"Whenever you're ready, Captain Haddock," the president smiled after Hector had set everything up and wait trying to figure out what to sing. All his present songs were related to depression-his own of course. He couldn't play those, it was open a door of questions he didn't want to answer.

'Come on, Hector...you can do-' his train of thought was stopped short when he heard his cell phone ringing in his pocket. Hector took the guitar off his shoulder setting it in it's case carefully-then he pulled out his phone and answered it, "Hello?"

"Captain Haddock, hello. It's Alex Holgerson," the man replied into Hector's ear.

"Major Holgerson," Hector said a little surprised that he'd be calling him while he stepped off to the side, "What can I do for you sir?" he said after a moment.

"Hector..." Alex said softly. Hector really didn't like this anymore but didn't panic-that wasn't something he did. "There's no easy way to say this. Cody was shot in the chest twice, and...Bludvist is gone," Hector's eyes widened as he almost stumbled to keep his balance. Lieutenant Colonel Bludvist was...dead? Cody had been shot twice in the chest? They were...just there-Hector just talked to them not even twenty four hours ago when he let them know the plane made it to Berk safely! How did all this happen in so little time?! "And with Bludvist...twenty-three others passed as well, thirteen injured. It just happened an hour ago, things are...very chaotic right now. I'm...riding with Cody to the CSH, he asked me to call you,"

"What the hell happened! We just...left there at 0900 hours yesterday-it...hasn't even been twenty four hours. Who is with the soldiers?" Hector asked right away.

"It was an ambush, very large scale and barely any time to react to it. Peyton and Vasquez are with them-all preparing to ship out tonight back to Berk, along with the bodies of the fallen-or at least the ones we could recover...Listen to me, I-I don't know if Cody is going to make it but-he asked me to call you..." Alex said sympathetically. Hector froze hearing this. Cody...might die? "I'm going to put him on," there was a few shifting like noises as Hector listened closely.

"Ello...la-lad..." came Cody's weak voice and Hector felt his chest tighten.

"You should be worried about yourself, not me...Save your strength," Hector told him as he glanced back at his friends who were wondering what was going on. Hector moved outside the doors of Berk Hall.

"I always...worry about ya." Cody panted a bit, cringing and Hector could hear it. "Listen...to me because...I want you...to know...how proud of you I am, Hector. You've done...so many great things...since you joined and I know you will...continue to do more of the same. I lost my son young, he was only eight when he died from cancer-you...remind me so much of him," Hector winced at that one, "You're...like a son to me and you will...never know how much joy it brought me to of met you four years ago. You changed my life-for a while...after meeting you, it felt like my son was still alive. He always...wanted to be like me. Military life, fight for what...was right. You showed me that same drive he had...and I just...want to thank you for giving me back that joy..."

"You...changed my life too, Cody. Meeting you that day...you've done so much for me and I will never be able to repay the kindness and support you've given me over the years. You're the father...I never got to have and that will always mean the world to me." Hector was trying to keep it together, it was killing him to hear the man who had been like a father to him for the last four years essentially dying right now, to hear how weak he was and Hector was so far away from him. "You need...to save your strength, my friend. That way you can...heal and come back-you still...gotta take me out for my twenty first, remember? You promised," Hector added trying to laugh a little.

"I know my promise...Don't worry, I'll...be okay-just wanted to let ya know what I did...I am really...proud of you and you're gonna go far. I just know it. Well, got to the hospital. Holgerson...will keep you updated," Cody said to him.

"Go on. I'm not...going anywhere. Get fixed up and I'll talk to you soon, okay?" Hector replied softly. There was a brief pause of silence now and he got a little scared.

"Of course," Hector felt a little relieved, "I love you, son," Hector's eyes widened a bit, he didn't...know how to respond to that. "I guess...it's good bye for now,"

"Only for a little while," Hector paused some, "I love you too, Dad," Hector replied gently. There was some shifting now, the phone was clearly being handed off-likely back to Alex.

