Sorry for the missing update! I'm giving you a double length chapter to make up for it. Thank you for all the continued support in reviews, I'm endeavoring to get this written as well and as quickly as possible.

Chapter 21

Beach loped along easily, staying at the edge of the roadway to avoid the sidewalk and the people walking. Fewer people crowded the sidewalks as he got further along the roads, and they virtually disappeared once he exited the gates. The guards at the fence insisted on seeing his clearance and checking everything thoroughly while he stood and waited impatiently. By the time he was handed his ID and cards back, he was annoyed with the delay. Settling back into a lope, he headed up the street towards the hotel.

As he ran, he thought about Courtney, and how his invitation to come back to the hotel had flustered her. For some reason that pleased him, probably because she'd spent the past months flustering him at every opportunity and it was about time he did it to her at least once. Of course, he held no illusions about his ability to do it a second time. Given time to regroup and think about it and Courtney wasn't liable to stumble again. He grinned to himself. He'd just have to think up something new to prickle at her about.

The road gave off a soft warmth from the overhead sun, and he wished he wasn't coated in mud from his thighs down. The muck stuck the front of his shirt to his chest and tugged free reluctantly as the running pulled at it. His pants clung and itched a bit as the mud dried on the cloth and he stomped his feet a few strides to dislodge the worst of it. A bit of dirt wouldn't slow him down in the worst of times, and healthy and well-fed, it didn't bother him more than a minor annoyance he might notice. He'd only thought about showering and changing when he saw Courtney brushing the mud from her own shirt where he'd transferred some when he'd hugged her. The whole dating thing meant he had to consider what she was thinking instead of letting her decide her own stuff like intelligent folks. At this rate, he'd need to drag a bag of clothing to the Benning laundry if he wanted clean clothing. He rolled his eyes. Staying clean never bothered him before. Other than making certain he was spotless and perfectly in order when he was in full formal uniform, Beach rarely bothered to notice what sort of shape his fatigues were in.

The soft rumble from behind him was the only warning of a large transport deuce truck as he jumped to the right, the truck's front tire brushing his leg. His shoulder caught the front fender and he almost ended up underneath the rear tires as he was knocked down. Only a quick step to shove himself away made him fall across the sidewalk rather than into the road to be crushed. The front tire jumped the curb briefly as the truck accelerated and took off at high speed, the dark exhaust smoke obscuring tags or vehicle numbers until it turned the end of the street.

The stunned Ranger rolled to the side, gathering his wits and giving himself a mental checkover for serious injury. Other than being jarred badly by the fender hitting him, he was unhurt and a quick glance located his rifle in it's soft case safely on the sidewalk as well.

Beach shoved himself to his feet, racing after the disappearing truck and yelling. By the time he reached the corner, there was no sign of it and he cursed, leaning over to brace his hands on his knees and catch his breath after the scare. "BASTARD!" Someone had tried to run him down in broad daylight. Walking back towards where he'd dropped his rifle and the ammo pouch, he cursed more, rubbing at his already sore shoulder and ribs. Crouching down warily, he watched up and down the street as he gathered up the case and reslung the heavy ammunition bag. "Ah'll catch ya, don't ya think Ah won't."

Heading out at a jog, he kept a careful watch on any vehicles and stayed on the inside of the sidewalk. There was no repeat of the attack however, only a few civilian cars passed by him as he watched suspiciously from a few feet beyond the pavement. Most of them sped up to get past the angry looking Ranger holding a cased rifle in a tight grip. Beach glared after a Volkswagon and spat on the street as he turned into the hotel parking lot.

Inside the room with the door latched, he grabbed up the room phone to dial up the MP station. They seemed concerned right up until he mentioned he had been off the sidewalk and in the roadway running when the truck had tried to run him over.

"Ah wasn't in the middle of the danged road!" He fumed as the MP spoke in a bored yet oh-so-reasonable tone. "Yeah Ah'm certain it tried to run me down! A'course Ah coulda been onna sidewalk!" He gritted his teeth as he was given a lecture on safely using the sidewalks as opposed to wandering in the streets since vehicles had every right to be driving on the roadway. "Ah'm tellin' ya'll.. that danged truck TRIED ta run me down! It weren't no accident and Ah wasn't in the middle of the danged..." He shut up and listened. "Fine. Yeah.. ya'll write a danged report up on it. Ah'm danged sure that'll help me out when Ah'm flattened in the danged road!" Slamming the phone's handset down on the cradle, he cursed and stripped off his muddy shirt to fling it into the bottom of the closet.

