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Hell Hath None 15
The next week was fairly quiet and uneventful for Fury, giving Norman the chance to see how they interact when not too busy fighting Germans. They were actually very laid back, not getting into actual fights for the most part. Most of the time, Norman talked to Jack, them having to share a seat while fixing up the tank.
Jack was odd. She was so different from the women back in America. While most were very proper and ladylike, Jack had to let go of that while in Germany. It was odd. What was even odder was seeing her in a dress with her hair and makeup done up. She was pretty.
One day while Jack, Norman and Gordo were working on the jammed stick, Norman looked at her pictures on the wall. His eyes fell on the picture of her and her nephew. He was startled by how feminine she looked. Norman was shoved up against the wall as Jack took the seat. She had begun taking apart the stick and its gears. It was surrounded by a panel that Gordo was taking apart while under the tank. They had to take it out so they can get a look at the gears. Jack had a flashlight held in her mouth as she worked and Norman looked at her pictures. His attention fell to a newer one. In the picture, the men in his tank were sitting inside a tent that was made of a tarp and the tank. They were smoking, drinking and playing cards while snow fell around them. Norman smiled a bit.
"Hey, Jack?" He asked. SHE grunted and looked over her shoulder at him. "When was this?" he asked and she could hear amusement in his voice. She leaned back and took the flashlight out of her mouth, smiling softly with a small smile.
"Christmas. They gave us Christmas Eve off and I decided we needed to decorate the tank." She told him. "That was a fun day." She told him and Norman smiled at her. "If we're still in Germany, you'll get to celebrate it with us this time." She teased, elbowing him as she leaned forward and stuck the flashlight back in her mouth.
"Maybe the war will be over by then." Boyd called from his seat. Grady snorted.
"Wouldn't that be a dream." Grady said as he was on his back, messing with some wiring. "Maybe Hitler will drop dead, too!"
"One can only hope!" Jack called from her seat. She shifter her feet to one side as Gordo removed the panel. "You see the jam yet?" She asked as she handed the light to Norman.
"Nah, man. Must be some busted gears!" He said and they began undoing some of the gears. Some wiring had been damaged and Jack reached down, not seeing them and shocked her hand. She swore loudly and jumped up, hitting her head. She sat back in her seat, holding her head swearing.
"The fuck you do now?" Grady called.
"Fucking shocked my hand!" She yelled. Gordo and Norman were laughing and she hit Norman. Don climbed into the tank with the tool box and began helping Boyd. Eventually Jack and Gordo got the stick unjammed and back together. Later that afternoon Jack was trying to fix the hatches. Something had hit Gordo's and put a dent in it. She decided to work on hers and Norman's first. Jack fixed the hinges before trying to find a way to unweld the hatch so it could open.
The group worked on the tank for about a week. It was functioning well but still needed work. Unfortunately, they had an assignment. It was just an easy one. They and three other tanks had to get to the old base sight, clear it, make sure nothing got left behind, go get troops who were pinned down in a battle, and go help retake a town. It was already in the process of being taken, but the troops there needed help. It was going to be an easy day.
Fury was ready to go in minutes. Jack had been getting fidgety just sitting around fixing the tank and she wasn't the only one. Norman was less enthusiastic about going, his first experience being that long day that ended in what could have been their last stand.
"Don't worry, we won't be alone this time." Jack assured him before struggling up the tank. "I'm driving." She declared, excited to finally be back in her seat. Everyone climbed in and they were rolling out. Norman sat on the tank up top with Don, Grady and Boyd. Jack and Gordo drove, talking about how the summer might be. Jack was praying for less rain.
The caravan got to the old base site and promptly left, not seeing anything of use. Picking up the pinned down soldiers was easy, and by the time they got to the down, most of the work had been done. The tanks rolled in and helped take out machine guns and Jack fired at the Nazi soldiers on the ground running.
