Chain Letters

Emily Elane

Chain Letters: Chapter One: Bedrooms and Fires

Four years after Maine was put behind bars with the Director and Wash becoming almost a war hero; Church was just sitting in the kitchen at blue base with Caboose chatting in his ear. How could it all lead to this? Stuck here with Caboose for all eternity?

He was miserable.

The only good thing that had happened recently, was Tex had come back and they had started dating again. Tucker had came back too, but he wasn't about to have a party for that. I mean, its just Tucker, right? Yes, it was just Tucker. All he had done was hit on Tex the whole time after arriving and even though she had given him a good ass beating for it, he wasn't about to stop. The private just threw around and played with every idea that popped into his head. Church sighed.

Who was he kidding? It was nice to have the whole team back. Well, almost all of it. Sister was still missing and Doc was somewhere probably dead or just wandering around like a little lost puppy on the 4th of July.

"And that was my family's trip to Spanish Land." Church finally turned to him as Grif sat backwards on his chair, a cigarette between his lips and wearing just a tee-shirt and sweatpants.

The reds were having to share the base with them until their base got filtered out from some dangerous cleaning supplies Sarge had used to try and kill Grif with.

"I told you it existed!!" Grif shouted to Simmons who sat at the island only five feet away, looking in his microscope with papers scattered around. He looked at Grif from above the glasses rested on his nose.

"Wait-you're getting information from Caboose?" Grif stared at him silently and blew out smoke.

"I see your point…" Simmons nodded an went back to looking in the microscope.

"Greatest family trip since Disneyland," Caboose said.

Church felt anger growing with every word. Why were they so incompetent? he asked himself more then once. But he never came up with a satisfying answer. All he figured was that they were just retarded and always would be.

Just then Tex decided to walk in, choosing to stand in the doorway with her hands on her hips. Church looked at her, noticing how she looked young and lively as she posed like that.

Her eyes seemed to fly over everyone like a bird on the hunt; but she stopped on Church. He smiled awkwardly, making her scowl.

"What are you smiling about?" she snapped.

"Nothing," he said reluctantly.

"You sure?"

"Yep." She just stared at him suspiciously for a moment and then her gaze shifted to Simmons.

"What 'ya up to?" while Simmons wrote something down on a piece of paper with his pen, he attempted an explanation:

"Looking at the atoms of a hair from Grif-"

"Boring." Simmons sighed an went back to looking in the scope.

"Told you.." Grif murmured under his breath. Simmons held back from starting a fight. It wasn't worth his time.

"I'm so totally bored," Tex announced. It was silent until she continued, "Anyone got any ideas of what to do?" Church felt like jumping on the opportunity; but instead he turned when Tucker rushed in breathing heavily. His body language suggested something dreadful had happen.

"I can give you something to do, Tex! Bow chicka bow wow!" She just stood; silent.

"How the hell did you even know I said that?" she asked as Church laughed in the background.

"Like I said back in Blood Gulch, I'm like Superman; I know when I'm needed."

"Get out of here you dumb ass!" With that Tucker took off running back into the living room with Tex only chasing him to the doorway. There, she stopped and began to laugh manically.

Successful in her attempt to scare him to death, she sat down on the table an swung her legs still laughing.. "Anyone want to do anything with me?" Everyone was silent until Tucker yelled from the other room. He had to be the only person in the universe with the guts to hit on her.

"I'll do something with you! Bow chicka bow wow!" She said nothing and stopped swinging her legs.

"We could go have a picnic or take a walk," Church spoke up finally and she looked at him with surprise.

"Uh...what about both?" Church responded by smiling pleasantly.

"Sure. What do you want for dinner?"

"Anything. You know me well enough to just pick something." Grif watched them curiously as they ogled at each another.

"Okay. Sure you don't have preference?" She nodded as he set his hand on top of hers. She didn't attempt to stab him, but she made a face.

"Can you bring me back any leftovers?" They both turned to Grif. "Can you?"

