Off Base (Out of Uniform 1)

“You asleep?”

For the briefest of seconds, Zack thought it might be his father, come back with a change of heart, but he cracked open an eye to find the senior chief standing before him. He tried to ignore the fresh burn in his throat. “No, sir. I’m awake.”

“Good.” The senior chief held up a reusable grocery bag. “Heard you’re getting sprung tomorrow. Thought I’d bring you by some fresh clothes and your phone.”

His phone. Pike. Stupid how happy a little hunk of plastic and silicone made him. “Thank you, sir.”

“It’s dead as a doornail, but I grabbed one of Dorrell’s chargers for you. Want me to plug it in?”

“Yes, please.”

The senior chief got the phone charging next to Zack’s bed, then settled himself in one of the visitor’s chairs. “You put me in a damn hard position, Nelson.”

“Sorry?” Fuck. Last thing Zack needed was one more person mad at him.

“LT called me on my way over here, said we’re going to meet with you Thursday morning. I assume you know what that’s over?”

“Yes, sir.” Damn. Apollo and the paperwork gods worked fast.

“Zack.” It was the first time the older man had used his first name. “Why couldn’t you just tell me? You think this is really some kind of surprise to me?”

“No, sir.” Zack could tell by the other man’s stony expression that it wasn’t, and if he was honest with himself, he could admit that the senior chief had probably suspected since he’d met Pike, and the senior chief hadn’t really batted an eye at Pike.

“My job is to keep my enlisted men alive, you understand me? And I can’t do that if you don’t talk to me, don’t trust me with the truth.”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“You’ve got to trust your command leadership. And if you can’t, we’ve failed you some fundamental way.”

“I should have talked to you sooner,” Zack admitted. “You’ve been nothing but good to me this whole time, letting me stay—” He stopped short as a thought popped into his head. “You suspected something was going on even then, didn’t you?”

“I’m not a stupid man. I knew there was a reason you wanted off base. And it’s on me that I didn’t pin you down, make you tell me everything. Nelson, you could have died out there. And that would be on my shoulders.”

“It was a freak thing. Not anyone’s fault.”

The senior chief snorted. “And you know what the worst of it was?”

“Um...” Zack almost didn’t want to guess. “What?”

“I wanted to call that roommate of yours. You were dying and I needed to do something. But he wasn’t listed anywhere on your paperwork, and because you hadn’t trusted me, I wasn’t sure whether I’d be leading him into a hornet’s nest of a family situation or even if you’d want him notified. That’s a hell of a position to leave me—and him—in.”

“I know,” Zack said, grinding his teeth. “Believe me, I know. I fu—messed up. And he’s mad at me too.”

“That’s hardly reassuring.” The senior chief’s laugh was a harsh bark. “You messing up what might be the best thing in your life isn’t exactly what I want to hear. I like that man.”

“Me too.” Zack had to whisper to keep his voice steady. “And I’m trying to make this all right for him. For me. For us. For the team.”

“That’s a lot of right.” He sighed and nodded as if he were coming to some conclusion. “And I suppose this meeting with the LT is a good step along that process. I’ve got your back.”

“Thank you, sir. That means...a lot.” He barely managed to keep his voice from breaking.

“Now, tomorrow. I’m going to pick you up when they discharge you—”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Nelson. We’re done arguing.” He hit Zack with a hard stare. “Only question is whether I’m taking you to my house so Cherice can fuss over you or taking you to your place?”

His place. His and Pike’s. Home. “My place.”

“You sure you can make things okay with Pike? I don’t want you alone when you’re still recovering.”

“I’m going to fix things.” And for the first time, Zack let himself really believe that. Of all the steps he’d taken in the past forty-eight hours, walking into that house was going to be the hardest, but no way was he letting Pike go without a fight.

* * *

Pike slammed back his third soda of the day as he booted up the classroom’s computer and projector, trying to find some energy before his last Monday class. He checked his phone for the hundredth time. Nothing from Zack. He’d had updates from Ryan all weekend that Zack was improving. He was due to be released today or tomorrow, and most notably, his parents had left yesterday. But Zack hadn’t sent him a message through Ryan or any other means requesting his presence. Maybe they really were well and truly over.