chap 24
Yes.. the longest time in between me posting a fic chapter has officially ended.. here's a long chapter for the Vacationing Joes... sorry for the delays. I am working on another fic that can't be posted until after Vacation is done.
Standard disclaimer of non-ownership, and non-profiting applies here.
BeachHead seems to be adjusted really well finally to being around a bunch of civies.. just in time for the week to be nearly over!
* * * *
Chap 25
BeachHead peered over Sean's shoulder at the mixing bowl. "Seriously? You're making that cinnymom bread?"
"Yep. I told you I made the loaf you ate this morning. I thought you might like if I made some more." He smiled to himself. Tough Army Ranger or not, he thought he'd found a weak point.
"Yeah, that was awesome, I never had any better bread than that. Never saw no one make it though." BeachHead seemed fascinated. "Kinda wish I could do that.. be impressive to some folks back on base."
"I can teach you.. not that hard." Sean tapped the worn paper laying on the countertop. "As long as you have a recipe.. and you know what to do.. you can make it." He floured the countertop and dumped the dough out onto it. "The important part is letting it rise each time."
"Yeah now that jus' don't make a lotta sense. If ya want it to puff all up.. how come ya go and squash it up again? Then ya go and let it puff up again." The Ranger was carefully watching the process.
Kneading the dough easily, Sean added a bit of flour and smiled patiently. "You know how bread is soft and fluffy?" When his audience of one nodded, he continued. "Well.. it's fluffy inside because it's full of bubbles when you bake it. The rising is the yeast making lots of bubbles in the dough.. like the bubbles in soda. So you have to let the yeast make all the bubbles form in the dough, then you punch it down again, so that the yeast can make lots and lots of small bubbles in the dough, so that the bread will be properly fluffy and soft when it bakes." He looked over and saw the military man thinking that over. "Does it make sense now?"
"Uhh.. yeeeeah. I guess so." Beach watched him cover the dough with a small towel to leave it to rise. "How does it taste like cinnymoms when you didn't put any in it?"
"That part is added later on.. at least in my recipe. I guess technically my recipe is bread with cinnamon and sugar added, instead of cinnamon-sugar bread."
"I'll take yer word on that. I'm a lot better at eatin' it than makin' it." BeachHead twisted around to look as they heard a clamor of noise from the front. "I'm guessin' the pack of ladies just got back. Suppose I could hide outside, or would they jus' come find me?" He looked so hopeful that Sean felt bad dashing his hopes.
"Sorry, they'd come drag you inside. And then they'd browbeat you about being outside and still go on about the things they bought. Easier by far to just listen and nod." Sean grinned at him. "In case they seem REALLY excited, you can add in a 'oooo!' to show you're quite enthused. Don't over-do it."
"Got it." BeachHead ducked as Sallah came flying in and tackled her older brother.
She was all grins. "Sean! Oh it was WAY GREAT! We hit every cool store there is!" She launched at BeachHead who caught her out of instinct, leaning his face aside as she hugged his neck. "BeachHead, you should have come! Aunt Beth got you something too." She abruptly turned loose and ran back out.
BeachHead blinked a few times and looked at Sean. "What.. what was that?"
"That was my little sister. She gets excited about shopping. It's a teen thing." He grinned at the confused look Beach sported. "You get used to it."
"Oh.. I doubt that." He followed Sean into the room. With the confusion of people milling around, he managed to put himself into a corner out of the way. Other than nodding agreeably when someone showed him a bit of clothing, he stayed quiet and mostly they gave him just enough space to not freak him out.
Aunt Beth finally spotted him and came to put a bundle into his hands. "Here.. I saw this and had to get it for you." She looked faintly worried to him.
Shaking it out, he looked at a light jacket in brown. "Ahh.. it's nice. Thank you. Ya didn't need to go gettin' me anything." At her insistence, he pulled it on, and let her tweak the collar around. He shrugged his shoulders around inside it, looking it over. It reminded him of CoverGirl's bomber style jacket.. only in light suede, without the sheepskin trim. It would do, he supposed. Apparently humming really was part of putting clothing on him as Aunt Beth did some of that. "Thank you. It's nice." He took it off again, folding it carefully over one arm. "I'm sure it goes well with my other clothes."
"Yes.. Shana specially helped pick out the color. Can't have you dressing up nicely and then wearing your beat up army jacket. Ruins the effect." She smiled at him and he nodded agreeably.
"Ooo." She looked a bit confused and he sighed. "I knew I shouldn't do that. Never get it right. The jacket's really nice, thank you for thinking about me."
Although she looked wary, she dismissed the strangeness and patted him gently on his arm. "Did you manage to amuse yourself while we were gone?"
"Yeah.. the boys and Snakes and I went down and played football. And Sean is making cinnymom bread."
She corrected him absently. "Cinnamon."
"Yeah.. that's what I said.. cinnymom." He tilted his head at her when she gave him a perturbed look. "The boys had a karate class too, so I watched 'em do that."
"They didn't try to get you to join in?" He shrugged at her and she narrowed her eyes. "So they did.. "
"Maybe a little." He shifted his weight side to side slightly. "I'm gonna go see if Sean needs help makin' dinner." Three steps away, he suddenly turned and came back to gaze down at her for a few seconds. "Thanks.. it was nice that ya got me a jacket." He stood still for a few more seconds then very deliberately reached around her carefully in what could have been the most awkward hug she'd ever had. Then he ducked his head in embarrassment and hurried off to the kitchen.
