Next chapter, whoop whoop! And can you believe this is the fiftieth chapter? Whaaa? How exciting. And this is the start of part 4. Double exciting! Hope you enjoy it :)


Chapter 50

"Allison, come on! Mrs. Walker needs that food tray right now!"

"Okay, I'm coming!"

Allison Johnson worked at New Hanover Regional Medical Centre in Wilmington, North Carolina. She had been living in Wilmington for almost a year after moving from Los Angeles, California. Her one bedroom apartment was about ten minutes away from the hospital and Wilmington was the place she called home. When people asked her why she moved back to Wilmington after living in L.A. for three and a half years, her answer was simple and always the same,

"Because someone special, someone I love, lives here."

She got the food tray from the cafeteria and ran it up to Mrs. Walker in room 202. She went into the room and a woman, probably Mrs. Walker's daughter, was sitting beside her. Mrs. Walker was now asleep and her daughter smiled at Allison when she walked in and motioned to the table beside the bed. She smiled back at her and put the tray beside the bed on the table. She checked her charts and her heart rate and whispered to her daughter,

"How is she doing?"

"Better; the heart attack really took a toll on her body and she's been having troubles ever since. Is that normal? I mean, the heart attack happened almost a year ago. Should she still be having all of this trouble?"

"Well, it's normal to have difficulties in the first year and a half to two years; if it continues after that, you should have her looked at more carefully." She nodded,

"Okay, thank you."

"No problem." She hung the charts back up and walked over to the blood pressure monitor and saw a picture frame on the windowsill. When she saw it, her heart immediately started to ache. The woman saw what Allison was looking at and picked it up,

"That's my brother, David. He's stationed over in Iraq and left about a month ago." She nodded and felt tears come to her eyes, but forced them back,

"My…my boyfriend's in the Air Force. He's in Afghanistan though."

"Really? David comes back in eight months. I'm already ready for him to come home. When does your boyfriend come home?" Allison looked away,

"He's, umm, he's missing in action." Her face became sad,

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." Allison nodded as a tear fell down her cheek,

"It's okay." She laughed embarrassedly,

"You're actually the first person I've told besides my sister."

"Really?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Wow, why me?" Allison shrugged her shoulder,

"I don't know, maybe because you kind of know what I'm going through, with your brother being away and all. I've wanted to tell someone for a while; I just didn't know how to bring it up." The woman smiled and patted the seat beside her,

"Come here, honey, come sit down."

She went and sat down beside her and started telling her everything.

"He was supposed to come back two months ago in August but two weeks before he was scheduled to come home, the Air Force informed his dad that he was missing in action. His plane had been shot down while he was on a mission. He was with another pilot and the Air Force found his body but they can't find Ben's. His father immediately came and told me what happened and, to put it lightly, I freaked. I instantly broke down right in front of him and hugged him for I don't know how long. That was two months ago and it still hasn't really sunk in. Every time I hear the phone ring I think it's them calling to tell me they've found his body." She looked down and tears fell down her cheeks. Jamie, the woman she was talking to, leaned over and gave her a hug,

"I'm so sorry, that has to be so hard." Allison pulled away and nodded, wiping the tears off of her cheeks. She laughed embarrassedly,

"You know what the weird thing is? I don't think he's dead. I know you're probably thinking 'of course she doesn't; who would want to think the guy they love is dead,' but I can feel it. I can feel him in my heart and I would know if I had lost him. I know everyone thinks he's gone and that he's dead. I know everything points to that conclusion, but I just know he's still alive." Jamie smiled and simply said,

"Then it doesn't matter what anyone says, does it?"


She finished out her shift and left the hospital at 10:45. She drove back to her apartment and went upstairs and took a quick shower before putting on her pajamas. She went in her kitchen and saw that she had two messages in her voicemail. Her cell phone had died right after she had gotten to work and had just plugged it in to her charger.

