GOLD [Book 2 in the JESSE series] | Completed

Chapter Sixteen: Home

The door swings open, and you see your brother. You almost tackle him with a hug.

"I missed you." You say, squeezing him.

"You too. Come inside!" He almost pushes you into the house.

You walk into the living room, where your dad sits in his motorized chair.

"Hey, (Y/N)!" He says, a smile lighting up his face.

"Hey dad." You run over to him and give up a hug.

"How have you been?" He asks, before turning the television off.

"I've been good." You sit in your usual chair. It feels good to be home.

Your dad narrows his eyes in that familiar way... he knows you're lying, but doesn't press you.

"Well, Jo and I have been basically doing nothing but watch baseball, so it'll be good to have conversation in the house again."

"Dad, please. Beth talks to you plenty to make up for my silence."

"You're just to busy re-inventing science in your head to have a lengthy conversation." Your dad says with a grin.

Your brother has always been a bit ADHD, and tinkering was the only thing he could ever keep focus on. He now lives down south working for a technology and engineering company working to advance Hard Light technology that was made famous by the Vishkar Corporation in India. Your dad worked in a similar field. He was a weapons engineer in (Y/Country)'s military, and was tasked with creating an enhanced suit of armor that could fly. He worked diligently to create it, and it was the best thing he ever created. They sent him out among other soldiers, (he had been in the military long before creating the armor) to test it, and unfortunately, he was shot out of the sky. He lost his ability to walk, but fortunately, he came home.

Your mother died a year later, and you always sensed a feeling of guilt in his eyes, as if he thought it was his fault.

"So, what have you been up to since I left? I haven't met Beth yet." You say, raising your eyebrows.

"Beth has not stopped talking about wanting to meet you. You know, when I told you that you were an Overwatch agent, she nearly lost her mind. She was a big supporter back in the day. She might think way too highly of you." He smiles.

"What ever do you mean? I am a goddess among men." You say haughtily.

Jo chuckles from across the room and your dad just smiles. Your dad says, "It's good to have you back, (Y/N)."

Later on in the evening, you enter your room with your bags and smile. The familiar smell of your home wafts around you and you smile. Everything in the room is decked out in (Y/Favorite Color), a remnant of your days in high school. You see familiar places on the wall where the paint has chipped, showing multiple colors from multiple different paint jobs from over the years. You like that nothing has changed. It's a sense of familiarity you haven't felt in awhile.

You sit down on your bed and gaze out the window for a moment. You feel a sense of sadness as you take in the familiar smells, sights, and sounds. You glance down at your legs and put your hands on them, the now-familiar texture that was once foreign to you. You never could've imagined going through what you have when you lived here. You hear a soft knock on your door. 

"Come in." You say, as Jo peeks the door open. 

"You look different, (Y/N). You look like you did after Santa Fe." He says, sitting on the edge of your bed. "You okay?" He asks. 

"Well, coincidentally, I just came back from Santa Fe." You try to smile a good natured smile but find yourself unable to muster more than a sad grin. Your brother just puts his arm around you and says, "I'm glad you're home. You're the other half of me, you know."