Cleaning up took him slightly less than ten minutes and he was redressed and headed back out, taking the sidewalks and carefully watching up and down both directions of the street. When another large transport rumbled up behind him, he backed away from the street and put a hand on his weapon in it's holster on his thigh. It slowed to a stop beside him and Benny poked his head out of the front.

"Hey! Beach.. you uhh.. need a lift?" Benny's glance towards the back of the truck made Beach look. A couple Army grunts looked out curiously at the unexpected stop. "Just a quick stop.. sit tight." Benny's voice lowered. "You okay? You look a little weirded out."

"I'm fine." Beach walked around to the driver's door and peered up at his friend. "What are you doin' driving a big truck like this?"

Benny shrugged and grinned. "Transporting a few guys up to the messhall for clean-up. So many guests, the regular crews are overwhelmed you know. Thought you might want to ride with them instead of hoofing it." He wiped at his dashboard briefly. "If you'd rather walk, I don't care either way you know.."

"Naw.. I'd appreciate a lift. Can ya stop up at the rifle ranges as ya pass by?" Beach relaxed and watched Benny pretending to think it over.

"How about I slow it down to about twenty miles an hour and you dive out in a 'tuck and roll'? I recall you being pretty good at those." Benny grinned at him and ducked away from the window when Beach rose up on the step to swat at him good-naturedly. "Yeah I can stop.. geez, climb in the back with the rest of the grunts."

"Smartass. Benny, I'll stuff you in a duffel bag if'n ya don't watch it. I recall ya fittin' in one pretty good.." Beach walked back to the tailgate and climbed up over the tailgate. Whacking at the side, he let Benny know he was in and ready and the engine roared as the truck headed down the road. He waved one of the grunts to move further down the bench. "Make a hole boys."

"Sergeant major." The private scooted down the bench and Beach settled down to sit at the back. "Are you okay? You look upset."

Beach glared at him, making him scoot further down the bench, crowding his fellow soldiers. "Yeah? Try havin' someone almost run yer butt down with a dang truck.. see how ya look!" He shifted back on the bench and glared out of the back of the truck. "Dang stupid." He thought about the truck he was riding in and peered suspiciously at the poor private. "Who was drivin' this truck when ya got picked up?"

"Uuh..." The hapless private seemed to be trying to think of an answer that wouldn't result in him being tossed out the rear of the moving vehicle. "It was Ranger Farner.. "

Beach puffed out a exasperated breath. "Have ya seen anyone else drivin' one of these trucks?"

"No Sergeant major. We were at our barracks.. then we got picked up."

One of the other privates spoke up quickly. "There's lots of deuces running around. Everyone is using them to move guys and supplies all over the base."

"Whatever." Beach frowned to himself and leaned to keep looking out the rear of the truck. He spotted a cargo truck and half stood before he saw two more. Benning was crawling with the big cargo trucks. "Dang it." He'd have no idea which was the one that tried to run him down.

When the big truck rumbled to a stop, Beach hopped out and went to the cab to step up onto the runner board. "Thanks for the lift Benny. See ya later?"

"Sure thing. I'll be around.. just remember, some of us are on duty and have to work you know.. Sarge only let me out for the shooting competition." Benny grinned at Beach who was rolling his eyes. "It's not like we can all be fat and lazy like you.." He ducked as Beach swatted at him and jerked the truck into gear. "Hey hey.. get off my truck.. I got to get these grunts to KP duy. Go on.. "

Beach hopped easily to the ground and pointed at Benny in mock warning. "Later Benny." He trotted along the path towards the static shooting range. Just outside the area, he spotted CoverGirl standing with Stalker, Lydia and Sarge. When he got to the small group, CoverGirl reached to embrace him and he put hands up to push her back. "Someone tried to run me over."

Her face went from confused to shocked. "WHAT?" She looked him over and he made a face, pushing her away again. "Are you okay? What happened?"

