We all stood around and watched as his body, wrapped in a sheet, was lifted into the ambulance. Suppressed tears shone in more than one person's eyes as we snapped to attention, clicked our muddy and soiled heels together and saluted the young private.
He was a baby, he was someone's baby. Too young to be caught up in this war, too young to have his innocence taken from him in such a way, too young to know the cruel hand of death as it stopped his heart. The ambulance pulled away, leaving a spray of dirt and mud in its wake. We glanced around, looking at faces that were empty of all feelings other than grief.
I had been asleep when he came to me. Cold hands grabbed my shoulder and shook me awake. My eyes opened and the look he had on his face caused fear and worry to shoot through my body, waking me like a hundred cups of coffee never could. My eyes held a desperate question in them as I looked up at his.
"Jackson." One word, so heavy it filled the room like a dense fog.
I sat up, my muscles protested with pain from the fever that disappeared only a few short hours ago. It physically hurt more than anything I had felt before in my life. But I swallowed hard and pushed the pain aside. I pulled my legs up and he dropped heavily onto my bed, his hands leaving bloody stained prints on the white sheets. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat next to him, shoulder to shoulder. No words past from his lips. No pleas for reassurance or support. No tears, no cries. Just still silence.
He needed it, but he would never ask for it.
I stared blankly ahead as I grabbed his ice cold hand in mine. The only movements in the room were our chest as they rose fell with our breath and my thumb as I rubbed the calloused pad across the back of his hand. No sound but the soft murmur of activity that came from underneath the window sill where the town started to breathe new life as the occupants, foreign to its once fruitful soil, stirred and started their days with military precision. No words of comfort passed my dry and chapped lips. That wasn't what he needed. He just needed someone to be there, to keep him from falling into the dark recesses of his own mind.
I had been there. I knew how hard it was to pull yourself out once you were ensnarled in it, its thorny tendrils wrapped around you as you struggled in silence to free yourself. All he need was someone to light the spark, keep the candle glowing as it flickered and tapered in the wind. I had been there. I had someone there be that candle.
And now I was that candle for him.
I was there to show him that he was not alone.
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I caught his gaze as the ambulance fell out of sight. His blue-grey eyes held mine for a moment and I saw the pain he had held since D-Day, the loss of so many lives that had weighed him down in as he drowned in their blood. For a brief moment I saw it, but it soon flickered like the candle in the wind and it was gone. He turned and walked off. Separating himself from what would tear him apart if he let it.
Distancing himself so the next time his title was yelled out and he fought that losing battle against death, he wouldn't lose himself in the desperation that death left behind in its wake.
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"Sergeant Benally." I sighed and turned to face the Captain.
"Sir." I nodded, wincing as pain shot through my throbbing head.
"What are you doing up?" He questioned.
"I'm feeling better, sir. Just a little sore." He looked me over, studying me intently, trying to figure something out. I could see the cogs turning in his head and I could see them when they caught and rumbled and groaned, trying to turn but wedged and ground to a stop.
"Did Doc clear you?" He finally asked.
"I cleared myself, sir." I answered. "Doc needs some time to himself right now." He nodded in understanding.
"Well, you still need to see a medic," he grinned a predatory grin. "After all, they say doctors make the worst patients."
"Yes, sir." I sighed and resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
"Well since our medics are indisposed at the moment, you'll have to go see one of the medics from another company." He said casually.
"Where's Spina, sir?" I asked.
"He's down at regimental restocking supplies." He tilted his head slightly. "I believe you know medic Cooper." His grin grew at the shock expression that fell across my face.
"Coop? He's here?" I asked.
"He was assigned to Dog Company after MacArthur's surgeons took over Bastogne." He explained. "He talked about the Sergeant from Easy Company who was the best damn surgeon he had ever seen. How those Harvard grads that trailed along behind the General like puppies couldn't hold a candle to Sergeant Jo Benally." He smirked. "Hero worship." I groaned and dropped my chin to my chest.
"I'm guessing this is an order, sir." I sighed.
"Good guess, Sergeant. OP 8." He smirked as he walked off and left me standing there in the daze that only he seemed to leave me in.
I shook myself and slowly trudged down the street to house that Dog Company was billeted in. I heard laughter coming from a small living room that was crammed with broken and stained furniture. A group of Dog Company soldiers sat around a small coffee table, smoking and playing cards. Almost as if he could sense me, Cooper raised his head and smiled at me. He said something to the men as he stood up and made his way over to me, the rest of the men nodding and waving at me as he did so.
"Is this the famous Sergeant Benally from Easy we keep hearing about?" One of the men called out.
"I'm the only Sergeant Benally in Easy that I know of." I grinned.
