Hector spent all day with his friends and he hated when it hit 8:30pm and they had to leave to get back to the base. It had been an amazing day just them hanging out together-of course being careful not to let anything stress Hector out, and making him laugh but not to hard or else he'd be in pain. He loved it because his mind was off everything related to Astrid-he would have more than enough time to figure that out after he was cleared to be stable enough where stress wouldn't affect his recovery although the no stress thing would be good to carry throughout the entire recovery-or so the doctor suggested. But just as they were leaving, the doctor had wanted to see how Hector would do off the mask for a little while and that's when the situation changed from stable to serious and bordering critical. Hector couldn't do it-it was too much on his chest and lungs to breathe on his own. Tallon was actually about to be the last one out when he heard the wheezing and whipped around quickly to check on his friend.
"Hector..." Tallon whispered in fear as Hector sounded like he was choking or having a really bad asthma attack-which Tallon knew Hector didn't have asthma for a fact.
"It's alright, Mr. Haddock-just take it easy. Slow breaths now," the doctor instructed only it wasn't working and Hector was holding his chest in pain. Tallon glared almost as he pushed the doctor out of the way and put the mask over Hector's mouth and nose while Hector's breathing began to return to normal slowly.
"That's it, Hec...breathe slow and calm yourself down," Tallon said before facing the doctor. "It hasn't even been twenty-four hours since surgery! You can't just take him off fast like that, you could have killed him!"
"We knew what we were doing-he has to be able to breathe without it," the doctor argued.
"If you knew what you were doing than my friend shouldn't of been borderline choking because he couldn't breathe! You took it too fast and didn't give him time to adjust to breathing. It hurts him to breathe on his own-he's said this. You should not have attempted to take the mask right away..." Tallon retorted back.
{This is Lieutenant Colonel Bludvist calling Inferno Unit for location update. Do you copy? Over.}
"Tal. You want to answer it. You're Haddock's second in command," Thaxter asked holding it out to him. This was the radio call from the Bludvist wondering where they were because it was now 9pm and they weren't back like they were supposed to be.
"You take it. I need to stay here so they don't kill my best friend," Tallon growled almost, Thaxter lifted the radio as he stepped out of the room with Evan to answer Lt. Col. Bludvist on the radio. Tallon ignored the doctor now as he turned his attention on Hector who was finally calming down and breathing normal again, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah...yeah I'm okay...Thanks for that," Hector said with a few deep breaths.
"I got your back my friend. Any pain?" Tallon asked him softly.
"Chest is about a seven outta ten right now," Hector informed him-cringing again as Tallon glared back at the doctor.
"We apologize, Mr. Haddock. We would like to run some tests however-to make sure we got everything out and find out why you had so much trouble breathing without the mask. You condition changed as soon as it was off and that's not normal," the doctor on the right side of the room stated. After this was said, Thaxter returned to the room with the radio still going and held it out to Tallon.
"He wants to talk to you," Evan told Tallon as he took the radio with an eye roll.
{This is Furysen, Lieutenant Colonel Bludvist. Over.}
{You boys were ordered back for 2100 hours-it's now 2055 and you are nowhere to be found. Over.}
{My apologies. Just as we were leaving the doctor took Haddock's breathing mask off way to fast and he couldn't breathe at all. I elected to put it back on myself so he didn't die. It's to soon for him to be without it. Over.}
{Understandable. How is he doing right now? Over.}
{Better now. Chest is bothering him and doctors want to run more tests. Permission to stay with him another night? I'm his battle buddy and friend-rules say I'm not supposed to leave him when he needs help. Over.}
{Normally I would say he's in good hands with the doctors but given what you told me previously, I'm going to say permission granted, Furysen. I expect an update before midnight and tomorrow morning. Understood? Over.}
{Yes sir. Over.}
{The rest of you, return to base. Bludvist over and out.}
Tallon handed secured the radio to his belt and looked to his other friends, "Go on. I got it him guys. Get back before you get in trouble-nothing will happen to Haddock on my watch," he told them now.
"Got it, Tal. We'll come see you again soon, Hec. Hang in there okay? Don't go dyin on us-we only got two months left before we go home again and party hard," Ryan smiled to him. Hector lifted his hand slow as each of the guys connected their hands to his before leaving the room as a group. Tallon turned his attention on the doctors now.
"Wherever he goes, I go. I'm not losing my best friend because of your careless mistakes. He needs the mask a while longer while the hole in his chest heals-when that is closed than likely he will be able to breathe normally. Until then-leave it be. We clear on that?" he stated firmly. The doctor and two nurses in the room nodded to him-showing that they understood. Tallon moved beside Hector now and sat down in the chair, he was glad that Hector could breathe again. "See-always gonna have your back," Tallon told him with his hand out as Hector connected his hand to Tallon's now.