"Let the others in Dragon know what happened for me. I'll keep you posted about Cody, Haddock. And if he should pass on, I think you just made his last moments really happy with what you said-haven't seen that smile in a long time," with that, Alex hung up as Hector brought the phone from his ear and down to his side as he lowered his head. He'd made Cody's last moments really happen, that was all Holgerson could end the conversation with?! How was Hector supposed to feel after heard that? Hector heard the door open as he didn't bother to look.

"Hector?" came Tallon's voice. "Who...was on the phone?"

"Get back inside, Tal. I got news for the platoon..." Hector stated calmly but in a very calm tone. Tallon didn't like this-it had to be bad for Hector to get so serious, he nodded and moved back inside as Hector took a breath and turned to return inside as well. He stood before his platoon, "I'm afraid I've got bad news for you,"

"Captain...what happened?" asked one of the girls.

"It just came to my attention that there was an ambush an hour ago at Camp Fury. And Nightwave...was hit the hardest," Hector began as they gasped in fear. "Total injuries are fifteen. Total...losses are twenty four, including...Lieutenant Colonel Bludvist,"

"Bludvist...is gone?" Thaxter said quickly getting to his feet.

"Yes. That was...Major Holgerson on the phone. Nightwave is returning home to Berk in a few hours-they are...still recovering bodies from the attack. I'm not sure how many they have right now. One of the injuries was to Captain Cody Greysen...he was shot twice in the chest and right now in surgery," Hector informed.

"Hector..." Evan asked now as Hector glanced over, "Are you okay? I know how close you two are,"

Hector turned his head a bit, "He told me, 'I love you, son' and then he gave the phone back to Alex before being rushed into surgery. He's alive-that's...enough right now, but if Cody dies..." he trailed off some, "I don't know if I'm gonna be okay if that happens."

"You don't...have to play still, lad. I'm sure...after all that you don't want to perform," the president said calmly walking over now.

"Thank you," Hector replied then he went to sit down, he didn't really care about anything else right now-he just wanted to know if Cody was okay.

(An Hour & Thirty Minutes Later)

Silence fell on the room when Hector's cell phone rang, he grabbed it quickly. "Major Holgerson! How is he?" Hector asked right away.

"Hector...they...did everything they could for him...you have to know that-but he'd just...lost too much blood and...he didn't make it. Captain Cody Greysen is gone. His body along with Bludvist's, and the other thirteen soldiers bodies that were found-will be sent home with Nightwave tomorrow at 7am, Iraq time. All families have been informed, arrangements are being made as we speak. Tell Dragon that Nightwave is returning home...I'll call when we land," Alex said slowly. Hector felt like his world just crashed before him. He didn't even hear the rest of what Alex said, only that Cody didn't make it, that he was gone. Cody was dead. "Captain?" Alex asked. Hector didn't even answer him, he was frozen in shock of the news he'd gotten.

"Tallon..." Darius said shaking Tallon a bit to get his attention, then pointed to Hector.

When Tallon turned he saw Hector just standing there and then the phone just fell to his side as he lowered his head-eyes closed as he gripped his phone tightly until it began to crack and eventually just snapped in half. Hector began to shake as the tears welled up in his eyes. "I can't be here right now," Hector backed up and ran outside.

"Cody...he didn't...survive, did he?" Viktor asked as Tallon shook his head and looked down at Hector's broken phone.

"No. No, it doesn't appear that he did for Hector to have that reaction," Tallon said finally. "And I don't think Hector is going to be okay for a good long while. But I know this, he's gonna need us to be there for him," he added.

"Mayor Haddock, I think it'd be a good time to end this early. I think your son needs the love and support of his family right now," President Morgan stated moving beside Spencer.

"Of course, Mr. President. Darius, Tallon...would you pack up Hector's music things for him. I think it's best we go home," Val stood now agreeing with President Morgan. Tallon and Darius nodded as they began to pack up Hector's microphone, laptop and guitar. When it was all packed up and goodbyes were said, the Haddock family left the hall making their way to their vehicles. Tallon and Darius reached the truck to see Hector just sitting there and staring out the front window-silent tears falling down from his eyes.

"Hec...?" Darius asked trying to open the door to the truck. Hector pressed the lock button upward as the doors unlocked and his things were placed in the backseat.