Before long, they parked in the square and climbed out, the town having been taken. They stretched their legs and joined in mingling with the other soldiers. Some were drinking, others were sitting in circles, getting some food, others were playing baseball. Jack was just wandering around, smoking and she bumped into Norman. Her and the kid had been talking a lot lately. sHe rather enjoyed his company. He had a bottle of something and handed it to her. She thanked him and began drinking form it.
"Do you love Sergeant Collier?" Norman asked out of the blue. He couldn't hide a small smile when Jack spat out the drink and coughed, looking at him incredulously. "I see the way you look at him. You guys are close. And I saw you kiss him."
Jack stared at him for a few seconds before taking a large drink from the bottle. She sighed and nodded, looking slightly defeated. "Yeah. Yeah I do." Norman nodded.
"Have you thought about what will happen after the war? What will you do when you go home?" Norman asked, curious. She shook her head and pulled in a drag from her cigarette.
"I have no idea." She said exhaling. "I don't have anywhere to go home to, either." She said with a snort. She shrugged before continuing. "Besides, who says we're still getting out of this alive? War still here, Norman." She reminded him grimly. He looked at her and nodded. Their attention shifted to the tanks and men with radios. There was something come over the radios and the men gathered as close as they could to listen. She tossed her cigarette and elbowed Norman. "Let's go see what the fuss is about." She suggested and the two began to walk over.
A German tank fired from somewhere, unseen and hit the building behind them. Jack crouched down and pulled Norman with her before pulling them both up and pushed him to run. The building was coming down behind them as they ran. Men were running to their tanks or to something that would help shelter them. People were shouting and Jack saw Grady waving at them, urging them to hurry to the tank before he climbed in.
The tank fired again and hit another building. Those Germans had bad aim. Some of the tanks were able to get moving quickly and began firing at it. Jack couldn't see the German tank and she didn't see the German soldiers come around the corner on the other end of the square, firing. When bullets began raingin down on them she dropped and heard someone behind her cry out. She turned to see Norman shouting and looking at his arm in horror. He had been shot in the upper arm and it didn't go through. Jack crawled over to him.
"Norman! Norman, you're ok!" She shouted and put a hand over the wound and pressed down. He yelled in pain before swearing.
"Oh, shit! Oh shit! I got shot, oh shit! Fuck!" He yelled, completely freaked out. "What do I do?" He yelled.
"Don't go into shock! Don't panic, you're going to be fine! Just stay down!" She told him and the Americans and Germans fired at each other. Someone was able to take out the German tank and everyone focused on mowing down the German soldiers. Jack kept Norman on the ground and kept talking to him, making sure he was ok. He was still freaked out about getting shot, but he wasn't going into shock.
They had to stay on the ground for a while until the Germans were taken out. Jack looked up once the shooting ceased and saw the guys climbing out of Fury and running towards them. She sat up and waved. Norman sat up too, looking at his arm.
"We're ok!" She called. "Grab a med kit, Norman got shot in the arm!" She called. Gordo doubled back and retrieved on.
"fucking gave us a heart attack." Boyd told her and she laughed as Don helped her up.
"You guys scare too easily." She told them.
"Or you just have a tendency of getting injured." Don told her and she laughed, shoving him gently, careful of his wounds.
"I didn't get shot. Norman did. Thanks Gordo." She said as Gordo approached and handed her the kit. She turned to Norman. "We can do this here or the tank. But that bullet is coming out." She told him.
"Oh, shit. It didn't go through?" Grady asked, starting to laugh. Norman did not look happy about having a bullet taken out of grabbed his arm and he protested in pain. She turned it to try to look at it. She made him take off his jacket and she moved the fabric of his shirt out of the way.
"Shit. Yeah, you're gonna want to have Boyd dig this one out. It's in there good and I don't have a lot of experience in digging out deep ones." She said and passed the kit to Boyd. Norman was looking more scared by the second and she bumped his shoulder. "Hey, realx. You're fine. It's just gonna hurt like a bitch." She teased. Gordo laughed.
"C'mon, man. He's scared enough as it is, ease up." Gordo laughed.