"Oh.. he's learning. Slowly.." She smiled to herself and turned to Sallah. "Yes dear.. I do think the skirt suits you."
* * * *
SnakeEyes propped his chin on one hand, sitting backwards on the chair in the room he and Scarlett were sharing. She was happily displaying the outfits she'd bought that day, and almost more importantly, displaying a lot of herself in between.
"I got another blouse.. silk.. feel.. feel it!" She held out the long sleeve and let him stroke the back of his fingers down it. "I love silk.. " Bending down, she kissed his cheekbone lightly. "Oh and a new sweater.. and it's a cashmere blend.. "
He lifted his hands up to sign in slow fluid motions. *The clothing pales in comparison to the person wearing them.* She smiled warmly at him as he twisted off the chair and slide his arms around her waist.
Tilting her face up, she brushed lips along his jawline. "You say the sweetest things." Turning in his arms, she plucked up a bag and presented it to him. "I got you a new sweater.. it's like the one you got from alpaca wool? But it's in dark blue.. and I also got you silk thermals, in case you ever get sent anywhere that you'll actually be cold."
He nodded at her. *Thank you. I like the alpaca wool.* He set the bag aside. *I missed you today. We haven't had much time together this trip.* His hands returned to her waist, drawing her in close so he could brush his lips across hers.
"You know everyone will wonder what's taking so long up here.." Despite her words, she failed to pull away from him. "We.. we should really go downstairs." Strong hands slid up under her blouse, lifting it up over her head to be placed aside on the dresser.
*You have to take off the new clothes, takes time.* He stroked her gently and urged her backwards until her legs touched the bed. *Takes lots... lots of time.*
"Hmmm... yess.. lots of time.."
* * * *
BeachHead was back to watching the bread being made. Sean finally just pointed out a tall stool and put the Ranger to the side so he could watch without being in the way.
"So now I kneaded it up nicely..." The young man divided the dough into two lumps. "Set this one aside. And I'm going to flatten this out.. and then we put plenty of the cinnamon-sugar mix onto it. Roll it up.. " Suiting actions to words, he quickly flipped the dough about and tucked the edge into place. "And there.. one loaf of cinnamon bread ready to bake.. after we let it rise one last time." He quickly prepped the second loaf and put them onto a pan to set aside. "You know, by the time you make it back to base, you might be able to work KP duty without destroying the kitchen."
Beach snorted good-naturedly. "I don't generally get put on KP duty much anymore."
"What? You don't get into trouble?" Sean seemed amazed and the sergeant shrugged at him. "Are you maybe fibbing just a little bit? I bet you get into a lot of trouble."
"Naw.. not me. I'm pretty by-the-book. I ain't a young grunt no more, gotta stay in line and be responsible." He reached up to run a hand through his hair and looked aside. "I wasn't never much fer gettin' in trouble no how. I usually got in trouble fer fighting with someone who wasn't doin' what I thought they oughta be doin'."
"Oh? And here I thought you'd be in trouble all the time.. be some sort of a hell-raiser." Sean raised an eyebrow. "You realize, I can go ask Shana how often you're in trouble?" At the uncaring shrug, he sighed. "Oh fine. So what do you actually do.. say on a typical day?"
BeachHead hummed softly, chewing on his lip just a bit. "Ahh.. I get up early.. work out, go fer a run. I supervise the PT fer the green.. umm.. the grunts, then the specialists. Then I usually hafta go to the offices, do a lotta paperwork. After lunch? It depends.. sometimes I'm in the armory.. workin' on whatever needs workin' on. Sometimes it's back to the offices. I gotta consult a lot on who needs disciplinin' and who deserves promotions.. who needs moved to a different unit. If any of the grunts has some sorta beef with someone, they come tell me.. and I gotta deal with all that. Maybe do some in-field training, jus' whatever the officers end up tellin' me I gotta take care of." He thought it over. "That's about it. I got a lotta little things to take care of every day.. and there's a lotta PT and other trainin' I supervise or assign. A'course, that's assumin' I ain't been sent out.. off base.. to do.. uhh.. whatever the higher-ups got fer me to do. You know.. stuff."
Sean carefully didn't look at him as he pulled the oven open. "Yeah.. the 'stuff' that gets you those nasty scars you carry on you."
BeachHead brightened. "Yeah.. you get it." Sean rolled his eyes and the Ranger frowned. "What?"
"You guys... you're all mental. Anyway... that's it for the bread lessons. Now it just bakes.. until it's time to take it out."
"So.. how long until it's all done?" Beach Head leaned to peer into the oven, and nearly fell off the stool.
"Don't start up. There'll be no eating of the cinnamon bread until tomorrow morning. Besides.. when it's hot out of the oven, it actually has a off taste to it. You'll like it better in the morning." Sean gave a shooing motion to the Army sergeant. "Alright.. out. Dinner is cooking all by itself, so go on, out of the kitchen."
Letting himself be shooed, Beach wandered back out into the living room and glanced around for his two friends. "Where'd Snakes and Shana end up?"
There was a general glancing around from most of the room's occupants. Scott nodded upwards. "They're upstairs.. " BeachHead rolled his eyes. "Yeah.. most likely no one wants to go see what they're doing.."
"Gawd no.." Instead the sergeant major moved to check the firewood rack. "Think we'll need more wood? I'll go fetch some."
