Chapter One
Susan is thirty-five. Like me. Although, I left the army when I was thirty. Let's just say, I woke up one morning, and the uniform didn't fit me anymore. I didn't belong there.
I always enjoyed being appart of the army. Being major and all. Having troops under your command. Being able to go on missions. All of it. I miss it all. Just a few days ago, I dropped Major Susan Turner back to the Military Police building. Told her to look after my office. I then took Samantha back to school. Then I was alone. Moving around again. I miss having Sam. And Susan. I enjoyed their company. But now, I am constantly on the move. Sam has settled into a carer's home. I don't see her anymore. I think she doesn't need me. And Susan is busy being a Major.
I sigh as I wander down the side of a road. In the middle of nowhere. I'm not going anywhere special. Just... moving around... again. Sometimes, I just want to stay in one place, you know? Want to settle down. Live a proper life.
I wait at a bus stop. For a bus, obviously. I don't carry much. Just my jacket, some money in my pocket and a phone, that Sam somehow smuggled onto me. I liked her. I kind of wish she was my daughter. She acts so much like me.
I have decided I should go back. Maybe pay a visit to Susan after seeing Sam. I miss them both. I miss their company. I miss their sarcasm. I miss them.
I pull out a ticket and hand it to the bus driver. He takes it and allows me on. I sit by a window, watching the world go by. We cross the dusty, red desert that I had just walked. I probably fell asleep through the journey. I did walk three cities down before thinking I should go back to New Orleans.
The bus pulls to a stop outside a school. The same school I said goodbye to Sam. I slowly walk up to the school gates. I watch as children run to their friends. I see Sam talking to a group of girls. Laughing. She's happy. That's a good thing. I'm about to turn around when I hear someone yell my name.
"Reacher!" I turn and I watch as Sam runs up to me, with a huge grin on her face. "Couldn't stand being away from me?" She asks. I smile at her. I notice that her friends are staring at me in disbelief.
"Yeah. I got lonely. I missed you." I reply, smiling crookedly at her.
"I missed you too." She replies, a tear coming to her eye. I wipe it away before she grips onto my jacket and leans into me. I wrap my arms around her body, protectively. I can feel her sobbing. After a while, she sighs deeply. She pulls back to look up at me. She smiles weakly.
"Do you know where Turner is these days?" I ask.
"She's still a Major. She doesn't finish work until a lot later. You've still got time to visit her." Sam informs me. I nod.
"Thank you, Sam. I'll come visit you some day." I reply.
"Yeah. Maybe you could take me under your wing. You know, adopt me." She smiles.
"I'll think about." I start walking away and turn back around. "See you around, kid."
"Yeah. See you, Ex Major!" She mock salutes me and catches up to her carers. I smile and march down the road, into the heart of New Orleans. I walk into the Military Police building and wander up to the front desk.
"I'm here to see Major Turner." I request. The Sergeant at the desk looks up and smiles.
"Hello, Mister Reacher." She adresses me. I nod.
"Good to see you, Sergeant Leach." I reply. She jots my name down on the visitors list.
"You should know where to go, seeing as it is your old office." She says.
"Thank you." I say, before walking past the desk, up the squeaky clean staircase and down the corridor.
I slowly creak my old office door open and I am met with Susan's head. She is looking down at her papers, writing. I lean against the door frame.
"How's my office?" I ask. She jolts and looks up. She smiles when her eyes settle on mine.
"In perfect order, Reacher." She replies. She gestures for me to take a seat. I close the door behind me and sit in the armchair in front of her desk. "How's Sam?"
"She's alright. I went to visit her before I came here." I mumble.
"What did she do?" She asks. She sounds concerned. "Did she get into trouble?"
"No. She ran up to me and hugged me. She was crying... sort of. She said she missed your company. And mine." I say, with my crooked smile.
"How is she getting on at school?"
"Alright. She's made some friends. She asked me to think about taking her under my wing. Adopting her..." I reply.
"Well, are you going to?"
"I don't know. I'm... not really cut out for it. I mean, I have hardly any money, no job, no house. I'm constantly moving around..." I argue. Susan nods her head.
"I guess, you could move into my place. It's big enough. Three bedrooms." She says.
"I don't want to intrude." I say, lowering my head.
"You won't be." She replies. I nod. "On one condition." This gets my attention. I raise my head, thinking, oh no.
"What is it?"
"The army need you. Come back as Major. Everyone has been asking for you to come back. They ask me to contact you, constantly." She tilts her head to the side, trying to read the expression on my face. Even I don't know what expression I am holding.
"Alright." I mumble. Susan smiles.
"Welcome back, Major." Susan salutes me and I salute her back. She scribbles something down on a small piece of paper. "Here is my address." She passes it to me. I tuck it into a safe pocket.