He scowled. "I was runnin' along the road to the hotel and someone in a deuce nearly ran me over, I hadda jump outa the way." He frowned at her as she tried to fuss over him. "Leave off, I'm fine."

Sarge stepped up. "Man, Sneeden you gotta learn to stay out of the roadways. The last thing I need is to have to deal with you getting squashed under a damn truck. There's too few of us left as it is."

"Ah wasn't IN the roadway! I was beside the road!" Beach tried to not get angry at his old sergeant. "The guy nearly killed me!"

"Maybe you need to learn to stay on the sidewalks!" Sarge seemed frustrated with him.

Stalker stepped up close. "As long as you're okay. Beach, just be careful, there's a lot of crazy traffic, everyone is frazzled. The driver was probably distracted and didn't see you, that's all." His reasonable tone and calm nod to his teammate didn't work as Beach fumed. "It was probably just an accident."

"It weren't no accident! I'm tellin' ya'll." Beach turned on Sarge. "We both know who the hell it was. He's finally tired of tryin' to nail me with regulations.. he's tryin' to kill me now."

Sarge stepped up close to him and lowered his voice in a warning tone. "Quiet. Do you have any proof? Did you see Amore driving?" Beach clamped his jaw shut. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Look.." He put a hand on Beach's arm, preventing him from turning away. "Look. I'll check into it. Quietly. You can't go accusing a warrant officer of attempted murder with no proof. I'll look at the records.. see who had any of the deuce trucks. Okay? So you chill the hell out."

"But..." Beach shut up abruptly as a small group passed them, talking loudly about their scores on the range. Once they were gone, he took a breath and let it out. "Fine. But you'll find he's the one who..."

"Shut up." Sarge's voice stayed low but the tone brooked no disagreement, rank differences notwithstanding. "Sneeden, you're not an idiot. Settle down and let me look into it." He waited until Beach nodded and gave him a couple pats. "Good. Try to enjoy the rest of the day.. spend some time with your pretty girlfriend, stay out of trouble."

"Yes Sergeant." Beach still glowered over it but he'd let Green find out what he could. There was actually that remote outside chance that maybe it had been some sort of accident. He wouldn't bet on that though. He hadn't stayed alive for this many years by thinking the best of any situation.

Courtney still looked upset and she moved up next to him when Daniel walked away. "Beach? Are you really okay?" He forced himself to relax physically and put his arm up, letting her embrace him tightly for a moment. "You're having some lousy luck here at Benning."

"Yeah." He swallowed another protest that it wasn't luck but intent. "I'm fine." Stalker shook his head and even Lydia looked worried for him. The fuss over his well being made him uneasy and he shrugged. "I'll be more careful."

"You do that, we don't need to be burying you. It would put a pall over the fighting competition tomorrow you know." Lydia raised an eyebrow at him. "Seriously. Be careful."

"Awww." He gave her a irreverent grin. "Ah knew ya loved me, Lydia." He felt genuine amusement at her eye rolling. "Ya gonna have me over fer dinner and knit me a hat?" She glared at him and crossed her arms. "Maybe a Christmas card?"

"Shut up. Stop picking at Lydia." CoverGirl pinched his arm and then held a finger to to his nose in warning. "You be careful, you big lug. You've already had your traditional trip to the Benning hospital. No more." She hugged him once more and scuffed his hair to his annoyance. "I'd think falling out of a plane was enough for you. Did you wash your hair? It's still got dirt in it."

He tugged away from her. "I showered fast. Besides.. ya could of come with me and washed it for me.."

Stalker held up his hands. "Not listening... la la la..." He put his hands over his ears and stepped backwards a few times. "No no.. don't want to hear... la la.." Courtney leered at him and cuddled up to Beach's chest, stroking a hand over him in an exaggerated pose. "Oh no no.. that's more than enough. Lydia.. let's go.."

"Oh? We gotta watch ya'll sweet talkin' each other, but ya can't take it from us?" Beach's shout followed after the retreating Stalker and his wife who was laughing at them. "Pussy!"

"Stop Beach.." CoverGirl shook her head, laughing at their teammate's theatrics. "So what shall we do now? You said we have the afternoon free?"

