Another update! I think you guys are really really going to like this one! Not going to give anything away, so cue reading.
Chapter 45
The next three months were some of the easiest months he had had in a long time. Though there was still pain in his leg and his side, the pain had almost disappeared in his shoulder. The only time it hurt was when he slept on it wrong and when he moved it a certain way. As the weeks and months progressed, the pain decreased and he was able to walk better and without Allison's assistance.
The night he had tried to talk to her about their relationship, she went outside to 'get some air' and didn't come back for the rest of the night. He fell asleep that night, wondering if he shouldn't have even brought it up; what good did it do? He decided he would apologize to her when she came in the next morning, but she never came in; on that day or the next. On the third day of her being absent, he finally saw her come in with her nurse's outfit on. He sat up, much quicker and easier than he had since he had been admitted. As soon as she got closer, she smiled,
"Well, it looks you've gotten better since the last time I saw you."
He smiled and nodded but, when she got to his bed, he saw something that almost shocked him. Allison must have noticed that he had seen the bruises because she covered her arm with her hand and sighed,
"Ben-"
"What happened to you?" She shook her head,
"It's nothing, I just had an accident."
"Allison, why do you have bruises up and down your arm and scratches on your face?"
"I don't want to talk about it right now, Ben, please just drop it." He knew there was something to it; why was she being so defensive about it if it was only just an accident? Suddenly, something hit him,
"Did Jeremy do anything to you?" She looked at him, with a disgusted look on her face,
"What? Of course he didn't, why would you ask me something like that?"
"I was just making sure. We're not together anymore, but I'd still beat up anyone who put their hands on you." She smiled,
"I know you would, Ben." She sighed,
"Well, I guess we ought to stretch your legs some; how about a walk?" He smiled and nodded, glad that she was back,
"That would be nice."
As the weeks continued to go by, she started spending more and more time with him after her shifts. He also told her about everything that had happened to him since they had broken up. He told her about all of the missions he had gone on and the many leaves he had spent with his father. He told her they had gotten pretty close; with the fishing trips they took at the beach house and just spending time together in general. He told her about meeting the new neighbors that had moved in beside them and the cookouts they had had. He never told her about Lilah though; he never saw a need to.
Aside from the missions he went on, he told her about all of the recreational things he did while on the base. He explained how he exercised on the base every morning and told her about having to run at 5:00 in the morning for three months. He told her that they were only allowed one phone call a month, which she already knew and that he had gotten in trouble when he told the general that he had to make a second phone call in the same month. He told her it was when he had called her and told her that they had extended his term for another four years. She smiled when he told her this and she shook her head,
"Gosh, that was one of the worst phone calls I've ever gotten."
"I know, it was one of the worst phone calls I've ever had to make. I was so scared of what you were going to say." She nodded as they were walking beside each other. He was now well enough to walk on his own; Allison still walked with him though, keeping him company as always.
"I was upset, no doubt about it. I was scared, too, of what was going to happen. But I was willing to wait for you; I didn't think I had a choice."
They had developed a routine; in the morning, they would take a walk around the hospital and, lately, had begun walking outside and sitting down on the benches, enjoying the fresh air. After their walk, they would go back inside and, depending on the day, they would play a card game or a board game. He always had fun when they played games; especially Monopoly. He had never really liked Monopoly growing up, but it was something about playing it with Allison that made it fun. They laughed every time the other would land on their houses or hotels and, even though they had played it a million times, it never got old.
After they played either a card or a board game, she made him get some rest, even if he was wide awake. He usually slept for about an hour, then she would come back and they would eat dinner; she usually packed him something before she left for work in the morning. After they ate, they would go for another walk and sit outside, and then come back inside. By that point, her shift was over. She would go back to her apartment and change clothes and then come back and sit with him and just talk.
In the five months he was there, they talked about every single thing possible. They relived a lot of their old memories and the new ones they had made together. Also, he had noticed that she still came in with bruises. She never told him how she had gotten them and, as soon as they would heal, she would come in with new ones. She tried to hide them; wearing a lot of long-sleeve shirts and makeup. He knew something was wrong and he begged her to tell him, but she refused, blaming the bruises on her clumsiness. He wondered if she was lying to him when he asked if Jeremy had put his hands on her and had asked her multiple times again, but she swore that he had never touched her.
