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[the_reapers]

He forgets, often, that Gabe can't read texts. He takes for granted that Gabe can get them read to him by an app or an onlooker.

So it's late at night, beyond midnight, when he texts, "I'm about to be arrested you down to pick me up? I got cash to bail me out at my apartment."

Comments

[minuteofangle]

"Get some water with that too, would you?" Gabe drawls, amused. But he tries a sip of the spicy beer, not sure exactly what to expect. To his surprise, it doesn't burn immediately. He thinks he can taste peppers, though, and something warm and full. "Okay, that's not bad. And he always gets the tikka masala."

[the_reapers]

"Yeah...yeah that's what I want," he grabs a glass from the bathroom counter and chugs water from the tap. "Hey thanks for bailing me out."

[minuteofangle]

In a minute, Gabe will get his phone out and order them some grub. Lots of it, he thinks; they've got money now. There's no reason not to splurge. For now, he just takes his beer and his cane and flops down on the nearest bed with a sigh. "No problem, man."

He tilts his head toward Austin. "There a reason you called me and not the others?"

[the_reapers]

"Yeah. I figured you wouldn't yell at me for sleeping on a park bench." He sips his water. "I didn't want Carver to think I can't take care of myself. And Shaw, she'd think I was going back to being homeless."

[minuteofangle]

"Not gonna yell at you for that," Gabe agrees. It wouldn't solve anything, would probably just make the whole situation awkward and uncomfortable for everyone. He just sips his beer and settles back against the headboard. "But I gotta ask why you were doing E in the park."

[the_reapers]

"'Cause." His mood drops a little. He picks up another beer. "It's Alana's birthday today. And she's in Colorado and baby mama won't let me talk to her on the phone. I was sick of feeling down about shit I can't change."

[minuteofangle]

Ah. Gabe sips his beer and nods just once, accepting that. "Okay," he says after a moment. "But maybe next time, you give me a call and we'll do some E - just not in the park, okay?"

[the_reapers]

"It just sucks," he says, and crawls onto the foot of the bed, sprawling out and rubbing the fabric of the comforter. "But yeah. I can do that. I really do like that squirrel though. I bet if I had a fucking squirrel baby Rochelle would let me show Alana."

[minuteofangle]

Gabe sighs and takes another long swig of beer before setting it aside and starting to pull his boots off. It's that sort of moment. "Where'd you two meet, anyway?"

Better to keep Austin talking. Get him distracted from the bad shit none of them can change.

"I'll take some E if you've got any left," Gabe adds. It's been a while but he likes how it feels. The way you just float.

[the_reapers]

"Yeah yeah, I got you, man," he digs under the bed in a box and comes back with a little yellow pill. "Here."

He lays down beside Gabe. "I met her in high school. She was the first girl I ever slept with. But she flipped when I enlisted."

[minuteofangle]

"Mhmm." Gabe presses it to his tongue, settling back against the pillows with a sigh. It's that sort of moment, isn't it? "What's she like?"

[the_reapers]

"She's hot. Really smart. Got really good grades before she got pregnant." He purses his lips. "I think she hates me for that."

[minuteofangle]

Gabe tilts his head toward Austin. "Couldn't get an abortion?" he asks softly.

[the_reapers]

He shakes his head. "Her parents are religious. And...I didn't help. I wanted the baby when I knew. Wanted to be a dad." A deep breath. "So like two months after Alana was born, I enlisted. To make money, right? And pay for college for Rochelle and Alana if we got married. But there was a war on and I didn't get a nice stateside job."

[minuteofangle]

Ah, Gabe thinks, and closes his eyes. He isn't feeling the E yet, but he will. Soon enough.

"It's hard to keep a family going when you're overseas."

[the_reapers]

"She thought I did it to run away from her and the baby." And maybe he was. He was eighteen, not prepared for the rigors of a newborn and a girlfriend deep in depression. "But I always made sure they had what they needed, no matter what it was. And after Korangal, when I came home, she took me back. But I don't know. I scared her I think."

[minuteofangle]

You were just a baby yourself, Gabe thinks, but knows better than to say. He just shakes his head and takes the beer, downing the last of it and setting the bottle down on the nightstand. Sometimes, things just don't work out. Nobody gets that fairytale ending, not a single soul.

"Scared her?" Gabe murmurs.

[the_reapers]

"I don't know, man, I just couldn't sleep without a gun. And she didn't like that. And you know how noises get sometimes in the city. I drew on her a couple times. First time I did it she cried and hugged me. Second time she took the baby and moved back in with her parents." He sips his beer. "And now she's a thousand miles away."

[minuteofangle]

A thousand miles and a lifetime away. Might as well be on the moon. Gabe just sighs and reaches over, tapping his fingers lightly against Austin's arm.

"You've got us," he promises gently. "You've always got us."

[the_reapers]

He takes Gabe's hand and unabashedly scoots closer to him, laying his head on Gabe's shoulder. "You guys are what matters most. Maybe Pope's right. rest of the world can't handle us."

[minuteofangle]

"Rest of the world doesn't get it." Gabe puts his arm around Austin, holding him close. Breathing out slow. "That's okay. We don't need them. Right?"

[the_reapers]

He wraps an arm around Gabe's stomach. "Even other guys in the service don't always get it. You know that? I ran into a group who never went to the Valley of Death. It was like looking in a weird alternate dimension."

[minuteofangle]

"I do," Gabe agrees softly. "The ones who were never in the bad shit, not really. They don't know what it means."

They don't understand the weight of it.

"The think they understand, but they don't. They can't."

[the_reapers]

"You ever meet Riley? He was there and he still doesn't get it. I think only Pope could make it all make sense." Thank God for Pope. "Man I wouldn't still be here if not for you guys. Even when Rochelle was here and we were trying, it just...she couldn't get it. Maybe it's better she's gone."

[minuteofangle]

"Once," Gabe admits. He doesn't really know what he's supposed to say about someone like Riley, who survived all that shit and turned out angry but almost normal. Sometimes, Gabe envies him for it. Sometimes he hates the man. But he can understand why Carver loved him, loves him, will probably always love a part of him. "But don't say that shit. We're all here. We got you, kid."