SALVATION
Chapter 7 ("... and Fire")
By Slayne
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"Oh yeah, we meet again
It's like we never left
Time in between was just a dream
Did we leave this place?
This crazy fog surrounds me
You wrap your legs around me
All I can do to try and breathe... "
-- The Dolphin's Cry... by Live
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"I'm not ready to go back." He said from behind her as he walked back into the room. She turned to see him carrying the bottle of whiskey and a cup from an old mess kit. He sat on the edge of the bed and poured a couple of fingers into the cup. She watched as he swallowed a good-sized mouthful and grimaced a bit. His two swallows of alcohol today were probably more than he'd had all year. If Borislav hadn't driven him to drink... then nothing could. He held the cup out to her, and she walked forward to take it. She, on the other hand, had had plenty to drink in the past year... especially on those long, dark nights when she was alone, and the urge to take out that old piece of paper and pick up the phone grew too great. What a waste of time it had all been. What had she been so afraid of?
"Gung-Ho brought this with him." Wayne grinned faintly, capping the bottle again and looking down at it. "Drank half of it himself too. Guess he thought it'd loosen me up."
Courtney snorted and almost sprayed her mouthful of whiskey all over the room. Wayne looked up sharply at her.
"What the hell's the matter with you?"
She wiped the amber liquid from her mouth and chin and smiled. "The fact that Etienne even thought you COULD loosen up... that's pretty funny! You and he always seemed to understand each other pretty well."
"Yeah? Well, he also enjoyed my cooking. He didn't waste good squirrel."
"I've seen the man eat snake on long missions in the bush... squirrel probably tasted like filet mignon to him."
He gave her a dismissive glance and shook his head.
She sipped the burning liquor and sighed as they looked at each other grimly. In the darkness, his nearly bare body was a sculpted work of light and shadow. He still looked every bit the hardened soldier, from the thick muscles to the glaring eyes. She could self-consciously feel his gaze running over her as well. The thin cotton shorts she wore fit snugly and her soft and worn ARMY T-shirt was a bit too large, although she wore nothing beneath it. He looked at her with appreciation, the way he always had. Not hungrily, the way some men did... or wistfully, the way most men did. He had always simply looked at her with direct appreciation and then growled at her in the next moment... as if her looks had meant nothing to him at all. In fact, she was quite sure they hadn't. He wasn't intimidated by her, wasn't tongue-tied by her beauty, he certainly wasn't going to let her wrap him around her finger, and he had never once acted as if she was out of his league. He had let her be herself... and she hadn't realized how much she had grown used to that until she was out of the service, and he was gone.
"Why did you come here tonight?" He asked suddenly.
"I didn't know you were out of the Army until I got to Flint and Jaye's wedding. When I found out... I don't know... I just... I couldn't do anything else until I found you and we talked."
"If you're thinking that I wouldn't have quit if you had only called... then don't... I was gone the moment that Blackhawk went down."
"Why'd you call me then, Wayne?"
He hesitated for a moment before letting his breath out slowly. He looked up at her tiredly as she set the empty mess cup down on the windowsill and then stepped closer to him, so she could see his face better.
"I don't know...I just...I was tired...I wanted to talk to you..."
"We hadn't talked for years. Why did we do that?"
He shook his head, and she felt his hands move to set against the outsides of her thighs lightly, pulling her to stand between his knees.
"I needed to think. You don't..." He sighed. "You accept me as I am...and I..." He was having a hard time getting his thoughts out and she felt a brief sense of worry for him. He just wasn't like this usually. His hands suddenly gripped her waist and he looked up at her, pulling her closer between his thighs.
"Wayne...are you alright?" She murmured worriedly. The intimacy of the moment was getting to her again, and yet... it also seemed so... comfortable.
"No..." He closed his eyes briefly and then glanced up at her. She bit her lower lip and looked down at him. Her hand came up to trace his jaw gingerly.
"You're hurting..."
He suddenly and slowly slid his arms around her waist and hugged her to him, pressing the side of his face against her flat stomach.
"...I missed you." It was all he said, but the weariness and pain in those words burnt her to the core. She stared down at him in surprise. Jesus...he'd never done something like this before.
"I missed you too," she said softly. "Even your hellish PT sessions..." She joked a bit in the growing tension. Old habits die hard.
He ignored her words and exhaled deeply. "I just wanted to hear your voice."
