Behind His Eyes (CoD: Ghost Fanfiction)

20

Three years later...

He was leaving again the next morning.

Ellie was used to that. Ghost would come home to her after being away from a week to up to two months at a time, and only be able to stay for a week before Price called him back.

This last stretch was the longest he had been gone. Almost three months with very little contact due to the confidentiality of the missions he was dealing with. Ellie knew full well what Ghost had to do, she had gone through enough of them herself. He told her of some things that would happen, and if he had a new scar or injury when he returned, Ellie didn't let him get away with not talking about how it happened.

It never got easier to let him go, though.

They spent their last night together eating korean food and binging TV whenever they weren't entangled in one another. Ghost had become extremely clingy when he returned home over the years. He always wanted to be near her, to know where she was and if she was alright. It was as if he was afraid that if he let her out of his sight, she would disappear. Ellie had become such a precious thing to him, gaining his trust and his love when nobody else had gotten so close to him.

Ellie didn't mind his clinginess, because it let Ghost show his more vulnerable side to her. After just about three years together, she was still learning things about him. Like that ticklish spot on his side when she teased him, he would either pin her down to tickle her back, or he'd flinch and swing if he wasn't expecting it.

She learned to duck when he swung for the first time and hit her shoulder, leaving a bruise the size of a baseball. The guilt of hurting her had torn Ghost apart for a while, even despite Ellie's constant reassurance that she was fine.

His flight was leaving early in the morning, so Ellie knew it was well before her normal wake-up time when his phone alarm went off. She was half-awake when he got up and began to shuffle around quietly to get ready. She'd get a few more minutes of shut-eye before he woke her to say goodbye.

As she lay in the bed, Ellie's stomach began to churn. She knew the feeling all too well from nights of too much drinking or food poisoning. It woke her up almost immediately as she bolted from her bed and dodged around Ghost's confused form to make it to the toilet in time.

She didn't even turn on the light before her head was in the bowl, and the contents of her stomach were filling it. The taste of the wine and korean food was still there as it all came up, only making her sick again.

Ellie saw the light come on out of the corner of her eye, and familiar calloused fingers touch her neck as Ghost pulled her hair back to let her retch. "I've got you, angel," he hushed her as he rubbed her back.

After dry heaving for another few moments, Ellie flushed the toilet and shakily got to her feet. Ghost held her arm as she grabbed the mouth wash and began rinsing her mouth out, then grabbed the toothbrush and toothpaste. "Are you okay?" he asked as he looked at her reflection in the mirror.

"I think I'm done with korean food for a while," she groaned before filling her mouth with the mouth wash. Ghost let out a quiet chuckle and rubbed her back gently, but Ellie could see the concern in his beautiful hazel eyes.

She gargled the wash and spat it out before coating her toothbrush and began to brush her teeth. Ghost wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder as she lazily started to clean her teeth. Ellie touched his arm and traced her fingers along his tattoos as he held her for the last time before his departure. It was never easy for either of them when he left, because Ellie didn't know if he was going to come back in his balaclava or a casket.