The Fight
By: AliasCWN
(This is just one of the ideas I wrote after a guest gave me a challenge. Troy and Moffitt come back from three days of briefings to find Tully in the hospital and Hitch in the stockade. What happened?)
"Finally!"
Moffitt laughed as Troy parked the jeep next to their other jeep outside of the motor pool. They climbed out, their bodies stiff after their long drive.
"Three days of briefings is about three days too long." Troy groaned. "Tully and Hitch don't know how lucky they were that they weren't required to attend the briefings."
"Tully did say that he was glad that they got out of it." Moffitt mentioned.
"Yeah, well maybe they do have some idea, but the actual briefings were even worse than even I expected, and I hate briefings. talk about boring."
"They did tend to repeat quite a bit of the information over and over again. I suppose they just wanted to make sure that we got it." Moffitt suggested with a smile.
"I got it the first time." Troy grumbled. He smiled as he saw the twinkle in the other sergeant's eyes. "Okay, enough complaining. Why don't we go find Tully and Hitch and see if they want to join us for a drink? They can fill us in on what they did while we were gone."
"You are a glutton for punishment." Moffitt smiled. "Do you really want to sit through more boring stories?"
Troy grinned. "I'm actually hoping for boring this time. I'd be happy with dull if it meant that they stayed out of trouble."
"Good luck with that." Moffitt laughed.
"I can hope." Troy responded, leading the way to the enlisted men's barracks to find the privates.
The room Tully and Hitch shared was empty when they knocked on the door. The sergeant's looked around for a clue as to where the younger rats had gone. Finding nothing, they left the room the way they found it and stepped out into the hall.
"Now where?"
"I'm not sure." Troy looked for someone to ask but the hall was empty.
"You didn't see any sign of them at the motor pool, did you?"
"No, I would have mentioned it if I had." Moffitt replied dryly.
"It's too early for lunch."
"Maybe someone got teams together for a game of baseball. They could either be playing or watching."
"We can check." Troy answered slowly.
"What's wrong Troy?" Moffitt stopped next to the other sergeant and looked around. "Do you see something?"
"No," Troy answered slowly, "I just have this weird feeling that something is wrong."
"You think they're in trouble?"
Troy shook his head. "I don't know, like I said, it's just a feeling."
"We've learned to trust our instincts Troy. If your instincts are telling you that something is wrong then I think we should find them, and quickly."
"Where do we start?"
"I think the baseball field would be a good place to start. Even if they aren't there maybe we can find someone who knows where they can be found."
"Okay, let's go."
There was a game in progress, shirts against skins. A fair size crowd cheered the players from the sidelines.
"Let's split up." Troy suggested. "You go one way and I'll go the other. If we don't find them we'll meet in the middle and come up with a new plan."
They split up and studied the crowd, searching for the familiar faces. Neither one of them saw either of the privates.
"No luck."
"I didn't see them either. I checked both the crowd and the field." Moffitt answered. "I did see one of the mechanics from the motor pool. I thought perhaps we could ask him."
"I don't have any other ideas so let's do it."
Moffitt led the way to a group of men watching the game. He quickly pointed out the mechanic from the motor pool.
"Excuse us private, may we ask you a question?"
The private turned in surprise to see the two sergeants standing behind him. With a nervous little smile he shrugged. "I think you just did."
Both sergeants smiled at the old joke and took a step closer, crowding the other man.
"This will only take a minute." Moffitt assured him. "We were just wondering if you knew where we could find Private Hitchcock or Private Pettigrew, or both of them."
"Yeah, I know where they are." The mechanic answered, turning back to the game as the skins scored a run.
"Your team?" Troy asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, I bet a dollar on them to win." The mechanic smiled.
"Well we are looking for our team." Troy growled in the other man's ear. "Suppose you tell us where they are so you can get back to your game."
The mechanic turned back to look at them. "You mean you really don't know?"
"Why would we ask if we already knew?" Troy asked impatiently.
"Where have you been the last two days?" The mechanic asked. Everybody knows."
"Knows what?" Troy demanded, the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach getting stronger.
