Good to know that you haven't given up on me yet haha here's another chapter for you, my lovely readers. Please review.
Exhausted, Julia had collapsed on top of John and fallen asleep. John lay her down gently and got dressed. He dressed her without waking her and picked her up bridal style. He carried her through the town, cuddling her close to his chest to make sure he had her safe from harm. He was falling hard for this girl. She was different, more complex than any other woman he had ever been involved with. He longed to tell her everything. That he was an undercover cop. That his real name was Horatio Caine. How he really felt about her. She had no idea that she was making his mind this chaotic, she just lay there sleeping in his arms like an angel. Pretty as a picture. As he reached the campsite, he went back to Julia's cabin and laid her down on the bed. He thought he could leave and get back to his tent when the cabin light was switched on. John turned around back to face the room and saw Kimberley there looking at him. She was smiling.
"Hello, John." She greeted quietly. He nodded and smiled in greeting.
"Not going to write another note?" she asked, giggling. She shook her head and got back into bed. John scribbled down a note and left it by Julia's bed before turning off the light, bidding Kimberley goodnight and leaving the cabin.
The next morning, Julia woke up and wondered if it had all been some wonderful dream. The way he had touched her and the way her heart had spilled from her chest. She kept on thinking it through until she saw a piece of paper on the bedside table. She scrambled for it clumsily and read it in her head.
Dear Julia,
I took you home last night but I didn't want to wake you. Thank you for the amazing time. I will look for you again tomorrow. Have a great day, beautiful.
John.
Happy tears cascaded from Julia's eyes and she help the small piece of paper to her chest. It had happened. He had spent the night making love to her in that beautiful fantasy place. She knew it couldn't have been a dream, it had felt so real. She put the note with the other one in her bedside drawer and shook Kimberley awake.
"Kimmy, Kimmy get up." She couldn't hold back the happy tears and the laughter. Kimberley got up reluctantly and sat on the side of the bed with Julia. She was soon wide awake when she saw Julia's wide smile and happy tears.
"Oh my God, what happened?" she asked, suddenly excited and wide awake.
"I- I think I'm falling in love with him!" Julia almost screamed, more happy tears dripping from her eyes as she did. Kimberley's mouth hung open. These two people had known each other for two days and now Julia was falling in love with him? Impossible. She hugged her friend, but still felt like she needed to wait a little while longer.
"Julia, how are you sure you love him?" she asked as Julia pulled away, her face suddenly hard.
"I never said that, I said I was falling in love with him." She snapped. An early sign of the bipolar.
"OK, I'm just concerned." Kimberley said, raising her hands. Julia calmed, Kimberley had a way of doing that. "Let's just talk about him. What's the age difference?"
"He's 9 years older than me, but I don't care." Julia said, sounding very sure of herself and what she was saying.
"What about him, what's he really like?" Kimberley questioned.
"He's compassionate, trustworthy, he has the same family background as me, he's a great listener, not to mention he's breathtakingly handsome. He's kind and his eyes, God his eyes. It's not just me is it? They're just so blue." Julia listed, gazing off into the distance as she trailed off. Kimberley clicked in front of her eyes to bring her back down to Earth. Julia focussed back on her friend. They both got caught up in fits of giggles before getting ready for work and heading down to the infirmary. She headed over to Doris Hamilton and looked after her.
"Hello, darling." The old lady smiled, "Where am I?" she asked, the Alzheimer's confusing her.
"You're in the infirmary on the Special Task Force base in Pensacola, and you're going really well." Smiled Julia. The woman shook her head as her memory returned.
"Oh, yes. Silly old woman. I have these gaps you see." She explained. "How are things with your John?" she said at the end. Julia was amazed that she had remembered that conversation.
"They're great, thank you for asking." Julia grinned and the old woman beamed at her.
"And I should hope so too. You're definitely a pretty girl, my love, and I'm sure from what you've told me, this John is quite wonderful." She sighed.
"He is." Julia whispered, not in particular to the old woman, "He is, I would say, fairly fabulous."
Later that day, Julia took a stroll around the infirmary with Kimberley for their lunch break. They never ate in a room with the other nurses because they both hated the cigarette smoke. Kimberley had one hand resting on her baby bump. Julia looked at her rubbing it constantly and wondered what it was like. She knew that Kimberley already had one daughter, Danielle. She must be quite lucky to have a fiancé and a child, but then again, Julia wouldn't know. They were just laughing and talking about their usual things when they heard a mighty explosion from the task force training ground. The terror gripped Julia suddenly. She wondered whether or not John was OK. It was about half an hour before gurneys of the injured were being wheeled into the infirmary. Kimberley and Julia put their uniforms on again, faster than she ever had changed in her life. All the nurses lined up on the sides of the entrance, two at a time assigned to a gurney. Julia's world moved in slow motion as she checked all the passing stretchers for the unmistakable red hair of the man who was too wonderful for words. Suddenly, she was separated from Kimberley and whisked away with a patient. She tried her hardest to stay focussed and help the man bleeding in front of her but she felt helpless and weak not knowing whether or not John was OK, or even alive. No she thought I can't think like that. John must be alright. He has to be!
After the chaos had surpassed, she met Kimberley in the hallway. She was tearstained and hesitant. Julia hugged her friend, but still didn't know what was wrong. Kimberley didn't respond, but started crying again.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Julia asked.
"You need to see this." She said, taking her hand and leading her to the station in which she had been working after Julia had left. Julia walked to the bed.
"After you left, this was the man I was assigned to." Kimberley stuttered between soft little sobs. Julia closed her eyes, not wanting to see what her mind told her she had to be ready for. Sure enough, when she looked down, she saw a man on the bed. His hair was unmistakably red and his face was gentle, even in his sleep. But his face wasn't the problem; his hip had been hit with a heavy amount of shrapnel. The shrapnel had been removed and his hip replaced; he was going to be fine. But he was under anaesthetics and his breathing was deep and his chest rose and fell jaggedly. Julia couldn't hold in the pain. Her mind swam with images on her and John the night before. Her head rolling as it had on the lake bed as he pleasured her. She couldn't take it in.
"No." was all she could get out before she collapsed then and there, clean out.
A while after, her eyes opened to see Kimberley's panicked brown ones looking on her. She had done her best to sit her on the chair beside John's bed. Julia shook her head. She couldn't look at him like this. She hated the enemy for what they had done to John. Her John. Kimberley tried to get her up to take her get help but Julia was on the defensive. She struggled and pushed, screaming.
"No! No I'm not leaving him!" she cried. Kimberley, who was taken aback by Julia's violence, left her next to John and left herself. Julia sat on the chair again and slipped her hand into his. Is was strangely cold. His hands were always warm. They had been when had handed her back the contents on her purse, when he had held her in his tent, when he had led her through the town, when he was between her legs…
Julia flinched away from the memory and clasped his hand tighter. She leaned over him and stroked his face with her free hand.
"Please be OK." She whispered. "I'm not going to leave you. I'm going to be here, John."
She waited there for him to wake up for hours. She never left him for anything, to eat or drink nothing. The night came quickly, but Julia didn't notice. Her eyes were trained on John's gentle sleeping face. Hoping and hoping she would see his beautiful eyes open, weakened her will to keep hers open. They slid shut without her being conscious enough to notice and her head gently flopped onto John's chest. The sight would've been quite a sweet one to see, if anyone at all had been there to see it.