Once outside, he looked over the sparse pile of split wood and decided he could probably get away with splitting wood for a while before someone came to drag him back inside. He felt it was a legitimate activity and with the small amount of already split wood, he could point and declare it wasn't right to use up the already split wood when he could split more to use instead. He felt excessively clever and hunted down the ax and wedges to begin working on the pile of short logs.
* * * *
By the time someone came to look for him, he'd gotten warmed up to the point of peeling off his teeshirt. Swinging the ax stretched his shoulders out nicely. He would have liked a set of gloves, but he was afraid if he went inside to ask, they wouldn't let him back outside to continue splitting the wood.
He did note that Sarah had come to the back porch, spotted him and stood around a while before she went inside, to come back out with Amy. He wasn't very sure what was fascinating about wood splitting, but if they wanted to watch wood splitting, he supposed they could. When June came running out, he put out a hand to stop her several feet away.
"Don't you come running up here!" She stopped and gave him a pout. "Naw.. it's dangerous. I gotta ax swingin' it all over. No rushin' up when ya see someone with a ax, got it?"
She nodded. "Uh-huh. Can I come up NOW?"
He sighed and nodded. She rushed up to hug his leg, and he scuffed her pixie cut hair for her. "When did ya get here?"
"An hour ago! Mommy said you was outside cutting woods!" She giggled when he pushed her sideways.
"Alright alright.. get off me so I can get back to work." He flipped a hand at her. "Back up.. you wanna get hit in the head with a chunk of wood? Move back."
"But I can help!" He lowered his brows at her in a frown. "I can so!! I carry the woods!"
"No.. you stay back outa the way.. if'n ya wanna help, go find me some gloves." She raced off, and he went back to swinging the ax, easily splitting most of the small logs into usable wood. She came back and stopped when he put a hand up.
"I finded gloves!" She held up two of Sean's oven mitts and he laughed. "They ARE gloves!"
"Go put those back before we both get busted, we won't get dinner. Yes.. thank you.. but I can't use those. Ask Sean for a pair of workgloves." She nodded and raced off again and he glanced up at the two women standing on the back porch. They whispered back and forth a bit but didn't say anything to him so he went back to work.
"WAYNE!"
He jumped so badly he missed the log he was chopping at and bounced it off the stump he was using as a platform, whacking his shinbone painfully with the back of the ax.
Gritting his teeth, he hopped sideways, trying manfully to not let loose with his normal cursing. "MOTHER.... fudger... dang it.. " He whooshed his breath out. Putting a hand down towards his leg, he stopped himself and stood up straight, taking a few deep breaths. "Dang that hurts."
"Wayne, dear lord!! Did you cut yourself!" Aunt Beth ran over to him as he shook his head. "Are you sure!? What are you doing out here?"
"I WAS cutting some wood, a'fore ya went and screamed at me." He stood with his hands on his hips a minute, trying to will the pain away from his shin. "OW!!!" Giving up, he bent and tugged the torn pants leg aside to look at his leg. "Oh great.. I'm bleedin' on my danged boots again."
"WHAT??" Nothing would do but Aunt Beth made him sit on the porch steps for her to check his leg. "Wayne.. this needs to be seen at a doctor's." He peered at the bloody gash. "I apologize for yelling.. I didn't expect to find you out here chopping wood.. that's the boys' job, not a guest."
He twisted his lips, letting her poke at the gash. "Well ya'll keep sayin' I'm like family.. I guess I should do chores like one of the boys.." He didn't bother to duck the smack to his head at all. "Ow.. wounded here.. "
"You are a disaster magnet, Wayne. And you two ladies!!" Aunt Beth raised her voice to Sarah and Amy who looked startled. "You can just stop with the oogling and go back inside." BeachHead saw them turning red just before they rushed inside. "That's right.. terrible.. I want to clean this up properly and get it bandaged. So take yourself inside to the kitchen.."
"Aww... it's fine.. really. I've banged myself up worse than this before.." He sighed as she tugged on his arm and got to his feet reluctantly. "Lemme guess.. you'll pour something horrible on it to make it burn, then you'll put a bandage on it that'll get hung up on my pants and pull loose, taking half my leg hairs off with it. Am I close?"
She nodded. "You got it exactly right, except you left out the part where I fuss about it the whole time."
"Oh... sorry. Not used to that part.. our medic usually just berates me while he does all that." He suddenly grinned at her as he stepped into the warmer kitchen. "Of course.. he's not silly enough to shout at me while I'm swinging an ax!" He didn't bother to duck that swat to his head either, figuring he deserved that one. "Ow.. wounded again here! By the way.. don't the boys chop wood on a regular basis?" At her nod he hummed to himself, settling on one of the kitchen chairs and beginning to work the pants leg up. "So... how come Amy and Sarah was fascinated to see wood gettin' chopped?"
She sighed at him, giving him one of 'those' looks that said 'Beach is completely clueless'. Then she pulled out a small box. From the white cross on the side, he guessed it was their medical kit. "It wasn't the wood they were leering at.. let's say."
"Well what.. oh geez... " He felt his face go red. "Oh gawd help me.. this family's gonna give me an aneurism yet."
Aunt Beth settled a chair in front of him and tapped the one next to her. "Put your foot up here.." As he feared, she had the bottle of alcohol in hand and poured some onto a cotton pad. Placing his foot up so she could reach the wound easily, he grimaced in preparation. She looked at his face and laughed slightly. "Wayne.. I haven't even touched it yet."
