GOLD [Book 2 in the JESSE series] | Completed

Chapter Eight: Anticipation

You awake on Sunday morning feeling rested. It's a feeling you haven't felt in awhile, but it's nice. It dawns on you that you've finally adjusted to life with Gold Team. It's been about six months since your return from Santa Fe. The thought still makes you sick to your stomach, but you push the anger down as you get ready for the day.

You realize that you'd woken up about an hour and a half before schedule, so you take the time to go explore. You haven't seen everything within the Overwatch headquarters, so you just take the time to walk around. It's eerily silent around the building, Madison gets everyone up and around early, so being early by Madison's standards means most people are still sleeping.

You eventually find yourself wandering out of the platinum halls and out though an exit. The sun hasn't come up yet, though you normally don't see it until breakfast time anyway. The stars are still out. You take some time to reflect. You sit in the slightly wet grass and just stare up at the expanse above you. The world seems vast and open.

It's odd how it took you so long to come into your own. For the longest time you identified yourself with your family. You moved away of course, but not far. When Jo went off to college it was the farthest away you'd ever been from him. Your dad became your support system, you'd spend long Sundays with him while Jo was gone. He'd guide you through the confusion. You weren't sure what you wanted to do, you felt directionless. Especially next to Jo, who seemed to know what he liked and wanted to do the minute he left the womb. Your dad would just sit, listen and nod. He'd offer advice, but only if you asked for it.

Then you found Overwatch. Of course you thought about your family, but now your old life felt small in comparison to the vast stretch of opportunity ahead of you. You have a whole life ahead of you to live. You don't really identify yourself with a person or people anymore. You're you. And as you take a deep breath, you find the thought refreshing. You're you, and you're okay.

_____________________

The day is long and grueling. You find yourself later that day dreading the morning coming. Already exhausted and sore, you head to lunch to find everyone already sitting around the table. You're greeted by various hellos as you sit down to eat.

"How are you feeling, (Y/N)? You look tired." Aden says, sitting further down the table, but leaning in to talk to you.

"I'm exhausted, but alright. I guess I'm starting to get nervous." This causes Madison to chuckle. "Trust me," she says, "It never stops being nerve wracking." She pauses for a moment before looking around at the group.

"I just want to say to everyone how lucky I am to have all of you." She says, looking down the long table as if to address you each individually. "I know I've only been with Gold three cycles, and I've only been Primary for two, but I just wanted to tell you that you've easily been the best team to work with, and if by chance, I get to become an Upper Agent, I will always miss you."

This speech brings out a jumbled mess of "thank you"s "aw"s and general exclamations that you swear she turns a bit red.

"A toast!" Hunter declares, hitting his fork against his glass, "To our wonderful Primary, who hopefully won't be our Primary anymore. To Madison!" You all raise your glasses and in unison say, "To Madison!"

You get a few odd stares from the rest of the room, and actually hear someone from another table say, "To Madison!" before you hear a, "Shut up-" and the conversation around the room rise again.

Soon enough lunch is over, and everyone files out. However, Madison catches you before you leave. "(Y/N)," she calls after you, "Do you have a minute to talk?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"I know you're tired, but I was wondering if you'd want to use your half hour of down time to train with me? Pick your poison."