There were several different missions coming up from Tom, so Wash called Junior up to inform him that he wouldn't be able to visit him though he promised to call him every day after school.
The next time that Wash pulled up to the driveway of the orphanage after the missions were done, Tucker was again talking excitedly about Junior.
Although he knew the story by heart now, he loved to listen to Tucker when he became excited over his son.
The ex-Navy Seal couldn't help but smile fondly at what was going to happen.
After one of his grocery runs without Tucker, he had stopped by the orphanage to check on something with Emily Grey while the kids were at school.
She had called him up two days ago, saying that it went smoothly and that he could pick Junior up today to move him to his new home as his new adoptive dad.
Wash could remember her first looking utterly and completely baffled, before her expression melted into one of the fondest and happiest expressions he had ever seen.
The ex-Navy Seal could see how happy she was that someone was finally, finally adopting Junior and not always picking someone else. That Junior was given a chance to have a loving home with him.
It probably helped that he was a war hero and had now started seeing a psychologist regularly to get his PTSD in check.
Wash got out of the car, looking over to Tucker, "You ready?"
"To see my kid? Sure, I am!" The ghost exclaimed happily.
Wash smiled, knowing that the surprise would be even bigger this time. For both Tuckers.
Junior only knew that someone would come to adopt a kid today, but Wash had asked Emily to not tell Junior who would come and that he already had gotten adopted, since he wanted it to be a surprise. For both Tucker and Junior. He just asked her to get him ready to leave today.
Entering the orphanage, he could see Emily standing there with a huge smile on her face, "Ah, Mr. Washington. I see you're right on time!"
"Right on time?" Tucker asked, looking at the man in confusion, but Wash only winked at him when Emily wasn't looking.
She had turned around and gone upstairs to get Junior.
The boy was coming down with a sullen expression.
"Aw, why do I have to pack up my stuff again? It's not like I am getting adopted this time round." He exclaimed loudly, obviously in a grouchy mood.
Well, Wash was sure that he would be able to lift his spirits.
He heard a choking noise from behind him, Tucker had obviously caught on to what Wash was planning to do and why he had holed himself up in his office for so many hours.
Thanks to his influence, he was able to get some more money from the veterans' insurance, not even having to take up another job to get a good income out of the veterans' fund and the ghost hunting. The guys from the government were obviously still trying to bury what had happened in the desert with them having to do shit that was far beyond fucked up in the so-called Freelancer Unit and had agreed immediately when he said that he needed more money because he wanted to adopt a kid from a recently deceased friend.
The money was more than enough and albeit not being the type normally to do so, he had gotten himself an advantage out of the situation they had put him in. They would bleed for fucking him over, only to make someone he loved happy.
Two people, in this case.
With a smile, Wash looked up at Junior who was still trudging down the stairs with a sullen expression on his face.
"And here I thought you would be happy if I came to get you." He said in mock disappointment, which made Junior stop dead in his tracks.
"No way!" The boy exclaimed.
"Yes way, kiddo." Wash chose the nickname that Tucker had given his son when he was still alive.
"You really came to adopt me!?" he asked incredulously.
"Yep, you're officially moving in with me today. So, you better hurry up since we need to get a lot of stuff for your new room." Wash replied with a fond smile on his face.
Before he had the possibility to say anything more, Junior was down the stairs and had flung his arms around the man.
"Thank you, Wash!" he cried into the crook of his neck when Wash caught the boy in his arms.
"You're welcome." He said fondly, adding after some moments, "Now come on, let's go. We better hurry."
Junior untangled himself from the man, grabbing his backpack with his few belongings.
He looked more than ready to go, but Wash stopped him, "Go say goodbye to Emily and thank her."
Junior rolled his eyes and he could hear Tucker snort behind him.
"Go." He ordered and the boy did as was asked, saying goodbye to Emily Grey and thanking her for looking after him.
After that, they left.
First, they went home where Junior Tucker saw his new and rather big room for the first time. A room that was only for himself.
Putting down his backpack, he didn't have much time to stay in his room since Wash ushered him out soon after that, going next to the shopping mall with the boy. They bought a ton of clothes for him, along with a bed, mattress, dresser, desk, bedside table, and many more things a boy his age needed for living.
Returning home, Wash threw all the clothes and the bedsheets into the washing machine so they would be clean for the evening. After that, Junior, Wash, and Tucker went to put together all the things they had bought for the boy.
Junior's dad often would give Junior little things like screws.
At first, Junior had looked freaked out, but he relaxed immediately when Wash explained who it was—
even saying thank you to his father.
Soon they fell into a father-son-dynamic that Wash didn't want to interrupt and so he stayed in the background, doing other things.
It was Friday and Wash had no mission coming up as he had informed Tom about the upcoming adoption and how he needed to help settle in the son of the ghost that was living with him.
Wash decided to order pizza for them and make tonight a movie night until they fell asleep on the couch.
The clothes were washed and put away, and the bed was ready to be slept in for the first time. Junior looked happy like he never had in his life.
School would continue on Monday. However, since he was living with Wash now, his school was even closer.
The town was so small, they only needed one school and Wash happened to live close by it.
When Junior fell asleep, tightly huddled up in his blanket against Wash, the ex-soldier switched the TV off and carefully carried the boy up to his room to put him to bed.
Tucker had been oddly silent during this whole time, watching Wash and Junior with a fond smile on his face.
This, however, changed when Wash closed the door to his bedroom to go to bed himself.
