Chris
As I pulled up to their driveway, I saw a huddled mass on the front steps of their house. I got out of my car and walked to the steps and looked down. All six of them were huddled together asleep. Lauren was pressed against the wall next to Dani. I gently lifted her head and kissed her slowly. I felt her kissing me back before she fully woke up, and then I felt her hands pushing me away.
“Oh it’s you.” She said, a sad smile on her face.
“Yeah, and so what’s with the campout on the front steps?”
“What’s going on?” Dani groaned as she woke up.
“Chris is here,” Lauren said softly.
“Oh,” She said.
“Should I wake the rest up?”
“Yeah, they wanted to say bye to you.” She said.
“Ok.” I said, walking over to the end of the group and grabbing Lisa by the shoulders before shaking her. She jumped awake with a small scream, which woke up Amy. Lauren gently shook Katherine awake and I poked Christina in the head.
“So what are you all doing out here?”
“We wanted to go with you to say goodbye.” Christina answered.
“Umm.. my car can only fit like four of you at the most.” I said uncomfortably.
“You can ride in the trunk.” She replied.
“Yea no.” I said.
“Relax, we’re going in the van. You can leave your car here, one of us will drop it off at your house later.”
“Alright, well we need to get going now. So go get the keys and let’s go.” I said.
“Ok,” She said, walking back inside.
“You ready?” I asked Lauren.
“No.” She said, leaning against my chest, I wrapped my arms around her. A minute later Christina came back out with the keys.
“You’re driving.” She said, tossing me the keys.
“Yes ma’am.” I said, walking towards the van. I climbed in the drivers seat and Lauren sat besides me.
Lauren
We had been driving in silence for a while before Chris asked me a question.
“What time is it?”
“It’s uh 3:35,” I replied.
“Perfect, we have some time.” Chris said before pulling off to a small grass clearing on the side of the road. “Come on,” He said, motioning for me to follow.
“What are we doing?” Amy asked as they climbed out of the van.
“Lauren here has a decision to make.” Chris said, looking at me.
“What is it?” I asked him.
“Lauren, you said before that you don’t want me to go, but you’re letting me go anyway. You told me to go. One word from you and I’d stay.”
“Isn’t it a little too late for that?” I asked him.
“Yes and no.” He answered.
“What do you mean?” I asked him, confused.
“If a soldier is injured in a way that requires him to be hospitalized before his tour begins, he will remain stateside until he makes a full recovery.” He stated. “Now, because of the special conditions of why I’m leaving in the first place, if I don’t go now, they will find someone else to take my place.”
“What’s that have to do with this?” I asked him, even more confused.
“The base is still about a thirty minute drive away. Nearest hospital is about 15 if you floor it.” Chris said, reaching behind him.
“Chris what are you doing?” Lisa asked him, she sounded nervous. Chris brought his hands back around to his front and I saw him holding that old revolver he got at the funeral. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a single bullet and loaded it into the revolver. He walked towards me and pressed the gun into my hands, the barrel pointed towards him.
“Chris, what are you doing?” Christina asked him, panicking. I stood there, too in shock to do anything. I could feel my hands shaking.
“Lauren, right here, just above the knee, if a bullet hits me there, I will be confined to a wheelchair for a few weeks, maybe a month; and in crutches for a while after. It’s relatively painless too. If you were to accidently pull the trigger and hit me there, you’d have about 35 minutes to get me to the hospital, but I wouldn’t have to leave.”
“You can’t be serious.” I heard Amy say.
“You need to choose Lauren. This is your last chance.” He said.
“Chris, I… I can’t”, I said, my hands shaking even worse.
“Lauren, you don’t need to pull the trigger. Like I said, one word from you and I’ll do whatever it takes to stay.”
“Chris…”
“Lauren, the decision is yours, it always has been.” He said, leaning against the side of the van. I looked down at the gun between my hands and trying to stop my hands from shaking.
“Take it.” I said after a moment. “Just take it”
“Ok,” He said, stepping forward and taking it out of my hands. “So what’s it gonna be? Stay or go?”
“Go. I don’t want you to hurt yourself just because I don’t want you to leave. Isn’t there another way?”
“No. I don’t show up, they’ll declare me AWOL, and then you really will lose me.” He said.