She was stunned. Her discomfort and desire to joke it all away disappeared, as his unguarded pain surrounded her and soaked deep. His arms tightened around her waist as if he expected her to back away from him. She hesitated and then one hand slid over his shoulders and the fingers of her other hand slid through the short, neat auburn crew cut, pulling him close and stroking his hair comfortingly. He made a soft sound and his weight rested forward against her as he relaxed. He turned his head slightly into her and she heard him inhale deeply. She smoothed the hair at his temple, feeling an incredible tension stirring in her stomach. This was more than a friendly gesture...much more. He seemed to realize it too. His head turned and he leaned his forehead against her, swearing quietly.
"Shit...I shouldn't have...I thought I was strong..." He pronounced 'I' as 'ah' and it sent a shiver down her spine.
"You're the strongest man I know." She murmured. He looked up at her then, his arms still wrapped around her waist, holding her close. Her hand slid over his hard shoulder and over the side of his neck. She held his head with both hands and her thumbs stroked over his jaw. The amber eyes held her blue gaze.
She held her breath for a long moment as she looked down into his face. God...she wanted to lean forward and cast herself into his arms and against his body, burrowing against his heat, breathing in his scent. Instead, she brushed the pad of her thumb over his bottom lip and then leaned down slowly. He stared up at her and didn't move. She saw his eyes close just before she parted her lips and kissed him lightly.
She drew back slightly to glance at him, and he looked at her in silence before his hand came up and slid around her nape, drawing her back to him. His mouth opened under hers this time and she felt his tongue slide along her lip. She inhaled sharply and suddenly they were kissing deeply, their mouths fused and their tongues sliding together. His hand was almost painful on her nape, holding her tightly to the kiss. She slid her hands over his shoulders to his back and they slid down his spine as he slowly stood up in her arms, not pulling his mouth from hers for a moment.
She could taste the whiskey between them, and his tongue was silky against hers. He kissed her aggressively, as intense towards sex as he was towards everything else. His hands slid under her T-shirt and over the skin of her back.
"Courtney... " He murmured against her lips, breaking the kiss. "Don't leave..."
She shook her head and joined her lips to his once more as they fell back on the bed.
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"Don't go gettin yourself into trouble with those snakes and force me to come save your ass... like usual." Wayne said, as he opened the door to the Dakota the next morning. His eyes held hers, and Courtney smiled faintly.
"You'll be back." She stated firmly. She threw her bag into the passenger seat of the truck and turned to face him.
He shrugged and suddenly reached into the cargo pocket of his fatigues. He grabbed her right hand and slid the small, green box that held his medal into her fingers.
"Here... I want you to hold on to this for me..."
She stared down at it, feeling astounded. "What? No... Wayne, this is..."
He squeezed her fingers around the box almost painfully. "Keep it safe for me, Courtney. Just until I can stand to look at it."
She thought about that for a long moment, feeling the warmth of his hands around hers and the sharpness of the box beneath. She slowly nodded. He leaned on the truck's door and grabbed her head with one hand. His lips touched hers lightly.
"My soul's in there." He said quietly, with warning in his voice. She nodded grimly, unfazed by all this dramatic talk.
"What about your heart?"
"My heart's belonged to... someone... for a long time now. I guess she never knew she had it... since it didn't come in a nice little box."
Courtney's head snapped up, and she met the brown eyes with no breath left in her lungs. He was completely serious. He held her gaze steadily, and his hands dropped from hers, leaving the box in her possession. He stood intimately close to her, and she found her hands grabbing handfuls of his shirt and holding tight.
"You'll be back." She insisted again.
One corner of his mouth tugged upwards and he slid a hand into her hair, pulling her head closer to his.
"You can't fight forever, Cinderella." He said quietly against her temple.
She summoned her best southern accent for the reply. "The hell ah can't!"
He smiled, and she climbed into the Dakota. He shut the door for her, and she smiled as she drove away, watching him standing in the sun in the rearview mirror.
As she pulled onto the paved road a mile below the house, she sighed, took the truck out of four-wheel drive, and reached into her pocket to touch the small box in her jacket.
"You'll be back." She whispered.
^^^^^^^^^^^
"The day reminds me of you, The night hides your truth
The Earth is a voice, Speaking to you
Take all this pride, And leave it behind
Cause one day it ends, One day we die
Believe what you will, That is your right
But I choose to win
I choose to fight
To fight..... "
--Weathered... By Creed
All lyrics in this story printed without permission.
