Saved Soldier (AB/DL)

29: Lunch

"Is the program almost ready? The beta testers will be coming in one week."
"Yes sir. We just need the final bits of information- mainly their triggers, then we should be all set."
     The man smirks and let's out a small chuckle. "Good. This should be rather easy then."

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          Jono's Pov:
"Mommy do I get to see Brodie today??" I ask Vicky with a large grin. She was currently dressing me in a colorful striped shirt, tucked into some jean shorts. I haven't dressed in regular clothes in a while.
"Yes honey, now hold still! I gotta finish tucking this in!" She laughs and held me still, tucking in the rest of the shirt. "All done!" She cooed at me.
"All done!!" I yell and throw my arms up in excitement.
"Shh!" She says with a small laugh, holding her finger to her mouth.
"Shh!!" I repeat and put the finger back to my mouth.
Vicky smiles a little and put on a nice outfit. She wore a big navy blue sweater tucked into some black leggings. "We are going to get some lunch today, Alright?" She asked while brushing her hair out.
"Okay!" I nod and patiently wait for her. "What kinda lunch?" I ask with a tilted head.
Victoria just shrugs. "A... special lunch."
"Special?! I want special lunch! Like apple!" I cheer. I hope I get one, they are the best!
Victoria laughs softly. "Something. Now come on cutie, let's go." She reaches her hand out to me, which I quickly take, before leading me out the door. There were not a lot of people in the hallways thankfully, I think it would make her uncomfortable.
After a few minutes of walking through the tight and dull halls (which was really boring, but I didn't want to upset mommy), we finally reached a tall doorway.
"Hey Vicky!" We both look back to see Clay, carrying Brodie on his hip. Brodie's face was, like always, stuffed in Clay's neck. He's so shy! It's hard to play with him sometimes, but that's okay!!
"Hey, you ready?" Vicky asks with a nervous laugh.
"Yeah, I am fairly sure we are completed what they asked, and we still have a week to spare.
"Yeah," Vicky nods and smiles, slowly turning the knob and stepping inside.
Through the door, there had to be twenty men, all dressed up in semi-casual semi-nice clothes (though how would I know, we didn't wear anything fancy where I lived!). They all had badges on their jackets, some of the badges were kinda colorful, I wondered what was on them and what they meant!
     "Welcome. Have a seat." A tall man says with a small grin. He was sitting at the head of the table, wearing a military jacket with like, the most badges of them all!! I kinda want one now... they make him look so cool and important.
     I stop and blink in confusion as two people, a man and a woman, grab onto me and set me in a booster seat on a chair. I hadn't been placed in one of these before, and it was kinda awkward. I look over to my side and let out a small sigh of relief as Vicky was placed on my right. I look to the other and smile a bit as Brodie was strapped in another booster seat to my left.
     "Hello!" I say cheerfully to the man and woman as they step away from me. They seemed so quiet and strict, but my hello sure caught them off guard! It was kinda funny to see them both jump a little.
     "Uh... hi." The man mumbles before they both quickly move to stand on either side of the door.
     "My my, I can't believe it. So far it seems you two actually completed the project." The head man laughs. Both Vicky and Clay seemed quiet and off, which was super weird!
I felt all the eyes stuck between me and Brodie, it was a pressuring kind of stare. I bite my lip and look down at my feet. It was time for all of them to talk, I felt.
They chatted for a little bit, and eventually, a few people dressed in black and white cane out with trays and bottles full of red liquid and water. I was already drooling at the smell of the colorful foods on top of the trays.
"Hungry?" A look over to see the head man, looking right back at me as a tray was put in front of him.
"Y-Yes sir..." I mumble and quickly look back down.
"Sir?" He laughed softly, many others joining in the laughter. I sulk and slump back in my seat. I thought that was how I should address people! I didn't know! "You can call me Mr. Pruski." He smiles a bit at me, and I felt much calmer, but then I looked over at Vicky, who looked SUPER angry- which- got rid of that calmness and made me like, SUPER worried!
     "O-Okay... hi Mr. Pruski." I smile at him a little.
     "So you're Jono?" He asks, and I quickly nod in response. "And that one, Brodie, isn't it?" He points over at Brodie, who seemed to freeze up a bit.
