Chapter 7
Zane walked through the dimmed light of the Rotunda, his footsteps barely making a sound in the empty room. The halls were empty;only those scientists who were monitoring running tests would have been found in their labs this late at night. He'd gone home for a few hours, but he'd been unable to sleep. After tossing and turning restlessly for a few hours he'd decided to return to GD. As he approached the infirmary the doors opened silently to allow him to enter. His footsteps slowing as he approached Jo's bed, the only patient in the hospital on this particular night. He stood at the end of her bed and stared down at her, hands shoved deep in his pockets. She still looked the same as when he'd last seen her, in her presumed West Point Uniform. Someone had covered her with a light blanket, but there had been no noticeable change since he'd left. He glanced at the screen that displayed her vitals and then back at her face. It wasn't often that he got a chance to study it while she was unaware. The last time he'd had such an opportunity she'd been here as well, recovering from a sudden heart surgery. She was so young, but somehow she still managed to look fierce, even in her unconscious state.
"I thought that you'd be back," a voice said from behind him. He turned around and saw that Dr. Monroe was seated in the technical hub at the computer. He must have walked right past her and not noticed. She smiled at him and glanced at her watch, "and before midnight," she said brightly, "which means," she said as she rose, "I win the bet."
Zane stared at her confused, "What bet?"
She walked over to Jo's bedside and picked up a small netbook computer and a small earpiece and turned to face him again. "I figured that you'd be back in here before Midnight. Henry agreed, but he thought that it would be sometime around 2am."
"Why did you think I'd come back," Zane asked embarrassed.
Instead of answering him, Grace crossed her arms over her chest hugging the computer to herself. "When Henry told me what had really happened to him I had a tough time believing it. I knew that something was off, but I just couldn't tell what exactly." She gestured to the device on Jo's neck. "When I created this device, I had always intended that it would be used in assisting people with the loss of their memory, or for therapeutic applications. I never imagined that I would need it to reconnect with a husband who didn't remember me. It wasn't until we were able to share memories across timelines that I was able to get to know the real him, and vice versa. He and I have spoken about it, and we agreed that now that you know what's really going on, that it would probably be better for all of us if you knew a bit more. This way if there are any slip ups, we can help each other catch them. Henry helped me to adapt my device to run off this netbook," she said as she handed it to Zane along with their earpiece. "We've adapted it with a visual holographic interface that I've been working on. With it you'll see and hear exactly what she is remembering and how she remembers. " She turned back and began to gather her things.
"Why are you doing this," he asked her quietly.
She turned back to face him, her jacket and purse in hand. She seemed to gather her words carefully. "I've seen both Henry's memories of the two of you and he's seen mine. In this case I like his better. Besides," she said with a grin as she walked towards the door, "we figured that if we didn't modify it ourselves, you'd just come back in here at night and do it yourself."
"Dr. Monroe," he said as she reached the infirmary doors, she paused and turned back once more. "Thanks.".
"Call me Grace," she said with a smile as she walked out the door.
Zane turned back and sat down in the chair next to Jo's bed, the netbook unopened in his hands. He glanced down at Jo and considered what she'd likely do to him when she found out that he'd been watching her memories, but he placed the small silver device behind his ear lobe anyways and clicked on the small button in the center, powering it on. As he opened the laptop he blinked as the image on the screen went blurry and when it came into focus he found himself standing in a large hall surrounded by men and women in uniform.
He turned around, computer still in hand and stared at the large banner filled Hall. For a quick moment it reminded him of the Great Hall from the Harry Potter movies, and he wondered what Lupo would say if he compared West Point to Hogwarts. He walked forward slowly, trying to absorb the details of everything that he was seeing, weaving around the rows of people who were all facing towards a tall dias in the front of the hall. He smiled as he realized that Grace's device reminded him of a technological version of a Pensieve. He'd have to remember to tell her about it later, and he wondered if she would get the reference.
He stopped as she spotted Jo standing in a nearby row with some of her classmates, and he began to walk towards her. She stood, like the others with her hands behind her back in some sort of parade-rest stance. As he got close, he couldn't help himself, he waved his hand in front of her face to see if could see him, but she stared through him unseeing, her attention fixed only on the stage in the front of the room and the man in the uniform who was speaking.
"You are ensuring a new generation of the finest military history of our great nation. I am pleased to be the first to congratulate you, the Class of 1999 to your final days at West Point."
As he finished speaking, another man stepped forward and said in a loud booming voice, "Dismissed." A loud cheer echoed around the room as men and women began to rush around and hug one another, some piling on top of one another chanting about their A and B companies. Zane wandered forward through the crowd looking for Jo. He finally spotted her standing nearby one of the clusters that was chanting 'B Squad'. She stood a little apart from the group stoically watching the leaders of the chant in the center. As he drew near he realized that one guy in particular was on the receiving end of her stare. He was a tall man, blond hair and blue eyed, and Zane noticed that he seemed to be leading the chanting of that particular group and watched as they seemed to be competing with several nearby chanting groups to see who could be louder. Another girl came running up to Jo and enveloped her in a hug. "You ok there Jo," he heard her whisper.
Jo nodded and turned her head away from the tall blond man.
"Myers told me about it," the woman said in a low voice as the group began to break up and wander off.
"He's going to ask her to marry him tonight," Jo said stiffly. Abruptly she began to walk out. The other woman followed and so did Zane.
