'I'd finished training and we were out on patrol, it wasn't meant to be anything big… The one day only half of us were armed, and they went for us. It was 2 am, pitch black, we were packing up to head back to base. I told Lev I'd meet him at the beach later in the day- it was our day off'. She sighs 'So there were about ten of us left I think, the rule was that we had to stay at our post until the other Patrol group came. I was on the wall, watching for them. That's when they went for us, the rebels…It was a pathetic attempt really but we were caught so off guard…' she stretches her back painfully and sighs, looking around at the expressions on all of their faces. 'I was armed pretty heavily actually and was standing on the wall when I was shot, some rebels were going for us, pathetic shit's waited till we were at limited numbers… uh, so they went for me first, I guess I was the easiest target or something...'.
She sighed again, moving the food around on her plate awkwardly. 'I don't remember a whole lot after that, just the pain, it was absolutely blinding, and I thought I was going to pass out. Unfortunately I didn't, and screamed, the bullet had gone through' she moved her hair to one side and twisted her body so they could see an identical circular scar on the back of her shoulder, the skin twisted and tight. 'there was some gun fire but I didn't really know what was going on, I was trying to control my breathing, once my hand found the hole in my shoulder and the blood, I lost control a little bit. I was screaming so loud they could probably hear me in Egypt'.
Everyone was transfixed; Christian was staring pointedly at his hands, not moving at all, whilst everyone else watched Jade closely. 'The other patrol group weren't far off, they heard their cars coming closer and wanted to ambush them too, half of us were injured in some way... Anyway, I was still up on the wall, screaming my lungs out when they realised I'd give them away when the second Patrol group turned up. So someone had a bright idea and tried to stab me, to shut me up'.
Out of the corner of her eye Ana noticed Christian's hands ball up tightly as Jade continued, her voice flat and emotionless 'they had some young newbie with them and told him to do it, I think it was a test of him really. He wasn't too enthusiastic and did a series of shallow cuts on me until I got the message and went quiet. Once the others heard the second patrol group turn up, someone noticed I was still breathing and decided to do it themselves'
Jade leant back in her chair and pulled up her top slightly, showing a twisted, tight line of scarred skin. Ana gasped and Carrick made an angry hissing noise through his teeth, eyes dark in a way only the Grey family could manage. 'What the rebels hadn't realised was that Noam had managed to radio the second patrol to prepare them. It was pretty quick, the rebels surrendered themselves within five minutes. Of course I didn't see any of this- I was barely conscious at this point'. Christian made a slight pained noise under his breath and shifted in his seat; looking up from his hands to stare at the wall above Mia's head, his eyes and expression completely impassive. Jade looked exhausted, pushing food around her plate again 'I was airlifted to the Rambam hospital in Haifa where they eventually stopped the bleeding, but I was in a pretty bad way and they put me into a medical coma-' She looked at Grace 'Is that what it's called?'.
Grace nodded 'medically induced coma' Jade nodded 'Dad had been told about what happened because they thought that I wouldn't…you know…' she trailed off, not needing to say the word 'survive', everyone knew. 'So, yeah…Dad had me taken back to America whilst under the medical coma, and I was taken to hospital here, in Seattle. From what I know, gran looked after me until I was able to be taken out of the coma. Everything after that is pretty fuzzy for a while- I'm not a full Israeli citizen so I was allowed to drop out of the Army, seeing as how badly injured I was'. Jade shrugs 'and now here we are…'
Everyone was quiet for a few seconds, Mia looked sympathetic and opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, and Ana found her mouth asking a question before her brain had thought about it. 'How do you go back to normal life after all of that?' Jade blinked in surprise 'Uh well I go for runs whenever it gets to me, or draw, mostly I just paint until I feel better'. Mia looks sadly at her niece 'sometimes your paintings can be so dark J'. Jade says nothing and Carrick shakes his head 'before all this you were so much more…' he waves a hand vaguely and she narrows her eyes 'Happy? Yeah I know, well being shot and stabbed tends to make you feel a bit shit Granddad'. She stands up, pulling a lighter and a packet of cigarettes from her jumper pocket as she shrugs it on, heading for the large glass doors out onto the porch. 'I'm going out for a cigarette'. Christian stands sharply and follows her out, closing the glass door behind them as Jade lit up.
Christian leant against the wall, eyes wary 'You didn't have to tell them everything, if you didn't want to?' she shrugs 'I'd have to tell them at some point'. 'I'm proud of you Jade' she looked up with a look of absolute shock 'You what?' 'I said I'm proud of you, Jade'. There was a long pause, a shocked Jade taking a long drag of her cigarette 'Where's this coming from?', Christian looked awkward 'you've had a rough start, your mother left you with me when you were barely a month old…you had to deal with me as a Father' Jade snorted with laughter and he continued 'you took control of your own life, went into the Army, and you've made something of a really, really, really awful situation'. There was a long, awkward pause, Jade opened her mouth, closed it again, finally speaking 'Maybe we're more alike than we'd like to admit'. Christian nodded, exhaling deeply 'whoever it is, the person you're… 'seeing'…he makes you happy?' She nodded, unquestionably certain 'more than anything. I've seen how you are with Ana, how you feel about her- it's the same'. Christian nods after a beat of silence 'As long as you're happy, then that's all I need. If he hurts you, then I'll kill him, okay?'. Jade laughs and stubs out her cigarette, as the pair head back inside.
By the end of the meal everyone was laughing and talking as they moved into the Living Room to sit and talk. Jade was talking to Carrick when her phone rang loudly. Seeing the caller ID, she paled slightly and excused herself into the quiet hallway. Answering the call she didn't wait for the other person to speak before hissing angrily at them 'I told you to stop contacting me. I'm twenty next week, you've had more than enough fucking time to be my mother and make up for what you did. Instead you wait until now to try being a parent? If you give a shit about me- which I don't think you do- you would leave me the fuck alone'. She pauses for the person on the other end to speak and then cuts them off 'if you don't leave me alone then I'll go to Grace Grey and tell her who my mother is. I'm sure she'd love to find that out- I can think of a few people who would be very intrigued to know what happened with you and my father 20 years ago'. With that she hung up and abruptly left the Grey house, slamming the door behind her.