Hotel Six: A Call of Duty Fanfiction

Chapter 15: The Worst Day of the Year

September. It was September already. Where had the rest of the year gone? It was strange how rarely doing anything at all made time feel like it was standing still, yet blazing by at the same time. But worse than that, that particular day, was the worst day of the year; forgetting about it would be far more pleasurable than stewing on it...

"Are you going to change that target, or are you just going to shoot until there's nothing left of it?"

Jess bristled at Price's voice, and she exhaled hard, having held her breath for a while. Her heart was thudding oddly with him standing over the top of her. She looked at the ground on which she was lying, and then back at the scope of her rifle. "Why? You jealous I can hit the broad side of a barn?"

He threw a bullet casing at her, and it bounced off the brim of Gaz's hat. "You look like you're not all here; I was just making sure you had at least the capacity to notice you've practically blown that target apart."

She rolled her shoulders and lifted herself up to stand, tripping Price in the process. "I noticed. I wanted to see if I could completely destroy the head on the silhouette."

Price laughed. "And you have; you've just about used up all your mags. Don't you think you should be done?" he asked.

"I could, I guess," she said, placing the rifle in a hard case. "But I think it's a better pass time than drinking or meandering the base." She snapped the latches shut with a "clack," and hoisted the case over her shoulder.

"You don't have anything better to do today?"

She cocked a brow. "... No? Why?"

The Captain smirked. "Why don't you come with me to Three Elms?"

"Drinking this early in the day, sir?" she teased.

His eyes narrowed as he grabbed her hand. "You can get more than drinks at the pub, you know. Goes to show the only reason you go there."

They pulled up to the pub, and Price made her stay in her seat until he opened the door for her. She thanked him and walked by his side to the door. "So, what's the occasion? You never invite me to just go to the pub with you," she said, raising her brow with a smirk.

He laughed. "Have you looked at a calendar lately? How could you forget..?"

She stopped in her tracks at the sight of Bravo Team seated at a long table, raising their glasses upon her entrance. "Happy birthday!" they all exclaimed. 

"Price..." she growled.

The Captain was laughing, his head tilted back with the largest smile she'd ever seen him make. "C'mon, we never got the chance to celebrate last year, and how else was I going to get you to attend your own party if I told you?"

She sheepishly walked to the table and was bombarded by side hug, back slaps, and excited exclamations. Ghost passed her a shot of whiskey and she sneered at him. "You're not getting me drunk again..." she said, tilting the glass into her mouth. 

Ghost looked away with a chuckle. "Not even tipsy? Don't be boring, Gal."

Soap put down an empty pint, and though his blue eyes seemed to be looking at Jess, his gaze was far beyond her. She noticed his thousand-yard stare, and silently wondered if he knew what the others didn't seem to recall.

Price walked around and sat across the table from her between Roach and Walcroft. Griffin slid a pint of ale to the Captain's hand, and he took a sip. "So, was this a good enough surprise?" he asked.

Jess looked up at the ceiling, at first trying not to smile, but she ended up smiling anyway. "Yeah, it was definitely a surprise." She chuckled. "Thank you, Captain Price."