Chapter 17: Lexa

The following week or so was pretty much the same day in and day out. We trained in the morning, and after lunch, we began working on the vehicles Ahmed gave Ash. She said that just like people, she didn't trust her vehicles unless she was the one to work on them. So she taught me how to do the simple things first, like changing the oil and tires. Then we moved on to tearing the engines apart, modifying them, and then putting them back together. Once done with that, we started altering the body. When I asked her how she knew how to do all this stuff, she told me that her dad used to make her and her brothers help him rebuild classic cars when he was at home between tours.

Ahmed had given Ash a Jeep Sandstorm that was pretty beat up, but she showed me how to take off the pieces that were bent and how to hammer out the dents then replace the parts. She also showed me how to fill in the rust spots and sand them down to paint them. We decided to paint it black with a badass picture of a female warrior on the hood with purple trim. We then broke down the motor, completely rebuilt it, added a heavy-duty suspension, and lifted 37-inch tires. When we finished, it was awesome!

The following day, we had an appointment with Abby at the clinic, so we decided to take the Jeep for a test run. It ran great, and I enjoyed the ride into town. Ash looked terrific behind the wheel with her golden blonde hair blowing in the wind. I couldn't help but stare at her as she drove. It was a great morning. When we arrived at the clinic, Abby was just pulling up in her army transport. We walked in together, and she took us straight back to the examination room.

As soon as the door closed, she started asking a million questions. We couldn't help but laugh at her. She was like a mother hen who had lost track of her chicks. She wanted to know everything that had happened since we last saw her. Ash gave her the run down on everything while I began taking off my shirt so that Abby could examine me. She was amazed at how fast I had healed. She was able to go ahead and take out all my stitches and told me that I could begin training again. At this, I just laughed because I had been doing that already.

Next, it was Ash's turn. Her leg had pretty much healed as well, so she could have her stitches removed also. Although her wound was still red and puffy where mine wasn't. Abby wanted to get a new x-ray of her ankle to make sure everything was healing correctly before she would allow her to take off the walking boot for good. After the x-ray, Abby said everything looked good and gave Ash some exercises to do with her ankle to improve her strength and flexibility. We asked Abby to tell Blake to meet us back here in two weeks so we could go over what we had learned then we said goodbye.

"Now," Ash said, "I have a surprise for you."

"Really? What?"

"First we are going to get something to eat and then we are going shopping for a TV and some other things for our room. How does that sound?"

"That sounds awesome. I have never been shopping before."

Ash looked at me like I had just grown a third head, "What do you mean you have never been shopping before?"

"I mean, I have never been before. All my clothes at the orphanage were given to me, we had uniforms. Then when I was captured by Ahmed, he gave us all fatigues, and that's all I have ever had. Well, except the shorts and stuff you gave me. Plus, I never had any money to buy anything, so…."

She just shook her head and said, "Well, that is about to change! Where do you want to eat?"

"I don't know...I kind of has never been out to eat before either. But, again, the meals have always just been provided for us."

"What? Never mind, what do you feel like eating?" She asked.

"How about we make this process easier on the both of us, and you just pick where we eat and shop."

Telling Ash, I had never done these things that she seemed to think were so ordinary embarrassed me. I think she caught on to that when she told me not to worry that she had just the place for us. We pull up in front of this nice-looking restaurant, and she says that she hopes that I am hungry because they have the best steaks that she has found over here. I laugh because I am always hungry. We go inside and are seated at a table for two by the back wall facing the door, luckily, Ash orders for me because I have no idea what to order. As Ash gives the waiter our order, I began to case the room for exits and threats. When the server brings out the plates, mine has the most significant piece of meat I have ever seen on it, along with a baked potato. Ash tells me that back home where she is from that, they call the meat a T-bone steak. She also tells me to put lots of butter and cheese on the potato because that makes it taste good. I take her word for it and do as I'm told.

I take a bite of the steak, and it melts in my mouth. It is the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. I then move on to the potato, which is surprisingly good but not nearly as good as the steak which I inhale. Ash just watches me and laughs. When the server returns, Ash orders desert. I haven't really had too many types of desserts, so when the server returns with some sort of banana concoction, I just stare at it. Ash sees my hesitation and takes a spoon and gets a piece of the banana and then scoops some ice cream with it, and then she leans across the table and feeds it to me. It is amazing.

When we leave the restaurant, she asks me, "So what did you think?

I reply, "That was the best meal I have ever had, and the fact that I got to share it with you made it even better."

She turned a little pink in the cheeks and said, "I think that you know more about relationships than you want me to believe."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just say what I feel."

She just laughed, "come on, let's go shopping."

I didn't know what to expect, but Ash seemed pretty excited. She said that we were going clothes shopping first since I had never been allowed to pick out my own clothes. I tried to tell her it was easier that way, but she said no, I needed my own style and not just fatigues. So, it began, she drags me in store after store having me try on all the types of clothes. I think she just liked to make me uncomfortable and see me in all the clothes. Finally, I talked her into a pair of cargo shorts, a printed tank top, and a long-sleeved dress shirt that I rolled the sleeves up on. She proceeded to pick up about four similar outfits and then some basketball shorts and sleeveless t-shirts. She said she liked the way my arms looked in the sleeveless shirts. She also handed me a pair of tennis shoes to complete my new look.

Next, we went to the market and picked up a 50-inch flat-screen TV with a DVD player. Then she asked if I preferred Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo? I had no idea what she was talking about, so I just said to get what she wanted. This led to another awkward conversation about how I had never heard of any of them. In the end, she went with the Xbox, and she grabbed a few games and movies.

It was beginning to get dark by this time, so I asked if we should be heading back, but she said we had one more stop to make. Ahmed had let her place an order for a new ATV since she didn't know what happened to the other one, and we needed to go pick it up. So we loaded up our things into the jeep heading for the edge of town, where there was a vehicle dealer. He had all kinds of off-road vehicles. Ash said that since she wasn't going to be riding alone anymore that she had ordered what they called a side-by-side ATV. It looked more like a dune buggy than ATV to me, except it had a little flat bed behind the seats where Ash said we would add another seat and gun. As she was loading it on the trailer, I was just walking around looking at all the different types of vehicles. When Ash found me, I was looking at a dirt bike.

She came up behind me and put her head on my shoulder while wrapping her arms around my waist. This surprised me because...I don't know why. I guess because we were out in the open, and everyone could see us. Anyway, she asked if I liked the bike and I said yes because it was a nice bike. It was black and sleek. I had never really seen one before. She said, "well, let's get it."

I said, "What? No, I don't even know how to drive."

She smiled at me and said, "Well, you have to learn sometime. We can get a matching pair and modify them for recon missions."

I couldn't believe it. Was she really going to buy me a bike? The next thing I knew, she was motioning the guy over and telling him we wanted the two matching black bikes and we would need helmets to go with them. I couldn't contain my excitement and had the biggest grin on my face as they loaded the bikes onto the trailer with the ATV. I asked Ash how she had the money to buy all these nice things, and she simply said that Ahmed was paying her more than Azan. I was confused because I didn't get paid anything. She saw the look on my face and said that she was paid nicely because she was, as far as Ahmed knew, a gun for hire. So that is why they had to negotiate her contract. I asked if she thought that I could be a gun for hire one day and make some money too. She just smiled and said not if she can help it. She went on to tell me that I will go back to school and have an everyday life when we get out of here, hopefully.