Hey Folks, me again, but this time with an AU. I had this idea a while now and now I started it. It's influenced by the movie "The Luck One" but with a little bit more drama and hurt. Let me know what you think of it. As always enjoy. Mary
In the year 2011 President Obama had been confident in achieving his plan for bringing back the remaining soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. One year later he had fought for it in his election campaign and won. In the year 2013 the last troops overseas will come home to their wives, their children, their friends. To a life they should have lived.
Over 2000 wounded Soldiers from all troops, Navy, Army and Marines, had come home that year. Some only with a nervous breakdown after seeing hell on earth others with more severe wounds. Wounds that could have easily been lethal.
Lieutenant Jane Rizzoli had been one of them, one of the severe wounded soldiers.
When she had joined the United States Marines Corps it had been to protect her younger brother Tommy. She had just finished the police academy and started off as a rookie, when Tommy had decided to join the Marines. Their mother had begged him not to, but as the screw up of the family, like he used to call himself, he had wanted to do one thing right in his life, one thing his family would be proud off. Nobody in the family thought it would turn out into a nightmare.
It had been their third turn, a leave for three month, stationed in Kandahar. They just were send there as reconnaissance troop, to help the ISAF, a humanitarian troop. But everything turned out in a disaster. On their way to the station a suicide bomber had attacked Lt. Rizzoli's team. The first car blew up in an instant. The three Marines died on impact. She and her brother had been in the second Humvee. Her brother had been wounded and she had been taken by the rest of the group that had attacked them. She had been unconscious when they had kidnapped an US citizen.
When she had woken, they had first questioned her. It was a group of very paranoid ex Al-Qaida members, who had thought Lt. Rizzoli's troops had been on a deadly mission. But when they had gotten no useful information it turned into torture.
About six month later she had been found during a raid in the small village she had been hold. A young boy, who was recruited as her caretaker, had told one of the passing army troops that one of their own was held in a small wrecked house outside the village.
Her rescue had turned into a three hour fight with a bombing of a cruise missile and the destruction of her prison.
But she had survived, after almost 6 month of torture and being buried under tons of bricks and steel they had found her, alive.
They had flown her directly to Ramstein, Germany, to get her the best medical care possible. And she needed it. Due to the bombing, she had severe burns on the whole left side of her body. The even needed to transplant from her right leg and her back to save her arm. Her left leg had been crushed under the amount of cement; they couldn't save it. So she became an over knee amputee. Her head injury was as severe as everything else. She had an extreme swelling and a bleeding, so they had to open her up. After cutting of her leg, saving her left chest side and her left arm Jane remained two month and 25 days in a coma. Time to at least heal for the other wounds she had sustained, like whiplashes welts cigarette and electroshock burns. Her whole body was mangled. She would have scars all over her body. They had even scarred her beautiful face by cutting from her left eye over her cheek to the chin.
Her brothers and her mother had come to Germany, as soon as they had heard from Jane's rescue. It had been a horrible sight for them. Tommy hadn't noticed her and he was the last one who had seen her. Angela had cried almost every day and blamed her youngest son for Jane's misery. Francesco "Frankie" Rizzoli, a broker on the Wall Street had returned after one week sitting next to his comatose sister. He hadn't been in the army, he had no idea how it was for Tommy or Jane so he had felt left out and had returned to his wife and two sons.
After a month Angela had had to return back to the states. There was a house to be looked after and a job to work. So Tommy had been the first person Jane had seen after waking up in an unfamiliar surroundings. She had panicked because of the tube that still helped her breathing, because of the beeping noises, because of the white light, and most of all because of the pain. Tommy had tried to calm her down but it was valium that had calmed her until she had drifted back to sleep. It took her two more days to come fully around.
She hadn't spoken a word to her brother only to let him know to leave her alone and go back to the States. Tommy had refused but after upsetting his sister with his decision he had been told by the doctors to grant her that wish if it only would help her. So Tommy had left his big sister alone and returned to his mother without her. Another promise he had broken.
After another week and further tests Jane was cleared for her flight back to a military hospital in the US. She had to attend physical therapy and psychological therapy after going through all those traumatic events in the last past 9 month. She refused to speak for the first 4 weeks and was just pumped up with haloperidol and valium because she had been a danger to herself at day and nighttime. It had taken her over 3 month to accept the fact that she now was an amputee who had to wear a prosthesis. She never once watched herself in mirrors and after shattering every single one within her reach the therapists had ordered the nurses to remove the remaining. All of her family had come to visit her but she had refused to see them.
Her physical wounds had healed and turned into scars. The skin transplantation and the seven surgeries she had to have had saved her arm and the scarring hadn't turned out as bad as promised. The scar in her face was significant but didn't lessen her beauty. The welts, lashes and burns also had scarred. Her stump had healed perfectly and she had adjusted on walking with a prosthesis. She was to proud to use a wheelchair.
After half a year of physical therapy, rehab and shrinks, like she used to call them, Jane had been free to leave. But where to go? She hadn't been around many people in over a year, she was used to be alone. So she decided in the summer of 2012 to travel through the states. She knew she couldn't go back to her old life. After an honorable discharge, something nobody would have denied, she left the US. Marines hospital in New Orleans and started off with everything she had. Her combat dress, a couple of dollars and the gifts from patients and nurses she had gotten over the past seven month.
At the bus station she looked where she could get with the couple of dollars she had.
"Excuse me." she asked the bus driver.
"Yes Ma'am." he answered and turned to look at her. The sharp intake of his breath made Jane blush with embarrassment.
"I..." she looked up and straight into his wide eyes. "What's your destination?" Jane asked and grabbed her duffle back pack.
"Oh, hm, I'm headed to Detroit. Where do you wanna go?" the black man asked, now a little calmer.
Jane counted her dollars . "67 dollars. That's where I can go" she said and smiled at him. He laughed and signed her to get on the bus.
Jane grabbed her cane she had leaned against the bus and slowly made her way up the four stairs. Eugene, the bus driver, watched Jane carefully as she struggled up the stairs but was too polite to say something. He knew better then to ask the soldiers he had met in his time as a driver, what had happened to them. It was too obvious the most times.
"Well then your destination is Nashville, Tennessee." laughed and closed the door behind Jane.
I'm most definitely responsible for all of the mistakes because here in Germany most people are in bed and sleep but I'm one of those who watch the Super Bowl live.
If, and only if you liked the start of this story, then you tell me and in the next chapter you gonna meet Maura Isles, single mother of a daughter.