Melvin held Mac’s eyes a second longer than necessary.
Lucero smiled faintly. “Hope I get to serve under officers like you again.”
“You will,” Melvin said.
Lucero gave them a final nod before heading back across the compound.
By the time evening settled over the base and the dust cooled off the gravel lots, Melvin found himself outside Mac’s quarters.
When he stepped inside, the awards were still unopened on the desk. The Distinguished Service Cross sat in its velvet box.
Mac picked it up once, turned it slightly, then set it back down.
“You alright?” Melvin asked.
Mac kept looking at the box. “It’s strange.”
“How so?”
“The medal doesn’t weigh much. But the moment that earned it still does.”
Melvin crossed the room and sat beside him. He pulled the laminated card from his pocket and set it on the desk.
For a moment neither of them spoke.
“That thing saved a life,” Mac said.
“It did.”
Mac nodded slowly. “You think something has one purpose… and it ends up meaning something else.”
Melvin’s voice softened. “Thank you for being there.”
Mac looked at him. “Always.”
They sat with that until the base noise outside reclaimed the edges of the room.
Morning came early, like it always did on deployment.
In the motor pool the next day, Monroe handed over the rotation log.
“Heard about the Cross,” he said. “About time people got it right.”
Mac nodded once.
Later someone updated the morale board outside the comms shack. The names were typed in bold, nothing flashy, just official.
Melvin noticed the way people held eye contact a little longer.
By nightfall the base had settled into its usual rhythm again. The hallway lights dimmed for night rotation.
Melvin sat on the edge of his bunk. Across from him Mac leaned back in the desk chair, one boot still hanging on his foot, toe scuffing the concrete.
Neither of them turned on the light.
Mac stood, kicked his remaining boot off, crossed the room, and sat beside him. Their shoulders touched. His hand found Melvin’s and held it, firm and undeniably present.
They sat like that for a while.
