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Old Soldiers

Summary:

Jack, Ana, and Gabriel think about their relationship and how it has changed.

One-shot drabble character study thing inspired by a playlist I was making, which can be listened to here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvQJLAqstTWKLIqF7rldAVNT7nPBJQ_98

Work Text:

Jack Morrison wasn't the kind of man to break the rules. Overwatch's golden boy, with the statue, as Gabe kept reminding him, was not the kind of man that would harbour secrets. Sitting in his office chair, filling out paperwork for the UN. The picture of a commanding officer doing his duty. Nothing suspicious to see here. Suspicious activity was for organizations that didn't have to directly report to the the UN. But Overwatch? No. No secrets here, even after hours. But then Gabe had to walk in, three glasses in one hand and a bottle in another, Ana following in his wake. Gabe cracked the joke about how he brought a drink with his name on it and Jack rolled his eyes and then Ana said his jokes were never any better and that he looked like he needed a break anyway. And he'd made the half-hearted excuse that he had paperwork to do because at least he'd tried, but he couldn't say no, not to the two of them. Not when they hardly saw each other anymore. So he put aside the paperwork and pushed the chair back from his desk and they had a drink and maybe they got tipsier than they’d intended to, and Jack was glad someone had remembered to lock the door because he definitely hadn't and he knew exactly how many regulations they would have been caught breaking right on his desk, and he definitely didn't want to answer to the UN for this. Anything but this. Just let him have this.

  ***

Gabriel Reyes never expected that they'd end up like this. Blackwatch kept hours that Overwatch seldom saw, so after passing out feeling fizzy and boneless on the couch in Jack's office, he made the walk of shame back to his office, smelling of Jack's cologne and still feeling the scrape of Ana's nails against his back. It had always been the three of them, back before Jack had gotten the promotion, back before he was glossed over and relegated to hiding in dark corners. And hey, running Blackwatch was better than nothing. He knew it wasn't Jack's fault, but ever since then, nothing had been the same. Ana became Jack's second in command. He knew she would have been his if he asked, and he could definitely use her talents as a sniper on the Blackwatch team, but he also knew that Ana wanted to be there for Fareeha, and that was hard enough as it is without being on covert ops. Now the three of them barely had time to talk to each other, much less spend time together. Tonight was an anomaly, something out of the ordinary, something he knew that they probably shouldn't have done, not with the way things were now. Not with the things that he and Jack were very specifically not talking about. But there they had been, getting all they could out of the moments that they could get from what had been taken from them. This was better than nothing, after all.

 ***

Ana Amari always felt guilty when she got home after Fareeha was asleep. Being a single parent of a tenacious and fearless teenager was hard enough, and her relationship with Jack and Gabe made things all the more difficult. Having to keep things quiet was even harder, and not just because they didn't want to - no couldn't - get caught. They had put too much work into Overwatch and now Blackwatch for them to risk it all, for what? What could they even call what they had? Things had been difficult even before the big changes, Jack and Gabriel never could quite see eye to eye on most things, and it was up to her most of the time to help keep the peace. Which was getting harder and harder to do. She could hardly disagree with one of them without the other accusing her of taking sides. She could see the cracks forming, widening, even now, even after tonight. She could tell they both wanted more, hell, she wanted more. But they couldn't have it. Not with the scrutiny that Overwatch was starting to be put under. Maybe if they had been more open about it earlier, or had at least  agreed on what to do, or if she didn't have Fareeha to think about, things would have been different. They had fought so hard to save the world for the future, the future now sleeping in the room she was tiptoeing past, but they had forgotten to fight to save something for themselves.