The Soldier

bitter lies drowned in sweet coffee cups

„Did she survive the war only to be suffocated by you now, Laura?", Harry said when Laura hugged her for only a short moment.

Tessa did not mind her strong, sweet perfume for once, the one that kind of smelled like melted strawberry ice cream and was usually too tangy in Tessa's nose, tickling it and making her sneeze.

But right now she just looked at Laura, her long, slowly turning from dark blonde to light grey hair bound together in a strict bun, hardly visible now. Tessa did her best to smile at her, and Laura did not pay enough attention to notice that it was a little fake.

„No, of course not.", Laura said, her voice the usual chant it always was when she spoke to Harry.

Her long, slim fingers were still holding Tessa's upper-arms as if she needed to touch her to be sure she was actually there now.

And she would not go away that easily again, at least that is what Tessa told them.

She never told them about Ziva, about being kicked out of the army, about needing to do something with her life that was not what Laura wanted her to do. Right now she wished she had told them, before banning that thought immediately.

Laura would be completely over emotional, ending up in a state so miserable, Tessa would be the one needing to calm her down and help her. And Harry... Harry would probably say something... military. Something close to what Adam said, that she would get over it one day.

„I'm happy you're back, Faith. Harry and I, we missed you, and I'm glad you are here, healthy and with no scars, am I right?", Laura asked, looking her up and down in an observant, almost controlling way.

„Yeah, I'm glad to be back. No visible scars, no.", she added silently, hoping that Laura would not ask any more questions about how she was doing in the military.

Because she was not in the mood to talk about it with her adoptive mother, not now. Better said, never.

She needed to focus on today, forget what happened in the past and stop herself from thinking about the empty future laying in front of her.

„You have to tell me how it was, Faith. Some battlefield stories, I miss them.", Harry said, pointing at the chair opposite from him.

Laura went away to get some coffee and the biscuits Tessa used to like as a child.

She had not the heart to tell Laura she despised them now because they tasted too sweet.

A bit sugar in that bitterness that was her life right now would not be that bad anyways. In her mind she scolded herself for such an exaggeration, she knew it was one even though everything was a huge pile of shit at the moment, it would get better one day. Maybe.

„Oh, you know. I don't think I have any stories worth sharing. There was a bomb attack at our secret base, and those bastards held me hostage once for a couple of days, but my unit rescued me. They thought Adam wouldn't do something so... offensive for a low-ranking soldier like me."

Harry nodded, losing himself in his thoughts.

„Adam is a good man, he was my comrade for a very long time, before that stupid leg gave up the service. They think we're all a bunch of soulless monsters like they are. No one gets left behind, Adam was convinced for a very long time he could do that. Of course, reality looks a bit different, but you know that, Faith. Did you lose anyone close to you?", Harry asked while Laura came back with three cups, coffee for Tessa and her, tea for Harry.

He drank a sip and frowned – Laura was forcing him to drink tea when he was sick, and Harry made no secret out of the fact that he despised it.

„Laura, this tastes disgusting, I can't possibly drink that without throwing up, why don't you bring me something better? A beer or coffee, or juice, I really don't mind, but tea? Tea is for old ladies.", he complained, staring at the still full cup in front of him before pushing it away as far as possible.