"Everybody knows what happened." The mechanic explained.
"What happened?" Troy demanded, pushing his face into the private's personal space.
"Maybe you'd better ask them." The mechanic answered, stepping back uneasily.
"We would," Moffitt stated testily, "if we knew where to find them."
"So why don't you tell us where to find them and we'll go ask them." Troy added in a low growl.
The mechanic looked from one agitated sergeant to the other and took another step back.
"Hitchcock is in the stockade and Pettigrew is in the hospital. I thought you knew."
"No, we didn't." Troy growled. "What happened?"
"You'd better ask them." The mechanic repeated.
"Let's go Troy; we're wasting our time here." Moffitt took Troy by the arm and pulled. "Let's see about Tully first, make sure he's all right."
Troy glared at the private but allowed himself to be pulled away. Worried, he followed Moffitt to the base hospital.
Tully was asleep when they arrived. A nurse led them to his bedside and cautioned them that when he woke up he might be a bit confused due to his medication.
"How bad is it?" Troy asked with a frown.
"Not too bad." The nurse answered with a reassuring smile. "His shoulder is sprained and his knee is twisted. There is some swelling but it's already going down. The doctor just wanted to keep him for observation until the medication wears off."
"What kind of medication?"
"He was seriously agitated when they brought him in. The doctor gave him something to calm him down. When they brought him in he wouldn't even allow us to x-ray his shoulder or knee. He kept yelling about it being a frame-up and someone named Hitch being innocent."
"Any idea how long he'll be out?"
" A few hours yet." The nurse responded. "The doctor was worried that he might injure himself further if he doesn't keep him sedated. It's my understanding that the MPs are still looking into the matter and the doctor is hoping that they get it done before Private Pettigrew wakes up."
"What exactly happened?" Troy asked the nurse.
She shrugged in response. "I was on duty at the time so I'm not really sure. I only heard the gossip among the other nurses. There was a fight of some kind and Private Pettigrew and his friend were somehow involved."
"A fight?" Troy rolled his eyes. "I should have known."
"Private Pettigrew seems to think that his friend is innocent." The nurse repeated.
"He would." Troy grumbled. Turning away, he locked eyes with Moffitt. "Do me a favor, if Private Pettigrew wakes up before we get back, tell him we were here and we'll be back later. We need to find out exactly what happened."
The nurse nodded and watched as they walked away.
The guard at the door of the stockade laughed when they saw them coming. He glanced at his watch and smiled broadly.
"What's so funny?" Troy growled.
"I win." The guard laughed again. "We had a bet going as to how long it would take you to show up here once you got back to base." Seeing the angry look he got from Troy, his smile disappeared.
"We want to see Hitchcock."
The guard started to shake his head.
"Why not?"
"He's not here." The guard explained.
"Then where is he?"
"The Captain sent for him. A couple of the guys just left with him, to go to the Captain's office."
"How long ago?"
The guard glanced at his watch again. "Maybe ten minutes ago. If you hurry maybe you can catch them before they start back."
Without another word the two sergeants turned and headed for the Captain's office.
"Hello Sergeant." The Captain's clerk greeted them as soon as they entered the building. "The Captain is expecting you, you can go right in." He knocked on the Captain's door and opened it to announce the arrival of the sergeants.
"Come in Troy, Moffitt, I've been expecting you." The Captain waved them into the office and motioned for them to close the door.
Hitch stood in front of the Captain's desk, half turned to face them as they came in. An MP stood to either side of him. He dropped his head as Troy glared at him angrily.
"We came as soon as we heard Captain." Troy explained. "We stopped at the hospital but Tully wasn't awake yet. The MP at the stockade told us we could find Hitch here." Troy gave Hitch another disapproving look. "We heard that there was a fight sir but no one has provided any details."
Captain Boggs nodded at the explanation. "I understand that the doctors are keeping Private Pettigrew sedated until things calm down."
"Yes Sir." Troy confirmed. "If I may ask sir, what are the charges against Hitch?"
"Assault, creating a disturbance, and striking an officer." The Captain listed the charges.
