Copyright 10/13
Fan-fiction based on Combat! Television show, copyright Selmur Productions
This is fan-fiction and not for profit
Omaha Beach
Kirby huddled against the side of the landing craft. He was terrified. This was without a doubt the worst day of his life. He could see buoys in the water and all over the beach, and he didn't know why they were there. And god, they expected him to make it to that cliff? There was no cover on the beach at all. It looked like it was three miles long.
The kid on his left was praying. The kid on the right was crying for his Mama, and it smelled like he'd messed his pants. He was going to die today, he knew it. He should not have let Alex break up with him. He should have told her that he loved her, and they'd figure something out. He should have -
"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" his Sergeant yelled. Kirby jumped out, lost his balance and fell to his knees. The kid who'd been praying, jerked, made a strangled sound, and fell face first in the water.
"Shit." Kirby said, and froze. Nobody had told him it would be like this. He'd actually thought it was kind of funny when they told him to put a condom over his rifle muzzle. But this - this was indescribable.
The Sergeant, Kirby didn't even know the man's name, yanked him up and pointed him to the beach. Kirby got out of the water, and realized he'd been mistaken. There were bodies everywhere. Not buoys.
All of them were cherries, and they were all terrified. The Sergeant was yelling his head off, but Kirby couldn't hear him. Everyone was milling around, nobody was moving toward the cliff. And then the Sergeant got hit and went down. The tiny soldier standing next to him had blood and gore splattered all over him.
"GET YOUR DAMN ASS OFF THE BEACH OR YOU'RE GONNA GET KILLED!" he heard Alex's voice in his head. "Please, Kirby, please, RUN!" He was so damn scared, he'd lost his mind.
Two frightened soldiers crashed into him and nearly knocked him down. They were trying to run back to the retreating landing craft.
What the hell was it that Bull had screamed at them that had made more than a few raw recruits wet their pants? "MOVE IT YOU BUNCH OF MAGGOTS! MOVE IT! MOVE IT! GET YOUR SORRY ASSES OFF THE BEACH!"
The few soldiers nearest him heard him, and they started running for the cliff.
"DON'T BUNCH UP!" Kirby yelled, amazed to see they were following his orders.
He had made it to the base of the cliff when something slammed into his side and then it felt like he was on fire. He swore he heard Alex screaming again. And then, nothing.
When he came to, someone was poking in his wound and he groaned.
"Take it easy, buddy." The medic said. "You were damn lucky. Just be still so you don't start bleedin' again."
"Alex?" Kirby said frantically, looking around. "Alex?"
"Your friend's over there. Just take it easy. I don't want to knock you out." The medic packed something into his side and slapped a bandage on it. "You just be still. Talk to your friend here. We've got a stretcher team comin'." Then the two medics moved on down the line to more injured men.
"Where's my wife?" the kid next to him asked frantically. "She was here! She was just here!"
"Take it easy, kid." Kirby said, seeing the blood pouring out of the boy's chest. "They got her off the beach. She's fine."
" You sure? You sure, she's ok? I really love –" the kid stopped, looked confused.
"Hey!" Kirby said, crawling over to him, completely forgetting what the medic had told him. "Kid, you ok?" He caught the hand the boy was trying to hold out to him. "MEDIC!"
He held the kids hand, watched him struggle for breath, some blood foam on his mouth, and then nothing. A different medic dropped to his knees beside him, checked the kid, and put his hand on Kirby's shoulder. "He's gone. Nothing I can do for him. "
Kirby struggled, trying to get to his feet in the sand, and the medic pushed him flat.
"Dammit! You lie down and be still! I'd like to get somebody alive off the beach today!"
It wasn't the medic yelling at him that stopped Kirby. It was the tears in the man's eyes.
"Sorry." He mumbled, not bothering to hide his own tears.
The medic jammed some more packing in his wound, caught Kirby's hand, and showed him how to hold pressure. "Can you do that for me?"
"Yeah." Kirby said, trying to grin at the guy and failing miserably. "Thanks."
"No." Alex sobbed. "NO! NO! NO!"
Blue looked at Cass worriedly, and she pushed open the door of Alex's office.
Alex was lying in her office floor next to her desk, and something was definitely wrong. She had on filthy fatigues, and she smelled horrid, a combination of cordite and something Blue couldn't define.
