I hope everyone is still invested and enjoying this. It's taking a bit longer than I anticipated, which is frustrating because I know where I want this to go, but it's the getting there that is hard. :)

So here is the conclusion to last chapter for those who are wondering how Jasper is doing.

Chapter 11 – Melting Pot

June 2006

Jasper

Jasper lay dazed for several moments before she was able to take a breath. Hands were removing her helmet and undoing her vest. She grunted as one of the medics with them pressed something to her injured arm.

"We're waiting on transport to take you to the hospital. You've been shot," one of them told her.

She took a ragged breath. "No shit," she managed.

"Where does it hurt?"

"Where the bullet went in…"

She heard one of the other soldiers laughing. "You hear that – Palamo's gonna be fine."

Off to the side, she heard their Staff Sergeant ripping into McCoy. "Damn it! What the fuck were you doing using real bullets?!"

"I must've grabbed the wrong magazine. How is she doing?"

"The wrong…are you serious?! You are not some fucking green thumb recruit in his first week of basic! You are a motherfucking sergeant and you don't know the goddamn difference between a magazine of bullets and a magazine of blanks?! You could have killed someone!"

The medic removed her bullet proof vest, zipped open her uniform and cut through her T-shirt. Oh God, please do not…

Snap! Cool air hit her chest as her bra was cut in half.

"Laceration under the right breast." The medic pressed something soft against it causing her to wince. "You'll need x-rays. You may have cracked ribs." He checked her pulse at her wrist and squeezed her left hand. "Squeeze back. Good, any numbness or tingling?"

"No." She wondered when the ambulance would come to take her back to the hospital on base, but they were sixteen miles into the field, so she knew it might be a while. He was cutting her sleeve all the way up and pressing gauze on the wound. "How is my arm?"

"Looks like just a soft tissue injury. They'll want to get an x-ray to make sure the bone isn't damaged, but I'd say you got pretty lucky."

"Do I need surgery?"

"Probably."

Wind blew across her skin and she was suddenly aware of how exposed she was and that she was surrounded by mostly men. The majority of them had averted their gaze to give her as much privacy as was possible in the field. Sergeant McCoy knelt down beside her and suddenly she felt very self-conscious. "Sorry about that, Tiger, but you're brave, right? Tough?"

She wanted to tell him to fuck off, but that would only make her look bad. "More than you know."

His eyes glanced down, a smirk playing briefly on his lips before he put on a façade of concern. "I didn't mean to actually shoot you."

I bet you told the sergeant major you didn't mean to rape me either, she thought. Jasper hoped her eyes held the hatred she felt for him. What did you tell him, you asshole – your dick slipped?

And then she realized…he'd shot her because she'd dared to report him…and in doing so he'd all but admitted his guilt.

Once she'd reached the emergency room, they'd told her she indeed had cracked ribs and that the bullet in her arm had torn through her bicep, but had missed the bone. She'd need an operation to repair it, but ultimately, she would heal and have full function.

"Have you had any prior surgeries?" the doctor asked.

She shook her head. "Not unless my wisdom teeth count. They put me out for that."

He briefed her on what to expect and she was whisked away to a sterile operating room where the world disappeared for a while. It seemed as soon as she'd closed her eyes, they fluttered open again and she moaned. Her arm still stung with pain and her throat was dry and sore. Her chest hurt with every breath. She'd been told there was nothing that could be done for her ribs – she just had to be careful and let them heal.

A nurse by her bed smiled. He wore dark scrubs and wasn't bad-looking. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Thirsty."

"Okay, but take it slow." He put a straw to her lips and let her drink some water. "You did really well in surgery. Are you in pain?"

"A little."

"Do you want something?"

Jasper remembered how the pain meds made her feel after she'd had her wisdom teeth out. She hadn't liked the feeling and preferred to be clear-headed. "No, I'm fine."

"Don't be a hero if you don't have to. If you're in pain don't hesitate to ask for something."

"Ibuprofen maybe...or Tylenol."

"You were shot."

"I mean, you can give me the strong ibuprofen."

"Three times."

She tried to stretch and winced. "Eh, I was wearing a vest."

