Chapter 11
Glad everyone liked the last chapter. Thank all of you for the reviews! New chapter has some fun and some heart-to-heart with Aunt Beth. I hope you enjoy.
Walking along the edge of the open field, Beach listened to Aunt Beth telling him which of the exhibits were set up the best. He nodded in most of the right spots and agreed with most everything. That seemed to please her and he felt like he might just be getting a handle on the entire 'dealing with women' issue. Courtney had stuck next to his elbow for the entire visit to the museum, nudging him on occasion when he seemed about to screw up too badly.
Now she was looking across the field with curiosity. "Beach.. what's over there where those guys are?"
He craned his neck to look himself. "Obstacle courses. Looks like they're running some Ranger trainees through." His steps turned towards the courses.
She tugged at his arm. "Beach.. you don't need to go over there.." Her grip seemed to slow him a little bit. "Oh nooo, not your PT courses! These are not yours!"
Beach looked down at her as she struggled to stop him futilely. "I'm just gonna show Aunt Beth how we train Rangers... you know, just so she can see what a real obstacle course is.. not that the one here is comparable to mine.. but still."
Aunt Beth looked a little uncertain. "Are you certain we're allowed? I don't see spectators over there..."
Beach smirked, and reached to take Courtney's elbow and drag her up beside him to walk. "Stop that pulling on me. Aunt Beth, I was one of the lane instructors.. it's fine."
Courtney gave up. "It's not that I think you aren't allowed.. I just think you're going to end up trying to walk over the instructors!" She rolled her eyes at Aunt Beth. "I'm not sure if you've noticed.. but Wayne here has a small tendency to be pushy and overbearing when he thinks something should be done differently."
Aunt Beth smiled gently. "Oh no dear.. even if I were deaf and blind, I would have noticed that about Wayne. But he usually means well."
The course was busy with young men racing along it, clambering over walls, under wires, and through mud and tunnels. The shouts from both the instructors and the recruits were loud. Beach strode up and stood just outside an invisible barrier watching with his hands on his hips. Courtney sighed as she watched his entire body posture switch to instructor mode. His back stiffened, his head lowered slightly and he simply looked as if he was about to throw himself at someone at any moment. "Beach... calm down.."
He looked over at her, that professional distance firmly established in his expression. "I'm calm." He'd gone away from her, changing himself from her boyfriend on vacation to a drill instructor on duty.. even though he wasn't on duty and she wanted to boot him in the head to remind him of that fact.
"Just remember.. you're not.." She tossed her hands up as he ignored her to stride across the field, beginning to yell at a laggard who was halfway up a rope net.
"Get it in gear you danged pogue! How ya ever gonna keep up with yer danged squad with ya hangin' up there insteada moving along! Ya wanna slow up yer whole squad? That it? Wanna see how many guys ya can get killed along with yer incompetent butt!" Beach moved up to the obstacle, where the poor startled recruit jumped and scrambled up to the top. "Get over that danged ridge and get a MOVE ON!" The shouting made the young man hurl himself over the topline and fly down the far side, acting as if he was terrified that Beach would come out onto the course after him if he didn't vacate the area quickly enough.
CoverGirl sighed heavily and rolled her eyes over at Aunt Beth who had a hand over her mouth as she watched. "That's our BeachHead.. he's so good at being encouraging and supportive to people. Always making them want to try their best."
Aunt Beth looked aghast. "Why is he being so mean to those poor boys?"
She smiled indulgently. "Well.. that's how he motivates them to go faster. If he thinks they aren't putting their all into something, he'll terrify them into doing it, out of sheer fear he'll come out and kick their respective tails if they don't. Nothing makes a guy push himself past his perceived limits like sheer terror."
"I suppose so.. but he's just so loud..." Aunt Beth winced as a particularly loud bellow reached them. The regular drill instructor had noticed the interloper and moved in to intercept Beach. The two women watched the short interaction, the two instructors doing a bit of circling and sniffing before they decided that they could be friendly. "Well.. it looks like Wayne has a new friend."
"Could be.. could be that's one of his fellow instructors from when he was stationed here." CoverGirl crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow when Beach looked over at them. He amazed her by understanding the subtle hint and came over. "So? Did you get all that out of your system?"
"More or less." He grinned at her and nodded at the small group struggling over and through the obstacles. "Aint' none of them hold a candle to us."
The instructor heard him and looked over with some irritation. "What was that?"
Beach snorted, gazing at the course with some disdain. "Ain't like I'm disparagin' yer guys... but Ranger trainees oughta be flyin' through a course like this. They sure as heck shouldn't be hangin' up on net climbs and barbed wire crawls. Heck... yer danged mudpits ain't hardly knee deep!"
