Mil SO (Military Significant Other)

6. Initiation

(In media is Hadley)

Like instructed, I met them in the cave after school.

"Iz!" Nash smiled when he saw me. He hugged me and pulled me towards the couch. "Sit young one," he ordered. A smile cracked my lips as I sat.

"Yes sir," I saluted playfully. They chuckled before Heath cleared his throat.

"You will be blindfolded and taken to a secret location where you will undergo intense infiltration training, private. Do you copy?" Heath asked. My smile faltered as I thought about my dad, but I pushed it away.

"Yes sir," I stood at attention and giggled. Heath blindfolded me and carried me out. I heard a car door shut and we were rolling out. The car stopped and I squealed when I felt myself being lifted again. I held onto the person holding me tightly and laughed. I heard Heath's chuckling as well. This was the most fun I'd had since before...

Well, you get the point.

I was set down and felt something being put over my head like a vest. I was handed something that felt like a gun and then, nothing.

"You can take the blind fold off at 'go'. Once you see what you're wearing, you'll know what to do," Heath said. I felt him squeeze my hand gently. "May the force be with you," he joked. I chuckled as he disappeared and left. There was a countdown and then a beeping noise accompanied by 'go'. I pulled my blindfold off to see that I was dressed like I was about to play laser tag. I smiled as I saw the dark neon lit room ahead of me. I took off running. I crouched low and pointed my gun up.

I kept my eye on my six the whole time. We were a strong military family; we used to do tactical training all the time. I saw a vest on my two and aimed. I smiled as his vest lit up. It was Nash; he looked around confused. Next up was Heath. I walked quietly and carefully, keeping low and glancing around. I checked my back every thirty seconds. I saw a flash of light blur past and smirked, as I got lower and followed. I peeked the gun through a hole and aimed. The lights in the room snapped on.

"Game over! Winner: Private Morgan," a voice boomed. I smiled and did a small victory dance that left me wheezing. I put a hand to my chest as I tried to catch my breath.

"Damn girl, you got skills. I didn't even see you," Nash said, jogging over. I held my arms above my head and tried to get oxygen into my lungs. I had a problem of being stubborn. I liked winning, at any cost. I was paying for it now. Heath jogged up smiling before it slipped off his face. He ran out of the room before he returned with my bag.

"Please tell me you keep a backup inhaler on you at all times," he asked. I nodded as he started dumping out the contents of my bag. He found my inhaler and handed it to me. I took it gratefully.

"Thanks," I said when I could breath easy again. Heath sighed and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I forgot," he said, shaking his head. I rolled my eyes at him.

"You worry too much. Plus, you just got beat by an asthmatic sophomore. I think I deserve a promotion," I joked. They both laughed as Heath started pulling my things back in my bag.

"We'll give you Sergeant. I am a Colonel, and Lancaster here is the general," Nash said. I shot him a playful glare.

"Make it Captain and we got a deal," I said. He gave me an unconvinced look. "Hey, I just whooped both of your asses at your own game," I reminded them. Nash rolled his eyes.

"Fine... Captain," he gave in. I smiled and gave him a mock salute before laughing. Heath stood and swung my bag over his shoulder and took my inhaler from me. He put it in it's proper place before Nash put his arms around the both of us.

We walked out of the building and were immediately greeted with a large mansion of a house. I gaped at it, as the boys led me inside. We walked straight into a kitchen. Nash made a mad-dash for the fridge as Heath led me to a seat.

"What would you like for a snack?" he asked. I could only stare in shock.

"This is your house?" I asked. He chuckled and shrugged.

"There's six of us including my mom, remember?" he said. I nodded.

"Heath!" a little girl's voice sounded from a distance. I turned to see the cutest little girl running into the kitchen. She was short, but then again, she was only six. She held her arms up to Heath and he picked her up with a huge smile.

"Hadley! How was school?" he asked her as he held her on his hip.

"Uh, she didn't go. Mom had me stay home and watch her," a new voice joined in. An older girl came into the kitchen and leaned against the counter next to me as she tapped away on her phone.

"You don't have any classes today," Heath said, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"I made other plans," she snapped back at him. Heath glanced at me them back to Hadley as he walked closer.

"Hadley, Ives, this is Iris," he introduced me. Hadley peeked at me curiously from Heath's shoulder as Ivy just left. Nash reemerged from the fridge with his hands stuffed.

"Who wants pizza poppers?" he asked. I raised my hand excitedly. I loved food.

After we ate, Hadley warmed up to me big time. She was sitting in my lap, telling me stories. She was a very animated little girl. Her curly dark hair and blue eyes reminded me of myself when I was younger. I was a huge daddy's girl. And it looked like Heath took on that role for her.

My phone rang in the middle of our hang out. I stood with Hadley on my hip and stepped away.

"Hello?" I answered.

"We haven't heard from you since we dropped you off this morning. Are you okay? Where are you?" my uncle asked. A small smile graced my lips as I looked to where Heath and Nash were joking around.

"I'm hanging out with friends. I'll get a ride; don't worry," I explained. My uncle seemed shocked.

"Well... I glad you're making friends, but give us a heads up next time so we're not going mad with worry, yeah?" he said. I chuckled as Hadley started playing with my hair.

"Alright," I agreed before I hung up and slipped the phone back into my pocket. I smiled at Hadley and put my nose against hers playfully. She giggled and I walked back over to the guys.

"Iz! Just in time! Heath thinks that Spiderman is better than Thor. I mean, come on, the dude is literally a god," Nash said.

"Actually, he's a demi-god. And Captain America takes the cake. He started out as a scrawny guy who wanted to serve his country, he had the motivation of a thousand men, and he risked his life-no, died-in order to keep his country safe. He's the closest to a real hero," I corrected.

"Captain America wins!" Hadley said, throwing her fist in the air. We all laughed as she clapped her hands together.

After Hadley went to sleep, Heath took me home. I turned to him with a smile. "That was a lot of fun," I said. He chuckled and nodded.

"It was. I'll see you tomorrow, Captain," he said.

"Yes sir, General," I mock saluted. We laughed before I went inside.

~