Amélie Lacroix sat in a large, padded black chair, with crossed legs and an unreadable expression. She stared straight ahead at the man that called the meeting with her. They had been silent since he invited her inside, though she knew why she was there.
The man seemed to be finding the right words to say that could properly articulate his thoughts.
"To my knowledge," he began, his fingers interlacing, "Angela Ziegler was in this building last night. As was Gabriel Reyes. Yes?"
Lacroix nodded silently. Two large hands slapped the desk between them and the man suddenly leaned forward, earning a small jump from the sniper. A neck vein protruded from his neck and his eyes opened wide.
"Then why are they not here now?!"
Widowmaker swallowed before answering.
"Reyes defected. He was aiding the escape of Doctor Ziegler."
"We had over two dozen patrols on that floor alone last night. You're telling me that Reyes is the only reason you couldn't capture her?"
The woman didn't feel like explaining the situation involving Tracer, so she nodded again, her expression unchanging. The man slapped his hands down again. Whether it was from frustration or an attempt to frighten her, she wasn't entirely sure.
"I'm giving you one more chance with this, Lacroix. If you don't capture her next time I send you out, you're not going to like the consequences."
She never looked down from her boss, nor did she find him that intimidating, but such was the result of her endless brainwashing and experimentation. She was a woman without emotion or regret, so it was difficult to look back on her actions with disappointment. However, she knew full well that her life would be incredibly different if she lost her position in Talon, so she nodded in agreement.
"...You're dismissed."
Back at Overwatch Headquarters, Mercy rested on one of her own medical beds with several needles and tubes coming out of her body. By her side was Genji Shimada, who had carried her all the way to the medical wing without his thumbs fully attached. Even when Torbjörn commanded the cyborg to allow him to fix the metal casings, he refused to leave the room so that he could watch over Angela.
When he brought her in, her skin was almost paper-white and her pulse was so faint, he thought she actually might die from her injuries,even though his knowledge of her condition told him otherwise.
For a while, it was only him and her; she breathed instructions into his ear as to which equipment to use and where to put it on her body. But first, he had to take off her Valkyrie suit.
He didn't think about how form-fitting her clothing was beneath her suit, nor did he think twice about taking off her shirt to expose the wound. What he did notice and take concern about was her expression and the very clear amounts of pain she was feeling. She didn't make much noise because she couldn't breathe well, but whenever her fingers would curl or her nose would scrunch up, he cringed inside. He hated seeing her like this, even though he knew she would be fine.
Genji was one of the few people who knew about her condition. No one else had a reason to know, but back in the days of Old Overwatch, Genji did, and she shared a piece of herself that helped him to humble him as the years went on.
She understood his pain about the changes in his body from man to machine. After so many experiments on herself with nanobiotics and RCR, her body had a steady cell replacement rate. It was the reason why she looked so young and why she would survive her collapsed lung. She admitted to him back then that there were points in her life when she wondered if she was even human anymore, or what would happen when her time came to die. She was more like him than he imagined. It gave him peace after so much anger and resentment towards her actions.
Several people attempted to visit her, but all of them were turned away by the Shimada brother. He had even gone so far as to lock the doors to the medical wing; perhaps it was a bit too far, but he couldn't deny that he felt incredibly protective over her when she was so vulnerable. There wasn't a single person that couldn't break down the door is they wanted to, but no one would dare intrude.
He chose not to sleep, instead laying down in the sick bed next to hers so that he could hear her if she whispered for him, but also not crowd over her and make her uncomfortable. It gave him plenty of time to think about his life and his actions. Though he regretted the days when he started in Overwatch, since he gave Angela such a hard time, he found an appreciation for her efforts under the teaching of Zenyatta. Seeing her again had become something to celebrate, not dread- even if he did end up spending his first night at the Overwatch HQ in a hospital bed, not sleeping.
She went several hours unconscious, which wasn't too surprising. It must have been at around four in the morning when she woke up.
"Genji?"
"Doctor, how are you feeling?"
He pushed off of his bed and stood up next to her bed, ready to take whatever instruction she might have given him. He was surprised to see that she only reached for his hand and gave him a light smile.
"Fine, thank you."
She sat up carefully from the bed, noticing that she wasn't wearing much under the thin blanket he had covered her with. Then again, her wound had been in such a place that it called for him to remove the things in the way- including her shirt- so she shrugged it off.
Her blue eyes blinked a few times in an attempt to focus on her stand-in nurse. He held out an arm to support her in case she needed to lie back down, but she ended up fine after all that happened that night. Sore and tired, but fine.
