Julien had rolled out of his bed, something he had not done since he was seven and certainly something that had provided more comfort than he remembered in years. He had gone home to see his family, catch up with his brother and make sure that he was fit to be deployed if another mission came about. He stood on the porch, his brother, Billy, having sat on the step with him - watching the early morning sun rise. His mother, and sister were both asleep. Julien knew that his father had a hard time staying asleep, as well as Billy.

"You miss 'em, Jules?"

Billy had been the only one in the family he had allowed to get away with his nickname. Julien turned to look at his brother, folding his arms across his chest. He knew what Bill meant - as he was now part of JTF rather than with his own unit; who they both knew were more than friend and comrades, that they were brothers.

"What? You prefer me to call my little brother, gunny, now?" There was that rare smile his brother held, something that it was only in recent years he had begun doing.

"'Course I miss them. But, JTF's not a bad gig either, Bill. Ragtag bunch but we're gelling," Julien replied, a lopsided smile on his face. "Banter's far from the same, though."

***

It had been a couple hours later, once they had all gathered around the table and had their breakfast did Julien excuse him to head back into base. He wanted to hit the gun range in a familiar environment, as well as catch up with some of the others who had been on the mission as well.

Dressed in fatigues, he made a b-line towards the gun range, his case in hand.

Tag:: Sgt. Jay Halstead

Jay had been at the range for a while now, testing his proficiency with various weapons. What could he say? He was anal like that. He prided himself on being the best, but he knew that he could always use some improvement. After the buzzer went off, he waited until it was safe and then walked forward, taking the target sheet and looking at it, frowning in concentration. Still missing that upper right corner, he thought to himself. Ugh...that was annoying. Maybe he should get someone to watch him to figure out why he kept missing that one part of the target. It was just going to drive him crazy until he figured it out.

Hearing someone approaching the range, he turned and stepped back. If someone else was ready to use this part of the range, he'd step back and let them go for it. Maybe the break would do him good. Well, that was the hope anyway. He just hoped it worked.

Julien had been quick on the draw, his eyes taking in his surroundings with keen interest - noting that the soldier who had moved out of the way was one Jay Halstead, a teammate and fellow sniper on their recent mission. He had stalled in his step ever so slightly, as he approached the range, pulling into a stall next to Halstead.

"Afternoon, Sergeant." He gave a nod. "Everything alright on the range today?"

Jay had been at the range for a while, testing guns and other weapons. Some he had gotten pretty good with, but there were still some improvement to be had. Not that he was shooting much these days. Well, okay, he was shooting, but he was currently on downtime and he wasn't expected to go on a mission, which meant that he was supposed to relax. However, that wasn't exactly in his vocabulary. Okay, focus. He had to focus.

His reverie was broken when a voice asked him if everything was all right on the range.
"Yup," he replied. "I could use a break if you're wanting to use it," he added. No need to hog the range, he thought to himself. After all, he had been using it for a while now.

Julien had gotten used to going to the shooting range to hone his skills for the next mission in between times when they would run through the kill-house several times a day until everything fell into place. It was no use just being good at it, they had to be better than good. He had bounced back and forth between his dorm at JTF base and with MARSOC, making sure that they were striving for perfection. Foxy knew he came down hard on some of the newer recruits into their ranks but it was necessary.

"Thanks, Halstead." Julien replied, with a nod as he took up the position. "How you doing?"

Jay smiled at Julian as he took up the position to fire, asking him how he was doing.
"I'm doing good. You?" he asked as he stepped out of the line of fire. Glad we're getting the chance to do this, he thought to himself. It would give them a chance to get to know one another outside of a mission. And that would most likely go a long way with getting over things. Not that he could ever get over things, but maybe they would hurt a little less. And besides, Ashley, would like hearing that he was getting out more. Okay, he needed to stop thinking like that.

He gave himself a mental shake and his eyes flickered. Wonder if he'd be interested in going to get a drink after this, he thought to himself. Well, he could probably ask, but to be honest, he wasn't really sure if he was ready to take the plunge in that yet. He had barely gotten the courage to start something with Chloe. But at the same time, he knew he had to put himself out there more. Oh great. And now he sounded like a damn girl...

"I'm doing good. You?"

Julien nodded, removing himself from his rifle for a moment as he turned to pay the sergeant his full attention. "Not bad, got to be with family for a while after the mission. Never can go wrong with that." In all honesty, it had been probably too long since he had a proper sit down meal with his family who probably worried about him on a constant basis.

It had come to his own attention that they, Halstead and he, had worked on the same mission but had rarely the chance to get to know one another. Perhaps this was an opportunity to make a good friend within the JTF, not that the title of 'friend' came so easily to Julien.

