Hello! Sorry for being such a lazy updater, hope you still enjoy the chapter! Fluff 'n' stuff!
A month after the explosion of the Swiss Headquarters
Angela was working overtime - it was kind of nostalgic. Her equipment was gone. All that was left was the malfunctioning Valkyrie suit with no repairs in sight. She would have to scrape the new parts together by herself and fix the broken wing before having any chance of seeing the battlefields again. And so she was stuck in the same hospital she left from for Overwatch over twelve years ago, watching over the patients moved from the headquarters and performing her duties as one of the surgeons available.
She never would've thought the white walls of the hospital could feel so confining. She did receive daily messages and updates from the other members - most of them for the worse. It seemed like the whole world had finally given in to the propaganda. There were riots breaking out and discussions about taking away most of the funding provided for Overwatch were already going on. Everything began falling apart after the destruction of the headquarters.
She headed down the streets. They were busier than usually, with Christmas nearing and all. She had already gotten some of the presents for her closest friends in Overwatch. Although they probably wouldn't be opened on time. Maybe before midsummer, she thought and let out a mix of a laugh and a sigh. Stepping up the hill, she could see her apartment. It was still the same one as when she had left - she had decided against selling it and instead had had some tenants in there from time to time.
The key turned around, unlocking the door. She cleaned the snow off her shoes before stepping inside. That's when she noticed something moving in the corner of her eye. Not panicking, at least not visibly, she fiddled with the door for a moment. She knew she should've asked for some protection from Overwatch, especially during these unstable times. Too late for that now. One of the more radical rioters could've broken in. She kept her moves steady, shutting the door but not flicking on the lights.
There it was. A movement somewhere behind her on the right side.
She elbowed the attacker and her hand immediately flew to her waist, searching for her pistol. Unfortunately it was safely tucked away next to her Valkyrie suit, both in the hospital locker. Cursing silently in her mind, she didn't have any other choice than to defeat them with bare arms. Despite the bad visibility in the darkness, she managed to throw her body weight at the other, making them fall down. To keep them from attacking, she straddled her legs around their body and arms.
"What do you want", she asked coldly. The attacker was larger than her. She needed a weapon, something to defend herself with if they decided to move. A kitchen knife would be the closest option.
"Angela", a voice quietly pleaded.
Her eyes widened in the darkness. Her fingertips felt around the attacker's face, around the familiar chin she knew so well. "Jack", she whispered, letting herself fall on top of him. She was still keeping him immobilized, this time in a tight hug. She couldn't help the tears starting to stream down her cheeks, dampening the clothes he wore. "I'm so happy to see you", she quietly admitted with all her heart.
"Happy? Aren't you sad to see me?" Jack asked. He managed to free his arms and wrap them around her waist, embracing her back.
"Oh Jack, why would I be sad to see you?" Angela asked and tightened her grip even more. She wanted to forget all of her mistakes in the familiar warmth of his body.
"My actions have led us to this disaster", he said.
"I'm at fault just as much. Reyes…" Angela's voice trailed off and they remained on the floor of the hallway in silence. Slowly, little by little, her heart rate started going down from the initial surprise. Soon she could make out Jack's heart, pumping lively beneath his shirt. It was so nice to know that at least one of them was there and alive. She would have liked to listen to that sound for the whole night.
Jack moved a little beneath her, his hand shifting on the small of her back. "How long are you going to keep me locked down?" he grumbled. "Not that I… it's not that I would mind, but I think you're blocking the circulation to my other arm."
"Until I know you aren't going to disappear", Angela answered, stealing a few more moments in the warmth before retreating back to her feet. She switched the lights on and was beyond relieved to finally see his face, the blond hair and blue eyes that had evaded her for the past month. At least until her eyes fell on the scar crossing his face and she realized that it was still heavily inflamed. In fact, the whole man looked ready to collapse, dark circles framing his eyes and his hair falling a little flatter than usual.
"Why are you here? Are you hurt?" Angela asked, scouting his skin for any visible injuries.
"No."
Angela narrowed her eyes at the answer and did even more so when the man in front of her clearly avoided her gaze. She grabbed his arm and led him to the sofa, forcing him to fall down. She followed suit, settling next to him. The slash that was soaking him in blood the last time she had seen him was in bad condition, but there wasn't much she could do. With the healing already so far along, it would leave a gruesome battle mark on his handsome face. The only thing she could do was to cover it with an alleviating cream to remove the red inflammation.