Troy closed his eyes as the serious charges were listed. He looked toward Hitchcock but his driver refused to meet his eyes.
"Were there any witnesses sir?"
The Captain smiled. "As a matter of fact Sergeant, there were. Four men are willing to swear that Hitchcock hit Lieutenant Waltham after the lieutenant caught him beating a Private Strickland."
"Why sir? Why would he beat up this Private Strickland? There must be a reason."
"No Sergeant, apparently not. Even Private Hitchcock admits that he didn't have any reason to beat up Private Strickland."
Troy frowned and looked at Moffitt. The British sergeant shrugged and looked at Hitchcock but the blond refused to meet his eyes too.
"Then why would he do something like this Captain? There has to be some explanation."
"I never touched Strickland Sarge!" Hitch spoke for the first time.
"What about the lieutenant?"
"I grabbed his arm but I didn't hit him either." Hitch declared.
"Who did you hit?" Troy demanded, noting the battered knuckles on his driver's hands.
"I hit the guys who were with the lieutenant. They were hitting Tully. I jumped in when I saw one of them grab his arm and twist it. It was four to one Sarge, I figured Tully could use the help.".
"What about the Lieutenant?"
"He had a bloody nose when I got there."
"Private Strickland gave the lieutenant the bloody nose." Captain Boggs interrupted before Troy could ask any more questions. "The lieutenant hit him first though."
"So why is Hitch charged with striking an officer?"
"Because four men swore that he hit the officer, five if you count the lieutenant."
"I don't understand sir," Moffitt spoke up. "If you know they are lying, why are you still charging Hitch?"
The Captain smiled again. "We're not Sergeant. Private Hitchcock is free to go. I just had a few questions for him before I released him." The Captain turned to Hitch. "Have you had any trouble before this with Lieutenant Waltham?"
"No sir." Hitch replied.
"What about the others that were with him?"
"No sir."
"I didn't think so but I had to ask. The lieutenant and Private Strickland have had issues before. In fact, they have a history that goes back several months. .I don't think that the lieutenant and his friends realize that there were other witnesses to the altercation. There are other witnesses, both army and civilian who claim that it was the lieutenant and his friends who started the fight. The lieutenant threw the first punch. Those witnesses say that Private Pettigrew tried to stop them from beating Private Strickland. And, as Private Hitchcock says, he showed up and tried to help Private Pettigrew.
I did some checking and found that this is not the first time the lieutenant and his little gang have been in trouble. This time though, we have witnesses who are willing to testify." The Captain looked at Hitch as he continued. "I don't think that the lieutenant and his friends will be causing any more trouble for quite some time. It wouldn't hurt to keep a low profile until this blows over though."
"Yes sir." Hitch answered quietly. "Can I go see Tully?"
"I don't know why not Private. Seeing you there when he wakes up should make it easier on the doctors."
"He won't give them any more trouble Captain." Troy promised.
"I hope not Sergeant or I may have to lock him up for real."
"We'll take care of it Sir."
"I'm counting on it Sergeant." The officer told him. "Now get out of here, I have work to do."
"Don't say it Sarge!" Hitch protested as soon as they were out in the street.
"You did good."
Hitch spun to face Troy. "What?"
"Tully could have been hurt a lot worse than he was. Your intervention probably saved him from a more serious injury. If Tully behaves we can probably take him back to our rooms today. Private Strickland will be hospitalized for at least a couple of weeks. And if Tully hadn't intervened Strickland may not have survived at all."
"I was worried about Tully." Hitch admitted quietly.
"No need, Tully's tough, he'll be okay."
"We were just trying to help Sarge." Hitch glanced sideways at the sergeants.
"Yeah, we know." Troy sighed. "We can't really blame you, it's what makes you you."
"And we wouldn't change that for anything." Moffitt added.
Troy threw Moffitt another of his looks. "I was kind of hoping for a few boring stories and a cold drink." His sad tone drawing the private's attention, Troy hung his head.
"We did have one boring day Sarge." The blond answered. "We can tell you all about that."
"Never mind Hitch, I think three days of boring will do me just fine."
Tully woke up to find all three of his friends sitting by his bed.