Brothers at War

Brothers at War - Part 13

- 1 week later -

American Army Base Camp 2: South Korea

After the events of their first missions Chase was ready to use one of the privileges they received at the base, Skype. Skype was something all the men loved and got to take advantage of once a month and Chase was definitely ready to see his wife and daughter. Gerard was too. It was a Saturday afternoon when they decided to approach the sub-lieutenant and book a time to use the computer.

Sub- Lieutenant Harris had not been happy about being bothered by two young privates. He had over heard one of the Sergeants from Arizona telling other Sergeants about the trouble the two Private Taylors had given him and so he had been very much reluctant to give up the password for the computer. The two brothers he knew could not be much older than 25 so when they told him they were calling their wives he was surprised. He sympathized with the brothers eventually; he, like many of the men had a spouse and kids at home.

After getting the password Chase and Gerard had thought a lot about what it was going to be like to see and hear their wives. Logging on a day later they were almost nervous. They had been allowed to leave a message ahead of time telling Hailey and Claire when they would be able to Skype so Chase and Gerard only hoped that they would get the message in time.

Skype loaded and they found the Skype name for Chase and Hailey’s house in Lincoln. Chase quickly clicked ‘call’ and the suspense began. Hopefully in seconds they would be face to face with the women they loved.

All of a sudden the ringing noise stopped and the loading symbol appeared. Suddenly there were voices on the other end, the confused voices of their wives.

Chase and Hailey’s House: Lincoln MA, USA

“Does that mean it’s loading?” Hailey had said nervously. “Is it going to work?”.

“I think it’s working?” Claire replied. “I’ve never used Skype before though…maybe it’s just slow…” The two women were sitting next to each other in the living room of Chase and Hailey’s house in front of the computer. It was hard to believe they were going to see Chase and Gerard’s faces. It had been over a month and a half since the men had left but it felt like it had been much longer. So much had happened and changed and it was over this Skype call that Hailey was going to tell Chase about the baby.

Finally the picture loaded. There on the computer screen were two familiar men. The two women laughed as they saw their crew cuts and identical white t-shirts. They had never remembered Chase and Gerard looking so identical.

The four of them quickly started talking.

There was a limit to how much time they had and they were despirately trying to make every second count. Hailey kept trying to find the right time to tell Chase the news but everytime she nearly did she stopped. Finally after 20 minutes she convinced herself that she had to do it and she knew she would regret it if she didn't. "Chase.." she began and all Chase, Gerard and Claire's ears pricked up. The way she said it quitely contrasted to the loud and excited conversations they had just had and Chase knew  what she was about to say was serious. "Yeah Hays" he said calmly but with a small smile. "There's something I need to tell you, i just found out and you need to know". 

"What is it? Is everything ok?" Chase replied. Now she could hear the worry in his voice.

Hailey made up her mind to just say it. Her lips were forming the words when suddenly there were other voices on the other end of the line. There was a shout and then another one. "What's going on" she watched Ger say as he stood up and walked away from the screen. "What is it Hailey?" Chase said moving closer to the screen, he was getting even more worried. The shouts got louder and suddenly there was the sound of planes coming closer. Gerard returned, there was terror in his eyes. He looked at Chase "We're being bombed! Chase we're being bombed! - what the hell do we do!". Chase ignored Gerard and almost shouted to the computer "Quick Hailey tell me" This is what she didn't want. She didn't want him worried, she didn't want him distracted. He should be leaving, the building was dangerous. Why wouldn't the words come out of her mouth. His voice yelling down the screen to her as the room he was in began to shake. The picture began cutting out and the sound was fading. "I'll write it to you!" she yelled. The screen was nearly completely gone but before it was she yelled "I love you!". The called ended. She hoped they had got out of there. She turned around to see Claire crying, her hand was on her stomach, where there was a small bulge and she just just cried. Hailey felt like crying to but she needed to write a letter.