#cod mw2 x reader

Your first weekend as a bartender is not going the way you hoped. The quiet Wednesday and slightly busier Thursday you’d trained on could not prepare you for how crowded the bar has been on this warm, Friday night.

In the three hours since your shift started, you’ve been hit on no less than a dozen times, had multiple drinks spilled on you and managed to cut yourself on the broken glass of a beer bottle abandoned at the bar. At least the last one had allowed you to sneak away for a few moments to tend to your wounds.

As the night drags on, the patrons only seem to get worse and worse, the alcohol boosting their confidence and stupidity. A perfect storm. It’s when the bar is approaching closing that it happens, the music starting to die down and the crowd more than halved with the late hour.

The man sidles up to the bar, cheeks flushed with alcohol. “Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he slurs.

You fake a laugh, casting your gaze down to the cup you’re drying. 

“Can I get…” 

You don’t wait for him to finish his sentence before you smile politely. “Sorry, last call was thirty minutes ago.”

“That’s alright.” He leans closer, allowing you to smell the sour beer on his breath. You cringe. “Think I’d prefer to taste you, angel.”

An involuntary roll of your eyes has him clenching his jaw, fingers tightening over the wooden bar counter. You don’t notice, too busy working on closing to pay too much mind to the drunk asshole in front of you. 

“You don’t have to be a bitch about it.”

You frown, still not sparing him a glance. “Do I need to call the bouncer over, or can you find your own way out?”

You don’t see the warning signs. The ticking in his jaw, the darkness in his eyes. Every other patron has slithered away when met with your attitude, retreating far, far away from you and licking their wounds. Not him. Not tonight.

He reaches across the counter and grabs your jaw harshly, forcing you to look up at him. You gasp, dropping the glass in your shock. The sound of the shattering makes you flinch.

His grip is bruising, fingertips clamping your jaw shut. “Listen here, sweetheart.”

Acid burns in his words. You struggle, reaching a hand to wrap around his wrist and try and pry him off of you, but it’s no use. 

“I don’t know what’s with the fucking attitude but—”

You never get to hear what he’s going to say next because suddenly there’s a much bigger, much stronger man yanking him off of you. He shoves the man into the wall hard and you can see the defiance in his eyes fade to fear.

“Are you bloody deaf?” The other man, dressed in a compression shirt and cargo pants, sneers. “You were asked to leave.”

The man stutters something incomprehensible, pinned to the wall with the force of the bigger man’s forearm. It’s not until his face has started to turn red that he finally lets go, the drunk man scrambling out of the bar.

You’re breathless. “T-thank you.”

The man, ruggedly handsome, drops a wad of cash on the counter. “Don’t mention it.”

You watch him leave, entirely in a daze until your coworker comes back from her trip to the dishwasher. She looks at you, the broken cup on the floor and the stunned smile on your face.

“What happened?”

“I—” You blink, “some guy got rough with me.”

“What? Are you okay?”

You nod, hesitant. “Some other guy kicked him out for me.”

“Oh, tall guy? Dresses like he’s in GI Joe?”

“Yes?”

“That’s Simon, one of our regulars.” She shrugs, “doesn’t talk much but he tips well.”

Simon, you mentally note the name of your saviour.

Saturday night only comes with more people, more drinks, more chaos. At least tonight there’s an extra bartender on the floor helping you navigate and taking the weirder patrons off of your hands. You find yourself thanking him at least a couple times an hour.

Your mood shifts to something a little more positive when you see a familiar face sitting alone in the corner of the bar, nursing a pint of beer. You’d be lying if you said your heart didn’t flutter a little at seeing him again.

You try to keep your focus on your work, on serving the grabby hands of drunken customers, but it’s hard when he’s sitting there looking so damn fine.

The night drones on with no incidents, your coworkers and you winding down to close the bar. You’re mopping behind the bar, chatting idly with a customer who’s been sat at the counter almost all night.

He’s kind and friendly, and very patient given you’d messed up his drink order earlier. He’s in the midst of telling you a story about some travelling he did recently, your mind blanking as you only half-listen.

“Anyways, would you like to go out with me sometime?”

Your hand stills on the mop. How in the hell did we get here? 

“That’s really sweet but,” you hesitate. “I have a boyfriend.”

His shoulders visibly slump, “can he fight?”

You laugh it off but the memories of last night and how quickly things had devolved replay in your mind. Nervous energy explodes in your stomach like a supernova, sending anxiety through your veins.

“He—” You find your body moving on its own, pointing to the man sitting in the corner. “He’s right there, actually.”

As if sensing your gaze, Simon offers a lazy wave to the two of you. Finishing off the rest of his beer, he stands up and saunters over to the counter. Before he can even ask what’s going on, the man is nodding at him approvingly.

“You’re a lucky man.”

