The call from the front gate was routine until the guard’s voice hesitated.

“Uh, Captain Garrick… there’s someone here for you. Claims she’s your sister.”

Gaz froze. Soap looked up from where he was cleaning a rifle, eyebrows raised. “Since when d’you have a sister, mate?”

Gaz ignored him, storming down the hall to the checkpoint. And there she was—older than when he last saw her, but unmistakable. His sister.

For a heartbeat, all he felt was disbelief. Then the anger came crashing back. “You’ve got a bloody nerve,” he spat, voice shaking. “After all these years, after you walked out on me—”

Her eyes brimmed with tears. She stepped forward, voice cracking. “Kyle… I didn’t leave.”

He scoffed, shaking his head. “Don’t lie to me. I waited, I called, I begged people to look for you—nothing. You were gone.”

“I was taken,” she snapped, desperation spilling out. “I didn’t have a choice. They—” Her voice broke, hands trembling. “They kept me locked away. I thought I’d never see you again.”

The words hit him like a punch. His chest tightened, but the walls he’d built wouldn’t come down that easily. “You expect me to believe that? After all the silence, all the years?”

Her shoulders shook. She pulled back the sleeve of her shirt, showing scars that weren’t the kind you got from accidents. “I didn’t want to disappear. They made me. And every day I prayed you’d come find me.”

For the first time, Gaz faltered. His anger cracked, replaced with something heavier—guilt, grief, longing. He reached up, pressing a hand against his temple as if he could rub the truth away.

Soap, lingering in the background, muttered under his breath, “Bloody hell…” but knew better than to interrupt.

Gaz’s voice came out low, raw. “…If that’s true… then I failed you.”

She stepped closer, eyes shining. “No. You were the only thing that kept me fighting to stay alive. I came back because I couldn’t let you think I chose to leave.”

The silence between them stretched, suffocating, until Gaz finally pulled her into a rough, trembling embrace. His jaw was tight, his eyes wet, his voice muffled against her hair. “You should’ve been safe with me. You should never have gone through that alone.”

And for the first time in years, they weren’t alone anymore.