CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #1: All i'm going to say about this story is that I needed to vent; seeing the incompetence coming from the State Department and the Pentagon in relation to Afghanistan today just pissed me off. I'll spare you my angry rant, but when the president went to the lectern to give his speech on Afghanistan and instead spent the first half of the speech talking about domestic policy... I just had to write to fuel my rage somewhere constructive.

CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #2: This story is yet another installment in my "Years Series" of stories; this story is entry number four in the series. You don't have to have read the others to understand this story, but it might mean more to you.

CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #3: This story wasn't beta'd, all mistakes are my own; i wrote this in one day so if I made any mistakes, just let me know via PM and i'll see what i can do. Enjoy everyone.

20 Years

A Story by

CharmingCharles2896

August 25, 2021

Burbank California

Chuck and Sarah were spending their Wednesday in front of their TV; The two owners of Valkyrie Inc. were taking a day off after several weeks of nonstop work. Sarah was splitting more of her time between home and the office. She had things in her office for little Samantha so she could work some days in her office while also taking care of her seven-month-old daughter. Chuck tried to share the load whenever Sarah was in the office, but he was so damn busy these days that his time was becoming more and more consumed by business meetings. They were most definitely partners in this though, Chuck wasn't leaving raising their daughter to Sarah. Even after all that, Sarah still needed some help from time to time; in that capacity, Sarah had hired a new assistant, one trained in childcare and vetted by John Casey himself. Rachel Diaz had been a life saver on more than one occasion; on more than one occasion, they'd accidentally scheduled meetings at the same time, which they strived not to do. There had been times where they'd both been in meetings at the same time, so neither of them would be available to look after Samantha. That's where Rachel had come in like a hero and totally saved the day. Rachel was so good with Samantha, so she'd helped out tremendously.

Chuck and Sarah had been so busy for the last three weeks that they hadn't had a chance to look at the news. They'd originally planned to go to the park today, but when Sarah had turned on the TV and seen what was happening in Afghanistan, those plans were put on hold. The Republic of Afghanistan had completely collapsed and capitulated mere days after American troops had started withdrawing from the country. The Taliban had routed the poorly trained and ill-prepared Afghan National Army in only eleven days and had taken over control of the entire country. With the fall of Kabul and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country and going into hiding, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan had been declared once more after twenty years of warfare with the United States.

Nobody had spoken to Casey since Kabul had fallen, everyone knew he'd spent some time in country fighting the Taliban with his old Marine unit back in two thousand and two. Chuck had no concept of what Casey must be feeling in light of what was happening in Afghanistan, but Chuck was worried nonetheless. Now the latest rumor from people on the ground in Afghanistan was that President Biden was preparing to seal the gates at Hamid Karzai International Airport so that US Troops could withdraw. The implications of that news were chilling to both Chuck and Sarah; nobody knew how many pro-west Afghans, let alone how many Americans were still trapped in country and yet it sounded like the US troops and diplomats were about to pack up and leave them all behind.

"They can't leave all those people behind, can they?" Chuck asked Sarah in disbelief. Sarah was equally horrified by what they were seeing in the news, but sadly she could believe that they would do exactly what it appeared was about to happen. It had been years since she'd done any agency work overseas due to her memory, but she still remembered the training and the government orthodoxy from back then. Fast forward to the present and she was even farther removed from her agent mode persona as her seven-month-old daughter Samantha Bartowski cooed in her arms. The more Sarah tried to think about what the government would do back when she was an agent, the more she realized how long it had been since she'd been in those circles.

"I hope not, but I have a feeling that is exactly what is going to happen," she said ominously as the two of them watched footage of Taliban fighters dressed in American military equipment captured by the Taliban at Bagram Air Base. The war in Afghanistan had been going on nonstop since Sarah was nineteen years old; it was just something in the background, something that existed in the back of the American consciousness. Now in the span of a few weeks the entire war had unraveled in a cataclysmic farce of incompetence and tragic mismanagement. As a woman, she was gravely worried for the women of Afghanistan; Sharia law left very little room for women's rights, and the Taliban were known to be strict followers of Salafist Sharia law.