Despite his confusion, his face is a mask of perfect calm. He looks between the two of you, assessing the uneasy tension in your shoulders and the way your hands have clenched against the broom, and the hungry look in the man’s eyes. Realization dawns on him.

“Damn right I am.”

Heat rushes to your face, making the already hot bar even worse. The man pays his tab and leaves, once again just leaving you and Simon at the counter.

He leans against it. “We’re dating now?”

“Sorry, sorry.” You cringe, embarrassment hot and heavy. “I panicked.”

There’s something close to a teasing grin on his face. “S’alright, love.” 

He fishes in his pocket for his cash but suddenly you’re piping up, speaking a little too quickly. “No, no. It’s on me.”

He draws his gaze up, confused.

“You’ve helped me so much the past two days, it’s only fair…” After a slight debate, he lets you comp his two drinks before bidding you goodnight and going on his way. 

You fall into something close to a friendship after that, Simon showing up at the bar like clockwork. Some nights he’s alone, watching whatever sport is playing from the old tv. Other nights, he brings friends with him—other similarly built men who are much chattier than him.

They tease him about you. Never when you’re around, of course, but you still manage to overhear when you slide them a pint of beer or come to collect their glasses. The one man in particular, a goofy Scottish man, always grins when he sees you and nudges Simon in one of his burly arms.

And then they disappear. The bar, for all of its popularity and clientele, feels strangely empty without them. The first few weekends pass by quickly, each overwhelmingly long night bringing hope that any day now, they—or at least Simon—will be back.

But they don’t come back. A month passes, and then two. The neon lights of the bar seem duller, the music not as enjoyable as it used to be. Your conversations with customers hold a new weight that wasn’t there before, and the more time passes, the less you find your eyes darting to that table in the corner.

It’s not until the end of summer that you see him again.

The bar has been crawling with activity, college kids on their last hurrahs crowding around and doing shots from each other’s belly buttons. Despite how loud they are, their rampant youth takes your mind off of things.

Close comes quicker during the busy season and before you know it, you’re loading the dishwasher in the back while your coworker cleans the front of the bar. It’s easier this way, the two of you had decided. Then he can deal with the unruly customers and you can just focus on closing.

That is until he dips his head in, a panicked look on his face. “I have to go, I’m so sorry.”

You blank. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” he repeats, lips twisted in a frown. “There’s been an emergency but—I’ll call someone else, see if they can come help.”

And just like that, he’s gone.

Panic starts to set in. Not at the prospect of doing all the work yourself—you don’t mind that part. But because you were never, under any circumstances, supposed to be alone in the bar. Not before it opened, not during business hours and especially not after close.

At the very least, it seems he’s ushered the stragglers out of the bar and locked the door behind him. You breathe a little easier at that.

Turning up your music, you make quick work of the closing tasks. The alcohol gets sealed away, cash gets counted and put in the vault, bathrooms and floors are scrubbed clean. It’s actually kind of relaxing, even if it does take an extra hour.

You’re on your way out of the bar when you run into a wall. No, not a wall. A man. The scent of his alcohol hits you before he even opens his mouth.

Large hands clamp over your shoulders. “Do you—” He hiccups loudly, “d’you know where the nearest bus station is?”

You struggle out of his grasp. “Let me go.”

“I’m just asking a question.”

“You can ask,” you shove him hard but he doesn’t budge, “when you get your hands off of me.”

His grip only tightens. Cold, spiky fear coils in your stomach, ripping your nerves to shreds. This isn’t going to end well. Just then, like he has some sort of supernatural sense for when you’re in trouble, suddenly Simon is there.

He rips the man off of you, hitting a harsh uppercut to his jaw. The man goes down like a sack of potatoes, limp and cold on the ground.

Tears brim your eyes when you look up at him, sniffling his name.

“Y’alright?”

You nod.

“Why’re you out here all alone?” He frowns, “aren’t you s’pposed to close in pairs?”

“H-he had to go home early and I,” you suck in a breath, trying to calm yourself down, “I thought everyone had left.”

He nudges the unconscious man with the toe of his boot. “Guess not.”

You both breathe a sigh of relief when he shifts slightly. Not dead at least. 

Simon looks you over, lips twisted in a frown. “You hurt?”

You shake your head though your shoulders still ache from where you’d been grabbed. “Nothing too bad.”

He doesn’t like that answer but he doesn’t argue.

“I—what are you doing here? The bar’s been closed for hours.” You tilt your head at him, “actually, where have you been? It’s—it’s been months.”

“Had some business to take care of.”

“That’s vague.”

He shrugs, "can't say much but…I can tell you about it over dinner?”

Your heart pangs in your chest, utter shock falling over you as you stutter out something that sounds like a ‘yes.’ He smiles a little at that.

