Lieutenant Hale, this is the assistant." Holly heard the familiar professional voice on the other side of the phone. He looked up to John, startled. But John's grin just grew. He scowled at his friend before finally answering one of the most important people in the country.

"Ma'am."

"Captain Watson is hereby cleared for your entire file, Lieutenant." He was informed. "What he shares with you, however is up to him. Whatever he decides to share with you, you will consider classified unless it's part of the public domain. If anything is unclear ask Captain Watson for permission. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am." He answered, bewildered.

"Good. Goodnight." And the connection was broken. He staired at the phone some more before he put down the horn and turned to his friend.

"Jesus Christ, John." He exclaimed with an explosive sigh. "What the hell?"

"Yeah, my clearance has gone up too since I left." John was still grinning like a loon. It was good to see that smile again. John had always gotten his kick out of messing up people's expectations. It was why he never wore his medals. Holly was glad at least that hadn't changed. He Idly wondered if John still flirted with dangerous women.

"No kidding." He answered. To have the assistant give that call meant John's clearing would have gone up a lot.

"Anyways. How about I continue watching what I was going to watch in the first place and hope I haven't missed the entire thing and then we'll talk." John opened the briefcase again and the laptop inside. It connected immediately.

The picture showed a man standing on a stage. John flinched violently at the sight of him which startled Holly. He opened his mouth to speak but got silenced by a quick gesture as John focussed on what the man was saying.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the security services of the world to unite. Alone, we are weak. Together, we're a global power. Thank you." The speech was well received and must've been impressive. But the anger radiating off TC's face made Holly glad they had missed most of it. Then followed a vote and they both looked on as the vote wasn't passed because South-Africa voted against. Holly stayed silent during the whole thing, not sure what the right response was.

As the feed was cut after the vote, they were silent for a while, until John sighed and put the phone back to his ear.

"What does this mean, Mycroft?" John listened for a bit before nodding and answering "Okay." And ringing off.

"What does this mean, TC?" Holly asked.

"Time." John said. "It means we've bought a little more time." TC smiled slightly and clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, the others have waited long enough. We'll talk later." TC looked calmer from just the idea that he wasn't alone anymore, Holly was glad to notice. So, he returned the smile and let TC lead him out of the medical room.