Chapter Text
It’d taken Price half an hour to round up the 141, unsurprisingly. Once they were all stood in the conference room, Price got their attention and stood next to Alejandro.
“Now. The whole of the 141 have a few weeks leave. New years motivation and all that. Alejandro and Rodolfo are staying in England for the time, someone needs to offer them a place to stay.” Price not so discreetly looked at Ghost.
“Why can’t you?” Ghost responded.
“I don’t live in a big ass house on my own. You have 4 bedrooms”
“Johnny is staying with me already; I can’t have 4 men in the house it’ll scare ‘em”
“Lizzy will be fine.”
“Whose Lizzy?” Alejandro asks, ready to tease.
“My dog but I wasn’t talking about her” Ghost sighed, Price laughed at him.
“It’ll be fine, thank you Ghost” he said before clapping his shoulder and walking off.
“I didn’t say yes!” Ghost shouted, turning back around he saw 3 pairs of eyes on him. “Fucking Fine! I have rules and you will adhere to all of them.”
“I expect nothing less” Alejandro nodded
“Please not again” Soap complained
“Can you write them down?” Rodolfo asked.
“Get your shit together.” Ghost said, walking away.
-
They did as they were instructed and waited by Ghost’s truck with their bags. Ghost came sauntering towards them 20 minutes after, and distinctly less luggage. He threw his bags in the bag and waved for them to do the same before getting in the drivers side. Soap sat up front and Rudy sat behind him with Alejandro behind Ghost. Ghost pulled away before they got their seat belts on and he went into his lecture.
“Rule 1: You’ll pick up after yourself. If you make a mess, you’ll clean it up. No contest. If someone else makes a mess, no body else will clean it up. Rule 2: Don’t bring anyone around, especially if you haven’t asked. I don’t want anyone I don’t know in the house. Rule 3: There’s a shop about a mile down the road, if you don’t want to walk to it. You ask me to drive you, don’t drive my cars. Rule 4: don’t push the dog. If she doesn’t want to play with you, or if she doesn’t like you, then leave her alone. She’s ex-army, she’ll want to check you’re safe, let her. Rule 5: Don’t go snooping in my shit. Simple. Rule 6: unless it’s a communal room, like the kitchen or living room, you knock and wait for an answer. Privacy is a big thing and it’s to be respected.”
Ghost made them all recite the rules before accepting that they knew it. “You’re going to find some things out about me, and what you find out, isn’t going to leave the house. These are things people like Price and Laswell know, but I don’t want anyone else knowing. Okay?”
“You can trust us, hermano” Alejandro nodded.
“It’s a 2-hour drive. You should probably sleep”
“You have any CDs?” Soap ignored his subtle request for peace and quiet.
“Soap” Ghost rolled his eyes playfully. Soap took that as a yes and opened the gearbox to find CDs. He went through them all and found Ghost, Nickelback, NF, AC/DC, The Front Bottoms and Nothing but Thieves.
“Oh my fucking G-d. The Ghost likes Ghost”
“Just play it and shut up” Ghost sighed. Soap put the CD in and used his legs as a drum.
-
2 hours later, when Ghost started driving manically down country roads, Rudy and Alejandro physically couldn’t stay asleep because they were being thrown around in the back, with Soap in the front laughing at them. Eventually he slowed down and pulled down an unmarked dirt road,
“You’re not going to shoot us and leave us are you?” Soap joked, the trees over head made it seem darker than it was at 7pm, the sunlight will be fading in an hour anyway.
“No. I told you the nearest shop was a mile away” After a few sharp corners, they pulled up next to a rather large barn house, that had one car parked out front already. It was painted white with brown wood around the door and windows, a double garage next to it.
“You got money Ghost?” Alejandro whistled as he admired the house.
“Yes, but I built this.” Ghost said, as he got out the car.
“Every day, you surprise me more” Soap said following behind. They got their bags out of the back as Ghost pulled his phone out and started texting and walked towards the house. He unlocked the door and held it open for them to walk in. They slowly looked all around them, taking in everything in the hall way, the stairs off to the side and two doors at the front.
“Living room” Ghost said pointing to the door on the right, “Bathroom” pointing to the door on the right. “Price said I had 4 bedrooms and I do, but one of them is an office and another is being used, so technically I only have one spare”
“Rudy and I can share” Alejandro says, Rudy agrees.