"Sure," Church complied. It was the only way they'd save enough until the next drop. Grif would eat all their food otherwise. Just like he had a couple weeks ago-----they'd had to live through one entire day without food.

"Thanks, Dude." Church ignored that as Tex stood up. She still held onto his hand, starting to pull on him. He wasn't even effected by her attempt to get him to his feet.

"What is it?" She only pulled harder, but he held tightly to his seat, determined to not be pulled away.

"Come on." He hated it when she wouldn't tell him and wasn't going to move unless she told him.

"To where?" Using all her strength to pulled him up, now she grunted.

"To Caboose's room." That room was totaled; Caboose had done the unbelievable to that room. Everything: nailed food to the wall, pictures of Church everywhere, love letters to Sheila, tank magazines scattered everywhere, old muffins from his previous attempts to win Sheila back, pictures of his parents, and brothers. And Church was not in the mood to deal with that.

Nowhere near.

"Why?" Stopping she spoke:

"Because he stole some of my clothes." He tilted his head.

"Why?"

"I have no idea." He looked to Caboose across the table. The blue private responded with a smile of glee.

"Why, Caboose?"

"I was hoping Sheila might like them if she turns into a real person." Church pressed his lips together and stood.

"Don't steal anymore of my girlfriend's stuff." With that, they started walking to Caboose room still joined at the hands.

Neither of them said anything an they reached his door in the hallway; Church closed his eyes an sighed before opening the door. He really hadn't wanted to go inside; but he did anyway.

The walls had waffles, pictures of Church, love letters; the floor was covered in tank magazines, old, ant infested muffins and the bed was made, but had a big ripple in it. Pictures of his comrades family was placed on the nightstands by his bed----Church wondered if Caboose even remembered any of them.

He parted from Tex, went over to the closet and opened it as she trailed behind gingerly.

The closet had Caboose's clothes and Tex's: pajamas, underwear, bras, pants, shirts and socks. "He stole a lot," Church pointed out an she nodded as he started grabbing some. She grabbed the rest. "Just one question," she nodded. "Why did you need me to come with you?" for a moment, she thought about it. The only thing she came to was that: she didn't need, she wanted.

"I didn't." He stared at her for a moment in silence.

"Then, why did you ask me to help you?"

"Because I wanted your help." It was simple, but he felt comfort in knowing she had wanted his help for once. Or even just wanted help period.

For the first time he'd ever seen, she smile graciously before walking off. But because she was staring at Church, she slipped and landed with a thud to the ground. "Ow!" He looked down to her and she snarled.

Setting the items in his hands on the bed, he held his hand out to her; she grabbed it and stood again.

"You okay? That looked like a painful dive." She sneered at him.

"I'm fine." He grabbed his pile again as she gathered hers from the floor.

He stood, waiting patiently by the doorway.

When she stood, her hands were full and a strand of her hair was in her face; she blew on it to get it to move, but it just fell back down. After two more tries, she curse aloud, "Goddammit!!" He motioned for her to come closer and she snarled.

"Come here." She shook her head in disagreement and walked passed him. "Fine. Never mind."

She casually looked toward him as they walked to her room. Night black hair, dark brown eyes, five o-clock shadow…

She rarely took a minute to just think about how attractive he was---she did though regret it. And whether she would admit it aloud or not: she knew that she was lucky to have gotten a man like him.

It's not like she's the classic women like in old movies who cooks, cleans, gets married, has kids, and enforces the rules. No, that wasn't her and it never would be. Actually she doubted she would ever get that chance. Whether it mattered to her or not, Church had always had commitment issues. Not with anyone but her; just Tex. Even Tucker or Caboose, he might make some kind of commitment to or with. Such as: promising to help clean their rooms or make breakfast. But when it came to her, it was as if the rules no longer applied. He would never make promises to her----not even to make breakfast or take her to lunch. Why? She wasn't sure, but she felt some kind of jealousy from that. She stopped herself from asking----it was a useless battle she wouldn't be able to win.