The other instructor clamped his jaw shut for a moment, obviously taking time to calm before he responded. "This is a standard course.. and these might be Ranger trainees, but they are making times close to passing numbers." His look at Beach was a bit heated. "It's a pretty difficult course... maybe we didn't have such tough courses when you were here.. way back when..."
Beach's eyes narrowed. "When I was here, our rope climbs were higher than twenty feet.. and I never dug no mudpit that was less than waist deep.. no reason to coddle the men running it." He waved a hand at the log that was leaned at a angle up against a second one to make a long narrow ramp to run up, switch over, then run down. "Look at that danged log walk! It's gotta be shallower than forty-five degrees!"
Now the Ranger turned on Beach. "Yeah? What? You need it smoother, old man?"
CoverGirl slipped up beside Beach. "Umm.. Beach... why don't you let him train his baby Rangers... while we go find something else to show Aunt Beth?"
The instructor sneered at her. "Baby Rangers huh? Gimme a break little girl!" He snorted at Beach. "You just wish you were still at Benning, instead of a washed up half-assed Ranger without anything worthwhile to do with his career! You'll never make anything higher than a NCO.. because you don't know how to play the game. You just want to come in here and try to tell me I'm not doing a good enough job with these Ranger trainees, because you don't have anyone that can do better.. and you know it!"
Beach's hair was standing up on his neck, prickling along his shirt collar and he sniffed in a breath quickly. "Yeah? I can't do better?"
"Yeah. You ain't got a soldier better than my trainees here!" The instructor stepped back, smirking at the older man.
"Oh yeah?" Beach reached to drag a startled CoverGirl forward. "My danged girlfriend can run this course faster than yer pitiful excuses fer Ranger trainees."
She shook her head. "Oh wait... wait wait.."
The instructor slapped at her arm. "Right.. are you serious? She might break a nail if you made her actually get out in the dirt."
Aunt Beth leaned forward. "I have twenty dollars on Courtney."
CoverGirl twisted to stare at her. "DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM!"
Beach snorted. "I got a hundred says she beats any five of yer pogues. Right now." He crossed his arms smugly. "Come on.. money where the mouth is.."
The instructor barked out a few names. "Front and center! Teach this idiot that his little girl here needs to stay in the secretarial pool where she belongs."
CoverGirl glared at Beach. "You are a dead man, Ranger. Dead." Despite her words, she walked over to the starting line and stretched a few seconds. Taking a moment, she pulled off her outer shirt and handed it to one of the young men. "Alright.. let's go... " The poor Ranger trainee was standing there staring at her in her tank top, fatigues and combat boots... the instructor noticed the cleavage, but also the well formed muscles on her upper arms. His eyes narrowed and he turned to give Beach a suspicious look. CoverGirl's yell made him look back at her. "What? Are we going? Or did it occur to you that the baby Rangers aren't grown up enough to compete with big girls?"
"Oh that's it.. you're on!" Snatching up his stopwatch, the instructor strode over to yell loudly. "Set.. GO!" He ran along the side of the course, yelling at his guys. "Go go! If you bastards let that girl beat you you'll be doing push-ups until the end of time! I'll run you all down the damned road on ten mile marches until your MOTHER'S FEET ARE SORE! MOVE!"
Beach smirked as he watched the lean tank jockey take off from the starting line at top speed. Normally he wouldn't approve of sprinting to begin with, but she needed the space away from the trainees, in case someone thought to trip or bump her. Her pride in being faster than him was well justified, as she easily outpaced all the male trainees. She hit the first upright wall without pausing, timing her leap so she gained the top with both hands to swing up and over before the first guy got to the base of the wall.
Beach smiled proudly at Aunt Beth. "You know, Shana taught Courtney how to scale walls like that. Shana learned it from Snakes, but the women just don't have the same upper body strength. Shana knows how to compensate for that."
"Shana is very talented. She has always maintained that women are just as capable as men." Aunt Beth winced as one of the young trainees went headfirst over the wall to land heavily in the soft dirt landing. "Oh my.. I hope he's okay."
"PRIVATE HARRINGTON! Get your ASS OVER THAT WALL!" The resident drill was frantically ordering his guys to speed up, as the woman who was half the size of most of his trainees was already sprinting for the first mudpit.
Beach cupped his hands around his mouth to yell. "Remember that pit's only knee deep!"
