De Oppresso Liber

A near death experience makes Jack remember unpleasant memories from his past. Origin Story for Jack and Diane.

A/N: Thanks for reading the first chapter I understand it may have been a little chaotic that's kind of what I was going for. Because it is first person POV I am trying to stay true to Jack and the uncertain circumstances that surround him. He's confused, so as the chapters progress it should get easier. I hope this is easier to read. In this story Jack and Diane will be together for twelve years because that's how long I initially thought they were together not that it'll change anything. I know Jack was in the CIA when he was with Diane but I fee like I would be doing him an injustice if I did not portray him as the soldier his character still is. Anyway, I hope this clears some stuff up. I will be updating Mistaken Identity soon as well. Stay tuned.

Debriefing

I will do all that my nation requires of me.

The sky is so clear and beautiful it literally takes my breath away. I run my fingers through the grass. My brain still can not wrap around what's going on. I can feel the grass between my fingers. I can feel the gentle breeze across my face. I can smell the freshly cut grass and it reminds me of home.

Wherever I am... it's peaceful. It almost makes me forget that I'm dead. Or almost dead. Or maybe this is all part of a concussive nightmare. Who knows. I wanted to ask my father more questions about all of this. The time traveling and this peaceful. I need answers I've never been so confused.

"Ready, JJ?" I jump. I turn my head and look up at my father. I look around and see that I'm not sitting in the middle of a dingy diner floor. I use a nearby stool to pull myself on my feet.

"Where are we?" I ask as I recognize the uniform.

"Enough questions. This is going to take forever. These are your memories. You know damn well where we are." He argued as I watched a busy Diane walk by holding an empty pot of coffee in one hand and a full pot in another.

"This is Pop's Diner. Just outside of Bragg. This is where I met Diane." I said following my father to a booth. Diane's beautiful curly hair causing trouble for her uniform hat.

"Quit staring." He argued, I immediately look away and then ignored him to look back at her.

"She can't see me. I remember this day... Diane's sister, Helen, got her a job here." I explain just as a bunch of younger soldiers began to get rowdy. "A lot of these guys are fresh off a training or deployment. Pop's was 24/7 and the waitresses were always pretty... I think this is the first time those idiots saw a female in a long time."

Diane walks past us again. She looks stressed, and tired. Diane tops off there coffee once more and as she walks away a daring young private swats her behind. My blood instantly boils in rage. Diane stops walking. I can see her debating whether or not to smash the coffee pot over the kid's head. She takes a deep breath and just walks away. She's a better person than me.

"Someone switch tables with me, please." She begs as she passes her other orders to the cook.

"No way. I had the last ones." Helen said shaking her head.

"Cindy?" Diane begged.

"Sorry, kid. I have no patience today. I'm handling the counter top." The older woman, Cindy, explained as she wiped the counter top.

I hear the bells on the door and see Bradley, Paul Foley, and myself enter the diner. Our team consisted of four. Team leader John Bradley, Paul was our sniper, and I was the noise maker. I carried heavy arms and was a guns blazing guy for what the ops went bad. Then there was our medic Doc Jones.

"Who's that?" My father asks.

"That's Paul. Best sniper I've ever had the pleasure of working with. A real guardian angel." I explain as I feel goosebumps spread across my body. It's incredibly weird and almost sad to see everyone up right. To see what warriors these men were really made my mind flood with unpleasant memories.

"Cindy, darling, can we get three coffees, please?" Bradley asked with a smile. Bradley sits at the counter top and Paul and I sit on either side of him. I was the baby pup of the wolf pack. Cindy was the beloved waitress that you could find at pops. The other waitresses usually came and left, but you could always expect to find Cindy sitting at the end of the counter reading the paper.

Oh god... am I staring?! My young eyes are glued to Diane. Tracing her curves as she continues run around. I've always been a sucker for her curves, and curly hair.

The young rowdy group of soldiers captured our attention too. I look at my team leader almost for instruction and direction.

"Cindy, these guys bothering you?" Bradley asked. Cindy reminded silent but rolled her eyes so hard they could've gotten stuck. "JD, tell them to quiet down. Get them to quiet down." Bradley instructed as he nonchalantly took a sip from his coffee.

I have always been a bit of an attack dog. I love a good fight. I'm not a violent person... anymore. But I love a good fight. Always have. Always will. I wonder if you can into bar fights in heaven? I hope so.

"You boys with 20th engineer brigade?" I ask recognizing their unit patch. As I pull on the young man's sleeve immediately grabbing everyone's attention.

"Yes, sergeant." They quickly toned their rowdiness down.

"I thought engineers were suppose to be smart?" I say changing my tone. The men remain silent. I smile as I lean over their table. I found it to be more effective to whisper death threats over the years. It forces the other person to really listen. "C'mon, don't get quiet now. Speak up."

"Roger, sarge." The man said still quiet.

"Get it together and act right. Don't make me come back over here." I say with a charming smile.

As I turn to go back to my stool I smash right into Diane. The hot coffee splashing us before as the coffee pot falls on the round. I instinctually reach out for her so she does not fall. I grab her arm harder then I anticipated. She quickly regains her bearing and immediately swats my arm way. She looks down at her ruined uniform and then at me with glassy eyes. She storms off to the bathroom.

"I'm sorry." I call out but she ignores me.

I return to my seat and I can feel my teammates staring at me. The young soldiers who were once rowdy quickly leave as the mood in the diner changes.

"God damn, Dalton. We can't bring you nowhere. You're like a damn bull in a China shop." Bradley laughed eating his toast. I begin eating ignoring him. I eagerly wait for Diane to return. I want to apologize and reintroduce myself. But she doesn't.

