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This was it. The final push. Now or never, do or die, and all that other bullshit. They had one chance, and only one chance, to shut down the god program calling itself Zeus. Zeus was a lynchpin in the god program “pantheon,” and once it fell, the others would splinter, separate, and the rest would be good old fashioned cleanup. With the last of the god programs shut down or locked away, their hold over more basic omnics would fall, and the remaining omnics would either surrender, defect, or keep fighting and be eliminated. Either way, the war would be over and mankind would be saved.Provided they didn’t fuck this up, that is.Jack wanted him to give the strike team a speech. Gabe told him that if he wanted a pep talk so bad, he could give his own goddamn speech.So Jack gave a goddamn speech to the small team as they flew out to Greece to meet the heart of the Omnic Crisis head on. After the fact, Gabe couldn’t recall exactly what had been said, but he remembered the light in Jack’s eyes and the brightness of his smile as he spoke about trust and courage and being the beacon of hope for humanity and some other bullshit. It was beautiful. Half the team was in tears, and even Gabe had to blink a little too quickly to clear his eyes.“Hot damn,” Gabe said as Jack pulled away from the rest of the squad. “That was goddamn incredible, no matter how much bullshit you crammed in there.”Jack rubbed the back of his neck and tried not to look too embarrassed. “Aw, come on. It was nothing. Just trying to give everyone a little morale boost.”“No, really,” Gabe continued. “That was sure as hell better than what I was planning to say.”“Yeah? And what kind of pep talk would you have given?” Jack asked, leaning against the cargo ship’s rounded walls. “Do your job and don’t fuck up, or else the whole world will be fucked and it’ll be your fault.” “Inspiring.”“I like to think so.”Jack chuckled and Gabe looked back at the rest of the team. Amari and Wilhelm were deep in discussion, comparing notes for the upcoming mission, and Lindholm and Liao were looking like they were going to be falling into another heated discussion about god knows what. When Gabe glanced back at Jack, he found that his smile had faded, leaving a troubled expression on his face.“Hey,” Gabe bumped shoulders with Jack. “Come chat with me.”“Yes sir, Commander Reyes.”“At ease, dumbass,” Gabe rolled his eyes as he led Jack to the cockpit, the only area in the plane with any sort of privacy. “Not that kind of chat.”The plane was an older model upgraded to modern specifications and the cockpit was still equipped with two seats for a pilot and copilot, but with current computerization, a single pilot was all the aircraft really needed to fly.“Hey, Ray,” Gabe clapped a hand on the pilot’s shoulder. “Why don’t you take a break? I can cover up here for a bit.”Ray glanced up at Reyes, then slid his eyes slowly to Jack. “Yeah, alright. All yours, Commander,” The burly man hauled himself out of the seat and lumbered toward the cargo bay. He gave Jack a knowing look as he passed.Jack grimaced. “You know we’re not fooling anyone, right? That everyone knows?”“Yeah, I know,” Gabe dropped down into the pilot’s seat, flicking a few switches and making a few adjustments. “Guess we should just be grateful no one’s said anything,” Jack said, taking the copilot seat.“No one’s going to say anything. Stop stressing over it.”“Are you sure?” Jack asked, worry leaking onto his face again. Gabe hated that. Worry didn’t suit him. That strong jaw and chiseled nose looked better when Jack was alight with hope and courage, or giving one of his dazzling smiles. “Yeah, I’m sure. What, you think one of the team is going to go to Director Petras and say ‘Hey, I know the world is ending and all, but I wanted you to know that Commander Reyes and Lieutenant Morrison are fucking, and that’s definitely something that needs to be a priority issue right now.’ Besides, no one’s going to say anything anyway.”“How do you know?” Those goddamn baby blue eyes looked at Gabe earnestly.“I know because I know the team,” Gabe said, leaning back in the chair. “Torb doesn’t give a shit so long as it doesn’t affect him, Liao won’t say anything if only to avoid the paperwork, and the rest of the team is probably too busy planning our theoretical wedding. Hell, Ana and Reinhardt are dangerously close to fraternizing as it is, if they’re not already, so anyone who blows the whistle will have to take on all four of us. And I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of anyone in Overwatch stupid enough to get on Amari’s bad side.”