Remember Me, Remember You
Buffer

Buffer awoke to the sound of scraping chairs and a female voice swearing quietly in Polish. He smiled softly and pushed back his covers, grabbed a t-shirt and padded out of his room. In the kitchen a thin brunette woman stood, re-arranging the furniture in his small kitchen/meals area. She'd been complaining for the last week now that he'd had his chairs and table in a bad position and that was why he found it so hard to get around the place, but Buffer knew she'd soon realise it wasn't bad positioning, it was just that the room was too small for the dining table set. She noticed him watching her with a smile on his face and turned, putting her hands on her hips and scowling at him.
"Peter!" She shook her head. "You sneak up on me?"
Buffer grinned at his sister struggling with English in her thick Polish accent. "You're getting better Izz, now if only you'd leave my furniture alone we'd be alright." He gave her a smile and pulled open the fridge, looking for food. There was little. He groaned and looked back up at her. "Would you just leave it alone and find me some breakfast?"
"I am not your niewolnik, Peter. Find breakfast alone." She tucked the chair she was holding back under the table and smiled. "There, more room see?"
Buffer glanced at the room before him. Indeed he now had more room, but his sister's re-arranging had now pinned two chairs up against the wall, unable to be moved let alone sat in. "That's great Izz, but now there's only four seats. How am I supposed to entertain?"
"You throw party is like Haley's Comet. Not problem at all." She teased with a cheeky smile. Buffer shook his head at her and she laughed. "Alright, not better, but at least I try. You accept problem, you say 'no Izzie, is fine' when is not fine, is cramped and horrible. Table is too big for little apartment."
"What do you suggest I do Iz? Navy pay isn't exactly big enough to afford a new place."
Isabel turned serious. "Peter, I wish you accept Dad's money. He wanted you to have it, and Damien too." She frowned. "Mum took it, before she got sick, knew he only wanted to help. He'd want to help you too."
Buffer frowned, not so much because Isabel still hadn't mastered tenses, but more because he knew his father would give him whatever he wanted. The problem was he was too proud to ask. Many years ago, when Isabel was barely 6 and he was only 12, the family had left Poland bound for the safety of Australia. Back then Poland hadn't been the safest place to live and Australia provided warmth and freedom. Peter, his mother and his brother never left again, but Isabel had returned to Poland with their father. The man was sincere enough, but he was a businessman who'd never had much time for people. For some reason this hadn't affected Isabel, who had been born with the same lack of emotions that their father had, but Pete was an emotional person like their mother and had shunned his lack of concern for them. When their mother had fallen sick three years previously he'd flown over to come see her. He still loved his wife, but understood she had moved on since he went home, and had offered only one thing – to pay for the treatment. In Poland their father was now a name amongst the masses and a very wealthy man. Their mother accepted the generous offer, but Pete's emotions got in the way. He turned on his father, told him the money would never make up for abandoning them, and forced him out of his life. His father had moved back to Poland thinking his middle child hated him and they hadn't spoken since. Then, completely out of the blue a few months ago, his sister Isabel turned up. Isabel was every inch their mother, which was hard as they'd just lost her (their father hadn't turned up for the funeral), but very much a livewire. She spoke little English and although on a duel citizenship was having trouble with the government about getting a working visa, so she'd bunked down with Damien first. But when their elder brother had to go do some business in Perth last week, Izzie had been unceremoniously dumped on him. Of course, as he was due back on the Hammersley in two days, Buffer wondered what would happen to Isabel. But then, her English had improved dramatically, and she'd scored a secretary job nearby, so he couldn't see why she shouldn't stay at his place while he was away. But they hadn't talked about it. He'd taken for granted that his sister would like to stay with him.
"Peter, you asleep on your feet again?" Izzie said with a laugh and Buffer awoke from his stupor.
"Sorry Izz." He frowned at the cupboard. "Look, we've got nothing, want to go out for breakfast?"
Izzie smiled. "Sure, if you is paying?"
Buffer rolled his eyes. "Of course tightwad, just give me a minute to get changed."

"Mama, Peter hit me with a snowball." Isabel's young 5-year-old voice flowed over the street as Peter and Damien ducked down behind a wall, clutching the snowballs they'd been saving all day to use on their sister. "Mama!"
Luka, a big man every inch what Peter looked now but with dark curly hair, came out instead. "Pietr, Damijan come here now." His voice thundered and the two boys scuttled out from behind the wall, their grins gone. "Your sister is but a child. And a girl. Real men fight men like them with courage and by looking them in the eyes. They do not face harmless little girls by hiding behind a wall. You are 11 and 13, you should know better." He touched Isabel's head as she now clutched the hem of her father's long coat and hid behind his leg. "Apologise to your sister." Isabel's bright blue eyes poked out from behind his knee. She looked so tiny next to the huge figure she was using as a shield, but then they were all smaller than Luka.
Peter gave in first. "Sorry Isabella." Damien nodded and followed suit.
Luka nodded at them then grabbed his daughter's hand. "Dinner is nearly ready. Clean yourselves up and get inside soon." He led a sniffling Isabel back into the house and shut the door loudly. Peter and Damien just looked at each other and smiled.