"I thought we don't leave people behind?" Chuck said as he sat back on the couch. Sarah looked over to her right at her amazing husband who hadn't left her behind all those years ago He'd gone out of his way to make sure she never felt lost or left behind while they tried to rebuild their lives.

"We used to stand for a lot of things," Sarah said cynically. It was hard not to feel cynical in the face of the growing number of crisis happening to America around the globe. The last seven months after Samantha had been born, had been a whirlwind of activity for Chuck and Sarah, but they'd still taken the time to pay attention to what was going on in the news. Things had been sliding in the wrong direction in a lot of ways the last few months, but this was the worst of the worst.

Chuck and Sarah were broken from their concerned revere by the sound of their front door opening. Only a handful of people had keys to their house, and the two of them knew that Morgan and Alex were out of town celebrating their anniversary. Ellie and Devon were still living happily in Chicago with their three children. That left John Casey as the only possible person who could be coming in.

"Hey Casey," Sarah said from the couch as the two of them continued to watch the television.

"Hey Walker," Casey said in a rather flat voice. Chuck stood up to greet his friend; as Chuck saw his former protector turned friend, he could see that his friend was finally allowing himself to enjoy retirement. Casey had stopped dying his hair and had allowed his naturally gray hair to finally make an appearance, it suited him. He'd been playing a lot more golf lately, and obviously he was going to the gun range an awful lot. During the last election, Casey had spent much of his time volunteering for the Trump campaign in California, which he'd enjoyed.

"How are you, Casey?" Chuck said as he extended his hand towards Casey, who shook it and simply shrugged flatly.

"You see the news?" Casey asked Chuck who nodded.

"We finally had a chance to sit down and watch the news for the first time in two weeks," Chuck said as he motioned for Casey to take a seat in the living room. When Casey walked into the living room, little Samantha's eyes lit up in recognition. Casey gave the little one a small smile as her little hands reached out for him.

"How's my little Marine doing?" Casey asked as he sat down in a chair. Sarah simply gave her daughter a loving smile and tickled her stomach; Samantha's giggles could warm even the coldest heart.

"This little one is just growing up so fast, as is her appetite," Sarah said knowingly, which simply made Chuck laugh. Casey only grunted in disgust at that and spoke.

"Mind if I hold her?" Casey asked, he'd always been a bit apprehensive around Samantha when it came to holding her. Chuck was rather shocked and his face said as much; Sarah, who was equally shocked, gave Casey a pleased smile and nodded.

"Absolutely." She saw a small smile appear on his face and carefully handed the little bundle of joy over to her former partner.

"Come 'ere little one," Casey said as he held Samantha in his arms, her brilliant blue eyes stared widely up at him. Samantha was a beautiful little girl and she was going to grow up to be a stunning woman one day. She'd gotten her mother's brilliant blue eyes, but her father's curly brown hair. "Gotta spend some time with this little one to make sure at least one of you Bartowski's becomes a republican," Casey said with a smirk as the infant in his arms babbled incoherently. Chuck snorted in amusement at Casey's ardent republicanism; Sarah simply shook her head at her former partner, some things just never changed.

"How've you been Casey?" Sarah asked. Casey seemed to ignore that question for a long moment as he simply looked at Samantha and played with her tiny little hand.

"I'm doing okay I guess; Gerty's in Germany trying to help get some Afghan's she worked with out of the that horrible place before it's too late." Chuck and Sarah nodded knowingly. The two of them noticed Casey grow quiet and his mood turn dark as he spoke in a small voice. "I got a message from an old buddy of mine from when I was in Afghanistan. When I was in Afghanistan, I was a Captain in command of a company of Marines; finest men I've ever worked with. Because of the language barrier in a country like Afghanistan, we employed locals to act as interpreters. My Interpreter was a man named Majid Rafmani, one of the funniest guys I've ever met. He was fighting for a free and democratic Afghanistan, a true believer. We served together in the Korengal Valley; brutal, awful place. Majid was from Kabul, where he had a wife; beautiful woman." Casey seemed to be off in his own little world as he looked at the little bundle of innocence that was Samantha Bartowski. Chuck and Sarah exchanged a look, neither had a good feeling about where this was going.

