Chapter 2

Why does this feel so strange? Lance Corporal Jackson Reece thought to himself. His plane had just touched down at JFK after going on his 3rd tour to Iraq. In a weird way, he was sad to say that he was going to miss serving in the marines. That had been his life for the past 4 years. Fair enough he was only 22, but he joined straight after high school and got deployed the same year.

He had no family, nothing to lose in his opinion, and his battle wounds back that up. More than once has he took a bullet for his team members, and more than once as he seen some close friends and work colleagues die in front of him.

Apart from the scars, Jackson likes to think he got off pretty lightly. Well a few scars and PTSD, but considering some of his friends where coming home with missing limbs, he still considered himself lucky.

As he was walking through baggage to go and get his shoulder bag he could feel eyes on him. He shouldn't be surprised, he's in his uniform so he usually gets a few looks. One time when he was leaving on the plane, the passengers actually clapped him, let's just say he went red enough to match a cherry.

He nodded at the few people that kept eye contact with him when he actually looked at them. He paused when he reached a small set of eyes. A small boy, no older than 10 was looking up at him, his mouth wide open. It takes a lot to make Jackson upset, especially after some of the things he's seen, but this child reminded him the main reason he was taking his leave now and not resigning his contract. Ella Masterson.

Eric Masterson was Jackson's best friend. Eric was about 10 years older than Jackson and took him under his wing when Jackson entered the marines. When Eric met his future wife, Carly, Jackson heard all about it all the time. He was even the best man at the wedding...Well he was supposed to be...he got deployed about a week before and wasn't able to get leave.

Anyway. Keeping on track. About 3 days before Jackson was due to fly back to the states permanently he got a call. This call told him that his best friend had died in an accident, as did Carly. Jackson was proud of the way he handled it, he knew by the looks on his co-workers faces that they knew but he refused to be weak in front of them. He calmly asked what happened and what the next steps are. He also asked about Ella, his godchild, the person he loves more than anything. He found out she was going to be in the care of her godmother for now until it's decided about living situations.

Jackson doesn't remember too much after this. He can remember that he calmly hung up the phone and gave a sad smile to his c-workers before walking past them all to his bunk. After that he broke down. He knew the rest of the troops were doing drills and nobody would see him, so he let it out. He cried for the loss of his best friend, the effects it will have on Eric and Carly's family, and more importantly the effect it will have on Ella's life.

But that's the past. He can't do anything about it and that's life.

Jackson noticed his black shoulder bag coming towards him on the belt. He calmly moved forward and easily lifted the bag of the belt and hooked it over his left shoulder before turning around. As he did so he had to stop walking immediately. The little boy that was staring at him had followed him and was not standing in front of him.

"Are you a army man?" The little boy asked, showing the gap in-between his front teeth.

"Yeah." Jackson said with a friendly smile.

"Like, in real life?" The boy continued.

"Yeah man. I'm Jackson." He said and stuck his hand out for the little boy to shake. The boy looked at his hand and grinned before eagerly placing his hand in Jackson's and shaking it, his small hand disappearing in Jackson's hold.

"I'm Seth." The boy introduced himself. Jackson was about to carry on a small conversation with Seth when he noticed a frantic looking women trying to look over little heads. He tried to listen to what she was saying but couldn't make out much so he waved her over.

"Is he yours?" He asked, pointing to Seth.

"Mommy! Look!" Seth yelled excitedly. "It's a real life army man!" He continued as he bounced on his heels.

The women looked at Jackson apologetically. Jackson just shook his head and smiled at the women, silently telling her it's no trouble.

"Mommy! Can you take a picture?" The young boy said eyes wide. The mother looked at Jackson for permission. Jackson silently put his bag down and knelt down, considering it won't look to good if he's towering over this kid.

He knelt on one knee and smiled as Seth came closer to him and grinned widely. "Salute dude." Jackson said to him and put his own hand up to salute. Seth copied him and then looked at the camera, the grin still covering his face. The flash of the camera signalled that the photo was took and Seth ran to his mother so he could look at it.

"C'mon Seth. We've gotta go. Say thank you to the nice man."

The mother and child waved their goodbyes to Jackson as they left, putting him in a slightly better mood than he already was.

But know it was time to get serious. He pulled out the piece of paper he had wrote all the details he'd need on. Eric and Carly's lawyer was meeting him at Ella's godmother's house, along with some other family members and friends.

He checked the address and walked to the front to get a taxi. He told the man the address ad quickly asked how much it would be, seeing as he needed to go to a cash till and withdraw some money.

"Hey man, how much will it be to here?" Jackson asked.

The driver paused for a moment and looked Jackson up and down in the rear-view mirror.

"You just been serving?" He asked.

"Yes sir." Jackson said, sensing the authoritative tone in the man's voice.

"How long?"

"3 tours sir." Jackson answered.

"Then for you? Free of charge. It's the least i could do." The man said, a smile coming on his face and nodding at Jackson.

Jackson wanted to protest, but thought he should just do the smart thing. He took note of the taxi drivers medallion number and reminded himself that he needs to ring the company and give the driver a compliment. But for now, he had to go and get his god-daughter.

So still not a GREAT DEAL happening, but that's Jackson introduced. If anyone wants to know anything, just ask and I'll tell you ;)

So guys, this is getting plenty of alerts, but no reviews...Whaaaa! Please review! Even if it's just a smiley face or a one word thing, or even if it's to say you hate it!

What if i told you, Jackson meets Santana and maybe Brittany in the next chapter. As-well as Ella...so the more you guys review...the quicker that gets posted. Yes i am trying to bribe you all.