However, the doctor who checked on her that evening insisted on something stronger. "You were shot – you have extensive bruising down to the muscular level and cracked ribs and you just had surgery. Trust me, you'll want something to help you sleep more comfortably. I'm going to recommend to your command that you say in quarters for the rest of the week."

Damn it, that meant three days confined to the barracks. "And after?"

"No PT, no heavy lifting – you'll probably be on desk duty for a month then I want to re-evaluate your ribs before you resume physical activity. I'll prescribe something to help you sleep."

"No thanks."

"You don't have to take it if you don't want to, but you'll probably be pretty uncomfortable these next few nights."

"But I'll be able to go back to regular duty and working out once I'm healed?"

"Absolutely."

After he left, Jasper relaxed and leaned back. There was a phone by the bed and her first thought was to call Matt, but she had his number in her cell phone and didn't know it by heart. She could call her parents, but they would just worry. Plus, they didn't have base access. There was one other number she could call…no, not really. Lacy couldn't get on base either and she probably didn't want to leave her baby.

After twenty minutes that felt like an eternity, her nurse came in. "The doctor ordered a little morphine for you."

Truthfully, as the grogginess of the anesthesia had worn off, she did hurt, but… "I've been sleeping all day. Can I have that a little later?" Her stomach growled. "Maybe after I eat? I'm so hungry."

"Let me at least give you some ibuprofen and here is the menu. Just dial that code on your phone and you can order dinner."

"Thanks. Can someone also put in a call to my barracks and let them know I need clothes from my room?" Her pants had been returned, but she couldn't very well return to the barracks topless. Plus, it was against regulation to wear her uniform pants with anything else. "Also, do you have books here? I'm just a little bored."

He laughed lightly. "Sure. We have a small library. What do you like?"

"Mysteries or suspense. I like books that are more feminist-leaning – strong female protagonist and all that. No romance. If you come back with a book that has a half-naked Fabio on the cover I'll puke."

He shook with laughter again. "I'll see what I can do."

Jasper picked up the phone after surveying the menu and deciding meatloaf sounded good. She'd have to watch her diet over the next few weeks if she wasn't getting the same amount of exercise. She'd just placed the phone back down when someone rapped on the door frame.

"Can I come in, Tiger?"

Her heart sank and her stomach turned inside out as she turned to face Sergeant McCoy. "The fuck are you doing here?"

He sauntered in, right up to the side of her bed. "I just came to see how you were doing."

"You shot me. How the hell do you think I am?"

"It was an honest mistake."

"A mistake is once you arrogant prick! You shot me three times – three! Mistake, my ass." Jasper's eyes flickered to the nurse call button to make sure it was in reach. "And it's pretty damn easy to tell a magazine of blanks from an actual one full of bullets!"

"As I said, everyone makes mistakes – mistakes that get other people in a lot of trouble." He leaned in, dropping his voice to a whisper that made chills run up the length of her spine. "You're going to go to Sergeant Major Jackson and you're going to withdraw your statement."

"The hell I am."

"How's it going to look when I give mine? Huh? Saying that you agreed to it. You told me you'd sleep with me…"

"Oh yeah…after you fucking pressured me all day. Then I took it back."

"You can't do that, Tiger. I was promised something. I just made sure I got what I asked for."

"Oh you'll get what you're asking for…" Jasper felt his hand on her back sending chills through her. "Move your fucking hand right now!"

Sergeant McCoy leaned in close to her ear. "And it was good, Tiger, really good." Before she could make a move to press the call button, he slid his hand up, his fingers resting on the base of her skull. "Next time, I aim right here, so I hope this taught you to keep your mouth shut."

Jasper's fingers trembled with fear and her heart raced as he kissed her cheek. It was hard to keep her voice steady. "You will step away, sir – now."

He pulled away when they heard footsteps approaching and her nurse walked in. "Oh, sir, visiting hours are actually over."

"Of course. I was with her today and I just want to make sure she's okay." Sergeant McCoy gave a smile. "See you later, Palamo."

Jasper sighed after he'd gone and accepted the ibuprofen and water from the nurse. "Thanks."

