Settled Heart {Gaz X Reader}

°' Chapter 14 '°

It had been a few weeks since the last mission, which ended quite terribly. Soap had recovered fully, luckily the injury wasn't anything drastic. He only had suffered a gunshot wound to his abdomen, an area that would usually require more serious care. But thanks to his sheer luck, the bullet was knocked off course from puncturing any organs or any major blood vessels and has already somewhat scarred over but you still felt guilty for not being there for him, to help him.

Guilt. Slow, festering, unbearable guilt.

Sure, he ended up okay. But what if he hadn't? It wasn't your fault. You knew that, they knew that. And Johnny didn't think twice about it, he never blamed you, not one bit.

You just didn't want to just watch your friend of many years be slaughtered right infront of you. You panicked. And it would make you question things - if being a soldier is really suitable for you. Well, you're sure nobody would want to see something like that happen. But you froze mid-mission in the field, that could've been not only yours, but your teams downfall.

And you're convinced that the operation had been for nothing. Once Soap was shot and you were pinned down getting the living daylights beaten out of you, the target ran for it, eventually leading him to be shot by a stray, ultimately ending his life. (Deserved? Probably.)

So guess what? You gained nothing from it apart from injuries, so no new info on Hassan.

Anyway.

The lovely little cabin up in the thawing snow and the peaceful atmosphere was long gone.

The Task Force had left the corrupt town, you had to since there might as well have been those old western bounty posters of you guys on every street lamp and electrical pole with the amount of people after you. Now settled in an actual base command a few cities away.

Wasn't anything compared to the cabin, there you had privacy, space, peace. But now you were back to living with a bunch of rowdy soldiers. Benefits of the job.

While Price was negotiating with the 'higher-ups' if there was any other leads on Hassan that wouldn't involve another covert operation, that left the rest of the team, normally busy doing their own thing, filling out forms or training and other soul-draining activities, you were left with the still-healing Gaz. Not that you were complaining, you enjoyed his company. And not just because he saved your life countless times, but because he was like a breath of fresh air.

He has been desperate to get back out on the field even when his wound was still fresh, he had said that he wasn't used to just sitting around. After all he was usually the one to tend to his own wounds or just push through whatever it is that is going on, so he did not know what all the fuss was about in having to get his health checked, repeatedly might I add. You were more persistent than him though, you had hounded Kyle until he finally gave in and let you take care of him. He'd watch you carefully, when you would make sure the stitches were still in tact or when you'd change the bandages daily. Your tentative stare and feather-light touches made his heart skip a beat or two. You weren't no doctor, you only helped him to the best of your ability before he bled out, but now being somewhere with actual medics, they made sure he got proper treatment and you were only there to make sure he was getting better and taking the antibiotics prescribed to him. He might have exaggerated his healing process a little bit to have you spend more time examining him.