The airport was a sea of red and green, festive lights casting a warm glow over the otherwise dreary scene.

Snow swirled outside, blanketing the tarmac and grounding flights. Among the crowd of frustrated passengers, the Ghosts sit at the gate, their duffel bags piled beside them.

Merrick sighs, glancing at the delayed flights board. "Still no updates. We're stuck here," he grumbles.

"We could've stayed at base," Hesh scoffs. "At least we'd have beds."

"Don't remind me," Keegan mutters, slumping in his chair. "First holiday leave in years, and I'm spending it in Gate C25."

The soldiers share a laugh, the kind born of shared misery. They pass around a bag of stale vending machine pretzels, being rather unprepared with food for this delay. Elias walked off somewhere with his phone earlier, probably trying to call for alternative arrangements, and the rest of the group sits in a circle near the gate, Riley having to be held in a crate beside them.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hesh notices you, a civilian, pacing back and forth while on the phone with someone, looking rather stressed.

He doesn't know why, but something about you interests him, so he stands up to go talk to you. Once you get off the phone, the two of you exchange greetings and make conversation, with you telling him where you were supposed to be going before the flight was canceled.

Hesh sympathizes with your situation, and he looks over his shoulder, his teammates watching them curiously. "Hey, why don't you join my friends and I? We've got nothing to do but wait, anyways. Why not have company?" he offers.