"He didn't make it off the beach." Alex choked out. "Oh god, what am I gonna do?"
"You just had a bad dream." Blue said gently.
"We would have gone out and run with you." Cass said worriedly, as she and Blue boosted Alex to her feet. "Bull told the Major we could run the obstacle course and do anything we wanted until they reassign us. You didn't have to go by yourself in the dark."
"Did you fall in the swamp?" Blue asked, because Alex was wet. Salt water wet, like she'd been in the ocean.
Cass looked in horror at the mess in Alex's hair that she had thought was mud. It was blood. And something else she didn't even want to think about. If that stuff got on her, she was going to be sick. "Come on, honey, let's get you in the shower."
"You'll scare Beth to death if she sees you like this." Blue said.
That seemed to get thru to Alex, because she suddenly straightened up and supported herself. She was in charge of these women. She was supposed to look after them. She couldn't be falling apart because the man she loved had been killed. There were so many dead men on that beach. There were so many women who were going to be getting letters, telegrams, or just quick visits from a chaplain or CO. All she wanted to do was put her head in her mother in law's lap and cry for a week. But she didn't have the luxury.
"I've got to get cleaned up." She said. "Make sure there's nobody in the hall."
Cass shot Blue a quick, concerned look, before she let go of Alex and checked the hallway. She signaled "All clear", and the three of them slipped into Alex's room.
"I'm okay." Alex said, as she sat down carefully in a wooden chair, and reached to unlace her boots.
"Alex, there's blood in your hair." Cass said. "Are you sure you're not hurt?"
"He just blew up." Alex said, turning green, and starting to shake.
Blue bent down and unlaced Alex's other boot. "Come on, sweetie. Just get in the shower with those nasty clothes on." She didn't want to touch them, because she had the sudden horrid feeling that Alex had somehow managed to be on the beach with the boys when they landed. And she was very afraid that it might be Kirby who hadn't made it.
All the women gathered on the WAC headquarters steps. Alex was in the front, with Blue, Cass, and Trish right behind her, and everyone else had squeezed in.
"I can take care of this, Major." Alex said, looking at the piece of paper in his hand. At least it was only one. How many names could one small piece of paper hold?
"Thank you Captain West, but this is my duty." He just looked sad, and resigned. And suddenly very old. When Alex had butted heads with him before, she'd thought he was a rigid fool, but now suddenly, she just felt sorry for him. She didn't like the man, but he had a horrid day ahead of him.
"Maureen Black." He called out, and Maureen shrieked and would have fallen if Cass and Beth hadn't grabbed her.
"Is he – is he dead?" she choked out.
"Yes ma'am, I'm sorry." The Major looked like he was going to start crying.
"Oh God. Oh God." She said, and Cass and Beth whisked her inside.
Alex was wondering if she should have gone with them, and tried to offer some words of comfort. And wouldn't Kirby have wanted to have Beth notified if something happened to him? Maybe she should call the girl back. Maybe she should stand here and be quiet, because whatever the hell she did, it was going to be wrong.
"Patricia O'Brien."
"Huh?" Trish asked, confused, then noticed the way Alex's hand tightened on the banister until it turned white. "Kirby." She thought. Something had happened to Kirby. He could have listed her as next of kin and no one would have thought anything of it.
"I'm sorry to tell you your brother Robert Bannon -"
"You idiot! You've got the wrong Patricia O'Brien!" She screamed at the Major.
"Trish! That is enough!" Alex said sharply. " Major, everybody is on edge today."
"I assure you, the man listed you as his next of kin." The Major said stiffly.
"Who the hell is Robert Bannon?" Trish asked, perplexed.
"Captain West, I'm sorry - " the Major started.
"I'm sorry too." Alex said, completely not understanding, and wondering why Blue had let go of Trish and caught her arm.
"Captain West, your husband Bill was killed on Omaha Beach."
He was saying something about the Rangers, and how she could be proud of Bill, but there was a buzzing in her head, and she thought she was going to faint. She didn't remember when she'd had anything to eat. She had never once thought to look for Bill on the beach, she'd been so intent on getting to Kirby.
Bill, the golden boy, who never, ever, got hurt, was dead? No, it was a mistake. It had to be a mistake. She could NOT tell her mother in law.
