Machine Learning (Captain Allen and DPD SWAT POV)

Stateside

I stopped, causing someone to bump into me.

"Sorry-" The guy waved at me and kept walking. He was a servicemember too. Canadian.

I gave him a nod, confused why he apologized when it was my fault, and slipped into the room that brought back memories of sneaking cigarettes in my dad's old Chevy.

"Chaplain?" I whispered.

His face snapped up, eyes red and bloodshot, a short tremor wracking through him.

"S-Staff Sergeant?"

"Yeah, it's me. You good?"

He sniffed, wiped his nose, leaned back and looked at the ceiling before taking a deep breath. His cheeks puffed out and flattened with one, long drag of air before he hit his cigarette like it was the last one he'd ever smoke.

"Not really." He answered without looking at me. "Is that wrong?"

There was a time for being a hard ass and a time for being humane. My face fell into sympathy, which looked like it offended him, but I didn't care.

"No, Chap. It's not wrong." I sat down next to him and opened his pack of cigarettes.

"Since when do you smoke?" He chuckled.

"I don't anymore. Used to." I used his lighter, putting it back where I found it when I was done, "You looked like you could use a smoking buddy-" I coughed, "God-" Coughed some more, "Jesus, now I remember why I quit-"

"Burn feels good though, don't it?" His southern twang came out, and his smile seemed genuine enough until it disappeared, "Fass always liked these. Rodriguez too. Complained about how his wife bitched at him for sneaking a smoke when he went home."

"That's what they're good for, right?"

"Tch, whatever, your wife is awesome."

"Yeah, but that's how you would've answered, so I thought I'd play the part."

He smirked, "Thanks, Staff Sergeant."

There was a long moment where the only words spoken were announcements in multiple languages from the overhead speaker. Chaplain broke the silence.

"I know we should all be used to this by now. This sure ain't my first brush with death, neither. It just feels..." He shrugged, not able to finish the sentence.

"It feels different." I finished for him.

He looked shocked, "Yeah. Different."

"We'll get through this, Chaplain." I offered him a caring smile, "We always do."

"Semper Fi, Staff Sergeant."

I smirked, "Semper Fi, brother."

...

My stomach flipped as I deboarded the plane, and I started to feel nauseous as I got closer and closer to baggage claim. They'd be waiting there, and then we'd have to wait for my bag. What would we talk about? How should I act? These thoughts kept spinning in my head, and I knew it was pointless to plan things out, because nothing I put in place now would stand the moment I saw them. I kept my legs moving in the right direction, one step at a time.

I saw Sadie waiting there, fidgeting with her fingers, looking up, staring at a screen with scheduled flights. She had a look of worry on her face until her eyes dropped down to me, only a few feet away now.

She hugged me, and I squeezed her back, and her sigh of relief grazed beads of sweat on my shoulder.

"Where's Tali?" I asked, wiping my eyes and playing it off.