She lowered the blanket to take a look at her injury, but it wasn't much of anything anymore. Puckered, pink skin was clinging around the tube feeding from her damaged lung, meant to drain out the blood that was pooled up inside of it. She pulled it out, to Genji's surprise, and her skin nearly snapped back together to leave a light pink circle on the surface. It was all that remained on her body to remind her that she nearly lost a lung- which of course was repaired in due time. There didn't seem to be anything that couldn't be fixed within her body, but Mercy was still glad that Genji was there to help her.
While she also removed the needles in her arm and hand that were attached to an IV bag, the cyborg stood next to her, watching and not knowing what to do with himself. She seemed fine now, save for being a bit weak.
"Do you need anything?" he asked as she went to stand. When she stumbled a bit, he supported her by her arm.
"I want to go see the rest of them."
"Doctor Ziegler, it's four in the morning and you aren't wearing a shirt."
She looked down at her own body to see that she was only wearing spandex shorts and a black bra. It took her a moment to process this information until she could come to the conclusion to ask for a shirt; before she could open her mouth, however, Genji had already grabbed the tank top she was wearing before. Angela pulled it over her head, only to realize that it was blood-stained and there was a gaping hole in it beneath her right breast, leaving the pink mark on her skin visible.
Genji held out his elbow for her to lean on while she walked out of her medical room, raising an eyebrow when she saw that he had to unlock the door. She decided not to question it, however, because waiting outside of the door on the benches against the walls was her team.
Most of them were sleeping (a couple of them even snoring) but a small number of the group raised their heads when the door opened.
Among them, Jack was the first to respond to it, immediately standing up and walking over to her with long strides before wrapping her in an embrace. He tried not to be rough in fear of irritating her injury, since he had no knowledge of her condition, but it was tight enough to earn a short breath out of the woman he was holding. She let go of Genji and he took a hesitant step back.
"Hey," was all he could manage to say before pulling back so he could look at her face. She seemed pale, if anything, but altogether healthy. He took notice of the lack of bandages and injury.
Part of him knew better than to question Angela's medical ability, but he had seen her barely conscious and white as a sheet. He saw the agonizing amount of blood pooling out of her body mere hours ago.
"How are you not…?"
He let go of her to kneel and inspect where her injury was. She reached for Genji once again to keep her balance. Gabriel stood from where he was sitting and her eyes jumped to his mask, very surprised that he was there and awake.
"It's almost like it was never there."
"The wonders of modern medicine," she joked, looking away from Gabriel. She could feel her face growing hot. "I'll be back to normal in the morning."
"Like magic, doc," Reyes commented. She kept her eyes down at Jack, even as her old friend came to loom over her shoulder. "Like nothing happened."
Jack stood to face Gabriel, and Angela gave a deep sigh. She really didn't have the energy for this. Were they going to have to be separated at all times? Was she going to have to watch over them like they were wild animals?
"She's too tired to listen to your petty attitude," Jack commented.
"I think she's too tired to act like your pet," Reaper countered.
Angela had barely seen them for two minutes, and already she had enough. "I can speak for myself, and I'm too tired to deal with either of you."
They stared as she walked off with Gabriel, who knew that she probably wanted to be taken to her room. She enjoyed the quiet, but the two men she left behind weren't so content. When she was out of the room, they whispered viciously to each other so they wouldn't wake the others.
"Angela may have wanted you back here, but no one else did. Keep that in mind."
"You talk big for someone who isn't a commander anymore. Last time I checked, the monkey ran the show here."
"I don't care who runs what, I'll kill you again if you step out of line."
"You can try, but your girlfriend made that hard to do."
"She's a doctor, don't you have any respect left?"
"Not all of us have a lifetime supply."
"This has always been a problem with you. You never understood that your place is beneath most people."
"Not beneath you, Morrison. I'd much rather be beneath Angela."
Jack knew better than to let Gabriel get under his skin, especially after such an immature joke, but his fist swung for the other man before he could control himself. The only contact he made was with the air however; when he blinked, Gabriel was ten feet away. Probably laughing to himself.
"Getting a little frustrated?" Reyes taunted. Jack just glared. "Or maybe you're just scared that she doesn't have to settle for second best anymore?"
"You're nothing but a ghost she brought back out of pity."
"Whatever you need to tell yourself."
Jack was left alone among the sleeping people, except for Tracer, who had just woken up. It took her a few moments, but she was quick on her feet.
"Is she alrigh'?"
"Huh? Oh- yeah, the injury was nearly gone when she came out. Genji took her to her room a few minutes ago."
"Then why are you still 'ere?" Tracer laughed and elbowed him lightly. His face turned pink under his visor.
"I don't know what you mean," he muttered, but she still smiled.
"If I were you, I would'a gon with 'er."
"I don't think she wanted that."
"You've been 'er role model for years. Of course she did."
