As Long As I Have You // A. Ghale

Worried Sick

"You sure it will only be two days?" I ask him, disappointed that he'd have to be gone for such a long time. The last meeting with Willis actually went well, so I didn't feel scared when he was helping him out again. I felt more calm, and very anxious for his return.

"Yes, I'll be back in 72 hours or less." Ajay jokes, but I will set a timer and will sit awake for him until the second I see his face. That's just how I am. 

"Please for the love of God, be careful." I tell him, kissing his cheek for last time for up to 72 hours. It was going to be a long few days, and I was scared about how Amita and Sabal would react to Ajay just up and leaving, and how I knew but didn't tell them. What they don't know, can't hurt them.

That was last time I saw Ajay, for two days that is. But two days quickly turned into three. At that point, I was beginning to lose my shit. His smell had began too fade from the homestead as I was cleaning and fixing the light fixtures. I was falling into a depression without this man who was always by my side and suddenly wasn't there anymore.

"Where the fuck is Ajay?" Amita asks me, sitting directly across form me, between a map of northern Kyrat.

"He said he'd be in the Himalayas for two days. He said it'd be in and out." I tell her, but Sabal gets upset, as if it was my fault for not stopping him. Yes, of course I tried that.

"In and out, huh? Well, where is he then?" Sabal says, yelling at me. I knew what I should have, and could have done to stop him. But, I didn't do enough.

"Do you think I fuckin' know?" I yell at Sabal, in my defense. Ajay should have been back and I was ashamed of myself for letting him go. Alone.

"You're the one who let him go in the first place!" Amita yells at me, pointing her finger at me. They were just mad because Ajay is the only one who can fix this fucked up, war-torn country.

"I DIDN'T WANT HIM TO GO IN THE FIRST PLACE!" I scream at the top of my lungs. They had pushed me to my limit. I can only take so much bullshit, until I explode. 

The room went silent for a second and we just sit there. Waiting. Waiting for what?

"We have to go find him. If you guys won't, I sure as hell will." I say, getting my shit together and heading out the door. I was mad, and they sure a shell knew it.

"Delilah, come back." Sabal says, stopping me before I could get too far away from the house.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to get me back in there, you asshat." I yell, trying to get Sabal to change his mind. Maybe pushing him to his limit, would make it cave in. Especially, when Ajay, his one hope for the country, is on the line.

"Delilah, we're getting Ajay back. You coming or not?" I turn around and smile, and nod my head. Sabal shared the same expression and did so with compassion.

"Fuck yeah, I am." I say, going back inside the house. We had a plan. It was go time.

"Delilah, wake up. We're here and we picked up Ajay. We're almost back in Kyrat." I hear Amita say, just across the side of the helicopter. I couldn't remember boarding the helicopter at all, but I happy knowing that my Ajay was safe and okay. Even if he was knocked out, the poor guy was probably tired from dealing with idiots.

Maybe not 'go time' but more like 'leave time' or 'almost home' time. Either way, I was still very happy to see Ajay's return, and I wish he was awake so I could have told him this, but I can do that later in the safety of our own home.

"What happened?" I ask, sitting up from the current slump I was in. Looked over and saw Ajay asleep beside me. He felt cold to the touch, but had several layers of blankets wrapped around him.

"Well, he was in Durgesh prison and somehow managed to escape and we found him just outside of the prison camp almost froze to death." Amita tells me, and Sabal nods in agreement. I couldn't help but want to wrap myself around his freezing body.

The man had been through hell and back, and better yet, that Willis guy is going to get a whole ass beating from me when I find out where he is. And I most certainly wasn't going to let him get away with this, no. He was going to have a whole other thing coming at him...

"Holy shit," I say, putting my hands around his limp body, "you had me worried to death." It was nice to see him again, even if he was an ice burg.