The Soldier and The Spy: Jay Halstead- Episode 7

Chapter 4

Fourteen Years Ago

He knew how to wait.

He'd waited most of his life to get out of his dad's house, that last year a special form of hell but he'd done it to show his mom he was serious about joining the military, to ease as many of her fears as he could. And it wasn't like it had stopped.

Waiting was half a soldiers battle.

Waiting for an attack to come, waiting to launch one, waiting for intel- some days they waited more than they fought. So he was used to it. Used to being uncomfortable, hot, cold, itchy, achy, bored out of his goddamn mind- you name it, he was used to it. But nothing had ever been as hard as waiting to get back to Tess.

And he wasn't doing a good job hiding that.

"She's-"

"Greg if you say she's fine one more time I'm going to hit you."

"That's rude."

Knox snickered but quickly went back to chugging his water when Jay turned his glare on him, the others likewise keeping their eyes down, exhausted after their latest round of drills. He felt a little bad, he didn't usually work them this hard but with the rest of their platoon still back at Restrepo and not due to arrive for at least another week it was up to him to make sure they used their time accordingly and he'd needed to work off his aggression. It helped they all understood that, and had actually been doing their best to help which was good of them, but also added to his frustration.

Because now he knew Tess wasn't eating.

Evans had gone by during lunch to see what information he could get since Mouse had convinced him it was best to wait until the end of the day before he went to see her himself, not wanting to give Bronson or Hutchins or Lockridge any reason to say he was distracted and take back the leniency they'd given them. Which he understood. He didn't like it, but he understood it. But she wasn't doing well and that made focusing on anything else really fucking hard.

Harder than it had a right to be but he was trying not to think about that either.

Until the alarm he'd set on his watch to tell him when dinner was starting went off and then he was shoving Mouse when he snorted and striding off, determination and anticipation making the walk to the med bay a quick one.

He needed to get Tess to eat.

He needed to get her to fight.

It just wasn't right for someone who'd shown so much bravery, so much strength to just waste away.

But she wasn't. Not yet anyway.

"Fucking. Touch. Me!"

He'd only just entered the med bay when he heard her scream, not a fearful one like he'd been imagining they'd been last night but filled with rage like when she'd shot those Taliban soldiers. Before he knew it he was running, his own worry quickly turning to anger when he heard what was getting her so upset.

Who.

"Calm down!"

Katherine.

"I will when you get the fuck out!!"

"If you don't stop this right now so help me God we are going to strap you down-"

The hell she would.

"Get out." He demanded as he threw himself between them, so angry his finger actually shook as he pointed it at the door. "Out!"

"You can't-"