END
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Chapter 7 ("... and Fire")
By Slayne
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Oh yeah, we meet again
It's like we never left
Time in between was just a dream
Did we leave this place?
This crazy fog surrounds me
You wrap your legs around me
All I can do to try and breathe... "
-- The Dolphin's Cry... by Live
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"I'm not ready to go back." He said from behind her as he walked back into the room. She turned to see him carrying the bottle of whiskey and a cup from an old mess kit. He sat on the edge of the bed and poured a couple of fingers into the cup. She watched as he swallowed a good-sized mouthful and grimaced a bit. His two swallows of alcohol today were probably more than he'd had all year. If Borislav hadn't driven him to drink... then nothing could. He held the cup out to her, and she walked forward to take it. She, on the other hand, had had plenty to drink in the past year... especially on those long, dark nights when she was alone, and the urge to take out that old piece of paper and pick up the phone grew too great. What a waste of time it had all been. What had she been so afraid of?
"Gung-Ho brought this with him." Wayne grinned faintly, capping the bottle again and looking down at it. "Drank half of it himself too. Guess he thought it'd loosen me up."
Courtney snorted and almost sprayed her mouthful of whiskey all over the room. Wayne looked up sharply at her.
"What the hell's the matter with you?"
She wiped the amber liquid from her mouth and chin and smiled. "The fact that Etienne even thought you COULD loosen up... that's pretty funny! You and he always seemed to understand each other pretty well."
"Yeah? Well, he also enjoyed my cooking. He didn't waste good squirrel."
"I've seen the man eat snake on long missions in the bush... squirrel probably tasted like filet mignon to him."
He gave her a dismissive glance and shook his head.
She sipped the burning liquor and sighed as they looked at each other grimly. In the darkness, his nearly bare body was a sculpted work of light and shadow. He still looked every bit the hardened soldier, from the thick muscles to the glaring eyes. She could self-consciously feel his gaze running over her as well. The thin cotton shorts she wore fit snugly and her soft and worn ARMY T-shirt was a bit too large, although she wore nothing beneath it. He looked at her with appreciation, the way he always had. Not hungrily, the way some men did... or wistfully, the way most men did. He had always simply looked at her with direct appreciation and then growled at her in the next moment... as if her looks had meant nothing to him at all. In fact, she was quite sure they hadn't. He wasn't intimidated by her, wasn't tongue-tied by her beauty, he certainly wasn't going to let her wrap him around her finger, and he had never once acted as if she was out of his league. He had let her be herself... and she hadn't realized how much she had grown used to that until she was out of the service, and he was gone.
"Why did you come here tonight?" He asked suddenly.
"I didn't know you were out of the Army until I got to Flint and Jaye's wedding. When I found out... I don't know... I just... I couldn't do anything else until I found you and we talked."
"If you're thinking that I wouldn't have quit if you had only called... then don't... I was gone the moment that Blackhawk went down."
"Why'd you call me then, Wayne?"
He hesitated for a moment before letting his breath out slowly. He looked up at her tiredly as she set the empty mess cup down on the windowsill and then stepped closer to him, so she could see his face better.
"I don't know...I just...I was tired...I wanted to talk to you..."
"We hadn't talked for years. Why did we do that?"
He shook his head, and she felt his hands move to set against the outsides of her thighs lightly, pulling her to stand between his knees.
"I needed to think. You don't..." He sighed. "You accept me as I am...and I..." He was having a hard time getting his thoughts out and she felt a brief sense of worry for him. He just wasn't like this usually. His hands suddenly gripped her waist and he looked up at her, pulling her closer between his thighs.
"Wayne...are you alright?" She murmured worriedly. The intimacy of the moment was getting to her again, and yet... it also seemed so... comfortable.
"No..." He closed his eyes briefly and then glanced up at her. She bit her lower lip and looked down at him. Her hand came up to trace his jaw gingerly.
"You're hurting..."
He suddenly and slowly slid his arms around her waist and hugged her to him, pressing the side of his face against her flat stomach.
"...I missed you." It was all he said, but the weariness and pain in those words burnt her to the core. She stared down at him in surprise. Jesus...he'd never done something like this before.
"I missed you too," she said softly. "Even your hellish PT sessions..." She joked a bit in the growing tension. Old habits die hard.
He ignored her words and exhaled deeply. "I just wanted to hear your voice."