"Why don't you let me drive babe?" Tallon offered. Hector didn't even argue, he moved into the middle seat as Tallon got behind the wheel, and then Darius on the other side of Hector. Tallon didn't say anything, none of them did as Tallon started the truck and they were heading back towards the Haddock house. The ride was short, maybe ten minutes at best when they pulled into the driveway, then Spencer's car right beside the truck. Everyone got out and entered the house after Val unlocked the door.

"Honestly, Hector. You think you could of held it together better in there," Spencer remarked. Hector stared at him, he wasn't doing it. He refused to deal with this right now.

"Oh. Was I supposed to just stand there and act like nothing happened? That I was okay after hearing my friend died after being shot in the chest twice? Sorry I ruined your meeting or whatever it was-but I didn't want to be there in the first place. Go as a family. Please, that was just a fucking show so you don't look like an asshole." Hector retorted coldly.

"Watch your tone, boy. I am still your father. Now I'm sorry about your friend-but this is why you don't belong in the military. All the people you lose there, now this-interrupting a very important meeting, making it all about you. Right? Just like when you made it a big deal after we learned you joined. I swear, do you ever think about anyone but yourself?" Spencer asked firmly. Hector's eyes narrowed.

"I'd stop if I were you," Hector warned.

"Why should I? Maybe if I say it enough-you'll get it through your thick skull. You have such a promising career ahead of you after high school, working in my office, working towards becoming mayor yourself. And you threw it all away to go play army," Spencer sighed heavily.

"Play army?" Hector asked, "PLAY ARMY!? That's what you think I'm doing when I go to Iraq? That's what you think I chose to do when I joined?! You think I'm playing?" he glared now.

"Well you won't give us another reason why you did it. You just keep saying that it's something you have to do, so until you give me a real reason that merits you joining, I'm going to assume you just wanted to play and did it on a dare from your friends at school," Spencer crossed his arms over his chest. Oh, Hector had enough.

"Last warning old man. Stop or you're not going to like the outcome," he warned again as his hands balled to fists.

"Have some respect, don't they teach that there? See, you represent nothing of the military. No discipline. No manners. You're just a little boy trying to be man by wearing a uniform that you don't deserve. And what is all this about you dating Tallon now-another dare? Ridiculous. You had so much going for you, and you throw it away to play games and have a fuck buddy," Spencer remarked.

"DAD!" Heather and Darius shouted.

"Spencer Haddock!" Val scolded.

"What, Val. You don't honestly expect me to believe that he really loves him? They were best friends, now they're lovers. That's a friend with benefits-there's no love here. You heard him on his first leave, the day he got desperate enough for sex, he'd go to Tallon. Well, son, if ya had stayed with Astrid instead of letting your friend get between the two of you, then maybe you wouldn't of had to turn to men to have sex," Spencer retorted.

"Are you fucking kidding me! Were you not listening that day? The day why I told everyone why I left her, before my second tour started. The day I said she fucking cheated on me for five months! Lied to me? Did you hear any of that? Oh wait...you did hear it. You just didn't give a damn-like always? Never caring about Hector. That's how it's always been and always will be! You're insufferable. But you know what, I just don't care anymore. I am not in the mood to deal with you or your bullshit rig-" he was cut off by Spencer's hand making contact with Hector's cheek-the force was so powerful that it actually made him fall to the ground.

"Hector!" Tallon said with worry as he dropped beside him quickly to check on his boyfriend. "Are you alright?" Hector sat up as he touched his cheek and lip, pulling his hand back, he saw blood there. Tallon glared at Spencer now as the man realized what he'd done.

"Yeah...I'm fine," Hector said as he got himself to his feet slowly and Tallon stayed beside him. "You want to know why I joined the military so bad?" he asked slowly now, "To get the fuck away from you! From everyone! I got so sick and fucking tired of being everyone's target. At school, at home...Gods, it never stopped. I've said this all before, the last time someone triggered me and pissed me off. I hated my life, all of it. I was bullied at school for years and I was ignored at home. Did you know Skylar has been a bully of mine since the 4th grade? Oh right, you did know. You said he was just playing with me. Yeah the bruises on my arms, and sides were just...playing. You didn't listen to me and you probably could have cared less. Did you know that all I ever got told was that I was worthless, useless, weak nobody whose life would amount to nothing? Did you know that I felt like a slave in this house because I was always stuck doing the chores, the cooking by my damn self? Hm? Did you know any of that?"

