Okay… Back at it again…
Gib. I don't know if I totally missed the characters here… In that case, sorry… (Actually sorry…)
The next morning Jack and Michelle were woken up by a couple of people pounding on the door of the guest bedroom they borrowed.
"Is it safe to come in?!" one of the guys outside called, no shock it was Cooper.
Jack looked at Michelle, who hastily pulled on a t-shirt. She nodded. Jack had warned her something like this could happen.
"Yeah, sure!"
The two guys spilled into the room, and dumped down at the end of the bed.
"Good morning!" Duncan beamed, handing a cup of coffee over to Jack, Cooper had a cup for Michelle.
"Had a good night?" Cooper asked, directing a smirk at Jack and Michelle.
"Yeah…" Michelle nodded. "What a nice surprise, coffee in bed…"
"Is there chili powder in it, or something?" Jack eyed his cup suspiciously. He didn't really think there would be anything wrong with it, but a little caution never hurt anybody.
"Nothing funny about it, I promise…" Cooper held his hands up, palms forward.
"Just a kind gesture." Duncan nodded, before he stood back up, "But I've got to find something to wipe up that coffee I spilled on that table outside…"
Jack chuckled as he smelled the coffee, it sure smelled like regular coffee. Smelled good and strong. He took a sip.
"Good coffee, Coop…" he nodded after he had swallowed. "You have a good night?"
Cooper stretched, and his back cracked and popped all along his spine. "Yeah… Was a good couch…"
"Dunc won?" Jack furrowed his brows.
"More like, I let him win…" Cooper shrugged. Then he looked at Michelle, "How much do you actually know?"
"She heard you talking about 'rest of the Delta's' one of the times you called me and I was with her…" Jack answered for her when Michelle got that deer-in-headlights look, "She knows she's got a lot of Delta Operators around her right now…"
Michelle nodded.
"Okay. Good." Coop smiled, "Well, last assignment… Dunc got thrown around pretty good. Not as bad as in Pete's last mission, but still…"
"But he's not limping… Can't be that bad…" Jack shrugged.
"No-no… Both his legs and his back is fine…" Coop cast a glance towards the door, "But his left shoulder is one big bruise."
"Is it bad enough to sideline him?"
"What do you think?" Cooper rolled his eyes.
"Would have been…? -If he wasn't so damned stubborn…"
Cooper nodded. "He's getting some movement back in it now, but I still haven't seen him raise his arm above shoulder level… He compensates for it, uses that trick you used for a good while after that…"
Cooper pointed to the big scar across the front of Jack's right shoulder.
"And what trick was that?" Michelle looked between the men.
"Whenever we weren't actively using our guns, or otherwise in need of our hands, Jack would assume this position…" Cooper said as he folded his arms over his chest, his left hand cupping his right elbow and supporting the limb.
"Hey. I was good enough to fight."
"Were you really?"
Jack nodded.
Coop stared down at him. "Really?"
"My shoulder was solid." Jack shrugged, "The muscles just tired up quickly when I didn't support it. But I had the strength and I could shoot."
Cooper sighed, "You're just going to ignore the fact that you had to duct tape a couple folded up t-shirts over that shoulder to shield you from the shoulder strap of your backpack, or the kick of your rifle…"
Jack kneaded his right shoulder, pressing his thumb thoroughly down on the hard parts of the scar. "That was just to spread out the pressure a little… When the scar was fresh it felt like it bruised easily… -But I didn't see Dunc favoring his arm…"
"Just keep a look out today, you'll see…" Cooper sighed.
They left the topic altogether as they heard Duncan coming back up the stairs.
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"There, no more coffee on the table…" Dunc smiled as he stepped back inside and tossed the paper towels in the bin in the corner.
He walked over to the free corner of the bed, sat down and folded his arms just like Cooper had described.
Jack and Michelle both changed a look with Cooper, letting him know they both understood.
"So…" Are you guys always waking up the rest of the crew, or…?" Michelle inquired as she looked between the two men.
"Not always…" Duncan shrugged his right shoulder and let his hand travel up to rub over the curved scar on his left cheek.