"Come on Norman, I'll get you patched up. Don't listen to them." Boyd said and began to usher Norman away. Gordo and Grady followed behind.
"Hey Norman, just don't move, he might catch something an make ya bleed out!" Grady teased and Gordo shoved him laughing. Jack laughed from her spot. She and Don didn't follow.
"How you holdin' up?" Don asked her, catching her attention. Jack looked at him with a smile and slight confusion.
"You're the one who almost died. I should be asking you that." She teased. Don smiled softly at her. "I'm fine." She assured him.
"I heard about how you were." He told her, pinning her with a stern look. He put a firm hand on her shoulder. "Don't blame yourself. You saved us. You have nothing ot be blamed for." He told her and she sighed, looking away. Jack felt him pull her into a one armed hug. She wrapped her arms around him chuckle deeply and press a kiss to her head. "Let's go make sure they aren't scaring the kid too bad." He suggested and slowly released her. The two began walking back.
"So what was going on over the radio?" She asked as they walked.
"Shit ton of German soldiers are surrendering." He told her. sHe almost stopped walking.
"You're shitting me." She accused. Don smiled.
"Nope. And there's plans of attacking Berlin in a few days." He told her as they got over to the tank.
"You think they'll send us?" sHe asked and he shook his head before climbing up to the top of the tank.
"Nah. We're too far. It would be over by the time we got there." He told her. Jack was slightly relieved. That battle would have been a nightmare, and she wasn't sure if her boys were ready for that yet. "Grady, toss me that tool box." He said to Grady.
Boyd had gotten the bullet out of Norman's arm and was stitching him up. He would have to go see McMurphy when they got back. Jack was just glad it wasn't her this time, she had gotten tired of that damn tent.
As they rolled in to camp and began finishing up fixing the tank, McMurphy was running over to them looking for Jack. She was sitting on top of the tank, helping Collier with the large gun.
"Jack! Jack!" He called, stopping in front of the tank, bending over to catch his breath.
"What's wrong? What's going on?" She asked, slightly worried.
"You grew up on a farm right? You handled horses? You good with them?" He asked. Jack was confused nad her and Don shared a look.
"Yeah, I worked with horses for a while. Grady was a stable hand for a while. Why?" She asked. McMurphy laughed a bit before answering, still out of breath. He rested his hands on his hips.
"Need your help. Grady too. We got a few horses in a make shift corral." He began to explain. "The storm and the bombing last week spooked 'em. No one can ride them without getting thrown off. Was wondering if you and Grady could help break 'em in again." He explained with a smile. Jack looked a the man, slightly confused.
"Grady!" She called. She could hear him respond from inside the tank. "Grady get out here. We gotta go ride some horses."
"The fuck you talkin' about?" He aksed as he came out of a hatch. She looked at him.
"We gotta go break some horses." She said with a challenging smile. "You in?" Grady swore before agreeing. Grady didn't enjoy being thrown from a horse but knew he could help. Jack on the other hand, used to help her father break in the new horses. Usually, they didn't buck or throw her off, but some of them did. It was a challenge, and she was always up for challenges.
Boyd, who had also been on top of the tank, heard and turned to Sergeant collier.
"I say we take a break and watch. I wanna see this." He said. Don looked at him with an amused smile and agreed as Grady and Jack made their way down. The two followed McMurphy. Boyd leaned into the tank. "Hey Gordo, Norman, we're gonna go watch Grady and Jack break in horses. Wanna come?" He asked. Norman looked at him confused and shared a look with Gordod. Eventually, after it was explained, the two climbed out and the four men walked through the base.
At the end of the day, people were paying up from betting and Jack and Grady were covered in bruises. The two horses were by far one of the most difficult they had ever had to deal with. One had kicked Jack in the chest and she lost her breath for a minute. At one point she and Grady tried to make a bet to see who could stay on the longest.
Jack won on the first horse, but the second one threw her off into the crowd of soldiers who were watching. She stopped trying to ride that horse and Grady won. Grady had taken a hoof to the face. McMurphy had seen the beating and insisted he checked them for broken bones. Jack tried to protest and walk away but Don threw her over his shoulder and carried her like a sack of potatoes. She didn't bother struggling, she was beat.