"You okay?" She blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He wasn't buying it and when they reached her door. Church opened the door for her and she went in, tossing her clothes on the floor and then grabbed the rest from him an tossing it into the pile.

"Can I come in?" She looked at him warily.

"I don't know..." He stared at her, his disappointment causing her to pause. When they made eye contact, she sighed. "Fine." He smiled and the disappointment disappeared. She moved to make room for him to come through and he strolled in as she ran her vision up and down him as if he had the plague.

He looked around: her twin sized bed was in the far corner---with a window above it, a side table placed next to it with a lamp, pistol, and picture placed on it and her dresser was black, placed toward the foot of her bed. Tex had a small vanity that looked unused a brush laying on it with her Red hair stuck between the bristles, a small makeup bag that looked completely untouched with dust covering it and some ponytail holders. Her pile of stolen clothes from Caboose was tossed by her bed and shoes lined up in front of the wall passed her table.

He turned to her and smiled, before turning around an strolling passed the vanity running his hand along the brim. His two fingers were covered in dust. Just as he'd thought; she hadn't ever used that thing.

He chuckled softly to himself and looked down to the heartwood pine floor. Old newspaper clippings hung on the walls with reports of crimes.

"Why're you so nervous about showing off your room, Babe?" She felt something inside her tighten. And without knowing it, she held her breath. Being called babe, was something he hadn't done in awhile. He stopped and ogled; she felt his eyes on her ana felt stunned. It became an uncomfortable silence quickly.

She snapped out of it a moment later and shook her head.

"My-my room?" She cursed herself quietly for replying so shakily.

"Yes, your room. Who's room do you think I'm talking about?" She tried to shake it off and regain her composer.

"Um...what was your question?" She cursed again under her breath quietly.

"Never mind." He smiled and crashed on her bed with a sigh of pain an relief----his back was killing him. Why, precisely, he wasn't sure.

She leaned against the wall ahead of her door an scanned him up and down nervously as he closed his eyes and sighed again.

She turned her rubbernecked gaze away from him and closed her eyes with a sigh, why did she feel so intruded? It was just lazy, old Church after all. What was he going to do? Plus, she'd known him for more then ten years. She probably trusted him more then he trusted her. Now she just felt stupid. He wasn't going to do anything---at least anything that she was worried about. The worst he could do was try and seduce her, and when she thought about it, it might not be that bad.

She turned to him again, still he hadn't moved and Tex felt herself getting more secure with his presence. With that settling, she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out but a soft whimper rose from her throat. He flung open his eyes and turned to her. "You okay?" She nodded rapidly.

"Yeah." He stretched out an turned to the picture on her side table. It was a picture of them getting ready to leave for prom. Church laugh aloud at himself. In the picture he had braces, barely a shadow, his hair was much too long, one of his eyes were twitching and he looked basically retarded.

Tex on the other hand looked gorgeous. Her red hair was back----showing her face off, her eyes looked at the camera excitedly, her skin was pinkish and she barely had any makeup on---only some mascara, light Pink blush and lip gloss. She had a Black dress on that hit above her knee and fit tightly, a halter. He then remembered that she had ended up taking her shoes off and he'd carried her to his pickup, then to her door.

She had thought that was charming at the time and his only response was to say she was delusional. He'd never cared or wanted to be charming, but somehow, she had fallen for it. Maybe, he guessed, it was because no one else was knocking on her door. Or maybe it was because she hated charming men.

He laughed reminiscently and set it back on her table.

She had been gazing longingly at him the entire time and he flashed a smiled at her. With that she started to walk over, but was stopped when she heard Tucker's voice behind her in the doorway. "What 'ya guys doing in here?" Tex turned on her heel and held her hands on her hips.

"What are you doing?" He stared at her for a moment and felt his heartbeat raise as she stared at him with annoyance. With panic, he struggled for his next words. If he screwed up, she would snap at him, if he hit on her, she'd snap at him, if he said something intelligent she would snap, too.

