Shadows of the Past

Back to Work Part 2

The morning seemed to fly by as Shadow busied herself filling out some of the maintenance paperwork that had been collecting in piles on her desk during her sabbatical for their honeymoon. Before she knew it the time for lunch had come and she made her way slowly down to the cafeteria to find herself at least something small to snack on. She had been craving almost nothing but watermelon and it also happened to be one of the only things she was sure wouldn't make her sick. She scanned over what they had to offer and was very disappointed at the sight of honeydew rather than watermelon. Without her permission she felt her eyes get watery from unshed tears and te the urge to cry was almost overwhelming. She was making her way back toward her office with tears streaming down her cheeks when she bumped straight into none other than Rooster.

Meanwhile across the base Jake had just finished his morning hop with the new group of kids when he noticed his sandy haired friend looking around frantically and sprinting towards him when he spotted him behind the crowd,
"Hangman! Jake...you've got to come with me it's Shadow." The two took off running with Hangman still having his helmet clutched in his hand. They made it to Y/n's office in record time and burst through the door. Jake was surprised to find his small wife with tears still streaming down her face as she tried to sniffle them away. He quickly made his way to squat down in front of where she was seated and wiping her tears with his thumbs,
"What's wrong honey what happened? Are you okay? Is it the baby? Talk to me Bug tell me what's wrong and I'll fix it..." Jake could feel his heart breaking as he watched his wife rub at her tears with closed fists trying desperately to stop crying.
"It's so stupid Jake but I can't help it I don't know what's wrong with me..." he shushed her and rubbed his hands up and down her thighs,
"Hey hey, it's not stupid if it's got you upset. Your pregnant baby there's nothing wrong with you at all, can you tell me what's wrong so I can help you?" Y/n took a shuddering breath trying to calm herself before replying,
"I really just want watermelon but they don't have any and I just got really upset for no reason." Hangman gave her an understanding smile,
"I see why your so upset honey it's okay. Do you want to take off early today and I'll stop on the way home and get you some watermelon? I'm really sorry they didn't have it today, we'll make sure we bring some from home from now on does that sound good?" Shadow nodded and gave him a watery smile as he kissed first her forehead and then her belly.

Together the two men helped the smaller woman collect her bag and get her settled into the car with the air conditioner running,
"Thanks for coming to get me Bradshaw, it's been a rough few weeks for her with such a big adjustment." Bradley nodded,
"I was just so worried when I saw her crying I thought something was really wrong. Hell I think I'll start stashing watermelons all around the base if it means the two of them will be happy!" The two men shared a laugh before shaking hands and Jake climbed into the car heading for home, but not before stopping at the grocery store to buy as many watermelons as would fit in his arms much to Shadow and his unborn sons delight.