“Go.” I said.
“Alright.” He said softly, unloading the gun and putting it away. “Let’s get going then.”
Christina
“We’re here.” Chris said after a while. He stopped the van at a gate and pulled out an ID card before showing it to the guard. The guard pointed at us and looked at Chris. “Guests” he said. After that, the guard pointed him towards a building nearby. Chris nodded and drove the van that way.
“Where are we going?” I asked him curiously.
“You all need guests passes to be in here. We’re going through the security building real fast to get them.” He explained.
“Ok.” I said, satisfied. We followed him into the building and started talking to a man at the front desk. He handed Chris a few lanyards and Chris came back over to us.
“Here, keep these on you at all times” He said, handing each of us a lanyard.
“Ok,” We all said.
“Now, lets go see if the big man himself is in. The majors office is upstairs.” Chris said, leading us to an elevator.
“You seem almost at home here Chris.” I pointed out.
“Yeah, spent most of my adult life inside bases like this. In a way it is home.” He replied, pressing the button to the elevator and leaning against the wall.
“So back there earlier, if Lauren had pulled the trigger, what would you have done?” I asked him.
“Hoped you all got me to the hospital in time. “Grieving girlfriend” is kind of a pathetic cause of death.” He said almost jokingly.
“I am not grieving.” Lauren said.
“Yeah, just sounds better than being accidently shot by your girlfriend with your own gun.” He said. The elevator dinged and all of us piled in before Chris hit the button. The ride up was pretty quiet, not even Lisa seemed to be in the mood to bicker with him.
“His office is this way,” He said once the elevator stopped. We followed him down a few hallways before stopping outside a door. “Can you guys wait out here for a minute?” He asked. We all nodded our heads and sat against the walls.
Chris
“Sir,” I said as I walked in the door, saluting him.
“At ease,” He said, gesturing towards a seat. “Are you ready to ship out?”
“Is anyone ever ready?” I said.
“Fair enough, How’s your girlfriend handling all this?” He asked me.
“Actually sir, she’s outside in the hall.”
“Really now, how’d that happen.”
“She wanted to see me off.”
“She cares about you a great deal doesn’t she?”
“Yeah, if only she knew how hard it is to love someone like us.”
“Well invite her in,” He said.
“Yes sir,” I said walking to the door and opening it, motioning for them to come in. All six of them got up from the floor and entered the room. The Major just looked around surprised and chuckled to himself before rising.
“Lauren dear, it’s a pleasure to see you again. You’ll have to forgive me, but I don’t remember the names of your sisters.” He said, reaching out a hand to Lauren. She reached out and shook his hand before coming and standing next to me.
“I’m Christina,” Christina said, shaking his hand.
“Lisa,”
“Amy”
“Katherine,”
“Dani,” They all said, shaking his hand.
“It’s nice to see you all again, hopefully under better circumstances than last time.” He said.
“Thank you” Christina said.
“You wanna sit down?” I asked Lauren, motioning towards the chair. I leaned against the arm of the chair after she sat.
“So what’s the situation overseas looking like?” I asked the Major after the introductions were done.
“The situation is fucked. You’re gonna have a lot on your plate when you touch down later today.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.” I said, running my hands over my face. “How many officers do I have?”
“You’ll answer to Major Redmond directly, and as for your officers, you have eight under your command. I believe Elijah has already gone ahead to help set things up.”
“Yeah, he left last week. So Redmond is it?”
“He’s one of the few who pushed for your promotion son. You didn’t just go up a rank, you rose a few ranks above your position; and only because everyone in command has complete faith that you can get the job done.”
“And how involved will he be in this operation?” I asked him.
“You know Redmond, he’s a tough SOB, but he doesn’t like to get his hands dirty much anymore. Chances are you’ll operate with complete autonomy while you’re over there.”
“Sounds almost perfect.” I joked, “What’s the downside?”
“Like I said, you rose a few ranks above your position. Some people in charge have their doubts.”
“Suits?” I asked him.
“Mostly, but a few of the men under your command as well.”
“Well looks like I’ll have my work cut out for me then.” I said.
“You’re oddly calm about this.” Lisa said.
“War is easy Lisa, It’s the emotional fallout from it that’s hard.”
