GOLD [Book 2 in the JESSE series] | Completed

Chapter Twenty-Five: Road Trip

The summer stretches into fall, and Overwatch slowly gets back onto its feet. Angela fully recovers right as October rolls around, and Overwatch gets back into the swing of things. Your schedules slowly get busier and busier, and mealtimes and hurried weekends are the only time you get to talk to Jesse outside of missions, running drills, or some sort of preparation or practice.

You sit down next to Aden, Madison, and Ginger in a common area one November morning, Hunter nowhere to be found.

"Good news—" Aden says as you sit down, "I just got word that Hunter and the rest of Gold should be coming back soon."

"That's good," you say, "I miss the noise when they're gone."

You haven't seen much of Gold lately. Ginger isn't with them because she was just promoted to Gold Doctor. It's similar to your position in the same way that neither of you are an Upper or Lower Agent. You're in the weird middle ground. This means you get to work closely with her and Hunter. Aden and Madison are full Upper Agents, so you don't get to see as much of them.

"How's Jesse doing? It's been awhile since we've seen him around," Madison asks.

"He's good. Swamped at the moment with work, but I think Morrison is planning on having us run another training month next cycle."

You hear a voice from behind you, "Nothin' like barely sleeping for a month to keep the love alive." You spin around to see a grinning Baines, leaning up against the entryway.

"El, you're back so soon?" You ask.

"Turns out they didn't need me for much. Morrison barely asked me anything."

"He gets weird as the next cycle approaches," Madison says, "come sit."

Baines flops down next to you and says, "what do you have going on this week?"

"Not much, honestly, which is nice. Unfortunately, that 'not much' happens to involve lots of paperwork."

"'Gold Commander' not working out to be as glamorous as you thought?" Baines says with a grin, head tilted to one side.

"It beats leaving headquarters with a team every other day." You say.

Aden checks his watch, and then stands up. Before he moves to leave, he says, "You gonna contest for Silver Primary this Cycle, or are you shooting for Upper?"

"I'm fine landing wherever the wind takes me," she says with a smile.

"Well, either way, I hope that I'll— we'll be seeing more of you." He nods and exits.

You lock eyes with Ginger as if to say "what?" but Baines doesn't seem to notice anything.

"I should probably take a cue from Striker there, and head back to work. It was nice seeing you— Haal, (L/N), Prowe."

"Working more with Morrison is turning you into a weird military robot," you call over your shoulder. She flicks the back of your head as she walks out of the door. "Nice to see you too, Eli." You say.

Ginger giggles behind her hands as she watches Eliana leave. Madison rolls her eyes. "Wow, never seen the guy flirt before."

"Either she didn't notice, or didn't care," Madison says, "but either way, it was funny."

You hear heavier footsteps approach from behind you, and then a familiar, "howdy," as Jesse leans down and kisses you on the cheek. You watch as Madison rolls her eyes and Ginger smiles.

"What're ya'll up to?" He asks, leaning on the couch.

"Just taking a break," Ginger says, "I've been swamped since everything got moving again, what with the promotion and all."