Florence, the civilian cook that Bull had hired for them before he left, pushed thru the WAC's standing on the stairs. "Major, I made some scones this morning." She said, handing him a paper bag. "I know you've got a very unpleasant day ahead of you. You come back and eat with us tonight. Lord knows, none of these women eat enough to keep a bird alive. We eat at six, you be here. Or I'll send O'Brien after you." She caught Alex's other arm, and propelled her back inside.
Alex found herself sitting at the kitchen table, wondering what in the heck had just happened. She was in command here. She was supposed to - Just what was it she was supposed to do?
Florence sat a cup of tea in front of her. "Alex, if you don't start eating, you're going to make yourself sick. I thought it was our job to back up the men. You've looked like you were going to pass out for two days." She sat a plate of scones in front of Alex, leaned over and said in her ear. "Maureen is pregnant. If you eat, she'll eat. If she loses the baby too, she can't handle that."
Blue had lost her husband and her baby on the same day. How in the world had she survived it?
Alex picked up her tea with shaking hands, and took a long swallow. "She's right, girls. I'm afraid I haven't been setting a very good example."
"Who the hell is Robert Bannon?" Trish said again.
"He bought us ice cream, don't you remember?" Beth said, patting Maureen's hand as she reached for a scone.
Trish just looked stricken." No, I don't. I don't remember him at all."
"He asked you if it was alright to talk to me." Beth started to grin, then looked stricken when she realized that there were grieving women at the table. "He seemed to think you were my chaperone or something."
"I don't even remember the kid." Trish said, shaking her head.
"He bought us ice cream, and then he sat and talked to you." Beth said. "He was just a scared, lonely kid. You were nice to him."
"I don't know why he listed me as his next of kin." Trish was still shaking her head.
"Maybe he didn't have anybody else." Alex said gently. "You were kind to him when he was afraid."
"But why me?" Trish asked again. The real shock would come weeks later, when she found he had listed her as his beneficiary on his life insurance policy.
"Alex, I think there's something wrong at the hospital." Beth said, as she stepped inside her office door, a few hours later.
"Why do you say that?" Alex asked as she pushed back from her desk. Almost all the men had shipped out. There were a few MP's left, but that was it.
"I went to ask Greg if they wanted some coffee, and he's not there." Beth shuffled her feet. "Dennis is by himself, and he won't talk to me. He got all nervous."
Alex buttoned her jacket as she headed outside. "Excuse me, private." She said as he double timed it by. "Where is everyone else?" They never had less than two guards on duty, and Bull had doubled that, with the men on the base gone.
"There's something wrong at the hospital, ma'am." He stammered.
"Something that I need to go check on with a rifle?"
"No, ma'am. They wouldn'ta took the rest of the guards if you ladies was in any danger."
"I'll send O'Brien out to patrol with you." Alex said.
"That's not necessary, ma'am."
"Yes." Alex said firmly. "It is. How long have you been out here by yourself?"
"About thirty minutes, ma'am."
"Sit DOWN, now." She said.
"Ma'am?" he stopped, horrified at her order.
She pointed at the sidewalk, and he sat down on the curb.
"What's going on Alex?" Trish called from the stairs. Alex knew without looking that she had her rifle in her hands.
"I need you and Cass to relieve this soldier for fifteen minutes or so. Beth, you get him some water." She waited to see that Beth had gone back inside before she said to the other women. "Something is going on at the hospital. They took all our MP's."
"I'll go with you." Blue said.
"Alright." Alex said, glad of the offer. She pointed at Dennis. "You sit. For fifteen minutes. If something turns out to be wrong, I need you to be able to help protect these women. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am." He took the glass of water Beth offered him. "But I'm ok, really."
"I'll make sure he rests, Alex." Trish gestured, and Beth sat down with Dennis. Then she and Cass started walking the perimeter.
Alex and Blue got in a jeep and drove the short distance to the hospital. There were two MP's standing at the entrance, and people seemed to be milling about everywhere.
"What's wrong, Corporal?" Alex demanded.
"Ma'am, you can't go in there." He was crying. "The Major said -" he choked. "God I never thought what would happen to my girl if I got killed. I was just scared. I –"
Alex and Blue pushed past him into the hospital. Everyone they saw seemed to be crying. The normal medical professionalism was gone. "Smitty, what's wrong?" Alex asked an orderly that she knew.