“He’s not wrong,” The Major said. “We all have our demons here, what makes the difference is having something to hold on to; someone to come home to when it’s over.”
“Which for me would be Lauren.” I said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“Does she know her options yet?” He asked us.
“She does.” I answered.
“So what was her choice?”
“He’s sitting here isn’t he?” Lauren said.
“That he is. You know there’s still time to change your mind if you want.” He pointed out.
“Even if I did, I couldn’t do that, or let him do that.” She said.
“I like her” The major said to me.
“Yeah, she’s special isn’t she?” I said, kissing her on the forehead.
“Well if all goes well, in two months at the most, you’ll be back here with her.” He said.
“Assuming we find where this group is hiding.” I said.
“Oh, Redmond has some ideas.” He replied.
“Perfect.” I said. “Plane’s leaving soon isn’t it?” I asked him.
“Let me check on that.” He said, picking up the phone.
“Yes… I see… Ok thank you.” He said into the phone.
“Well this might be some good news for you.” He said, a small smile on his face.
“What is it?”
“The plane is suffering some mechanical failures and it will be a few hours before it can lift off.” He said.
“So what’s that mean?” Lauren asked him.
“It means,” I said, smiling at her, “that I have a few more hours to spend with you.”
“You’re serious?” She asked, full of an energy that wasn’t there before.
“Yeah,“ I said.
“Well, they’re civilians, but if you want you can give them a tour around the base. Just try to keep them out of restricted areas.” The major said.
“I think I got a better idea. Are there any birds going up right now?”
“A few practice runs why?” He asked me.
“Think I can get authorization to take one up?” I asked him.
“One that can carry seven? I’ll call down and have them prep one for you. You’re lucky I still owe you a favor.” He said jokingly.
“What’s he owe you a favor for?” Lauren asked me.
“Remember that “suicide” mission I told you all about?” I asked her.
“Yeah?”
“His son was one of the men I pulled out of there.”
“For which I am eternally grateful. Now get going, your bird should be ready by the time you get there.”
“Thank you sir.” I said, standing up and reaching my hand out. He shook it and shooed me out of the room.
Lauren
“Chris, where are we going?” Lisa asked as we walked out of the office.
“Little surprise for Lauren. Quick question, are any of you afraid of heights?” He asked. He seemed more energetic than before. We all shook are heads no to answer.
“Perfect,” He said, grabbing my hand. “Lauren, how would you like to see the sunrise from the inside of a helicopter?”
“With you as the pilot?”
“Oh have a little trust Lauren. I’m a marvelous pilot. If I’m good enough to dodge a rocket or two, I’m sure one little trip around the base won’t kill you.”
“That doesn’t make me feel more comfortable.” I said.
“And yet you still keep following me.” He replied.
“Yeah well your stupid ideas always turn out to be a lot of fun.” I said with a smile.
“Like that night at the beach?”
“Exactly,” I said, remembering everything that happened that night and wishing we could go back to then.
“What happened at the beach anyways?” Christina asked.
“We kissed, made a fire and talked until we fell asleep.” Chris answered quickly.
“I don’t remember a lot of talking.” I said playfully.
“We fell asleep early. God Lauren, are you trying to get me killed before I even leave?” Chris said jokingly.
“Oh I won’t kill you,” Christina said innocently, “so if you weren’t talking, what were you two doing?”
“War is easier than dealing with your sisters Lauren.” He said.
“Hey, don’t look at me, I’m not the one who got all handsy that night.” I said, scooting away from him.
“Well, good luck with a life without hands Chris.” Christina said, walking towards me.
“Relax Christina, I was joking.” Lauren said.
“You better have been. We have the basement ready for you still.” Christina said, backing off.
“Nothing happened though” I whined.
“You’re a terrible liar Lauren, remember that.” Lisa said.
“Shut up.” I said, I meant to sound playful but it came out sounding a little too angry instead. Lisa just looked at me in shock, almost like I had just slapped her.
“Lauren.” Christina said slowly, looking at me sternly.
“Lisa,” I sighed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Lisa said. She didn’t even look at me, but she sounded hurt.
“Come on,” Chris said softly, “we’re on a clock”
“Ok,” I said, walking ahead. I noticed him looking at Christina, she just sighed and shrugged her shoulders. We walked in an awkward silence after him until we reached a building near a runway. I saw a few helicopters on the landing pads around the building as we walked in.
