Metanoia | Chris Evans

6.4

Chris looks up from the letter in his hands at the sound of Aslan's tags shifting on the floor as the dog moves his head, noticing the car engine that the canine is reacting to as headlights dance across the wall by the window before disappearing as the car parks and shuts off. Figuring it must be Scott checking in on him - again - he stays where he is; the other man has a key so he will likely just walk in. Sebastian and Fabian are staying at Charlie's place for the time being, able to stay there without being bombarded by memories and emotion - something that Chris quickly realised after she left that he wasn't able to do. However, Chris frowns in confusion when, instead of his brother bursting through to get on his case about so-called moping again, a knock breaks the quiet inside the house instead.

Folding the letter carefully, slipping it back inside it's envelope, and putting it back inside the drawer in his coffee table with the other letters from Charlie, he gets up and makes his way over to the door. Upon checking the peephole, he opens it immediately to come face-to-face with Mr and Mrs Hayes - Charlie's parents. It doesn't take more than a glance to figure out that something's wrong, there's something on their mind and he's not sure he wants to know.

He greets them politely, respect for them winning out against the fact that he's known them for a good proportion of his life, hugging them both before leading them to the living room and offering to fetch them drinks.

"No, thank you, dear," Charlie's mother gives him a weak smile, Chris noticing that her eyes are clearly red-rimmed even with the makeup she's obviously put on to try and cover it up.

The feeling he's had in his stomach since seeing them on his doorstep intensifies, resulting in him shoving his hands in his pockets to stop the pair noticing that his hands are beginning to shake with anxiety. He's talked to them on the phone more than a couple times since Charlie shipped out, but for them to turn up on his doorstep at nearly 9pm...

Something's wrong.

"I think you should take a seat," Her father starts and Chris' stomach sinks.

"Why?" He inquires, praying that it's just his overactive imagination trying to scare him, even though all signs point to that not being true. "Is something wrong? Is someone sick?"

"Chris - please," Mrs Hayes mumbles, the emotion in her voice enough to make his legs feel weak.

He sits in his previous spot on the couch again, next to where Charlie's mother has sat down while her husband stands not far away with a completely blank face. Chris smooths Aslan's fur when the dog moves to sit next to his legs, the dog having sensed Chris' building anxiety and reacted in the way he was trained to do.

"What's going on?" He grits out, willing his voice not to shake.

"Nobody is sick, we're fine, but-" Charlie's mother cuts off, looking away with a sniffle.

"But...?"

Mr Hayes takes over. "We were visited by some army officials earlier this evening." That sentence alone is enough for Chris to dread what they may have been told by the aforementioned officials. "Charlie's team was ambushed during a search and rescue mission in enemy territory." The man's tone is almost emotionless, a tactic he knows the man uses when he's feeling so much emotion but knows that he has to be strong for someone else's emotional and mental health right now.

Chris nods slowly as he takes in the information, trying to keep his breathing under control and his emotions as under wraps as he can, for now. He listens intently as her father continues.

"They can't tell us much about the mission or exactly what happened right now - indicating it's a mess and they don't know exactly what happened play by play yet."

They all lapse into silence, her parents quiet as they let it all sink in for Chris.

"Was anyone injured? Killed?"

The older man clearly hesitates but answers the question regardless. "They're not meant to tell us anything about the rest of the team but we asked that too. It took a bit for a team to reach them, so casualties were expected. They lost one of the patients in the crash, and a couple of them took a few bullets - Diaz, McGarrett, Mendez and Collins - but they'll heal. The patient was the only fatal casualty, luckily."

Chris nods, staring blankly at an ornament Charlie insisted had to be displayed on his coffee table. "She's mentioned Diaz in one of her letters - said he was inspiring to her since he's engaged to one of the other guys but they both leave their kid and personal life behind to fight beside the team. She really respects all of the people on her team."

Her parents nod, Mrs Hayes reaching out and gripping his hand tightly, not minding that he isn't returning the grip. He feels Aslan nudging the hand he had been petting the dog with just now, prompting Chris to start moving it again to provide comfort to the dog even though he, himself, feels numb right now.

"So everyone is accounted for? And, Charlie?" When his question receives nothing but silence in response, he turns his gaze to Charlie's father. Seeing the look on the man's face, Chris sucks in a shuddering breath as tears gather in his eyes. "They were obviously there to tell you something about her - please, tell me whatever it is they told you. Is she hurt? Or, is she-"

He can't even finish the question, though, he knows they both know what that last question was going to be. He turns his gaze to her mother when she shakes her head, squeezing his hand as she sniffles again.

"They don't know."

He bites back the whimper, stopping his petting of Aslan long enough to roughly wipe away the tears that have escaped before resuming the petting as he frowns at the answer. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"They got scattered by the ambush and not everyone has been located at this present moment - the other patient and Charlotte are yet to be found."

"What?" It feels like all the air has been sucked out of lungs in seconds, the realisation that this is real hitting him like a sucker punch.

Charlie's father moves closer, crouching in front of him and patting his knee - and, up close, Chris can see the cracks in the man's armour, that the older man is just about holding on right now. "With everything going on, none of her team saw her during the ambush so they can't say whether she's injured, captured or just without the means to call in or contact them."

"They're officially classing her as MIA." Mrs Hayes finishes the news for husband, ripping apart Chris' world and metaphorically pulling the rug out from under his feet.

He drops his head as the sobs are ripped from his body, feeling Charlie's mother pull him into her side as her husband rubs the younger man's shoulder. They're all in pain and nothing but Charlie being found will heal them. But, there are no guarantees in war.

Chris wipes his face, seeing Aslan right in front of him doing his best to be comforting while Dodger scampered over from his bed to comfort his owner too, and he just knows that nothing is going to be same ever again. For any of them.

His girlfriend, his best friend, his love, his sunshine.

Missing in action.