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“Good morning, ladies,” Christian said to the array of simple cloth dolls on his desk.

Unsurprisingly, the dolls said nothing, staring back at him with their huge, black-felt eyes as he hit the power button on his computer. They were crude things, and a few people who spotted them said they found them a little creepy. Christian wasn’t that fond of the dolls either, but the hastily made caricatures of his two sisters would never bring him anything but warmth.

As if on cue, his phone buzzed quietly in his pocket. While Christian waited for the computer to boot up, he pulled the device out and checked it. Only one person he could think of would be awake at such an early hour and messaging him.

P sure Dan is avoiding me rn.

Christian shook his head at Lily’s message. The woman never knew when to leave well enough alone, especially when a guy she was dating was involved. Her passion and romantic ideals had already been locked into her personality when Christian had met her. They’d both been thirteen. The twelve years that followed had done nothing to blunt the woman’s determination to find herself a man and hold him down.

Shaking his head, Christian typed back.

Have you tried letting him have a bit of room? Can’t smother the guy.

It took only a minute before her response was fired back.

It’s been two days that’s not smothering.

Christian shook his head, typing back a message reminding her that the man worked two jobs, one full-time and one part-time. He turned his attention back to his computer and logged in. The system took a moment to check its records before a confirmation screen popped up. It was always his least favorite part of the process, as the confirmation screen always involved a picture of himself and his ID number.

The picture had been taken after a particularly harrowing couple of days where Christian had been run ragged as he’d tried to settle in at Fort Dale. The circles under his eyes had been so dark they’d nearly obscured the bright blue color. Even his blond hair, usually so bright it looked almost gold, had seemed to lose its luster and had grown just a shade too far past regulation. His narrow jaw and high cheekbones were lost in the general pale look of his skin from exhaustion and an overly bright camera flash.

Rather than look at the screen with the god-awful picture, he turned his gaze back to his phone.

Just cuz he’s busy doesn’t mean he can’t message me once.

Sighing, Christian opened the message and tapped back.

It does if the poor guy is exhausted. Give him a break. And don’t blow his phone up either.

With the computer logged in, he set his phone aside and began reviewing what new messages awaited him. There were the standard emails sent directly to him, and then the messages which were sent down the chain from Command. There was nothing of any real note, so he moved on to the inbox reserved for General Winter. His access to General Winter’s messages was limited to the same general and personal emails as his inbox. General Winter had granted access to Christian months ago to try and create some order out of the chaos that liked to flood his inbox.

Christian scrolled past an email from General Winter’s sister, Sara, and moved to a message from the general’s bank. He wouldn’t read anything deeply personal, but since he was generally the first to realize when General Winter was missing a due date on a bill or an update from a business he might need to know, Christian typically read anything that looked important.

As he expected, his phone began to buzzconstantlyonce the clock hit half-past six. Christian tapped the Bluetooth in his ear to answer the call without looking at the device.

“Good morning, Lily,” he said.

“I can’t believe you’re taking his side,” she said in greeting.

Christian laughed, deleting the bank email. “You’ve been blowing up his phone, haven’t you?”

“Oh, come on, you and I both know he’s not taking the time to talk to me.”

Christian shrugged, reaching to open the new message in his inbox. “He might be, he might not be. But if he is, pestering him isn’t going to do you any good. He’s going to keep ignoring you. If he’s just busy and tired, then all you’re doing is driving him away.”

“I still say it’s not hard to send one text in forty-eight hours to let me know he’s alive.”

He’d known Lily for a dozen years, and he knew damn well there was no point in trying to change her mind when she was determined and set on a course. He also knew it was better to distract her before she picked up steam. Once Lily got going, there was no bringing her back until she ran out of energy, which could take the better part of an hour if she was really riled.

“How’s Mary?” Christian asked.

“Don’t think you can distract me.”

“I’m asking about our sister because the last I heard from her, she wasn’t feeling too good.”

Lily sighed. “She had to stay home yesterday, but don’t worry. When I saw her last night before I headed out for my shift, she was up and didn’t look so bad.”

Christian frowned. “Not looking bad isn’t quite the same as being okay.”