“What do we do with,” you gesture to the man still laid out on the ground, “him?”

“Let him lay there and rot.”

You choke out a laugh. “Didn’t know my fake boyfriend was so violent.”

navigation

After another day at work, you sigh as you place away remaining paper work back into the file cabinet. You check your watch seeing the time strike 4:30. Finishing your task at hand— you walk back to your desk. Grabbing your purse and lunch bag, you hear your phone chime your bag.

Pulling it out of your purse, you read your phone seeing a notification on your lock screen appear.

Rent Due!!

You sigh and place your phone back in your purse. Grabbing your car keys you begin to walk out the office. Bidding a few of your coworkers a “Goodnight.” With a smile before exiting the building and into the staff parking lot.

Get to your car, like clockwork— you check your surroundings before getting in and hitting the lock button the moment you close the door. Starting your car and driving off, you begin to head to the bank to pull out cash for your rent.

Once you got your money you head straight back home, driving up to the front office of your apartment. Stepping out the car, you walk up to the front door and enter. Walking to the woman at the front desk, who was writing down things in her clipboard before her eyes look up upon hearing the front door creak open as you walk in.

“Hello.” She greets you with her usual smile.

You smile back and bring out a white envelope holding your monthly rent. “Hi, I’m just here to pay this months rent.” You say.

The woman nods her head and looks over to her computer, typing in on her keyboard. “Perfect,” she says as she clicks her mouse a few times. “Name and apartment number?” She asks you.

You tell her your full name and apartment number, watching as she types in your information. She then hold out her left hand towards you to take the envelope, to which you had over. She opens the envelope, simultaneously flipping a few pages in her binder. Reaching you page, she suddenly pauses— her brows furrow as she lets out an uncertain hum. “It appears you’ve already paid for this months rent…” She tells you.

You blink as confusion now etches on your face. “I haven’t paid yet, I think there’s a mistake.” You tell her.

She bites her lip before turning over to the cabinet file. “Let me see,” she mutters before pulling open a file drawer searching for your apartment number file before pulling out a paper. She scans over the paper before her brows raise. “Actually, your rent has been covered for the entirety of your lease, starting this month.” She says in surprise as she looks up at you only to see you with the same baffled look.

“I— sorry I’m confused. I haven’t sent any kind of money to cover that much worth of rent. Are you sure?” You ask her.

She nodded and placed the paper in her hand over to you on the counter. She pointed to all the months your rent that has been paid, it was all the way until your lease ended. “That’s almost ten grand worth of rent!” You say in shock as your eyes scan the paper seeing every month had been paid in full. “Do you happen to know who exactly paid this?” You ask her.

The woman can only shake her head. “I’m not too sure, do you have someone else living with you?” She asks you.

You shake your head. “No it’s just me— and my baby.” You tell her.

The woman seemed to chuckle. “Well, I’d say you had someone looking out for you without you knowing. Honestly I wouldn’t be worried about it, you’re practically living rent free now. You’re a lucky gal.” The woman tells you as she places your paperwork back into your file, then handing you the envelope back to you.

You take it with hesitance as you stand there, continuing to have trouble processing the information. The woman looks at you with an awkward smile, “You alright Miss?” She asks you.

You break out of your thoughts and shake your head. “No— yes, yes I’m fine— sorry— thank you.” You tell her before walking out of the office. You return to your car and sit in a long silence. Staring at the envelope in your hand, your mind begins to ponder. Could it be… was it Simon? Did he somehow find you? It’s impossible to think some random person would just waltz in and offer to pay someone’s entire lease worth of rent. Not unless they know you— or have been watching you…

Could it have been the person in the truck? What if that person is Simon??

The thought makes your heart jump, racing, as you fish out your phone from your purse. You unlock it and stare at the screen for a moment before you open up the your contacts, scrolling down until your eyes read a familiar contact name. Simons contact.

You haven’t deleted it, you couldn’t bring yourself to— part of you having hope that one day he’d call you or text you. You stare at the name, reading “hubby” with a black heart next to it, the contact photo being of you two lying in bed, snapping a photo of him as you lay on his chest. You puckered your lips as you lean in to kiss his cheek, while Simon looks at you with a smile on his face.

He was too distracted with you to notice you had snapped the picture. Of course he heard the snap noise of the phone and immediately began to complain and begged you to delete it. Simon was never one for pictures but he had no problem taking pictures of you. You argued with him saying it was unfair— claiming it was only fair since he always took pictures of you, which quickly made him shut up and finally give up and let you keep the photo.

Your finger hovers over the call button as you contemplate on calling him, your anxiety rising as you thought about it. Would he even answer? Would he just let it ring or decline? Does he even have the same phone number anymore? You thought more about it but eventually, you couldn’t bring yourself to call him.

