It's about a week and a half before you see Jesse again. You spend your days pacing around your hospital room when a nurse isn't around to make you lie down. You watch the news constantly, trying to figure out if things are going well or not.

The worst part is, nearly everyone left to deal with the situation. You can't help but feel vulnerable in the mostly empty Overwatch headquarters. On days when the nurses deem you well enough, they let you walk for a bit around the headquarters. The sight of the empty Upper Agent quarters, and the nearly deserted Lower Agent training area, spare some Reds and Blues, shakes you to your core. They allow the doctors who aren't field medics to stay to watch over the already injured, but the building has been mostly vacated.

You have zero way of contacting anybody, and you get the feeling that even if you could, chatting with you wouldn't be top priority.

Just from the news alone you understand how dangerous clearing this occupation is. Overwatch is there along with the US Military, and you see shots of bodies littering the streets. Your stomach turns when you see a few Overwatch casualties among the slaughter.

You hold onto the gift from Jo, pressing the button every so often, but mostly just holding onto it. It got you through so much, the little keepsake from when you were children.

You spend every day pushing down the feelings of terror that rise up on you. The air is thick with worry among the nurses. You can see it through their small glances at one another, at you. All of Overwatch headquarters seems to be thick with a heavy feeling. Nothing cuts the tension, and everyone walks around with their stomach knotted, waiting for some sign of good news.

You awake on your twelfth day in the hospital wing around nine in the morning and turn on the news. The headline blares, "Overwatch and US Military rid Detroit of Talon and Null Sector Occupation." Your heart jumps.

You hear the nurses chatter about a large incoming. You sit up in bed, waiting patiently for them to come in. The only doctor left in the building, a woman with dark hair, comes into you room.

"How are you feeling this morning, (Y/N)?" She asks, before moving to check your vitals.

"Fine. Looks like we did it, huh?" You ask, hoping that you can finally be discharged.

"Yes, lots of people will be in here today. You'll probably have a roommate for the next couple of days."

"So I'm not out yet?" You say.

"No. You still need rest. Even after those blood transfusions, you still had some deficit. You didn't tell us just how much blood you had lost. You're lucky to be alive."

Your lips form a tight line as you hold your hold back a complaint.

"However," the nurse continues, "You can come and greet everybody when they get back."

You smile and say, "thank you."

She gives you a smile and nods politely. You can see the worry in her eyes. You sit in silence, allowing your mind to wander as the chatter of the news continues to play in the background. You try to push down the nerves and focus on good memories of your time here, but you find little success. 

You decided to sleep the day away, having nothing to do but sit and watch the same news cycle anyway. You spend the entirety of the morning and early afternoon drifting in and out of a restless sleep. Every once and awhile, you peek one eye open to find a nurse in the room, moving something.

When you fully come to, you see another hospital bed set up in between the one you're in, and the one on the other side of the room. 

"What's going on?" You ask a nearby nurse. 

"There's more injured than we thought, so every room is going to have to host three people now. Everything should be fine. After all, the rest of the medical team will be back in just an hour."

"An hour? They'll be back that soon?"

"The last we heard, it should be anytime between forty-five minutes and an hour. If you want, I'm going for a walk, and I've been told that I could take you around the complex for a bit if you would like."

Your eyes light up at the prospect of leaving the room. "Yes please. Thank you."

The nurse nods and helps you stand. "Do you need the chair again?"

"No, I should be alright to stand, thank you."

"No worries. Don't overwork yourself."

"I know." You say with a smile. You've been in and out of the medical center enough times to know the routine. 

The nurse takes your arm. You aren't as stable as you think you are after all, and you stumble after a few steps.

"Take your time." She says kindly.

You take a few deep breaths and steady yourself. "Sorry. I guess I thought I was better."

"Don't get me wrong, you have always recovered fast. I remember when you first got here. You try to walk every injury off. Maybe give this one time."

You turn to really face her and you recognize her. She was one of the nurses who was there when you first arrived here. 

"Wait... Eli, right?"

"Yes! It's been years since I actually treated you, but you've always been quite the character. I could never forget you." She smiles. 