     "That's correct, sir." Clay speaks for him. Brodie reaches his arms out to Clay, who simply pats his head. Brodie's eyes began to tear up, and the whole room went quiet looking at him. This isn't good... he hates being the center of attention! "He's just a bit shy is all sir. He doesn't like talking nearly at all now when he's in the headspace." Clay laughs awkwardly as Brodie kept his arms out for him. "May I?"
     Mr. Pruski sighs and waves his hand out. "If you must."
     Clay unbuckles Brodie from the booster and pulls him onto his lap, and, like a magnet, Brodie's head went straight for Clay's neck. There were a few gasps and awes, I felt bad for him.
     "Now then, there is plenty to eat if you wish to dig in." Mr. Pruski says with a laugh. People began to grab themselves spoonfuls of different colorful and yummy looking foods, I just wanted to try everything!
     "So um... Jono... would you like some uh... mashed potatoes?" Vicky held up large bowl full of a soft yellow colored mush. I grin and nod my head quickly. "We can get you some gravy and ham to go with that too, doesn't that sound yummy?"
     "Yes mommy!" I chime out and watch as she got me two good spoonfuls of the yellow stuff. The whole room's eyes now felt to be off Brodie, and straight on me. I look around a little bit and smile at random people, and began asking for all their names- but some
People didn't answer.
     "Jono- you can't be doing that right now." Vicky scolds ne and pushes my plate back toward me. "Now go on, eat up."
     "What's wrong with it?" We both look up to see Mr. Pruski, who was pointing a fork at us. "Let the kid do what he must... he will learn to follow commands as time goes on." He laughs and stabs his form into some of the pink-ish meat.
     Vicky took a deep breath and grinder her teeth before pushing a spoonful of the mashed potatoes into my mouth. "Mm!!" I grin as the flavor hit my tongue. We had plenty of potatoes where I was from, but honestly, we would usually just bite into those things! Eating them like this and putting so much flavor into them makes them super extra yummy!!
     "Brodie come on, the food isn't going to hurt you." I look over to see Clay laughing while Brodie moved his head away from some of the pink meat. "Baby, you have to." Clay frowns and whispers something softly to Brodie, which made him take a bite right after. His eyes looked super starry and he opened his mouth for more- so I think he definitely liked it!
     "Mommy- can I try some?!" I bounce and look up at Vicky, who was looking around the room intensely. Her eyes softened as she looked down at me.
     "Hm? Oh- you want some ham? Yeah sure." She put a cut off piece of ham into my mouth- and my eyes probably turned just as starry as Brodie. It was so good and sweet!
     Mr. Pruski smiles at me. "Do you like it? We infused pineapple with that ham-"
     "Apple!?" I gasp out. "Mommy! More please- now?!" I say as fast as I could, wanting more of this blah-blah-APPLE meat in my mouth!!
     "He likes apples?" Mr. Pruski asks with a tilt of his head.
     "Yes- they are his favorite sir." Vicky says simply and fed me more.
     The tension in the air was still so awkward- and it was for like, the whole entire meal! Vicky and Clay were so off- Brodie was silent and pouty the whole time and Mr. Pruski kept giving all four of us weird looks! I could tell it was making Vicky super uncomfortable, and really just wanted to get us all out of there are soon as I could.
Vicky wipes my mouth with a napkin as everyone else had set all the food thingies down, and were now talking.
"Vicky, Clay." I look behind myself to see Mr. Pruski standing behind our chairs. "A word? In private?" He laughs again. Man, he doesn't stop laughing! It's so creepy! Doesn't even feel that friendly anymore!
"I'll be right back, okay baby?" Vicky says and stands up. I smile and nod my head.
"Okay mama!"
Vicky and Clay get up and leave the room with Mr. Pruski, leaving a teary-eyed Brodie and I alone in a room with a ton of strangers who were all staring at us and whispering.
I unbuckle my booster and get out, getting in the chair next to Brodie's. "Hey! Have you been taking care of Ms. Apple for me?" I ask, wanting to calm the other a bit. Brodie sniffles and nods, rubbing his eye with his arm. "When Vicky gets back- maybe we could have another play date!" I smile. "Would you wanna play toys with me?"
Brodie nods once more and smiles a little bit. "T-toys..?"
"Yup!! Lots and lots of toys! Your stuffies and my stuffies can have a party or something!" I grin, and, thankfully get a grin right back.
I hope mommy gets back soon.

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Thank you everyone for reading! Anyone wanna give me some good quarantine snack recipes?? Also, let me know what you thought of this chapter! Love all of you!!!!