Jack got away with bruised ribs and a strained wrist and a large bruise on her back and limbs. Grady had a broken nose, fractured rib and more bruises than Jack. They both say on a cot next to Norman while McMurphy checked his cut and rewrapped it. He gave him some medicine to prevent infection. It's safe to say the two slept well that night.
Over the next week, they fixed up the tank and took another town. When they heard that hitler was dead, there was a huge party at the base. People were drinking, singing, dancing, there were more people celebrating that on Christmas and almost everyone had some alcohol in them.
Grady and Gordo were completely shit faced and Jack was on her way. Even Boyd and Norman had been drinking. They were buzzed but nothing too outrageous. Don drank form a bottle when it was passed to him, but he was pretty sober. Boyd and Norman watched happily from the tank as Don and Jack danced. Jack was laughing and they could see Don smiling at her. It was easy to see he wanted to kiss her. Norman had seen it since they got back. Sometimes the Sergeant had the chance to kiss the top of her head, but Norman could see he wanted to kiss her for real.
It was a struggle Don had to deal with. While a war was going on, and as her commanding officer, it would be totally inappropriate. But there was nothing more that he wanted to do beside grab her, pull her close, and kiss her until the world ended. He kept himself from doing so.
Those who did not have a hangover the next morning found joy from those who did. Jack had managed to get as piss-faced as Grady and Gordo and looked like shit when she woke up the next morning. She felt like it too. Gordo had vomited and Grady was still passed out well until late that morning. Jack kept her head in her hands as Boyd made her coffee. Norman laughed to himself as he read his book.
"DO you think it'll be over soon?" Jack asked as Boyd handed her coffee. "With Hitler dead, there isn't anyone else to really lead them."
"I sure hope so." Boyd told her as he sat back down. "I'm sure we'll find out in the next few days."
"What are you going to do when we get back to America?" Norman asked Boyd. Bible thought on it for a while.
"First thing I'm going to do is love my wife. She's been waiting at home for either me or a letter saying I'm dead for the past few years. After that? I'm going to have myself a decent cup of coffee." He said and Jack snorted in laughter.
"Come on now, Bible. It's not that bad." Collier said as he sipped from his cup. Bible shrugged. "What about you Norman? What are you gonna do?" Don asked. Norman shrugged.
"I haven't really thought about it. Probably visit my family, let them all know I'm still alive, go back to college." He said shrugging his shoulders. "You, Gordo?"
"Man, I'm gonna get me some real food." He said grimacing down to his breakfast. Jack and the rest of the crew laughed. They heard a groan from the tank and Grady climbed out, hungover and looking horrible. Jack laughed harder as he got on the ground.
"The fuck you laughing at?" He asked he and she just laughed before sighing.
"Ah, Grady. What are you gonna do when you go home?" She asked him. He smirked at her before answering.
"Gonna get me some nice American tail, that's what." He answered with a small laugh and Gordo snickered. Bible rolled his eyes and Norman snorted. Jack looked over and saw Collier smiling at his group. She elbowed his leg.
"What about you?" She asked him softly. He sighed through his nose and looked at her.
"I don't know yet." He answered truthfully. She gave him a small smile and agreed, understanding. She had no clue what she would do. She didn't exactly have anywhere to go. Her house had been burned down and she had no family. Maybe she would stay with a friend for a while.
For the next few days, everyone walked around, slightly stressed with anticipation. They all wanted that call so bad, they all wanted it to be over. But as the week went on, people began giving up hope. At the end of the week, people were given assignments. Fury didn't get their assignment until hallway through the next week. Sergeant Collier had been called to the officer's tent. Before he left, he told Jack to go get her burn checked at the medical tent, make sure it was bandaged up before they headed out, if they got a task.