"That's not a reason to run off without telling anyone and join the military and the only reason we found out was because of a news report," Spencer said quieter now.

"Oh, I wasn't finished. It was a simple question. Did you know?" Hector asked.

"No. I didn't-you didn't talk to anyone, Hector. You were always in your room," Spencer answered with a sigh.

"BECAUSE YOU NEVER LISTENED TO ME!" Hector shouted angrily making his father step back once. "Gods, I tried so many times to tell you how I felt being here and you were always too busy for me. That's all I ever heard from you: I'm busy, Hector. That's all I ever heard from anyone in this house. You were busy with your job, Mom was busy with hers, Darius and Heather were busy with their friends who I'm almost positive were talking about how to make my life hell the next in school. I was bullied at school and ignored at home, all the time. Just like I said last time I snapped at everyone. Why did it take the military for anyone to notice me, to care about me! You didn't give a flying fuck before you saw me on TV, leading a mission and getting shot in the arm. That's when you noticed me, that's when I existed to people. Don't even try to stand there and tell me you knew a thing about me because you didn't even noticed how fucking depressed I was that I wanted to kill myself."

"So you joined because we were doing our jobs? That's stupid, Hector," Spencer closed his eyes.

"I JOINED SO I WOULDN'T FUCKING KILL MYSELF BECAUSE I KNEW I WAS LIVING IN THIS GODDAMN HOUSE WHERE NO ONE GAVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT ME, WHERE NO ONE NOTICED ME! Believe me, if I hadn't met Cody-the one who was killed tonight-I would have killed myself a week after my seventeenth birthday. I was either gonna slit my wrists, overdose, hang, poison, or drown myself. But then I found that pamphlet in my bag that Cody gave me, and I thought: hey, instead of dying to get away from it all, why don't I just leave and prove everyone wrong about me. All those things people thought about me, that I was worthless, useless, weak, a nothing...I decided to do something that would allow my to change my life instead of ending it. I joined to prove everyone wrong, to show I wasn't those things they thought about me and boy, have I." Hector remarked.

"And how dare you say I'm only with Tallon on a dare or because I'm desperate for sex. I'll have you know he and I haven't done anything sexual! Not that it's any of your fucking business. How about you worry about you-like always, and I'll worry about me. I'm with Tallon because I love him and he loves me. I'm not with Astrid because she fucking lied to me, cheated on me. HURT ME, TWICE! Back in freshman year, they all played a trick on me. Made me think she liked me, wanted to be with me. Then the day we were going to show everyone our relationship-I found her with her friends, laughing at me saying I was stupid for falling for it. Even Darius and Heather were in on it, almost killed myself that day too. And even when I gave he another chance, she cheated on me for five months and if it weren't for Tallon saving my ass, I would of made a huge mistake sleeping with her," he added afterwards.

"Well I don't approve of it. It's not normal, two men being together. It's not natural. Should be a man and a woman. And I don't support you being in the military. If you want to be there, fine. I can't stop you," Spencer retorted.

"Damn right you can't," Hector crossed his arms over his chest.

"But you won't date a man in my house. So either leave him, or leave here. My son wouldn't embarrass the family this way. If you want to be with him, then you are no son of mine, especially when you call another man 'father'. I heard you on the phone earlier."

