Chapter 205 Part of the Family

Half the platoon had been given time off, since they were now under Barbara, and Rachel had heard a rather sobering conversation three days earlier between Lt. Mateo and his murdered soldier’s wife, who lived in the DC area. The situation made her stomach cramp as she thought about returning to Miami and what the Scarlet Hand might have waiting for them.

Waving off Jeanne as she broke away, Rachel watched the woman retire to her own hotel. Rachel was a tad surprised when Maria and Fiona went to the place down the street to sleep in Erika’s hotel room; although, on second thought, it made sense, since the fox woman was going through a rough breakup, and it would be nice to have other women around to comfort her.

At the door, she hugged Scarlet and Alexa, seeing Nia pull Scarlet to the bathroom first to get ready for bed, discussing some manga the reaper had gotten the girl into. However, the blonde stopped her outside her brother’s room, and Rachel heard him inside, waiting up for his wife while reading online sources for PMCs.

"Umm, Rachel," she gulped, fidgeting with her jacket front and shooting her an embarrassed smile. "It was... really nice to hang out with you all. Haha. The basketball, working out, yeah, it, uh, it felt like... I had a magical night with everyone," she finished.

"Hey..." Pulling her in for another hug, Rachel squeezed a bit harder to make her grunt, picking her off the ground. "Sorry for being a total ass. You’re a part of the family. Scarlet invited you to the funeral, so I guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow. Let me know if Nam is staying here to be with Dad since Mom’s going."

"Sure!"

Seemingly trying not to be emotional, Alexa waved her off and entered the room to be welcomed by her husband, who asked about her day; she gestured to Rachel as the hare left. Yeah, her brother did score a catch... It didn’t matter if the blonde didn’t have all that much in common with her; she was good for her brother.

Moving upstairs, she smiled, thinking about the time, albeit short, she’d spent with the blonde; Scarlet, especially, had been thankful to have a fellow anime lover to join in the fun. The traumatized girl needed all the support she could get with the emotional cyclone that was coming up.

The girl obviously could sense her emotions, as well, resonating with them. Rachel hugged her, and Nia joined in on the mismatched sandwich, taking the fanged girl from behind and making her giggle.

"I’m okay... Well, I’m not... but I’m working through it with your guys’ help. Thanks, Rachel. Thanks, Nia... Both Nia," she whispered, shifting to bend down and embrace the child.

"Yeah! Hops and I will have your back, Sgt. Fangs!"

"I bite!" Scarlet snickered, chomping her teeth and making the bun squeal and slip out of her grip to run to Rachel’s room. "Hehe."

"Insubordination! You’ll be disciplined tomorrow, Soldier!"

"Shhh!" Rachel held a finger over her lips and hugged Scarlet one last time before retiring herself. "Night, Scarlet. We have your back."

"Thanks. Night!"

Seeing her rosy smile disappear behind her door, Rachel sighed, heading to her room to see Nia hugging her pillow and rolling around the bed; she’d come off her sugar high soon. Helping the girl settle down, she thought back to her conversations with Fiona and Maria.

As Rachel had predicted, Erika wanted to block out everything regarding her lousy breakup and had promised to dive into the legal stuff regarding PMCs with Nam when she woke up, and even Alexa wanted to have a part in it. Nam had thankfully taken on more of an active role in the business side of her new company, learning the legal workings.

Unfortunately, that meant that her father was left to do a lot of extra work regarding their accounting firm. Unexpectedly, their dad seemed rather supportive of Nam helping her in this new venture she wanted to get into; she’d expected him to be on her mother’s side and add resistance toward anything dangerous, yet he’d surprised her.

As Rachel got ready for bed with her new attire securely inside Nia’s internal wardrobe, the little bun dispersed in twinkling lights while swapping to their silky black nightgown.

Rachel pushed her lips to the side with a huff while plucking at the hem of the item she would probably never purchase herself as Nia snuggled in around her form to sleep. "You love dressing me up, even when we’re going to bed, don’t you?"

A low, internal chirp came from the child. "I had a good day, Major! I got to play basketball with Selv and the PIG game, I got to go running with everyone, and I got a new dress... Thanks, Major... I’m so tired," she whimpered, gown hugging her tighter; it felt as if the kid had her arms wrapped around her.

Rubbing her stomach, Rachel crawled into bed as Coral slipped in through the closed window, phasing through the wall to join them. She pulled over the sheets to let the squishy minion snuggle up to them.

"Fifififi."

Nia grumbled at her addition, Rachel chuckling.

Then get some good sleep, Little Bun. Did you have fun, Coral? We’ll probably have a fight on our hands tomorrow.

"Fifi! Fififiiii..." she explained with a jagged, toothy yawn, probably talking about her time with Selvaria.

"Yeah, well, I’ll kick them in the face and rip their shirt... I can be a mean and bad bunny, too, stupid Coral. Humph. Selv likes me, too. You don’t have to be scary for people to like you."

"Fifi."

"Ewww! You will not drool on me!"

"Fififififi..."

"Humph. Insubordination..."

Rachel let them work it out, feeling her gown push the ghost aside under the sheets, but shortly after the girl drifted off into her dreams, the marshmallow wiggled in to cuddle up to her commander. There was some respect there at this point, but primarily due to Big Nia’s time with the spooky blob bun.

Tomorrow, they’d learn what was in store for them. For now, it was time to train inside her internal world, strengthening her skills with her hammer, even as she dreamed.