“Of course… Mr.?”
“Langston…” His name foreign, Gabe just stood, almost collapsing, his legs weak.
“Admiral Cooper. I will get somebody on the phone who is dying to speak to you, Mr. Bourne. This is a mere formality. To be sure of your identity. You are worth a substantial amount of money.” Laughing lightly, his teeth bright. He dialed, then spoke to the man on the screen. “Mr. Weiner? Yes, he’s here… six years can change a man, I must warn you…”
Harold’s voice. “Just show him to me.”
Damian just watched him talk to that flat phone.Where are the buttons?Slightly confused when the man turned the phone to him, his eyes going wide at Harold on the screen. Harold, older, but same brown hair and blue eyes.
His smile fading into shock. “Damian….? Jesus…”
“Hi…” Not having any words for this man who had become a stranger.
“Jesus…” He had broken down crying, and Damian almost swatted the phone out of that man’s hand.I don’t want to be here…a mild panic rushing down his back. Looking at Harold at his voice. “Hey… sorry… the shock… My God… Damian… I’m flying over as soon as I can… we’ll make a human out of you again… Jesus… I need to call Maddie…”
Her name made him look up. “What?”
“Maddie… God… your wife?” Damian’s hand tightened on Gabe’s, but he could not speak. Harold smiled mildly. “I mean… yeah… sort of… we need to talk, but not on the phone. I’m coming, I have a flight and the helicopter booked.” His eyes went to Gabe, standing close to Damian. “Who’s the young man? He was with you? Nice meeting you. I’ll find your family if you tell me who they are?”
Gabe licked his lips. “Qantico will know… my employers…”
“Sure! Let me deal with it. I’ll get you a plane ticket.” Smiling. “That is, if you’re not afraid of flying.” Laughing lightly.
Damian’s cool voice made him look at him. “Gabe’s not going anywhere without me.”
“Gabe? Ok… I get it. Six years… a long time… I get it…” Grinning. “We’ll talk, ok? Don’t stress. Love you.”
The admiral cut the call with a smile. “Splendid. I would suggest you go to your assigned rooms, have a nice shower and meal, rest a bit. You must be exhausted. I’ll send the doctor to check on you and do some tests, but you look pretty good.”
Damian just held Gabe’s hand. That endless sea stretching under its mirror sky as the ship sped to its destination.
A marine stepped to them. “Follow me.” They did, walking, holding tight, to a corridor where the marine opened two rooms next to each other. “Your rooms.”
Damian froze, holding Gabe tight. “We are not going into separate rooms.”
Gabe’s eyes, wide. He clutched Damian’s hand in a death grip.
The marine smiled. “Fine. I’ll tell the doctor and crew. I’ll get you another bed.”
He gestured them in. A small grey room, one window on the sea and sky, that soft rumbling polluting the air. A bed on the left, a small night table, an inbuilt cupboard, to the left, a small bathroom. Damian pushed the door in, his eyes roaming the shower, the sink, the toilets. He had to sit, sliding down the wall in utter shock as Gabe huddled close. Shivering, their skin missing the warmth of the sun, the balsamic air around them. Wedged against that cold metallic wall, their back froze, so Damian stood, gathering whatever was left in his mind.
He held his hand to Gabe. “Come. Let’s wash.”
“Wash…?”
“Shower.” He pulled him in, taking his boxers off. He helped Gabe step out of those tattered briefs, throwing them on the floor, and pulled him inside the shower booth, and turned it on, jolting at that warm water which just flowed down their bodies. They held tight, crying under that hot stream. A grief there instead of anything they should have felt, but Damian wiped his tears out of his eyes, taking a bottle of shower gel. He opened it and almost gagged at the smell invading his nostrils.Fuck.Almost throwing up, but he poured a generous amount on his palm, soaping Gabe up, gliding his hands on his body, rubbing, soothing. Gabe sighed and rested his forehead against the tiles, letting Damian calm him down, wash him, that smell suffocating. He steeled himself though, even if dazed, and washed Damian off, soft licks to his back and hips under that streaming water. Finding him in those surroundings, which they had forgotten. Foreign. Cold.
They found the towels and dried themselves, then walked to the closets. T-shirts, underwear, soft grey sweatpants. Socks. Damian didn’t put them on, the fabrics already scratching his skin, feeling like suffocating, but it was cold almost in that tempered room, so they dressed. Damian went to the bed and pulled Gabe next to him. They almost didn’t fit, but he held him tight, looking into his eyes as water pearled down his black and white strands.
“Still me…”
Gabe smiled above his dread. “I know.”
Damian smoothed his palm on his cheek. “I am not letting you go.”
“Ok…” Hoping. Dreading.
“Come here… let’s sleep a bit…”