"Ah know.. Ah'm practicin'.. " He did wince as the alcohol touched down. His leg quivered slightly. "Ooooooowwww!!"
"Don't be a baby. And what do you expect? You go out there, getting sweaty with your shirt off, showing off all those muscles.. I'm just surprised they didn't have a camcorder running." She seemed to enjoy the fact that his face was going to burst into flame any second. "Well.. this isn't as bad as I thought it might be." She turned as June came into the kitchen with Jack in tow.
"BeachHead is hurt! See!?" June came over to peer at the leg herself. "He needs a bandaid!"
Beach smiled at her despite himself. "I'm fine.. it's just a little cut, no big OW OWWW!! Stop pouring that danged stuff on it!!" June had jumped when he squawked and he shook his head. "Ooooooo! Sorry June.. didn't mean to scare ya.. that stuff stings like the dickens.."
She nodded solemnly. "It's burny! Mommy used it on me when I scraped my knee!"
He grinned. "Yep.. my mommy used to use it on my scraped knees too."
Jack peered at the ragged cut and turned a light shade of green. "Oh... ewww.. I'm gonna be ill. How'd you do that, Beach?"
"Hit my leg with the ax... the back of the axhead.. when SOMEone decided to yell at the top of her lungs at me." He grimaced as the alcohol was reapplied. "OW.. sadistic woman.."
"Well if you hadn't been hiding outside.. doing chores which the boys should have been doing... perhaps I wouldn't have yelled your name when I saw you." She turned to glare at Jack.
"Hey! I didn't know the crazy army guy was chopping wood outside." He tried to glare at BeachHead who just ignored him.
"I was just splitting some wood fer the fire.. no big deal." He watched as Aunt Beth taped a bandage over the gash. "Ya ain't gotta use the WHOLE roll of tape.. "
"Wayne... shut up. You just can't spend a normal day like a normal person, can you?" She sighed and waved a hand for him to put the pants leg back down. "Do you want me to patch that pair of pants for you?"
He stood up, shaking his leg to settle the cloth over it. "Naw.. jus' a old pair of fatigue pants.. worn out anyway. Can't wear a patch in the front like that fer inspection." He suddenly looked down and made a face. "I gotta go grab my shirt.. left it outside.."
Aunt Beth held up a finger. "No. Jack you go get his shirt.. otherwise, he'll 'happen' to start splitting wood again."
Beach did sigh in regret, apparently he was not as sneaky as he thought. "Now would I do that?" He grinned at the frown she gave him. "Yeah yeah.. I know." He bent his head over to her for her to give it a light slap. "Thanks fer patching up my leg." Taking the shirt from the returned Jack he slipped it on. "Can I go carry in some of the split wood?"
Beth frowned harder. "No. You may not. Jack.." The youngest of the O'Haras sighed and gave them both a mournful look. "Don't make me..." He scurried out quickly and she gave Beach a nudge towards the living room. "Get in there.. silly boy. I interrupted my knitting to go check to see what you were getting into."
"Aww.. that's nice. Spying on me like ya think I'll abscond with the good silver?" He winced as he got another tap on his head. "Or maybe ya thought I was out there lurking and plotting to murder everyone with a spoon?" Another harder whap. "Settin' up sniper positions?" He yelped at that whack. "Alright alright.. enough."
"You are impossible." He stepped into the living room ahead of her and she motioned him to settle near her. She took over her usual chair next to the fire. "Hand me that bag, Wayne.."
Lifting up the cloth purse, he handed it over and then looked to see where he could sit. She patted the end of the couch next to her so he sat down, watching as she got out a bundle of yarn and half-made sweater. "Yer makin' a sweater?" Realizing he looked a bit too interested, he sat back and looked away, listening to the surrounding conversations. Several were discussing the shopping trip and he stopped listening before his eyes glazed over completely.
Suddenly Sarah and Amy came in carrying some items to show off, but they were not discussing shopping. His ears turned red as he heard them chattering happily.. about him.
Sarah nodded at a unheard comment. "Oh yeah.. I could watch him chop wood for hoooours. He's got some really pretty muscles going on."
Amy agreed with a hum. "Pity he's got so many scars all over. Otherwise, he'd be so hot.." She glanced to see her husband was out of hearing. "I mean.. he's got the body to be such a stud.. I'm surprised Shana didn't chose him instead of Snakes.. but he's got a gorgeous body too.. except for all the.. you know.. scarring."
Sarah snorted at her. "Nothing wrong with a few scars.. " Her voice lowered enough that Beach had to strain to hear her. "I think it makes him look.. 'spicy'." They giggled together like little kids and he finally twisted to look over the back of the couch.
"Don't ya'll have nothin' better to discuss?" He raised an eyebrow at them in a cue that he was mildly displeased with being their topic of discussion.
"Well.." Sarah tilted her head and stepped over closer. "No.. not really. So why don't you tell us why you don't already have a girlfriend hanging on your arm? You're awfully good looking.. and have a great body.. so?"
He blushed, appalled at her boldness. "Probably my lack of a sterling personality.. as ya'll keep pointin' out." He turned back to Aunt Beth. "Can't ya do nothin' about them talkin' about me like a piece of meat?"