He stared at the young woman for a long moment before she made a shooing motion with her hands. With hesitant steps, he walked away from the medical wing with Tracer's approval, and made his way to Angela's room. She was right; they'd been close for so long that there had to be a part of her that wanted to see him even after his confrontation with Gabriel. Their moment in his room hadn't been forgotten either.
Back in her room, Angela was having trouble sleeping.
After Genji walked her back, she insisted that he get some sleep. She appreciated that he watched over her as she healed, but she needed time to herself. Thoughts of her actions ran wildly through her head next to what the ramifications might be. She risked her own life along with the lives of her team in order to go after Gabriel, a man who had been fully willing to kill everyone a week prior. Only after seeing how easy it was for Jack to start an argument, she began to doubt her decision.
But then she heard a knock on her door, and she was ripped out of her daydream.
"Come in," she called out from her bed. Seeing as how she wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon, she was willing to accept visitors.
When Jack opened her door, her face fell.
"Hey," he greeted her, but she was silent. He shut the door behind him and took a seat on the edge of her bed, where she stared silently. Part of him wanted to leave her alone, but he remembered what Tracer said and continued on with what he wanted to say, taking his mask off before speaking to her. It was becoming a habit when they were alone.
"I'm sorry for what I said."
"You're going to kill each other again."
Her statement threw him off-balance. He blinked at her.
"I made a mistake, Jack. I never should have brought him back here knowing what happened to us before."
He wanted to be angry, but none of it would surface. "Why did you?"
"Knowing that he was our enemy was killing me. As if Blackwatch wasn't bad enough. And the things I've done to him-"
"You have to stop obsessing over that. You saved his life."
"It's more like a curse."
"You're causing yourself nothing but grief."
She looked away from him. His words were annoying, but they were also true, and she hated admitting that it was doing herself no good by being so distraught over the condition that Gabriel was in. While she sought to fix it, she also needed redemption; maybe that was why she repented the act so much.
Jack scooted closer to her and she was reminded of the kiss they nearly shared.
"I hate seeing you this way," he explained. She nodded.
"It doesn't feel so good either."
"Try to forgive yourself, Angela."
She took his hand; it comforted her in a way she couldn't really explain. "I think I'm getting too old to deal with all of this," she tried to say, but he chuckled at the statement. "What?"
"You don't look nearly as old as I know you are. Anybody else would think that you're closer to Lena's age than mine."
"In all fairness, you do have a few gray hairs."
He snorted and nodded, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. She smiled in turn. Suddenly she felt very glad to have him there.
Hints of a sunrise crept in through her window and the half-closed curtains. The dull blue light shone on her floor to expose the shadows on the faces of the two. He thought about how she still looked so perfect even though she had nearly lost her life. She raised her free hand to trace over the scars he earned in her absence, thinking that he was still just as handsome as he always has been.
Their moment came again when she leaned her face against his shoulder, and he looked down at her like she'd float away at any minute. There was nothing quite like having her so close to him.
But something was still bothering him.
She lifted her head and he thought about how perfect it all was, her face inches from his and her hand still in his. He'd hate himself if he ruined it but he could feel a question rising from his throat, and before her lips met his he asked her-
"He loves you, doesn't he?"
Angela froze in place, her eyes rising from his lips to his eyes and he could see the surprise in her expression. Like a deer caught in headlights. In his heart he knew it was true, and he braced for the impact of a lie. However, it never came. She gathered the courage to tell him the truth.
"He used to."
"Do you love him?"
"...I used to."
It was good enough of an answer to satisfy his curiosity and sanity, and she hadn't turned away from him just yet, so he cupped her face and pulled her into a kiss that had been building for the better part of twenty years.
Jack was beyond grateful that during this time of night, nobody was around to interrupt them. Even if the initial kiss lasted no more than a couple of seconds, he couldn't find himself regretting the action, and neither could Angela. That was why she gripped his jacket and pulled him back again, her lips moving slowly against his. She could feel the scar that went down the corner of his mouth, but she didn't find herself caring. His lips were soft and warm, comforting her in a way that nothing else could.
His hands felt their way to her back, earning a slight gasp from the blonde. Her thoughts became nothing more than a jumble of feelings- excitement, relief, and even a small dose of fear. There were few points in her life where she felt so comfortable and safe while being so vulnerable all the same; she was clear of worry or grief, and she also immediately noticed the way her lips were tingling when he pulled away.
"It's late. Neither of us have slept-"
"Don't leave just yet."
She watched him blink and his head tilt to the side. Her heartbeat raced.
"Please?" she continued, placing another kiss on his neck. In silent agreement, he returned the action, and the same feeling from before filled her chest. He was as careful as he could manage to be with her, but he could only hold back so much as her kisses got deeper and her breath continued to quicken. Hands with the strength of a super-soldier were likely to leave bruises on her fragile body, but she didn't seem to notice.
He didn't suggest leaving again.
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Hoped you liked this one!