a/n: Hi all, I'm looking to poke my head back in for a bit since I still have some more stories to tell. Anyway, let me know what you guys think of this since it was living rent free in my head for a bit.
Warning(s): none
The base was in full swing as the afternoon approached. Unfortunately for one member of 141 the day began far too early for his liking. A hand passed through the close kept sides of his Mohawk as he shuffled into the break room. As he took in his surroundings, an odd sound met his ears. He waited a moment before hearing it again. Sniffling. He was the only one in the room.. he thought before he swept the room finding the source curled up under a table for two.
Underneath sat a little girl. Her fingers curling tighter around the stuffed animal she held.
“Well hello, lass,” he greeted as if speaking to a skittish kitten, “whatcha cryin’ for?”
The girl curled tighter into herself, “Mama and Papa says I shouldn’t talk to strangers.”
He smiled a bit, “they’re pretty smart. Well, my name is Johnny, but you can call me Soap. What’s your name?”
“…Lina.” She replied, hiding her mouth behind her stuffed rabbit, “and this is Hase.”
“It’s good to meet you, Lina.” He moved to sit on the floor to be more at her level, “now what’s got you down?”
She rubbed at one of her piercing blue eyes, “mama and I came to see papa at work. He was gonna take me to shoot guns.”
The soldier nodded, “that sounds like fun,”
“But mama was talking to a man and I thought I saw papa so I went after him and…and I can’t find him.” Her lower lip quivered.
“‘S alright, no need to cry. Tell you what. I know my way around here and we can find your dad together.”
His answer came from her nodding. Her blonde ponytail swishing with each movement of her head. After a few moments the little girl was coaxed out from her hiding place.
“So, what’s your dad look like?”
She thought for a moment, “well he’s big. Like really big.” She put up her hands and stood on tip toes for emphasis, “an-and he wears a mask to scare bad guys, and he’s really good at those guns that shoot things really far away.”
Soap pondered the girl’s clues for a moment until he glanced at her hair once more as a smirk curled his lip. “I think I know where your dad is, let’s go.”
A knock sounded disturbing the sound of a pen scratching a signature.
“It’s open.”
The sergeant stepping in with a snarky grin was met with a flat gaze.
“Lt, you dog.”
“Hell are you going on about, Johnny,”
“I thought what we had was special,” Soap replied as if hurt, “and here you go keeping this adorable lass a se-”
“That’s not my papa.”
The sergeant nearly broke his neck to glance at the girl, “lass, you’re sure?”
Lina nodded, “Papa’s bigger.”
Wait. Bigger than Ghost? Then who-
“Papa!” She squealed, charging past the sergeant towards the soldier who stopped in the doorway from the girl’s squeal.
Without missing a beat, the colonel scooped up the child, who began to throw her arms around his neck.
“I missed you.” She buried her face into the cowl of his mask.
“Guess you got your answer,” Ghost huffed in amusement.
The two men were ignored by the colonel as he addressed his little one, “I missed you too, but where is your mother, Prinzessin?”
“Mama was talking to a man. He has the room that smells bad. We can go see her!”
“We will be waiting in my office, and leave Ghost and Soap be.”
As the human battering ram took his leave, a tiny hand waved over his massive shoulder.
“Bye, Soap.”
It was only a few days when Soap arrived at his desk with an offensively pink envelope resting on top of a stack of paperwork. Once he plucked up the scrap of paper and popped open the seal, his eyebrows rose as he read the contents.
“Oi Gaz, rain check on the pub crawl.”
At his companion’s questioning gaze, the sergeant flashed the pink invitation pinched between his fingers.
“I got a birthday party to go to.”
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