“Ok you guys wait here, I have to go get some stuff before we can head up. Christina can you come with me?” He said. Weird, why did he want her to go with him?
“Uh yeah sure.” Christina said, walking beside him. The rest of us just waited there until they came back.
Christina
“Well you’re nothing if not subtle.” I said once we were out of earshot of the rest of the girls.
“Yeah well we need to talk about Lauren and Lisa.”
“Ok, what about them?”
“I’m not stupid, I know things aren’t ok between them. That little incident earlier is proof of that.”
“It was an accident.” I said, wanting to believe that.
“If it was, Lisa wouldn’t of looked so hurt.”
“I know.” I said sadly.
“Christina,” He sighed. “I love all of you girls, but I know she needs her family more than she’ll ever need me. She’s mad at Lisa because of me, so do you want me to come back?”
“Of course we want you to come back.” I said.
“Christina, don’t think about Lauren’s happiness, think about your family, about the six of you. Do you want me to come back?” he asked me again.
“Yes. You are not allowed to leave before we sort out all of this between the three of you.” I told him.
“Ok.” Chris said, holding open a door for me. I walked in and he came after me. There was a man sitting behind a counter that had a cage around it. I could see a lot of equipment behind him.
“What can I do for you?” The man asked Chris.
“I could use a couple parachutes and some radios.”
“Ok, just sign here.” The man said, sliding a paper towards him. “How many do you need?”
“About 4 chutes and 7 radios.” Chris said.
“You are only taking one bird up right?” the man asked.
“Yea, got some civvies with me.” He said, nodding at me.
“Alright, I’ll scrounge up what I can find.” The man said.
“You know, I feel a little degraded every time you call us civilians.” I said a little jokingly to Chris.
“Well I outrank you here. Actually feels good for once considering you outrank me everywhere else.” He said.
“Oh so outside these walls I could order you to tell me what you did with Lauren at the beach?” I asked him.
“Oh I can tell you that now. I doubt you really want to know.” He said, smirking at me. I just glared at him angrily.
“Relax, all her clothes stayed on.” He said.
“They better have.” I said, “That knife over there looks nice and sharp.”
“You do realize they only stayed on because I told her no right?” He said.
“What do you mean?”
“She wanted it. I mean I did to, but she really wanted it.”
“Chris, if I find out you…”
“I told her no. I did let my hands wander a bit, but is that really much worse than what I could’ve done with her?”
“You’re lucky I don’t cut off your hands.” I said. “Oh and by the way, feeling my sister up is not what I mean when I told you two to “have fun””, I said.
“But it was really fun.” Chris said. I just looked at him with a stern face before kicking him.
“That was really fun too. Let’s not make a habit of doing either of those things.” I said.
“Christina, look, I love Lauren. I know she’s not ready for that yet. When she is, it’ll be her decision to do it. If I happen to be the person she wants that with, then I won’t tell her no, but only when she’s ready.” Chris said.
“And how will you know she’s ready?”
“When she doesn’t have to ask for it.” He said.
“Chris…”
“Christina, I promise I will try to put a ring on her finger before that happens if she’ll have me. I know that your religion and values are important to you guys, and I’ll do my best to respect them, even if I don’t really believe myself.” He said.
“Why don’t you believe?” I asked him curiously. He turned to answer when the man came back with a bundle of stuff. Chris took the equipment from him and placed it on the counter. He slung a parachute across his back and took a few radios one hand and another parachute in the other.
“Help me carry this back?” He asked me.
“Yeah.” I said, grabbing the rest of the stuff and following him out the door.
“About what you asked me just now. Christina, I’ve seen men burn to death, I’ve seen children executed in front of their mothers, and I’ve been helpless to do anything about it. I refuse to believe that a god could exist and still allow things like that to happen.” Chris said.
“Oh,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
“Christina, I was happy believing that; but Lauren? She is pure, and good, and innocent. When I met her, she was exactly what I needed in my life. Her running into me in the mall that one day, that’s the first time I am willing to admit that there might be a god” He said.
“I think I understand.” I told him.
“It’s fine if you don’t. All you really need to understand is that if Lauren can make me question something I was happy believing until I met her, she must mean a lot to me.”
