I haven't been in this space since I was a teenager, but it was clear it had changed since then. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see the old stained white paint was now a pleasant light gray, to help hide dirt. The once tile floor was now wood, a nice dark brown colour. It was like the horror of my time with my uncle had been erased, thank fuck. My uncle had grabbed a bottle of whiskey. That was pretty normal for him, that was what he drank when I was a teenager.

"Alexi, I'm not going to lie, you being here, with me of all people, willingly is fucking odd."

"Yeah, Trust me, I know. But right now I need someone who isn't going to give me gross, follow your heart and accept the love bullshit."

"Right, this is about Creed."

"It is not."

"Right, so that why Caleb told me about the dog tags. I only know one man that has dog tags."

"Fucking Caleb! Has he told anyone else?"

"No, He only told me because he was worried about you."

"Worried about me, I doubt that."

" Alexi, you camped that man's bed while he was in a coma for two weeks, That's not normal for people who are just friends,"

" I know. But you don't understand that I can't just accept that. He could have gotten killed because of his stupid feelings for me. I don't like that he took a bullet for me, all because he "loves" me. That's too dangerous, I hate it."

My uncle poured a glass of whiskey and slid it across the table.

"Your fucked Alexi. It's too late, you have already developed some kind of feelings for the man, He surely knows it now too. might as well just get used to it. Cheers."

He clinked his glass off mine before tossing it back. I followed suit and tipped mine back in one go. As it burned going down I remembered why I fucking hated drinking. Of all the people I was getting intoxicated with I had to pick someone who liked heavy alcohol.

"It's still weird to me that you're here."

"Yeah, It's pretty weird for me to be sitting here after everything. But on the nice side, it looks like everything got updated. Though I'm not sure when."

"Floor was before I went to prison the walls were like the first few days I was out."

Ah, that makes sense. It sat for a little over five years, needed to be freshened up."

"Aint that the truth."

He poured us each another one. It was only under this light did I notice he was starting to go grey. But that made perfect sense to me. He was in his mid-forties now.

"You ever think about who's going to take your spot when you can't do it anymore?"

"I try not to. I'm not getting any younger Alexi, You were just a baby when I was your age."

"How come you never settled down?"

"Same reason you haven't, I don't want what happened to Creed, Losing everyone you love like that. Not for me."

"I think that's pretty reasonable."

"Besides, I probably have one or two kids from my younger days, I spent a lot of time in Italy just after you were born, and then when you were a kid. Spent time with a lot of women."

"Sounds about right."

Looking at the glass I picked it up and clinked it against my uncles.

"To the family at home and abroad, and the ones we may never know."

Glancing down at my watch it was midnight. Creed was probably losing his mind about where I was, but I wouldn't know because I didn't have my phone. It was back in my office on my desk. Standing up I fixed my shirt and looked right at my uncle.

"Next time we do this, my place, my treat."

"Next time?"

"Yeah, Next time."

Walking back to my wing it felt good to tell him that next time it was my treat and he was welcome into my space. Surely Creed was going to flip the fuck out when he found out, but that was fine. Zev was right, but I wouldn't let him know that. I had made the first steps that was all I could do.

Opening the door, I kicked off my boot and let out a deep breath. All the lights were off and it was quiet here. I could feel the effects of the alcohol. Heading into the kitchen, I grabbed a glass and got some water from the tap. Tipping it back it was cool as it went down. Turning around I hadn't expected Creed to be standing there.

"Jesus, you scared the shit out of me!"

"Did I?"

"Yeah, you can't just come out of nowhere like that."

"Do you have even a clue what the hell time it is Alexi?"

"Yes."

"I called Jackson when you didn't come back, That was hours ago, I called you several times and you didn't pick up."

"I don't have my phone."

"Why not?"

"It's in the office, I left it there, along with a lot of my shit, your guns there too."

Creed blocked the hall when I tried to get by him.

"You smell like alcohol, Where did you go?"

"I needed a drink Creed nothing more."

"You smell like more than one drink."

"Are you my fucking parent? Huh! Last time I checked I was a grown-ass man."

"Really, you're going to----"

"You are not supposed to be moving around. Go to bed, go sit, just move."

Creed did just that. He turned around slowly walked to the spare room. Once he was inside he slammed the door shut.

"Keep slamming doors in my house, I dare you," I mumbled annoyed.

Heading to my bedroom, I showed him who could slam doors when I slammed mine so hard it jammed. It took me a hot second and some unwanted shoulder pain but I resolved the jam before I pulled my shirt off in anger. Which of course made the dog tag smack me in the eye. That was probably karma telling me to chill my ass out.

Taking my sleeping pill, I discarded my pants and crawled into my bed. Looking up at the ceiling, I found myself wondering about all kinds of shit. Like what the hell did he love about me? I was a walking mess.