She smiled at him. "I could.. but why would I do that? You are nice looking, you need a nice girl. It would settle you down." Her smile widened at the look of near panic on his face. "Don't worry.. I won't be setting you up with anyone, I promise."
"WHAT? No.. ya better nah be tryin' ta set me up wit' no one!" He huffed slightly. "Las' thing Ah need is some woman tryin' ta go settin' me up." He glared at her.
Completely unperturbed, the matron began to straighten out her yarn project. "I said I won't.. calm down Wayne." He eyed her suspiciously. "Besides.. you said you kind of had someone possibly you were thinking about maybe asking out.. remember?"
"Well.. maybe.." He tried to slow his racing heart. It wasn't that the woman could force him to get involved with anyone if he didn't want to.. really. She couldn't. Not at all, even HAWK couldn't force him to.. not that the general would want him getting involved with someone. He looked at Aunt Beth again. "I swear.. ya'll gonna kill me here yet.."
"Well, we're not trying to! Here.. look at the knitting. You're too high strung Wayne.. you need to do something simple and soothing and relaxing." She dug into her bag and pulled out a set of needles and a ball of yarn. "Here.."
"What? I dunno how to do that." He held up his hands to protest and had her deposit the items into them anyway. "Aunt Beth.. I can't knit."
"Not yet you can't. Are you going to tell me you can't learn how to knit?" She watched him think that over. "It's nothing more than tying knots. You can tie a knot, right? They teach you boys how to tie lots of knots in the Army school."
"Basic training.. yeah." He looked over the needles and yard. "Does it gotta be pink yarn though?" She sighed at him. "Come on.. it's PINK fer gawd's sake."
"You act like knitting is woman's work. How about this.. is purple more acceptable to your manly senses?" She handed over the ball of soft yarn. "You should appreciate that this purple is hand dyed Merino wool." Looking at him trying to look impressed and failing miserably, she sighed. "It's very special high end yarn made from very very good wool, and it's hand dyed, not a machine batch."
"Okay.. so ya don't mind me screwin' up yer nice yarn?" He unrolled a bit of it and fingered it. "It's really soft."
She nodded and tucked the half-finished sweater away. "Okay.. look at what I'm going to show you. Take the end.. and put a loop in it.. " She demonstrated with the rejected pink yarn. "Okay.. now take your needle.. either one Wayne.. no.. it doesn't matter which."
He picked up needle and watched her twisting the yarn around her fingers. "Okaaay.." She corrected how he was holding the yarn several times, until she finally reached over and put the yarn where she wanted it. "Alright.. now what?"
"Now you take the needle.. and tuck it through this piece of yarn.. then back over to this one.. pull it through like so.. " She turned it all loose again and started over. "Now you do it.. through here.. noo.. here.." She turned loose and poked his hand to move the needle under the correct bit of yarn. "There.. and then back to this line... good.. and then pull it through.. "
He puffed out a breath, loosing the bit of yarn off the needle and needing to re-do it completely. "Alright.. so.. now it's tied to the stick. Yay me. Am I done?"
"Is it a scarf? Then you're not done. Do it again.. front line.. back to the third line.. pull it through.. turn loose of this bit.. tighten.. perfect. Again." She smiled to herself as he bent over the needle, struggling to make the casting on stitches properly.
"How many times I gotta tie knots on the stick? And how is it gonna be a scarf if it's just string tied on a stick?" He lost his piece of yarn again and carefully wound the bits around his fingers again. Aunt Beth reached to pull the lines loose and switched the two string ends around. "What? I had it backwards? Does it matter?"
"Yes.. it matters. You'll run out of yarn if you try to use the end instead of the piece that goes to the ball.. now.. cast on.." After a few more, she stopped him. "How many stitches do you have?"
"I dunno.. a bunch?" He counted them up. "Eighteen."
"Put on twenty-five stitches.." She waited while he struggled through until he finally sighed. "Okay.. now you'll do knitting.."
"I thought I was knittin'..." The Ranger looked at the yarn hanging over his rough hands.
"Shush.. take the second needle.." Aunt Beth tucked her needle tip in through a loop. "Through like this.. no.. behind the needle.. okay... now with your other hand, wrap the yarn around the needle.. no.. the other direction. And pull it through the loop.. perfect." She tugged the stitch off the needle. "And pull that loop off of the needle.. no no! Only that one.. not all of them!" She sighed as he undid all the work he'd done.
"Great... so now what? I gotta tie all of them back on?" BeachHead laboriously wended his way through putting the twenty-five stitches back onto his knitting needle, and took up the second needle to stop and look at her. "Show me again.." When he got the yarn tucked and pulled and put into place, he very gently tugged the stitch off. "Got it.. and then I jus' do that again? How many times I gotta do this?"
Aunt Beth smiled as he carefully wound his bits of yarn around the needles. "Keep doing it until you run out of stitches on the first needle." Eventually he got all of them knitted onto the second needle and triumphantly held it up for her. "I don't think you dropped any stitches.. that's very good. Now turn it around.. and do it again.."
He sighed at her, dropping the project into his lap, while carefully holding it correctly, he didn't want to lose the yarn off the silly needles. "So you just keep doing that over and over?"
"Yes.. it's soothing.. and repetitive. So do it again.." She watched him working at the yarn carefully, stitch by stitch and picked up her own half-finished sweater to continue working along it. After a few minutes of quiet work, she chided him. "Don't try to go so fast.. you'll drop a stitch."