"Uh…standing." She felt her blood boil. Now he was being a smart ass. That was something she had no tolerance for.

Tex sneer heavily an Church stood quickly. He knew where this was going: Tucker was going to die.

Church mouthed the words, 'You dumb ass' to him.

"You're such a smart ass! You couldn't have said something less intelligent!?" Tex snarled to him and Tucker shuddered by her violent tone.

"Sorry! I wasn't sure what to say!" he explained back.

"And now you've seen my room!" He hadn't noticed until now.

"You're right, I forgot I've never seen your room." Allison tightened her hands to fists and surprisingly, only slammed the door in his face; causing Tucker to flinched and blinked quickly. He thought about what had just happened. She didn't hit him? It was like, the first time in history. Tucker smiled happily and strolled off to his room.

Church stared at her, horrified by what she might be planning to do to him since Tucker was gone.

But she instead turned around, walked past him and flipped on her lamp, but he was still frozen in place. She moved some hair from her face and sighed, flopping on her bed as he turned around. Tex just looked at him and then moved over as if making room for him. Was this a demented game? Was she screwing with him?

He looked at her, stunned and she knew. "What?" She only sounded frustrated to the point of giving up, so Church shrugged.

"I don't know." Tex only looked into his eyes and then knew what was wrong.

"Church, I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at Tucker." He smiled. Should he really lie in bed all day with her? Did she really want him to?

Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes glassy as he stared at her. He remembered why he'd joined the military anyway: her. And if even just for a moment, he felt like it had been worth it.

So, Church laid on the bed and lifted his left arm, allowing her to slipped under it and rest her head on his chest. Closing her eyes as he lowered his arm around her.

Neither one of them could remember the last time they had laid like. Peaceful, loving, happy. They were also feeling secure; though she remembered they hadn't been alone for over five years or more with each other.

But she only nuzzled closer and he shifted to get more comfortable.

Not even three minutes later, they both drifted to sleep. The whole night, neither one of them moved and they ended up sleeping much later then they had planned.

At ten AM, Tex woke up; slowly opened her eyes first then closed them quickly----it was too bright to just open them. She blinked rapidly before opening them completely. She felt that her arm under him was completely numb and so was her hand. She whimpered and pulled herself from him.

The bed was too cramped for two people and that's probably part of the reason they never moved.

She whimpered again, sitting up in bed. Her entire body was stiff and numb-----also sweaty. Tired still and her eyes felt like the were made of led.

Tex carefully tried to crawl over him. Tried as the keyword. Instead, she fell to the floor with a bang. "DAMMIT!!" He sat up and looked at her face in between his legs. She waved, trying to hide that she was sheepish. "Morning." He sent her a cocky smile, stood up and reached out his hand to help her up. She took his hand and he helped her.

When they were both standing, she kissed him on the cheek and he yawned ann stretched his arms.

"What time is it?" Tex looked at the clock on the wall, but her vision was too blurred to read it. So she rubbed her eyes until they were clear.

"Ten, ten AM." He brushed some of the hair from her face and kissed her. Strangely, she let him and kissed back. He wrapped his arms around her and she patted his cheek. He pulled away laughing, she hit him again and laughed also.

They heard a knock at the door and she walked over and opened the door as though someone was knocking on her apartment door. It was Caboose.

"Church? Are you in there?" Tex moved, leaning against the door as thin as she could. Caboose's eyes grew huge upon spotting Church. "CHURCH!" He ran over and hugged him, gaining a sneer in response.

"Hi, Caboose…" he mumbled and Caboose grabbed his wrist and led him out of the room. She could hear Church cursing the whole way and watched from her doorway laughing before then blowing a kiss. Church spotted and was partially stunned.

Why was she being so nice to him? It made no sense. One day, she hates him and the next, she loves him.

Loves, loves, the word ran through his head. Could she? No, she couldn't, could she? He shook his head to ban the thought; it was probably just hormones or something and would pass.

But it didn't pass.