“Johnny, you can sleep in my room”
“Nah, Ghost I can sleep in the living room or something, don’t want to take over”
“I may be cruel, but I’m not unkind” Ghost said, “Come on” He jogged up the stairs and showed Alejandro and Rudy their room, which was decorated plainly and had a double bed in the middle and had a TV attached to the wall opposite it. They put their bags down and thanked Ghost, before he pulled Soap out of the room and showed him to his room. Ghost’s room was larger, and darker. His walls were dark grey and all decor was black or grey to match. There was a sliding door wardrobe mounted in the wall, a chest of drawers in the corner and a frankly ridiculous size TV opposite the bed. There was a small en-suite bathroom which was completely white in contrast.
“You can use wardrobe space, there’s a lot of it. I’m not kicking myself out so you can sleep in here, do you mind sharing the bed?”
“Do you snore?”
“No”
“Then no” Ghost nodded and put his bag down on the floor. Ghost grabbed clothes from the wardrobe and walked into the bathroom to get changed. Soap moved around to unpack his bag and take his boots off.
“Your feet hurt?” Ghost said walking back out of the bathroom.
“Aye, a bit. Haven’t taken these boots off in a while.” Soap chuckled, looking up at Ghost who’d changed into plain black hoodie and cargo trousers, he had to stop himself from drooling. Ghost opened one of the bedside table drawers and threw a tube of heel-pain relief at him. Ghost left the room to check on the others whilst Soap changed into more comfortable clothes. They were sat, talking about food when they all heard the door open and close, instantly on guard. Grabbing their nearest knives. Ghost waved them off, saying it’s fine.
“Simon?” a woman’s voice echoed through the house. Soap, Alejandro and Rodolfo looked between each other and Ghost, confused.
“You have a girlfriend?”
“Absolutely not.” Ghost almost seemed disgusted by the idea before shouting back down, “Thought you’d be here later”
“Little one got tired!” She responded, and a dog bark punctuated her sentence. Ghost turned back to his guests.
“This is where you learn things about me. The only thing I need to clear up, that woman. Her name is Jess, she’s not my girlfriend, she’s not my sister, she’s not my mother. She’s a friend, who works for me” Ghost says. “Now there’s people you should meet” He walks down the stairs, and they follow him apprehensively. Ghost looks around to see where Jess went, before spotting her in the kitchen, getting a glass of water. She turned around and spotted him, putting her glass down before pulling him into a hug that he responded to.
“Jess. Meet Johnny, Alejandro and Rudy” Ghost said, pointing to the men stood behind him awkwardly. Instantly, she pulled Soap into a hug and followed suit with them all. Rudy chuckled and hugged her back properly, Soap and Alejandro seemed so confused they’d frozen. “I’m gonna go get Lizzy, sit down” Ghost pulled 3 chairs from the dining table in the kitchen and they sat down. Jess offered them drinks as Ghost was gone. They could hear Ghost talking through the wall, even laughing at one point. Seconds later he walked back in with a large German Shepherd at his heels, walking happily. Lizzy stopped when she saw the 3 men and looked up at Ghost who petted her head and told her it was okay. Slowly she walked up to Rudy and smelt him for a while, after she determined he smelt okay, she sat down next to him and put her head in his lap.
“That means she wants you to stroke her” Ghost explained, Rudy smiled down at her and scratched her head happily. She licked his hand and moved away to check out Alejandro. She sniffed him longer but in the end licked his hand and squeezed her nose between his hand and leg until he lifted his hand and stroked her gently. She moved her head and saw Soap, she sniffed him once before jumping on her back legs and rested her front legs in his lap and licking his face. Soap laughed and pushed her head away, scratching her ears roughly, exactly how Ghost did it which made her more excited. Jess put her hand on Ghosts arm as they all watched Soap interact with Lizzy like he’d known her for years. Ghost looked down at her before she gave him a smile that could only be sympathetic. They watched for a few more seconds before they all heard a piercing cry of a baby. Their heads all shot up, Rudy looked more scared than alert. Ghost made a move to leave before Jess stopped him.
“I’ll sort it out, talk” She said as she left the room.
“Was that a baby?” Alejandro asked, Soap still stroked Lizzy but they’d both calmed down and were looking at Ghost. Ghost stayed silent listening to the baby fuss and Jess soothing her.
“Uh, yes.” Was all he managed to say before Jess came back with the baby in her arms. She was even smaller than Soap had expected, no older than 6 months. Jess fed her a bottle as they all watched. “This is Éponine.”
“Simon, do better than that” Jess muttered, making them laugh slightly at how he let her treat him.
“Do you remember Sergeant Jefferson? He died on the way to the hospital, after being shot on his own mission for the SAS. His wife died in childbirth. The last thing he wanted for his daughter was to be kept in care, so after she died he named me in his will to Éponine’s legal guardian in case of his death. I just didn’t think it’d actually happen.” He explained, Rudy nodded even though he didn’t know who it was. Alejandro had heard Price talk about the man previously and Soap’s jaw hadn’t been picked up from the floor. Rudy looked between Ghost and Soap, and patted Alejandro’s arm.
