Five hours later, as dawn broke, Owen arrived back in Washington. Straight from the airport, he hailed a cab and headed directly to Omega Headquarters. He hadn't slept all night—his mind was full of thoughts about everything that needed to be done now that he was back. His mother was right: the wedding needed to be planned quickly. But first... he had to propose. And that—how was he supposed to do it? It was his first time. Who was going to teach him?
The taxi quickly reached its destination. To his surprise, Owen felt a little excited. He had walked through gunfire and never flinched, but now, walking up to Omega HQ, his heart was pounding a little.
He handed the driver a crisp \$100 bill, unable to hide his joy. "Buddy, today's a good day for me. Keep the change as your tip."
The driver looked stunned. The fare had only been a bit over ten bucks. Owen had just tipped him more than \$80. That kind of generosity wasn't something he saw every day.
The man's expression lit up with genuine gratitude, and the compliments began pouring out. "Young man, whatever it is you're doing today, you're gonna succeed. Thank you for your generosity. You're a good person—you're going to succeed in your career, win the heart of your woman, and your family will be healthy and blessed. God will watch over you!"
"Good luck to you too," Owen said with a smile, stepping out and composing himself before striding confidently toward the Omega building.
Inside, familiar colleagues greeted him along the way. Owen returned each greeting with a beaming smile. Everyone could feel his genuine happiness.
He moved fast. Jack happened to be at Omega HQ that day. He had just exited Becky's intel division when he spotted Owen hurrying toward him.
"Owen, hang on a sec. I need—"
"I'll be right back. I've got something personal to handle first," Owen interrupted, not slowing down.
Jack wasn't offended—just curious. What could be so urgent?
Of everyone, only Becky, Monica's best friend, really knew what was going on. She had found out even before Owen himself did.
As always, the training zone was mostly empty. Owen headed straight for the main field. After Omega's latest expansion, they now had seven squads (including main and auxiliary units). While only three were currently active, the training space had been built with full capacity in mind—complete with realistic and well-equipped simulation zones.
Inside the training hall, Omega's main team was mid-session, running joint drills with Teams A and B. The moment Owen entered, he drew everyone's attention.
But Owen wasn't in the mood for greetings. He was appalled—Monica, pregnant, was still out here wearing over 10 kilos of combat gear and training like nothing had changed. That was not acceptable.
"Training's over—Monica, come with me!"
Owen barked the command, invoking his rank to pull her out of the session. Ghost, Swagg, and the others were a little confused. Why did Owen look so pissed right after returning?
He led Monica into a conference room. Ghost and the others stopped their training and followed. Everyone was curious—Owen had never brought personal matters into work, even though he and Monica were a known couple. What was going on today?
They all gathered quietly outside the glass-walled room. The Omega HQ was modeled after CTU's layout—glass meeting rooms, fully visible from the outside.
Inside, they saw Owen scolding Monica, visibly upset. Monica, for her part, didn't look upset at all—she looked... happy. Being lectured was apparently a good thing?
She kept nodding. Owen's expression softened. Their eyes met. Then they smiled at each other, full of warmth and affection.
What the hell was going on in there?
Outside, more and more people gathered to watch. The whole place was confused.
After a while, the two finally noticed the crowd. Owen led Monica out by the hand. Everyone stared at them with knowing smiles.
The two exchanged glances, unable to stop smiling.
Owen raised his hand. "Sorry, everyone—I just can't stop smiling today."
That set off a round of laughter.
Then he announced, "Everyone… Monica is pregnant. That's right—I'm going to be a father!"
Cheers erupted. Applause thundered. Everyone looked at the happy couple in front of them. Ghost and the others—those closest to Owen—stepped forward first to offer congratulations.
"Congrats, man."
"Thanks."
"You beat us to it."
"Don't worry—you'll get your turn too."
"Boy or girl, I'm calling dibs on being the godfather."
"In your dreams—haha!"
Owen accepted every hug, every warm wish, one by one.
Once the congratulations died down, the team slowly returned to their duties. Ghost had wanted to introduce Owen to some new members of Teams A and B, but Jack appeared and called Owen into his office before he could.
"How was your time off?" Jack asked, lounging on Owen's office couch like it was his own.
"Not bad. Everything's been wrapped up."
Owen had briefed Jack on everything in Revel before the mission, and afterward gave him a full debrief.
"Good," Jack nodded. In his eyes, gang warfare and drug busts were small potatoes. His main concern was protecting their families. Omega was now the flag bearer of CTU and the sword in President Palmer's hand. They would make plenty of enemies. Security was paramount.
"What about Monica?" Jack asked, shifting to a more personal topic.
Monica was a combat officer. Her job was dangerous. Training was intense. Pregnancy obviously changed things.
Owen understood what Jack meant—and he was already prepared.
"Jack, Monica and I have talked. We're keeping the baby. That means… she's stepping away from Omega and CTU."
Jack was surprised. But it was clearly a mutual decision, so he didn't push.
"Alright. So what are her plans?"
"She wants to go back to L.A. for a while."
Originally, Owen had thought about transferring Monica to Sweetie's department. The two were close, and Monica was more than qualified for that kind of work. But Monica herself had vetoed the idea. She'd rather leave CTU completely. It had been too long since she'd visited ASH and the others back home. This seemed like the perfect time.
And maybe… just maybe… a new chapter was about to begin.
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