"She killed herself." Smitty said. "She told me she was fine. She just needed a minute. It's my fault. I should have -"
Alex caught his arm and she and Blue sat him down in a chair. He was sobbing so hard that she couldn't understand a word he was saying. Blue put her arms around him and held him.
Alex mouthed "Thank you" at her, and went to the nurse's station. Even the old battle axe Lieutenant Trent was crying. "What happened, and what can I do to help?" she asked.
"That sweet little Kathy Hinson killed herself." Lieutenant Trent choked. "The Major came here, right after he left your HQ, and notified the relatives. I told her she didn't have to finish her shift. She said she was alright. Oh, why didn't I watch her?"
"Pull yourself together." Alex said sharply. "You haven't moved out all the wounded yet and you still have patients that need you."
Kathy Hinson had been on the beach too. She'd been trying to drag a wounded soldier, who must have been her husband. And Alex knew if she said that out loud to anybody, they'd be trying to send her home on a section 8.
Lieutenant Trent nodded jerkily, and Alex moved into the first ward. She'd check on the walking wounded first, and work her way back to the more seriously injured. She could send for all the women in her command if necessary.
"Captain West!" Dick Regent, who she'd played poker with on a regular basis, struggled to sit up and salute.
"Oh for heavens sakes! Stop that!" Alex snapped. "Is everybody in here alright? Can I get you anything?" she looked around the various beds. She knew most of them. She spent a lot of her off duty time at the hospital just visiting with injured men, writing letters home for them, and playing poker with the more ambulatory ones.
"She was just like my kid sister. She laughed all the time. She was just a baby." A dark haired young man said. Alex couldn't remember his name.
The man in the bunk next to him reached out and laid a hand on his arm.
"Let me rephrase that." Alex snapped. "Are any of you overdue for medication? Anybody need a bedpan?" At the horrified look she got from several of them, she figured they did. "I will find an orderly. I will drag a damn doctor in here if I need to."
"Ma'am?" a blond soldier she didn't know, pointed at the man next to him. "He needs some pain medicine."
"Okay." Alex said carefully. "I DO NOT need anybody in here dying because they were too stubborn to ask for help. Dick, if I get an orderly in here, can you take over?"
"Yes ma'am." Dick said, still struggling to sit up.
Alex marched over, caught him around the waist, and pulled him up, shoving his pillows behind him. "Better?"
"Thank you."
Alex stomped out in the hallway, grabbed the first orderly she saw, and hauled him back into the ward. "DO YOUR JOB!" she barked at him. "Medicine first. Then bedpans."
She headed into the next ward, seriously injured, but not critical, and was relieved to see that there were medical personnel in there going about their duties, although most of them seemed to be crying too. She stuck her head in the critical ward, and was noticed by a Doctor studying a chart. "Can I help you with something?" he asked her.
"No sir." Alex said, not bothering to look for his rank. "Can I help you with anything?"
"We're coping." He said briskly, but she saw in his eyes that he wasn't. She'd need to keep an eye on him.
"Captain Alex West, at your service." She said. "I'll be glad to help, but you have to tell me what to do."
"Captain Doug Doogan." He nodded to her, rubbed his eyes. "It's all I can do to try and put wounded soldiers back together. I don't know how to deal with this."
"I don't think anybody does. Can I help you?"
"I need to change some bandages. It won't be pretty."
"If I throw up on you, I'll buy the first round of drinks." Alex said.
"Alex, what are you doing in here?" Sally's voice made her look up.
"Helping." Alex said. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to be with you." Sally said.
"It's not like it matters." Alex said.
"Wait." Capt. Doogan said. "What am I missing?"
"Nothing." Alex said briskly.
"Alex, have you seen the KIA's?"
"I know Bill is dead. The Major told me this morning."
"SHIT!" Sally said. "I didn't -" she stopped.
"Who's Bill?" Captain Doogan asked, shooting Alex a worried look.
"My worthless husband. Don't worry about it." She helped him ease the wounded soldier back down in the bed.
"Captain Doogan, I'm afraid I need Captain West. NOW."
Alex looked up at the Captain who was speaking, saw the quick look pass between him and Sally, and realized he was her cousin's new lover. Well, this one didn't look like she'd be leading him around by a certain part of his anatomy. He might actually be able to handle Sally.