“I know that.” I said. I walked beside him until we got back to the rest of the girls.
“Ok, so who wants to be my co-pilot?” Chris asked all of us.
“Can I?” Lauren asked.
“I actually want to live, so maybe putting a distraction besides him isn’t the best idea.” I said.
“Well unless anyone else feels like it, Lauren it is.” Chris said.
“Oh you were gonna pick her anyways.” Amy said teasingly.
“Yeah, but this way you guys had a chance.” He replied. “Come on, we’re on landing pad 3 I think.”
Lauren
“You guys ready?” Chris asked us once we were all inside the helicopter.
“At least we’ll leave some good looking corpses.” Lisa joked.
“Not if we explode.” Chris said.
“I’ll still leave better looking giblets than you.” Lisa said.
“Do you two have to make dying a competition?” I asked them.
“Ignore the children.” Amy said.
“One of those children is our pilot Amy.” Christina said.
“In that case, Lisa shut up.” Amy said.
“Hey!” Lisa said, sounding offended.
“Sorry Lise, but I’d like to survive this experience.” Christina said.
“Take us up” I said to Chris with a smile.
“Yes ma’am.” Chris said switching on the helicopter. I heard the blades start to spin and Chris checked a few things in front of him before grabbing a radio.
“This is Shadow-9-1 requesting permission for lift off.” Chris said into the radio.
“Copy that Shadow-9-1, you are clear for lift off, over.” A voice said back a moment later. Chris flicked a few switches before grabbing onto the controls in front of him. A few seconds later the ground started to get further away as we rose into the air, slowly and steadily.
“Ok, how high do you girls want to go?” Chris asked us.
“I’m suddenly scared of heights.” Christina said.
“A bit too late for that.” Chris said, taking us up even higher.
“What time is it?” I asked him.
“Around 5:30-ish, sun should be rising soon.” He said. We continued to rise for a few minutes as Chris took us further away from the base.
“Shadow-9-1, please do try to remain within our airspace before we have to shoot you down.” A voice said over the radio. Chris laughed to himself and was grinning as he picked up the radio.
“You old bastard, I thought you retired.” He said almost jokingly.
“In your dreams Rodriguez. I do hope you remember how to fly that thing.”
“I learned from the best.” Chris replied.
“I know, I was your instructor,” the voice said.
“Still full of yourself I see.” Chris said.
“Well I hope your passengers enjoy themselves, and if they can hear me, your pilot is an idiot.” The voice said.
“He’s just upset because I’m a better pilot than he ever was.” Chris said to us before speaking into the radio again. “Try not to scare them, I only brought four parachutes up here.”
“Well who’s fault is that? I’ll see you when you land.” The voice replied.
“So who was that?” I asked Chris.
“The man who taught me how to fly. He’s arrogant, old, and tough, but an amazing instructor. I thought he’d retired a while back.”
“But how did he know it was you up here?” Amy asked.
“The call sign I used, Shadow-9-1, same one I used when he trained me.”
“Oh” Amy said.
“Anyways, how about you girls look out the windows.” Chris said, flicking a few switches on the control panel. We all moved to be able to see out the side windows. I could see the ocean stretching out beneath us, and the base a short distance away on land. We all were in awe at the sight, all of us gasped and were smiling as we looked out the window. After a minute I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist from behind and I looked up to see Chris hovering over me.
“CHRIS!” I shouted, nearly leaping out of his arms.
“Umm Chris, who’s flying this thing?” Christina asked him nervously. We were all looking at him, terrified.
“Oh relax, it’s on autopilot right now. We’re not gonna move from this spot.” Chris said calmly.
“If we die, I am so gonna haunt you in the afterlife.” Lisa said.
“Our altitude is locked, we’re as safe as we were back on solid ground.” Chris explained.
“I believe him.” I said after a moment.
“See? Lauren’s fine.” Chris said.
“Yeah, we’re sorry if we enjoy being alive.” Lisa said sarcastically. Chris just chucked and whispered something in Christina’s ear. She looked at him with slightly panicked eyes and shook her head.
“Please don’t” She said.
“Oh I’m sure she won’t kill us all.” Chris said, turning to me. “But if you do, I might have to break up with you.”
“Umm, what do you mean?” I asked him, a little confused.
