Title: Dark Alley - Chapter 14
Disclaimer: This is intended as a fan fiction, on characters owned by their original creators and I am not making a profit out of it.
He feigned sleep, trying to keep his body still and his breathing deep and even, wondering what would she do. Next thing was that little sweet kiss in his cheek and the small finger of Serena poking gently at his face.
"Good morning, Uncle Charlie." It was the sweetest form of love he ever received. He was moved so deeply as he couldn't remember having felt in all his life.
"Serena... Good morning, sweet thing." Grey could hardly find the words,. What did he know from kids?
"Are you asleep?"
"Not anymore."
Serena climbed to the couch as if it was the most natural thing in the world; then she sat over his stomach and started bouncing over it.
"Ow, ow, ow... I feel a little fly bothering me. Get off, little fly! Get off!" He accompanied that with tickling Serena's belly. Her jiggles and shrieks of laughter should have pierced his aching head but truth be told he felt happier than he had for many months.
"Mommy is making pancakes." She said crawling back down.
"Yummy! Love them."
"Me too."
As he lazily remained in the couch, his thoughts drifted to last night. Then Serena came back.
"Daddy says you can't play with me because you are going to a funeral. What is a funeral?"
"Something we never want to go, but we go because it's very important to other people." This one was different, though. Very different. "Wow! I can smell those pancakes from here... Yum! Yum! Yum! Go! Hurry up! Or I'm going to get there first and eat them all…"
"No! Mommy! Mommy!"
Grey glanced at the hallway and found his brother in arms watching him gravely. "Are you okay?" Bob's voice reached Grey from the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe, his expression tight. Grey swallowed as his head throbbed mercilessly.
"I'm fine." He gritted.
Bob pursed his lips and arched an eyebrow in clear disbelief.
"Of course you are." Bob sighed approaching and handling him a couple of Tylenols. "Did you get any sleep?" was his next question.
"Not much. You?"
"Managed a few hours. There will be plenty of time for us to rest when the funeral is over. You good to go?"
"I'm good. Don't worry." Bob's tense expression softened a few notches, relief washing over him. "I am. I am fine."
"Let's do this then, buddy. Going to go out for an hour or so, then we dress and we leave together. We can meet Top and Mack there."
"Yep."
Charlie could feel it the moment he crossed the door into the Brown's kitchen and a wave of unease hit him. The thank you smile on Grey's face congealed by the tense stare of Kim.
"This might hurt, Charlie. But someone has to say it. Let's set things straight before Serena comes back."
"Say what you have to say, Kim." He maintained the smile on his face but his eyes were not that friendly anymore.
"So let's draw a nice clean line. No bad feelings, no apologies, no troubles. I try to speak my mind."
"As I just said."
"I certainly didn't like it when Bob brought you home last night. It terrorized me that Serena might come close to you while you were sleeping and you could hurt her unawares of where you were or who was approaching you. I'd passed the night in her bed, holding her against me." There was a beat of silence that was too long.
"Wise thought."
"Next time, please say no to Bob." There was a tremor in her voice, and she didn't like it.
"I'll do it. Does that set things straight?" Grey fixed Kim with a pointed look
"No hard feelings?" she felt her cheeks heat.
"No hard feelings."
"Have some pancakes. Want some jam, butter, maple syrup?"
Grey blinked himself back into an apparently normal family breakfast and stared dully at the mounting pile of pancakes laid in front of him, as he massaged the bridge of his nose.
"No. Thanks. I'm really not hungry," he mumbled.
Kim took a breath, plunged in: "You said no hard feelings just a moment ago..."
"We are ok, Kim. No worries. I understand what you said. I think you've been very honest and I respect that. Just my stomach is not up to much eating right now. May I borrow some of your coffee instead and a couple of those sugar cookies?"
"Of course."
The moment Grey stretched out his right hand. A small one gripped his.
"Look, Uncle Charlie. This is Mary Mae. I dressed her. See? Isn't she pretty?"
"A beauty queen. She's got some beautiful green eyes too. Like your Mom's." Who sees me like some kind of monster. So that was it. No sanctuary anymore for him here, nowhere to be able to go off alert, to let the body and mind relax in this one safe haven ever again.
Serena pulled down on his shirt and was on her toes to make him bend over enough to be able whisper in his ear, "When Mommy is angry with me, I just go and hug her. She likes that."
Grey couldn't help himself but melt all his present sourness in a warm smile for her and gave her the OK sign with his thumb up. "I'll remember that, sweetcheeks." He changed the subject to something a little safer. "Wanna go and play ball together in the backyard until daddy comes back? I'll show you a new trick."
"Yeah! Can we, mom?"
"Sure. Go."
"Let's go then."
"Be careful. He might hear you," the voice of Molly cautioned Kim over the phone.
"He's in the backyard with Serena. I see them both from here. He is giving Serena tips on how to play soccer. Serena, the most girlish girl you can imagine." Kim, paused for a second. "Oh, Molly... You know what it was to hear him talk like a lunatic in his sleep. And the next minute he would start begging to his mother like a little child. I can't look at his face that easily again." Kim had burned to tell her friend about Grey and what she heard in the early morning.
"So, he is human after all."
"He didn't sound like one. He was wild. The things he was saying. They were terrible. And Bob sleeping like a log."
"You, Tiffy, Keisha, I; only we know what happens behind the door of our bedrooms at night, how much we have to endure to maintain their sanity. Or are you telling me that Bob has never had a nightmare or a flashback? Like so many other Unit wives, though none of us talk about it."
"But Charlie is alone... That's what scares me. I know Bob would never hurt Serena or me. But Charlie is not living the white picket fence lifestyle. There is no one to balance him, to bring him back to the good side. Sometimes he acts a little bit too crazy for my likes. And you should have heard him when I told him that, with his voice low and raspy, as if every word had the veil of a threat behind it"
"If you accept what our husbands do, you do because you know that acts of hatred also bring acts of love, We are at the frontier of their job, Kim. They leave home, all bright and shiny and mission-ready, secure in the knowledge that life—their real life—is waiting back here with us. They come home because of us, child. We are their rock." Molly paused, gathering her thoughts. "Charlie has no one to help him with that. Charlie is an island in the middle of nowhere, and more so since Hector left us."
"Come on, Molly. Charlie, "the playa", always able to talk any woman around to his bed? His only known hobby, all the values he has in him. He has nothing in common with the rest of our men. When have you heard him sharing with us anything else than some gross story about his exploits? Not a single word about his family. He doesn't even ever mention Hector. Like he has forgotten him completely, like he had never been around. And he was his best friend."
"You judge him harshly, don't you? You always tell me: Keep personal issues away of judgment. And here you are, not following your own advice," Molly retorted sternly. "A death can hit a squadron hard, especially a relatively small unit like ours. With Ivan we have had three in less than a year. All the guys are feeling it, Kim. Charlie too. And any and all of them have their particular way to deal with it. Don't you think there are enough enemies around without us creating our own?"
Kim turned her attention suddenly towards the backyard when she heard a high pitched squeal from Serena that quickly turned into a fit of giggles. "I hurt him, I know. But I was right doing what I did. I am protecting my child. Serena should always come first."
"So Charlie got scars, and only at his funeral we would know how many purple hearts or silver medals he has hidden in a box of cigars that says he's a hero. And yes, he has those terrible nightmares that says he's only human. Don't you think that Charlie too, on occasions like this, could be thinking about who will weep for him?" Molly let out a little stiffly. "I have to prepare Jonas's full dress uniform yet. See you at the funeral."