Jack walked through the camp to the medical tent, not looking forward to McMurphy's glare. Jack had burned her arm during an electrical fire inside the tank. She was helping Grady mess with the wiring and it sparked and caught her shirt on fire. Her jacket was off so it burned her shirt and her skin. Grady escaped unscathed, the lucky bastard.
Sure enough, as she got to the ten, McMurphy gave her a disapproving stare and told her to sit. He left to go get something to clean the burn and Jack heard a commotion outside. SHE shrugged it off. Probably just people fighting again. Fights had broken out over the past week. Men had been frustrated and angry and picked fights. She had gotten involved in a few, losing her temper. Luckily, one of her crew members had pulled her away before she got hurt.
The commotion continued and got louder as time went on and Jack wondered why McMurphy was taking so long. She sat and looked at the men on the cots. Some were missing limbs and some had gauze over their eyes or around their head. She had been lucky to be able to keep all of her body parts.
McMurphy burst into the room and ran to her, a huge grin on his face. She looked at him and was about to ask what was going in when he pulled her up of the cot by the shoulders.
"It's over! Jack it's over! The Germans surrenedered!" He yelled as medics burst into the room, telling each other and the wounded men what was going on. If Jack listened, she could hear the commotion outside was actually celebration. Jack's draw dropped open. It was over. McMurphy pulled her into a hug and laughed. He spun her around before dropping her. "Go celebreate! I'll get you arm later, go!" He ordered and shooed the shocked girl away.
A huge grin burst across her face and she turned and ran from the tent, joining in the cheering. It was over, it was all over, they made it, they were going home.
Jack shouted to her tankmates who were hugging and cheering. They turned to her and Grady picked her up an a huge hug, spinning her around as she screamed and laughed. Tears were forming in her eyes. Her and her boys were ok, they made it, they were going home.
"It's over! We're going home!" She yelled as she hugged each one. She grabbed Norman and hugged him tight, jumping up and down. She grabbed his face. "We got you through! You see? We're going home!" She yelled and Norman laughed. Boyd had tears of joy running down his face and Jack hugged him again laughing.
"Oh my god we did it." He mumbled as he hugged her back. "Oh, God." He breathed and stepped back.
"Where's Don?" Jack asked, a huge smile still on her face. Boyd pointed and Jack saw Don running across base, waving at them and trying to call over the roar of the others celebrating. If possible, Jack's smile grew and she began to run to him, calling out his name.
When she met him, Jack threw herself on him and wrapped her arms around his neck, just like when she had returned from being taken, and held him tight, sobbing from joy. He laughed and held her close before gently pulling her off and grabbing her face, tears of relief falling down it. Then he did what he had wanted to do for the last few months.
Don kissed her. He kissed her hard and Jack closed her eyes and returned it. Men wolf whistled at them but they didn't notice. Her hands reached up and rested on his neck. One of Don's hands reached the back of her head and the other wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer and he leaned her back, deepening the kiss.
Gordo, Coon-ass, Bible and Machine watched and cheered as Ghost and War Daddy finally kissed. They ran over once Don let Jack catch her breath and the two laughed before he kissed her again. Before the group could get over to them, Don spoke.
"Come home with me, Jack come home with me." He whispered quietly, grabbing her face gently again. She looked up at him, smiling.
"What?" She asked, laughing slightly, giddy and breathless from the kiss.
"Come home with me." He breathed and Jack laughed before pulling him in for a kiss as men around them cheered and the boys from their tank came over and pat them on the shoulders, congratulating them on surviving and finally kissing. Don didn't let her go for the rest of the day and kept her close, taking every chance to say "I love you." In her ear and she responded every chance she could.
Jack woke, the sounds of the cheering of the soldiers from her dream still echoing in her ears. A dream. She told herself. Jack propped herself up on her elbow before lying back down and rolling over, away from the sunlight and into Don's chest, getting as close as she could to him, breathing in his scent. His arms pulled her closer to him and she fell back asleep.
MY BABIES! If the ending is confusing, the next chapter will clear it. Up. Sorry it's so short. Love yall. 3 Let me now what you think.