“Come on,” Chris said, ushering me towards the pilot’s seat. He motioned for me to sit and wrapped his arms around me once I had.
“Ok, just grab onto this and tilt it forward.” Chris said, placing my hands onto the controls. I pushed forward and felt the helicopter jerk forward around us.
“Hey, take it easy up there.” Lisa said.
“That was good, just a little gentler now.” Chris said, guiding my hands. The helicopter started to move forward more smoothly. “Alright, now turn the helicopter so they can see the sunrise through the left side windows.”
“How do I do that?” I asked him.
“Like this.” He said, guiding my hands again. We started to move forward before I felt the helicopter shifting under us. We started to turn to the right.
“Alright, so the sun is gonna rise in a minute, so let’s just set her right here,” Chris said, flicking a couple switches.
“Is it over yet?” Lisa said. She looked like she was about to vomit.
“Yeah, we’re not moving anymore.” Chris said.
“Good.” Lisa replied.
“Shadow-9-1, come in” The Major’s voice said over the radio.
“This is Shadow-9-1,”
“Switch to Whiskey-2-3” the radio said.
“Copy that” Chris said, fiddling with the radio.
“What is it Major?” Chris asked.
“A few of your men who were shipping out with you are eager to speak with you. A few still need ah… reassurance that you’re fit to lead this operation.”
“Alright, we’ll be on the ground in thirty mikes, switching back to an open frequency” Chris said.
“Copy that”, the major said.
“What was that about?” I asked him.
“Nothing you need to worry about.” Chris said comfortingly. “Now let’s get to the windows.”
“Ok,” I said, getting out of the seat and moving towards the back of the helicopter. Chris came up behind me and kissed my cheek.
Chris
“We’re alive!” Lisa said as she climbed out of the helicopter, kissing the ground.
“Come on Lisa, my flying isn’t that bad.” I said.
“Your flying is fine. Lauren’s on the other hand.” She said.
“She’s learning, maybe some day I can give you an actual lesson.” I said, pulling Lauren into my arms. “
“Never again.” She said playfully.
“Whatever you say, now I need to call the Major and find out where some of my men are hiding.” I said, taking out my phone.
“Hello” The major said.
“Sir, where are my men waiting at?” I asked him.
“They’re waiting in the hangar with the plane. Still a while before you can take her up. “ He replied
“Alright.” I said hanging up the phone. I walked back over to the girls and pull “You wanna meet the guys?” I asked her.
“Sure,” She said happily.
“Alright, you guys want to grab breakfast in the mess hall?” I asked everyone else.
“Why can’t we come with you guys?” Dani asked.
“Because I want a moment with Lauren. Alone”
“Why?” Lisa said, smirking at us.
“So I can sodomize her, why do you think Lisa?” I said sarcastically. The look that crossed her face in that moment was full of both horror and absolute disgust.
“Ok, no more jokes like that about her. Ever. Ugh, I need to go boil my brain now.” Lisa groaned.
“Breakfast sounds good.” Amy said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
“Alright,” I said happily “Let’s gets going then.”
“I’ll take that equipment for you,” One of the people surrounding the landing pad said.
“Thanks.” I said, handing him the bundle of equipment and walking back over to Lauren.
“Hey Chris?” Lauren said after we had started walking.
“Yes Lauren?”
“What does that word mean?” She asked me.
“Which word?”
“Sodo….”
“Answer that question Chris, and you’re a dead man.” Christina said.
“I’ll tell you when you’re older.” I said.
“I’m 16, I think I can handle knowing what it is.” She said stubbornly.
“Yes, but mamma bear will rip my head off if I tell you what it is, and I like living.” I replied.
“Finally a boy who’s smart enough to be scared of me” Christina said contently.
“I’ll just Google it then.” She aid, pulling out her phone.
“Not if I take your phone.” Lisa said, reaching over and yanking the phone out of Lauren’s hands.
“So if I’m not allowed to know what it means, why did you say it about me?” Lauren asked me.
“Because the look on Lisa’s face was priceless.” I said, trying not to laugh.
“Yeah yeah, I’ll get you back some how Chrissy-poo.” Lisa said.
“Yeah well you’re gonna have to wait until I get back, unless you can plan something in a few hours.”