"He's an ass," the woman said as she caught up to Jo in the corridor as they headed out into the daylight, followed by many of their classmates who were shouting and making noise around them. The two women walked into an open courtyard that was filled with large banners describing various senior activities. One of them caught Jo's eye, and she looked sideways at it for a long moment. Zane followed her gaze and read that it was a banner describing the Senior Dinner and Ring Dance that would be held for all graduating seniors. Jo looked away from the banner and told her friend, "I don't think I'm going to go," she said aloud.
The other woman grabbed Jo by the shoulder and swung her around to face her as they both came to a stop. "Oh no you don't. Just because he's back with that conniving bitch doesn't mean that you should have to miss out on your senior night."
"Jackie, I just can't. I can't be in the same room with him knowing that he chose her over me."
"He didn't choose you over her," Jackie said trying be diplomatic.
"Yeah, you're right, he just lied to me and told me that he was done with her, made me believe that he was in love with me and made me the other woman for several months. I still can't believe that I slept with him. I just don't know if I can stand to be in the same room with him tonight."
"Come on, you have to go."
"Jackie, I don't even have a date. What's the point in going?"
"Not all of the guys have dates either; you could sit with one of them."
Jo snorted, "Yeah great. Maybe I could sit with Banks or Kowalski."
"Come on," Jackie implored. "We'll all dance with you, she said as she slugged Jo on the shoulder companionable. It's one of our last night's together before I head off to language school and you go off to airborne school."
"Come on Jo," Jackie urged as she saw her friend start to relent.
"Miss the big party? Come on Lupo, what would you want to do that for," a voice asked from behind them.
Zane turned and saw the tall blond man from the hall standing behind them a few feet away.
"First Captain Sanders," Jo and Jackie said as they faced him and stood with their hands behind their backs, at a parade rest stance.
"Now officer Lupo, I didn't hear correctly did I? You weren't going to skip out on our senior dance were you? You promised me a dance," he said with a smirk.
"The only way that I'd dance with you is if I had a knife in my hand and we were in hand to hand combat."
The man lost some of his smile but stepped closer. "That's not exactly what you were saying a few months ago."
"A mistake that I have since recovered from and won't be repeating," Jo promised.
Zane smiled as Sanders smile faded completely. "You'd better watch it Lupo," he said with a frown. "You're talking to a superior officer."
"Hardly. Just a higher ranking one," she said as she turned to leave.
"You're just pissed because I'd rather be with a real woman. Face it Lupo, she's everything that you're not. She's beautiful, smart, and doesn't feel this idiotic need to compete with me. Bottom line that's what every guy really wants. We want a woman in our beds, not someone who we constantly have to fight to win the pants in the relationship. We don't want to have to compete with our girlfriends. I don't know why I ever even bothered to sleep with you."
Zane watched Jo's face fall as she was unable to come up with a witty rebuttal. "Come on Lupo, you're not actually believing that crap," he muttered to her, knowing full well that she couldn't hear him.
"She's an Officer harpy," Jo said finally, "just looking to bag herself an officer and get married. You just happened to be the idiot dumb enough to fall for it." Feeling her friend's energy waning, Jackie took Jo's arm in hers and turned to steer her away.
"Lupo!" Sanders said annoyed taking a step to follow her.
Jo turned back, her face a frozen mask, unreadable and impenetrable. Zane recognized it immediately; it was a look that she'd worn lecturing him on numerous occasions. "I'm done with you," she told Sanders her voice devoid of any emotion, and then she turned and walked away.
As they walked past him, Zane saw that while Jo was breathing heavily, her face was impassive and showed no sign of the hurt that she must have been feeling. Even when the jackass couldn't see her face any longer she refused to break down.
"Good for you," he heard Jackie whispered to Jo, "Never let them see how much they hurt you."
Jo could only nod, as she and Jackie walked towards the common area. Zane moved to follow them but the scene around him began to blur. When the world came back into focus he was in the open bay of a large plane, the loud hum of the engine made it hard for him to hear, but a loud voice carried clearly across the hum as a man behind him yelled, "Hold tight, we're opening the doors," and as he spoke two men in uniform alternately pushed a large door in the side of the plane open. A rush of air swept into the plane and the humming became even louder as clouds wiped past in the open sky.
Zane frowned at the sight of the open sky so close to where he stood, and he muttered under his breath, "Oh crap."
Author's note:
I'm basing much of my knowledge of West Point through Wikipedia and my friend accounts of when he attended West Point more than 15 years ago. The main dining hall was where they did have assemblies and they did have a week of senior year Activities, although the ring dance is actually rom the Air Force Academy. I just liked how it sounded.
There is such a thing as a senior officer of each Platoon in the West Point Academy, and there was a senior officer in each class. That officer, though he was a student was accorded the respect of having younger or lower ranking officers in the same class salute him or speak to him when at a parade rest stance. The fact that Jo turned and walked away from him without permission would have been a big insult. It would also have been a scandal that he was sleeping with an officer under his command, but like with most colleges I'm sure that sort of thing happened. I just wanted you to have some additional information about Jo and her world.
Oh, and I know that I stole that higher ranking officer line from somewhere, but I liked it and thought that it was the sort of thing that she would have repeated. I'd reference it but I can't for the life of me remember where I heard it.
Up next airborne school!