"There are more patients -" Alex started.
"I'm here." Lieutenant Trent said, bustling in. "Thank you very much for your help, Captain West."
"Alex, this is Rick Jackson." Sally nodded to the Captain. "And we need to talk."
Sally didn't know about Kirby. Her cousin had been trying to get her to take a lover for years. Sally would have stood up and applauded, because she hated Bill's guts. She was here, she was worried, she'd had her boyfriend bring her. Somebody from the ranch was dead.
"Who?" Alex asked as they stepped out in the hall.
"I think we all need to sit down and have a drink." Jackson said, steering Alex out of the building.
"Did something happen to Mom West?" Alex demanded, frightened that no one would answer her.
"I hope not." Sally said gently.
"Dammit, just tell me."
"All of them except Pete." Sally said, her face going white.
"All of them?" Alex asked, thinking, "Dear god, I lost twenty men from my ranch family andKirby, on the same day?" They had all enlisted right after Pearl Harbor, they'd been so proud. And she, like a fool, had gone right along with them. Alex put her hand over her mouth, ran to the bushes, and was sick.
Bobby Whisnant had taught her how to drive a six horse hitch. His wife Kate was one of her closest friends. They had two adorable little boys. She and Dev Pierce had thrilled the crowds with their trick roping. Brent Mckenna had carried her back to the ranch house the day the steer had gored her, and she'd bled all over the poor man. Shorty Green had taught her how to cheat at poker and not get caught. She'd never know why the little bow legged cowboy thought it was necessary for her to know how to stack a deck.
Blacky, Randy, the Smith twins… It was just too much.
June 6,1969
They'd decided they'd all go to the 25 year remembrance at Normandy. Cage had started having nightmares about Theo again, and they were all worried about him. But he'd insisted he was fine, he was going. Saunders had been sidelined by an appendicitis the week before they were due to leave.
"Alex, am I stepping on anybody?" Kirby asked, tears in his eyes.
"No sweetheart, of course not." She looked at him worriedly.
"I know they're there. I can feel them. You and Cage can see them. And Ruthie can too." He looked over at Cage, crying. Ruthie appeared to be talking quietly to him and someone else that Kirby couldn't see.
"I think you see what you need to see." Alex said gently, looking at all the ghosts waiting for their people.
"Marie's here, isn't she?"
"She's here." Alex looked at Cage, who had both of his wives supporting him. The fact that Ruthie had become good friends with his first wife's ghost after she got over being afraid of her, still surprised her. Littlejohn was sitting in the sand, crying. Mavis had her arms wrapped around him, patting his back.
"I think I should have stayed with Blue and McCall." Kirby swiped at his eyes. "I don't think I can do this, Al -"
"You're the guy who got us off the beach." A man who had been walking by stopped and looked at Kirby. "You got all of us off the beach. I told them to give you a medal, but we couldn't find you, and I thought you were -" he stopped, looked like he was going to start crying. "Honey," to his wife. "This is the man who saved my life on D Day."
"I didn't do nothing'" Kirby protested.
"I thought I was back in basic. I never thought anybody could scare me more than my drill Sergeant did. I thought I was gonna wet my pants."
The lady with him grabbed Kirby and hugged him. He shot Alex a look of pure panic.
Another couple, and a scarred man with one arm stopped also. The men all seemed to know who Kirby was, and everyone was talking at once.
The first lady had pulled what looked like a photo album out of her purse and she was showing Kirby pictures. Of her kids, Alex supposed. Kirby was still beseeching her to come and rescue him with his eyes, but she had a feeling that this might just be what he needed. The other lady, not to be outdone, was showing him her photographs. They were both talking at the same time, and Alex suppressed a grin.
The one armed man reached out a trembling hand to her. "You were there too."
Alex looked around carefully to see no one was paying them any attention, and nodded. She squeezed his hand.
"My wife didn't want to come down to the beach." He said. "She gets too emotional."
"I can certainly understand that." Alex said, tucking her hand in his good arm, ignoring the "help" look that Kirby was giving her. "Are you alright?"
He nodded jerkily, fighting back tears. "I guess you're with a group? What's left of our squad -" he choked, teared up again. "We all came together."
"Some of the men from Kirby's squad came. His Sergeant had appendicitis just before we were due to leave." Alex shrugged. "I don't know if it would be better or worse if he was here."