“We’ll give you some space” He said quietly, and left the room. Jess finished feeding her and Simon took his mask off so he could hold Éponine, who had her eyes shut. Jess smiled at them and walked out of the room too. Simon sat down in the chair next to Johnny.
“She doesn’t like the mask, it makes her cry” Simon said, trying to lighten the tension
“If I was her, I’d cry too” Johnny joked back. “So you’re a dad now”
“Does it bother you?” Simon’s voice was quiet, and had a certain nervousness that Johnny had never heard before.
“I think my ovaries just burst” Johnny said, entirely seriously.
“What?”
“I think I want to marry you, Simon”
“Take me out to dinner first” Simon lifted Johnny’s chin to look him in the eyes, “What are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling a lot and I don’t know what most of it is.”
“I can book you a hotel, just out of town, if you want”
“No, Simon. I don’t want to leave. That’s the problem, I don’t want to leave.” Johnny’s eyes teared up a little, Simon caressed his thumb under his eye and Johnny leaned into his touch.
“I don’t understand”
“I want to stay here, with you, like this, forever. I want a life with you. I want kids with you. I want to wake up in the morning, with you in the bed beside me. I want to cuddle with you and Lizzy on the sofa watching movies. But I can’t have that.”
“You deserve better than me, Johnny”
“I don’t want better than you. I don’t care what you’ve done, it’s not like i’ve not done it as well! I can’t have it because it’s not what you want, we’re in the military, a quiet life isn’t what people like us get but I want it so bad that sometimes it actually hurts. I’m sorry, I’m rambling, I was never meant to tell you any of that”
“Who said I don’t want it?” Ghost looked into Johnny’s eyes for a second, he tried to show how serious he was on his face. Johnny laughed dryly.
“Don’t pity me, Simon”
“I’m not. I told Jefferson that I’d always wanted a family when we were drunk, but I couldn’t have biological kids or a wife and he decided to put me in his will a week afterwards. I’d like if we had a family together.”
“Really?”
“I don’t lie, Johnny”
“That’s a lie, right there” Johnny laughed, lightheartedly.
“No, just sometimes I omit the truth, it’s not the same as lying”
“Can’t argue with that I suppose” Johnny chuckled again. Éponine opened her eyes, wider than she’d ever opened them in front of Simon, and she made a distinctly happy sound at seeing Simon, she reached her arms up as if to grab his hair, but he was obviously too far away for her little arms to reach.
“She’s adorable” Johnny whispered.
“I think Jess said she’s laughing properly now, I haven’t heard it but I can’t wait” Simon whispered back. After a beat of silence Simon asked, “Do you really wanna be with me?”
“I don’t lie either, L.t” Soap smiled. “Not about something so serious”
“And you still want me after finding about ‘Ponine?”
“Even more to be honest, everytime you look at her your face goes so soft, every stress line in your forehead smoothes over and just when I think you can’t get anymore beautiful, you do”
“Who knew you could be so poetic, Johnny” Simon chuckles wetly. Johnny takes a moment to look at Simon, study him, Simon takes his eyes off Éponine for the first time to look back at him.
“We need to talk about this more, define it, but I want to wait until the evening. Till Po is down for the night. After dinner” Simon says, nodding.
“Okay, that’s fine, big buy.” Soap smiled, genuinely.
“Do you want to hold her?” Simon asked, Johnny nodded eagerly. Simon shifted so that they could move Éponine from one man to the other, bringing their sides together. She screwed her face up once she was fully in Johnny’s arms but seemed to calm down once he ran a thumb down her arm softly.
“She’s so small” Johnny whispered again. He was falling in love with Simon, and Éponine was an extension of him, there was no way he’d leave her behind. She was too good for that, too innocent and precious.
“To think she lost a mother and a father in the 3 months of her life and then within 2 more she got 2 fathers”
“2 fathers?” Johnny gasped.
“I’m serious Johnny, if you want me, you also get her.”
“Never thought I’d get to be a father though” He sniffed, evidently trying to suck back in the tears. Éponine gripped her little hand on his forefinger, causing one tear to escape. Simon wrapped an arm around Johnny, pulling him further against his side.
“We’re both gonna need you, a lot. But we’ll talk more later, we need to go talk about dinner with Rudy and Al”
“Okay, love”
-
They walked out of the kitchen, Éponine still in Soap’s arms, and into the living room where Jess, Rudy and Alejandro were sat, talking about Mexico. It turns out Jess’s father is from the town next to Las Almas.