"Hey, how's the housemate going?" Charge asked Buffer with a smile as he reached the bridge.
Buffer chuckled. "Last week she was re-arranging my dining room and now she's moved everything around in the kitchen. She's mad!"
Charge nodded. "She's your baby sister mate, she's supposed to be mad." He gave Buffer a smile and went back to work. Buffer agreed, she was driving him mad but he wouldn't change it for the world.
A day later she called him, completely out of the blue, and Buffer took the call quickly. "What's happened Izzie? Don't tell me you burnt down the apartment." He said with a chuckle.
But Isabel was serious. "No, is father. He called, unexpected, and wants to come visit you. He said is important."
Buffer shook his head, though he knew the only person who could see him was RO. "Uh, no. There is no way that Luka Tomaszewski is stepping foot inside my door, you hear me Izzie? You call him and tell him to stay away from me."
Isabel sighed. "I already told him he could come."
Buffer groaned. "What?" He glanced up and noticed RO watching him and continued the conversation in Polish. "You know what I think of him Isabel, how could you do this?" RO turned away, it now impossible for him to understand.
Isabel replied in broken English. "You is ashamed of our father. Do your crew even know about him? He is good man who make mistakes."
Buffer frowned and continued in Polish. "Makes mistakes? Isabel he walked out on our mother to go and make more money. He didn't even come to the funeral."
Isabel replied in Polish this time, clearly too angry to form the words in English, but no matter the language the words still hurt. "You weren't even there when mama died!"
Buffer took a minute to calm himself down, but he could hear Isabel breathing hard, an indication she was beyond mad, she was worked-up furious. He continued in English once again. "Let's not talk about this okay. We'll talk when I get back. I have work to do."
"Work to do, work to do. As always Peter." She growled in Polish. "Your problem with father? You are too much like him." And she slammed down the phone. Buffer frowned at the beeping handset then put it down calmly. He gave RO a quick glance then left the room. He really did have work to do now. Work that would hopefully keep his mind off fighting with his sister.

***

"What is it?" Peter asked, poking the small pudgy pink thing like it was about to envelope him like a giant man-eating blob. Damien laughed at his brother.
"It's our sister Peter." He shook his head.
Only 6 Peter couldn't quite understand why his sister looked so much like a martian. "That's not a girl, it's a creature from out of space. It comes to you at night and eats your brain!" He waved his fingers menacingly at Damien who just laughed. That was the problem of being the younger brother, he couldn't scare Damien with his stories. From the doorway their mother laughed.
"You have a wild imagination Peter, you should write stories." She said with a smile. Peter looked up at his mother with a smile. Sophia was the most beautiful woman in their small Polish town. She had long wavy brown hair and the most striking bright blue eyes. Unlike their father she wasn't Polish of birth but from Belgium and so spoke fluent French and quite a bit of English. But Luka could only speak Polish, so that was all they spoke at home. However she often spoke of Belgium and the countryside, as well as their plans to live somewhere with lots of open country like England or Australia. Peter's grandparents had left Belgium bound for Australia only two years previously, and though he barely knew them he wanted nothing more than to go to this beautiful land that they spoke of. He loved it so much he had recently done a talk on it at school, showing many students on a globe exactly where it was. He'd earned 5 gold stars for the report.
"I don't need to write stories mama, I'm going to live them. Fight fire-breathing dragons and save the world." He said, waving his arms like he was slaying a dragon right then and there.
Sophia laughed and Damien rolled his eyes. "My brave little soldier. But there are no dragons around here anymore Peter, your father and the other war heroes scared them away."
Peter smiled. His father had fought in the war, like his father before him, and this was the reason that Poland was now safe. Well, as safe as it could be in those times. At 6 he didn't know the threat of the USSR, but his mother did and feared staying in Poland, especially with a young daughter now come into their world. She gave a sad smile at Peter's bright little face as he again showed Damien the right way to fight a dragon. Peter looked up at Sophia then and saw her sad smile. "Don't worry mama, Damien and I will protect you. Isabella too."
He could still remember the look in Sophia's eyes as she pulled her sons into a hug. Peter felt so special then.