Sighing, you close the app and shut your phone off. You lean forward in your seat and rest your forehead on the steering wheel. Sitting in the silence of your car, closing your eyes as you tried to calm your nerves. You don’t want to get your hopes up but what if it really was him? Then you thought about the truck. It can’t be a coincidence.

Is he following me?

“You’re certain it’s the same truck?”

You sigh and place a small bag of fresh tomatoes in your cart, adding more to the cart with the rest of your groceries. “I’m sure, it had the same shiny new car look, about as big as I remembered last time, and— the trucks windows were cracked opened with cigarette smoke coming out from inside just like the first time I saw it.” You say turning to Stacy as she picked a few fresh cucumbers before placing the in the little baggie provided for produce. “There wasn’t a license plate on the front though…”

Placing the baggie in her own cart, she glances at you. Her face etched with concern— but also hesitance as she found it odd to believe that someone could be following you simply by spotting the same exact truck twice.

“I’m just saying, maybe it’s was just a coincidence. This may be a big city but I’ve run into a few strangers I’ve recognize before more than once.” Stacy adds trying to reassure you, maybe even herself, “Have you noticed anything weird at your house?”

That’s when you remembered about your rent. You suddenly spin around and rush up directly to face her— Stacy staring at you a bit startled at your sudden action. Your eyes wide as you place your hands on her upper arms, holding them with a steady grip. “My rent,” You say with a low voice. She raised a brow. “Someone paid my rent, all the rent till the end of my lease!” You say in a whisper yell, your anxiety evident in your voice.

It’s then that Stacy looks at you with the exact same baffled expression. “That’s almost a whole year!” She exclaims.

You nodded as your release your grip from her. “Yes! Last week I went in to pay my rent for this month but the lady said that all my rent was covered till the end of my lease. I tried asking if she knew who paid it off but the only information she could gather was that the money was placed in the deposit box outside the office and there was a note in the envelope it was in, notifying the office that the money was intended to cover the rest of my rent up until the lease ended.”

Stacy seemed at a loss for words, she was in her thoughts before she turned to you. “Do you think it’s…” she replied as her voice trailed off.

“Simon? I’m not too sure but that’s the only possible explanation, aside from you and simon, I don’t know anyone else.” You tell her.

Stacy pursed her lips as the two of you continue to walk around the store, pushing your respective carts along. “(Yn), you really need to be careful, if things starting escalating don’t hesitate to tell me, I can have you come back home with me and if we need to, find you another place to live.”

You stay quiet as you continue walking. You’re not sure if you really could leave. You’re practically living for free now until next year, that’s a once in a lifetime opportunity you couldn’t pass up on. For now you’ve focusing on doing nothing but saving and setting money aside, taking advantage of the opportunity.

“So, if I’m not mistaken, you think it’s Simon— that’s also in the truck, watching you?” She asks you.

You look at Stacy and shrug your shoulders. “I think so, but part of me doesn’t want to overthink it. A part of me feels… almost hopeful to think that he still cares enough to check up on me and possibly cover of my rent, but— it’s somewhat disturbing to know that he could possibly be…stalking me.” you say looking down glancing at your belly, since your bump has now hidden your feet when standing up.

Stacy looks at you, worry etched on her face. She’s worried for yours and the baby’s well being and safety, if your ex boyfriend is truly stalking you, which made a chill run down her spine. He’s in the military, she doesn’t know what his ranking is but she prays he isn’t taking advantage of, if any, technology he could have access to— using it to track you down and stalk you…

“Just be safe please— and call me if anything.” Stacy says as you both meet each other’s gaze. You nod in agreement.

“I promise.” You tell her.

You both finally got what you both needed on your own grocery lists and make your way to the checkout line. You both line up at the register with the shortest line, stay ahead of you first, you right behind her— another person line up behind you, you can see them come in through the corner of your eye but you pay no mind.

“Oh,” Stacy speaks up, catching your full attention. There’s a man ahead of her, currently getting his items scanned— Stacy turns to you as you stand on the side of your cart. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, Jared and I were talking about it but weren’t sure if your wants one— would you want a baby shower?” She asks you.

You press your lips in a thin line as you think about it. “I dunno, I mean, even if we had one, it not like it’s gonna be big. I don’t know anyone in my life— with no contacts with our parents, Simon out of the picture, I have absolutely no friends. There’s really no point in having a baby shower…” you say as you look down at the floor, up until you met Simon, you whole life has been bland and boring. You had a feel friends here and there but none of them really stuck around— but then you met Simon, and your whole life revolved around him. Just focusing on him and nothing else, barely going out, never making any friends. You felt you didn’t need anything or anyone else until the day he left. It was rough, you felt alone until you finally managed to reach out to Stacy, then you finally got to see your baby for the first time in the ultrasound, you finally found a purpose in life once again. Being a mother for your baby girl. You feel no other need for anything else, you have your sister in your life and now you’re about to have a baby and become a mother. Friends never once being a topic of discussion up until now.

