Note: this chapter is a little different because I love to play with flashbacks. I love it when they use flashbacks on the show. I hope it makes sense. I apologize if I get any of the military aspects wrong. I am not American, and I do not have any inside knowledge of the military, so don't kill me for getting this part wrong. Please just enjoy the story for the intended purpose of entertainment. Enjoy. And please leave me a comment on your thoughts.
Jack is trying to remember more about how she knows Johnny Holland. She doesn't remember much about what happened in Afghanistan before the wingos was captured. Jack has been trying to remember things about Afghanistan all day. This man, Johnny, has been texting her on this dating site for weeks now. He claims that he knows her. They served together in Afghanistan, but she doesn't remember. Now she must remember. He is killing young female servicemembers who look similar to what she did when she served in the army. She needs to remember things to help the case. One thing that Ducky said earlier really got her thinking. Johnny might have been in love with her before she got captured, and that "lost" could have been what has triggered him to start killing young women, but she can't understand why he has waited so long.
Jack roams around in a storage unit where she had stored a lot of stuff that she had shipped from California when Jack moved here that she hasn't had time to sort through. She knows she has a box withhold pictures and some journeys she kept from her time in Afghanistan. Jack finally finds the box. It is in the back of the storage unit. At the bottom of the box, there is a small shoebox with old pictures. She sits down on the floor, leaned against the wall, and search through the box of photos from back then. The box contains the only pictures she has left from her time in the army. She finds a picture of her unit members flexing their muscles in the front of the image. Jack notices that she is sitting in the background together with a guy with blonde hair. They are sitting on the ground and seems to be talking. Jack slowly begins to remember how she first got to talk to the guy.
Flashback – Afghanistan Helman province
It had been a hectic day in the field. 2 units were ambushed, and there where multiple wounded and two critical. It was a very hectic day. It had been all hands on deck for the past 36 hours. It was finally slowing down, and Jack felt like she could finally breathe. Her unit leader, King, had just given her the order to go and get something to eat and then go and rest for the evening. As Jack walks out of the dining area, she sees a young man. She has seen him around the base before. He is often being laughed at or joked about around the base. He is a loner. Often hang by himself or work out alone. Now he is sitting in the shades by himself. He seems to be trying to tie a bandage around his wrist, but he clearly has trouble doing it with only one hand. The pour guys struggle amuses Jack. After a while, she begins to feel sorry for him and walks over to him. she sits down in front of him and begins to help him. "let me do that for ya."
The young man looks up and notices Jack's silver stripe on the collar of her uniform, which indicates that she is a lieutenant 1st class. "ma'am," the young man says and is about to stand up, but Jack stops him and quietly asks him to remain seated. The young soldier is a private first class. It is uncommon for an officer to help an enlisted rank like this, but today has been rough on everyone, so on a day like this, Jack is willing to overlook small rules to help a fellow servicemember. The young man avoids eye contact with Jack the entire time she is nursing his hand. He clearly has a spring wrist.
"you should go to the infirmary," Jack says.
"yes, ma'am. I did. They were busy. There are a lot of people who have sustained much more severe injuries than me. ma'am."
"first," Jack says firmly and looks up and waits for him to meet her eyes. the young man finally looks up to meet her eyes. "don't call me ma'am." Jack says with a soft smile. The young man nods in understanding, but he is clearly uncertain about responding to the gentle smile on her face.
"understood." He replies.
"second." She says and looks back down at his injured wrist. "down here… a small injury requires just as much serious attention as a big injury. Your life depends on your body being 100% functional. Even a splinter in your finger, which can seem like nothing, can end up being a difference between life or death for either you or one of your brothers."
"I wouldn't exactly call them my brothers." The young man mumbles under his breath.
"what was that?" Jack asks and lookup.
The young man immediately regrets what he just said. He seemed to have forgotten for a moment that he is speaking to a commanding officer. But the moment the late afternoon sun hits the silver stripe on Jack's shoulder, he is reminded, and he fumbles over his words.
"my apology, ma'am. Sorry lieutenant… Sloane. I didn't mean any disrespect." The young man seems nervous and awkward, and it amuses Jack.
"Hey, relax, it is okay. Jack says, and places a hand on his shoulder. "what is your name."
"private first-class Holland." The young man responds loud and clear as he straightens up his upper body and looks straight ahead.
"hey." She says to get him to look at her. "I mean, what is your first name? what do your friends call you? do you have a nickname?" Jack asks with a soft smile, and the young man sinks into a more relaxed position again.
"my… my first name is Jonathan." He then looks down and mumbles almost non-audible. "but my mom always calls me Johnny."
"Johnny?" Jack asks with softness in her voice. He nods a little embarrassed. "but everyone else calls me Gump." He says even more embarrassed then he did when he told her what his mom calls him.