For the next two weeks, she continued her streak. They still had fights, they just weren't near as bad as before. As time went on, he started questioning how well he had known her and if they really did love each other. He didn't actually believe though until a humid, and clear evening when the reds were having a cookout by the ramp. The sun was set already and they had a fire set with chairs around it.

Grif was sitting, wishing he had something to prop his feet up on. Simmons was helping Sarge get more wood. Donut was trying to read scary stories---that no one was listing to. Caboose was staring gawkily at the fire. Tucker sat in a chair near the fire, wishing he had a women; and Church was waiting impatiently for Tex as he sat in a seat across from Tucker.

He heard footsteps an turned to see Doc. "Doc?" He smiled at Church.

"Yeah! I found you guys!" Church sighed, he had wanted it to be Tex, but it hadn't.

Doc sat down away from most of them, as if he was fearing becoming a part of the group again.

Sarge came back and Simmons and him were both carrying firewood.

"Lift with your back! Its the most powerful part of your body! And don't breathe! That only makes it harder!" Simmons knew his advice was false, so he only pretended to do it.

After the set it down by Sarge's chair Simmons spoke.

"Great advice, Sir." Sarge looked at him proudly his, gray and blond hair blowing in the wind.

"Great man." With that, Sarge sat down and Simmons sat down next to Grif.

"Kiss ass..." he mumbled right before they noticed Doc. "Doc?" He waved to everyone.

"Hi guys! I'm back!" Caboose was too distracted still to notice and Church jumped when he heard Tex from behind him.

"Hey Doc," she said as sat down next to Church wearing: blue jeans, a tank top and jogging shoes. Doc watched as she kissed Church on the cheek before speaking. "Guess what was on TV." He said nothing, so she continued, "Lost." He smiled, it was a miracle, considering they were in the future.

"Really?" She nodded and he kissed her tenderly. Normally, she would have pulled away, but instead, she went into it, kissing him back more tenderly. Tucker laughed and spoke up as he enjoyed their public display of affection.

"Dude! Tonight is going to be just like a shitty reality show!" They both pulled away.

"Why shitty?" Tex asked.

"I don't know." She laughed and grabbed Church hand. He felt his heart rise to his chest and something inside tighten. Why was she being so nonchalant about it? Like it didn't matter what people said? It wasn't like her at all.

She traced his thumb and he swallowed nervously, but she didn't seem to notice how nervous he was, and he was happy for that. If she did, she might call him a wimp or a pussy. So he focused on keeping his palms from getting sweaty---she would surely notice that, right?

He felt her dig her nails into his palm though. It didn't hurt, but his muscles tightened and his body seemed to go stiff. He looked at her; the reflection of the fire in her eyes, the warm colors from it projecting onto her skin and giving it a sudden warmth. Her hair lifting lightly in the wind. She looked beautiful.

Church just gazed at her and she turned to him and their eyes met. His heart fluttered like a heart attack and as if she could tell how he was feeling, she smiled showing her white teeth.

Without thinking about what he would say, he spoke.

"I love you." Immediately after, he cursed himself internally, expecting to be thrown into the fire. But instead, she smiled softly and suddenly, as she opened her mouth to speak, he felt like he was already in the fire.

"I love you too." He suddenly stared at her, gape and the entire camp went silent. The fire cracked an popped.

No one said a word for about a minute Church swore, before Tucker spoke, breaking the silence.

"What the fuck? Are you drugging her?" Church shook his head and smiled. "Then she's taking something." Tucker was wrong, she wasn't, though she kind of felt embarrassed now, and a bit stupid.

Church still was staring at her, mouth agape. She felt fire rise to her cheeks---they had to be at least pink. He then shook his head in disbelief and closed his mouth as she smiled, shyly looking away.

"That's so cute!" Donut shouted and squealed. Church turned her facing him and kissed her.

When they both pulled away, she smiled and touched his chin with her thumb.

"You're the one who started it," she bantered.

"I know," he replied back and she chuckled lightly, a smile spreading across her lips.