it all feels the same with your eyes closed (deep end, part 1)
A/N: This mini series needs a content warning for suicidal ideation, domestic violence, and excessive alcohol consumption. (I told y’all I was gonna throw some angst at ya.)
Things had been tense around base since the return of Task Force 141 after an unsuccessful mission. Mistakes had been made, resulting in the loss of personnel and vital intel.
The main core personnel of the Task Force were currently in a meeting, discussing information for an upcoming mission. The meeting was already tense, but it escalated as Simon and Juliana were arguing back and forth about protocols.
“I AM YOUR SUPERIOR OFFICER. I’M THE ONE IN CHARGE HERE.” Simon yells at Juliana before backhanding her across the face so hard that she stumbles back.
The room goes silent, shock spreading among everyone as they stare at the couple.
Simon throws a vicious glare at Juliana before spitting out the final piece of the argument. “Get the fuck out of my sight.”
She doesn’t bother to grab her things before sprinting out of the room.
Simon stares at the door she left through for a brief second, before turning to the rest of the room. Tensions were high, but he was trying to remain calm after his outburst. “I’m sorry you had to witness that. I’ll handle this. We’ll continue later.” He says gruffly.
He sighed internally. What was she so upset about anyway? Simon doesn’t like fighting with her, but lately it’s been happening more and more.
“Witness that? Simon, you just hit your girlfriend, not to mention you just assaulted a fellow soldier, IN FRONT OF WITNESSES.” Captain Price roars.
Simon flinches at Price’s reaction, and tries to defend his actions without being rude. “I wouldn’t have hit her without reason. I had to do what I did. It’s not like I’m proud of it. I’ll handle it, and apologize to her personally.”
“Good luck getting her to hold still long enough to do that.” Soap mutters under his breath.
“Soap!” Simon whirls on Johnny, glaring at him intensely. “Are you insinuating what I think you are right now?”
“It depends, sir,” Soap addressed him mockingly. “What is it you think I’m insinuating?”
Simon’s voice became harsh, as he spoke quickly. “I want a straight answer, Soap. Are you implying that she’s going to be so furious, that she’s going to fight me?”
“I’m implying, sir,” Soap mocks again, “That you’ll be hard pressed to even find her and get her to listen long enough for you to say the words ‘I’m sorry’, without her bolting. There’s a reason we call her Bambi.”
Simon sighed, he knew Johnny was right. She would disappear the minute she saw him. He had to do something.
His mind raced, trying to think of a plan. He didn’t know where she’d run off to, he just knew she was angry. Very angry.
“I’ll find her. I’ll make sure she hears me out.” Simon huffs.
“You’d better get this sorted out, and fast Simon. We’re getting deployed again in a few weeks, and we need this team 100% together.” Captain Price says sternly.
Simon nods, still pissed that this even became a fight in the first place. “She’ll come around. I’ll make sure of it.”
He then turns to Johnny and Kyle. “You two keep your mouths shut about this. Especially you, Soap. We don’t need anymore drama. Are we clear?”
Johnny looks him squarely in the eye. “If she wants to fill out a SHARP violation report against you, I’ll happily sign as a witness.”
“Soap…” Simon sighs. He doesn’t want any more trouble. He just needs Juliana to understand her place in the chain of command. He needs her to understand why he did what he did. He can’t afford to lose his job because of one stupid mistake. He needs to not let his temper get the better of him. He needs a break.
He looked at Johnny, then Kyle, then Price, then back at Johnny. “Soap, don’t force me into doing something drastic over this. Understood?”
“What, are you gonna hit me too? Beat me into submission? No wonder Bambi is so banged up all the time.” Johnny spits venomously.
Simon growls angrily. He was already on edge, and now this? He had a serious urge to hit something, but he held it in.
“You think it’s funny, making jokes about this?” He clenches his fists, setting them down harshly on the table. He lets out a deep breath, trying to get himself under control. “I’m warning you, Soap. For the last time, keep your mouth shut, or I’ll make you. Got it?”
“It’s not a joke, not this time.” Johnny growls. “This had to have escalated from somewhere. You make a regular habit of hitting your girlfriend to get what you want?”
Simon’s mind goes blank. A regular habit of hitting her? A sense of shock went through his system. He didn’t know Johnny could think of him that way.
“Don’t assume you know anything, Soap.” He says coldly. “I don’t go around hitting her all the time. I’ve only done it once. Just this one time. One. Time.”
“That’s what they all say.” Johnny sneers at him.
Simon took a deep breath trying to keep everything under control. He couldn’t believe Johnny was saying all of this.
“Soap, I swear to God, I only hit her this once. It was my fault, but I’ve never done it, and I won’t do it again. You’re only making this worse. We are supposed to be a team. Remember?”
“Yeah. Teammates are supposed to protect each other. They don’t backhand each other during arguments.” Soap retorts.
Simon knew he was in the wrong for hitting Juliana. He felt bad for hitting her, but he felt like he couldn’t admit that in front of Johnny, he was already digging himself in way too deep.
“I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have done it, you’re right. I let my anger get the best of me. It won’t happen again.”
He stared at the floor while he tried to figure out what to say next.
