Summary: Eden Farley wanted to prove to the world that she could be like every other man that walked the earth. But no one had ever given her the chance. Until her brother gets killed and no one's left to take his place in family tradition. Except for her. The only problem is convincing her mother that she's not the little girl her mother always wanted her to be.

Kudos to: Chelle, shariena, lady-Adnoneath, and Cries in Vain for their reviews. Also, to Vain for making me get my butt in gear and actually update.

Dedication: For David, a United States Airmen, who in two weeks will be off to serve his country in South Korea. You will always be my hero.

Chapter Four

Heartfelt Goodbyes.. Of Sorts

September 14th, 1942

Eden stood in the center of the empty room, her last box of belongings in her arms. The room was that of Weston's and was soon to become the new baby's room for a young couple from Seattle. Apparently, her childhood home was the perfect place to start a new family and Meg had been unable to refuse the money they had offered for their home.

In the beginning, Eddie had been furious with her mother for selling their home only a few months after it had happened. It felt like betraying not only West, but her Grandfather and Dad to leave behind the house that held so many of their memories.

The basement had been completely redone back when Eden had been six, with help from the entire family. There was a new railing on the stairs from when West had tried to be a monkey, and their Dad had fixed it within the week grumbling about kids and their imaginations though a smile still pulled at the corners of his lips. Even the kitchen had memories of the entire family imprinted upon it. Thanksgiving dinners with the Wilards, Christmas with the uptight and annoyingly proper Kate family.

All the memories of her childhood were mostly from the house that was now going to be the new home of starting family. It bothered Eden to know that kids would be running down the halls and laughing at the television and having time outs in the corners, just like she and Weston had. It was supposed to be their home, not someone else's.

The new family was intruding on the one place that Eden had left that held memories of her family. This other family didn't deserve to live in the place that had made so many of her happiest and saddest moments. It was wrong and cruel of her mother to have sold the house and Eden did her best to remind Meg of it any chance she got.

Her grudge against her mother had stayed until school had started. When the stares and the whispering had started. It didn't take long for Eden to know that everyone was talking about her and what happened. She had thought that people would be sympathetic towards her, after all she had just recently lost her older brother, the rock that held her up. But instead the entire high school population was more concerned about whether or not he really had been drunk, or purposefully hit the deer, and if Eden was still 'all there'.

The imaginations of the teenage mind was endless when left for a summer to create numerous theories and lies to spread when school started again in the fall. It was almost amazing how far people could stretch the truth to become something not only hurtful, but extremely far fetched. How in god's name would West had known the deer would be jumping on the road that night and planned his own death accordingly? He didn't even have a reasonable reason to kill himself to begin with.

The rumors started flying the moment the first bell rang on the first day of school and Eden heard every single one of the ridiculous lies.

It didn't take long for the idea of moving to sound like an amazing idea.

--

The trees sped by as Eden's mother steered their car towards their new house. Eden refused to call it home, despite her gratefulness at leaving her old, smothering town behind, that wouldn't make this new saving place her home. Her home was back in Kent would always be her one and only home. Nothing would ever be able to take the place of the cream white, two story farm house. Ever.

Although, when the cute, almost cottage like one story house on Birch Street came into view, Eden thought she might be able to suffer through living there.

--

"Not a cave like you thought?" Meg asked with a slight grin. She pulled the keys from the ignition and opened the door and headed for the front door, jingling her keys while she went. Behind them, the moving truck came to a stop and two men got out to start moving all the boxes in.

Eden gave a shake of her head before climbing out of the car. It truth, it wasn't that big of a house, really just looking like a cabin home that should be in the middle of a densely wooded area, not in the middle of an Oregon town. Eden let out a chuckle as she opened up the white picket fence and headed for the door. Only her mother would buy a house like this.

A small part of her was thrilled that her mother had bought the house. It was nothing like the one in Kent and therefor Eden wouldn't spend her time comparing the two. There was no way she would be able to look at the front yard, filled with colorful flowers and full green lawn, and see herself and West had played countless games of baseball on it.

Back at the old house the front yard had been worn down to just a few weeds and dirt, nothing like the lush green lawn that was at this house. Eddie wondered if the lawn would hold up to the sliding and running of a game of baseball and then doubted her mom would ever let her try. No need to ruin a perfectly good lawn for a game of baseball.

With a sigh Eden followed her mother into the new house. It wasn't like there was anyone here to play anyways.

--

With a grunt, Eddie set down the last box that had her name scrawled across it in black marker. Her grunt seemed to echo around the empty room that had been deemed hers. There was only one other room in the house and this had a view of the backyard instead of the one with a window facing the street. If she was going to live here Eden didn't want the entire world to see her just after having woken up. It was her mother's problem now.

The movers were moving in her mom's bed and then they would move in her twin bed as well before heading off. Together it had taken the four, including Meg, nearly five hours to haul in all the boxes that had come from Kent with them. The sun was starting to set beneath the tops of the houses and Eden could tell the movers were anxious to get going as they moved in her bed.

Meg closed the door after paying the two men and Eden gave her a tired look. "I vote we order pizza," she said seriously.

"Don't have a phone book or phone," Meg said with a sigh, dropping heavily into an arm chair. "You could always go into town and get some," she hinted with a small smile.