"Not a friend of yours, I take it."

"He's the dumbass who shot me."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He placed a book on the tray over her bed. "They had a copy of The Handmaid's Tale. I thought you might like that one – the main character is pretty resilient through a tough situation. Not much mystery, but it's a dystopian society."

"I've read those. Okay, well, I mean…I've read 1984."

"Another good one. I'll let you eat and read then I'll be back in two hours to give the morphine."

"Thanks. Um…I know I get out tomorrow, but could you also put in my chart or wherever alerts go that I don't want Sergeant Gary McCoy to visit me."

"Of course."

Jasper started reading the book and continued while she ate dinner and got so engrossed in the story, she wanted to continue by the time the nurse came in. "This…this story is unbelievable. I mean, it jumps around a lot and I wish we knew her name – her actual name."

"I thought that spoke volumes about her status as an object."

"I can see that." Jasper noticed a syringe in his hand. "Morphine time?"

"Yep. Are you still in pain?"

She shifted, her chest aching horribly and her arm throbbing under the bandages. "Yeah, a bit."

He pushed the medicine into her IV. "This will help. I'm going off duty, but the night nurse will be taking over."

"Thanks for everything." She opened the book again once the nurse left, but very quickly her eyelids became too heavy to stay open. Jasper placed the book on the tray and pushed it to the side of the bed before laying back to welcome a sleep devoid of dreams.

The next day, Matt came to her room as soon as he got off duty. He held a bag of supplies from the commissary. "I would have gotten you some special detergent to get the blood stains out, but I wasn't sure what was good for that."

"It's okay – I know how."

"You some kind of serial killer?"

"No, all women know how to get blood out of clothes…"

"All of them?"

"Yeah, about every one over twelve. But they had to cut my sleeve, so I ordered a new uniform jacket today. There was no repairing that."

Matt placed a hand on her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a truck ran over my chest. I can't raise my arm up very far either so washing my hair is going to be interesting."

"I brought baby wipes in case you couldn't shower and saran wrap if you can, but you can't get it wet. Ibuprofen for pain and chocolate because that always makes people feel better. A book – in case you're bored." He held up a sappy romance novel she'd never so much as glance at.

"Barf."

"Barf?"

Jasper laughed. "You really think I read those?"

"I thought all you women read these cheesy things and had fantasies and…you know."

She grabbed her chest as pain shot through her ribs. "Don't make me laugh. Look, if I want to double-click my mouse, the internet has ample porn. I don't need to read that."

"You didn't strike me as the kind of girl who watches porn."

Jasper shrugged. "I've been known to dabble. Haven't been too interested in anything sexual lately though…"

"It's okay." Matt squeezed her shoulder. "God, what an ass for shooting you. They've gotta court marshal him now."

"I hope so. I may withdraw my statement though." She filled him in on Sergeant McCoy's visit to her hospital room. "I want to be brave, but knowing that he's going to get in mass trouble for shooting me and after his threats, I just don't think I can go through with this."

"Well, I think you're right. After he shot you and you know he's capable of doing it again, sometimes you have to put logic above bravery."

"I don't scare easily, Matt, but I've never been more scared of anyone or anything in my entire life."

"If we get lucky, hopefully he'll get a dishonorable discharge."

She hoped so. Jasper truly hoped that once this was all over, Sergeant McCoy would walk off base and out of her life for good.

After the weekend, she was relieved to go back to work to break up the monotony of the day. As expected, she was basically told to sit at a desk, do paperwork and not break anything. It was the end of the week before she was once again called into Sergeant Major Jackson's office and told to sit down.

He paused a moment before speaking. "In light of what's happened to you, the other soldier has decided to withdraw her statement and not pursue charges against Sergeant McCoy. I'll be honest, as I've said before, it's hard to prove something happened or didn't happen without evidence. He will face a court marshal for using live ammo during a training exercise and I'm not sure what the outcome of that will be. Should you want to continue and push for him to have a court marshal over sexually assaulting you, I'm unsure the outcome would be what you want."

"He shot me. Why else would he shoot me if he didn't do it?"

"He claims it was a mistake."