You really couldn’t have a baby shower now, the only people you could invite is just Stacy and Jared. That’s it.

“I can invite my friends and Jared’s friends and family.” Stacy offers.

You shake your head however, “No, that’s would just be odd. Inviting people I don’t know. Do you know how odd it sounds to be invited to a friends sister baby shower, they don’t know me and I don’t want them to feel obligated to have to buy me and the baby stuff.” You say.

Stacy sighs and looks at you with a sympathetic expression as you avoid her gaze. You can’t look at her, keeping your eyes glued to the floor as you feel slight embarrassment and loneliness overcome you.

Stacy decided to drop the topic and instead change the subject. “Well, I was thinking, I saw this cute little store down at the mall the other day, they just opened, and I think you could find a few cute things…” Stacy goes on to tell you. You’re half listening, to caught in your thoughts until—

Thud

You hear something dull fall behind you, you turn around to see a small package of meat on the floor. You kneel down and pick it up before standing up and seeing a man standing behind you. His back was to you, he failed to notice the item he dropped.

Immediately you take notice of his rather large build, like Simon but slightly bigger, bulky muscles, he’s even as tall as Simon but slightly shorter. It was then you noticed his attire, he was wearing a white compression t-shirt, accentuating his well-defined torso and meaty arms, and then his pants. You notice they’re khaki cargo pants, a black heavy duty belt, and matching heavy duty black boots. It was obvious he was active in the military and he was carrying a hand held basket filed a some groceries in the basket, almost close to overfilling which explains why the meat package had fallen out.

You clear your throat before you speak. “‘Scuse me sir,” you call out to him. Suddenly he turns to you allowing you to see his face in full view. He had brown short hair hints of silver hairs speckled around, blue eyes, his face was withered but handsome, and of course, his astounding very well-groomed mutton chops and mustache. He held as much of an intimidating aura like Simons. “You dropped this.” You say holding the meat package towards him.

He looks at you for a moment, it was odd— he looked almost caught off guard— like he wasn’t expecting you to talk to him, which is reasonable, it’s odd to have a stranger call out to you in any public space. But something about the way he looked at you when you called out to him, it was as if he was slightly spooked, like you caught him in the act of something…

He glances down at your hand seeing the package of meat that he had in his basket. He lefts out a gruff chuckle. “Ah, thank you.” He says, his deep voice broadening his British accent. He slowly takes the package from you, placing it back in his basket. “Loose my own head if it wasn’t attached to me.” He jokes with a small chuckle. “Was too busy lookin’ for my bloody card.” He says holding up a card in one hand, his wallet in the other.

You smile back and laugh softly at his joke. Then you notice the card as he held it up for a short second, taking immediate notice of the familiar design of the card.

It was the same card Simon had, a military discount card. He would use it when you both got groceries or went out to eat. On the days he’d be deployed, he would leave you both the discount card and his credit card for when you needed to buy things. “You’re in the military?” You asks him.

Once again, he looks surprised by your words. Looking at his card he nodded before looking back at you. “Yeah, you noticed.” he says sounding impressed.

You nodded. “Yeah, my—” you pause and correct yourself. “An old friend of mine had one.” You say, glancing over to Stacy, her groceries now getting scanned, with the previous customer having already paid and left. She was eyeing you and the man with a knowing smirk, one that screamed ‘He’s a looker’. You ignore her and turn back to the man.

He nodded and smiled, his mustache bending along with the movement of his facial muscles. “Yeah, very resourceful. ‘Practically get special treatment, almost.” He chuckled.

You both share another small laugh, the conversation naturally ends there, the silence is filled with the sound of distant customers chatting, the beeping of the scanner, and the soft pop music playing over the intercom of the store.

You think the conversation is over, looking back to watch the cashier scan Stacy’s groceries until you hear him speak again.

“Expectin’ a little one soon?” He suddenly says. You look back at him seeing him smile a warm smile. “How exciting.”

She smile back and nodded. “Yeah it’s very exciting, kinda nervous though.” You say, your hand placed over the top of your bump.

“Congratulations,” He glances at your belly, “you having a little lad or lass?”

“A girl.” You respond, he only smiles wider.

“She sure is lucky to have a mother like you, bet she’ll be just as beautiful.” He says with a small nod of his head.

You look at him with a slightly surprised look as you feel your face heat up at the compliment. A small laugh escapes your lips as you look down at the floor, feeling like a school girl with how flustered you are simply by his compliment alone. “Thank you.” You say shyly.

He only nods and watches you with a warm grin.