Eden put on a fake cheery smile, "Don't have my license," she reminded her mother. Meg had never been willing to pay for Driver's Education so Eden had been relying on Weston for the past few years to get places. Now it was only Meg who could drive.

"You could walk," Meg countered, not moving from her place on the chair.

"It's cold."

"It's the middle of summer you whiner baby," Meg said with a laugh.

The two women stayed silent for a minute before Eden's mother pulled herself up from the chair, "Pepperoni with olives okay?" she questioned, disappearing down the hall to grab her car keys.

Eden let out a happy whoop and yelled her agreement. Pizza, or any food not made in their own kitchen, was rare at their house. Meg was more old fashioned and believed in providing for her family. However, in this instance there was no food to prepare and the refrigerator wasn't even hooked up yet.

"I'll be back in half an hour," Meg called as she walked out the door. She paused before shutting it and turned back to Eden, "Put some of the boxes with West's stuff up in the attic, please."

Eden gave a groan as she heard the car start and walked to the back hall where the attic ladder came down from the ceiling. She pulled gently on the string hanging about a foot down from the ceiling and took a step back as the ladder unfolded down. Going back to the living room where Weston's boxes lay untouched, Eddie picked up two and headed back to the attic.

It didn't take long to bring up the dozen or so boxes that had West's name on them up to the attic and stack them against the wall. Eden felt back for simply tucking away all memories of her brother but knew it was for the best. Or at least, in someway it had to be, otherwise her mother wouldn't want them stored away.

As she went to set down the last box down, Eden felt a tickle on her arm and looked down to see a spider sitting on it comfortably. She let out a loud scream and slapped her arm while jumping backwards. The box in her arms fell to the ground forgotten as Eden did a dance similar to the Hokie Pokie before stopping.

Her heart beat fast as she gasped to regain her breath and Eden looked around on the floor for the spider. She was relieved to see no sign of it but sighed at the slipped contents of the box she had dropped. Eden dropped down to the ground and started to place the random items back into the cardboard box. It seemed to be the entirety of what had been laying on Weston's desk the night he died.

Baseball cards, some spare change, graduation announcements, things like that. Nothing all that special but things that her mother didn't want to throw away. Eden reached over and grabbed a thick packet of papers that had fallen a little further off from the other things and looked at it curiously.

The emblem at the top right corner caught her eye and she stood up while continuing to read the front page. Eden gave a happy laugh as she finished reading the front and dashed out of the attic and flew down the stairs, forgetting all about the boxes that needed to be stored.

She had to pack.

--

Meg closed the car door and balanced the piping hot pizza she had bought at the first pizza place she had seen. She managed to unlock the front door of the house and kicked it shut behind her, calling for Eden as she went. Not seeing her daughter in the living room where Meg had last seen her, she left the pizza on the counter and went to Eden's new room. What she found shocked her.

Eden stood in the middle of her empty room, a duffel bag thrown over her shoulder and a packet of papers in hand. Her long hair had been hacked short and jagged, just above her ears. She was no longer in a blue summer dress but instead a pair of khakis, too big plaid green shirt, and a pair of what Meg thought were Weston's old jr, high loafers. Meg could only guess that the bag on her daughter's shoulder was filled to brim with more of her older brother's older clothes.

Her eyes focused back onto the papers that Eden held silently in her hands. "You found his enlistment papers," Meg said in a whispered conclusion. She must had found them in one the boxes she brought up, Meg deduced with despair.

Eden gave a nod, not trusting her voice to talk. She was going to leave, and tonight. There wasn't anything her mother was going to be able to say that would make her re-think her choice. This was Eden's chance to finally make her dream come true. She wasn't going to let it fly by.

No, she was going to fight for it.

"I'm going," Eden announced finally, her voice stronger than she had thought it would be. "I'm going to enlist."

Meg just nodded her head in agreement, still slightly in shock. "Okay."

Eden opened her mouth, ready to defend her choice but stopped short at her mother's words. "Okay?"

"Yeah," Meg repeated, "Okay."

"You're letting me enlist?" Eden questioned, surprised her mother was agreeing to something she had spent the past thirteen some years fighting. "You're just going to sit back and watch as I go off to war?"

Meg gave her a searching look, "It's what you want, isn't it?"

The question caught Eden off guard. This wasn't what she had been expecting. Yells of groundings and refusals to allow even talk of enlistment was what she had thought would be coming from her mother. Not questions like that.

But it made Eden think. Was this really what she wanted? Did she really want to risk her life for the lives of people she may never meet? Just because she managed to somehow hide herself away into the life of an Army prospective, would this be something worth the pain and sweat? More importantly, was Eden cut out for the job?

A picture of her father in his Army uniform came to mind, the look of pure patriotism and love for what he did shown through his eyes, even though the rest of his face remained straight. Her father had given everything for his country, and loved every minute of it. So had her grandfather, with his stories of his days serving. They both had told her it had been the best times of their lives.

As Eden looked back at her somewhat distressed mother, the answer was clear. Even though she loved her mother, Meg would be fine without her. There was nothing left here that would make her want to stay. "Yes, I really want to do this."

Meg let out a sigh and Eden was almost surprised as tears formed at the corners of her blue eyes. "Okay," she said almost at a whisper, "Okay."

--Reviews are like heroine, feed the addiction. Another update sometime soon.-- Reagan