"And that's why...you are...my...best friend," Hector panted a bit. From there Tallon remained by his side as the doctors did blood work, checked the wound, and even once sent him for X-Ray. It came back that the wound on Hector's chest wasn't wrapped properly so air was being sucked in through his chest-hence why he had trouble breathing without the mask. There were no scraps remaining from the bullet and no organ damage. When they fixed the wrapping on the chest wound, Hector's breathing came easier and eventually with slow deceleration from the oxygen machine, Hector was able to breathe without the mask just as Tallon had to radio back to Bludvist with an update. Tallon radioed back with an update for him-explaining the results of the tests and that Hector was doing a lot better. Bludvist told him good work and to stay with Hector until the next night but then he had to come back to get some rest and offered to send another soldier to keep an eye on Haddock but Hector said he would be fine. With that concluded-Hector ended up falling asleep and then Tallon in the chair beside him-this left the rest of the night really calm and for Hector at least, it was painless.
(Two Months Later)
It took three weeks for Hector to be cleared to leave the hospital and all of which were because of doctor mistakes that kept him there. His chest wound closed fully by the middle of the second week and he no longer needed the mask at all. The pain wasn't great but still gave him some trouble. When Hector finally returned to base at the start of the fourth week into his recovery-he was ordered immediately to light duty as in no heavy lifting, no extraneous activities, and the obvious: no missions but he was allowed to do guard as long as he didn't take part in any of the fighting. He wasn't cleared for normal duty until he hit the very beginning of September and this was also when they were supposed to go home because their tour was over-or supposed to be but they were never given a date in September of when they got to leave Iraq. Hector still had some pain in his chest but the medic stated that was likely to continue for a while and Hector didn't mind-it could be managed with basic aspirin. As soon as he was released back to base too, he called home to let them know he was okay-just taking it slow and resting.
They were currently about two weeks into September now-Hector knew his brother and sister were back in school and so were the others. Not that he considered them friends-but he could tolerate them since they seemed to of changed now that they didn't really hang with Jessie or Skylar anymore or that's what Darius told Hector at least last time they talked which was two weeks ago when Hector let them know that he still have a date for when they were returning back to Berk. All of them were off a mission that was very successful-there had been no problems and no fights to engage in. The guys were celebrating in the barrack with the girls too. It wasn't often they could be in the same barrack together but for some things they were allowed as long as they didn't stay past a certain hour. They were all sitting around, laughing, and talking-enjoying some water and snacks that guys received from home and were nice enough to share with everyone. Hector didn't get packages from home-he didn't want them but from time to time he did get letters. And also one of the things he was doing was figuring out what to do with Astrid.
He'd been thinking about it since the second week in the hospital and still he had nothing close to an answer on what he should do. He knew he liked her still-he wasn't sure if he could say love officially and this was something he had originally admitted to Tallon: that he was in love with Astrid even after what she did to him two years back but now with the chance of them actually getting to be together, he wasn't sure if he could call it love anymore because he did still fear getting hurt by her a second time. He knew he had to figure it out quickly though because as soon as the tour was over and he got back-he'd promised to have an answer ready for her.
"Nightwave! Fall in!" came Major Holgerson's voice as it echoed through the barracks. All of them got on their boots, hats, and rushed out falling in at attention, saluting, and then standing at parade rest. The rest of the barracks did the same thing-after all, they all made up Nightwave Company. Alex Holgerson, Company leader stood before them after they'd formed up in their platoons. "I got good news for you soldiers. Your tour ends tonight! There's another Company coming in to send you out-they will be here in six hours. So you'll be heading out by plane in seven. Go get packed up: vests and guns into the crates that are being placed outside your barracks as we speak. You leave here at 0100 hours. If times are right-you'll be landing at Fort Striker, Berk Island at 7:40am. You will be debriefed and then you are free to return back to your homes and you'll receive orders a week following that on what will be happening. Chances that if you shipped from Fort Striker originally-that will remain your permanent base for station assignments and also you are to report the second weekend of every month for drill," he explained.
"Yes sir!" they Company replied.
"Good then. Bludvist, Greysen, Peyton, Vasquez, and myself are returning as well. We've been here for eighteen months so you'll be seeing a lot of us around Berk or at Fort Striker. So go on and get ready to leave. Dismissed!" Holgerson told them. As soon as the order was given-they cheered happily. They were going home very early tomorrow morning, Hector didn't even plan to call home-he was going to surprise his family with his return. They rushed to their barracks to get started. In seven hours they'd be on a plane back to Berk! They couldn't wait, the tour was finally over.