She made herself a glass of sweet tea and listened to the messages. The first one was from her sister, telling her that she had just gotten into town and was staying at the hotel right down the street. She said for Allison to call her whenever she got home from work.

"I don't care if you get off at 2:00 in the morning, call me! I want to talk to you! Love you, sis." Allison smiled and hung up before dialing Rachel's cell phone. It rang a couple of seconds before she answered,

"Hello?"

"Hey, sis, you up?"

"Hey, yeah of course! Did you just get off of work?" She nodded and took a sip of her tea,

"Yeah, I just got home about a half hour ago. And why are you staying in a hotel? I told you you could crash here."

"Well, I didn't know when you were going to get off so I just rented a room for the night. I'll stay with you tomorrow night."

"Okay, you leave Sunday, right?"

"Yeah, I can only stay tonight and tomorrow because I have to get back to work Sunday afternoon."

"Okay, well do you want to come over and hang out?"

"Allison, its 11:30 at night."

"So? I'm not tired and you're not tired and I want to talk to you." She laughed,

"Alright, I'll be over in a couple of minutes."

She hung up the phone and made some more tea. By the time she had made a pitcher full, she heard a knock on the door. She put it on the counter and went and answered the door. Her sister stood in the doorway and they both shrieked and smiled and hugged each other.

Her sister ended up staying the night at her apartment. When she got there, they went in the kitchen and she poured Rachel a glass of tea and they sat down at the table. Rachel told her everything that had happened since she had last talked to her. She said that she had met a man a couple of years older than her and he was very handsome. She had also got a new job at one of the new restaurants that had opened up there and that she was doing really well. Allison nodded,

"Good, I'm glad; you deserve it." Rachel looked at her and put her hand on top of hers,

"Allison, what's wrong?" She looked up and shook her head,

"It's nothing, it's just… I talked about him today."

"About Ben?" She nodded,

"I told this woman at the hospital."

"You told a random woman in the hospital something you won't even tell your friends?" She shrugged her shoulders,

"It just felt right; her brother is in the Navy and I felt she would understand."

"How did it feel to tell someone else?"

"It felt good actually. I told her that I didn't think he was dead and that I would've felt something if he had been killed." Rachel looked away and sighed.

"What? Why are you looking like that?" Rachel looked back up at her,

"Allison, you need to accept the fact that he's gone."

"What do you mean?"

"He's been missing in action for two months, Allison. Now I love Ben just as much as anybody but you know that no one could survive two months in enemy territory with no food or water." She looked at Rachel, surprised,

"Actually no I don't know that. You're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine. I believe he's still out there and that he's alive. Why would you tell me to give up on him?"

"I'm not saying give up on him, I'm just telling you, you need to try and move on; that's what Ben would have wanted." Allison shook her head in disbelief and stood up,

"I don't believe this. I'm going to bed; I don't want to talk about this tonight." Megan sighed,

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's fine. Don't go back to your hotel; it's too late and it's dangerous to be by yourself this time of night. You can sleep with me or you can sleep on the couch; there are blankets in the hall closet. I'm going to brush my teeth, come to bed whenever you're ready."


Rachel ended up sleeping on the couch. Allison slept in her bed and woke up the next morning around 8:00. When she woke up, Rachel was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Allison walked in and Rachel turned around,

"Good morning."

"Good morning, how'd you sleep? All right?"

"Yeah, it was comfortable. I wasted sixty-five bucks on a hotel room though." She smiled,

"I told you to crash here, I don't know why you rented a room." Rachel shrugged her shoulders,

"It's alright. Hey, listen, I'm sorry about what I said last night, it was stupid."

"It's okay…you were right."

"I was?" She shrugged her shoulders and nodded,

"I need to move on; that's what he would've wanted." She stood there for a minute as tears started to come. Rachel sighed and came over to her and gave her a hug. She held her for a minute while Allison said, into her shoulder,

"I love him so much, Rachel." Rachel sighed and stroked her hair,

"I know you do, he'll be alright. He's got you waiting here for him and he wouldn't leave you here by yourself. He's strong, Allison, he's strong."