"You're the one who tried to make me swear off dating McCree." You chuckle as the two of you walk the empty Overwatch grounds.

"I was right, wasn't I? How'd that work out for you?"

Right. Barely anyone knows about your friendship, let alone what happened in the hospital wing.

You say nothing, and just chuckle to yourself. She seems to interpret it as a confirmation. 

"Trust me, the man broke my heart, and we talked three times. He has that sorta way about him, I suppose."

"I suppose." You say.

You chat some more as you wind your way around the Overwatch grounds. As you're making your way back toward the nursing wing, you hear a shout: "The first load is back!"

You and Eli turn to each other, make eye contact, and rush toward the aircraft hangar. 

All of the nurses and other agents are now occupied with getting the wounded into hospital beds. You see some familiar figures. Lena is helping Madison along, who's limping, and is bleeding from a shoulder wound. Genji is guiding Hunter along beside the other pair, who is clutching his chest. Probably broken ribs. 

You rush up to them. "Mads, Hunter, are you okay?"

"They will be." Lena says, "We just have to get Ange back up."

"Ange? What happened to Ange?"

You see a group of some Silver agents wheeling blonde woman on a gurney in. 

"Don't crowd." Morrison is clearing the now crowded hangar. "Let's get her through, come on."

"Where's Ginger?" You ask the others. 

"She's with the other group. They all suffered much worse, so most of the healers are with them. We managed to get everybody into two waves. Most of us survived, but we're gonna have an overflow." Lena says. 

Lena and Genji help Madison and Hunter back into the hospital wing. No one died. This makes your heart a little lighter. 

You look through the group of people all funneling through into the main Overwatch building, struggling to find Jesse. 

You push through the people, leaving Eli behind to escort the wounded back. 

"I gotcha." You hear. Your head turns, and you see Jesse helping Baines off of the aircraft. Her face is pale, and her clothes are soaked with blood. Her light brown hair is matted and tangled, and also slick with blood from a head injury. 

"Oh s**t," you say, rushing over to the pair of them. 

You help support the other side of her. Jesse seems better off, certainly better than he was in Detroit. 

"Hey cowboy," you say as you lift Baines to her feet. 

"Howdy." The two of you help her walk back toward the medical wing. Eli, your nurse, sees the three of you, and rushes you back to your room. 

"I'll mark down that you're all in here. Jesse, for the love of everything that's good and holy, don't move." She makes him sit down on the bed, and immediately goes to grab things for Baines. 

"Nice to see you too." He says. Once she leaves the room, he immediately hops off of the bed and kneels by Baines. You do the same.

"Hey, kiddo," he says, taking her hand. She turns her head to face him and smiles as much as she can. "You did good work out there. We're gonna get you all patched up in no time. Promise."

She nods, before wincing in pain. The worry in Jesse's eyes is overwhelming. 

Several nurses rush in, along with the doctor who stayed with you, and immediately scramble to get things done. They say things you don't understand, and soon enough, they put Baines under. Jesse doesn't leave her side until she's asleep. 

The doctor turns to you and says, "you and Jesse should wait outside. We're going to have to do some more intensive work that you probably won't want to be around for."

"Noted." You say, and at the same time Jesse says, "Gotcha."

You both exit the room and walk around the now stirring Overwatch facility. You manage to walk without much help, though Jesse does have to help once or twice when you stumble. Days in bed doesn't make it easy to be active again. 

He can't quite focus. You eventually make your way up to the balcony where you first observed a sparring match, and find a bench to sit on. You're all alone up here, the lights are still off from disuse, and this section of the second floor isn't often used anyway. 

You take his hand a squeeze it. He glances over at you and smiles. He squeezes back. 

After minutes of silence you say, "what happened out there?"

He chuckles dryly and says, "it got worse. We all left, hoping to get the drop on them, but after the two of us got caught, they were ready. Silver's Primary was out of commission almost immediately, so Baines stepped in. (Y/N), you would have loved to be there. She reminds me so much of you. She's got that kind of voice that carries, it's commanding. People trust her. She's a natural born leader. Funny thing is, none of the Silvers she led got injured." He shakes his head and says quietly, "Of course they didn't."

