#brigette

There had been a list of sorts of people both of you knew to expect to always be around. Torb may have known you since you were crawling around, but that didn't mean he acted like he trusted you around Brig. Ana was in the same boat as Torb, always watching Brig when the girl was around you. Fareeha and Cass liked to annoy you, and they were still laughing about your first kiss. Most of your friends expected something to happen and didn't care once it stopped feeling quite so new.

Sneaking off of the base to make out felt ridiculous, but you told yourself it was worth it. Especially after Fareeha walked in on you and Brig making out in the gym's locker room. Brig was still wary to go anywhere near Ana despite your insistence that it wasn't how Fareeha made it sound. You were both adults, even if Brig was a bit older than you.

"Psp, psp, psp," Brig whispered. It was loud enough for you to hear it, but you also didn't think she needed to try being so quiet. You weren't miles away from anyone, just far enough away from the cameras not to be seen. Sneaking away had been easy, it was getting back in without raising suspicions that would be difficult.

"I am not a cat," you teased as you walked over to where Brig was waiting for you. She had brought a blanket for the two of you to sit on and a few snacks. There was a nice view of a field of flowers, allowing you to feel more reconnected with nature than you had been in a while.

"Sorry, force of habit," Brig apologized. You brushed it off and greeted her with a kiss. The press of your lips together felt natural, as if it was the only thing right in the world. "We probably don't have much time. Papa said they're worried about what some of the new recruits have been saying. What do you think of it?"

"I think they're afraid to send me out there when they don't know if Reaper is actually gone or not. I think it's bullshit because I can help people," you ranted. Brig wrapped her arm around your shoulders and you fell against her side. You hated being sidelined because of a stupid rumor you chose not to believe. Until someone confirmed to you that Reaper really was your father, you'd keep going the way you had been. Even if they did tell you, it wasn't like you would drop everything to run to his side. Gabriel Reyes was dead.

"You're helping here too, and that's important. And maybe I'm a little biased, but I prefer to think about how much safer you are. You'd go in by yourself if they put you on a team, and I don't know that they'd let me go with you anyway," Brig pointed out. Sojourn was pretty strict on the rules about not pairing people together who were even rumored to be hooking up. Lucio and Hana hadn't gone out together on a mission in at least a month now.

"I can handle myself," you grumbled under your breath. An uneasy silence fell between the two of you for a moment before Brig pressed a kiss to your cheek. That got a small smile out of you, so she did it again and again. You couldn't help the giggles that fell from your lips as she continued to kiss all over your face.

Brig pulled away as you started to lose your breath a little from laughing. Things had been tense at the watch point, and all Brig had really wanted was to take your mind off of it. You caught her staring, but neither one of you cared to look anywhere else. You were about to pull her in for a kiss when you caught movement from the corner of your eye.

"Go back and get help," you whispered to Brig as you scrambled to put yourself in between the shadowy figure and your girlfriend. Brig seemed reluctant, but knew better than to try and argue with you while you tried to protect her. You waited for her footsteps to quiet down before you approached the figure for yourself. "You're not welcome here, so I suggest you leave Reaper."

"They were never supposed to let you join. Jack and Ana, they promised you wouldn't end up here." His voice shook, as if it pained him to see you standing in front of him.

"I can help. I am helping. You don't know me, so you can't tell me what to do. If you want me gone so badly, you're going to have to kill me," you told him. He stopped moving around so much as the shadows surrounding him cleared away. The man was taller than you, and the closer he got, the harder it was for you to pretend he hadn't been your father once upon a time.

"Princess, I never wanted this life for you."