𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙨. Evan Buckley ¹

thirty three

BEAUTIFUL MESS.
chapter thirty three.

"Can you tell me a story?" Buck asked innocently.

Hunter thought for a moment before nodding. She knew what kind, she realized a long time ago he was invested in her service. Hunter thinks it started after she wouldn't tell him about her distinguished service medal.

"Okay," she sighed before trying to find a good one. Hunter laid underneath the boy, he was careful to avoid her shoulder but also keep his leg elevated.

The previous night Hunter hadn't felt like going back to her apartment. Nor did she feel like making the painful drive once more. She woke up in an eerily familiar position with none other than Evan Buckley.

It had seemed Buck was no longer ignoring her, that much was obvious. Hunter still wasn't quite sure where they stood but nevertheless she let a story come to mind.

"The 8113 was moving a woman named Sayyid Akhtar back to our camp, Dwyer. We picked her up after an op outside of Kandahar by a couple of kilometers. Her husband was Kareem Akhtar, we had uncovered a large drug operation. Sayyid was put into our custody, the amount of information she had was astronomical. But she wouldn't betray her husband or her son"

Hunter slightly shifted from under Buck to get more comfortable

"So naturally, we took her with us. Afterwards, we had her for maybe two or three days then we got orders to release her back into Afghan custody. I mean, who were we to object something the UN called for even if we didn't agree with it. The trip was less than ordinary to start. We had a doctor from the UN tag along with us, I still can't be sure as to why. If Donny was still here, he'd say that man was no doctor. Same with this doctor from the Navy who would tag along with us, Kevin," Hunter laughed at the memory of her favorite spotter before continuing but Buck stopped her with a question.

"Donny- what happened with him?" He asked as he played with the fingers of her left hand that was slung down across his shoulder.

Hunter sighed, "A man named Solotov, the ghost sniper- he's the man that had shot me. Well, just before that Solotov had managed to get a hit on Donny and he went down. Donny was my favorite spotter I ever known, one of my best friends. God, he used to get so pissed off because all I'd call him was pumpkin..."

"I'm sorry-" Buck went to offer his condolences but Hunter squeezed his hand in hopes of telling him it wasn't necessary.

"Anyways, there was a roadblock waiting for us on our trip back to camp. To this day, I'm still not quite sure who they were with. They weren't Taliban but had no relationship with the Akhtar's. Maybe they had just felt like causing trouble that day.

Making a long story short, all I can say is that they started shooting. We left the car, Sayyid and the doctor stayed behind for obvious reasons," Hunter paused while thinking back to it, "it wasn't very often I experienced close heavy fire but I hate to say that I relished in those moments. The adrenaline and the way I could manage to feel so calm in the middle of chaos."

Buck nodded, understanding what she had meant, "oh, so you're an adrenaline junky?"

Hunter lightly hit him with her hand as she let a small laugh out at his joke, "No, well yes..."

"Continue," he encouraged, moving his head slightly against Hunter's shoulder.

"Where was I- oh, once the situation had been taken care of, Donny was going off about something. We had all walked back over to him and the doctor. Laying there in front of him was Sayyid, dead. And I can remember Donny saying 'you call yourself a doctor? Why the hell would you stick your damn fingers in her artery?" Hunter shook her head, that man still irked in a way, "Sayyid had been caught in the crossfire, bullet grazed her neck. Except Kevin, the Navy doctor, wasn't even sure it was a bullet. The wound had been so messed up by the UN that the neck was basically torn apart. You'd think a doctor of all people would have been able to save-"

Hunter cut herself off, lost in thought before turning her memories down a different path, "the doctor had practically pried her neck open and she died of blood loss-"

"Wouldn't he have covered it, used pressure or something?"

"You'd think so," Hunter said sarcastically, "we lost Sayyid that day, one of our best leads we ever found. And that was the first time I'd seen Donny snap," Hunter laughed as she thought of her friend, "man, he looked like he was going to fight that UN doctor."

Buck had a soft smile as he listened to her tell her story, "you really cared for him didn't you? I mean, the way you talk about him. It's almost like you and Cody."

Hunter nodded her head and thought about his words, "he was my best friend, guess he kinda was like my brother."

"Any more stories?" Buck asked hopefully.

Hunter chuckles and shook her head, "Buckley, one is enough."

The blond man groan as his head fell back further against the girl. He knew the attempt would be far fetched but he had to at least try.

There now seemed to be an unspoken conception between the two of them had formed sometimes after Hunter and Buck sat quietly on the couch last night.

Neither quite knew what was happening, or what would for that matter, but they weren't going to say anything. It was as if they had simply fallen into a routine, like they had been this way for years.

Buck knew not to expect a commitment from the girl. it was odd for him, it was the first time he had to wait for a girl. But he knew that she'd be worth it.

The man wanted to ask, he wanted to speak and question what they were doing. Normal friends didn't spend their morning wrapping up in each other's arms. And he was okay with that. He knew that she couldn't quite say what she felt, hell she probably didn't know for sure what she felt.

All he needed was the prospect of her, the idea of Hunter made him happy. And it took him too damn long to realize it.

Hunter should have figured it out long ago, the security she felt in his arms and the comfort she found in their conversations. And she wasn't sure she had figured it out yet, maybe one day she would understand herself.

There was only so long a war within herself could survive. She was fighting everyday, hoping and praying that the right side would come out on top. She needed the moral and the rational side to surface victorious.

But for now, there was no war. There was peace as she sat there on her best friend's couch and held him tight with her one good arm.

She thought back to his earlier words when he spoke of how the bombing brought revelations to surface for him. Hunter thought back to grabbing his hand and clutching it with her as she laid helplessly on the ground. Maybe she too cared more than she had let on. But admitting that was a completely different story.

For now, the unspoken consensus would be enough.

was so excited for season six
last night but barely watched any of it :(