As the end of his fifth month being there was approaching, he was nearly fully recovered. He could walk normally; without a cast and without a limp. He still had scars on his legs and you could still see the three bullet holes; the two in his side and the one in his shoulder, but those were the only physical injuries he still had. He no longer felt pain in his side, shoulder, or leg.
On the last day of October, he was visited by one of his generals. They talked for a few minutes; his general congratulating him on fully recovering and news of what was going on. They had found out that it was in fact the Iraqi's that had attacked the base. It wasn't totally set it stone, but the general was 99% sure that they were going to war. He informed Ben that, since he had made a full recovery, he was being shipped to Afghanistan on November third for his final term in the Air Force.
"So I have three days to get ready, sir?" He nodded,
"Yeah, enjoy it, Carter."
"I will, sir, thank you."
The general nodded and turned and walked past the beds and through the doors. He saw Allison coming towards him; since it was the morning, it was the first time he had seen her today. He smiled and sat up and said,
"So, apparently, I'm fully recovered?" She nodded as she walked over to him,
"Yeah, I let the head nurse know last night before I went home. What did your General say?"
"Nothing much, just-" As she got closer to him and into the light, he saw something that clearly wasn't there the night before.
"Allison, what happened to you?" She shook her head,
"It's nothing; I just tripped over a book I left lying on the floor in my room."
"Allison, you don't get black and purple bruises covering your arms and scratches on your face from falling over a book."
"They aren't black; they're just a little blue."
"That's not the point!" He yelled, standing up from the bed,
"You've had bruises on your body for three months now. Tell me what's going on." She shook her head, tears starting to fill her eyes,
"I can't, Ben." He took a step towards her and put his hand on her shoulder,
"Allison, in the past five months, we've talked about everything under the sun; you can tell me anything." Tears started to fall down her cheeks and she looked down. She continued to look down and didn't say anything for a while. She finally whispered, without looking up,
"Jeremy." He raised his eyebrow, not believing what he had just heard,
"What?"
"Jeremy's the one who's been giving me these bruises." She slowly looked up at him. He took a deep breath, now full of rage and anger. He had known this entire time that it was Jeremy, but did nothing about it.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you lie to me every time I asked you?" He yelled.
"Because I knew you would react like this! I know exactly what you're thinking, you're thinking about going to go beat him up, but I'm not going to let you."
"It's not your decision." He let go of her shoulder and walked around her, heading for the doors that led outside. She grabbed his arm while he was walking,
"Ben, stop it! This has nothing to do with you!" He whipped around to face her,
"Nothing to do with me? Allison I told you I would kill anyone who ever put their hands on you!" He said, yelling. She opened her mouth to say something, but the head nurse came up to them,
"What is going on here? You two stop this immediately or take it outside; there are sick patients here!" Allison shook her head, looking in his eyes and ignoring the head nurse,
"You don't love me anymore, so why should it matter who puts their hands on me?"
He raised his eyebrow and she let go of his arm and walked around him, heading through the doors. He turned around to follow her, but saw someone that got all of his rage boiled up inside of him; Jeremy was coming through the double doors. His nostrils flared and he gritted his teeth in anger, trying to restrain himself. If he hit Jeremy, they would kick him out of the Air Force and probably do something worse than that.
When he came in, Allison stopped. Jeremy began to walk towards her, but she went around him and headed outside. Jeremy called her name and was about to follow her when Ben reached him. He had a collared shirt on and Ben grabbed him by the collar with both of his hands and slammed him up against the wall,
"If you ever put your hands on Allison again, I swear to God I'll kill you." Jeremy yanked away and Ben forced himself to turn around and follow Allison. Jeremy was about to follow him when a group of nurses grabbed him. Ben turned around and saw Hollie smile at him and wink. He smiled and turned and ran out after Allison.
It took a few seconds to catch up to her; she was already across the grass when he got outside. He ran across the grass, calling her name. She didn't turn around and, when he caught up to her, he grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him. She had an angry expression, but tears were flooding her eyes.