"You know for someone who claims to be a self proclaimed lover boy you're not very smooth." Foley added as I break my stare. I pretend to laugh.

"Excuse me, Miss Cindy. Do you have a pen?" I ask smiling. Cindy hands me a ten as I pull a twenty out of my wallet. Which was a decent amount of money in 1994 might I add. Especially for a five dollar breakfast. I begin to write on the old twenty.

"You know that's a federal offense right?" Bradly said as he placed his tip.

"Arrest me." I reply.

"It wouldn't be the first time." He said quietly. To this I genuinely laugh because he's absolutely right. My hands often got me in trouble... or my mouth.

"I didn't know they taught you heavy weapons guys knew how to read and write." Foley teased.

"They don't... your wife taught me." I said winking at him. "Missy Cindy, can you pass this to the..."

"Diane?" Cindy said, and I just nod. I leave the bill by the plate. The bill says I'M SORRY in big letters.

"I thought you were the sniper?" I hear my father's voice echo in my head. I look around and find myself back in the booth sitting across from me. I feel incredibly rundown and winded... like I wrestled a porcupine, and bare knuckle boxed a bear.

"What... the..." I say trying to catch my bearing as I watch my younger self leave.

"I thought it'd be easier to get you more immersed in your memories."

"Oh my god... that felt so real."

"Because it is." He says but I can barely hear him as I try to regain my composure.

"I wasn't... initially..." I say catching my breath.

"What?"

"I wasn't a sniper... when I first became a delta operator. I joined as the heavy weapons specialist. I went to sniper school that summer." I explain catching my bearing.

I watch as Diane finally emerges from the bathroom. Her uniform still stained with the coffee that splashed us both.

"I feel like I'm spying on her." I say quietly.

"Are you alright, Di?" Helen asks cleaning up our plates.

"I'm fine." She said annoyed.

"The boys at the counter top left you a tip." Cindy said sitting down to read the paper. Diane grabbed the twenty I left for her. She smiles for all of one second before putting it in her pocket.

"You know what you need?" Helen says smiling trying to cheer up Diane.

"What?"

"A night out. You've been working your tail off ever since you got back. You need a release!" Helen cried as she bused the tables in the bow emptied restaurants.

"I don't see how going out and wasting money is going to make me fee better." Diane says as she counted her tips.

"I'm not talking that kind of release." Helen adds wiggling her eyebrows. Diane blushes, and I smile. "Besides, you're gorgeous guys will buy you drinks. This town is crawling with future boyfriends, husbands... and one night stands." Helen teased hoping to further embarrass her sister.

"I don't know." Diane answers modestly.

"Oh, come on! We haven't spend anytime together and if you don't take some time to unwind... you'll explode." Helen said always dramatic.

"Fine!" Diane said playfully defeated. "Oh my god. What time is it?! I gotta get Riley off the bus."

"Go, go, I got this." Helen said waving her sister off.

I watch as Diane races off. I turn to look back at my father as he sits across from me. As I reminisce I try to still wrap my brain around what's going on.

"So, what is this a dream?" I ask resting my hands on the table.

"Lucid dreaming? That means you're in control. You're an observer here."

"So, we are going to go through twenty years of memories?"

"No just big moments that you still remember. That hold on too. Memories you cherish. Memories you've tried to abandon." My father says with a stoic expression on his face. I cover my face rubbing my eyes so he does not see my tears but when I open them I see our venue has changed yet again.

"Can I at least get a warning when you decide to change places?" I ask feeling my stomach turn. "Your gonna make me sick."

"Cry about it." He chuckled. I roll my eyes as I scan our new surroundings.

"The old barn?" I say under my breath. The barn was the original war room. This is where all the delta and special forces groups came for briefings and debriefings. It was underground and the big dumb security door had a classic looking barn door.

"Alright, alright, alright. Shut up!" Bradley shouted. The special forces is different than the regular army. Mannerisms, and the typical drill and ceremony was nonexistent in the group... unless we were geared up. "Geez, you bunch of hooligans. Now I know most of you have already been off base but you know I have to give you the speech before you take your two week leave." Bradley said reading off a check list.

"Speech! Speech!" We all chanted trying to be as annoying as possible before we were set free.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Bradley said waving us off once more. "Ah! Here we go. Those with the company... you must check in, in two days. Friday at 0900. While on leave you are to respect your town and country. No bar fights, and no challenging the police to fights. You will not beat your wife, or family. You will not drink and drive. You will keep your hands to yourself. You will keep your pager charged at all times." Bradley said as a bunch of groans came from the group.

"Lookie here, gentleman." Foley said standing. "This here is your government issue pager. Battery life is like five days or some shit. New technology the brass wants us using. Brass is the only one with the number and when they need us they'll send us a number. That's all. You go to the nearest phone call said number and you will get your orders. Number is only good for thirty minutes. If you miss your first page, we will get alerted. If you miss the second page we are sending Longhorn after you." Foley said and I can feel the eyes of my fellow soldiers stare at me. My attack dog reputation is well known throughout the group. "Pick one of these gizmos up from supply before you leave."

"Any questions? Dismissed." Bradley said smiling. The group quickly scurried racing to supply to get the pagers. The idea now that pagers were high technology makes me want to laugh.

I hear beeping and I feel an immense pressure in my head. I crumble to my knees. I reach out for where my father was standing. I hear buzzing and chaos around me. I open my eyes and I'm blinded by the brightest light. My head feels like it's going to explode. With every movement my bones feel like they're crumbling into dust. My body is riddled with pain.

"Jack!"

Please Review! What do you think? I know this chapter was long but trust me it wouldn't make sense if I chopped it up.