By Karri
Summary: Zeke gets some bad news.
Disclaimer: Tour of Duty and its characters are the property of Zev Braun and New Line Productions. Written for entertainment purposes only and no money is being made. Original characters and situation belong to author.
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thwacka-thwacka-thwacka-thwacka
The chopper pilot glared impatiently at the SOG team gathered on the flight deck, but it had little effect on the men nervously awaiting their c.o.'s order to board the bird. Sgt. Zeke Anderson shrugged apologetically at him before making another a quick check of Team Viking's equipment. Zeke's brow wrinkled as he glanced at Col. Brewster and Lt. Myron Goldman as they continued in their a serious looking conversation. Wasn't like Brewster to make last minute adjustments to a mission.
The Sergeant tried to keep his attention focused on the gear, instead of wondering about the delay. The newbies that the Colonel had transferred into Team Viking were good, there was no getting around it. There wasn't a badly taped piece of equipment or misplaced grenade among the whole bunch. Zeke was pleased with the kids, but without anything to adjust or anyone to scold, it was difficult to keep his mind from straying in the direction of his commanding officers.
"What's up, Sarge?" Taylor anxiously inquired, as softly as the chopper's ruckus would allow. It was a bad sign to have Brewster and the L-tee chatting last minute like this. Meant something was up, and it wasn't likely to be anything good.
Zeke shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the two men, again. Brewster's eyes flitted in his direction, causing the Sergeant's already tense muscles to pull tighter. Zeke figured they couldn't get much more taut, but found himself proven wrong as the L-tee jogged his direction.
Lt. Goldman had a funny look in his face that Zeke didn't care for at all. Myron put his hand on his Sergeant's shoulder as he came up to him. There was something strange in his touch. As their gazes met, the Sergeant had to struggle to push down nausea caused by the increasing tension in his body. He didn't like what he saw in Myron's eyes, not one little bit.
"You're off this one, Zeke," Lt. Goldman shouted in his Sergeant's ear.
Nodding in Brewster's direction, the L-tee signaled his Sergeant that the Colonel would explain. Then he gave Zeke's shoulder a gentle squeeze before moving quickly over to Taylor. The Sergeant watched them chat briefly, watched Taylor glance his direction with that same funny look in his face, and then watched the L-tee signal the guys to saddle up. The helicopter began to lift off, and Zeke knew he couldn't stall any longer.
"Sir!"
"Walk back with me, Sgt. Anderson," Col. Brewster responded, as Zeke came to attention in front of him.
Zeke fell in next to the Colonel as Brewster began to move. The Sergeant's mind raced over all of the possibilities as they walked. He couldn't think of any reason for Brewster to yank him off a mission while the helicopter's waiting to take off, except, maybe....Katie. Zeke stopped suddenly, the color draining from his face.
"Sir? My daughter, Katie? She's....," Zeke began to ask, nearly unable to choke out the words.
"Katie's fine," Brewster responded firmly, as he stopped and turned, "Sergeant...Zeke."
Sgt. Anderson felt time grind to a halt as the Colonel paused.
"Zeke," Brewster began slowly, "Carol and her husband have been killed in a car accident."
Zeke closed his eyes for the briefest of seconds, and then steadied himself.
"Katie?"
"She wasn't in the car with them," Brewster assured.
"Where...," Zeke began to ask, but the Colonel had anticipated the question and cut him off.
"She's with Carol's parents. Arrangements have been made to get you home to her. Your flight's leaving in an hour, so you'll need to pack quickly," Brewster paused to let the news sink in, then added, "let me know if there's anything you need me to settle for you here, Sergeant. Anything I can do."
"Thank you, sir," Sgt. Anderson managed to stammer out as Brewster was excusing him.
Zeke stumbled towards his quarters. Carol was dead. His mind couldn't seem to digest it. His thoughts had been focused on death and loss for so long that sometimes he couldn't remember when that wasn't normal, but this was different. Carol, or a least his memories of her, were from that other world. The one where people were happy and lived to be old. She was far away, safe in the World. How could she be dead?
Sitting on his bunk, Zeke was pulled out of his reverie by the sudden realization that he was in his hootch. He didn't remember coming through the door. The Sergeant looked around - his gear was dropped in a heap by the door, but otherwise, everything was as it always was. He closed is eyes and tried to find some comfort in its familiarity. As he sat, his mind twisted around Brewster's last words. It took a few minutes for him fully grasp the implications of the Colonel's offer. The Army was sending him home, not on emergency leave, but home for good. Home. His mind began racing again.