“Oh I’m surprisingly good at revenge.” She said, smirking at me.
“I’ll be looking forward to it.” I said.
“I think we can find our way to the mess hall from here. Just point us in the right direction?” Christina said.
“Giant building, you can normally smell the food before you see the building.” I said before seeing a young woman walking by. “Excuse me, ma’am?”
“Yes… Sergeant?” The woman responded, glancing at my uniform.
“If it’s not too much trouble, would you be willing to show these young ladies to the mess hall?” I asked her.
“I was just heading that way myself. Come on girls.” She said with a smile.
“Lauren,” I said, smiling at her and holding my arm out. She stepped into my reach and wrapped my arm around her.
“Chrissy-poo” She said, grinning at me.
“That was slightly less annoying than when Lisa calls me that.”
“Chrissy-poo” She said again. I grabbed her face and pulled her in for a kiss.
“Shut up,” I said, smiling at her as we pulled away.
“Never” She said back, smirking.
“That was an order missy.” I said teasingly.
“I’m not a soldier, and considering that I control our sex life here, I think I outrank you.” She said in a soft voice, patting me on the chest.
“We don’t have a sex life,”
“Propose and we might.” She said.
“Two more years.” I replied.
“I know.” Lauren said pouting.
“Desperate much?” I teased.
“Oh please, I got boys lining up.” She said jokingly.
“None of them compare to me though.”
“You’re right, some are much better.” She replied.
“Whatever you say Cimorelli.” I said, taking my arm away from her shoulder.
“Chris?” She said a little nervously. I ignored her. “Chris?” She said, grabbing me by the arm. I still ignored her. “I love you.” She said a little desperately.
“What was that?” I asked her.
“I love you.” She said.
“I know you do.” I said.
“Jerk!” She said, playfully hitting my arm.
“What’d I do now?” I asked her.
“You’re supposed to say you love me too.” She said.
“I love you too loser.” I said, wrapping my arm around her and kissing her forehead.
“I’m not a loser.” She grumbled.
“You’re cute when you’re in denial.” I said, ruffling her hair.
“Ugh.” Lauren grunted as she swatted my hand away.
“Come on, let’s go introduce you to the boys.” I said, pointing at a nearby building.
“Fine.” She said, still pouting.
“I love you Lauren.” I said.
“You better.” She replied, smirking at me.
“Loser.” I said. She just rolled her eyes at me.
Lauren
“There they are,” Chris said, pointing to a group of men sitting on crates at one side of the hangar when we walked in. Chris let go of my hand and walked towards them with me following behind. Once they saw him, they all stood straight, facing him.
“At ease,” Chris said, looking around at all of them. “So you’re the men I’ll be serving with for the next few months.”
“That we are,” One of the men said, stepping forward. “Vincent Young, Staff Sergeant. Sir.”
“Good to meet you soldier.” Chris said, shaking his hand.
“So Rodriguez, are the nights really that lonely that you had to ask the brass to let you bring a girl with ya?” One of the men sitting on the crates asked, gesturing at me.
“This is my girlfriend, Lauren. I trust that you still remember how to be a gentleman, don’t you Davis?” Chris replied.
“I remember, I just choose to be a jerk instead.” He replied, jumping off the crate and grabbing a chair from a nearby desk. He dragged it over to me and stretched out his hand. “I meant no disrespect, your boyfriend and I just have a little bit of a history.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Chris said, looking over at us.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, smiling at him and shaking his hand before sitting down.
“Alright, so I’m seeing some old faces here, and some new ones. For those of you who know me, you know my reputation. For the one’s who are new here, I’m stupid, I’m reckless, I’m damn near suicidal, but I get the job done. Now given that I’m stupid and reckless, I won’t be ordering any of you to take any risks that I wouldn’t take myself…” Chris said, standing in front of the group of men.
“He always gives this speech to his men. It helps raise morale.” Davis whispered to me. “Lauren is it?”
“Yes sir,” I replied.
“First time letting someone you care about go?” He asked me.
“Yeah, he’s given me more than one opportunity for him to stay, but…” I said, trailing off towards the end.
“I get it, my baby sister’s the same way. Hate’s to see me go, but says that if it’s what I want to do, I should go. It’s not easy.”
“So I’ve learned. How old is your sister?”
