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You pause as you walk into his room, standing before his bed. Atop the pillow is the note, just as Jesse promised. You pick it up, unfolding it and quickly skimming over the messy scrawl. It details what he has been doing, and why he's gone; nothing you don't already know, apart from a few details.
You notice it does not tell where he is, or the identity of the person he's chasing. Disregarding the thought, you refold the note and put it in your pocket. You exit the room, heading down the hall to continue with your day.
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Your next few days go normally, no one really taking notice of McCree's absence, or at least not showing it. After that, things start to change a bit. It was small, a subtle shift in atmosphere as people began to realize that something was missing. You decided to take action then, buying time for Jesse like he had asked of you.
You would leave an empty alcohol bottle on the roof for someone to find, drape one of Jesse's spare serapes over the couch in the common room when no one's there, use his ID to log into the practice range and putting a few bullets into the training bots before asking Athena to wipe the footage. Little things, unconscious cues to others that indicated his presence, even when he wasn't there.
It was enough, everyone settling back into their routine blissfully unaware. It lasted a short while, but by the end of the week the trick had run its course. You could feel the agents getting suspicious, especially today. Ana and Genji have been giving you odd looks for the last couple days, and this is the third time today that Tracer has cornered you in the hallway and asked if you knew where Jesse was.
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"Did you check all the places I told you?" You asked, trying to seem casual.
"Yeah, and every other place I could think of! It's like he's not even on base. Do you think he's avoiding me?" Lena looked at you worriedly, genuinely upset. You quickly consoled her.
"I don't think so. I don't remember anything you did lately that might've pissed him off. He's probably just having a bad day."
"You sure? I just can't seem to catch him around base."
You nudged her shoulder with your own, giving her playful smile. "Hey, cheer up! Don't think about it too hard, okay?"
Lena returned your smile, nodding sharply. "Right! I gotta go; bye, luv!"
With that, she dashed off down the hallway, and you let out a sigh of relief. That was far too close. This was it; you resolved to finally let Jesse's absence be revealed, as you could cover for him no longer. You got the note from where you had hid it in your room, and snuck into Jesse's room when no one was around. You placed the note on his pillow and snuck back out of his room, anticipating the upcoming meeting that would inevitably happen when someone discovered the note.
Sure enough, later that day the note was found and a briefing was called by Winston. Everyone was informed of the situation and soon the agents were scrambling to figure out where McCree had gone. You kept up appearances and maintained some semblance of being helpful, but truly, you weren't worried about it. You trusted in Jesse to do what he needed and come back in mostly one piece. This was no different from any other mission.
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The search continued for a few days with no real leads; you remembered that the note had been missing certain details and understood why. Though it did make you wonder how Jesse had managed to get the information on his last target in the first place. You thought of shady deals in dark alleys and decided to leave it for another day.
Speaking of which, you were going to embark on a mission tomorrow morning. It was a short recon op in some European country or other. You hadn't really been paying attention when you signed up; you just needed a break from the somber mood that permeated the base.
You went on the mission with Lúcio, and it went pretty smoothly, the two of you returning to base several days later. By now it had been nearly two weeks since Jesse left, so you were not surprised to find out he had reappeared about an hour before the two of you arrived at base.
Apparently they had held off on the meeting until all agents were present, which means you had to not only sit through the debriefing but also the following hour of what you could only describe as an interrogation. McCree was reprimanded, though you aren't sure of the details. You also can't recall whether or not your involvement in aiding him had been found out.
In truth, you could only vaguely remember the entire meeting. You were exhausted from the mission and from having Jesse gone so long. You were just glad to have him back.
All you wanted right now was to go take a nice long rest; you could deal with life in the morning.