She sped up right before she reached it and made a long jump to land slightly further than halfway across. There was an impressive sploosh as mud splattered in all directions. CoverGirl did stay upright, although she acquired an impressive amount of dirt. Taking awkward looking long striding leaps, she quickly gained the far end just before the first trainees hit the mud behind her.
"GO KREIGER! Dang it! Get that butt down!" Beach strode along the sideline shouting as CoverGirl easily squirmed under the mass of barbed wire on her belly. Her smaller size made the wire crawl a breeze compared to the larger bulkier recruits. When she came out the far side and sprinted for the log walk, Beach turned to the resident drill and smiled tightly. "Ya better whip them boys harder!"
The drill instructor's jaw clenched and he glared at Beach. "Dammit.. your girl is a damned ringer! Harrington! If you hang up on that wire I swear I'll come out there!" He rolled his eyes and Beach snorted loudly. "Why's there always gotta be one in every group?"
Letting out a sharp laugh as he kept an eye on the woman moving up along the leaning log with sure steps. "Ya mean a screw-up or one-a those that has every bit of potential but seems determined to make ya tear out yer hair on a daily basis?" Beach raised his voice to yell. "Kreiger! Don't slow down on that rope walk!"
She panted and then yelled back. "Shut it, Beach!"
He grinned as the other instructor shook his head. Beach's pride in his female trooper came through clearly. "She's got spunk."
"Yeah I see that... " He twisted on his heel and civvy the front runner of his men harder. "COME ON! That girl is gonna beat all of you little posers! MOVE IT!"
Despite all his best efforts to get his troops moving fast enough to catch the slender figure outpacing all of them, she crossed the finish line a good two seconds ahead of the closest struggling recruit. While she walked slowly in a wide circle cooling off and glaring over at BeachHead, he smirked and held out a hand to the frustrated drill instructor.
"Dammit. I think I've been snookered..." He dug into a pocket to hand over cash, rolling his eyes to pay off Aunt Beth as well. "I can just see the three of you going around to all the Army posts to get betting pools on poor unsuspecting drill instructors." He shook his head and nodded towards the approaching woman. "If we took females for Ranger recruits..."
Beach narrowed his eyes. "Yeah.. well.. ya don't. And if'n ya did, ya can't have her." He turned to look down at Courtney as she approached. "Not too bad, but yer gonna need to work on yer speed across log walks. Took too long.."
She leveled a punch into his ribs, making him yelp. "Shut it." She plucked the cash out of his hand. "This is mine. I won it. Next time you involve me in your bragging, I'll kick you in the nuts."
He rubbed at his ribs and shrugged at the drill instructor. "Told ya.. spunk."
"Yeah.. again.. I see that." The drill began berating some of the men as they straggled up to stand in a line. The last man walking up sneered at Courtney counting out the wad of cash she'd appropriated from BeachHead.
"So tell me.. isn't that about the same amount you get a night on your street corner?" His smirk showed the meanness from the sting of being beaten publicly by a woman. Courtney's mouth fell open at the crass remark.
Before she could respond, there was a loud snarl and Beach's hand closed around the man's throat before he could duck away. "Didja jus' call mah gal a hooker?"
There was a faint "erk" from the rapidly fading recruit and the drill instructor was jumping onto Beach's back to try to pull him off. He did seem to notice, only after the other Ranger got an arm around his throat to try to choke him out. Beach tucked his chin to prevent that and twisted around sharply to try to throw him off.
"Beach! Drop him! Let go!" Courtney pried at his hand futilely. "WAYNE!" She finally got a hold of his fingers and pulled to unwrap his grip. The recruit staggered sideways, feeling at his neck and gasping. Courtney got in front of her Ranger to push him further away. "Wayne stop!"
"Get offa me.." Throwing the other instructor off his back, Beach snorted loudly. "Ya better damned well start teachin' yer recruits some damned respect! Ain't no way no Ranger trainee a' mine woulda been caught dead disrespectin' someone that way!"
"Yeah well.." The drill regained his feet quickly and watched Beach cautiously. "You can't just go beating him up with me standing right here! You should have let me deal with it!"
The recruit having regained his breath, stepped up angrily to point at Beach... from the safety of behind his drill instructor. "Yeah! You can't go trying to kill me! Just because I call them like I see them.." The Benning drill instructor punched him in the face and knocked him onto his butt. "Sergeant!"