“Yeah…You’re right.” Jack gave a quick bark of a laugh, but it was short lived and that ugly, anxious expression darkened his face again. “Hey,” Gabe flicked the ship to full autopilot and turned to face Jack. “That’s not what’s really bothering you, is it?”Jack glanced at him, then looked quickly away, staring at the endless sky. “Don’t worry about it, Gabe. It’s nothing.”“Jackie…” Gabe reached over to catch Jack’s hand, gently entwining their fingers. Rough callouses rubbed over scarred skin, a reminder of all they’d been through together. “Tell me. Please.”Jack sighed and gave Gabe’s hand a squeeze. “…I’m terrified. You’re right, that whole speech was bullshit. I can’t stop thinking about all the people that will die if we fail today. And it’ll be our fault. God. If the world ends, it’ll be our fault. Humanity wiped out, or enslaved, or whatever the fuck the omnics want, all because we failed today. Genocide, extinction on our hands.” Jack’s face had gone pale by the end and he stared out the window, but the haunted look in his eyes betrayed that he wasn’t watching the clouds around them, instead seeing the horrific possibilities of the future.“Whoa, whoa…Take it easy there, Jack. Come back to me,” Gabe took hold of Jack’s chair and turned it, forcing him to face him. “Stop. Stop right there. Take a deep breath.”“But-”“I’ll make it an order if I have to, Morrison. Take a deep breath.”Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was shaky, and his hands trembled in Gabe’s.“Okay. Now let it out. Good. Again. In…and out. In…and out. Look at me. Focus on my voice. Focus on me. In. Out. In. Out. Good job.” He took both Jack’s hands in both of his, clasping them together, then lifted them to his lips to plant gentle kisses on his strong fingers. “We’re okay, Jackie. We’ll be okay.”“No,” Jack said, and his voice broke on the simple word. “We’re really not. We’re fucked.”Gabe let go of his hands to reassuringly rub up and down Jack’s thick arms. “Don’t make yourself lose the war before the battle’s even started. Come on. In and out.”It took a few more minutes of reassuring, but Jack finally had slowed his breathing to a normal pace and stopped shaking. “Now,” Gabe said, not taking his hands off Jack’s muscled arms. “Let’s talk about this before you sabotage yourself with existential dread.”“I know, I know…” Jack sighed and let his head drop forward. “Getting ahead of myself. Panicking won’t help. Sorry. I won’t let this impact the mission.”“Goddammit, Jack. Fuck the mission! I’m worried about you!” Gabe grabbed his shoulder and gave it a hard squeeze. Jack looked up sharply and Gabe’s tone softened. “That pep talk you gave wasn’t all bullshit. You’re right. There really is hope. We’re humanity’s best shot, and we really do have a chance. We can do this. We have a good plan, a good situation, and the best team in the world. And we have you.” Gabe leaned in close, touching his forehead to Jack’s. “There’s no one else I’d rather have at my side. I love you, Jack.”Jack let out a long breath, and the stiffness faded from his posture with it. And if there were tears in Jack’s eyes, Gabe pretended not to see. “Don’t think too hard about what might never come to be, sunshine,” Gabe said softly, gently stroking his cheek. “Take on too much weight of the world and you’ll break. So don’t try. Focus on the job. Focus on your part. Aim true. Stay sharp. I’ve got your back.”“And I’ve got yours,” Jack said softly. He leaned in to softly press his lips to Gabe’s. The kiss wasn’t the most intimate they’d ever shared. It wasn’t the deepest, or the longest, or the sweetest, or the most passionate. It was, however, exactly what they both needed at that moment. Gabe sighed as their lips gently parted. “We’ll do this, Jackie,” he promised. “We can do it.”In the end, they were victorious. The mission hadn’t gone smoothly, no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy after all, but they had done it. Zeus had been destroyed and the pantheon splintered. They hadn’t emerged unscathed, however. Liao was being rushed to intensive care and Torbjorn might lose his left arm, but they had still done it. The Omnic Crisis would end. Victory was now more than an unreachable dream. And as they knelt in the rubble, clinging to each other for support in the aftermath of the battle, if there were tears in Gabe’s eyes, Jack pretended not to see.