"What do you mean I don't love you?" She scoffed,
"Come on, Ben, be serious. We've been sitting in that hospital for five months and you haven't made any indication that you're still in love with me at all. You're the one who broke up with me, remember? I was willing to wait forever for you and you threw it away. You broke my heart and I pleaded and begged you to change your mind. I told you I loved you and I was willing to do anything for you and you know what you did? You hung up on me and you crushed my heart. How can you do something like that to someone you love?" Tears were streaming down her cheeks now and he sighed, knowing he couldn't hold the truth from her any longer,
"Allison, I did it because I love you. I didn't want you to suffer anymore and continue to be sad all of the time. I wrote to your mom and asked her to tell me the honest truth about how you were doing while I was away. She told me about the depression medicine and the fact that you cried yourself to sleep every night. Do you think that I wanted to keep doing that to you? Your life was a living hell while you were with me and I couldn't keep doing that to you. I knew it would hurt you at first when I broke up with you, but you would eventually get over it. And you have; you moved to California and you have a job doing what you love; you're not sad and depressed anymore. That's all I wanted for you; all I wanted was for you to be happy. I loved you so much and I loved you enough to let you go. That's why I did it, not because I didn't love you, but because I wanted to see you happy. I wanted you to get everything you wanted and deserved; things I couldn't give you." He sighed, getting tears in his own eyes,
"I did it because I love you. I love you so much, Allison."
He took a step towards her and pulled her towards him and kissed her. He kissed her more passionately and with more love than he thought possible. When his lips met hers, it was like the three and a half years that they spent apart no longer had meaning.
She was surprised, but she quickly got over it and kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down to meet her. His hand tightened in the fabric along her back, pulling her in as close as he could to his body. She leaned into him as he deepened their kiss; he brought his hand up to her cheek and continued to kiss her, trying to erase the three and a half years that he had spent without her. She finally pulled back and ran her fingers along his cheek and looked up at him,
"All I wanted was you, Ben." He smiled and tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear and leaned in and kissed her again. While they were kissing, he heard a plane's engine and a buzzing noise. He pulled away and she looked up at him,
"What's wrong?" He let her go and turned around just in time to see a swarm of foreign planes, headed straight towards them. His heart dropped and he barely managed to yell,
"Allison, get down!" before the sound of shooting filled the air.
He turned around and Allison screamed as the sound of bombs exploding filled the air as well. She threw herself on the ground and covered her head and he threw himself on top of her, trying to protect her from any bullets that might come near them. The sound of bombs going off and the sound of buildings exploding and planes shooting were deafening. Ben knew that the hospital he and Allison had just come out of was now up in flames and under attack. He heard the planes fly over and, amazingly, none of the bullets had hit them. Ben looked up and watched them fly by and off into the distance. They kept straight and didn't turn around to make another attack and he knew it was over.
He stood up and helped Allison off of the ground. She now had tears streaming down her face and she wrapped her arms around his waist. He held her tight and looked at the hospital. The whole building was up in flames and Ben watched in horror as people, both patients and nurses, began pouring out, clutching their throats for air. He let go of Allison, knowing what he had to do. He put both of his hands on her shoulders,
"Stay here, okay?" She looked up at him,
"What? What are you doing?"
"I have to go help get everybody out." She shook her head,
"What? No, you're not going in there; it's too dangerous!"
"Allison, I have to. What if I was the one stuck in there? Wouldn't you want someone to come in and save me?" She looked down for a second, then nodded and looked back up at him,
"Be careful."
He nodded and let her go and started running towards the burning hospital. People were still running out and he had to push his way through them. He finally got to the doors and he pushed them open. The smell of smoke overwhelmed him and he could barely see. Numerous beds were on fire, as well as all of the walls. He took off his jacket and put it up to his mouth so that the smoke didn't fill his lungs. He looked around and didn't see anyone at first, but, as he walked towards the center of the hospital, he faintly saw two people lying on the ground underneath one of the beds. He went over to them and bent down beside them.
He saw that they were both nurses and that they were huddled up beside each other. They looked at him as he bent down beside them. The roar of the fire was so loud that when he yelled to them to come with him, they couldn't hear him. Parts of the buildings were collapsing under the extreme heat and he took his jacket off of his mouth and handed it to both of them. He motioned with his hand for them to follow him and he helped them up and led them towards the doors that led outside.