The drill stepped over top of him to point at his face. "If you open that mouth ONE MORE TIME! I will personally kick you until SHE feels better about it! Shut your mouth. You just embarrassed the whole damned Ranger division by acting like a lowbrow street thug and if you think I'm going to back you up for acting like that, you are INSANE! Now get up off the ground!" The recruit leapt up and stood in place. "You will go directly to the barracks where you will clean the barracks.. and if there's a speck of grime anywhere.. even behind the goddamned sink piping... I will personally bust you out of the Army for good! When you're done with that.. I'll be there to start your punishment! Now MOVE MOVE MOVE!" Screaming after him a few more times, the drill scowled fiercely as he turned back. "Please accept my apologies on behalf on my errant trainee, Corporal."
She nodded, still blocking Beach who huffed at the words. "Thank you, Sergeant. Apology accepted." She elbowed Beach hard. "Say you're sorry for trying to kill his trainee."
Beach's lip twisted as he chewed that idea. "Sorry Ah didn't kill your trainee." He was elbowed again and relented. "Sorry I tried to usurp your authority. Shoulda let you take care of it." He paused then glanced rather sheepishly over at Aunt Beth. "Ahhh.. and I'm sorry I tried to murder yer trainee too."
The drill stepped forward with his hand extended. "It's alright.. he had no call to say something like that. It was good to meet you, fellow Ranger. I'm Staff Sergeant George Feitch, if there's anything I can do to make your week go smoother, let me know."
Beach shook his hand. "Sergeant major Sneeden, here. It's alright, I used to instruct here at Benning, I know my way around."
Feitch blinked. "Sneeden?" His face twisted. "Awww damn. I was snookered."
Beach shrugged. "Ain't snookered no one. These trainees oughta be performing a lot better at this stage. Ya'll going soft on them now a days. Push 'em harder, ain't like they can't take it, if'n they're Ranger material."
"Yeah yeah.." The drill extended a hand to Courtney as well. "Sorry Corporal Kreiger." He nodded towards Aunt Beth. "Ma'am." Turning back to his recruits, he waved them all back towards the starting line of the course. "Well, you heard Sergeant major Sneeden... you guys suck! Let's get out there and prove that you can make it! GO GO GO!"
Beach turned to shoo at the two ladies, Aunt Beth helping to herd Courtney along as well. The matron rested a hand on Courtney's back. "Don't let his words anger you so much. You did so amazing out there! Jumping over things and crawling in mud... I couldn't believe you did that so fast!"
Relaxing somewhat, Courtney preened. "Yeah well.. Beach here pushes us really hard to be our very best." She nudged at the big man. "You better not be volunteering me like that again though, because I WILL refuse and let you stand there and look foolish."
He did manage to look at least slightly chagrined. "Yeah well... anyway.. Aunt Beth, would you like to see anything else?"
She raised an eyebrow and looked at Courtney brushing the worst of the mud off her pants, then looked back at Beach. "I think perhaps Courtney would like to go clean herself up. Don't you think that would be best?"
Beach thought it over, looking at the muddy woman. "I guess... you wanna go clean up or are ya fine?"
Courtney sighed and turned to Aunt Beth. "I'm going to go take a shower and change clothing. But there's no reason for everyone to come along for that. You and Beach can go spend some time together while I do that." She raised up to kiss Beach's cheek for him. "I'll catch up with you later at the hotel, okay?"
He nodded. "That's fine. Stay outa trouble." He watched her striding down the sidewalk and let out a soft sigh.
Aunt Beth's voice was amused. "You really are completely smitten."
"I ain't neither!" He protested. "It's just... well..."
Her experienced voice comforted him. "There's nothing wrong with being in love, Wayne. Accept it and enjoy it. Not everyone gets to experience real love." They walked together aimlessly down the sidewalks slowly. The bustle of Rangers and regular Army solders alike surrounded them while leaving them untouched.
Beach tilted his head back for a moment and looked up at the sky, scattered with small bits of cloud. "Well.. it's hard to just.. surrender to it. It feels an awful lot like some sort of huge mistake and like I'm gonna be trapped or something."
She smiled. "It only feels different than how things have been. And I suppose that being in love is a bit like being trapped. But it's two people trapped together. And that makes all the difference."
He thought that over. "I guess so. Just... the last time I felt like this, it didn't go so well." He looked down at her. "What if it all goes wrong? How do I know that she won't decide she could do way better and leave? What.. what if she tries to use all this against me?"
"Well.. do you think she would do that?" Beth watched him shake his head. "Then you'll just have to trust your heart and trust her. Courtney doesn't seem like she would want to do anything hurtful to you." She looked at him with a frank expression. "Wayne, you can't do this halfway. You have to decide you will commit to the relationship. Sitting on the fence will only serve to frustrate and drive both of you apart." Resting a hand on his arm, she shook her head. "Look at what you could gain.. look at how much pleasure you take from spending time with Courtney. Don't you want that?"