“13. Biggest eyes you’ve ever seen on a girl. She doesn’t shut up about you either.”
“Oh,” I said, caught a bit off guard. “You actually recognize me?”
“Yeah, like I said, she doesn’t shut up. I’m just glad she found someone good to see as a role model and not someone like that Bieber.” He said kindly.
“Thanks I think?” I said a little unsure.
“Oh I mean it as a compliment. You and your sisters have been great role models for her.”
“Thanks, they’ll love hearing that. We all love hearing stuff like that. Knowing we have some influence on people.” I said, smiling.
“I was gonna leave this with the Major before we left, but if it’s not too much of a problem, if I don’t make it back, could you deliver this to my sister?” He asked me, handing me an envelope.
“I uhh.. “
“I’m sorry I know it’s a lot to ask.” He said.
“It’s fine, just a little off guard. I’ll try, where are you from?” I asked him.
“We live up in San Franciso. Kind of a far drive, sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, we have family near that area.”
“Thank you.” He said, looking at me gratefully. At that point, I noticed Chris walking back over to us.
“I hope he hasn’t been telling you anything bad about me.” Chris said.
“Never. Girl like her’s hard to find. Hold onto her.” Davis said.
“I plan on it,” Chris said, smiling at me when he noticed the envelope in my hand. He just looked at Davis and nodded understandingly.
“So are the troops all prepped and ready to ship out?” Davis asked.
“Yeah, hopefully Elijah’s been busy over there, I want to hit the ground running when we land.”
“You’d do well to pray for us,” Davis said, looking at me, “When he says stuff like that, he usually means many sleepless nights are up ahead.”
“It’s not that bad,” Chris said.
“Oh it is,” Davis replied, “but you do get the job done, so it pays off.”
I sat back in my chair and just listened to the boys talk. Every once in a while one of them would talk to me, or Chris would drag me into a conversation, but mostly I just sat, and listened. Learning more about Chris and what kind of man he was. After a while, the rest of my sisters found us, and the giant group of us sat in the hangar talking until someone walked up to Chris and told him that the plane was ready to fly.
Chris
“Alright Lauren, come on, bring it in.” I said, holding my arms out for her as we stood by the plane. Most of the men had already boarded, a few others were helping load some last minute cargo.
“Too late to change my mind?” She asked reluctantly.
“Yeah kid,” I replied. She gave me a weak smile before walking into my arms.
“Come back?” She said, her voice muffled from being buried in my chest.
“Always,” I said, rubbing my hand along her back. “I’ll try to mail or call if I can.”
“Okay,” Lauren said, slowly letting go of me. She wiped away a few tears that had started to roll down her face and took a step back.
“Remember, I’m ordering you to come back.” Christina said as she walked forward to give me a hug.
“Yes ma’am,” I said, hugging her.
“Let’s just get this over with.” Lisa said after Christina had let go.
“Do we have to? I mean she hasn’t showered in days.” I said, looking at Christina.
“Shut up and hug me.” Lisa said, hugging me.
“I’ll miss you sis.” I said.
“I know you will.” She said; her face buried in my chest.
“Be safe,” Katherine said.
“I will,” I said, hugging her.
“Don’t do anything stupid.” Amy said, hugging me.
“Yeah, no promises Ames.” I said.
“We’ll miss you Chris.” Dani said.
“I’ll be back soon.” I said, hugging her.
“Remember Lauren, I’ll try to call or write, but I can’t promise it’ll be often.” I said, cupping her face in my hand.
“I know,” She said. I could see the tears being held back in her eyes.
“Hey Dan, do me a favor? Don’t let this loser start crying.” I said, pulling Lauren in for one last hug.
“I’m not a loser.” Lauren said, her voice muffled in my chest.
“So adorable when you’re in denial.” I said, pinching her cheek.
“I’ll miss you.” She said, leaning up and giving me a kiss.
“I love you Lauren Christine Cimorelli.” I said letting go of her and turning to walk onto the plane. As I reached the top of the steps I turned and saw all six of them standing there. Lauren was doing her best to keep smiling but something told me that once she got home, that smile wasn’t going to last long. The last of the men boarded and the door closed. A few minutes later, I felt the plane start to move. Away from the ground, away from her, and towards the next few months of hell.