"Thank you, Susan." I say.
"Don't mention it. Adopt her, Jack. She needs you as much as the army does." I nod my head and leave the office. I run down the stairs and straight to the front desk.
"Still got my uniform?" I ask. Sergeant Leach's face lights up. And so do the other Sergeants at the desk.
"Welcome back, Major!" They all say, saluting me.
"I'll get you your uniform." One of the Sergeants say before speeding off down the hall and into a room.
I message Sam, telling her that I will pick her up.
Okay, Reacher. She replies.
A little while later, I walk up to the school gates to pick her up.
"Hello, Sam." I say as she wanders up to me with a huge grin on her face.
"Hey, Reacher." She replies. We walk side by side. I stay silent for most of the journey, asking the odd question. She talks about school, her new friends, her school work and a lot more.
I arrive at Susan's house, with Sam at my side. I ring the doorbell and seconds later, Susan's face appears.
"Hey, Sam!" She exclaims.
"Susan!" Sam replies with a broad smile.
"Want me to teach you more skills before dinner?" Susan asks her. Sam nods.
"Yeah!" She wanders into the house, into a room, I'm guessing is the living room.
"Sure you're okay with me staying here?" I ask, after Sam is out of earshot.
"Yeah. It's alright." She nods. "Just a friend helping a friend." I nod and walk I side. "Upstairs, the first door on the left. That's your room." She says. I nod. I climb the stairs and find the first door on the left.
I open it, only to be met with a nicely decorated guest room. It has a double bed, with a wooden frame and white sheets. The curtains are a nice crimson colour. There is a desk against a wall, opposite the door. A red rug sits next to the bed and a few shelves sit above the desk. The bedside table is an oak wood and the lamp has a red and beige colour. I place my bag down on the bed and open a dark oak coloured wardrobe. It's rather large. I can stand in it. I unpack all of my stuff and place the bag at the bottom of the wardrobe. I only had a spare pair of shoes, a shirt and a pair of trousers. I hang my jacket on the back of the door.
I walk down the stairs and find the living room, where Susan is teaching Sam another defensive move. I lean against the doorframe and watch. I smirk as I watch Sam manage to take the gun from Susan's hands.
"Okay, good. Now let's add some kicks into it. I'm going to try hit your head, your going to turn and grab my fist." Susan commands.
The living room consists of a large couch and an armchair in front of a TV. Not high tech, but not old either. There is a fireplace in the corner of the room, sitting next to the TV. There are photos of Susan and her parents. Some photos of when she was younger, and her friends from the Army.
"There you go, just like that." Susan praises. I smile again and wander into the kitchen to check on the food. I open the oven and the smell of fish and chips spreads through the house. I check that it's been in long enough, and bring the tray out, placing each fish on each plate, with a bit of chips on the side.
"Dinner is ready." I say in a funny voice, peeking into the living room and earning a giggle from Sam and a roll of the eyes from Susan. She smiles though. I dish the plates onto the table and put the knife and forks next to each plate. I pull out a chair for Sam, before bowing. "For you, Ma'am." She giggles and sits.
"Why thank you." She replies. I would have done it to Susan but she has already sat down. I sit in my seat and we begin to eat, in a companionable silence.
After dinner is finished, Susan cleans the table, after I argue and protest that I would do it. But she insisted. She gets up and leans into my ear.
"Giving you some time with Sam." She hints. I nod ever so slightly before watching her leave. I gesture for Sam to follow me into the living room. She does. She sits in the armchair, as I sit on the couch.
"Okay... so, you know you asked me to... take you under my wing?" I ask, making sure she remembers. She nods. "Okay, well... I've been thinking..." I start, before stuttering. Susan comes in and sits next to me.
"We've been thinking about something... important." Susan says, and I'm sure she shuffled closer to me for a second. I pull out a file from underneath the coffee table and pass it to Sam.
"I'm not great with words but... maybe... what do you think?" I ask, as she opens the file and reads the letter.
"I've been dreaming of this for years. Someone to take me as one of their own. To have a real family..." Sam gently mutters. I take a deep breathe. "I... Jack, I don't know what to say..." I stand.
"You... don't have to. It's okay if you don't want to... I understand." I say, looking I to her eyes. Sam stands as tears start flowing down her cheeks. She wraps her arms around me and buries her head into my shirt.
"Thank you." She sniffles. I let out a breathe I didn't know I was holding. Susan stands and I motion for her to come over and join. She wraps an arm around Sam, and presses a hand to my shoulder blade with the other, messaging it. Those light touches she gives me, they drive me crazy. That's what I love about Susan. She can make me go weak by giving me tender touches that mean something. Not just a touch a friend would give you.