Bittersweet | Simon Riley

TWO

Belle thought of herself as a good person, as naïve as that might be to say. When she had joined the military it was for school purposes but she'd quickly fallen in love with the job. She loved meeting people, she loved the structure and the feeling of community that came with such an important job. But while she was good with firearms and while she could hold her own in close combat, she liked helping people more. Not the blood part, she could never be a medic but rather the mental part.

She'd flown through school, always a high achiever and always chasing her next goal and before long she'd graduated with a degree in psychology, minoring in sociology. It was no secret that soldiers didn't have great mental health and it wasn't easy for them to exactly get the resources they needed when in times of a crisis, but Belle wanted to be someone who could help soldiers in a way others couldn't.

She honestly thought it would be months, maybe even years before she got assigned a base or even a few soldiers but within the first few weeks of graduating, she was thrown onto a team. She worked with them for a few weeks and had gotten help from a few others who did what she wanted to do, gaining experience from them and learning her way around the career before she was approached by some higher ups.

"Am I in trouble?" Belle had asked as she stood before a council of men who looked far older and more serious then she looked with her hair in a braid and dressed in her normal fatigues. They had stolen her the minute she had gotten to her assigned desk and swept her away before she could even talk to her coworkers.

"Far from it." A man had told her before she was taken into a small conference room and told about an opportunity which had popped up. It was a rare opportunity and if she were to succeed with it, she'd gain herself a name with not only the brass but with other soldiers. Yet she'd also been warned that the men and women that she'd possibly be dealing with, weren't like the ones she had been dealing with up to that point. They were more dangerous, more ruthless and had seen more dangers of the world then Belle could even think of.

That was exactly how she found herself standing on a new base in a new country which she wasn't even that fully aware of. It had all happened so fast and while she'd been welcomed with open arms, it still felt a little overwhelming. She knew no one, except for a man named Captain Price who had helped her find her little office and move some boxes, but otherwise she was alone. Everything was happening so damn fast, but she managed to talk to a few soldiers and have a few sessions, her anxiety being quelled as she talked to more men and women who were in dire need for just someone to simply talk to.

That anxiety had come back with a vengeance though when she had been reading through her files earlier that morning though. Belle didn't like to judge based off a person's file or even rumors which she'd heard from the grapevine but when she had come across her five o'clock session, she had stopped at the name printed on the first page of the folder. Simon Riley, also known as Ghost. She had read through his file and knew that he wasn't going to be an easy nut to crack but she wasn't afraid of a challenge.

Until she saw that same challenge walk in her door. Maybe afraid wasn't the right word but she couldn't exactly think of the right word to describe how she felt when the man loomed in the entrance to her little office. She had faltered, only for a second, before she reacted to him making himself known.

"You can come in," Belle said, finding her voice after a quick second as she looked at the masked man dressed in black. She could feel the way that he was scanning the room, the same way many other of the soldiers who'd come into her office had done on first entrance. Belle completely underestimated just how big the Lieutenant truly was, a six foot something man who had a build similar to a brick wall. He was intimidating even from a ten foot distance. "Hello, I'm Isabelle Jackson," She said with a soft smile, trying to appear friendly even if he was intimidating to hell and back.

When she'd met the other soldiers who she'd been placed in charge of, they of course didn't look friendly per say but at least she could see their faces. That gave her a sense of at least a little comfort, being able to read their expressions or the way that they involuntarily reacted but with Ghost she could only see his eyes and how they stared at her, devoid of any real emotion from what she could see from their current distance.

"Jackson," His gravelly voice came from the man and she looked at him as he stood by the door for another second in silence. Belle stood up a little straighter, meeting his eyes as she realizes that he's clearly studying her from where he stood so she took the second herself. He was dressed in his military fatigues like she was, his face covered all except his blue eyes which were a complete contrast compared to the black fabric hiding his features.

"That's me." Belle smiled warmly from behind her desk even though Ghost continued to simply blankly stare at her, and she moved to close the file which was sitting open in front of her. It was his folder, but she wasn't going to allow him to know that she was reading over the limited information she'd been given, nothing too important other then his age, his birthplace and a few other details which could be found on any grunts file. Otherwise, she was left to her own devices to learn about the man with a lethal ruthless reputation through their little sessions together. She met his eyes again as Ghost stepped into her office fully and allowed the door to shut them in the room together. "You're Lieutenant Simon Riley, correct?" She asked with a small tilt of her head, motioning for him to take a seat while she stayed standing at her own desk.

"Ghost is fine." Ghost said bluntly, his void empty with no emotion as he moved to the seat across from her, not quite sitting yet. Belle was waiting for him to sit, silently waiting for him to sit but it was clear he was hesitating.

"You can sit." She offered with a gentle smile and to her silent relief, Ghost took a seat without saying anything else. She smiled softly at the man, her smile growing a little as he took the seat and then she cleared her throat quietly. "Hope you like the office, I tried to make it feel less, y'know," She gave him a small shrug with that same friendly smile, remaining standing while he sat in the chair across from her desk.

"I don't know," Ghost answered, and Belle had to keep her smile from faltering a little at her attempt to make conversation getting shot down so quickly. She finally took the seat across from him and her fingers laced together as she looked across from him. She hummed softly, she'd known coming into this meeting that the man wasn't going to be as open to a conversation as the other soldiers had been but she was still slightly let down by his lack of effort.

"Ah, well, hope its comfortable enough." Belle decided to say after a moment with a small sigh and she waited for Ghost to say anything, but he stayed silent, still studying her. So, she decided to break the silence once again. "So, let's just get started, right? No time like the present." Belle offered him another bright smile and waited for a response.

"Right." Ghost replied back dryly as he shifted in his chair. Belle wasn't going to let his dry responses deter her attempts at trying to start a conversation.

"Right." Belle smiled after giving Ghost a moment, unsure if he was going to say anything else but when he remained silent she finally took lead of the conversation again. "So, I know why you're here, but I'd like to hear it in your own words," Belle smiled softly as she grabbed her pen from her desk, clicking it open and flipping it smoothly between her fingers. She watched Ghost shift in his chair once more and waited for him to start talking.