A life back in the World. He'd stopped imagining that a long time ago. Not that there wasn't anything waiting for him. Jennifer was there. Katie was there. Zeke tried to get past his memories of Carol's beautiful smile, to shift his focus toward the future. What would he do? Stay in the Army? Move Katie around wherever the Army sent him? Retire and settle down? Then do what? Take Katie to Texas, ask Jennifer to marry him again? Would Katie and Jennifer accept each other? Would Katie accept him? Did he know how to be a father? Would he be able to raise Katie?
Zeke rose from the bed and began packing. It was all too much, too uncertain. He needed to get his stuff together - catch his flight. A plane on a schedule was certain. He liked certainty. The rules, regulations, order of the Army - in that there was comfort. Zeke knew how to be a Sergeant. He knew how to shape boys into soldiers. The Army decided where he would go and what he would do. He just went, followed orders, did his job, tried to stay alive - that had been his life since he was 18 years old. That was simple. This....this was complicated and uncertain.
Then there were his guys. Most of his original Team had gone home already. Zeke found solace in that thought. Roo, Johnson, Percell - he liked to think he'd helped those boys make it home alive and well. Griner and Doc had made it home, too - not well, but alive. Taylor and the L-tee were still here, though. How could he abandon them with a team of newbies? Hell! Nearly everybody on the damn base was new. His guys needed him here.
"I'm sorry about Carol, Zeke."
Zeke started. He'd been so deeply mired in his thought that he didn't immediately recognize the voice. The Sergeant spun around to face his L-tee.
"Sir?!" Zeke blurted automatically.
"Relax, Sergeant. Sorry to have startled you."
"Team back already? Brewster scrub the whole mission?" Zeke asked, feeling foolish at having been caught so off-guard.
"A beer?" the L-tee asked, moving over to the Sergeant's small cooler and grabbing two. Tossing one to Zeke, Myron found a seat, took a swig, and looked his Sergeant in the eyes.
"I know what you were thinking."
"Sir?"
"You were thinking that you can't abandon Taylor and me to a bunch of newbies," Myron informed his Sergeant, "and you're wondering what kind of father you'll be to Katie. Maybe you ought to just leave her with her grandparents and stay here?"
Zeke looked sheepishly into his beer, took a swig, and continued packing, carefully avoiding the knowing gaze of his Lieutenant. The boy'd read him like a book.
"Katie needs you, Zeke. You know it."
The Sergeant kept packing and let the his L-tee talk. The sound of his Lieutenant's voice was oddly soothing.
"Besides you've raised enough boys into men, myself included, that one little girl shouldn't be much of a challenge."
Zeke smirked. Raising a little girl wasn't going to be anything like turning a bunch of green boys into soldiers.
"You'll figure it out," Myron assured, catching the smirk, "and as for abandoning Taylor and me to deal with a bunch of newbies - that's not your problem, anymore. You've trained Taylor to be a damned good Sergeant and molded me into a half-decent officer. You've done your job, Zeke. Now it's time to take care of Katie, and yourself."
The Sergeant nodded. Katie needed him, he was going home. It was immutable. Still, it felt better to have the L-tee say it, felt less like he was abandoning him and Taylor.
Knock, knock.
Zeke grabbed his filled duffle and walked over to the door. Opening it, he found a baby-faced private waiting patiently. The Sergeant tossed the kid his bag.
"Wait in the jeep," Zeke instructed, and shut the door.
"You'd better get going," Myron commented, then raised his beer, "it's been a real honor serving with you, Zeke."
Zeke quickly scanned his empty hootch before walking over to his beer. Turning, he met his L-tee's eyes and raised his beer.
"It's been a real honor serving with you, sir."
Both men took a long, final swig of beer. There was more that they could say to each other, but it wasn't necessary. Each man knew how the other was feeling, everything had been said as their eyes had met. Myron simply looked at his feet as Zeke strolled past him and out the door.
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Col. Brewster watched Sgt. Anderson's jeep pull away. The time spent packing seemed to have calmed the Sergeant - given the news a chance to digest. The man had a lot ahead of him to deal with, but he was strong - just what little Katie was going to need to get her through the loss of her mother.
"You didn't tell him, sir?" inquired Brewster's aide from over the Colonel's shoulder.
"Man has enough on his mind," responded the Colonel.
"He'll find out sooner or later, sir."
"I'll write him...in a few weeks, after things have had time to settle," Brewster turned to walk away. "In a few weeks...when we've had a chance to retrieve the bodies and can list them as killed and not just MIA. Then I'll write him, tell him Team Viking's chopper was shot down on the way to the LZ. When we're sure they're....when we have the bodies."
As Brewster's aide watched his c.o. stalk away to deal his grief, he wondered at the strange twists in life. The Sergeant's life had been saved, and he would be spared, at least temporarily, from the knowledge of the death of his friends as well - all because of one simple, tragic car accident . The aide shook his head at the irony. Life was really odd!
The End.