They held each other for a few minutes and then ate breakfast. After they ate, they cleaned up and Allison got in the shower. She got out and got ready while Rachel got in the shower. They both got ready; they planned to spend the day together. It was Rachel's only full day in Wilmington and Allison planned to take her out for a girl's day.

When they were both ready, Rachel ran back to the hotel to get her things and check out. While she was gone, Allison watched T.V. While she was watching T.V., she heard a knock on her door. She turned the T.V. off and went to the door, figuring it was Rachel. She opened the door and the person who was standing in her doorway was not who she expected.

"Mr. Carter?"

"Hey, Allison, how are you?"

"Umm, I'm good, how are you doing?"

"I'm good. You look surprised; you did know I was coming, didn't you?" She shook her head,

"No I didn't actually."

"I called you and left a message on your answering machine yesterday, didn't you get it?" She sighed and then remembered that she, indeed, have two messages.

"I'm so sorry, I checked my messages last night but I only listened to the first one; it was from my sister. She's in town for the day."

"That sounds like fun, is she here?"

"No, she went and checked out of her hotel. She should be back anytime, though." He nodded,

"Well, I'm not going to keep you but I wanted to give you something." She raised her eyebrow and then remembered her manners,

"Here, come in Mr. Carter."

"Thank you."

They went inside and he sat down on the couch and she sat down in the chair across from him.

"So, what is it you want to give me Mr. Carter?" He took a deep breath and she suddenly got worried. What if the Air Force had come and told him they had found Ben's body? It seemed like forever for him to answer and he finally said,

"I have a letter." She waited for him to add more and, when he didn't, she asked,

"Who from?"

"It's from Ben." Her heart jumped,

"What? When did you get it? Just now? Is he okay?" He held up his hands,

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's not recent. I received it a couple of days after he went missing in action." She nodded, disappointedly,

"Oh, what did it say?"

"I don't know, I haven't read it; it's yours." She looked up at him,

"What?" He nodded and pulled it out of his pocket,

"He must have put your letter in an envelope addressed to me accidently. I didn't give it to you because I thought it might be too much for you to handle. You were so upset and I didn't think it would be fair to give you something that would make you even more upset."

She was shocked and didn't know what to say. The fact that Ben had written her another letter before he went missing in action was shocking and she barely heard the rest of what Ben's father was saying. He finally sighed and handed her the letter and stood up. She took it and stood up with him. She gave him a hug and thanked him over and over again for bringing it to her. He nodded and pulled away,

"He loved you so much and I never saw him happier than when he was with you. I'll get out of your hair so you can read it." She smiled and hugged him again,

"Thank you, Mr. Carter."

"You're welcome, honey, I'll see you later."

"Okay, good-bye."

She walked him to the door and watched him as he got in his car and pulled out of the parking lot. When he pulled out, she closed the door and ran back to her living room and sat down on the couch. She took a deep breath and opened the letter.

Dear Allison,

I know! Only two more weeks! I can't wait. I'm going to run to you when I see you and I'm going to hug you like you've never been hugged before. You've been warned, so prepare for it. I can't wait to see you and hold you and kiss you. Getting hurt in that accident was the best thing that could've happened. I got to spend five wonderful months with you and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I would do it 10,000 times over again if I knew you would be there with me, being my nurse. You're amazing and I love you so much. I think about you every day and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. We've gone through so much and, in two weeks, it will finally be over. I can't wait and I'm counting down the hours right now. I've got to go, but I'll see you in two weeks, all right? I love you so much.

Ben

When she finished reading the letter, she put it down on the coffee table and put her head in her hands. The tears were flowing so hard that she thought she wouldn't be able to stop.


:( How sad. So now we're seeing things from Allison's point of view. Exciting stufff. I just looked and we're really close to the end. Very exciting! And bittersweet. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!