"She put the others before herself... she was ready to die for them." You sit and gaze out at the darkened facility. 

"She's nineteen years old, (Y/N). Hell, no one should have to go through what she did, but she did it at nineteen..." He trails off. You see the tears coming to his eyes. 

"What are her injuries?" You ask quietly. 

"She got shot, four or five times, maybe. Some of those idiots that she was leading didn't understand what 'get behind cover' meant. She stood and just took round after round until they were all in the building. Then she fell. Hit her head pretty bad."

You squeeze his hand again. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there."

When he speaks again, his voice is a whisper and choked in a sob. "You shouldn't have been, (Y/N). We don't need more dead soldiers." 

You wrap your arms around him, and just hold him. "I'm sorry, Jesse. I know you care about her. She's competent, and caring, and if the values of Overwatch were a person, they would be her. I've got money on her running this whole show one day."

He chuckles through tears and hugs you back. "I'd be willing to bet on that." He breaks the hug, and turns to face you. "How many years you give it?"

"Oh, less than ten."

"Less than ten, and on the Commander Council? Bull!"

"Come on, I'm Gold Commander, and it only took me three years."

"Gold Commander and being Commander Morrison are two very different things." After a few moments of silence, he puts his hand on yours. "I missed you, (Y/N), a lot." 

You wipe the leftover tears from his face, and kiss him on the forehead. "Now imagine having nothing to do but sit around all day for nearly two weeks and watch tv, worrying that I was never going to see you again."

"I don't know, the horrors of war sound worse to me."

You laugh. "I've seen them enough to last a couple of lifetimes, and trust me, at least that's more exciting. Sitting around all day won't give you anxiety and night terrors for the rest of your life. Normal people are so boring."

"So boring." Jesse agrees with a smile. You two just sit there. You lay your head on his shoulder. The lights in the rest of the Overwatch headquarters begin to flicker on as activity once again begins to permeate the building. You smile. You feel Jesse's smile too, though you don't look over to see it. 

"You know, I've got a feeling that everything's going to be just fine."

"I hope so."

________________________

Your eyes the next morning in the hospital wing. You feel as if you're dreaming. The light just barely shines in through the curtain that covers the window. You hear the soft snoring of Jesse from across the room. You roll over to see the gentle rising and falling of Baines' chest from the bed over. 

It finally washes over you how young she is. When you were her age, you hadn't done much with your life except rush into some college. You couldn't imagine taking several bullets for people who were barely your acquaintances. You sit up, and pull some of the curtain back. A stream of sunlight pours into the room, and you hear stirring from across the room. 

Jesse sits up, rubs his eyes, and turns to face you. He gives you a smile. He glances over at Baines, and then back at you. He puts a finger to his lips in a "shhh," motion, and then slides out of bed. He glances at the door to make sure someone isn't going to yell at him about getting out of bed, and then makes his way over to yours, and sits down. 

You sit up to make room for him, and he sits opposite to you. 

"Feeling better?" You whisper. 

"Yeah. There wasn't a whole lot wrong with me. I probably needed a few more days to rest 'cause of the gunshot wound, but I just have a couple of scrapes, maybe one broken rib- though one bullet did graze my arm. Nothing serious." He whispers. 

You glance over at Baines. "She looks like she's recovering fairly well."

"I hope so." He says. 

"This'll all be over soon, and things can go back to normal." You leave out 'hopefully.'

Jesse just nods. He scoots over to your side of the bed and lays down. You follow suit. Your back is pressed up against his chest, and you feel his rhythmic breathing. 

"Nice to just be close to you when we're not both dying," he whispers into your ear. You smile. You feel him plant  whiskery kisses up and down your neck. You turn to face him and kiss him on the lips. He smiles. You just lay there for awhile, staring into his eyes, smiling. Soon again you turn to face the room.

He wraps his arms around you. You lay there, content. You close your eyes, and soon you slip back into a peaceful slumber.