“Please, let’s just try to work through this. Don’t go around telling anyone else about this.”
“Fine.” Soap scoffs. “I won’t say anything. But if I catch even a hint that something is off, I’ll file the damn SHARP report myself.” Johnny stands up to leave, pausing in the doorway. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she was halfway through writing up a unit transfer request already.”
Simon watched as Johnny left the room. What had he done? How could he let his anger take control of him like that? Would Juliana really file a transfer request because of all this? Would he lose everything over this? And why was Johnny so defensive of her?
“Damnit.” He muttered. “I really need to talk to her. Now.”
Why had Johnny been so protective of Juliana? What is going on here?
Johnny must have known something Simon didn’t, something he wasn’t telling Simon. But that wasn’t important. He needs to go find Juliana and fix all of this.
Unless… unless Johnny really does know something. Maybe it will help Simon figure out where it all went wrong.
“Fucking hell.” Simon swore. Johnny might be the only one who might know something about what’s going on, or where Juliana went. As much as he hated the idea, asking Johnny was worth a shot.
He made his way to Johnny’s room, and knocked on the door. He just wanted to talk to the man and hear what he had to say himself.
Johnny opened the door. “Come to take a shot at another teammate?”
Simon glared at him. “You know what, Soap?” He growled. “Quit your bullshit. I know that you know where Bambi is, and I know you know why she’s mad. So tell me. Now.”
Johnny leveled him with a cool stare. “I don’t know where she is.” He said plainly.
“I don’t believe you. Why were you defending her so much?” Simon asks. He knew there was something happening that he didn’t know about. He could feel it, he just doesn’t know what it’s about. “I need the real reason, Soap.”
“Why wouldn’t I defend her!? I’ve had family go through what she has, and I’m not about to let her go through it alone again.”
‘Had family members go through….’? What the hell? Simon’s eyes widened a bit. When it clicked, Simon was surprised to hear that Johnny had a family history of domestic abuse. He hadn’t realized that that was the reason Johnny defended Juliana so much.
Johnny thought Simon was abusing her…
“So, you know something about her past, then?” He asks.
Johnny’s eyes widened. “You… you mean she hasn’t told… you?”
Simon frowned. Why hadn’t she told him anything about that part of her past? He was confused.
“No. She didn’t. And now I need to know, Soap. What happened?”
He ran his hands over his balaclava. Maybe this was the reason she got so upset? If this was the case, then he needed to tread very carefully, at least until he figured out more of what was going on.
“I don’t know the whole story, just bits and pieces, but enough to know that it was bad. Like, really bad. Almost career ending bad.” Johnny explained.
Simon was slightly disturbed by that description. He couldn’t imagine what might have happened for her to be reacting like this. He couldn’t imagine what she had gone through. What did Johnny mean by ‘almost career ending’?
“Can you at least give me some sort of basic idea? Anything, Soap, please.” Simon never pleads, ever, but right now he is. He looked at Johnny, worry and concern evident in his eyes.
“Juliana had gotten into a relationship of sorts with someone on her team, and when the guy got promoted, he outranked her, he became her superior officer.” Johnny begins. “He started getting violent with her behind closed doors, especially whenever she’d disagree with him about missions or protocols.” He pauses. “I know at one point, he hurt Jules so badly she was in the ICU for six days, and she almost got medically discharged from service. That’s when she finally put in for a transfer.”
Simon’s face paled under his mask. His hands shook slightly, but he wasn’t sure if it was from anger at himself or at the guy who hurt Juliana. This was too much for one person to carry alone.
“And… she went through all of that…. Alone? She never said anything to me, ever!” Simon sighed. “I need to find her and make sure she’s okay. I’ve fucked up, and I’m the only one who can fix this.”
Johnny shakes his head. “The only reason she told me was because she overheard me talking on the phone with my sister about a similar issue, and she offered her help. Otherwise, I don’t think she ever would have said anything.”
Simon ran his hands down his face. “So… if she hasn’t told me anything about it… I guess she doesn’t want me to know… Did she ever go into any detail about what happened, or about who this person might be?”
“She never specified, she just said someone from a previous unit. Refused to say when or where.” Johnny explains.
Simon nods. “Alright. Well… thank you for at least telling me this, Soap. I would’ve never known.”
He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t ever noticed something like this. He had always known Juliana as one of the most gentle, kind-hearted people he had met. He would never have dreamt that she had gone through something like this before.
But it also made something clear. Simon could never allow anything like this to happen to her, ever again. He would have to protect Jules - no matter what it took.
Sometimes, the people with the brightest smiles are the ones who have gone through the most oppressive darkness.
“I need to find her. I have to make sure that her past won’t define who she is in the future.” Simon sighs deeply.
“It might already be too late for that, Simon.” Johnny says cautiously.
“Do not tell anyone else about this, Johnny. You got that? We can’t have rumors spreading around right now. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Johnny rolls his eyes.
“Good. I appreciate it.” Simon turns to leave, and makes his way across the base, going through different areas in search of Juliana. “God damnit” He swears. “Where in the hell is she?”
A/N: Thanks for reading! Likes, reblogs, and feedback are appreciated!
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