Roach

Chapter 7

"Gary?!" Cal questions as he runs to me, hugging me immediately when he gets to me. "I can't believe you're here."

"Well I am," I chuckle a little, "Captain gave me till Saturday since I didn't come home for Christmas."

"Damn, I'm glad he did." He lets go of me, smiling. Mum seems to appear behind him. She puts a hand on his shoulder then pulls him away. She hugs me, tears starting to stream down her face.

"It's okay Mum." I say as I hug her, pulling her close to me. She's shaking a little, which worries me. She seems worse than she was. She must of been worried sick while I was gone.

"You're still here..." She whispers, gripping my arms. She pulls away from me, looking into my eyes. I wipe her tears away. "You remind me so much of your father... You even look just like him..."

"That might just be what I'm wearing Mum." I smile, then walk to the table with her. The two of us sit down, Kristy sitting with us.

"You hungry Gary?" Cal asks, heading towards the counter. It looked like he was making sandwiches for everyone. He grabs the loaf of bread, which is halfway gone by now, then looks over to me.

"Actually yeah, didn't really have a chance to eat a whole lot this morning."

"Really? Thought you'd of eaten then come."

"And miss out on your sandwiches?"

Cal chuckles and takes out two slices of bread. I watch him for a second as he makes another sandwich for me.

"Guess it seems more relaxed than it was on base." I say, looking back to mum and Kristy. "Almost like the guys forgot that we're supposed to be relaxing today."

"I'm assuming not many hangovers were being nursed properly?" Kristy asks.

"If you mean properly by getting ready for some training? Then yeah. It's being nursed right. Though not many got to sleep it off, really just the guys who had the day off."

"You not drink enough then?" Cal questions as he turns to us. He goes over to the table and sets a plate in front of mum and Kristy. After he sets it down, he grabs two more plates then sits across from me, with Kristy on his left and mum on his right.

"Nah, was just relaxing mostly. Barely touched a drink. Cept for maybe after midnight. One of my friends and I sang and drank after midnight."

"Follow traditions?"

"As best I can. Five years away and I've still managed to have good look. Good thing Ghost and I are always outside celebrating. He's gotten in the habit of being our first footer." I chuckle lightly. It has been true though. For the years Ghost and I have been friends, I've almost dragged him into the traditions of the Northern British. While he technically is from North Britain too, he was very confused by some of what I was asking him to do. Now he just carries around a flask every new years.

"Dark haired?"

"Yeah. He's really gotten into it despite not fully knowing before we meet."

"Where he from?"

"Manchester, though the part that doesn't follow our traditions."

Cal laughs, though quickly tries not to choke on his sandwich. Kristy and I laugh a little, watching as Cal has to get up to get something to drink. He takes a few breaths then motions for us to continue talking.

"Ghost his real name?" Kristy asks, looking over to me.

"No, no, no. It's Simon. He's really cool. We meet in SAS training."

"He cute?" A smile appears on Kristy's face. Cal sits back down, pushing her slightly. "What? I wanna know."

"I mean, yeah. He's taller than I am, though just by a little bit."

"Dark hair, and what kinda eyes?"

I chuckle a little, "Blue. You're really into this aren't you Kristy."

"I guess so..." She giggles, her smile only seeming to grow.

Cal rolls his eyes, soon cleaning up after us. "You going to help cook dinner Gary?" Cal glances back to me as he asks it. He's finishing putting everything up.

"Ah sure." I reply, standing up. "Oh! I brought my gifts for everyone. Thought I'd just do it in person, that's why I didn't send anything home."

"I thought ya were just being stuck up." Cal laughs.

"Oh no, wouldn't do that just yet. It hasn't been long enough for me to do that."

Cal finishes then walks over to me, the two of us walk into the living room. Kristy and mum follow behind. I haven't seen mum be out of her room for this long, guess she really did miss me being around. Everyone sits down, Cal and Kristy on the couch, then mum in the single person chair to the left of them. I grab my bag, placing it on the coffee table. After a bit of digging, I find the presents that I bought for them.

"I know it's not super impressively wrapped but I didn't exactly have time to wrap it." I pull out a small box then a rectangular one. "For you mum." I say as I hand her the boxes. She opens it and I can see her smile. She places the boxes on her lap as she pulls a ring out of the first one. It's an obsidian ring with intricate designs on it. We watch as she puts it on her right hands middle finger. As she opens the next one she covers her mouth.

"Gary, you shouldn't of..." She says as she pulls the necklace out of the box. Cal sees it and his eyes widen.

"Like the one dad got her. How? I thought they stopped making those." Cal looks up towards me.

"Thought they did too. Found it when we were in Israel. Was really amazed to find it there of all places, figured it woulda been in Africa not the Middle East." I say as I move to help mum put it on. She's really in shock.

The necklace has a golden chain with a golden Ethiopian flower pendant hanging off of it. A small opal sits within it, which is rare. Usually there's a ruby within the pendant but not his one. It's also like the one that I remember her wearing after one of dad's travels. He had bought her one when he was out though it got broken after he was gone which broke her heart.

"And a perfect fit, just like the original." I add, pulling my hands away from mum. She hugs me thanking me for getting it for me. I tell her that it's not a problem.

We go through the rest of the gifts. I got some wine for Cal when I was in Israel as well as some other trinkets that I know he'd like—which he does. I bought Kristy a necklace as well, though nothing super fancy. I thought it looked nice and would be a really nice gift to get her even though I haven't known her for that long. There's also some clothes, shirts and whatnot that I generally thought they would like along with a scarf that mum probably won't take off.

After they relish in my gifts, I sit down, in the chair across from mum. I'm happy that I've finally given mum that necklace. I did go through a lot of trouble to get it but I won't tell her that. It was a nice thought because I know how much it meant to her before. Cal starts talking, asking me questions about how I like being in the SAS and other things like that. I know this small break won't be too bad though a small part of me is ready to get back to work.

Hours pass and it starts to get dark, we've eaten, and I've helped cook. Mum hugged me extra tight before heading to bed. She seemed happier than I've seen her in a long time, which is a good thing. If she's happy now I can at least not worry as much when I'm gone. Cal, Kristy, and I sit outside, listening to some music and drinking a bit. They talk a bit about the wedding that they've been planning. No doubt it'll be perfect, but I hope that I can be off for it. I'm sure Kempson won't mind but I won't be able to help if something crazy came up. As of now, everything looks hopeful and in a few months I'll have a pretty cool sister-in-law.