***

Shore leave came and Buffer arrived home to find the house empty and quiet. He called for his sister but it seemed she wasn't home. So, with a sigh, he went to the phone and called her mobile. It rang through to messagebank. Either his sister had left her phone on silent or was purposely ignoring him. He didn't leave a message with her but instead went to start dinner.
When she didn't turn up for dinner he tried again, but still nothing, so he went into her room to see if she'd left any indication of where she'd gone. Sitting on her bed was a small throng of stuffed animals, many new ones that his sister had acquired during her travels, but one he'd seen before. Lady Duck had been a small stuffed duck Peter had given Isabel when she was 8 and was missing home. It had reminded her of all the days they spent in summer, sitting by the pond and throwing bread at and to the ducks. She'd loved Lady Duck and took it with her everywhere. Buffer smiled, realising the poor old toy had managed to last this long, and picked it up. It was then that he heard the front door open and walked out into the sitting room where Isabel was shutting the door behind her slowly.
"Where have you been? You didn't answer your phone." Buffer exclaimed.
Isabel frowned at him. "Stop talking to me like I'm a child Peter, you aren't my owner." She growled at him in Polish, clearly still maddened by the mere sight of him.
"Where were you?"
"I was with dad, we went to dinner. I didn't think you'd come straight home so I didn't worry about leaving you a note." She shot back, again in Polish, as she headed back to her room.
"Dad's here already? You didn't tell me he…"
Isabel cut him off. "Ty nie zrobit zapytac!" She repeated herself in English, calming down considerably. "You didn't ask, you didn't care."
"When did he get here? Where is he? What did you talk about?" A million questions flowed at once.
Isabel sighed and sat down on her bad. "Dad is in trouble. He have problem with investors. He's losing the business Peter. He wants to come live here with me. He say we buy house together with what he have left, start again. I say good idea."
Buffer gaped. "He's moving here? When? Soon?" Isabel nodded. "What? I, and you're moving in with him?"
Isabel shrugged. "I is sorry Peter but I make up mind. It quick decision, but I go back to Poland next week to help him fix up everything then we come here. He wants to live in Melbourne but I tell him very expensive so maybe we live in Adelaide. Damien say Adelaide is nice. Many Europeans!" She gave a smile.
But Buffer could only gape. "Have… Have you thought about this? I mean…"
"What Peter? I live in cramped little apartment with you for rest of my days. No Peter, is fresh start for us and dad need my help. He our father Peter, you must understand that he need us like we once need him.
Buffer made to protest but Isabel stopped him. "We talk later Peter. I need shower." She pushed past him and into the bathroom. Buffer just stared at the door in shock as he heard the water begin to run in the shower. Then, with a sad frown, he went back to the dining room to sit and think.

***

"Mum, it's huge!" Peter exclaimed as he looked up at the house before him. He grinned at his mother then cast Damien a look. He was also grinning like an idiot. Gripping Damien's hand was little Isabel, and while the boys looked delighted she looked simply terrified.
"Mama, I don't like it. I liked our old house."
Luka picked her up. "Isabella, we can't live there right now, but I promise that one day we'll go home okay?"
Isabella smiled then and buried her little face into her father's big neck. Peter didn't look at her at all but looked back at his mother. "Is this really our place mum?"
Sophia smiled. "It's your home for as long as you want it to be, courtesy of your grandmamma." She touched his head. "Now, go inside and pick your rooms."
He and Damien raced off to fight over rooms, making a lot of noise as they ran up the stairs. In the room Peter chose he could see the water in the distance and the sun shone through his window although it was 3pm in winter. In Poland the sun would've gone down already and it would be dark and cold. Peter lay back on his bed and smiled. He loved Australia right then and there and knew he would never leave.

***

Buffer stood at the gates of Brisbane airport and watched his sister lug two large suitcases behind her. Isabel didn't know he was there. While Isabel had caught a bus and train, Buffer had driven. He knew his sister wouldn't accept if he offered to drive, so he hadn't bothered to, but now as he watched her he felt a pang of sadness. He thought he and his sister were close enough, but it seemed they were completely different people after all. Now she was following their father back to Poland, having ignored Buffer for the last week since he'd virtually forbid her to go, and there was the chance that he wouldn't see her again. His pride stopped him walking right up to her now and helping her with her bags. That damn pride again. It ran through the entire Tomaszewski family.
"Why you just watch her? Why you not help her? What kind of soldier is you?" A strong Polish accent spoke from beside him and he turned to see his father standing beside him. Time had got the better of Luka and his dark hair had turned grey to add to the lines on his face. But still he looked strong. Of course these days Buffer wasn't scared of him as he knew he was still stronger.
"Go away dad." Buffer said, turning away from the man.
Luka followed him. "You is soldier like me now but still you not protect your sister? What kind of man is that?"
Buffer turned back on him. "A man who knows she doesn't want his help, just like I don't want your input. You're her hero dad, you always have been, so you go help her."
Luke shook his head. "You disappoint me son." He walked away, off to help Isabel, and Buffer followed him with a death stare that he knew would make even Bomber step back and take notice. Then, turning on his heel, he left the airport.