___________________________

When you awake, you hear the sound of Commander Morrison's voice out in the hallway, talking to someone. 

You hear a curt, "Thank you," and then the door swings open. 

"(L/N), McCree, sorry to... where's McCree?" He turns to ask you as you sit up and begin to stretch. 

You yawn, and glance over to McCree's bed, which is empty. 

"I'm not sure," you say.

"What about me?" Comes a voice from behind you. Please no. Not now.

Jesse sits up and stretches, before immediately going red when he sees Morrison at the door. 

"Uh, well," Jesse fumbles for words.

Morrison just stares at the two of you, dead-eyed. 

"Forget it," Morrison says, "are you at least decent?" He averts his gaze.

"Yes sir," you say, "we just talked earlier this morning and fell asleep. Nothing else. It won't happen again."

"What you do in the privacy of your own quarters is up to you, but please keep the... contact to a minimum in the hospital wing."

"Yessir," Jesse says through a yawn, then, "what did you need from us?"

"Those who aren't injured have been encouraged to maintain a sense of normalcy, and I wanted to see if the two of you would be willing to try reconciling to run some drills with them... but I suppose you've already reconciled."

"Yes, we have," you stand and say, "what drills do you need us to run?"

_______________________

"Again," Jesse calls at the Lower Agents. The two of you are running a simple weapons drill, nothing more than basic target practice. 

"I don't know why he needs both of us out here," you say, "I feel like one of us should stay with Eliana." 

"Baines should be fine, but I agree." He says. 

"If you want to go back and check on her, when we're done with this set, I can keep running these."

He fidgets for a moment, before saying, "okay."

You notice someone with improper form, and approach them. 

"Stop, safety on." They do as you say. "May I see your weapon?" They hand you their pistol.

You demonstrate proper form, put the headphones on, and fire three consecutive shots. All bullseyes. You put the safety on, and hand them their gun. They copy you, and you make some minor adjustments. 

They nod, "thank you."

You nod back, and when you look back to Jesse, he gives you a small smile. 

"What?" you ask when you approach him again. 

"You're pretty darn good at that now. Remember when I had to teach you?"

"Oh haha."

"I'm serious. We might be evenly matched now."

"Might? Are you a Gold Commander?"

"My apologies, your majesty," he says, smirking. He pulls you into a side hug. You rest your head on his shoulder. 

"Your turn," you say, gesturing to another agent at the end who starts to get sloppy. You can see the frustration on his face as he fires another round.

"Alright." 

As he walks over, you turn to see one of Eliana Baines's nurses approaching you. Your stomach sinks. 

"(L/N), may I speak with you for a moment?"

"Yes, is everything alright with Eliana?" You turn to fully face her. 

"Yes, she will fully recover. We had to go through and do some emergency procedures this morning due to some unforeseen complications, but she's doing well, all things considered. I just wanted to tell you that you and McCree are most likely going to be discharged this evening after some minor tests."

You breathe a sigh of relief. "How is Dr. Ziegler faring?"

"She's going to take awhile to recover, but she should be alright. We have a whole team waiting on her 24 hours a day. She should be fine." You hear the worry in her voice, and your heart drops a bit.

"Alright, thank you."

"No problem. Someone will contact you or McCree about Baines if anything happens."

"Thank you." 

You turn to find McCree, who's already walking back toward you. 

"What was that about?" He asks quietly. 

"Baines will be fine. We'll probably be discharged tonight."

"That's great news."

"Ange isn't faring as well, but the nurse said she should be alright." Jesse takes your hand subtly. 

"I'm sure she'll be fine. She's a fighter- she's our glue. We need her. Destiny, fate, God, whatever, they can't let her go yet. The world needs heroes, but the heroes need Angela."

You chuckle, "I hope you're right."

"Me too."

"Hope is all we've got, huh?"

"Sure is. What do you wanna do when we get discharged?"

"Well, they probably won't let us leave the premises until everything gets sorted out here... so I'm not sure."

Jesse glances at his watch, and presses a button. The stations power down and the lights turn off. Everyone knows the routine, and puts the