Unconditionally (Operation FALLS Trilogy - Book 1)

Chapter 8

The week had been too long for Vince. He hadn't been able to get all the kids to school on time, yet. And two of them went to the same place. He was convinced they would be on time if there wasn't a constant plague of, "That's not how Ty does it." Vince didn't realize how strict of an operation Ty could run, because there was always time for a gas station snack run with him. Every one of his kids was currently mad at him because they hadn't been able to make that stop this week.

Vince had even tried to remind his kids as an incentive this morning, hoping it might get everyone where they needed to be on time. Somehow, it had made everything worse. Juliet cried through every step of her get-ready process for one reason or another. Charlie couldn't find a single uniform shirt that didn't have a noticeable stain. Echo wouldn't wake up and threw a book at Kilo when he'd gone to check if he was awake. Kilo had been helpful, up until he went to wake up Echo by dumping water on his face. Vince would've thrown a book at him too.

By some miracle, they had made it out of the house. Charlie went first to his middle school, Kilo and Echo left next getting out a block away from the high school. Vince and Juliet always sat and watched them until they were on campus grounds.

"ERR! Eeyore and Tigger are out of the woods! Over." Juliet's little voice piped up from behind him.

His head was pounding as a headache began to form and he pulled back into traffic, "What?"

"Never mind," Juliet sighed, looking out her window.

"I'd love to know, if you want to share," Vince encouraged, checking the review mirror to see her posture deflated.

"It's just a codename, I made with Ty," Juliet shrugged. She made eye contact with him through the mirror and offered a forced small smile. "Is he coming back soon?"

"Of course, he just had some work things-"

"He works when you're gone too."

Vince was silent for a moment, gripping the steering wheel tighter.

"What's my codename?" Vince asked, trying to change the subject.

Juliet didn't respond. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, with Vince constantly darting his eyes in his daughter's direction. When he parked the card, she was out before he could even open his door.

She walked up to the passenger window, waiting for him to roll it down before saying, "Pooh Bear." She then turned and walked into her elementary school, carrying a backpack that was far too big for her.

Straight from Juliet's school, Vince went to the SafeHaven Solutions tower. Skipping over the breakfast and heading straight to the elevators. He got off on his floor, holding up his security badge to get into his team's headquarters. The thick doors clicked open, and he was met with an active bullpen. Engrossed in whatever research, planning, or operation task that they were given. No one even noticed he walked in.

He made his way silently to his locked office door. Taking out his key he unlocked it, and quickly made his way to turn off the alarm system. The second he finally sat in his desk chair, he pulled out his phone and typed out a quick text to Ty.

VINCE: Pooh Bear?

He smiled as he hit send. He couldn't wait to see what kind of silly comeback Ty would create.

While he waited, Vince tried to turn his attention towards his work. He needed to close out some of his files, do his prep on upcoming ops, and plan/approve his team's ops. There was no complaint from Vince about this on most days, but it was starting to wear on him. Especially when he was losing control of his family.