(Berk; 11:45am)
Long plane ride, long night but all worth it for Hector to be standing where he was now. Before Berkian Academy-ready to surprise his brother and sister, also Gobber with his homecoming. His parents knew he was back-he saw them first and they both took half a day to spend the rest with him. He would see his friends soon-they were all anxious to get back to their families too, except Tallon who wanted no part of going home and Hector told him that if he needed a place to go-to call him right away and he'd more than happy to lend him the couch again. "Alright, remember what I told you to do. Don't make it obvious I'm home to them..." Hector reminded.
"We got it son," Spencer nodded to him. Hector returned it afterwards they all headed into the school-signed in at the main office and then moved towards Gobber's classroom which wasn't far from the main office thankfully. Hector stayed hidden on the side where the lockers were so he wouldn't be seen as the principal knocked on the door and then walked in.
"Principal Santiago. What brings you by?" Gobber asked calmly.
"Well it would seem the mayor and his wife have come to see their children-said it was urgent," she replied softly. Heather and Darius tensed a bit. What could be so urgent their parents had to come to the school in the middle of the day unless it was something about Hector. Even Astrid looked a little nervous now as the principal moved aside while Spencer and Val walked in slowly.
"Hi Mom, Hi Dad...is...everything okay?" Heather asked quickly as she and Darius moved from their seats to greet their parents.
"We...received some news this morning about your brother," Val said with a long sigh.
"Is he-" before Darius could finish his sentence, Hector walked in with a grin almost-still in uniform with his gray bag over his shoulder.
"Hey. Did ya miss me?" Hector said calmly.
"Oh my Gods! Hector, you're home!" Heather screeched almost as she jumped into his arms-crying tears of joy. Hector smiled and hugged her before he put her down to greet his older brother with a lighter hug.
"The news is that my tour is officially over and I'm home for a good long while," Hector told them.
"Jackass, we thought they were gonna tell us you died..." Darius sighed some.
"Wow-so much confidence in me. I feel the love bro," Hector chuckled.
"You got shot in the chest two months ago! You nearly died on the extraction chopper according to your unit..." Heather mumbled worried still.
"And I lived because my team knows what they are doing. I'm good-relax." Hector said as he looked to Gobber now, "What? No hug from my uncle?" without another word, Gobber hugged him tightly. "Ea...sy...Gobber...still got pain from that chest wound..." Hector gasped a bit as Gobber let him go.
"You said it was healed on the phone," Val pointed out.
"It's closed but it was still a pistol to the chest and hurts under to much force. Remember, I fractured to ribs and they get sore from time to time," Hector explained.
"Sorry lad, just glad you're home. No deployment orders right?" Gobber asked.
"Nothing so far. I believe we all have a mandatory four months 'boots at home' type thing is what Bludvist called it. Means that for at least four months-we're staying right here in the Archipelago on our home islands. We only have to report to Fort Striker the second weekend of every month for drill, other than that. I can stay right at home," Hector smiled.
"That's a relief..." Spencer said calmly with a hand on Hector's shoulder as the family was glad for him to be home finally. He'd spent fourteen months over there and it was hell worrying about him and if he was okay or not. Hector's eyes now moved to Astrid who was sitting at her desk with her head down a bit, he could tell she was nervous that he was home because this is when he said he'd give her his answer on them being together.
"Astrid," Hector said gently as he head snapped up, "I do believe I told you or had Tallon tell you when I got home, right?" Astrid nodded her head to him as he put his bag down and approached her desk-then offered his hand to her as she placed hers in his while he pulled her to her feet before him. "I accept you apology and I've made my decision. Sorry it took so long to make it-being at war tends to make you prioritize things ahead of others,"
"It's...alright, Hector. I didn't mind waiting," Astrid replied to him.
"Good. Your patience has paid off then because I'd very much like to be with you and have you as my girlfriend," Hector stated with a calm smile.
"Than as of right now, I'm your girlfriend and with you," Astrid smiled wide. Hector used his finger to lift her chin up while he leaned down and pressed his lips to her lightly in a kiss. Carmen, Heather, Reina, Mandy, and Danielle all gasped and went 'AWE' while a couple of the guys smiled-except for Jessie and Skylar who looked none too pleased about the situation before them of Hector and Astrid now being together in a relationship. Hector was happy to be with her-of course he still held the fear of being hurt if things for whatever reason didn't work out but that was to be expected in any relationship so it was something he had to take with him in this one. His tour was over-he was back with family, and now his girlfriend. Everything was just as he hoped it would turn out. Now all he had to do was just enjoy being out of war and home again. What could possibly be difficult about that?