"This morning I got a text, sent from Majid's phone," Casey said ominously as his face grew stonelike, even as his vision grew hazy. "The Taliban found him, he'd been trying to get his family from Jalalabad, where they lived, to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, where the US Military could fly them out of the country and to safety. Majid had been trying to get S.I.V.'s for his family, but the State Department was dragging their feet when Afghanistan collapsed and everything fell apart. The Taliban has been looking for Afghans who worked with the US during the war. No matter what the Taliban spokesman says, they're won't show mercy to the poor people who helped us." As the words came from Casey's mouth, Sarah's blood ran cold; if the Taliban had found them, then that couldn't have been good.

"The Taliban sent me a video of them raping his wife in front of him before executing her. Then, they turned to his…" Casey's voice broke as he relived the horrible video he'd watched this morning. "Then they turned their attention to his two little girls."

"Oh my god," Chuck said quietly.

"The oldest wasn't even ten years old, but those animals raped her anyways; then they handed her off to another man to be his bride, if you can even call it that. The worst of it was their baby girl… they hacked her to pieces with a machete, right in front of him." Casey was practically crying at this point as he looked down at little Samantha. Chuck and Sarah had never seen this from Casey… ever. They'd known him for almost fourteen years and never in all of that time had they seen this from him. Eventually, the tears stopped and Casey spoke in a monotone voice, devoid of emotion.

"Finally, they shot Majid in the head and left his body on the side of the road… that's where the video ended," Casey said flatly. For a long moment Casey simply sat there quietly and admired the innocence of Samantha Bartowski; she was still so pure, so untouched by the evils of the world.

"Twenty years, twenty years of blood and treasure… wasted," Casey began. "Over one million American's served in Afghanistan; two thousand four hundred and forty-eight never made it home. I lost friends over there, watched good men breath their last, and this is their legacy? A cowardly sprint for the exits as our enemies brutalize our allies. Twenty years after the towers fell, we're leaving in disgrace, begging our enemies for mercy," Casey finished with an angry edge, even as he simply watched Samantha's tiny fingers grasp onto his large one. Chuck and Sarah didn't know what to say, they'd never served, they had no idea what he was feeling; anything they said would be meaningless platitudes. Finally, Sarah had, had enough of the silence and said what was in her heart.

"This isn't their legacy, we'll honor the sacrifices they made and remember them as heroes," Sarah said, grabbing Casey's attention. "This is President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley's legacy. They are the ones who will be remembered for this, they are the people who will forever be known as the ones who lost the war in Afghanistan. We will honor the fallen and those who served, while acknowledging the failures of the men and women we trusted to lead our nation." The determination in Sarah's voice steadied Casey who nodded to her with steel in his spine.

"Damn right we will," he said back to her with equal determination.

"Casey, language," Sarah chastised, her eyes darting to Samantha. Casey winced and looked down at the oblivious infant in his arms.

"Sorry little one," Casey said to Samantha who giggled and clapped her hands adorably. Chuck simply chuckled at the image of his daughter in the arms of the once infamous Angel of Death. Chuck reached over with his left arm and wrapped it around Sarah's shoulder, pulling her close. Sarah snuggled up into Chuck's side as she often did and hummed contently as she felt him kiss the top of her head. The three of them sat in silence and continued to watch the end of Afghanistan unfold on television, all three of them wondering what horrible crisis would come next…

The End

CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #4: I don't care what side of the isle you fall on, what is unfolding in Afghanistan should upset every single one of us. We all know someone who fought over there and the scars linger, I know the emotional scars have only recently began to heal for my older brother. If you know someone who fought in the War in Afghanistan, reach out to them, make sure they know we still hold them up as heroes, make sure they know they didn't fail us... our government failed them. That's all i've got to say today ladies and gentlemen... pray for the people of Afghanistan.

Until Next Time :/