COD Oneshots

|| Merrick || Protective Father Figure

*1:35am*

Merrick and a few others were asleep peacefully in their beds, trying to get a good night's sleep before getting back to work at 8 in the morning. There were lights on outside his room from the hallway, luckily Merrick was a heavy sleeper so he never hears almost anything whilst he was asleep, Riley had been howling inside of Hesh's room but the tall male still didn't wake up. There was a lot of sound going on and around 15 minutes later, it woke Merrick up as it was probably getting louder, he rubbed his eyes before going to check what all the noise was about in his boxers and dressing gown. As he was about to open the door, he heard a knock and opened it to see Elias with puffy red eyes, what was wrong with him? And to his far left in the hallway, logan had been sobbing and screaming into Keegan's chest which the older male comforted him the best he could. "what's the matter Mr walker? Are you alright?" "Hesh wanted me to give you this" Elias had held out the army tag and placed it in Merrick's hand, merrick had seen Hesh's real name engraved in the tag, 'David Walker'.

"The reason he wanted you to have it is because.............he said he wished to have spent the rest of his life with you in a happy relationship but he never got to tell you himself.................he has passed away..........an hour ago" Merrick had felt awful and tried his best to comfort Elias by hugging him close and the smaller but older male hugged back, he needed the comfort. His eldest son has just died. That's the first time Merrick has ever heard anyone have feelings or love him like that, but sadly he was gone before he could ever get told by Hesh himself. The hug lasted for about 30-35 minutes before he went to see where Hesh was, he looked in David's bedroom and saw his pale skin, he truly was gone. He looked from the doorway and wished he could have saved him from whatever had killed him if it was saveable, he wished he didn't go to bed to see Hesh in his last moments but unfortunately, he passed before he could say a goodbye.

He kept the army tag on as a necklace and made sure it fitted securely so it doesn't fall off easily, that was the only thing he had left of David, Merrick had went to touch Hesh's hands to feel how cold they are and knew he was gone for good which lead to him non stop crying for at least an hour, the thought of him not being there for David's last moments will forever haunt him but he had went to comfort logan and Elias through the loss.

Losing a Ghost member was the hardest to mourn............

*4 years later*

Merrick had been training the rookies through gun practice for the whole morning and made sure each of them had nailed it perfectly before they could go off for lunch break. Thomas had walked back into the main building after he sent the rookies off for their break so he could go for his own lunch, once he had his lunch on his usual table and about to sit down, he felt a sudden tugging at his trousers. He looked in confusion then saw a little girl with bright green eyes and dark brown hair which could pass as black in the dark "hi what's your name?" before merrick could even process the situation, he saw and heard Logan take her off from his trousers "stop harrasssing merrick" "but uncle Logan, why does he sit alone?" "he doesn't now let's get you ready for food alright?" "okay uncle Logan". The tall male didn't really question the child but he did find it quite confusing how random she appeared out of no where, he sat down and keegan joined him on the opposite side of the table.

"I know you might reject this idea but please can you look after Tamara for a few weeks whilst me and Logan are on a mission? We will give you her stuff and I'll pay you" "you know I despise kids so why are you dumping her on me?" "that's the reason why I'm offering to pay you" it took Merrick a moment to think then sighed "fine I'll do it" He continued "so who's her mo-" he was cut off before he saw Logan with Tamara. They all sat with Thomas at the table and it kind of gave him comfort since he was almost always alone when he's not at work or he was on break. Merrick didn't realise how lonely he was until these few times they sat with him, he really didn't have any friends or family really outside of work so he was lonely. "you're going to be staying with Merrick for a few weeks Tamara" "I get to stay with beard man?" "yes whilst me and your uncle keegan are doing work" "ok" The taller man had been dreading the thought of looking after a child for a few weeks but he hoped keegan would pay him quite a lot for this.