"No, a mistake is shooting someone once and then realizing 'oh shit, I'm a dumbass using the wrong magazine'. Not continuing to pump two more bullets into her."

"I believe you and I believe the other soldier, but it's not up to me what happens to him and I'm only telling the likely outcome is that they'd look at the lack of evidence and throw it out."

Jasper sat quietly for a few moments and thought about that along with Sergeant McCoy's threats. She nodded slowly, her voice lowered. "I'll withdraw my statement too."

Amethyst

By the time school let out for the summer, Amethyst had secured a job at the local YMCA. She sat with Roselyn in the hospital cafeteria telling her all about it. "I get a free membership, so I can use the pool. I'm gonna buy a swim suit with my first paycheck." Getting together before support group had become the norm for Amethyst and Roselyn. Amethyst would aim to pick out a healthy snack and Roselyn would sip her tea, mostly listening. "The nutritionist said that I should help plan and maybe cook meals, my mom hears 'Amethyst should make dinner every night'. I've been looking up healthy recipes online and some of them haven't been too bad. Do you like to cook?"

"I've never done it. We have a chef who makes our meals."

Of course they did. Amethyst sometimes forgot Roselyn barely lived in the real world. "Maybe you could come to our house for dinner some night. I can ask my mom."

"I-I'm not so certain that would be possible."

"Your parents don't let you eat at friends' houses?"

"Well, I can ask but I'm not sure Daddy would like it."

"Why not?"

"He's just very protective," Roselyn said softly.

"What do you usually do for the Fourth?"

"Oh, we go out on the yacht and watch the fireworks over Emerald City."

It took everything in Amethyst not to say: 'Of course you do.'

Roselyn sipped her tea and put it down slowly. "However, this year, Daddy is off to Greece for some kind of business thing. It may be easier to convince Mama."

"You said in a previous group session you want to be treated like other kids and that your rich friends were boring. So, come hang out with some poor people." Amethyst smiled. "C'mon. My mom makes spare ribs…"

"I'm a vegan."

Technically, Amethyst had never seen her eat anything – vegan or otherwise. "I'll make sure we have something you can eat. My friend Peridot is coming so you'll be around people your age and it'll be fun lighting off fireworks."

"Fireworks? By ourselves?"

"Yeah, that's what most people do. It's fun. We usually go to the reservation to buy them because they have things you can't get at other stands by bottle rockets."

"You mean the Indian reservation?"

"Um…Native American…and yes."

"Is that what you are?"

Amethyst laughed. "No. I'm Samoan. You don't know much about the world, do you?"

"I suppose my education has been limited. I'm not sure…is that in the Middle East?"

She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. This was not the first time someone didn't know where her parents had come from. "No, South Pacific…kind of near Australia.

"I've been there. We went to Sydney over last Christmas, but our winter is their summer, so it was very warm. Have you been?"

"No, I've only been out of the country once to go to Canada. I was eight, so I don't remember a lot. I think we went to a zoo and Jasper wandered off on her own and we couldn't find her for two hours." Amethyst laughed. "She was sixteen and she'd convinced this guy she was nineteen – my dad found her with this dude in a bar halfway through both a drink and a cigarette, making out with a stranger. I thought he was going to lose his shit."

"And Jasper's your sister, right?"

"Chyeah. She was grounded forever." Amethyst glanced at the clock. "Crap, we're late."

"We could just skip. I don't understand how sitting in a circle and talking about our feelings is supposed to help me eat more. They want me to eat over two thousand calories a day, Amethyst. I-I'm not like those girls. I eat a little bit and the fat just piles on."

"Dude, if I looked like you, I'd be eating, like, all the food." However, Amethyst knew it wasn't that simple. Roselyn's mind made it so looking in a regular mirror was like looking in a fun-house mirror. Her friend, no doubt, felt she was as large as Amethyst. "Besides, my mom will kill me if I don't go and you don't want me to get in trouble, do you?"

"I suppose not." Roselyn smiled, her eyes brightening giving Amethyst hope that maybe both of them would be okay.

