"Brian Gamble." The guard stated as he stopped outside Gamble's cell. "You have a visitor." Brian stood and put his hand behind his back and out the slot in the door to be handcuffed. As soon as he felt the second click he turned back to face the officer and a loud buzz sounded from down the hall of cells. The guard pulled the door open and gamble walked out, taking his place on the wall until the guard had securely shut and locked the cell door again.
"Walk." The guard commanded and poked Gamble in the back to get him moving. He shrugged the night-stick off and sauntered down the hall towards the visiting room. He didn't know who would possibly be here. He had already been convicted of attempting to smuggle a prisoner out of the country, and was locked away for 13 years. Who in the world would want to see his face now? Just outside the visitaion room they switched his cuffs from behind his back to up front.
He got his answer when he sat down at the booth face to face with an auburn haired woman. She picked up the phone and he did the same, his other hand awkwardly dangling from the cuff. For a second nothing was said.
"What do you want, Beck?" Her heart hitched when she heard the voice she hadn't hear in two years.
"Was following your story on the news, found out where you were." His face was as cold as stone. He stared at her and she felt like a fool for not planning out what she was gong to say to him. "I'm sorry it all went down this way." She said after clearing her throat. "Jim won't even talk to me." He still didn't respond. "What's going on with you?"
"Look. Becky, I would love to recount my life for the past two years, but I don't think that's why you're here." Brian said, his voice like ice. She sighed and fiddled with the dog tags around her neck.
"Brian," She paused gathering he thoughts. "When I left you I was a mess. You were right. All the nightmares, the headaches… Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from Mogadishu triggered by my nursing job. It brought up so much… a psych got me on meds a few months after I left. I wanted to come back." His face softened ever so slightly.
"Why didn't you?"
"I was scared. I don't know." She ran a hand over he face. "I thought you would have moved on by then, you seemed to be falling in so well with S.W.A.T. You were moving up in the world and I was falling apart." He looked away from her then at the table, at the wall, not wanting to look at her in frustration. "I'm so sorry Bri." She said quietly. He got his emotions in check and looked back at her. She could see the pain in his eyes.
"Beck, babe, I loved you." She bit her lip. "No matter what was happening to you I would have welcomed you back, I would have helped you, you had to have known that."
"I guess I did." She sniffed. She hated this, she felt so responsible for his current situation because she knew something about him that not may others did. Not only was he a tirelessly loyal and courageous man, but he was also afraid; afraid of being alone in the world. "I left you alone." He didn't say anything. "And then Jim sold you out. I heard." Brian pierced his lips in an attempt to control his emotions.
"It's over now." He said. For the first time in her life she saw the look of defeat come over his features. In all the time she knew his she had never seen him this way. Not when they stood and waited for the men to come back after the Battle of Mogadishu, not when he helped usher the injured men into the medical center where she worked. Not even when she had left him two years ago. He had always taken things in stride, stayed strong to get done what needed to be done, but now he looked tired and worn. She was disgusted in herself.
"I still love you Brian." She stated. "I'm not gonna let you rot away in here."
"Little late." He responded, snapping back into his cold state.
"What's your bail at?" she said stubbornly.
"5 mil. Beck. There's nothing you can do."
"Watch me." She paused and stared intensely at the man on the other side of the glass. He was an American hero, aiding in the rescue of the men locked in that devastating situation back in '93. Not to mention saving numerous lives in S.W.A.T situations. Everyone else may have turned their backs on him, but she was not about to. "I'm gonna set things right whether you want me to or not." A small smile flashed across his face before she hung up the phone and walked out of the prison.