They stayed overnight at the hospital to make sure that Soap was bouncing back after his transfusion okay. He and Ghost were even more glued to each other than normal. Rudy and König ended up going down to the beach for a little while to soak in some of the gulf water. Horangi accompanied them and ended up building sandcastles with König. He was shockingly good at it. Some strange hidden talent of his.
Laswell met them at the hospital to check in, she also brought her wife who was maybe one of the biggest nerds any of them had ever met. She was quizzing them all about their abilities and traits. She was the one who ended up suggesting they use leaf and plant matter to patch Roach's wings when they returned home. If the stuff was sturdy enough to lift Gaz up it shouldn't be an issue for him.
They were both fascinated by Gaz's new look and traits. Kate's wife somehow managed to have even stronger mom energy than she did.
"What a handsome young man you're becoming, Kyle!" She had told him.
That gave them all new teasing material that was for sure.
Laswell's wife was so comforting in fact, that Simon even rolled up his mask for her to examine his fangs. She was quite bold and pushed on his gums with gloved hands to watch how they retracted and pushed out.
The team was vaguely reminded of an opossum, a being entirely without fear. The only time she seemed even slightly less than chipper, positive, and sweet, was when Price had mentioned casually that he had quit smoking his cigars.
"Now you have absolutely no excuse, Kate! Even John, of all people, has stopped!"
Kate just rolled her eyes.
She had also snuck fresh peanut butter cookies into the hospital for everyone, so they were sort of bribed into liking her immediately. They all made note of the way Soap ate a few quite ravenously. In the future if he ever had a bad day with food they figured they could at least get him to eat some of those.
When the happy couple had departed, Price called Nikolai back at the house to check in, but to also ask a very pertinent question.
"Nik, what the hell is my cat doing here?"
The man let out a hearty laugh from the other end of the line, "So she made herself known?"
"Yeah. She made herself known alright. Apparently the little thing can grow absolutely massive!" Price told him
"Oh, I know." The man said, still chuckling.
"You what? How?"
"One of the other times I house sat for you. Got stung by a wasp and she retaliated quite violently." He said everything so casually, "She is quite the protective little one, takes after you I'm sure. Anyway, I saw her climb into your bag before you left."
Price shook his head even though he knew Nik couldn't see him, "You just let her in the bag? And why did you never say anything about her turning into a massive bloody dragon?"
Nikolai chuckled again, "I knew she could handle herself with you. And secondly, the topic of your dragon never came up in conversation. I assumed you knew, Price."
Price pinched the bridge of his nose, "Yeah well, I definitely fucking didn't. And then there's Gaz to deal with..."
"What's wrong with Gaz?" Nik asked, extremely concerned.
"Nothing. At least I don't think so. Apparently he breathed fire. Which is frankly, in my humble opinion, an extremely dangerous ability for my flammable kid to have." Price explained.
"Ah, you worry too much, Captain." Nik eased, "His body will adapt to his own flames, I'm sure."
Farah and Alex departed from the team from Florida. The pair needed to get back to Urzikstan and Farah's forces. Alex was their greatest asset in surveillance as a harpy, so they couldn't stay away much longer. They had plenty of work to do on the ground in Farah's home.
Alejandro and Rudy talked for a bit, but ultimately decided to stick with the team. The Los Vaqueros base didn't need them urgently. Their men could handle the city. The pair would continue to work remotely from Price's estate for a while.
When Soap was discharged, the doctors and nurses took one look at his recent medical records and practically threatened Price to keep him out of the hospital for a while. Price more than planned to. His boys were not taking any missions unless they were an emergency from now on. Makarov and Shepherd were both dead. Laswell agreed to only send them assignments involving other monsters, or if world war three was actually about to start again.
Price's property was in the middle of nowhere England, and quite vast. He already had some building plans in mind for when they were back. So they certainly wouldn't be without things to do in between assignments.
The flight back was peaceful, and quiet. Price actually took a nap himself this time.
Soap clung onto Ghost as if he was afraid the vampire might suddenly try and make a break for it. Not an unwarranted thought after everything, but Ghost held onto him just as tight, eager to prove that he wasn't planning on running anytime soon.