You’re brought back to your senses as Stacy finished paying and the cashier, an older woman in her fifties, rings you up.

The man focuses on other things around him, decided he’s had a good enough conversation with you while you watch the cashier ring up your items. Filling up a few bags with your things.

Finally finished with scanning your items, she taps a few things on the screen of her register. “$94.65 is your total.” The woman says. You’re not surprised it costs that much, everything seemed to be get more expensive by the day. You nod and open your wallet to pull out your card.

“I’ve got covered.” The man speaks up again, this time using his own debit card and inserting it into the card reader.

You stare at the man in bewilderment, you’re too shocked to say anything. Stacy and the cashier woman staring at the man in the same surprised look, while he simply watched his card payment go through and finalize. His demeanor seeming unfazed and—almost prideful.

“You— you didn’t have to sir.” You tell him but you don’t make any movement of protest seeing the card already go through.

The man pulls his card out and shakes his head with a soft smile. “Don’t stress about it Love. Take it as a gift for you and the little one.” He says placing his card back in his pocket, smiling at you as you continue to staring at him in shock.

The woman breaks you out of your thoughts as the hands you the receipt. “Here you are ma’am.”

You slowly take the receipt before loading the bags into your cart. Before you leave, you turn to the ma as he stood there while his items got scanned. “Thank you so much, can I at least repay you somehow Mr…?” You ask him.

“John,” He tells you, he only chuckled and shook his head.

“And there’s no need— just,” John pauses looking at your bump then your face. “You both take care.”

You can’t say anything back, only finding that you can’t do nothing but just be thankful and accept his generosity and kindness. “Thank you John.” You say with a sincere smile.

Taking your cart you walk away from the register, with your now paid groceries, and see Stacy standing over by the bathrooms, a few feet from you, with a surprised look as you approach. “You should’ve gotten his number.” Stacy says in a low voice as you both begin walking to the front doors of the store.

Stacy glances back over her shoulder to see John was still watching you and Stacy walk away, the same smile plastered to his face.

You shake your head as you seem distracted in your mind. “This is all so confusing…” You mutter under your breath. You only remain silent as you both walk out to the stores parking lot. Walking straight to Stacy’s car, she and you both coming in, in her car. “First my rent, now my groceries. What the hell is going on with my life??” You, shock still evident in your voice.

Stacy smiles at you. “It just seems like the universe is really blessing you during this time.” Stacy says with a smile.

You glance at her with an uncertain glance, you know you should be grateful and happy but something about the rent situation and now this man paying for your groceries, gave you an odd feeling. The fact that he was also in the military only further pushes your suspicions.

Could he be in connection with Simon?

You think to yourself, too far in your own mind to notice the familiar black sleek truck parked further down the parking lot…

Taglist <3

There it is again. Your heart almost leaps out of your chest. Who the hell could be knocking on your door at this time of night?

You remind glued to the couch for another second until you finally get up from the couch. You cautiously walk over to the door, avoid steeping on certain areas of your floor to prevent making any noises, your floors were old enough that certain spots creaked under the weight of your feet. You approach the door and slowly lean in towards the peephole, looking in with your eye you spot a figure standing at your door, wearing a black hoodie with the hood up and covering their face concealing their identify in a dark shadow beneath the fabric. You’re about to walk away from the door to grab your phone and call the cops until the figured head moves and you catch the familiar glimpse of a skull print on the balaclava they’re wearing.

You freeze in your spot.

“Simon.” You whisper.

Suddenly you unlock your door and swing the door open. The figure turns to you quickly, seeming to be startled at the sudden sound of the door opening and your met with the familiar sight of Simon standing before you, wearing his infamous skull balaclava, his brown eyes meet yours, you note how tired and upset he looked. His eyes bearing the weight of guilt in his eyes as he met your gaze.

You feel your heart beating fast and you’re short of breath as you stare him down. It’s a long beat of silence between you both.

Neither of you say a single word until he speaks.

“I’m sorry…” He says, his voice so low and weak, you almost didn’t hear him.

You feel tears prick your eyes as you felt your knees grow weak. Suddenly you’re walking forward and practically jump on him. His arm catch you as you bury your face in the crook of his neck. “I missed you so much.” You sob out as your arms wrap around his shoulders tightly.

But then you notice something, it’s odd…

Simon doesn’t smell like himself, in fact he smells like nothing at all. He always had a faint smell of cigarettes, gun powder and his cologne that always had you weak in the knees.

He’s missing the warmth he always had every time you were near him. As a matter of fact, you don’t feel the way his arms wrap around you. What’s going on?

You lean back from the hug and look back at Simon only to see his face disappeared, it’s just a dark void once again concealed under the hood of his sweater. “Simon…” You call out to him but he doesn’t answer.

