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“An idiot, but not a complete idiot,” Christian mused as he deleted them.

But also not bright enough to keep his things under lockdown. Christian chuckled, moving one of Lily’s files on his thumb drive over to the hard drive and activating it. It was a small gift from Lily, who swore up and down that, given an hour or so, it would scrub everything in the background of Ethan’s computer. If done right, it would make sure nothing deleted or indexed would be accessible, no matter how good the person was with computer systems. Content to let it run in the background, he put the laptop back on the table.

Pocketing the flash drive, he hummed contentedly. His good mood didn’t stop when he heard the toilet flush again, followed by the sound of running water. Christian pulled his phone out, quickly opening a browser and idly scrolling as he heard the bathroom door open.

Ethan, still green in the face, leaned out from the hallway. “Hey, uh, I’m really sorry about this.”

Christian peered up, eyes wide with concern. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I think I ate something...wrong. Sorry, I know that’s not what you wanted to hear,” Ethan muttered, looking away.

Christian shook his head, pocketing his phone. “No, don’t be sorry. It happens to the best of us. Do you need anything?”

“No, but I don’t...I know, nothing will be happening tonight, not with...this. Um, maybe another time?” Ethan offered, hopefully.

Christian smiled softly, nodding. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you probably don’t want company. You just worry about feeling better, alright?”

“Yeah, of course,” Ethan said with another grimace.

Christian walked to the front door opening it. “Text me?”

Ethan put on a pained smile. “As soon as I’m better.”

Christian nodded. “Looking forward to it.”

The look of concern on his face melted as he closed the door behind him. Christian jogged down the stairs leading to the street and onto the sidewalk. As he pulled out his phone to order a ride back to the base, he also pulled out the thumb drive and stared at it with a wide grin.

“Definitely looking forward to it,” he said.

DAVID

Sunday night found him staring at his ceiling rather than sleeping. It wasn’t as if Christian had told him he would contact him regarding whatever he had planned, but David had hoped. He checked his phone repeatedly as he’d puttered around his home and kept it on his bedside table while it charged rather than in the living room.

With only a couple of hours sleep, David was forced to drag himself out of bed on Monday morning. The first thing he did was check his phone and found nothing. With a sigh, he showered and dressed. At least a dozen times, he considered trying to contact Christian, only to put it away and tell himself to wait.

The ride up in the elevator to the waiting room was the longest of his life, and David all but darted out when the doors opened. He paused as he spotted Christian behind his desk, already at work. The blond looked up, smiling before looking off to the side. It was then the general spotted someone else in the waiting room.

“Good morning, General,” Christian called, his eyes settling on Reyes beside him.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” David replied, nodding toward Reyes, who quickly stood to salute him.

Christian chuckled, patting Reyes’ side. “Don’t start doing that, or your arm is going to give out. He’s in and out of his office all day and gets grumpy if he gets saluted every time.”

“And he speaks from personal experience,” David told him, still watching Christian.

Christian chuckled. “That I do. If you’d like to get started on your day, General, I’ll be in with your coffee in a few minutes. You’ve got about an hour before any appointments, so don’t feel rushed.”

David nodded, hoping that was a good sign. David didn’t normally take coffee in the morning, preferring water or tea. But if Christian was going to use that as an excuse for them to be alone, then David wasn’t going to argue.

“That works, but spare the cream and sugar,” David said, marching to his office.

He heard Christian talking softly to Oscar as David closed his office door behind him. Taking a deep breath, he purposefully made sure not to hurry, taking his time to sit down and organize his thoughts. When that didn’t burn enough time before Christian came in, he powered up his computer and began to log in. As the computer brought up the confirmation screen, his door slid open.

Christian walked in with a huge, steaming mug. He closed the door, marched to the desk, and set it down with a heavy thud.

“Sorry about that. You looked like you hadn’t slept all weekend, so I had to make it extra strong. Careful, I think it’s more sludge than liquid,” Christian said.

David took the mug by the handle, sniffed, and took a sip. “Oh. Yes, you’re not kidding.”