Angela arrived at Chris' bedside and, unsurprising to her, saw Lena wrapped in his good arm still fast asleep. That girl is just so damn stubborn sometimes. She cleared her throat in a loud manner that woke the both of them up. Lena immediately scurried off of the bed and back into her chair looking down in embarrassment.
"Lena would you mind giving us a moment in private? It will only be for a little bit." Angela asked as she picked up the clipboard at the end of the bed to examine his vitals. Lena nodded and gave a quick wave to Chris as she exited the room. As soon as Lena was out of the room Angela's look became one that pierced Chris' soul it seemed like. Her eyes were daggers stabbing his.
"I'm sorry if that was inappropriate doctor, I didn't mean to over step any boundaries." Chris shrunk in his bed, anticipating being yelled at.
"It's not about her. What were you dreaming about?"
Chris was taken off guard by the question, "I didn't dream about anything." I just remember passing out in the shuttle and waking up last night with Lena at my side."
Angela sat on the edge of the bed, trying to calm her nerves. "Look if you aren't honest with me, this could jeopardize your judgement for becoming a field agent." There was a long silence that made Chris uncomfortable more than before. "You woke up shortly after your surgery." Chris' eyes raised up in surprise. "You were disoriented talking about finding someone." Angela said in a more calming and welcoming tone. "Chris you need to be honest with me right now, not for my sake or Lena's sake, but for your own. So I will ask you one more time, what's going on."
Chris looked down still silent for a while before gathering the courage to talk. "I've been having these nightmares for about 4 months now. I see my brother waving me over to help pull someone out of the remains of our house. But as soon as I try to make my way over something grabs my legs and just makes me sit and watch as I see him get crushed by a collapsing wall. Then there's this voice that whispers in my head, but it's like a deafening whisper, like it's the only thing I can hear just saying "All your fault, Not strong enough, Not fast enough." Chris' fists were clenched tight, he was starting to breathe heavy as he became visibly distraught.
Angela's gentle hand calmed him down for the time being. "Why didn't you say something sooner?" Chris just looked down and shrugged his shoulders
"I thought if I said anything that I would be turned down from Overwatch, not fit for duty, as you would put it." Angela sighed and got up from the bed writing notes down on the chart.
"You won't tell anyone about this will you?" Chris asked out of desperation.
"This is just between the two of us. Although I will have to report some to the commander, I will leave specifics out of the report." Angela said as she took the bandages off to replace them with new ones. She saw the look on Chris' face like he was defeated. "So tell me about you and Lena." Angela changed the subject to try and ease Chris out of his thoughts.
Chris' face perked up and became confused as well. "Wha..what do you mean? I mean she just didn't want me to be alone last night so nothing happened or anything." Chris said so defensively.
"Chris if you don't tell me now, she's just going to tell me later." Angela smirked. "Don't you know girls talk about this kind of stuff." Chris managed to smile a little.
"She saw me off before my mission." Chris started to blush thinking back to what happened.
"Oh? She just saw you leave? Nothing more?" Angela prodded for more details.
"You already know don't you?" Chris asked as Angela finished wrapping his shoulder up and putting it in a sling.
"Of course silly. She has been talking about you non stop ever since you two started spending time together. Honestly I would have been disappointed if you left her hanging." Angela wrote something else down on her clipboard before reaching for a bottle of pills.
"Your shoulder should be fine, keep it in the sling for a couple of days to limit the use of it. These are for the pain, take 2 a day as needed."
Chris nodded, "So am I cleared to leave?" Angela nodded
"Just take it easy the next couple of days. Come back tomorrow so I can see the wound is healing properly." Chris got out of the bed and started making his way out of the room. "Oh and Chris?" He froze and turned to see Angela walking up to him placing a hand on his shoulder. "There's a quaint little coffee shop in town, maybe take her there sometime instead of the mess hall once in a while." Chris smiled and gave her a hug with his good arm.
"Thank you doctor."
Reyes and McCree were in Morrison's office giving their report from their mission in Mexico.
"Smuggling tech through the gangs was all you could come up with?" Jack asked expecting more from the lead.
"It's the kind of tech being smuggled that is important." Reyes said dropping a file on Jack's desk.
"Translocation tech. That is pretty high end for the gangs in the slums to be messing with. So you suspect Talon is the one pulling the strings?"
"Without a doubt, but we still don't know what they were doing with it. Have the Amari's reported anything back from Egypt yet? Maybe they have the piece to the puzzle we are missing?" Reyes asked. Morrison shook his head. Reyes and Morrison just sighed again. Another dead end it seemed like. McCree was just puffing his cigar leaning up against the door frame staying out of the conversation, only joining in if he was asked something directly.