He turned loose and shrugged his shoulders around while he thought. "I dunno. I don't have anything for the afternoon. Do you wanna see the rest of Benning?" His eyes watched another deuce-and-a-half drive by, glaring at the oblivious driver. "Or, I know that Admin told me they had the manuals for those tracked vehicles that are in research and development... we could go see if'n they'll give up copies of the manuals for ya."

Her eyes lit up. "Seriously? The ones with the Caterpillar multi-fuel engines? The dual sprocket ones that can turn a 360 on their own footprint?"

"Uhh.. yeah." He hoped he didn't look as clueless as he felt right then. "We can go to the offices... talk to the guy there. His name is Jacobson... he's on duty until three-o'clock." Her grin made him wave an arm to indicate they should go. "Come on then."

"Beach.. you're the best. " Instead of walking beside him, she inserted herself under his arm to walk embracing him. "I'm really enjoying this trip. I just wanted to make sure you knew that."

Rather than pulling away, Beach endured the affectionate gesture and privately admitted it felt good to have her fussing over him. Maybe Aunt Beth was right, and he'd get used to all of it. He smiled a little at the enthusiastic tank jockey as she told him more details she had heard about the new class of attack vehicles. Most of it went over his head, but he still enjoyed when she would talk to him about something she enjoyed. She got bright-eyed and flushed and he suddenly nodded as a reply, hoping she wouldn't notice that he hadn't been listening. "Uh-huh." She went on and he relaxed. He noted passing Rangers and other Army personnel giving sidelong glances at the gorgeous woman under his arm.

There was a flash of jealousy but he also felt himself preen. After all, she was with him. No worries there. It was ridiculous for him to feel proud of the fact that he had a gorgeous woman on his arm. He sighed lightly. He wasn't going to pretend to understand all of this stuff. That was up to the headshrinks. He was going to enjoy it.

"Beach?" Her query made him look down at her slightly concerned face. "What's up?"

"Just thinkin' that if'n I had to wait so long to get myself a girlfriend, at least I went with quality." He was relieved when she looked pleased, and congratulated himself on not screwing up a compliment for once.

"You're so sweet..." She almost purred, making a warm flush wash through him. "I love when you're sweet to me."

"Don't get too used to it." BeachHead grumbled. "Ain't like we'll be all lovey-dovey on base." That was a worry of his. How would they manage to have any sort of relationship in the Pitt? It was against regulations... prohibited to be fraternizing, despite the others who got away with it. He hummed softly to himself. He wasn't stupid, he knew what went on, discreetly. He might not be a ninja, but if a loud-mouthed warrant officer could keep it quiet, then there was no way that Beachhead wouldn't manage. "I think we'll find ways around stuff though."

Her worried expression cleared. "I'm sure. I've noticed Rangers can be really sneaky when they want to be." Nodding at the set of buildings they were approaching. "Is that where we're going? What was the guy's name again?"

"Jacobson.. Sergeant Jacobson. He didn't say outright that he'd give up copies... but I figure it can't hurt to ask." BeachHead hoped the guy wouldn't refuse. He'd look pretty stupid if he got her hopes up and then the source refused to actually give over the manuals.

"I'm sure I can charm him into letting go of a copy, Beach." She was tucking her hair up in one of those fancy complicated twists that made it look like she'd spent an hour arranging it. He admired the long line of her neck. Hell... the woman had sexy earlobes. "Let's go."

"Ahhh.. I uhh.." He shook his head, tearing his gaze away from her. "I dunno Barbiedoll. He might not be the kind what takes to charmin'. What makes ya think he'll just give in if'n ya ask him nicely?" He went up the steps at a trot following her.

She turned towards him for a few steps, walking backwards. She spread her arms slightly. "They're called 'boobs' Wayne. They work quite well as a negotiating tactic." He twitched and his expression hardened and she tilted her head to the side. "Oh stop. I'm not going to flash the guy. But just the fact that I possess boobs will make him want to help me out. It's human nature you know."

"Ah dunno 'bout that." Beach still felt a little disgruntled over the idea.

"You just leave Sergeant Jacobson to me." She strutted in through the doors, him following despite his misgivings. Maybe he should have just asked the guy himself and not told her at all.

End chapter

Ahh yes, Beach, hindsight and all that. Is it bad luck on Benning for Beachhead? Is someone trying to off our favorite cranky Ranger? Will he ever manage to fluster CoverGirl again? Stay tuned...