July 2006

Amethyst

Amethyst had managed to talk her mom into buying a veggie tray and fixings for salad. She forked over some of her own hard earned money for two packages of Gardenburgers. "Maybe I'll try one too," she said as she helped her mom prepare for the barbecue.

"You are not going vegan," Penina told her. "I don't understand how people live on lettuce. When I was your age, we weren't picky. If someone was vegan in our village it's because they weren't good at fishing or hunting."

Fetuao laughed. "Or couldn't go to the next village to hit up the store for meat. Stop acting like you came from poverty. You had stuff."

"Not as much as you. My village was small – only maybe a hundred people. It wasn't Pago Pago."

"No, but it was only two bus stops away from a large village with a store. At least there was a store when I was there. They had canned meat, canned fish and vegetables and even ice cream. Remember that? I visited you at the clinic because my pe'a was infected and afterwards we went out for ice cream."

Penina shook her head. "I don't remember."

"You got pineapple flavor."

"I don't think that was me."

Amethyst snickered. "How many women did you date, Dad? Ladies man much?"

Her father grabbed one of the pickle slices barely able to pull his hand away as his wife tried to smack it. "Hardly. It was your mom and like this one other girl…" the story trailed off as Penina gave him an incredulous look. "…I don't even remember her name."

Amethyst tossed the salad to make sure all the vegetables were mixed in well. "I love food too much to ever think about being vegan. Besides, I'm not sure if Roselyn is really vegan or if it's part of her illness."

"Poor thing doesn't seem to have a great support system at home," Penina commented.

Amethyst heard the front door open and close. "I think her parents are gone a lot."

"It's your favorite soldier," Jasper announced as she came into the kitchen. She wore a sleeveless shirt with a picture of a gun on it that showed her midriff and proclaimed 'fighting is my life' paired with cutoff denim shorts. "Yum, pickles." She swiped one and leaned against the wall.

"You're as bad as your father," Penina said.

"Thanks."

"And what happened to your arm?!"

Jasper looked down at the stitches still in her skin right near a white patch on her bicep. "I was injured in a training exercise. It's not serious."

"It's gonna leave a scar. What will Matt think?" her mother asked. "Where is he anyway? I was going to introduce him to the Larsens."

"Matt will love me, scar or no. He took a week of leave to visit his family in Pago Pago. And I seriously doubt the Larsens care who I'm dating."

"Did you take time off?" Amethyst asked.

"Just tomorrow." Jasper rummaged through the fridge and pulled out a beer. "I plan to drink till I can't feel feelings. It's okay if I crash in my old room, ri – hey!"

Penina had grabbed the beer from her. "You don't need to start drinking before people come. Did you invite Lacy?"

"Yeah, but Kyle's only six weeks old, so she doesn't want to bring him to a party yet."

There was a knock at the door and Amethyst rushed to answer it. Roselyn stood there in a pink sundress, a matching jacket that covered her shoulders and shoes with bows on them. A hat covered her head, pulling the entire outfit together. She carried a basket covered with a checkered towel. Amethyst smiled at her friend. "Hey, Roselyn." She looked around her friend at the Rolls Royce parked on the street. "Is he gonna stay in the car the whole time?"

"Well, yes, of course."

"Um…okay. Come in."

She stepped into the hallway and looked around. "That's beautiful." Roselyn approached the woven mat hanging on the wall, her eyes studying the intricate designs. "Is is from Samoa?"

"It is. My mom actually helped weave it before she came here."

"I did some research on the internet. Talofa is how you say hello, right?"

Amethyst smiled. "Yes. My parents speak English though."

"Oh, I figured they did, I just thought…"

"We're American. Just relax; be yourself."

Roselyn dropped her voice and Amethyst swore her accent faltered for a second. "I've never been in a middle class home."

"Well, I've never been in a mansion. We're just people, all of us. We all put our pants on one leg at a time."

"I-I never wear pants."

"That's not…come on." Amethyst guided her friend into the kitchen. "Everyone, this is Roselyn. Roselyn, my mom, dad and sister – Jasper."

"Mr. and Mrs. Palamo, thank you for welcoming me to your lovely home," Roselyn said as though she'd rehearsed this. "Perla made this for you. It's cornbread – Mama's recipe."