"Betta be careful, Sarge! I think Coop done fallen in love with you!" A thick southern accent called out causing the group to break out in laughter. The sound grated against my eardrums as I was still stuck in the somber atmosphere that fell over Easy.
"Thank you private, I'll be sure to keep my back to the wall." I replied. This caused another raucous burst of laughter that filled the room as Coop clasped his hand on my shoulder and led me away from the men, whistles and catcalls following our departure. He rolled his eyes as he urged me up two flights of stairs and into his room.
"What can I do for you, Jo?" He asked.
"Our medics are otherwise occupied and Speirs needs me to get an OK from someone before I can return to duty." I explained.
"What happened to you?" His eyebrows creased in confusion and worry.
"I got pneumonia after playing errand boy for Lip." I said with a shrug and winced as my stitches pulled against the fresh bandage. Luckily Coop was nowhere near as observant as Gene and my momentary slip went by unnoticed.
"Why were you playing errand boy?" He asked.
"I was shot in Noville." His eyebrows shot into his hairline.
"Where at?" He questioned.
"My shoulder." I briefly touched the area.
"Who took care of it?" He asked, his eyebrows knitting together.
"Gene," He cocked his head to the side. "Uh, Doc Roe."
"I wish you'd have come to me." He sighed deeply as he leant his lanky form against the table that sat in the middle of the room and rubbed a hand through his curly, dark blonde hair.
"Why, Gene's just as capable of taking care of my wound." I wanted to say, 'more capable,' but I did still have some tact.
"Because, I could have saved you a lot of explaining," He said.
"What the fuck does that mean?" I asked slowly. He stood up and walked in front of me, invading my personal space. A shudder ran through my body, an unknown primal response to something I wasn't aware of.
"I mean…" He looked to make sure there was no one around. "I know your secret."
"What secret?" I played dumb, though I could feel my adrenalin coursing through my body.
"I mean I know." He said and leant his head in, forcing me to pull my back or he would have been close enough to know what I had to eat the day before. "I know, Everything."
"Everything?" I mocked and took a step back.
"Yes, everything." He repeated and stepped closer.
"Right…" I said slowly. "Look, just give me the okay so I can get back to work." I crossed my arms in an attempt to ward him off.
"I told you, I know." He stressed.
"I don't have time to play these games," I sighed in frustration. "I'll just go find another medic." I turned to leave but his hand grasped my arm in a bruising grip.
"I know you're a woman." He said. I forced my breathing to remain steady.
"That's fucking ridiculous." I spat and struggled to free myself.
"I also know that you are from the future." I stopped struggling as my stomach hit the floor.
"Listen to yourself." I muttered. "The future? Are you trying to get out on a Section VIII?" I twisted my arm from his grasp and stomped towards the door
"I know, because I'm from the future too." I stopped short, my breath catching in my throat. "I know you don't belong here. I also know I'm the only one who will ever truly understand you. You're not alone, Jo."
"How the fuck-"
"How do I know?" I stared hard at him. "In Bastogne, you used medical techniques that won't be invented for another hundred years. You used medical terms to describe things that haven't been discovered yet." He stepped up to me and ran a hand down my cheek. "And I knew you were a woman because your body is full of soft curves and angles, or at least it was. You need to eat more, Jo." I knocked his hand from my cheek and took a step back in effort to distance myself from him.
"Where are you from?" I asked.
"I'm from the USA." He smirked. "Just like everyone else."
"When are you from." I growled.
"2034."
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I sat down on the stone wall that separated the town from the river and puffed the cigarette in my mouth like a chimney as I tried to calm my frazzled nerves.
Cooper was from the future…
I wasn't alone.
He didn't know how or why he was here, but he was here. Just like me.
I wasn't alone.
I winced as the cigarette burned down to my fingers and singed my skin. I flicked the butt to the ground and glared at it as is this whole thing was its fault.
I wasn't alone.
There was another time traveler here and he had been under my nose the entire time.
I had walked out after a brief exchange with the medic, unable to fully comprehend what had transpired. He was from the future, eight years before I would leave my life behind for this.
I wasn't alone.
"Benny!" Luz yelled in my ear, causing me to jump. "Christ JoJo, I've been calling you for ten minutes." I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Alright, so it was only a minute." He rolled his eyes. "What's with you?"
"Nothing." I answered a little too quickly. "I just, want to see the building blow up." I nodded across the river.
"Right." He wasn't convinced and it read across his face like a cheap comic book.
"I…" I sighed. "I'll tell ya later."
"You better." He glared which quickly turned to concern. "How are you feelin'?"
"I'm alright… been cleared for duty," I answered.
"Really?" He looked shocked. "What about what happened last night?"
"Shh," I hushed. "Nobody knows about that but you, me and Gene." I hissed.
