It all starts with a picture.

Not surprisingly, it also ends with one.

Blaine’s standing outside the door, rifle steady as he raises his free hand to begin the countdown.

Three.

It’s a simple raid, although he wonders if any of the raids they do are simple: American soldiers infiltrating the houses of thousands looking for those in the wrong. Sometimes he wonders if they do more harm than good.

Two.

Blaine nods to the soldier on the other side of the door, signaling that it’s time. He drops the last finger he has up, and the night explodes.

One.

Screaming, panic and chaos. He keeps his gun up, light on as they make their way through the house. Kids of all ages, women, even men. But not the kind of men they’re looking for.

They end up at the back of the house, surprised when they come face to face with another troop.

“Nobody?” Blaine asks, even though he already knows the answer.

The soldier is about to reply, but the sound of gunshots and then blood spatter is the only answer Blaine gets.

Blaine spins on his the heel of his combat boot, already firing towards where the bullets came from. There’s silence following the first round and he stops shooting, gun still poised and ready to continue fire.

There’s a soldier, the soldier Blaine was talking to laying on the ground and one of his fellow troop members is on his knees, radioing for help as he tries to apply pressure to the bullet wound.

Blaine exhales slowly and begins to lower his gun. As soon as he makes to leave, another burst of shots and the soldier who was helping the injured one falls to the ground. More blood, more screams, more bullets from Blaine’s gun.

He makes it out alive, helmet on and face drawn tight as they arrive back at base. He’s sitting with Sergeant Sam Evans when he sees something in the rubble a few feet away.

Blaine stands, rifle hanging from his shoulder and walks over. He leans down and picks up the piece of what turns out to be photographic paper. The dust and dirt that’s collected on it make it impossible to see so he spits on it, thumb rubbing over the picture.

A man and a child. The man is skinny; pale complexion from what Blaine can tell and he’s got a small child in his lap. The man has perfectly coiffed hair and is kissing the child, a girl it looks like, on the cheek. They’re sitting in front of a tree, and in the distance Blaine can see a water tower with the letters ‘MA” on it.

Blaine flips over the picture and smiles a little at the message on the back. A very simple ‘Stay safe.' in cursive writing.

Suddenly, there’s nothing but noise and heat. Blaine’s ears are ringing as he hits the ground face first, rocks scratching his face and pebbles in his mouth.

He has the picture held tight in his fist.

Blaine tries to find the owner of the picture. The makeshift club is loud and the bass is making his head hurt, but he tries. Every person he asks tells him they don't know the person in it or the person it belongs to.

When his search turns up empty, Blaine decides to keep the picture for himself.

The rover they're driving is loud, but Sergeant Noah Puckerman is louder.

“We made it out alive!” Noah yells.

Blaine smiles, pulls out the picture from his pocket and stares at it. This man, this picture, saved his life.

“You got your goddamn guardian angel watching over you, Anderson! When you get home you better find him and thank him by-”

His words are lost as an explosion flips the rover, fire and glass falling down everywhere and all Blaine can do is cling to his rifle.

Cling to the picture.

Blaine is the only survivor.

Blaine jumps, eyes snapping open as a bang echoes around the train station. His heart is racing and the images behind his eyes flash with fire, gunshots and blood. He takes a steadying breath and grabs his duffel bag. He decides to walk.

Blaine loves to walk.

Blaine makes his way down the familiar road and can’t help but smile when the dog, his dog, Liberty starts barking and runs towards him.

Blaine drops down to one knee, scoops Libby into his arms and hugs her tight. “Hey there, girl. Did you miss me?”
There are two boys playing out front, Eddie and Andy.

Blaine had rolled his eyes at Cooper when he had revealed that they would be naming the twins after their grandfathers that had passed, Edward and Andrew. Cooper had insisted of course, claiming that there was no hint of Blaine settling down and having children any time soon, so it was best to honour their grandfathers in one easy sweep.

“Hello boys,” Blaine says to them as he walks by. They’re eyeing him with a look of distrust and Blaine chooses to ignore it.

Blaine’s been at Cooper’s for two weeks and he can’t stop jumping. Whenever there’s a loud bang, or even worse, when Andy and Eddie are playing Call of Duty and the gunshots ring loud and clear through the house.

He’s taken off guard when he’s helping Julia, Cooper’s wife, with the dishes one day, a bomb exploding on the television and he ends up dropping the pot he was drying onto the floor.

Julia looks him over, a concerned look on her face before she turns to the boys and ushers them outside.

Blaine picks up the pot and chooses to ignore the way Julia keeps looking over her shoulder at him.

Blaine doesn’t know what made them do it.

He’s sleeping in bed, finally passed out after tossing and turning half the night when Andy jumps on him.

Blaine’s awake instantly, flipping them over and his hands around Andy’s neck, squeezing for only a moment before he snaps out of it due to Andy’s screams of terror.

Andy slides off the bed, still screaming as he runs out of the room, Eddie following quick after him screaming as well.

“I… I’m sorry,” Blaine says, looking up as Cooper appears in the door frame.

Cooper sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “The Corp would help you with that, you know. You just have to ask.”
Blaine watches Cooper walk away before he collapses back into his pillows.

Blaine waits until everyone’s asleep before he makes his way into the kitchen to use Cooper’s laptop. He takes the picture of the man, the man that had somehow saved his life on more than one occasion. He searches for hours, looks for landmarks and town names, something that will connect him to the man and child in the picture that he’s had for months.

He finds the water tower within a few hours of searching. He holds the picture up to the laptop screen and compares it. Lima. Blaine checks Google maps and decides to walk.
Before he leaves, he makes a video for Cooper to see in the morning.

“I just… I need to find him. I can’t erase the feeling that without him, without this picture that I wouldn’t be here, that I wouldn’t be alive right now. I don’t know what I’m going to say or how I’m going to say it, but I have to do something. Give Julia and the boys a hug for me. I’m sorry I’m leaving in the middle of the night, but I need to do this now. I need to find the man who kept me alive.”