"Well yer going ten times as fast as me." He puffed a few times in exasperation. "This is a lot harder than darning is."
"You can darn? That's impressive. But I've been knitting since I was eight years old. So just go slow and make sure you're doing it right." She settled in and let him futz about with the yarn.
Scarlett's voice seemed overly amused. "What are you doing Beach?" She looked over the back of the couch. He noted that she looked excessively smug and resolutely turned his mind away from thinking about the probable cause of that smug satisfied expression.
"Knittin'... why? Ya got something to say about it?" He frowned as he looked at the loops in his fingers. "Oh dang it.. ya made me lose my place.. where did the little loopy bit go?" Aunt Beth fixed it for him. "Thanks.. I got it.. "
SnakeEyes came trotting down the steps and immediately had to come peer at the yarn in BeachHead's lap. *I didn't know you knew how to do that.*
Beach smiled smugly to himself, carefully watching his stitches. "I couldn't.. Aunt Beth showed me how to do it! It's jus' tying knots over and over.."
Aunt Beth smiled at him. "Knitting is nothing more than a series of slipknots. SnakeEyes.. would you like to learn as well? I have extra needles."
He frowned under the mask but she raised an eyebrow at him in challenge. "Unless you think that you won't be able to do it.."
He flopped onto the couch, gesturing grandly. *Give me needles and yarn.. if Beach can do it, then I can do it too.*
* * * *
After an hour, Beach held up his project for her to inspect. After a quick examination, she handed it back. "Very nice. You'll make the stitches more even as you practice more." She turned to SnakeEyes who shook his head. "Let's see."
He sighed heavily, looking up at her from behind his dark lenses. Handing it over with a resigned air, he looked away as she held up the tangled mess. *Yarn doesn't like me.* He glared at BeachHead who wisely had gone back to his knitting without commenting. *Beach has more practice.*
Now the sergeant looked over. "Only a few minutes.. not like I been doin' this." He looked smugly at his yarn. "I'm just more careful about my knittin', so mine looks better."
Aunt Beth scolded at him in a mild tone. "Now don't be mean to SnakeEyes.. " She unraveled his errant yarn as she spoke. "Just because he didn't get it the first try is no reason for you to be smug." She motioned to the commando. "Roll the excess back up, and start over." Turning back to BeachHead, she motioned at his efforts. "You can take that with you when you leave. It'll give you something to do when you haven't got anything else to get into."
"Yeah.. cause I often have hours to fill with nothing to do.." He smiled as SnakeEyes coughed out laughter. "Sittin' around twiddlin' my thumbs.."
Aunt Beth shushed at him. "Don't be a smart mouth." She shook out the sweater and looked it over. "Maybe when I finish this one, I'll knit you a new one SnakeEyes. I saw you're wearing out your old one."
BeachHead tried not to feel the flash of jealousy that rose up. He glanced over at the commando who was attempting to get the yarn straightened out to cast on the first row of stitches. "That blue sweater?"
Sighing at him, SnakeEyes put down the knitting to be able to sign to him. *Yes, my blue sweater, it has a few holes in it. I wanted to put a patch or something on it, but I don't sew.* He paused and looked to make sure Scarlett was out of the room. *I've been hiding it to make sure Scarlett doesn't throw it out.*
Beach shook his head. "I can fix it fer ya. No reason to toss out a perfectly good sweater." At the disbelieving look, he snorted. "I'll darn it up fer ya, be easy. We just need some of the same color yarn. Be good as new."
The commando nodded at him. *Thank you. I'd appreciate it a lot.*
"No problem." Beach suddenly yawned, trying to hide it behind a raised forearm. "Sorry."
Aunt Beth sighed at him. "I think it's about time we got something to eat." Setting aside her yarn, she went to check on the dinner. He and SnakeEyes ended up putting aside their knitting lesson to have dinner. The family was busily discussing the shopping trip and the upcoming tournament, so Beach was left mostly to himself to eat.
Amy passed a basket of bread down to him. "How's the pot roast?"
He swallowed his mouthful of food. "Excellent.. tastiest pot roast I've had in a long time." He took a thick slice of bread and handed the rest down to SnakeEyes, who'd been persuaded to join them with a great deal of begging and argument from Scarlett and Sarah both. The commando had given in only after Aunt Beth had seemed about to join their efforts.
He was keeping his face low, but over the past half hour had relaxed somewhat. BeachHead was doing his best to provide cover by leaning into the line of sight if anyone seemed about to stare overly much. *Thank you.*
Amy cleared her throat slightly. "We're going to be leaving once dinner is done with.. there's a long drive for us to get back home. Tom's folks live only a couple hours north of here so we'll stop there for the night." He nodded politely. "It was really good to get to meet you though. And.. " She leaned forward to talk around him. "It was always good to see you again SnakeEyes.. June will be talking for weeks about this holiday."
*Always good to see you and T.O.M. and little bug.* SnakeEyes exchanged a glance with his friend. *I think BeachHead will miss June.*
BeachHead concentrated on his plate suddenly, unwilling to join in. SnakeEyes waited a beat before continuing. *You should drive safely. Be careful.*
Amy peered carefully at the stoic man before nodding at SnakeEyes. "We will be. You take care of yourself.. and watch after Shana."
The commando nodded and she hesitantly reached to give BeachHead a cautious pat on his arm once. "You stay safe too.. don't do anything to give yourself any more scars, okay?"