"But JoJo, you were hallucinating!" He exclaimed and I hushed him again.
"I know, but it's over. I'm all better now." I stood up and spun around. "See?" He didn't look convinced.
"What's with the lying to me, JoJo. I thought we were friends." He muttered, crossing his arms.
"We are!" I exclaimed. "I'm just…" I didn't know what I was doing… floundering? "Figuring out a few things." I looked him in the eyes. "When I know, you'll know. I promise." He sighed, but nodded his head in agreeance.
"Fine." He grumbled. We were silent as we stared across the river, both lost in our own thoughts. "What's an Opa?" He finally asked.
"Huh?" I was startled out of my musings by his voice.
"Opa," He repeated. "You kept saying that over and over again, what's it mean?"
"Oh," I sighed. "Opa means grandpa in German." I answered. "My grandparents on my mother's side are German."
"So, you speak German and never told me!" He raised an eyebrow.
"No," I answered. "I speak a phrase or two in German."
"But your grandparents are German," He raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," I shrugged. "So?"
"So, your other grandparents are Navajo and you speak fluent Navajo, but you don't speak German?" He questioned.
"My means grandma, Oma, tried to teach me." I shrugged. "It didn't take." I smiled as a memory came from the depths of my mind. "But my Opa, he said the only words I'd ever need to know in German were the curse words and how to ask where the crapper was." I chuckled.
"Well, as long as you know the important things." George laughed as he lit a cigarette.
"Exactly my Opa words." I grinned and stole the burning nicotine stick from his lips.
"Hey!" He yelled. "I was smokin' that!"
"Now I'm smokin' it," I laughed and took a long drag from it.
"Fucker."
The sound of the explosion brought our bickering to a close. We both whipped our heads around to watch as the building fell to rubble and dust. A small thrill ran up my spine and an involuntary smile crept across my lips. I turned to George and found the exact same expression mirrored on his face. It was demented that we derived such pleasure from the annihilation of what was once someone's home. But after seeing the world around us exploding and tearing apart everything in its wake, it was nice to be on the sending side of such destruction instead of the receiving.
As I caught the eye of my best friend and we stood there staring at each other with identical grins of pleasure and excitement on our faces, I realized that what Coop had said to me didn't matter. The revelation that I was not alone in the endeavor to fit in and survive in a time that was not my own didn't matter.
As long as I had George, I knew that I would never be alone.
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So, the plot thickens. From here on out, things start to get more complicated for Jo as she starts to feel the pressure of the mystery of her mission weigh heavily on her.
So, Harlequin Sequins has out an amazing story I was lucky enough to help her with. It's called The Colour of December, and it is a wonderful read, so go check it out, and check out her other amazing stories while you're at it!
Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a review, ally leigh, britt, EmmyMK, Master of Wishes, CP2girls, Azrael's Darkest Secrets, Ashlynn, Dizzy, Harlequin Sequins , and my newest reviewer Miss Wilkins! Thank you all so much for your kind words of encouragement, it means the world to me!
britt- I don't want you be nervous! All will be revealed in time, no worries! Thank you so much for letting me know how real Jo feels, it just makes me want to write even more! I love it when people have fangirl moments over something in my story! No need for an apology! Hey, my grandma was 5' nothing and the meanest toughest little thing you've ever met, short people are not to be messed with! ;) I'm going with the name Checkov… I need to stop watching that Star Trek movie… Thank you so much for the review! I always love hearing from you!
Ashlynn- Another fangirl moment! I love them! I'm glad you liked how I added her Opa to the chapter. What he said will be important in later chapters, all of it. You'll just have to wait and see what happens. Still not telling who the romance will be with, sorry. Thank you so much for the review!
Dizzy- I'm glad you loved the chapter! Jo's mission will be revealed in time, you'll just have to be patient. Thank you very much for the review!
As for everyone else who has read the story and not reviewed, please let me know what you think of this story, good, bad, not so bad, just let me know what you like or don't and any suggestions for improvement you may have!
Please take the time to leave me a review, it is always greatly appreciated!
Amanda
P.S.-
There has been some confusion as to the parts that I have been getting likenesses for. First, the chapter is going to be a completely humorous chapter with only a few things that are in it to further along the plot. Second, everyone thinks Jo is a guy, so all the female parts are going to believe that she is a guy as well. Third, I wanted the general description of you guys so if I needed it, I could have it. But most of it is just going to be your names and I'm trying to match personalities with the characters I have already developed. If you feel uncomfortable with having your likeness thinking Jo is a man, then let me know. I don't know if I'll be able to change anything within the chapter, but I'll try. And if I can't and you're still feeling uncomfortable about it, then I'll take you out of the chapter. I hope this clears up all confusion.
Edited 7/23/17