The Soldier and The Spy: Jay Halstead- Episode 5

Chapter 4

Twelve Years Ago

Thirteen months.

That was how long it had been since Tess's last leave. Which wasn't just well before the attack on his convoy it was a lot longer than most ops lasted, hell it was longer than most tours but then she hadn't done just one operation. The way she'd described it, after they'd calmed down enough to talk rationally there had been a 'villain symposium', with uncoordinated but near simultaneous attacks popping up all over the globe. Several teams had taken hits, some pretty serious and though she hadn't said it outright he'd seen enough of hers in action to know why they'd been trusted to pick up the slack. Though that didn't mean they'd come away unscathed.

A shipping container.

That was what had happened to her back.

She had been tackled off a shipping container, a stack of them to be exact, onto another stack and then into the Tokyo port.

And she'd been lucky. John had been shot and had his shoulder broken, bad enough that he'd been on medical leave for the past month and a half. Each of them had gotten hurt in some way at some point, which was pretty normal for the job but that didn't mean Jay liked hearing about it. But he made her tell him, determined to show that he could handle it, even if it did eat at him that while she'd been off saving the world he'd been wallowing in his own self-pity. But that was a different conversation, not one they avoided but definitely one they were both nervous to broach.

She'd been back almost a week now.

After they'd soothed each other for a second time, and after Mouse had barged back into his room to make sure they hadn't killed each other, with one hand over his eyes in case they'd been doing something else they'd gone with her to visit her aunt. Lydia was the curator of the Iran exhibit at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, not a little job but the moment she'd seen them across the marble hall she'd immediately taken the rest of the afternoon off. Well, almost immediately. She'd had a few loose ends to tie up so after nearly squeezing the life out of her niece, which after looks from both Tess and Mouse he'd stayed quiet about Tess had shown them around, taking them to all her favourite parts of each of the exhibits, with Lydia providing commentary on specific artifacts she'd helped verify, or had dug up herself, when she joined them. Both he and Greg had had fun, it hadn't just been their first time in the museum it had been the first time in months that Jay had noticed himself showing an interest in anything, but he also hadn't been able to help feeling guilty.

With his mom gone his relationship with his family was pretty much non-existent; he and Will communicated via email every two to four months and he saw his dad and Carol about once a month, and only because he knew better than to get on his aunt's bad side. But Tess wasn't like that. Lydia wasn't just the only family she had, they both actually, actively enjoyed the other's company. He'd worried at first that he was keeping them from each other, since while awkwardly done Tess had requested/demanded that she stay with him, damn near breaking his heart when she'd said she wanted every night in his bed that she could get. He'd gotten her to agree to just sharing the same one, but still. That she wanted him that much...

He still worried.

About making sure the women got enough time together, that Tess got enough rest, that he was worthy of all the love being heaped on him, but it was a hell of a lot easier to quiet those fears when that truth kept staring him in the face with those big, beautiful, ocean blue eyes.

And to be honest, it wasn't that hard to begin with.

Tess had always been easy to be around, not even just the natural comfort they'd always had with each other but in the way that he genuinely enjoyed her company, found her funny and smart and interesting to listen to, but even more than that the three of them just worked together. He'd known she and Mouse got along, had discovered on base that they shared many mutual interests, including making fun of him and since Tess smoked pot too the pair now spent at least an hour a day out on the balcony together, getting high and talking about... whatever it was they talked about. Sometimes he joined them, shaking his head at the banter that in five minutes could go from their favourite cartoons to the existence of mermaids to some new, innovative piece of tech but regardless of what they discussed or whether he sat beside them or watched from the living room Jay always found himself appreciating their camaraderie. Aside from the obvious fact that Tess was a good influence on Greg, on both of them, it was clear that all of them had been craving more connection, more community.