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It was a cold, mid December morning. Task Force 141 was occupying a briefing room, waiting for Laswell and the Captain to arrive and give the details of their next mission. Gaz was nursing a warm cup of watered down coffee, trying to chase away the lingering sleepiness of the early morning hours. Soap and Ghost were sitting side by side on cheap foldable chairs.
"Hey Lt"
Ghost didn't even look up, only slightly turned his head, indicating he was listening, while fixing his gaze on the yet to be turned on screen ahead of them.
"What are you doing during the holidays?" The question was aimed to be nonchalant, but there was a tentativeness to the sergeant’s tone.
"Hunting trip." came the absentminded response.
"During Christmas? What about some family time?" Soap question was targeted. Ghost never mentioned a word about a family or loved ones and he had to admit, he was curious. Was there a family at all in Ghost's life? Not like any of them truly talked much about these things, safer that way, but time and again some little crumbs came up. Not from Ghost though.
"Why?" Ghosts questioning gaze finally turned towards Soap.
"Nothing in particular. Was just curious." A poorly veiled lie. Soap did understood Ghost's desire to stay detached as possible, but he would lie if he said he didn't wanted to know at least a bit more about the man.
"You do know what they say about curiosity and cats right, sergeant?"
"Alright, keep your secrets."
"Will do, sergeant. Will do." Ghost look towards Gaz, who finally left his post besides the coffee machine and planted himself in one of the chairs ahead of them, still having a visible hard time staying awake.
"But if you are not doing anything, there is always room for an extra plate at our table, you know. Just puttin' it out there"
He never got Ghost's reply, because the lieutenant’s focus instantly shifted away from their conversation with the door opening.
It was a short briefing on a hopefully short mission and additional technicalities. Such as plans for leaves during the holidays. Of course they would have to cut it short if anything came up but otherwise, they could get a solid two to three weeks off. Ghost did not voice any desire to be sent on leave. Soap wasn't even sure when his lieutenant was last on leave so they might send him on a mandatory one anyway.
For some reason, even now, Soap always stopped short on the fact that he knew precious little about Ghost. They were close. Some would say closer than they should sometimes, but the man managed to share remarkably little about himself after all this time. Ghost kept everyone at arms length. Even Soap. Even after the post op adrenaline-high fuelled reacharounds started happening.
Mind you, when on the field, Ghost was laser focused on the task at hand, only allowing some levity in the most dire moments. Well all of them were, they are professionals after all. But even outside of the field he was quiet. Even when they geathered for a drink in a bar to wind down, even when he was chattier than usual, he never really talked about himself. Maybe mentioned a friend of his. A story from a time before. But never really about himself. Nothing that gave insight on himself directly.
Not that he was really supposed to. Soap and Gaz had a debate on if Ghost was just exceptionally good at compartmentalisation or didn't really had anything besides his life as a soldier. Or both. Probably both. And he didn't really owed any explanations to Soap. Not like they were a thing. Not really. Both of them were more practical than that. Their job was high risk with no promises on getting to see the next day.
And it was risky to give too many information on each other's persons anyway. If any of them were to be captured, the less they new the less they could give up if ever interrogated. And they've seen enough to learn caution. So Soap wasn't even sure why he offered. Maybe he caught something. Or at least he thought he did, but sometimes he wondered if Ghost was lonely. He seemed so, at times.
The mission took only a few days, on three different sites and went relatively smooth. Except for the half blown up building with Ghost still danger close. He got injured. Nothing too serious, a broken rib, some bruises and a sprained ankle with a sprinkle of a possible concussion, but enough to put him on a couple weeks of sick leave.
He seemed less then thrilled but he would not argue. He wasn't about to jeopardise any operation on the sole basis of not wanting to go home. Home. That was a funny thought. How much can one call a near empty flat, that is not even under his name and sees so little of, home? He felt much more comfortable in the barracks or anywhere on deployment. That was familiar, that was easy. It didn't require any sort of brainpower and most importantly, it gave little room for getting lost in thought.
When he got released from medical, Gaz made an offhanded joke about Christmas spirits and ghosts. Which Ghost took in seemingly good humour, but ultimately fell flatter than the sergeant expected. Soap stuck between a short laugh because it was amusing but also noticed Ghost's eyes never pulling into a smile as it usually did for stupid jokes like this. Price called Ghost into his office shortly after, which solidified Soap's suspicion of Ghosts having issues with Christmas time.
So Ghost was sitting in his Captain's office, opposite of the man himself, who was chewing on an unlit cigar in contemplation. He was turning over his head how blunt he wanted to be here. Price was one of the select few who were in the know of the entirety of Ghost's file and in possession of a few additional details that never really made it in. That's why they were sitting in silence for a few minutes now.
"I don't like the idea of you sitting in an empty room alone on Christmas." There. He said it. Price's statement was definitive and had many implications. Ghost shifted in his seat.
He knew exactly why. Price was no stranger to certain times of the year being harder on the psyche, especially when someone had enough time to think for themselfs. He was well aware why Ghost always fished for being on mission during the holidays. There was always an off chance with everyone, especially soldiers, that any morning could be a start of a bad day. Especially at times like this. He did not wanted to see what kind of monsters Ghost's bad day would breed.
"I'll be fine, as always"
"Sure you are. Do you realize how many regular leaves have you had expired because you cannot have more piling up?"
"About the same as you" Price didn't even acknowledged the remark.
"Look. I cannot order what to do in your free time, but i'd much prefer you not being alone while you are off duty right now. I don't care if it is a friend of yours or a hooker"
"Price" was it a warning, a question or maybe a plea?
"I know Simon, but i also know you. And the way you get into your head when there's nothing for you to do. All i ask is you give it a shot, at least for a few days. If it goes to shit, you get an i told you so."
