Personal Effects

The GDA processes paperwork faster than it processes anything else.

I got the form on a Tuesday — same day I cancelled Rex's supply orders, though that's probably just how Tuesdays work around here. Standard transition form. Formal medical update: Rachel Cha, callsign Shrinking Rae, moved from Active Critical to Inactive Reserve, effective [date redacted]. Long-term recovery ongoing. Return to duty status: not anticipated. Personal effects: pending authorization for return.

I'm the one who authorizes personal effects.

There are three checkboxes. I filled out the first two without thinking — name confirmed, status update acknowledged. The third:

[ ] Authorize return of personal effects currently held on file.

Her jacket is still hanging on the hook by my office door. Has been since the week after the Invincible War. Green — this very specific green that doesn't look like anything else in this building, like it came from somewhere the color wheel doesn't typically go. On good mornings, with the right kind of light, it looks like she just stepped out for a minute and will be back.

I sat with the unchecked box for a while.

Then I took the jacket off the hook. I folded it — carefully, sleeves in, the way you fold something you want to stay folded. I set it on the desk next to the form. I looked at them both: the checkbox and the jacket.

Then I put the jacket back on the hook.

I filed the form anyway — just the first two boxes checked — and wrote "return of effects: processing delay, will follow up" in the notes line. The GDA is patient about personal effects. It's one of the few things it's patient about.

Tomorrow, or the next day, I'll check the box.

The jacket will be there until I do.