Days had gone by with Jackson forcing himself out of the hospital much to Irene's annoyance. He didn't care, he was adamant to get back to work and nothing Irene or anyone else for the matter said was registering with him. He had become exceedingly protective over her, she loved it but at moments she had to resist the urge to throttle him. Irene stood up from her desk signing off, her shift for the day coming to an end. She smiled to the girls as she left the door of their makeshift medical centre before starting her trek back to the heart of the base where her husband was working his ass off for her.

Irene thought she was bad when it came to work but watching her husband work it was more unhealthy then her strategy. He refused to eat, sleep, hell even drink at one point. The hacking into Jin's phone had been successful, and since then he had been listening at every moment of the day, working on reports and such to formulate a fool proof plan that was the best course of action in his mind. However the slight issue with the situation was the fact that there was no real mention of their plans. Jackson had become seriously irritated with everything slamming things and taking his aggression out on everyone but her. She was the only one who could calm his storm and she would gladly drop what she doing to help him fight his demons. Jackson had clocked that they had been talking in code one night when he had looked at the overall conversation, a break threw reached, finally.

She shook her head slightly as she pushed the door open, her eyes widening at the mess of the place, stacks of papers everywhere, maps out and other files containing mass amounts of information on everything they had and more trying to map out Suho's previous plan and calculating what they assumed would conspire this time. She turned to see Youngjae on the phone with who she assumed was another army base, he looked up at her smiling slightly as she returned it going further in to the poorly lit room.

She saw him, his back to her as he focused on the screen, Mark turned to her a smile on his face as she brought a finger to her lips signalling him to remain quite. He nodded standing from his seat beside Jackson and taking a file before walking away. He squeezed her shoulder slightly as he passed, Irene shooting him a smile as she continued to watch her husband work. He was in deep concentration, his mind completely focused on the monitor in front of him. She could tell from his stance that he was tense, something had seemingly put him off, her mind resorting to the fact that it was the slow pace at which things were going at that was responsible for his obvious worry and concern. Taking slow steps towards him, she wrapped her arms around him, resting her head atop his whilst her hands half rested on his chest. He looked up at her with a smile as she kissed his forehead. "You finished your shift?" He asked his voice slightly hoarse. She nodded, as she turned to the monitor. "How's things going?" She asked moving to sit in the seat that Mark had occupied not too long ago, her head resting on his arm, as she intertwined their fingers. He smiled, the tensions flowing from his body as he spoke. "We are working on decoding the messages. We have gotten quite far, we have about four of the locations and have started to contact them to give them a heads up. Everyone is on high alert and we have soldiers patrolling the area reporting any suspicious behaviour." Irene nodded. "That's great." She spoke offering him a smile. He nodded as she leaned of him, taking a side of his face in her palm and meeting her lips with his own. She felt him smile into the kiss as they parted moments later. "What was that for?" He asked with a small grin. She returned it, moving her eyes away from his. "Because I missed you." She spoke rather cutely in his opinion. Jackson chuckled wrapping an arm around her and pulling her into his embrace as they looked at the screen together. "It's a year tomorrow." She whispered. His eye brows furrowed. "A year  since we got married." He smiled down at her kissing her nose slightly causing her to chuckle. "Times flown by.." he spoke looking down at their hands. "I'm just glad we are were we are now, together." She smiled at him, kissing his cheek. "I feel the same." She whispered slightly as he smiled at her, his lips now meeting hers with need as her hand ghosted to the base of his neck pulling him closer. "Oi love birds, this is the workplace, keep it to a minimum please." Called out Youngjae. Jackson without parting from his wife stuck his middle finger up to him as he looked at Jackson offended. Irene broke away from him, their foreheads resting on each other before moving apart to smirk at Youngjae who huffed. The rest of them laughed as Irene stood. "Have you guys eaten?" She asked, the resounding no's heard. "Come on all of you let's eat, I'll cook." The boys instantly stood up, big smiles on their faces as they prepared to leave. "Rene we need to work." Jack spoke. Irene turned to him as he glared at the boys who sat back down. "You guys need to eat now come on." She spoke again. "Boss said no." Yugyeom sulked slightly as Jackson glared at him. Irene laughed at the pout shaking yugeyom's chin which was now in her grip. "Well I'm your boss's wife and I'm saying to come." She ruffled his hair as they all stood rallying behind Irene who turned to look at her husband. "Now husband you can either come and join us or you can stay here." He smiled up at her, "I'll be there in a bit." She nodded as the guys cheered behind her, she bent down slightly pecking his lips as he smiled watching as her and the guys left, the silence instantly bothering him with the lack of her presence. He placed the headphones back on listening in, his hands writing and decoding and plotting what he could onto the map, his hands working back and forth as he stood in front of the board, Suho's face staring back at him through a picture. Jackson glared at it, turning away and turning the lights off.

His eyes widened, his features instantly lightening with a smile as he watched his wife cook along side the boys he called brothers; their laughter ringing out in between the four walls. Jackson leaned against the door frame a smile playing on his lips as he laughed silently at the comical scene, the way her hand came out to reprimand Bambam who stuck his hand in the food for a taste, she chased him past the others who had seriously failed at chopping vegetables. Irene laughed when she saw them trying to show them how to do it. He stifled a laugh watching as his wife huffed in annoyance blowing her bangs cutely from her eyes.

The girls crowded around him as he greeted them with hugs as they silently speculated the scene, the laughter becoming harder to control as Irene and the boys turned to see them. She pouted cutely at him, his heart skipping a beat as they all worked together, the girls and Jackson laying the table for all twelve of them before waiting patiently for them to come with the food. Irene placed the massive bowl in front of them the boys coming with other stuff from behind her as Jackson pulled her next to him. He stood slightly pouring food as everyone followed suit. He placed the plate down in front of her before putting his own food in, catching the smile from the corner of his eye as he offered things to the girls who over the weeks he had really had the chance to establish a brother and sister relationship with. Irene continued to smile watching them interact as Jinyoung and mark handed her some salad and poured her a drink. They settled into conversation, Irene smiling. This was their family. She watched as they enjoyed the food she had prepared, laughing and joking and teasing each other constantly. The atmosphere away from all the tension they had respectively been dealing with.

Hours later after the girls had retired for the evening and the boys left, Irene stood washing the dishes, her hands covered with gloves. She felt strong muscular arms wrap around her tightly as she leaned back into the chest with a small smile, she turned looking up into her husbands eyes as he kissed her. "Thank you." He whispered moving his arm ever so slightly. Her eye brows furrowed in confusion. "For what?" She asked. "For everything." He spoke. She smiled moving in his arms as her arms wrapped around his neck pulling him closer. "Always." She whispered ghosting his lips before meeting them. The two oblivious to the black figure that watched them from afar.

TBC

Authors note:
Hope you enjoy this one. Let me know what your thoughts are. I look forward to hearing back from you guys later. Lots of love. Stay safe xx