"Why do they call you Gump?" Jack asks. She has heard people yell that name after him on base but never thought much of it.
"because they say I am like Forest Gump. You know. The Tom Hanks movie Character." Jack nods.
"yeah, I know that movie. Gump saved a lot of his fellow soldiers in Vietnam and awarded a medal of honor." Jack says, encouraging, and it makes the young man smile for the first time since Jack sat down.
"that is not why they call me that." He says and looks down on his hand that Jack is done with.
"then why do they call you that?" Jack asks, curious, but she already has a feeling because she has overheard some of the officers and enlisted speaking very demeaning about him.
"because I am stupid. I follow orders."
"There is nothing wrong with following orders. That is what a good soldier does." Jack says.
"Yeah, but. I joined the army to find a place to belong because I have been a loser my whole life. I am the slowest runner in my unit, only average in academic skills."
"have you ever heard the saying that if you judge a goldfish on its ability to fly. It is going to feel stupid its whole life?" the young man first looks bewildered at Jack, and then he starts laughing, and so does Jack.
"no, I haven't."
"well… my point is. Don't judge yourself or let anyone else judge you for what you can't do. Find something you are good at and focus on that instead. I have seen you in the field. Talking and connecting with the locals. You can connect with the locals and especially with the local teens. That is a special skill."
"yeah, but not as a soldier."
"Being a soldier is more than just carry a gun and shooting bad guys."
"not for real soldiers." He says and looks down, embarrassed at his hands. "can I tell you a secret?" he asks after a few moments of silence. Jack nods. he takes a moment to choose his words before he speaks.
"I don't really like killing people, not even Terrorist. I can't help but think that even though these men are Taliban and might have killed Americans… They are still people. They have a mom and dad and maybe a wife or kids. I know it makes me a bad soldier."
"no, it doesn't." Jack says and places a hand on his shoulder. "it would make you a bad soldier if you took pleasure in killing people or if you stopped seeing them as people. They are terrorists but also people. We need to keep reminding ourselves of that. Especially down here." Jack says. she looks over her shoulder. 2 of her unit members are waiting for her.
"I got to go. My boys need me." Jack says with a smile.
"Hey, Jack." One of the men says. Jack nods as to tell them she has heard him and that she is coming.
"your first name is Jack?" he asks as she stands up. She looks down at him and nods.
"sorry. I shouldn't ask for the superior officers' first name."
"it is short for Jacquelin." Jack says. "but don't you dare call me that." She says in a warning tone and then smiles at him. He nods and smiles at her. he has a sweet innocent boyish smile. "see ya around, Johnny." She says with a smile and begins to walk towards her men." She then stops in her tracks and turns to look at him. "Go to the infirmary first thing in the morning with that hand." She orders.
"yes, ma'am." He says with a smile, and she walks towards her men.
Present time
Jack is back in the present. It is beginning to be dark outside the storage unit. Jack is shocked and pulls out her weapon when she sees a dark shadow standing in the door to the storage unit. Her heart is beating fast until she realizes who it is. The only person it could be who would find out she even had a storage unit – Leon Vance. He walks into the storage unit and sits down on the ground next to her.
"How did you find out?" She asks and places the picture back in the shoebox and places the top back on.
"you are not that hard to find." He simply says. To her immense surprise, he doesn't sound upset or even the slightest irritated.
"you know him?" Vance asks. It sounds more as a statement than as a question.
"maybe. I am trying to remember."
"you could have told me." He says calmly.
"tell you what?" Jack says, irritated as tears start forming in her eyes, "that I don't remember a guy who remembers every sentence I ever said to him and who is killing women who bare a noticeable resembling to me back then. It took me two weeks to even remember that I knew him. I have been texting with this guy for two weeks, and I never made the connection. It wasn't until I saw his photo in uniform on the monitor today. I had suppressed everything from my time in Afghanistan before I was taken. I don't remember anything. All I remember about this guy was that I told him not to see himself as a goldfish."
It makes Vance look utterly confused at her, and they both start laughing.
"I need to be able to remember, Leon."
"anything I can do to help?" he asks.
"help the team catch him before he hurts anyone else," she suggests. "I don't think I am going to be much help on this one. I can't trust my memories of this guy."
Leon nods. "okay." He says and squeezes her hand gently and reassuring before he gets up. "I'll try and keep Gibbs off your back," he says with a smile. "good luck with that." Jack jokes, and it generates a smile on Leon's face too as he leaves her alone again in the almost dark storage unit.
Note: I like to think of Jack as a soldier who respects the chain of command but also as a person who has a very soft a human side and takes care of her fellow servicemembers/team members. Let me know what you think of it.