Young Jack Thornton sat up in his bassinet beside his mother's bed. Though he was barely a year old, he was already displaying signs of his father's great strength. Though he wasn not an overly large man, he was only five foot eleven inches, Jack Thornton sr. had been known to display great feats of strength in the field. One time of note was when he prevented a wall from collapsing on his men when yhey were in a fire fight. An rpg had broken the already damaged wall and sent it falling into the building, but sergeant Thornton had braced himself against it, giving his men time enough to get out of the way. The wall broke in half after that and the troup was able to pull yheir beloved sergeant out of garms way.
Young Jack jr. didn't know any of this, he just enjoyed watching his mother sleep. He didn't know how fitful her sleep really was.
"Leland Coulter, you had better not be straining yourself".
Lee smiled and shook his head at his wife. Nine months ago he had broken his back in the crash that had killed his best friend, and injured many more. Nine months of healing and he was grateful to be able to get back in his home gym, strengthening his back. But if Rosie had her way, and she usually did, she would have him on bed rest until he was an old man.
Finishing his last rep he sat up from the bench and wiped the swest from his face. It wasn't so much a home gym as it was their garage with a room built on by him and Jack when they were last home together. He missed his friend.
Elizabeth was grateful to finally have some alone time. Though she hated to be alone, she had found it necessary. With her self imposed exile from her home she had been running herself ragged. Rosemary had insisted that she take some time to herself, and she had been right. Smiling, she bresthed in the smell of the coffee shop and emptied her mind.
The door bell jingled and she opened her eyes to see Allie and Nathan Grant walk in. Immediately she blanched and looked away. What was he doing here? She knew that he lived on base, but he was on the other side. She hurriedly packed her book bag and hastened to the door, hoping he wouldn't...
"Elizabeth"?
She froze, put on a smile and turned.
"Nathan? Hi, fancy meeting you here".
"Yeah, I want to thank you again for looking out for Allie. How's Jack doing"?
Jack. Jack was...Jack was...
"Look, i have to go, it was nice seeing you".
Without another word Elizabeth sped out of the coffee shop and walked away, crying as she went.