They dodged some of the debris that had fallen and Ben had sweat pouring down his face, his stomach, and his back as they got closer to the doors. They were almost to the doors when Ben heard a voice yelling for help. He stopped and turned around, but didn't see anyone through the smoke. The nurses stopped and Ben told them to go ahead and get out and he turned back around to try and find who had yelled for help. He still didn't see anyone and then he heard them yell again. He could barely hear them over the roar of the fire and he yelled,
"Keep screaming so I can find you!"
He heart them scream again. This time, he could pinpoint where he was. He went towards the back of the hospital, where the flames were even worse. The heat and smoke were almost unbearable and he could barely see. The man yelled again and it seemed louder, so Ben knew that he was close to him. He yelled one last time and Ben looked to the right and finally saw him.
A big piece of wood was lying on top of him and Ben bent down beside him and finally saw his face. It stopped him for a minute when he saw Jeremy lying beneath the wood. He was drifting in and out of consciousness and, despite the anger that he had towards him he put his jacket on the wood so he wouldn't burn himself and tried to push it off of him.
"Jeremy come on; help me push this thing off of you!"
Jeremy was weak but, with both of them pushing, they finally managed to get it off of him. Ben grabbed his arm and tried to pull him up, but he was too weak and Jeremy wasn't helping at all.
"Jeremy, come on, get up!" He yelled, over the roar of the fire. The building was starting to collapse even more and Ben knew they didn't have much time was left before the whole building was going to come down. Jeremy wasn't responding and he grabbed his arm again,
"Jeremy, get up!"
"I can't move my leg!" He finally yelled. Ben took a deep breath, feeling his lungs begin to close up. He knew Jeremy couldn't move and he was drifting in and out of consciousness himself. He bent down and grabbed Jeremy's arm and leg and put him on his back, over his shoulders. He had Jeremy's arm in his right hand and his leg in his left.
Though Jeremy was a pretty small guy, Ben was weak and had a lot of trouble carrying him all the way to the front of the hospital. Debris was constantly falling and the flames had gotten bigger. His vision started to get blurry and it felt like months before they finally reached the front of the hospital. The door handle was blazing hot and it burned his hand as he pushed the door open.
The sun was blinding and he felt the cool air sweep over him. His vision was still blurry, but saw a crowd of people start running towards him. Before he could take a step, they were already beside him. Up close, he saw that they were all paramedics and three of them pulled Jeremy off of his back and the other three led him to an ambulance. His vision started to clear up and he started to come back into his right mind.
They led him to an ambulance off to the right, past dozens of firefighters, trying to put the fire out. When they got to the ambulance, they opened the back doors and he sat down on the back. One of the paramedics started asking him dozens of questions and another one grabbed and oxygen mask and put it on him. He immediately began breathing easier and answered all of the paramedic's questions. He was still sweating and he asked if anything was wrong with him.
"No, I think you're going to be just fine. You have some dirt marks on your face and burn marks on the palm of your hand, but other than that, you're fine."
"What about the other two nurses that came out? Are they okay?"
"Yes, they're fine. You did good, Mr. Carter. That was one of the bravest things I think I've ever seen."
He sat in the back of the ambulance for a few minutes while one of the paramedics put a few small bandage patches on his face and wrapped his hand where he had gotten burnt. When she was done, Ben thanked them all and stood up and looked at the building, watching it go up in flames. He looked back at the crowd of people behind him, looking for Allison. He spotted her amongst a group of other nurses, hugging all of them and looking at the building in horror.
He began to walk across the parking lot towards her. She didn't see him at first but, as he drew closer, she saw him. She had tears in her eyes as she let go of the nurses and began to run towards him. When she was close enough, she threw her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up and heard her say,
"Oh, God, I thought you were still in there."
She pulled back and he continued to hold her in the air as she put both of her hands on his face and kissed him. He put her down and brought his hand up to her face, still kissing her, and kissed her with more love and heart than he ever had. They kissed for a few minutes before she pulled away and put her forehead to his and closed her eyes and whispered,
"Will you come with me?" He kissed her head softly,
"Anywhere." She opened her eyes and looked up at him and smiled,
"Will you come to my apartment with me?" He looked at her and swallowed the sudden lump in his throat, knowing exactly what was about to happen. He nodded,
"I'll go anywhere with you."
Awww I love this chapter so much! Hope you guys enjoyed it!