Penina accepted the basket from her. "Thank you. Is Perla your sister?"

"She's our cook."

"Amethyst says you're vegan, so we have salad and rice and some Gardenburgers. We also have corn and potatoes, lots of options for you." Penina beamed proudly.

Roselyn smiled uneasily at all the food options. "Thank you."

"I'm gonna show her my room." Amethyst led Roselyn upstairs. "My parents' room is at the end of the hall, the one with the 'keep out' sign is Jasper's, bathroom and my room." Amethyst opened the door and turned on the light revealing the purple décor. "I cleaned earlier, but otherwise it would be a mess."

"It's…small." Her eyes swept over the bed, desk and dresser. "So, you sleep and study and get ready for the day right here…unless perhaps you have a vanity in your walk-in closet."

Amethyst slid the door open. "No walk-in, just a closet. I assume your room is huge."

"Yes. Just the area for my bed is about the size of your living room downstairs. Then I have my study with a desk and bookshelves, a walk-in closet and a nook about…" she surveyed the room. "Three-quarters as big as this with a vanity and a chaise lounge." When Amethyst shook her head, Roselyn continued. "It's like a cross between a long chair and a small sofa. Mine's pink."

Of course it was.

"Oh, I have something for you too." She reached into the pocket of her dress and held out a purple piece of paper. "I had this from our trip to Australia and thought maybe you'd like it."

Amethyst unfolded it and saw a portrait of a woman and a five printed on the upper corner. "Is this like real Aussie money?"

"Yes. Their money is so colorful compared to ours."

"Is that the queen?"

"I-I'm not certain."

"Thank you. This is seriously cool." Amethyst stuck it on her picture board behind one of the ribbons on the corner. She looked through the multiple photos of herself with Peridot, Jenny and Kiki and even a couple with Jasper. "We need to get some pictures tonight. I'll put them up here with the five dollar bill." The doorbell rang. "That must be Peridot. She's been my best friend, like, forever…well, since we were five."

The girls went downstairs and out back onto the deck, Amethyst running ahead and practically knocking Peridot over with a hug. Peridot laughed. "You just saw me two days ago."

"Per, this is Roselyn."

But Roselyn was more interested in Pearl, studying her face. "My, you have perfect features and that hair – what color is that?"

Pearl's cheeks turned red. "Uh…strawberry blonde."

"You're beautiful."

"Th-thank you."

Off to the side, Jasper snickered, quickly turning it into a cough. Amethyst silently prayed that her sister and Pearl would behave themselves. Surely they hadn't dragged their high school drama into their twenties.

"Jasper, I see the dryer ate half your clothes, as usual," Pearl commented.

Jasper patted her pockets and shrugged. "I thought I had something for you but I'm completely out of fucks to give."

Roselyn gasped softly and gave Amethyst a wide-eyed look. Amethyst laughed nervously. "Yeah, she says the F-word a lot."

"My mama would wash my mouth with soap if I ever…"

"That's not a bad idea." Penina gave Jasper a threatening look.

Her sister took a swig of beer. "I prefer to wash my mouth out with alcohol."

Amethyst sat at the picnic table with her friends while Peridot asked Roselyn a billion questions, especially when it was revealed she owned a horse. "Her name is Buttercup. I don't ride so much anymore as I'm prone to fainting."

"But we're both getting better," Amethyst assured Peridot.

However, she did notice Roselyn didn't eat too much. She chose one of the Gardenburgers that she cut into tiny pieces, pushing it around on her plate, occasionally taking a bite and some salad without dressing. Amethyst felt herself becoming self conscious as she was on her second Gardenburger and even Jasper seemed to be controlling what she ate. "Sis, usually you'd be like five ribs and three burgers deep by now."

Pearl snickered. "Yes, Jasper does enjoy having meat in her mouth, doesn't she?'

"Hey Pearl, you dropped something." Jasper flipped her off. "I'm on desk duty at work until Monday so I can't do physical training, but still need to fit into the Army's rigid weight standards that don't take muscle mass or the fact that I have boobs and an ass into consideration."

Amethyst had never even considered Jasper was concerned about her weight. "They have a weight limit?"