"So how did the boy's mission go?" McCree asked as he lifted his head slightly. Reyes looked to Morrison curious as well.
"There was some..complications. They did succeed but Talon was present with high ranking officers. Only minor injuries resulted from the altercation."
"Chris?" Reyes asked
"Sniper round in the shoulder, should make a full recovery though."
McCree looked at Reyes with a slight grin flicking the ash off his cigar, "Well i suppose there's one thing we still have to do don't we?"
Morrison got up from his desk and nodded to both of them before exiting his office.
Chris was trying his best to take it easy but he was having difficult time but changing into his regular cloths were proving to be difficult.
"You look like you need some help." Chris had his shirt halfway off turning to see Lena there. Chris just smiled,"always in the nick of time huh?" Lena giggled and came up to him and helped him take off his shirt. She caught a glimpse of the locket laying against his toned bare chest. Chris saw her eyes lock onto it. He sat down on his bed lifting over his head handing it to Lena. She took it and sat down next to him opening it up and was studying the picture.
"That's me, my brother, and my mom 8 years before.." he stopped himself from talking anymore. Lena starred at the picture closer. "You have your moms eyes, and the cute smile hasn't changed one bit." She gave it back to him before she got a shirt and started to help him put it on him. She started to massage his shoulders slightly after putting her arms around him sitting behind him.
"Greg is your brother isn't he?" Chris looked down and nodded.
"I'm sorry about last night, I didn't want you to see me like that." Lena moved to his side and turned his head and planted her lips on his before he got the chance to say anything else. The two embraced in a long kiss, their tongues wrestling around, before Lena pulled back. "You don't have to apologize for anything love."
Suddenly there was a knock at the door revealing Morrison standing there.
"Jaeger, come with me." Chris didn't have a good feeling about this. He nodded and got up.
"You too Oxton." Lena followed suit trailing behind the two. Chris started to get lost in his thoughts again. Shit I bet Angela told him about last night. This is it, I'm done here. I knew I shouldn't have said anything. What am I goin-...his thoughts got interrupted seeing all of the senior members of Overwatch that were present at the base standing in line. They all saluted as Chris walked further down the hall following the commander.
"Agent Jaeger, the past 2 years here you have shown determination, poise, and dedication, qualities Overwatch looks for in all of its agents. Your first mission proved you are adaptable and quick to think on your feet as mission parameters change. To take on Talon in your first field assignment is no small task." Morrison finally turned to him holding an official Overwatch medal.
"We hold these with pride as we try to make the world a better place, a safer place. We all have one goal as a whole here. To make the world a better place than we left it." Morrison continued as he pinned the medal to Chris' shirt. Morrison gave him a salute, to which Chris saluted him back. Morrison reached his hand out.
"Welcome to Overwatch." The words signaled everyone in the room applauding and cheering. Lena hugged Chris around the neck and kissed his cheek. Chris was overwhelmed with happiness feeling his eyes watering slightly. He felt a hearty smack on his back seeing Reinhardt there. "Good to see you are still kicking my friend."
Later as the formal ceremony was over. McCree and Reyes walked over to him giving him a small nod.
"First battle scar huh?" McCree said looking to Reyes.
"It would seem so." Reyes acknowledged. Reyes walked away and McCree motioned Chris to follow him. They were leaving base and made their way to this small town bar. Upon entering there was a bottle of Jack Daniels in the middle of the table with glasses at every seat. Chris sat down as they poured him a glass. Reyes, McCree, Chris and Lena all toasted glasses.
"A sniper shot huh?" McCree asked as finished his class first pouring himself another.
"Yea." Chris was expecting to get a lecture of checking not being aware enough before he saw McCree lift up his sleeve showing a nasty looking scar.
"Third mission. Was some security detail on a train. Little bastard got the jump on me before I popped his head like a cherry."
Reyes chuckled a little, "Still going with that excuse I see?" Reyes pointed to the scar going across his face. "See this. Sucker got real close with her knife, slashed me across my face before I sparta kicked her down a cliff."
McCree laughed heartily, "It scared him so much that's why he always carries two shotguns on him."
Lena leaned her head on Chris' shoulders listening to everyone swapping stories on scars from old missions. Chris kissed her head enjoying the company of his comrades that practically raised him on the base. Chris never felt more in place than he did in this moment. The arm in the sling was almost like a rite of passage and he was glad he made it to the other side.