Home - COD Simon Ghost Riley X Female OC

Chapter 37

That last week passed quickly. MJ moved out of her infirmary room and was given a real bed and more, better fitting clothing. She had started to worry about what she would wear in the real world because someone else's sweats and plain white t-shirts weren't always going to cut it.

She had thought about it a lot before, when she was first rescued. How she would get to her money and her things, how the public would find out that she survived, where she would live, her job. She felt even less equipped to deal with it now that she would be going to a different continent and under basic witness protection. She had felt helpless, unsure who to ask or how, but she hadn't needed to worry.

A team from the US sat her down and explained that she would be given access to the accounts that still had her money in then. Since she had no family to take them over, they had been used to pay off her debts, which only included her apartment and her little car, and the rest had been sitting. That was a relief, since her savings also included her parents'. Her apartment was a different story. The landlord had sold or thrown out her things, that which hadn't been stolen when she was. However, her computer and phone had been taken as evidence, along with her car, and the team she spoke with thought she might get them back. And, there was a storage unit in the city that had a lot of her parents' things in it. She had never really had the strength to go through all of it, sort it out. She made a note to call them as soon as she could, make sure the automatic payments were still going through. If not, then the last of what she loved would be gone.

She harbored an intense amount of dread. Anxiety, too, but at least the next few weeks were pretty strictly laid out. They didn't want it widely known that she had survived until her sister's first hearing. At that point, she would be treated as a witness, and it was likely she would have to travel, or even stay in the states while it played out. Until then, she would pretty much be in hiding. Fine by her. She would have to limit her internet usage, photography, and public outings. Also fine. She wasn't even sure she knew how to operate things like that these days.

MJ found true comfort, though, in the fact that Simon was beside her the whole time. And would continue to be. She had tried at first to tell herself that simply not having to do it completely alone was what brought her comfort, but the truth was that it was just him. He asked questions she didn't know to ask, he stood behind her, a solid presence when she had questions of her own. He helped prepare security for the apartment they would stay in and was briefed on the government's plan for her. She could have handled it on her own, she thought, but she was relieved she didn't have to.

On the last day before they were privately flown across the Atlantic, Price came to her and asked to see her alone. She agreed.

"I needed to sit you down, Mariana, and apologize for how I treated you when you were first brought in."

"I don't think it's necessary, Captain. I know how small one person is when you're facing an enemy like that."

He returned her small smile. "No one person is small to me and I regret that you were made to feel that way. I hope you know my intentions were never to put you in harm's way, and that I believed from the moment you were brought in that you were not a fugitive like the states had told me."

Mariana nodded. "I got myself in the middle of all that. I should have been more careful."

He shook his head. "Either way, what you've been through is life altering. We all know that. And if there's any way I can offer more support, I'll do it."

She looked at the man, he had a kind face, and he seemed genuine. She knew the others trusted him, and so she did too. No one was perfect. "You have already offered me one of your men, and I couldn't be more thankful for that."