"Yeah, and it's the BMI scale, which is dumb. BMI says once I hit one-eighty, I'm overweight, but I have a lot of muscle mass, which is more compact than fat. BMI is stupid that way because I'm incredibly healthy and I don't look overweight. So, when it's time for our physical test, I have to really try and eek my way down a few pounds under that because that's where my weight likes to hover is right around one-eighty." Jasper sighed. "And my next test is about a month after I get off desk duty…and that's if my doctor clears me Monday. If he doesn't think my ribs are healed enough, they'll put me back at the desk and tell me not to break anything."

"Your ribs?" Peridot asked. "I thought it was your arm. What happened?"

"I got shot."

"Like…with a gun?" Peridot's eyes went wide.

"No, with a Super Soaker. Yes with a gun."

"Goodness, how are you still alive?" Roselyn asked.

"We wear bullet-proof vests, but those just keep the bullets from being lethal. I had a lot of bruising and some cracked ribs."

Roselyn looked at her in wonder. "You use real bullets in training?"

Jasper laughed. "We're not supposed to. The guy who did it got busted down to private – that's the lowest rank – and placed in another unit. They're set to deploy soon."

"So, you've been over there in that awful war? However did you survive?"

"It's called training – they prepare us very well for it."

"You must have seen some horrible things."

Jasper took a swig of beer. "I try not to think about it."

"Well, I thank you for your brave service to our country."

"It's what I do."

Before they knew it the air turned a bit cooler as the sun began slipping behind the trees. Amethyst and Peridot grabbed their haul of fireworks from the garage. "Hey, sis, can I have one of your beer bottles?"

Jasper finished what had to be her third bottle and handed it to her. "Knock yourself out."

"Don't say that to her before she sets off fireworks," her dad told her.

"You've never done this, have you?" Amethyst asked Roselyn. She rinsed out the bottle with the garden hose and walked to the middle of the street with her friends. "This is a bottle rocket because you put it in a bottle like so." Amethyst flicked the lighter and put it to the fuse until it began to sparkle. "Run, run, run!"

The girls sprinted up the driveway turning around as the rocket whistled up into the sky and exploded in a burst of light against the darkening sky. Roselyn laughed. "Wow!"

"Hey, girls, before it gets too dark – say cheese!" Peridot's father pointed a camera at them and snapped a picture.

Roselyn was enchanted by the sparklers, waving a red one around before her eyes like she'd never done this before. All up and down the street small explosions rang out celebrating the holiday. It was when a bunch of them went off at once in bursts of lightning and piercing the air like a barrage of bullets that a scream from the porch made her stop and look. Jasper sat on the steps with her hands at her ears, eyes open wide, darting to the side as another firecracker went off. Her dad helped her up and quickly went with her into the house.

"What's wrong with Jasper?" Peridot asked.

"I dunno." Amethyst shrugged, lit a firecracker that looked like a bee before throwing it into the street and watching it skitter around.

Roselyn waved her sparkler – a blue one this time. "I like this – the way you celebrate. You and Peridot's families are so different, but you come together and make it a celebration. It's like the differences don't matter."

"They don't," Peridot told her. "That's the great thing about America. We have different traditions but they can come together to create something amazing. That's one thing we celebrate, right?"

Roselyn looked over as her driver approached. "I guess I should get going. Mama doesn't want me home after midnight." She gave Amethyst a light hug. "Thank you."

"Are you leaving already?" Penina approached them. "Would you like some food to take home?"

"Wh-why?"

"It's what people do when they have a lot to share," Amethyst explained. "But you don't have to."

"I'd better not, but I hope – if it's okay – I can come back next year."

Penina gave her a smile. "You're always welcome."

Roselyn thanked them again and walked to the car with her driver. Amethyst felt her mom put an arm around her and speak softly. "You've been a very good friend to her and it seems like she needs friends. I'm proud of you, Ames."

They were words she hadn't heard before…not from her mom, but it made her smile and she was grateful for her family and friends helping her through this difficult journey. For the first time in a while, she was really certain she'd make it through and she had hope that so would Roselyn.