"But we woke up early, so we figured we could wake up some more people." Coop shrugged, "Even though I would gladly give my life for this freak right here, I'm getting a bit tired of having him around every single day… So when we first had the chance to change it up and have some other people around…"
Jack snickered as Dunc shot a glare in Coop's direction. "You're the freak…"
"Thank you Dunc!" Coop flashed a bright grin back. "I was almost getting afraid that you thought I was normal…"
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"Well…" Jack sighed after a few more minutes of brotherly banter between the two other Delta's, "What do you guys think about letting us get dressed, and then meeting up downstairs? Is Box and Pete up yet?"
"If they're not, they will be in a short while…" Coop smiled mischievously, glancing over at Dunc. "What do you say? Bring them coffee in bed too?"
"Maybe Pete…" Dunc nodded, "Get some fuel in him before he starts his day…"
"Knowing Pete, he's probably up already…" Jack shrugged.
"Haven't seen him yet…"
"-He's probably up already…" Jack repeated.
"Well, if not we're going to wake him up now!" Duncan grinned and stood up.
"-But I think we should bring Boxer a cup of coffee too… Could be dangerous to enter his room without a proper peace offering…" Cooper chuckled.
"You know what? You might actually have a point there!" Duncan nodded deep in thought.
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Twenty minutes later five of them were sitting around the breakfast table.
"Well, you were right… Pete wasn't asleep…" Coop chuckled, "Called him, he answered and said he was out for a run?"
"A run, really?" Boxer raised his eyebrows. "Didn't know he could run…"
"And get this, he complained his ankle was slowing him down…" Cooper added with a chuckle.
"A run, what's so weird about that?" Michelle looked up.
"She doesn't know, does she?" Cooper looked between Jack and Michelle.
"Know what?"
"Pete lost his right leg. Had it amputated a little below his knee after an IED blew up the Humvee he was in…" Dunc explained, he didn't care to mention that he had also been in that same Humvee at the time, "Guys that were there said it almost was clean off already…"
Michelle paled a little bit, then recovered and turned to Jack. "Now I see why you mentioned that he barely limped…"
Jack nodded.
Then just as if on cue, they heard Pete opening the door and stepping inside. His steps coming up the hall and he entered the kitchen.
"Morning!" he nodded, stepping inside. He was wearing a black shorts and was in the process of putting his t-shirt back on.
"How was the run?" Cooper asked.
"Little slow…" Pete shrugged, "Ankle's not a hundred percent yet… Maybe you would have been able to keep up…"
"Ha-ha…" Cooper feigned laughter, then he looked down at Pete's bare legs and studied the prosthetic. "Nice leg though, that's not the same as yesterday?"
Pete shook his head, "No… This is my running leg… Wore my formal leg yesterday…"
"Formal leg…" Dunc chuckled.
"Yeah, some people freak out a little when they see this blade…" Pete pointed to the 'leg'. "Especially patients who know they might lose a limb…"
"To be fair, I might have gotten a little nervous if I was on the operating table and saw my surgeon had a blade for a leg…" Coop nodded, "Not if it was you of course, but…"
Pete laughed, "Exactly…"
"So…" Boxer started, as he set down his coffee mug, "You want to shower or do you want breakfast first?"
"If you don't think I smell too much, the shower can wait…" Pete chuckled.
"Okay, I'll get some breakfast going. Eggs?"
"Sure!" the rest of the guys nodded.
"Need any help?" Michelle asked, "If you have the ingredients, I could whip up some pancakes or something…"
"If you would do that, it would be great!" Boxer smiled, "But I've got to warn you, these guys can eat!"
"Think I got the hint when I first got to know this handsome gentleman beside me."
Boxer chortled, "Gentleman… Now I've heard that too!"
"What? I can have a soft side too! I can show manners!" Jack smiled and bumped his shoulder into Michelle's.
"-But he doesn't eat very much compared to that mountain of a man…" Pete smirked pointing to Cooper.
"Hey, I'm a lot taller than you, of course I need a lot to eat."
Okay. Hope you enjoyed this little chapter.