She was stunned. Her discomfort and desire to joke it all away disappeared, as his unguarded pain surrounded her and soaked deep. His arms tightened around her waist as if he expected her to back away from him. She hesitated and then one hand slid over his shoulders and the fingers of her other hand slid through the short, neat auburn crew cut, pulling him close and stroking his hair comfortingly. He made a soft sound and his weight rested forward against her as he relaxed. He turned his head slightly into her and she heard him inhale deeply. She smoothed the hair at his temple, feeling an incredible tension stirring in her stomach. This was more than a friendly gesture...much more. He seemed to realize it too. His head turned and he leaned his forehead against her, swearing quietly.
"Shit...I shouldn't have...I thought I was strong..." He pronounced 'I' as 'ah' and it sent a shiver down her spine.
"You're the strongest man I know." She murmured. He looked up at her then, his arms still wrapped around her waist, holding her close. Her hand slid over his hard shoulder and over the side of his neck. She held his head with both hands and her thumbs stroked over his jaw. The amber eyes held her blue gaze.
She held her breath for a long moment as she looked down into his face. God...she wanted to lean forward and cast herself into his arms and against his body, burrowing against his heat, breathing in his scent. Instead, she brushed the pad of her thumb over his bottom lip and then leaned down slowly. He stared up at her and didn't move. She saw his eyes close just before she parted her lips and kissed him lightly.
She drew back slightly to glance at him, and he looked at her in silence before his hand came up and slid around her nape, drawing her back to him. His mouth opened under hers this time and she felt his tongue slide along her lip. She inhaled sharply and suddenly they were kissing deeply, their mouths fused and their tongues sliding together. His hand was almost painful on her nape, holding her tightly to the kiss. She slid her hands over his shoulders to his back and they slid down his spine as he slowly stood up in her arms, not pulling his mouth from hers for a moment.
She could taste the whiskey between them, and his tongue was silky against hers. He kissed her aggressively, as intense towards sex as he was towards everything else. His hands slid under her T-shirt and over the skin of her back.
"Courtney... " He murmured against her lips, breaking the kiss. "Don't leave..."
She shook her head and joined her lips to his once more as they fell back on the bed.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Don't go gettin yourself into trouble with those snakes and force me to come save your ass... like usual." Wayne said, as he opened the door to the Dakota the next morning. His eyes held hers, and Courtney smiled faintly.
"You'll be back." She stated firmly. She threw her bag into the passenger seat of the truck and turned to face him.
He shrugged and suddenly reached into the cargo pocket of his fatigues. He grabbed her right hand and slid the small, green box that held his medal into her fingers.
"Here... I want you to hold on to this for me..."
She stared down at it, feeling astounded. "What? No... Wayne, this is..."
He squeezed her fingers around the box almost painfully. "Keep it safe for me, Courtney. Just until I can stand to look at it."
She thought about that for a long moment, feeling the warmth of his hands around hers and the sharpness of the box beneath. She slowly nodded. He leaned on the truck's door and grabbed her head with one hand. His lips touched hers lightly.
"My soul's in there." He said quietly, with warning in his voice. She nodded grimly, unfazed by all this dramatic talk.
"What about your heart?"
"My heart's belonged to... someone... for a long time now. I guess she never knew she had it... since it didn't come in a nice little box."
Courtney's head snapped up, and she met the brown eyes with no breath left in her lungs. He was completely serious. He held her gaze steadily, and his hands dropped from hers, leaving the box in her possession. He stood intimately close to her, and she found her hands grabbing handfuls of his shirt and holding tight.
"You'll be back." She insisted again.
One corner of his mouth tugged upwards and he slid a hand into her hair, pulling her head closer to his.
"You can't fight forever, Cinderella." He said quietly against her temple.
She summoned her best southern accent for the reply. "The hell ah can't!"
He smiled, and she climbed into the Dakota. He shut the door for her, and she smiled as she drove away, watching him standing in the sun in the rearview mirror.
As she pulled onto the paved road a mile below the house, she sighed, took the truck out of four-wheel drive, and reached into her pocket to touch the small box in her jacket.
"You'll be back." She whispered.
^^^^^^^^^^^
"The day reminds me of you, The night hides your truth
The Earth is a voice, Speaking to you
Take all this pride, And leave it behind
Cause one day it ends, One day we die
Believe what you will, That is your right
But I choose to win
I choose to fight
To fight..... "
--Weathered... By Creed
All lyrics in this story printed without permission.
END
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^