You look back over to the inside of your house and suddenly you see you’re at your old shared apartment with Simon. But it’s not what you used to remember. The place is empty, dark and cold. The only thing in the room is a couch with a Simon sitting on it, his back to you, his posture slouched over with his elbows propped on his knees.

It’s then it occurs to you, none of this is real.

“Wake up.” Simon says to you, still not Turing to look at you.

You back away, slowly backing out the apartment through the front door. When you step out the apartment you suddenly let loose your balance. The outside world is gone, nothing but an empty black void and your suddenly falling into the void.

You gasps loudly as you jolt awake, your heart pounding against your chest as you sit up. You’re breath heaving as you look around, recognizing your surroundings as your apartment, your tv playing another episode of the same show you were watching before dozing off, your front door is locked and no one is knocking, the lights in your house are off, the tv being the only source of light illuminating your living room in a soft glow, and no one else is in your house. Just you and the baby within you.

You get up and walk over to the front door, the locks still locked just how you left it, the door hinge is locked in place. You stand in front of the door and just stare at the blank white painted door for a long minute, just waiting to hear anything, anyone but there’s no knocking. Just silence.

You peer into the peephole and scan the area. It’s empty, no one there just the night sky, the view of the street in front of your house just ahead of the small grass area in front of your apartment building, the street light illuminates the residential parking lot and you only see the usual cars that belong to you and your neighbors. There’s no one outside.

Your nerves began to calm, relief washing over you but you also feel something else. Disappointment and slight pain, emotional pain. The lack of Simon at your door made your heart ache as you reminisce on your dream, wising and praying that one day soon, that dream will come true. Sure you’re angry at Simon but you know deep in your heart that if he ever showed up at your door you’d do exactly what you did in your dream. Leap into his arms and forgive him a thousand times over in over, in every dream. You pray one day your dreams will come true, you always had.

Ever since you found out about your babys gender, that being a girl, you were practically ecstatic. Having a girl meant having a mini you. You can dress her up as cute as can be, do her hair, as she gets older you both can go on little mother-daughter dates. There’s so much you can do in the future, you could hardly wait for her to arrive soon.

immediately you already imagined and had so many ideas for the nursery, you wanted it to be full nothing but soft pink colors, from toys to clothes. People may think it was over the top, but you couldn’t care less. This was your first and only baby, she was your entire life, a reminiscent of the love you and Simon once shared. Of course, sometimes it’s upsets you to think about all that but soon enough, your relationship and everything about Simon will be nothing but a ghost of the past. At least you hope…

sharing the news to your sister and Jared, they congratulated you on the news. The pair both excited for a new addition to the family, to have a niece to love and help care for.

Life seemed to be good after that. About a month after you found out about the baby’s gender, you soon found an apartment, a two bedroom, maybe not in the best neighborhood but at least the apartment was decent and having two bedrooms meant your baby can have her own room— a room to make a nursery. Moving in was a bit tiring, of course you got a lot of help from Stacy and Jared, the two doing the heavy lifting and setting up the baby’s crib for you. Grated, it was going to be a while before you would have the baby sleep in the crib alone in the room, a few months at least. For the time being you planned to have a bedside bassinet for the baby to sleep in for the first few months after she’s born.

Stacy and Jared were saints, they were very supportive and offered to pay for a lot of the necessary things for the baby. As much as you appreciated it, you didn’t want to take advantage of their kindness and take their money, part of you would feel guilty if you did. You wanted to do this on your own— this was your baby, you want this, you were going to prove to Simon that you can do this on your own, even if he wasn't around to see it. Truthfully, we we're not entirely on your own, you’d have Stacy and Jared helping on the side here and there, but you wanted to try your best to raise your baby on your own for the most part.

It was Sunday, you had gotten paid this past Friday and decided to take a self-care day. Going out getting a decaffeinated drink, your doctor said it was okay to drink one small cup of coffee a day, but you didn’t want to risk anything with the baby, so you’ve personally put coffee off the table until after you’ve had the baby. After stopping at your local coffee shop, you drove to the store. You planned to go to a more popular stores to get the latest baby clothes, other necessities you may need, before going to the thrift store and finding more baby clothes for cheaper. It was also because the thrift store tends to have more cuter and vintage clothing for babies- because let's be real, a lot of the modern baby clothing was too plain and colorless- almost lifeless.

While driving you settled on stopping at HomeGoods since they always had the cutest clothes and decor, maybe you could get a few decorations for the nursery while you were at it. The nursery was done, furniture wise; The crib was set up, the drawers built, a shelf placed to store extra things.