She did notice a new scent on him - one that made her wrinkle her nose in disgust. "Have you been drinking? You of all people?"
His eyes looked pleadingly at her. "I didn't know what to do."
She couldn't stay mad at him for long, not when he was using his eyes to defuse her so effectively. She would bring it up later. For now, she settled for an acknowledging nod in his direction. "I'll get some cream", she said and walked to her bathroom.
He had better be there when she came back. There was this dreadful feeling in her stomach that he would leave her as well - like her parents, like so many people from Overwatch - abandoning her to a life of solitude. Because of this she she rushed back, almost running through the short corridor.
He was still there, lying on the sofa. His eyes were now closed and his breathing steady. Jack was soundly asleep. Angela kneeled over to his level and arranged the pillows under his head so that his neck wouldn't feel too stiff when waking up. She took an extra blanket from the closet, carefully covering him, before placing the bottle and some swipes on the nearby table.
Sitting in her old, comfortable chair, she watched his face. She didn't know if he was at peace - she certainly wasn't, not after the recent events. His face simply bore such a relaxed expression that she couldn't help but smile softly.
Angela woke up to the feeling of being stared at. Slightly opening her eyes, she saw two bright blue orbs watching her.
Jack looked like a little boy caught stealing, eyes widening when he realized he had been discovered. He was sitting on the sofa next to her. She had fallen asleep on her comfortable chair, which really wasn't that comfortable to sleep in as indicated by the sharp pain in her neck.
He was still there. That was something she couldn't help but smile at. He didn't turn his eyes away, but looked a bit confused by her reaction.
"Good morning, Jack", she softly said.
He cleared his throat and finally withdrew, leaning back and averting his gaze to the floor. "Good morning", he mumbled and ruffled his already messy hair.
Remembering her intention of cleaning the wound on his face, Angela grabbed the swipes and started hovering over him, carefully touching the reddened skin.
"Do you know my name?" he asked quietly.
Angela stopped for a second and looked at him in confusion. His eyes were downcast. "Jack Morrison."
"That's not my given name", he admitted. "It's actually John. John Morrison. People just took to calling me Jack in the army. But I'm no longer the leader of Overwatch nor part of the army." He looked back up at her in a mix of hope and desperation. "Could you call me John from here on?"
"It doesn't matter what your name is, not to me. You'll always be one of the bravest men I've ever known", Angela answered sternly.
"Please. I feel lost, because all that I have is my identity in the army."
"John", she said, tasting the name on the tip of her tongue. It felt weird calling him that. A calmness set upon his face at the mention of the name. Angela continued her work, opening the cream bottle. "John, would you like to have some hot chocolate?" she asked, recalling their first meeting at the apartment.
He let out a small laugh, apparently remembering it as well. "If you know how to use the machine. I wouldn't mind some coffee either."
After finishing, she set out to dust off the old apparatus standing on the kitchen table. It still worked just fine even after standing idle for more than a decade. A silence had now fallen over them, except for the sound of Angela pouring water and other ingredients into the machine. When it started humming quietly, she couldn't help but finally blurt out the biggest question in her mind. "Why are you here?"
Morrison's eyes trailed over to her. "You never were one for talking about the weather. Straight to the point." He bore a soft but melancholic smile on his face.
"Sorry", Angela quietly said. Maybe it was too inconsiderate of her to just ask that. "How has the weather been?"
"You don't have to do that for me", Morrison said. He let out a heavy sigh that made his form crumple as if he was carrying the weightiest of burdens. "My life really doesn't have any meaning any more. I'm a dead man walking. Now that Reyes is gone-"
"He's alive", Angela interrupted him, earning a surprised expression from Morrison.
"What?"
She took a sharp breath in in preparation of what was to come. "Kind of. I think. At least his cells are." Angela explained how she had seen him regenerate and degenerate over and over again. "I think I might have succeeded in starting the healing of the cells, but then the apoptosis transferred to every single one of them as well. Now his body is stuck in a cycle."
It took Morrison awhile to process through this information. "You're quite calm about all this."
"I've had time to think about it. He might have been able to regain his consciousness and memories if the healing part was intense enough. And I think he did. His body had disappeared before help came", Angela said.
"Are you sure he didn't just permanently die, dead cells scattered to the wind? We might be chasing just a ghost here", Morrison said with slight desperation evident in his voice.
"Do you think someone like Gabriel would just die?"
