final round - lrh

twenty-two.

The plane ride ended up being a lot longer than I expected.

It was so long that I thankfully was able to get a nap out of it. I'm surprised Lieutenant Hemmings even let me take a nap considering I wouldn't put it past him to expect me to be awake and on full alert the whole ride. Nonetheless, I didn't question it as I tucked my legs to the side of me and passed out for the duration of the flight.

I turn my head in order to catch sight of Lieutenant Hemmings reading a book as he seems very intrigued by it. His eyebrows remain slightly furrowed as his finger occasionally skims the page,  seeming to not want to miss a single detail. Due to my own infatuation with the sight, I don't dare look away as I couldn't even if I tried.

Luckily, he doesn't seem to notice. His eyes don't look towards me and he refrains from making a comment as his attention is captivated at the moment. He looks so relaxed and that's what makes this all feel so weird.

He looks normal.

Soon he strips me from my thoughts as he asks me, "What are you nervous about?"

I furrow my eyebrows, wondering what he means by this as he keeps his eyes on his book and doesn't look at me. Does he think me staring at him means I'm nervous?

"What do you mean?"

"You were talking in your sleep," Lieutenant Hemmings says, closing his book to finally look at me. "You kept saying something about someone and how you needed to get home to him."

I freeze at this as I don't doubt that I was talking about Declan in my sleep. I'm sure he was alarmed by this and I'm surprised I didn't say his name. Unless I did and he just chose not to mention it.

"It's nothing."

"Well, it's clearly something."

"I just do that sometimes when I'm stressed," I say, trying to push aside the subject.

"Why are you so quick to dismiss the subject?"

"Do you really care that much?" I ask him.

Lieutenant Hemmings thinks about it for a split second before shaking his head and saying, "No."

I don't say anything further, assuming he's dropping it and luckily he does. I don't want to talk about Declan. The hurt that is associated with him is too strong and I can't imagine the hurt he's feeling at home. The last thing I want to do is think about it more than I need to.

The plane lands and Lieutenant Hemmings seems to take notice of this as he looks out the window. He seems intrigued as he takes in every part of their base, probably having a plethora of memories associated with the place.

I sit patiently, not making any move as I think about what's to come. If anything, I'm nervous. I'm nervous about something going wrong or doing something that could screw things up for the both of us.

"You know the plan, right?" Lieutenant Hemmings asks me, looking at me as he turns away from the window in order to find my gaze.

I nod my head, "I will press the button if anything goes wrong."

"Good," Lieutenant Hemmings says before hesitating for a moment. "One last thing, I want you to call me Luke for the day. Obviously, this will be the only day I will allow you to, so don't get used to it. If Damien hears you calling me Luke, he'll assume it's a sign of weakness on my part."

I widen my eyes as I hadn't expected this to be a part of the plan as well. Calling my Lieutenant by his first name all day? A part of me is convinced that I'll slip up and mix up the two names and not manage to stick to one.