"Well.. yeah." He thought for a moment. "I guess I'd rather it was a sure thing.. insteada havin' to hope it'll all work out. You'd think I'd be used to havin' to work in uncertain circumstances." His companion gave him a questioning look and he explained. "Well.. I don't never know from one day to the next whether I'll get sent out to do something, or be at the base trainin' guys. Sometimes I get new orders and ten minutes later I'm grabbin' up gear to take off, without time to even say nothin' to no one.. if'n I was even able to tell them what was goin' on. So not bein' able to say what was gonna come next shouldn't be nothin' new to me."
Beth hummed softly. "Perhaps. But perhaps being on call at all hours is your normal existence? But you always know what to do on your missions and such. You know which weapons to take with you, which clothing to wear, how to act during the trip. And you return to the same place, where the Army tells you what to do and where to go and how to do things. Perhaps it's not so much that you are used to things being unpredictable, but that you are very used to not having to make decisions about your own life?"
He glanced at her then away. "Well.. yeah. Army does tell me what I'm supposed to do. The Army never gave me no lessons on how to deal with a girlfriend though."
Aunt Beth laughed at him, patting his arm fondly. "Maybe you missed that day."
"Maybe so.. maybe so. Maybe I was too busy cleaning my rifle that day." Stopping suddenly, Beach took a deep breath. "How'd you ever get so smart? I mean.. all you ever do is hang out with ducks all day. Maybe them ducks are smarter than I thought they were."
"Oh Wayne.. " Aunt Beth laughed and shook her head. "You do say the strangest things at times." Checking her watch she exclaimed suddenly. "Oh my.. I do have to get going."
"What? Not staying for dinner?" Beach watched her turn and begin to head along a walkway.
She shook her head, making certain he was walking alongside her. "No dear.. I have to get back home. I didn't make arrangements to have anyone care for the animals. Besides.. you should be spending your time with Courtney. You should be visiting with your Ranger friends. That's why you came, yes?"
"I guess so." Tilting his head, Beach watched her. "I'm glad you came down. Sorry I failed on the whole jump part."
"I don't blame you for that. Besides, it was still a magnificent sight to see. I don't think I'll ever have that sort of opportunity after all!" She pointed across the parking area they had reached. "Over there.." Beach agreeably headed that direction. "Thank you so much for inviting me down. It was wonderful to get to see you again. I know you can't do much visiting and such because you're on duty most of the time, but I do miss getting to see you. You really must come out to visit again sometime. I'd hate to think the only time I'll get to see you is when you end up in the Benning hospital."
"Well..." Beach suddenly relented. "I'd like to come visit your place sometime. You know.. if I get a chance.. if it's okay." He tucked his hands into his pockets.
Aunt Beth raised her hands in mock exasperation. "Of course it's okay. Wayne, I've been trying to convince you to come back, why would you even imply I wouldn't want you to come visit? Foolish boy." His lips quirked up slightly in a sheepish expression. "You come and visit anytime you are able, Wayne. I mean that. I expect for you to show up on my doorstep one day. One day soon too, not in a few years. You just keep that in mind."
"Yes ma'am." Beach reached to open the door on her stationwagon. "Thanks for coming down. It was good to see you." He watched her eyebrow go up. "What? Oh.. dang it.." He spread his arms to let her hug him tightly, gingerly settling his own arms around her briefly. "Yeah yeah.. huggin'." She turned loose and he forbid himself to step backwards out of reach. "Thanks."
"You're getting there, Wayne. Slowly but surely, you'll get used to it. As long as you keep making an effort." She settled into the car and busied herself fastening the seatbelt and putting aside her purse. "I'll be sending you a package in a few weeks with some of the fresh mozzarella cheese. You be careful please? And no more fighting."
He grinned at her. "But the fighting competition is in a couple days.. I gotta fight."
She leveled a finger at him. "You know what I mean young man. Try to stay out of trouble and be careful. And try to rest up some, you did fall out of a plane again."
"Yes ma'am." He closed the door for her carefully. "Drive safely." He watched her drive away slowly through the people and traffic and sighed. He should go back to the hotel and see if Courtney was done cleaning up yet. Checking his own watch, he calculated times and decided that an early dinner might be welcome. They could at least get a spot at one of the local restaurants and get a decent meal in them.
End chapter
So... time for Beach to step up or back off. Which will he choose? I hope you enjoyed the obstacle course and Aunt Beth. And yes, I wish I had a real Aunt Beth too!