"Can't i stay on base?"
"You could, but I don’t want you to”
“Why?”
“I also could just send you on mandatory leave”
“Price, why don’t you want me here?”
“Because you need fresh air. A change of scenery. Clear your head. Leave the warzone behind for a wee moment. We also had an agreement. Which was your idea to begin with"
Ghost took a deep breath. He did came forward with the idea to Price to order him to go on mandatory leaves when he is injured and being pissy about not being able to work. He was no use to anyone either injured or angry. He let out a long exhale.
"Ye, a stupid one"
Eventually Ghost gave in and accepted his fate which led to an acceptable compromise to both parties. Two weeks off, out of base and then he can come back to spend the rest of his medical leave at least inside the barracks. And out of those two weeks he has to at least make a proper attempt to have half of it spending in company. He was stalking through the corridors when he heard the familiar Scottish accent around the corner. The sergeant was in an animated conversation with a drill sergeant and two recruits.
"Soap, got a minute?" As the question came, they all snapped to attention at the sight of the lieutenant.
"Yes, Sir!"
"Walk with me" Soap quickly fell in step besides Ghost. Ghost lead them outside of the building in silence to find some relative privacy, without the suffocating feel of the four walls looming around them. These few minutes left Soap to wander what is happening. Just as he was about to finally voice his question, he got his answer.
"I want to run a hypothetical with you"
"Sure" Soap would have lied if he said he wasn’t immediately curious.
"Price doesn't want me to be alone on Christmas"
This took the sergeant by surprise for multiple reasons. It also sparked even more questions but he wanted to let Ghost clear it up before poking around more.
"Go on"
"You offered before. To visit you during the holidays."
"Yes?"
"That still stands?" Ghost visibly shifted out of discomfort. This was something he very rarely done. Asking for things, especially outside of work.
"Nope. What i offered is spending the holidays with my family. If you don't want to spend it with yours, that is. Or alone." Soap tried to be cheeky but he was already grinning that he might actually can get Ghost out of his cave for more than a couple of hours, for once.
It took all of five seconds for Ghost to turn the options over in his mind. He didn't really owed any explanations to Soap nor anyone, but wanted to give something anyway.
"They are dead" There, he said it. It was one of those things that only his superiors really knew these days. Of course there were reports on the Riley family massacre but it was years ago and when he accepted Price's offer with the 141, Laswell did some CIA magic and most of those old articles disappeared from the internet. It wasn't as quick to come across in the search results as it was before that.
"What?" Soap's grin wilted instantly and got replaced by a short lived confusion than rapidly turned to a moment of shock to eventually settle on tentative attention.
"My family. They are dead. Died during the holidays. That's why Price doesn't want me alone." The explanation was concise and very much in line with Ghost's refusal to share but still. This was a lot more personal information than the sergeant ever thought would hear from the man.
"That.. makes sense"
"I have no idea how it would go. I don't want to cause any.. issues."
"Issues? What kind of issues?"
"You know me"
"Do i? I know how you operate on the field. You are attentive, with good situational awareness. You are a quick and efficient decision maker. You are particularly handy with knives and a damn good shot. I also know that you say don't want emotional attachments because it could compromise missions, but if you allow me to be blunt, Sir, i think you just afraid to get hurt. You once said to me that people you trust can hurt you the most. You try not to trust anyone, but you trip on your on foot here mate. Because you trust Price. And i think you might start to trust me as well, otherwise would not even entertain the idea to come over"
"Jesus Johnny, if i wanted a psych eval, i'd gone back to medical”
"Tell me i'm wrong. But i don't know the you outside work. Not really. I know you like Bourbon and you go on hunting trips when Price forces you on leaves so you probably can continue to be alone, and do what you do at work just with four legged prey"
"Seems you know everything there is to know about me"
"Don't gimme that crap. There has to be more to you"
"Not much, Johnny. Not much at all"
"Sure"
"Really. It is also a security risk"
"Security risk? What?"
"Forget it. More importantly i'd take your family would not be that thrilled with a bloke in a mask all the time. But mostly what i mean is that i will know your family. Where they live, who they are, everythin'"
"Not like you are going to hurt them. Are you trying to back out of this?"
"Others might, if they broke me during interrogation. And no?"
"You totally are and for fuck's sake Ghost. We both know you'd die before giving up anything to anyone"
"You are too quick to trust"
"Maybe, but i do trust you"
"You shouldn't" Ghost sounded positively resigned.
"Not your choice. T'll be fine. I'll give them a heads up that my.. my.. Wait. How do i introduce you? My Lt? CO? Squadmate? Bunk buddy?"
"What about a friend?"
"I thought friendship isn't in the field manual"
"Not gonna be on the field, Johnny"
"Ye, that is true. Friend, ay? I can live with that. So i just tell them my here friend Ghost prefers being called by his nickname and that's it. They won't really have a choice if we don't give them any other name to call you by, wouldn't they?"
"Simon's fine, but no last name. Is the mask gonna be an issue?" Soap's eyebrow run up a solid centimetre. He never thought he'll live the day when he would get a permission to call Ghost Simon, under any circumstance. Not that it matters, he got used to calling him Ghost that he would do that anyway, no matter what.
"At the table it might, but we can try the you are shy angle. Ah, we'll figure something out. The kids gonna love it anyway."
"Alright. But i still need an out"
"An out?"
"To leave. If.. it get's.. too much" Ghost chose his words carefully and it took a few seconds for Soap's brain to decode it.
"Oh. Okay, yeah. Yeah. Of course"
"This almost sounds doable"
"'Cause it is"
"We'll see" There was still a heavy dose of uncertainty in Ghost's voice, but he was willing to at least give it a try.
"So this isn't a hypothetical anymore?"
"Seems so"
"Good"