9 Months Later
Nathan nervously tapped his foot as the transport plane safely touched down on the landing strip. He kissed the picture of Allie and tucked it safely away in his breast pocket, knowing he'd be able to hold her soon. Beside him sat his grizzled commanding officer, Henry Gowan, who was using a cane after taking a bullet to his leg, whilst pulling Nathan out of the way of enemy fire on the return trip back to base.
"You ready to see your wife again Sir"?
"Just as ready as you are to see that little girl", Henry jabbed back, smiling a wide smile. Smiles from Henry Gowan were rare, but when they came they stayed for a good while. Nathan was grateful for the Gowans. Henry and his wife Abigail had taken care of Allie while Nathan was away, then after Henry was recalled to duty for his last, and final, tour of duty Abigail had been left alone to take care of Allie on her own.
As the ramp lowered Nathan saw row upon row of families waiting for their fathers, husbands, brothers, sisters, wives, and mothers to come back. To Nathan's left was Faith Shepherd, the medic for his unit. She had met her husband Carson during this last tour and they had married while overseas. He had been killed in the line of duty when a sniper's bullet found it's mark on his head. He was among the counted dead that scarred his memory.. Now Faith was returning home a widow after ten short months. Nathan saw her shoulders shake and he pulled her into an embrace. She silently whispered her thanks as she used the moment to release her emotions and pull herself together.
Elizabeth threw herself into her work after the crash, not trusting herself to be alone with the all-consuming emptiness that threatened to engulf her. She maximized the amount of time she spent at school, volunteering for car duty, helping out in the office, even taking on a part time job as her father's law office, Thatcher Kensington. Anything to keep her from being alone. Charles Kensington, her childhood best friend and highschool boyfriend, had become a dear friend in that time. He had been the rock she leaned on in those dark days after Jack was taken. She didn't know what she would do without him.
Ten year old Allie Grant was an electric storm as she showed her father everything she had done while he was away, from the birdhouse Henry helped her build before he left, to the dress she made, with Abigail's help of course. He smiled wide as he held her close. He had missed so much time with her over the past two years he had been away. She was two years older, with twice as much spunk and viver as when he left.
With Allie having gone to bed two hours ago, he stepped out back and lit a cigarette, a habit he had picked up after he watched a young man ripped apart by an IED. He looked next door and saw Faith sitting on a chair out in her patio, fingering Carson's wedding ring that she now wore around her neck.
"Can't sleep neither, huh"?
"It's funny, isn't it," she said cooly, standing up and walking toward the boundary fence, "you spend so much time in the desert, mending bullet wounds and amputating limbs, listening to bombs, inhaling obscene amounts of gun smoke, watching brother after brother die, listening to their screams, begging for their mothers, and it's the silence that keeps you up at night".
"Makes you wish you were back out there". He had said the only thing he could think of. He himself wished he was back there in the desert, but he had a daughter, his reason to stay. Faith didn't have anything.
A cold look came over her face as she said, "makes me wish I was dead".
With that dark note of finality Faith turned about face and marched inside. Nathan knew her better than anyone, even Carson. She had been his childhood companion. He knew better than to think she would act on her words. But it still scared him.
Nathan saw Faith the next morning as he went out jogging around the housing complex. She smiled at him from across the street and waved.
The next time he saw her was when he invited her over for dinner. Neither one mentioned the previous nights conversation.