Chapter Text
"When I agreed to come work for Overwatch, it wasn't because I was to be your own personal nurse." Angela mused, mostly to herself, but also to the man seated in front of her. Or maybe hunched was a better word. Either way, her usually unbreakable temper was close to cracking, and Jack Morrison was to blame for half of it, the other half falling to Reyes but that was another story. The current pain in her temple was choosing to not respond to her musings, and she took that as a sign to continue.
"I agreed because I would be head of medical research, head of something that could make a difference in a world that seems to experience pain on an almost daily basis. That's all I wanted to do. Help people, heal the things that I can with the power that I have by myself and what is given to me. What is that dumb little thing you always say?" She asked, her stream of verbal thoughts trailing off as she looked up to catch his watching stare. Her hands worked diligently as they both sat in silence. She didn't even need to watch her hands as she wrapped the bandage around his leg.
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch?" Morrison broke his silence, his eyes lighting up in that hopeful, playful manor that Angela had grown to know and, unwilling to admit, love. Her straight face turned into a scowl, and Morrison's eyes lost that hopeful spark.
"No. That isn't the one that I was thinking of. You silly american and your even sillier sayings. The one I was thinking of was 'Take care of number one'. Does that ring a bell?" She rose her eyebrow, challenging him. Their stare off lasted for only moments before his head dropped and his shoulders sagged. Victory.
"Yes, it does." He said, his voice admitting his defeat.
"And what does that mean, Jack?"
"It means put your interests before those of others."
"And what would you say my interests are?"
"Helping others."
"That's right Jack! I want to help those that others aren't helping, those that desperately need help. Do you know who does not need my immediate help?" She pushed against the tender spot on his ankle that she knew was sprained. She wasn't sadistic in any shape or form, but a small part of her relished in the way he hissed and with a smile, Angela knew her words were finally sinking in. "It's you, Jack. You do not require my immediate aid. There are about fifty other medical staff in this base that I know are just as equipped as me to take care of these minor injuries you always seem to bring home!"
Pushing up off her knees from her seated position in front of him, Angela put her hands on her hips and looked down at him. From his seated position, shoulders hunched and head hung in what she knew was shame, he looked so small. Small was not a word she would normally associate with Commander Jack Morrison, but in that moment he was. A small seed of guilt seeped into her from her core, where she knew that she had been to harsh with her scolding but it had been important in the moment. She had not accepted Overwatch's proposition to be the nurse to their commanders, she had joined it to help the helpless. With a quiet sigh, she moved from her standing position, walking around the ottoman in his private quarters, and took the empty seat on the small couch next to him. Slipping her shoes off, Angela tucked her feet up underneath her and let her weight rest against his body.
"You know I love you, right?" She said quietly, not wanting to interrupt the realization that had fallen over him. "I love you, which means I will always take care of you, injuries or not. But you are not my priority Jack. You and Reyes, I love more than anything but if someone else is hurt, someone innocent with no other means of help, they will come first. Always." By the end of her quiet speech, she had turned to face him, hands cradling his still low face and holding it up so he could face her. With a resigned sigh, Jack nodded and Angela's bright smiled returned to her face and she patted his cheek gently which made him huff and swat her hand away.
"Angela?"
"Yes Jack?"
"I love you too."