“It seems your children have really taken to Soap amigo” Alejandro smirked as Soap carefully sat down with Éponine and Lizzy walked her way calmly from where she was sat with Jess to jump on the sofa next to Soap, where Ghost was going to sit. The dog tested her chin gently on Soap’s shoulder, looking at him and the baby. Ghost had never seen her so calm before, he discreetly took a photo, mentally making a reminder to send it to Price and make it his lockscreen.
“Lads, I was thinking either I make spag bol tonight or we order food and I make it tomorrow” Simon said, flipping the attention from Soap to himself. Rudy nor Alejandro mentioned his lack of mask.
“If you make spag bol right now I will ball my eyes out” Soap said with a grin.
“You two good with that?”
“What is spag bowl?” Rudy asked.
“Spagetti Bolognese” Alejandro said softly and recognition passed Rudy’s face quickly. “Ah, of course, hermano”
Simon gave a thumbs up and got back up to the kitchen to start making it, he was already a bit hungry and it was 8pm so it couldn’t hurt. Jess followed him and wordlessly started to grab ingredients from his cupboards, the same as he was doing.
“You want to stay for dinner?” Ghost asked, he asked her every time he was home and she always accepted, since her kids were adults now and her husband died, she didn’t have anyone waiting for her and it saved her cooking for herself when she got home.
“If you want, Simon” She said kindly, grabbing a knife and starting to cut garlic as he cut tomatoes.
“Of course, you don’t have to help. You’re off the clock now, go relax” Simon chided gently.
“I want to, you can’t stop me” She smiled up at him. They always played this game and it always ended the same, they’d get dinner prepped in half the time and they’d both feel slightly less alone.
-
When they ate, their conversation was filled with laughter and Johnny (not so secretly) feeding the dog his peppers from the bolognese sauce. Simon was slightly nervous about his conversation with Johnny later but he found himself calming throughout the dinner each time Johnny sent a smile his way. After they finished, they sat talking for a bit while Jess cleaned their plates (after much protesting from Simon) and Simon got Éponine ready for bed. Once he’d got her down, grateful for her ability to sleep through the night, he went back downstairs just as Jess was gathering her stuff to leave.
“Was going to come up and say goodbye” She smiled, he stepped closer and hugged her. She held him tightly, pressing a motherly kiss to his cheek. “I had such a wonderful evening, thank you so much Simon” She whispered.
“Of course, you’re always welcome, you know that” He smiled back at her. She patted his cheek and went on her way. He then caught Rudy and Alejandro retiring upstairs, who thanked him again and said goodnight.
He found Soap on the sofa, watching the TV quietly. It was some sort of comedian game show, but he was only playing attention to Lizzy who had managed to fit most of her body on his lap and he was lazily scratching her head as she slept. He didn’t notice Simon come in, seeing as the door was already open. He wordlessly sat next to Johnny who looked over to check just that it was Ghost before turning his attention calmly back to Lizzy. Simon felt oddly at peace, more than he’d ever felt.
“So when I said we should talk now, I meant I had a few things to explain and ask” Simon said, keeping his tone quiet and calm.
“Take your time, Simon, I’m not gonna judge or anything” Johnny smiled. Simon took in a deep breath before starting.
“So ah, we established that I want you and you want me. I’d like to make that official, and exclusive”
“Naturally, of course. Boyfriends?”
“Well, I have a solo mission in a few months. Given from the higher-ups, not Price, they told me to make sure my affairs are in order. Just in case. They don’t think anything will actually go wrong but it’s more dangerous than other solo missions, which is why I’m doing it.” Simon said, Johnny’s face paled a little in worry, Simon moved to take Johnny’s freehand in his own. “I’m gonna be fine, it’s only 2 weeks too.” He reassured.
“Ah worry when you go solo, you know that” Johnny said, Simon nodded.
“I know. I wanted to update my will, and I tried a couple weeks ago but they didn’t let me without your consent”
“My consent? What do you need mine for?” Johnny questioned.
“If, not that it will, if something happens to me, I want everything to go to you. The house, the cars, my money. And I wanted to make you legal guardian of Éponine, since Jefferson’s will stated ‘Simon Riley and his future/current partner, aa he sees fit’” Simon explains. Johnny looks up at him with tearful eyes.
“You meant it? Me being her father? Even legally?”
“Course. Any kid would be lucky to have you as their dad, and I’d be honoured to raise Ponine with you.” Simon said, reaching up to rest his hand on Johnny’s cheek, who lent into the touch.
“We’ll get it done later in the week” Johnny mumbled.
“Of course, let’s go to bed, darlin”