Driving around the large parking lot, you parked in an empty parking spot closest to the store, having noticed the shopping center seemed to lack customers today with only twenty cars parked in the large lot. You noticed the more your belly grew, your walking stamina slowly decreased, you could really only go a couple hours on your feet until they grew tired and swollen and you’d feel the need to take a rest. You’re hoping with the shopping distracting you it’ll keep your mind off the discomfort of your feet until you go home. It didn’t help either that your Job had you sitting for the whole day further preventing you from getting to used to walking for long periods of time. Once you parked you spent the next hour inside home goods, finding a couple of baby clothes, a cute pastel pink ceramic carousel that you could definitely display on one of the shelves you have in the nursery. You ran across a small picture frame with a cartoon baby sleeping. You figured it would be cute frame to put the baby’s ultrasound picture in and later update it once you have the baby.

Once you found what you could in the store, you brought your items before leaving the store carry two plastic bags. Coming out to the parking lot you began walking towards your car until you stopped dead in your tracks.

The black truck was there again, parked in the next parking lot over directly across from your car. You felt your heart drop. Surely this can’t be the same car. But the longer you looked t he e more you knew you couldn’t be hallucinating.

It had the same new sleek shine to the paint job. Large tires, the same low rumble you heard last time when it was parked from across your job. And worse, the driver window was cracked open again, a tail of smoke seeping out from the window. This was definitely the same exact truck…

You feel adrenaline spike in your body. You quickly move, making a b-line straight to your car. You senses heartened just waiting to hear the trucks doors to open and except a man or two to come running at you.

Thankfully, you quickly unlock your car and slide in with ease. Glancing at the truck while you quickly insert your keys to turn your car on, the truck remains idle still. The tinted windows concealing the identity of who ever was inside, but you could feel their eyes on you sending a chill down your spine.

Shifting your car into drive you swiftly pull out from your parking spot and drive off. Glancing at your rear view mirror, staring down the truck, waiting to see if it’s following you but it remains parked. You in relief and continue driving out of the parking lot, deciding that you were going to cut your shopping trip short after your encounter with the truck. You didn’t wanna risk anything opting to just return home and relax for the rest of the evening, hopefully to get your mind off the possibility you could be getting stalked.

Watching your car drive off, he takes one more puff from his cigar. His eyes remained glued to your car, watching as you drive away until you turn out the parking lot disappearing down the road with the rest of traffic.

He blows out another cloud of smoke, letting the soft breeze from outside air out the tobacco smoke out the car before snuffing it out in the ashtray he had set out on the center console.

He shoves his hand into the pocket of his beige jacket, shuffling in the pocket until his fingers graze the familiar feeling of his phone. Pulling the device out, a burner phone usually used on important missions was now being used for a stupid task to simply keep watch of you and update the big man of your status. He lets out a big sigh as he pulls up his contact. He feels like a creep having to continually observe you from the distance for this guy— but hey, it’s all in good faith. He owes the man a long overdo favor anyways, definitely not because he’s being a good friend and cares for him (and you now-), definitely not.

But christ— he’s not sure he can continue doing this for long. This is the second time you’ve spotted him and it’s clear to him that you’re beginning to catch on. Now’s he’s gotta start being more diligent and careful. He doesn’t want to scare you off and have you doing something drastic should you suspecting him of stalking you.

Pressing the call button he brings the phone to his ear and waits until the dial tone is cut off and the familiar voice of his friend comes through the other end. “Anything new?” The voice on the other end asks.

The man huffs for the upteenth time today, “Nothin’, same shite as usual. She did stop at the store today and I noticed she got a few things for the little bugger.” He tells him, he can hear a light chuckle on the other end, the phone barely picked it up but he managed to hear it. “She did take notice of the truck however, poor thing looked scared to death when she saw it. Fairly sure she’s beginning to catch on.” The man explains as he leans back in the driver seat looking around the shopping center, noticing a random group of teenage boys walking around, obviously looking for trouble with how they laugh obnoxiously loud, two of boys wrestle each other as they walk.

He can hear his friend sigh in annoyance. “Then keep your distance. If she catches onto you, she just may run off. ‘can’t risk that.” His friend tells him. “Keep your distance, if you fuck things up an’ I find out she’s run off, I’ll personally strangle you.”

The man sighs and nodded. “Roger that boss.” He says in response not fazed by the threat.

He bids a goodbye to the man before hanging up. Placing his phone away, he finally starts up his car and drives out the parking lot. You’re long gone now, most likely gone to your house. Of course, he could go to your house and watch you some more but he’s already done enough bird watching. Not to mention, he feels bad enough invading your privacy to a certain extent and now you’re beginning to recognize his truck. You definitely looked scared half to death in that parking lot. So he decides to give you a break and call it a day, besides he’s given his friend enough of an update for today.

Pulling out of his parking spot, he begins to drive out the shopping center, the radio softly playing in the background as he drives.

“The lass sure has taken after his paranoia, that’s for sure.” The man mutters under his breath to himself gruffly as he drives off back to his home.

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