He shrugged slightly. "I'll try, jus' part a the job. It was good to meetcha.. all of ya."
Jack came by and motioned at his plate. "You feeling sick, BeachHead? You've only inhaled one plate of food."
The Ranger got up suddenly, shaking his head as he took his dishes to the kitchen sink. "Naw.. I'm fine." Putting them into the soapy water, he took himself out to the back porch to stand and watch the darkening sky. Already dim out, the shadows were deepening across the yard and the field further out. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly.
"Wayne?" He smiled ruefully to himself. He should have guessed he couldn't hide from Aunt Beth. "Are you okay? You didn't eat much.."
"I'm fine." He cursed inside his head at his clipped tone. "Jus' didn't feel much like eatin' more."
She walked up to stand beside him. "Really? Because I believe I smell a bit of deceit in the air. You started out with your normal gusto for good home cooking." She inhaled the night air. "It's very nice out.. getting chilly though."
"Yep.. nice out." Tilting his head up, he watched the stars beginning to wink to life overhead. "I shouldn't have come..."
The matron gave him a sharp glance. "Why would you say that?"
"Jus'... I was happy before.. alone.." He considered how to say what he felt. "I guess.. I'm gonna miss this. Jus' a little bit.. ya know. I'm such a fish outa water here.. I don't fit in. But." He stopped and scuffed one of his boots against the top step a few times. "But I guess I kinda wish I did.. some. But I belong in the Army.. I do. I'd never fit in to civie life, and I guess I never regretted that a'fore this stupid trip. Now ya'll gone and rubbed my face in that fact."
She reached to rub his arm. "We didn't mean to do anything hurtful. We just wanted you to feel welcome." He twitched away from her touch. "You know.. you can come back here again."
He looked at her in confusion. "Whaddaya mean, come back?"
Shaking her head at him, she stepped a little closer to look up at his face in the extremely dim light. "Wayne.. you can come back again. Just like SnakeEyes... he comes to visit when he has time off and feels like putting up with this crazy family. You can do the same thing."
He shook his head. "Naw.. people don't want me back.. Scarlett talked everyone into letting me come along.. but people don't never want me around once they meet me."
She gave a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry it's been like that. But it's not true here. I would love for you to come visit at my house anytime. Without Shana or SnakeEyes along even. Anytime."
"Really?" His voice held such a small hint of hope in it that it twisted her heart.
"Oh you poor boy." She stepped up and hugged him despite his twitch of reaction. "Wayne, you can come visit me anytime you like. You don't even have to call me first, you could show up on my doorstep at an ungodly hour of the morning, and I promise, I'd let you right in."
Suddenly he bent slightly to wrap his arms around her shoulders and squeeze. "Really? Ain't no one ever told me I was welcome at their home. Not since I was a small, anyway." He took a deep breath. "Thank you."
She turned loose and looked up at him. "You're quite welcome. And don't forget, you can call me, or write me also. Don't think I won't expect to hear from you on occasion, even if it's just to read a letter saying 'everything is fine so don't go worrying about me, beachhead'."
He smiled at her. "I'll try, but I ain't much fer letter writin'. Only letters I write these days is one anyone should ever hafta get."
She raised a eyebrow. "All the more reason to write a better type of letter. I'll be expecting to hear about your progress with that ladyfriend of yours too."
He ducked his head, even though she couldn't possibly see the blush. "Yeah.. progress report will probably be 'no progress to report'."
"Don't disappoint me, Wayne, I'll have to come up there and have a chat with her myself." Her firm tone made him nervous that she'd end up doing just that, and he wasn't sure he'd want to see a showdown between Hawk and this matron if she did show up on the base somehow demanding to have a good talking to with a certain tank jockey and drill instructor.
He nodded. "I'll try not to disappoint ya."
"Let's go inside.. it's getting cold out here." She nudged him inside. Moving to the living room, he managed to settle onto the couch again, staying out of the way, and pretending to futz about with his knitting project. If anyone noticed that he was barely putting any stitches on at all, they didn't mention it.
June came dodging around the end of the couch and pounced onto BeachHead making him grunt loudly. "Good gawd.. yer gonna kill me kiddo." He moved his yarn and needles out of the way.
She hugged his neck tightly. "I'm going now! Mommy said to come say bye!" He was soundly kissed on one cheek and patted her.
"Alright.. you.. you take care. Be good." He blinked a little bit.
She hugged his neck again. "I'll miss you! When will you come back!?" He put a hand on her back and rubbed her gently, exchanging a paniced look with Scarlett who had just entered the room.
His friend held her arms out to June. "Come give me a hug too, SnakeEyes wants his goodbye hugs.." The little girl climbed onto her and she handed her off to the ninja who gave her hugs as well. Amy and Tom came into the room, so everyone got to their feet.
Beach motioned towards the door. "Ahh.. you need help carrying stuff?"
Tom shook his head. "Nope.. got it all packed up. It was good to meet you BeachHead." They shook hands and he moved to talk with the O'Hara boys. Amy took his hand in hers to say goodbye as well and he nodded politely, moving aside out of the way as the rest of the family exchanged farewells. June came back to climb on him, so he bent and picked her back up.
She clung to his neck again. "I don't wanna go! You should come with us!"
He blinked again, shaking his head. "I can't darlin'. I gotta go back to the base."
She tightened her grip. "But I'll miss you!"
