Christmas morning arrived and John lay in bed for a long while. The drive to leave had been harder and harder to find and he had little doubt someday soon it would never be found again. He knew people depended on him, and he used that as his motivation time and time again. But each day was harder, and all he wished for was the woman he loved to lay down next to him, hold him tightly, and remind him why he constantly fights.

He lost track of how long he had laid there, eyes closed, listening to the hum of the facility before a soft knock could be heard on his door.

"John?" he heard the French accented voice say from the other side. "May I come in?"

He let out a deep sigh and said to the door "Come in, Ams" as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

The door opened and Amélie walked in and looked surprised to see him still laying on his bed. "You aren't up yet?" she asked.

"Late night." he lied as he got up and pulled a shirt from his dresser. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you would take me to Gerrard's grave." she asked nervously.

John looked back at her sadly. "Yeah, I've been meaning to head there and pay my respects too." he explained.

"Thank you." she replied. "Let me know when you want to go." she said as she left his room.

John got dressed then sat down at his desk and began looking through his messages from his spy network and the militias. There was little to report as no new attacks from Null Sector were happening and even Talon was quiet lately. He didn't see anything from Winston or even Angela, so he closed out of that and began digging through the server files from Talon themselves.

He found the latest plans were for a supposed amush for Amélie at Gerrard's grave, to be perpetrated by a member named Mauga. Another planned mission they seemed to be preparing for was the Project Starburst again, which seemed to be targeted somewhere in Peru. He noted the information from that, closed out of his computer, and began grabbing his gear. He didn't want to be caught unaware by this Mauga at the grave of his friend and let Amélie come to harm.

...

John and Amélie walked up the path from where he landed the transport, John carrying a bottle of wine and Amélie a handful of roses. She led him for a few minutes until she stopped and turned to face a gravestone on her left. "I came here once before while Talon still had me under their control. It was a mistake because shortly after I underwent more of Moira's torture and experiments. I realized too late they were watching my every move." she explained as she placed the flowers in front of the stone.

"They won't get you again, Ams, I can at least promise you that." John said as he placed the bottle of wine next to her flowers.

"I wouldn't be making promises you can't keep." a voice from behind them said, causing Amélie to gasp in fear while John calmly turned around to see a massive smiling Samoan man with a pair of miniguns held in his hands.

"And you must be Mauga." John said calmly, hand slowly drifting closer to the revolver on his hip.

"You don't seem too surprised to see me." the Samoan said as his smile faded.

"I had it on good authority that this would be a trap, and I DO enjoy using a trap to my advantage." the cowboy said as a smirk appeared on his face. "Though in reality I was hoping for someone higher up in Talon's ranks to show. Not someone reckless and easy to put down."

"Do you even know what I can do to the both of you?" he asked, the insult clearly getting to him.

"Oh quite well actually. In the time it will take you to heave those miniguns up I will have put rounds into both of those metal hunks of garbage you call hearts, causing an immediate drop in your blood pressure, forcing you into unconsciousness." John explained, his smirk growing into a grin as his hand now sat on his revolver. "Of course, I could just pop one of those so-called hearts and let you limp back home to Doomfist Jr. But he might just have you killed for failing."

"So it seems we're in a stand-off." Mauga said hands gripping his miniguns tighter.

Both men stood there for a few moments before Mauga heaved the miniguns up, and quickly dropped them as a trio of rounds impacted into one of his artificial hearts, crippling it. "How did...?" he tried to ask as he looked between his chest and the American.

"Fan firing tungsten rounds. Look it up when you get the chance." John said as he holstered his pistol. "Some of the best gunslingers could do four shots on a fan fire, but I've only ever been able to reliably do three." he explained as he looked over at Amélie who looked terrified. "Is that enough excitement for today?" he asked her.

"Oui, absolutely." she agreed as she looked at Mauga who was limping away, then at Gerrard's grave. "Je suis désolé mon amour." she whispered to the grave before turning and walking back to the shuttle.

John watched her for a moment before looking back to the grave. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you, but I'll keep her safe, Frenchie. I can promise you that much." he waited a moment before turning and quickly walking to catch back up to Amélie before making the trip home.

...

John flew the shuttle into the facility and set it to land when he noticed one of the new Overwatch shuttles sitting in the landing pad next to his. "You don't think...?" he asked the co-pilot seat, before noticing Amélie was at the back of the shuttle. "Huh..." he mumbled as he powered down the shuttle and opened the ramp at the back.

He gathered his gear and exited the shuttle when he saw Angela walking up to him with a smile on her face. "Hey Angel." he said as she pulled him into a hug.

"Merry Christmas!" she laughed as she squeezed him tightly before kissing him. "Where did you go?" she asked as she gave a hug to Amélie, who sheepishly accepted.

"To pay our respects to Gerrard." John explained. "Turns out it was a trap. I had to put a few rounds in some Samoan guy Talon hired." he remarked.

"Of course Talon set a trap." Angela groaned. "I'm glad the two of you are safe at least.

"Thank you Angela." Amélie said politely before walking off, presumably to return to her room.

"I don't suppose you have much experience in psychology?" John asked.

"Some, but not nearly enough to help her after what she was put through." she said sadly. "I know a couple psychologists who would be more than happy to help her if you would allow them entry here."

"If you could please?" he asked her. "I hate seeing her like this. I want to help her be herself again, but I don't have the know-how to do so." he said sadly.

"I'll send her a message in the morning. And what about you?" she asked. "Are you alright?"

He contemplated explaining the issues he was having for a moment but decided against it for the time being. "I'm as fine as I can be without having you around." he said finally, finding a workaround.

"Right..." she said, unconvinced. "You're in just as bad of shape as her, aren't you?"

"Angel..." he began before pausing then letting out a deep sigh. "I'll manage. I have people I know I can't let down. My biggest thing is I never get to see you." he explained. "Well that and until recently I thought you had traded me in for a newer model."

"I wouldn't do that to you." She said, bringing him into another hug. "I am close with Genji, but that's because I saved his life and worked with him for years. I love you, and you alone." she reassured him as she held him tightly, rubbing his back as he hugged her back. "I will always love you, and I will come to visit as often as I can until you can or are willing to rejoin us." she whispered into his ear.

"Thank you..." he said softly as he relished the closeness he had with her. He continued holding her tightly, wanting the moment to never end, but it unfortunately was interrupted by the buzzing of the computer in his arm. He sighed in annoyance as he pulled away from the woman he loved and opened the message he received.

"Do you have to go?" she asked him as he read the text on the screen.

"No, it's just Talon's servers." he explained. "Mauga got chewed out for his failure to capture Ams at the trap they set for her because they weren't expecting me to show up to protect her."

"Then it's a good thing you were there." she said as he closed the computer and led her into the main base to his quarters.

...