"Since when was I ever your son to begin with when I didn't fucking exist to you!? I'm not leaving Tallon, he's actually been there for me-more than anyone else. I'm not doing anything to please you. It wouldn't matter anyway, nothing I ever did made you proud and clearly nothing ever will. So I'm done. And leave Cody out of this. Yeah, I called him Dad earlier because he's been a father to me. He's been more of a father to me in four years than you have my entire life. But what does it matter, you don't care. I'll leave-I know when I'm not wanted, it's not exactly a new feeling for me. However before I go, I'll say this: don't you ever say that I don't do anything for this family because I've done more for it than you ever have and will. The job I do that you don't support, is the reason you have the job you do. The fucking freedom and peace Berk has is because I fight for it-I keep this island safe alongside the rest of the military. So why don't you remember that next time you're addressing Berk, that the son you used to have is the reason you still have what you do today." Hector said firmly as he turned away from Spencer and the others and walked out the door, "That's why I joined the military. To keep the people I care about safe, and change my life into something great...I'll be back for my stuff," then he was in the truck.

"Real nice, Mayor Haddock. I'm glad we have such a supportive leader," Tallon hissed out hatefully, "Come within fifty feet of us and I'm calling the police and letting them know you backhanded him. That outta look real good for your image. Stay away from Hector, or you're going to have to deal with me and the entire Dragon platoon. You may not care about him, but we do. I won't let you hurt him anymore," with that he left and followed after Hector to the truck, as soon as he was in it-they were gone from sight.

"I hope you're proud of yourself," Darius said with a huff as he walked away, Heather just shook her head.

"And to think he could have shown everyone who you really are earlier but instead he protected you so you wouldn't look like the bad guy," Val walked away with her eyes closed.

(With Hector & Tallon)

Hector didn't say a word while driving, Tallon wouldn't ask if he was okay because he knew he wasn't-what made him mad was seeing the split lip still bleeding and Hector's fast bruising cheek from where Spencer struck him hard. The drive was silent until Hector pulled into a motel that had been fifteen minutes away from the Haddock house. Tallon guessed why he would come to a motel, since Hector couldn't stay at the house unless he left his boyfriend-he refused to do that so he was choosing a motel for now. He parked the truck and shut it off letting his hand drop to his leg with a sigh.

"I can...take you to Tori's if you want. This is where I'll be for a while-til I figure something else out," Hector finally said.

"The only place I want to be, is with you, Hector." Tallon reached his hand over and held Hector's gently. Hector offered a small smile as they got out of the truck, Hector grabbed his laptop bag-then his backpack from the bed of the truck. It always had a few sets of clothes in it as well as shower stuff. He and Tallon both kept a backpack in there-just in case they ever needed it, looks like that was paying off now. Reaching the main office, Hector got them one of the end rooms that was basically a one bedroom apartment. It had a small bathroom, stand up shower, toilet, small sink with mirror above that could be used as a medicine cabinet. Over the toilet was a cabinet that had six towels, two extra rolls of toilet paper, plus the one already set up next to the toilet. There was a small utility closet outside the bathroom with a broom, dustpan, mop and bucket. A change of sheets, with two extra pillows on one of the shelves. The rest of the space was assumed to be for food storage.

Along that wall was the kitchen area. Counter along the length except for the stove and fridge that were right by the window. Fridge being closest to the wall, stove on the right left side of it, little more counter space before the single sink, and more counter leading up to the utility closet. There were cabinets on either side of the sink, above it and mounted to the wall, then cabinets and drawers underneath the counters and sink. The bedroom had a six drawer dressed, three on right and on the left. A full size bed, two nightstands, and small closet to hang clothes in or store a few things. The living room area had a futon like couch, one recliner, TV on the stand with a center table made of wood, there were also two couch-side tables. It wasn't much but would be enough until Hector thought of something else. They could pay every two weeks, it was only $300, making it $600 monthly, standard rate for a one bedroom in Berk.

Hector took it all in with a sigh as he sat on the couch just staying quiet. Tallon sat beside him with a hand over his shoulders and pulled him against him. That seemed to be all it took before Hector buried his face against Tallon's chest and started crying over everything that had happened. Losing Cody and Drake, all the other soldiers who had died, the fight with his father-who had now disowned him for dating Tallon. He just let go and cried, hating it all. Tallon didn't know what else he could do but hold him and tell him it would be okay. He knew Hector wasn't okay, he didn't know how long it would take until he was okay-but he knew one thing for absolute certainty: Spencer Haddock crossed lines he shouldn't have and Tallon would never let him hurt Hector again.