"You get to catch up with anyone, Halstead?"

Jay nodded as Julian responded that he was doing pretty good as he had been able to spend time with his family after the mission was over, saying that one couldn't ever go wrong with that.
"That's good," he stated. Family, he loved his even though it was complicated as hell. His mom had died while he was overseas and the fact that he hadn't been able to say goodbye still rankled, though he was working through that. His Dad---there were problems there. Not...bad problems. More like he felt bad for monopolizing the man's time and leaving nothing left for Will. Not that Will saw it that way, which he was grateful for. But still...things were complicated.

At Julian's question of whether or not he had gotten a chance to catch up with anyone, Jay nodded.
"Yeah, my older brother. We had some....things to hash out," he responded. Like the fact that the guy who abused me as a kid was let out, he thought to himself. Yeah, that had been a fun conversation. Not. Not that he was going to say this to the man in front of him. No, that was being locked down inside and taken to the grave. And why not? It wasn't like he didn't talk about it with Major Kellerman, so it wasn't as if he was holding it inside. No, he just didn't tell every Tom, Dick, and Harry about it. Will knew about it, and so did Chloe. No one else needed to know.

"Yeah, my older brother. We had some....things to hash out,"

Julien nodded. Judging by the turn of phrase and the pause, it was a subject he was not to push on but made a mental note to keep an eye out on the sergeant. "Sounds good, Halstead," It was out of general respect and a lack of need to know at the current moment. "Family's important."

Levelly eyeing Halstead, Julien slowly turned back to fire a couple more rounds at the target, peppering it with more holes than it already had. His mind flashed back to the day when he had heard of his brother's unit being under attack; having been taken hostage, the emotions that had come to the surface. He breathed out, the familiar sound of an empty magazine snapping him back into reality.

Instead of changing magazines, Julien decided to stop there, packing it all away before facing Halstead once more.

"Fancy on grabbing a drink? Or a bite to eat, sergeant?"

Tag:: Sgt. Jay Halstead

Jay nodded in agreement as Julian said that it was good that he had been able to hash things out with Will, adding that family was important.
"Yeah it is," he agreed. Even if they didn't end up repairing his relationship with Will to what it had been when they were younger---which he hoped that he would---they would at least be civil to another.

When he asked if he felt like getting something to eat and drink, he nodded.
"Sounds good," he responded. He definitely needed something more than just the shots he was downing. So getting something to eat would do him some good.

Julien nodded, "C'mon then. How'd you get down here? Car, truck?"

If Halstead didn't have a vehicle, he was more than willing to give the sergeant a lift. Julien stood, waiting on the man's response.

"It's not too far from here, just the small diner."

Jay smiled as Julian suggested that they go, asking how he had gotten to the location, wondering if he had taken a car or a truck.
"SUV," he responded and then nodded as he said it wasn't too far from where they were, saying it was a small drive to the diner. "That sounds great. Let's go," he stated and then went to his SUV. Really need to think about getting a new one, he thought to himself. OF course, he needed the money first. He couldn't do anything without the money. But that would have to wait. Right now, he was flat broke. Hopefully the SUV would get him to this diner...

Having jumped into his car and revved the engine, he pulled out of the carpark once everything had been stowed safely in the back. The drive down was rather short but he thought it best that they didn't need to walk back to the gun range after eating - just made sense in his mind.

Julien parked on the opposite side to the diner, getting out and waiting for Halstead before continuing in. The diner staff had greeted them, showing them a free booth. At this time, the diner was pretty quiet, bar from a couple of workers and other range-goers. He sat himself down, ready enough to order as he glanced over to Halstead.

"You good to order, Halstead?"

To Jay's relief, his vehicle made it to the restaurant without breaking down and he shut the door to the car and then walked into the restaurant, smiling a bit as the other man asked if he was good to order.
"Yeah, I'm good to order," he assured after a quick perusal of the menu. He wasn't really a picky order so it wasn't like he would have to take forever. Oh there were some food that he didn't like but he had never been finicky. Oh boy, he definitely needed food. He was starting to ramble. Just great. That was awesome..not.

Julien nodded, turning to the waitress who had already started her way over to their table. He gave her a polite smile as he made his order of a burger and a side of fries, topping it off with a simple glass of water - being that he was going to have to driver afterwards. She turned to Halstead, her pen poised over the pad she held, waiting to take his order. He gave the waitress a thanks as she made her way off once both orders were made.

"Looking good on the range, there, Halstead. How you feeling about it?" Julien replied, trying to kickstart their conversation as they waited for their orders.