Before he was even able to turn around properly, the ghost had both of his hands on either side of Wash's face and was kissing him fully on the lips.
Immediately, heat shot up in Wash's face when he realized what Tucker was doing.
"Wash! This— This is crazy!" Tucker exclaimed, kissing him again, "I never imagined that you would be doing something like this when you were holing yourself up in that room for days on end!" he exclaimed happily in-between kisses, "You're so crazy, you know that? You're awesome! You're crazily awesome!"
Another kiss, "That's why I fucking love you!"
Another kiss, "And you… possibly don't like me that way…" struck by that realization, the ghost let go of Wash's face.
He retreated with a look of horror and pain on his face when he realized what he just did, "Shit, dude, I'm sorry, I—"
However, he didn't go much further when he felt how Wash rested his hands on his own, grasping them gently to stop him from retreating.
He smiled fondly and shook his head, "It's okay, I feel the same way." He replied.
He felt how the grip on his cheeks became stronger and, a moment later, he again felt Tucker's lips on his.
The next day on Saturday, a friend of Tom and Wash's, Jane, came for a visit. She was a medium herself and gave Junior his first lesson in learning to sharpen his instincts in order to become a medium like Wash.
About a month later, with Junior being taught almost every Wednesday and Saturday, he was able to see his dad for the first time in about three years.
It was a rather big and emotional meeting.
Wash decided to have coffee with Jane in his kitchen to give both father and son their space to catch up on the past and talk about what they had wanted to tell the other for so long.
When Junior finished high school, he decided to go to college to study medicine because he wanted to help people suffering the same fate as his dad. Tucker couldn't have been prouder of his song for that. Wash felt proud too, since he felt strongly connected to the boy.
Aside from college, Junior started working as a ghost hunter too, helping people as well as ghosts find their peace.
Wash and Tucker couldn't have been prouder.
Years rolled by, with Junior graduating and moving into an apartment close by with his girlfriend who had accepted even his abilities to see ghosts and his work as a ghost hunter.
They married soon after and five years later, Kathleen, Junior's wife, was pregnant with their third child. The oldest boy's name was Lavernius like Junior and his father, and the girl was named Finley. A name for the baby hadn't been decided yet, since neither Junior nor his wife wanted to know what gender the baby was until it was born.
Both Wash and Tucker couldn't have been prouder yet again.
These two were living their life together, Wash never regretting not having driven Tucker away and adopting his kid one single day.
It was what made his life livable after the war.
It had given it a new purpose, he realized when he went to bed one evening when he was an old man of eighty-two-years-old.
Tucker still looked like he was twenty-six and he often envied the ghost for that, but he knew that Tucker loved him, no matter if he was old now and had snow white hair.
He woke up in the middle of the night and felt strange. Like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. He felt a bit sluggish, although his was more a feeling like he was waking up from anesthesia.
Looking over to Tucker and seeing the sad yet fond, knowing and compassionate smile that was crossing over his features, he knew that his time to move on had come too.
The ghost stretched out his hand and Wash grabbed it to get up.
For the first time in all those years, he could really feel Tucker. Not only the energy he consisted of, but he felt him like he had a real body.
Tucker pulled him into an embrace, giving him time to adjust to his new form. Looking over, he felt a strange feeling in his body when he saw himself lying there: old, white-haired, and unmoving.
Tucker knew himself firsthand that it was confusing and a bit strange at first when you wake up and realize that you're dead. When you look at your own body and realize that you are a ghost now and ninety-nine percent of people can't see you anymore.
It always helped when there was someone with you when your time came, someone knowing about what would happen when you died. Tucker freaked out the day he died because he had nobody explaining to him what had happened. He had nobody telling him how he would feel and that he didn't need to be afraid.
Which is why he didn't want to leave Wash's side too. He had wanted to be there for the man, whenever his time came.
Tucker had a sinking feeling all day long that Wash would join him this night. He couldn't put a finger on what it was exactly, but he just knew that his partner would cross the bridge tonight, so he stayed awake all night until he realized that Wash's body had stopped moving and breathing – when he realized that the worldly shell of Wash had died.
Pulling the slightly bigger man into a hug, he felt as he did all those years ago.
Wash looked handsome. Just this time, for the first time… there were no scars, no pain in his body. He was looked as he did all those years ago, maybe even a bit younger. Blond hair, steely grey eyes, well-trained body.
Just… beautiful.
The dark-skinned man couldn't help but pull the bigger man into a kiss.
Intertwining their fingers, he murmured, "Let's inform Junior and then we're off. Sound good?"
"Aren't you afraid of going into the light?" Wash asked, remembering the talk they had so long ago.
He leaned down, resting their foreheads together.
"Not when you're with me." The dark-skinned man shook his head, tugging at their intertwined hands.
"Come on." Tucker smiled, pecking Wash another time on the lips.
A smile appeared on the ex-soldier's features. Fond and loving.
"Okay, let's go." He then said, pulling Tucker into another hug.
Sighing contentedly, Tucker closed his eyes as he leaned against his boyfriend for real for the first time.
When he opened his eyes again… it was after a weird as fuck dream about an earlier life and to his annoying as fuck, high-and-mighty-acting, super-hot, badass CO shouting at him with his voice being at least an octave higher than usual.
He was standing in the door to Tucker's room to wake him up like every goddamn morning since they had crashed on this godforsaken planet somewhere in the nowhere.
"Private Tucker... for the love of God, would you please stop sleeping naked!"
- The end -