Liability [Simon Ghost Riley]

family

He hasn't done a good job of keeping his nerves under control. He wipes his sweaty palms on his pants for the third time as his mind goes over everything that could possibly go wrong. The idea of meeting her family terrifies him. What if they don't like him? What if he doesn't like them? He knew a lot about her childhood and how she always felt that Emma was prioritized, he'd seen first hand how it affected her to this day. Of course he'd been told how close the family had become after the tragic passing of the eldest daughter. He was happy they were able to resolve their differences and come together.

Above all he was well aware that a massive secret he'd kept from her was about to come out. His stomach rolled at the thought, he felt as though he could throw up. The truth was that tonights dinner would not be the first time he'd met her parents. After Emma died, Simon and Price flew to the states and presented her family with an American flag, and sat down with them to explain what happened. This was something he'd done in the past, however it being her older sister made the task nearly unbearable. But he knew it was his responsibility. He was terrified that her parents were going to hate him due to his face being there to tell them their daughter was dead. The worst day of their lives, and he was the face of the person who ruined their family. Simon had no idea how she would react. Would she be upset at him for keeping this from her? Would it bring up the past and trigger her PTSD?

He'd tried to cancel, but he could only use so many excuses. He knew that this needed to happen. He couldn't avoid her family for the rest of their lives, especially when he planned to spend the rest of his life with her.

She notices his unease after she looks over at him to sing along to one of their favorite songs. She frowns as she could see the anxiety coming from him. She reaches to his hand which was placed on the gear shift and rubs his skin gently.

He instantly relaxes when he feels her touch. Her warmth, her tenderness, is just what he needed to calm down and remember that things will be fine. As he focuses on her and their journey he feels a sense of relief wash over him.

"They're gonna love you" she promises

He sighs, this time feeling much better about things. He turns his head and looks at her with a smile. "You really think so?"

"I know so"

"What if I say the wrong thing?"

"You won't"

"If they ask about work?"

"They know how we met, they aren't aware of the details obviously but they know that you worked with me on base, and they know that the rest is classified. Why are you so worried about this? Simon they already love you"

"How do you know?"

"Because I've been talking about you nonstop for the past year, they are well aware how much I love you" she explains.

He leans in close to her as he stops at a red light. He presses his lips to her forehead and closes his eyes. "Thank you baby"

"It's just this house on the right" she points out, he pulls into the driveway and turns of the ignition, staring at her.

"I have something to tell you" he admits

"What?"

"This isn't the first time-"

"There she is!" her mother calls out from the porch, she runs over to the passenger side door and opens it, welcoming her daughter in a hug.

Simon gets out of the truck and walks to where they were standing. He bows his head slightly as her father embraces her. She turns to introduce him to her parents when she notices their wide eyes staring at him. Her mother begins to tear up and she frowns.

"Mom? whats wrong?" she asks in concern

"Simon, I'm so happy to see you again" she says placing a gentle hand on his face, he smiles and she hugs him. Her mouth falls open in shock and she tries to comprehend what she was seeing.

"Been too long son, how are you?" her dad says, grabbing his hand and shaking it.

"Been well mate"

"I'm sorry, does anyone wanna tell me how you know each other?" she asks

"He didn' tell you?" her mom asks as she pulls away from him

"Tell me what?" she asks, turning to him.

"Price and I brought the flag home to your parents after Emma" he admits

"What?" she asks

"Honey he's been sending flowers every month for the grave" her mom adds

"You have?" she asks looking up at him with tears filling her eyes as her lips begin to tremble. Simon internally panics and places a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you"

"Why did you do that?"

"For Emma" he answers

She is unable to hold back her tears and he gently wipes them, holding her jaw in his hands. "I'm sorry love"

"Thank you for taking care of her" she answers

"Always"

She looks over to her mother who's wiping her tears as well. Simon wraps his arm around her and kisses her forehead.

"Now that I've made everyone cry, should we get inside?" he asks. The three broken hearted family members laugh and lead him inside the house.

"Simon I made fish and chips, fresh halibut from our trip this morning" her dad states, wrapping his arm around Simon's shoulder.

"Sounds delicious mate"

"Well we wanted to treat you, Phoebe mentioned that it was your favorite meal"

"Thank you guys"

"Its the least we could do, thank you for taking such good care of our daughters. We're so lucky to have you in the family" her mom says as she leads them into the kitchen.

Simon pauses at the words, he smiles and swallows the lump in his throat. Family. A word he'd tried to hard to run from. A word that used to tear him to pieces. He swore to himself he'd never allow people to get close to him in order to prevent a similar fate to his family. He tried to fight it. But after a while he realized that the only thing he was protecting himself from was love. He'd been so miserable before she came into his life, he was a walking corpse. Living for the job and the violence.

Now Simon Ghost Riley was sat at the dinner table with the woman he loved and her parents. This was his family. He would never let anything happen to them.