"Aww.. that's awfully sweet, but I just came to visit.. I can't jus' stay here." He put her down and pried her arms from his neck despite her protests. "Hey hey.. stop fussin'. Sometimes we gotta do stuff we don't like.. and you gotta go home now, and I gotta go back to my home too."
"But when will you come visit again?" She tried to squeeze past his hands to wrap her arms around his neck again and he grasped her gently to hold her away from him.
"I dunno when."
"But you have to!" She stomped her foot.
"Now look here." He glared at her. "Do you want me to lie to you? No? Then you'll have to accept that I don't know if I can come visit again. That's jus' how things are." He reached to wipe her cheeks gently with the edge of his finger. "Stop sheddin' tears over me. I'm jus' a ole Army guy.. nothin' to get all bothered about."
She struggled free of his hands and hugged him again anyway. "Nuh-uh!! You're my friend!" He indulged her in one last hug and then took her to her mother.
"Amy.. yer gonna hafta pry yer small offa me." He stood patiently while the young woman pulled her daughter free. "Sorry.."
"It's not your fault BeachHead. She's always like this.. normally it's over SnakeEyes.. or Jack.. it's just your turn." She hefted the little girl in her arms. "Honey stop crying.. look. If you want to, I'll bet BeachHead would like you to write him a letter once we get home. How's that?"
BeachHead twitched slightly but nodded, reluctant to oppose June's mother. "Uhh.. yeah. I can give Paddy an address to write to. I have to look it up.."
She smiled at him, shaking her head. "You don't know the address?"
He took a long breath in and out. "Well.. ya can't send me a letter to where I'm at.. ya gotta send it to a different address, and they reroute it to me where I am. It's how the Army does it to make things more complex, see? I don't never get no letters from folks no more. So I dunno what address they'll be usin'. I bet Scarlett knows.. or some of the family sendin' her stuff all the time, they'd know."
She shook her head. "I don't know how you folks deal with all that strange Army stuff. Wait.. what name should I put on the letter?"
He grinned widely. "Sergeant Major BeachHead. Trust me.. it'll get to where it's supposed to go. Long as it's got the right address on it, our guys will get it to me."
She reached to give him a quick hug with her free arm. "Well, I'm sure she'll want to send you a letter. I have to go let her have a conniption over leaving SnakeEyes now. Thank you BeachHead.. for being so kind to her especially."
"Weren't no nevermind.. she's a good kid." He watched her move off to find the commando and saw her hugging him tightly. Turning to look at the fire in the fireplace, he wiped at his face a little bit. The hubbub over them leaving died down eventually.
"BeachHead?" Scarlett came to stand next to him. "You okay? You're awfully quiet."
"Yeah.. I'm fine." He breathed in and out slowly and then turned to her. "I'm gonna head up to grab a shower and go to bed." He took a couple of steps away before he turned to look at her. "Thanks.. fer bringin' me along." Without waiting for a reply, he walked off, taking the stairs at a quick pace.
She watched him disappear up the staircase. "Well.. what do you know.. it really did work."
SnakeEyes came to wrap his arms around her from behind, pressing his cheek against her head gently. He signed in front of her. *What worked?*
She leaned back into his solid presence, feeling the warmth from the fireplace and the heat from him behind her. "Bringing Beach here.. I think he's actually enjoyed it, I think he'll miss it just a little bit."
SnakeEyes hesitated before he responded. *But is that a good thing.. or a cruel thing? Did you show him what he doesn't have, or did you share what you have with him?*
She stood quietly a few moments. "I don't know.. I hope I shared, not that I hurt him. It's just not fair that a guy who gives everything to the military doesn't ever even get letters from family."
Again SnakeEyes hesitated. *He doesn't have any family, Scarlett.*
She frowned. "He has a sister.. she used to send him packages. Way back.."
He shook his head. *Dead. He hasn't got any family left that I know of. He was estranged from most of them, but his sister died, and he said he didn't have anyone else. Why do you think he doesn't ever ask to stop over in Alabama when we pass through?*
"I didn't think about it, I thought it was just Beach being by-the-book and not wanting to stop while on the move." She sighed. "That's really sad. But I've already heard Aunt Beth say she's going to keep in touch with him. Maybe we can convince him to come back again."
*Maybe.* He rubbed his cheek under the mask along her neck gently. *I love you. Your family is all crazy, but at least they made you.* He felt her smile. *And I always make a lot of money winning bets from your brothers.*
"Don't think you aren't sharing that fudge."
He sighed. *Wouldn't dream of not sharing.. with you. But not with anyone else.*
"You'll share with Beach too. He did the push-ups." Her voice was firm in the tone that said it wasn't a suggestion or demand.. it was a statement of fact.
*Okay.. that's fair.* He paused. *I'm not sharing with the other guys though.. even if they give you pitiful looks when the package arrives.*
"Aww.. not even Dusty? He's got the most pitiful puppy dog eyes though.."
*If he tries to use them on me, I'll stab them out. MY fudge.*
"Nasty ninja. Didn't they teach you about 'sharing' in ninja school?"
He coughed in laughter a little. *Ninjas don't have to share.. it's not a thing we do well. We also run with scissors.. and swords.. shurikins.. daggers.. throwing spikes.. *
"Oh.. shut up."
* * * *
END Chapter:
Well, getting near the end of the visit. I'll try to update again sooner without such a long wait in between! Please review, and comment. I love to hear if you're enjoying!