Jack or John, whatever the battle worn soldier now called himself, nodded in thought. "You're right. He wouldn't. This changes everything."
Their conversation was interrupted by noise coming from the machine, indicating that their hot drinks were ready to be served. Angela brought the other one to John and started carefully sipping hers. It was too hot and slightly burned her tongue.
Beside her, John stared into nothingness. His eyes were fixated on the cup in front of him and Angela didn't want to disturb him. He did receive a lot of information that she had already had a month to think about.
When he finally managed to raise his head, the coffee had already gone cold. He spoke up, asking something that surprised her. "Shouldn't you be at work?"
"I called in sick today", she explained.
"I don't want to keep you from your work", he said in an apologetic voice. "I know how important it is to you."
"Some people are more important than work", she said, staring straight into his eyes. She smiled at him, because how could she not? He was there with her. For her, even after what she had done.
As an answer she was captured into a hug, John's hands circling her back and pressing them tightly together. "I don't get it, you don't even mind that I broke into your house. You say you're happy to see me", he whispered softly. "I'm going to stay here with you."
Angela could feel a familiar warmth burning through her body at his words. "Here?" she asked with a small laugh. "What makes you think you can just stay at a woman's apartment as you want?"
"If Reyes is alive… He might come for you. I need to protect you", he said quietly.
Of course she would let him stay, even without a good reason. In fact, she wasn't planning on letting him go. Angela softly leaned her head on his shoulder. "You do realize that I can defend myself", she said.
"Unfortunately I experienced that first hand last night. But Reyes… He was the one to destroy the headquarters along with his organisation. He's working with Talon. He's dangerous."
Angela's eyes widened and she couldn't help visibly flinching at the name. "Talon? How could he? After everything that happened to Gerard and Amelie!" She pulled back just to see if he was being serious. A shiver ran down her spine. There wasn't even a drop of humour evident in his eyes.
"Are you sure it's safe to just stay here?" she asked. She hadn't really hidden her location well.
"No, but with Talon, I doubt anything is safe", he said. "Hiding in plain sight might be the best option, because we already know that they're going to be watching us the second we leave the building. Do you have some paper?"
Angela fetched some. He drew a very rough sketch of the area surrounding the building. "For now, there are cameras recording your every move here, here and here", John said, pointing at different locations on the street. "I doubt it's Reyes' doing, as Talon usually is spying on every one of the Overwatch agents in one way or another. At the moment you're an especially easy target since you're acting like a civilian."
"And you made sure not to be seen?" Angela asked, uncertainty lingering in her eyes.
"Absolutely", he assured. "I'm afraid you need to be sure to do the opposite. Make them think everything's completely normal."
Angela nodded in understanding. Gabriel was working with Talon… It didn't really change anything for her though. She was still going to do it.
Impressively enough John still managed to chug down the whole mug of cold coffee.
"What have you been up to during this month?" she asked him. He still looked rugged and also smelled bad, now that she thought about it. At least he had gotten some sleep. "I know you've been drinking."
"I went over to France for a while, but then came back. You know, bars are the best places to gather news from so of course I had to be located at them. Won some drinking games for money. Apparently this super soldier thing isn't too bad, since I have a high tolerance." The frown on his forehead deepened. "The news are getting worse day by day."
Angela nodded. She had noticed the same. "They're calling for the end of Overwatch."
"I hope it happens", John said. "I wish it was shut down and we could all live our lives in peace. Just imagine how many lives wouldn't have been lost without Overwatch."
"You're the last person who I thought would say something like that!" Angela exclaimed. "You're forgetting all those people's lives who were saved or changed by the organization - mine as well. Besides, terrorists such as Talon aren't just going to disappear into thin air - we need something to battle them."
John broke out in laughter, earning a bewildered look from her. "How the roles have changed."
Understanding what he pointed out, Angela smiled softly as well. They had, hadn't they?
A/N: I've been putting off the posting of this chapter since I don't really have much written for the next one, but I decided to post it now. Studies and general procrastination have led to me not writing as much. I hope it didn't reflect in the quality of the chapter!
I'm so amazed by all the follows, favorites and reviews! They always give me a reason to smile like an idiot for a whole day after I checking them. Also, if you notice any grammar/spelling errors, please do note me, as I don't have a beta to correct stuff like that. Is time jumping confusing? Is the fluff weird? Are the characterizations okay? Leave a review if you have something or anything to say about the story! Thanks!