"Sergeant Blackmon died here." He swallowed hard. "You know that. You were standing right next to him."
"Yeah." Alex said, not realizing she was turning green. It still bothered her after all these years.
"I'm Paul Burney." He seemed to sense he needed to change the subject.
"Alex Kirby. I guess you figured out that's my husband. He just goes by Kirby."
Paul looked at the two ladies who had taken charge of Kirby. " They'll show him pictures all day if he lets them. My wife and I have twins, a boy and a girl. We met a lovely couple at the hotel, and they have twins also."
"Blue and Danny McCall." Alex said, smiling at him.
"You know them!"
"I almost married McCall." Alex said, loud enough for Kirby to hear. Even after all these years, he was still jealous. That might give him something else to dwell on. She probably should have left him at the hotel with Blue and Danny, and the kids, but she hadn't thought he'd get so upset. And she'd been afraid that Cage was going to completely break down.
She'd told Cass that she'd stay home and help her when Chip got out of the hospital, but they'd both been adamant that no one was postponing their trip because he'd gotten sick. Sally and Hanley were in Saigon, but she and Sally really weren't close anymore. Since their Uncle's had died, they didn't have much in common. Sally hadn't even answered her last two letters.
Ruthie was gesturing, and Alex stopped and looked toward the cliff. A young man was standing there, and Marie was heading toward him. Cage was crying, but he was standing by himself now. The young man walked down to meet Marie, and put his arm around her. They both waved at Cage, and then they were gone.
Alex saw Cage wipe his eyes, and then he hugged Ruthie tightly." That must have been his friend Theo." She thought. I wonder if ghosts can -
"Of course, silly." She heard Marie's laughter in her head, and smiled in spite of herself. Then she saw Alexander McCall making his way down the beach.
"Kirby's daughter must be in trouble." She said to Paul. "I guess her Aunt Blue sent my nephew and namesake to come and get me."
"Hey, Aunt Alex." Alexander said, grinning at her. He was the spitting image of his father, except he had his mother's beautiful blue/green eyes. Alex thought he was even better looking than McCall if that was possible.
"What has Beth Blue done now?"
"Nothing, believe it or not." Alexander caught her free arm. "Hello, Mr. Burney. Nice to see you this morning."
Mr. Burney nodded to him, and started to turn loose of Alex, but she stopped him. "Whatever Kirby's daughter did, I'm sure it's all over the hotel by now."
"No, really." Alexander chuckled. " I think the girls are still asleep. Sally's here. Mama wanted me to come and tell you -" he stopped, suddenly serious. "She was in a helicopter crash, and she looks kinda bad."
"What?" Alex would have sprinted back to the hotel, if Alexander hadn't tightened his hold on her.
"Mama said for you to just come in and act normal."
Alex walked back to the hotel between the two men, keeping an eye on Kirby. The two ladies had him firmly in hand, and their husbands were walking behind them. She wanted to laugh, but she was worried about Sally.
"Excuse me." Paul said, as they entered the hotel lobby. "I need to go find my wife. It was very nice to meet you, Mrs. Kirby."
"Alex." She corrected him.
"Alex." He nodded to her. "I'd like to introduce you to my wife later, but I know you need to see your friend now."
Sally was sitting in a wingback chair, and she looked exhausted. She had a nasty scar on her face, and Alex knew that would bother her more than anything. Hanley was standing behind her, and he shot Alex a look that plainly begged her not to upset Sally.
"Hey, Sal." Alex said, bending down and hugging her. "I thought you didn't love me anymore, I hadn't heard from you in so long. Why didn't you let me know you were hurt?"
"She wouldn't let me call you." Hanley said, looking at Sally worriedly.
"I'm ok, just tired." She squeezed Alex's arm. "It's so good to see you. Gil read me your letters until they disintegrated."
She looked exhausted. And her eyes were just dead. She'd given up, Alex realized. Then Kirby walked in, a woman on each arm, and Sally shot out of her chair, sheer rage on her face.
Alex burst out laughing. "It's alright, Sally. Really. He helped their husbands get off the beach. He's been begging me to come and rescue him the entire time they've had hold of him. And you missed the yummy man I walked in with."
Sally looked at her uncertainly, and then she started laughing too.