𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣. Evan Buckley ²

eight

There was a faint trace of tears in her eyes that Alexa couldn't miss. She knew Hunter could put on a tough act and pretend like she wasn't hurting but Alexa didn't want that for her friend. Alexa wanted nothing more than to tell Hunter it was okay to cry and grieve and no one would judge but she knew Hunter wouldn't take that well. The Callahan's were notorious for hiding their emotions and not dealing with them, maybe that way it wouldn't seem real.

Alexa's head turned to the knock that rang through the door, "I'll get it," she softly said, patting Hunter's knee on her way past. "Hey," Alexa somberly said, "Come on in."

"Hunt?" she heard her name being called. Looking up, Hunter groaned.

"You told him?" she asked, gesturing to her captain that moved to sit down on the couch.

Alexa sighed, "You had me call you into work for the next three shift, I had to tell him something."

Hunter didn't respond but Alexa moved to grab her jacket, "I'm going to go to the store, text me if you need anything."

Once again Hunter stayed quiet but gave a small nod so Alexa knew she heard her. Bobby waited for the door to close before he turned to Hunter. "I am so sorry-"

"Don't," Hunter stopped him with a wave of her hand, tears already forming in her eyes, "I- I don't need to hear it."

Bobby nodded his head slowly, "How are you doing?"

It was a simple question but Hunter shook her head and pursed her lips as more tears welled in her eyes. "Hey, hey..." Bobby whispered, coming forward to wrap his arms around the younger girl who all but fell into them.

"I- I can't," She cried softly, "Bobby, how am I supposed to do this?"

"Hey, you're never going to be alone, Hunt," he told her softly, "I'm here to help you, okay?"

"He's dead," Hunter whispered to which Bobby nodded, "He was supposed to come home at the end of the month," there was a small hiccup in her voice, "he was my brother."

"I know, I know. I can't offer any good advice, Hunt, but I'll help in whatever way I can."

Hunter nodded, pulling away, "There's nothing to help with. The, uh, the service is in Lubbock on the tenth, I'll have a flight leaving tonight."

"Do you want someone to go with you?"

Hunter shrugged, "I don't know," her voice was quiet.

"I can call Buck and Eddie for you," He suggested, holding her hand softly in his, "You know they'd be there in a heartbeat-"

"I don't want them to have to do that."

"Hunt, it's not a chore, okay? Any one of us would be by your side without hesitation."

Hunter nodded, seeming to be lost in thought for a moment. "I think I want to be alone right now."

"Hunt-"

"It's okay, cap," she told him with the only smile she could muster up, "I'll call you if I need anything."

Bobby didn't want to, but he reluctantly agree as he stood up and hugged the girl goodbye. "Don't hesitate, okay? I'm here whenever you need me."

"Thank you," she whispered, wiping a lone tear that began falling down her face as she opened the door for him to walk out. Hunter swallowed hard as she bit back tears before walking back to the chair. Grabbing a blanket, she wrapped around herself as she sat down and stared at the wall.

A few hours later, Alexa hadn't returned. Hunter assumed she was doing her best to give her space by stating out. The gingling of keys outside the door signaled that she was back. Hunter closed the door to her room slightly as she walked back to her closet . Packing was harder than she expected, what was the supposed to bring anyways.

"Hey."

Hunter turned into the voice and frowned as she came face to face with the two familiar men. "I told Bobby not to tell you."

The men nodded, Eddie deciding to speak up, "He was worried-"

"I'm okay," Hunter lied, not looking them in the eyes.

Eddie nodded his head, clearly not believing it, "We hear your heading out tonight."

"Yeah," Hunter quietly confirmed, pulling two items out of her closet, "Which black dress says 'my brother was nailed in the head with a fifty cal' best?"

Buck and Eddie shared a nervous look, "The one on the left?" Buck answered very confidently. Hunter nodded and threw the other one on the floor of her closet while taking the one he chose off of the hanger to put into her bag.

Hunter froze, turning back around as she realized something, "why do you have a bag?"

"You're not going alone."

"And you guys aren't missing work," Hunter told them, voice seemed to be hoarse from the crying she had been doing earlier.

Eddie stepped forward, "I, uh, I actually can't go. Carla could't watch Chris," Eddie said softly, "But if I could-"

"It's alright, Eds," Hunter assured, "And, Buck, you don't have to."

"That's too bad," he said, kissing his teeth, "I already bought the plan ticket and Bobby said he wouldn't let me work."

"Oh," Hunter acknowledged, "So he's forcing you to come along, how nice."

"uh, no, no," Buck quickly backtracked, "that's not what I meant."

"relax," Hunter told him, zipping her suitcase shut, "It's not like I can stop you from coming."

"Exactly," Buck said with a soft smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "Eddie is going to drive us to the airport."

"Alright," Hunter said with a nod. The two men didn't like seeing her in that state. It had seemed like she lost all light, understandably so. But it hurt them because they knew they couldn't help. There wasn't anything that could put a smile on her face in that state, "We should probably get going."

Less than six hours later Hunter and Buck stood in the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport. Hunter sighed as she saw the ever familiar faces, "Hey, Kyle," she acknowledged her best friend with a bittersweet smile.

"Come here," he whispered, bringing her in for a hug. Kyle was dimmer than normal, he too had just lost a brother.

Hunter back away and cleared her throat, "Sergeant Tio," she nodded to the woman next to him who shook her head before speaking up, "Just Miranda, unless you want to be Gunnery Sergeant here."

Hunter shook her head with a soft chuckle, "Point made," Hunter then proceeded to widen her eyes in shock as Kyle wrapped an arm around her, "Took you two long enough."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up," Kyle chimed in with a blush on his face, "Let's just get out of here. I stopped by your dad's old house on the way here to get it ready for you guys."

Hunter nodded, looking back at Buck who seemed to be doing his best to stay out of their way. She gestured for him to follow as she picked up her bag. "I still remember Kyle pining after you at that co-op in Kandahar."

"Hey, that's enough," Kyle tried to say, wanting the blonde to quit talking.

"My bad, my bad," Hunter joked, seeing Kyle had put her in a better mood than she had been in at all the past two days. It was made apparent that no was was going to talk about the death of Cody Callahan at that moment, Hunter and Kyle had already thought about it enough.

Hunter just wanted the thought to leave her mind. She would taking being numb over feeling the pain any day.

I think I've made it as an author
now because I've officially gotten my
first hate comment on beautiful mess.
this is a big week for me.

(and they didn't even leave good
hate comments, not one hurt my
feelings so what was the purpose)