Michael walked alongside Jesselynn as they moved forward to her usual trail, hands folded behind his back as he watched her soak in the warm sun. She had always loved being outside on warm afternoons. She remembered watching her children when they were young outside while also reading her newest book and drinking a glass of tea. She missed those moments dearly when they were all so young and innocent and the only biggest decisions or problems they had were 'Should I eat my leftover candy now or later?' Now, in her mind, they were nearly teenagers and had some tougher decisions in their lives.

Jessica walked a step behind them, hoping this wasn't going to be a long walk. She wanted to focus on the questions. She hated how rude she sounded, she loved her mother dearly, but reminiscing on other memories that she already knew just made her heart break even more. She wasn't there when her mother started losing her memory. She was twenty at the time and was away in college when they had noticed signs of her memory loss. She remembered Michael contacting her when they diagnosed her. She felt like she had let her mother down so much by not being around her more. At the time, it had been nearly two years since they were all together and now, she thought, she would never be able to talk about her life or children with her mother. It made her heart shrivel into a million pieces at the thought of her own mother not knowing who she was; forgetting a little over half of her life.

Michael interrupted her self-pity part with a question of his own, one that Jessica actually approved of.

"So, after you left Marcus, what happened after that?" He asked as looked down at the small, elder woman walking calmly and slowly beside him.

"Well, that's when I started my career as a medic in the military. Like I said before, I started at close military bases and slowly made my way up. I was wholly concentrated in my work and never had any other thoughts besides my brother. I got the monthly letter from him, he often spoke of his training days and how he was learning and growing stronger each day which made me tear up every time. I was so used to seeing him as my baby brother who I always needed to protect from everything and now he was learning to fight, protect, and kill.

"As the years went by, the letters were easier to read because we were both growing into different personalities. I will admit that I got quite 'bitchy' without having anyone to really focus on and care about with my brother gone and I almost forgot what it was like actually having a family or loved one. It was four years after leaving my fiancée and forcing myself to trust my brother with his own safety along with others when I met two people who would actually help bring me back to my original self," Jesselynn explained as she watched the sun peak in and out the bright green tree branches as she walked along with the two, trying to get them up-to-date on the person she had grown to be after leaving Marcus.

"Was one of them your husband?" Jessica asked suddenly appearing on the other side of Jesselynn, trying her hardest to not say 'Dad'.

Jesselynn nodded with a warm grin at the younger woman, "Yes, he was one of them. The other was my friend, Roxanne. When I was 'recruited', as we used to say, to work with the medics during the Vietnam War. To me, it was quite the honor, but I had no idea my life was going to completely change when I did go," Jesselynn answered, remembering the day that changed her life completely.

April 15, 1965

Vietnam

Jesselynn Thorne

Jesselynn walked through the base with a fellow medic after going through her clearance. She had waited four years to be here and worked as a nurse for even longer before her time here. She was still trying to get herself accustomed to the new atmosphere, but it was so different than the others she had been to.

The woman beside her had pixie-like, black hair and hazel eyes that soaked in every little detail as they walked around. She hadn't caught her name, even though she gave it to her. Jesselynn hadn't paid any attention to the woman as she continued to ramble on and on about how excited and anxious she was to be here. She thought it was a little ridiculous that the woman beside her was acting as if this was some kind of field trip from school, but she tried to reassure herself with the fact that the army would only allow medics of the best caliber.

Her usual long brown hair that used to touch her back bone was now cut short to her shoulders that was also held back from her slightly tanned face with a black clip. She wore her usual uniform that she had worn times before. The woman was the same as hers, but her hair was far too short to really do anything with so she just styled it as much as she could before the trip out here.

Jesselynn remembered this because they had been in the same room the past night. She knew that this woman had talked to her, but she couldn't remember a single thing she had said. She had been to occupied trying to prep for, at the time, tomorrow and had her brother on her thoughts.

Jesselynn knew that Justin was here somewhere, for she remembered him mentioning the base in his letters. Well, that he could mention. She knew there were some things that he couldn't talk about with her, but she still loved their conversations.

They were usually about their lives and how, in his mind, was so much better than it had ever been. He always made sure that he mentioned his complete joy that Jesselynn was away from Marcus in ever single letter. Sometimes it would be with the P.S. Message at the bottom of the paper. He'd mention his favorite memories as he was growing up and often asked her the question if their parents would be proud of his decision.

Every time he asked this, her heart grew heavy and her sorrowful eyes caught the ground below her, refusing to see the words any longer. Her hurt her to think of those wonderful people that she missed every day of her life. She could still remember the night they had died. She remembered how alone she felt when she cried herself to sleep in that back seat. Every now and then, when she quickly goes by a mirror or glances at one, she sees the marred face of her mother in her eyes. It was a momentary image, but it still haunted her since she was a small girl.

She felt her heart grow heavy and decided to brush that off before she would get emotional. That was the last thing she wanted to do; to mark the impression that she was just some emotional little girl. She tried to think of something else, but was interrupted by the woman beside her who decided to make her presence even more known to Jesselynn.

"Hey Jess, do you wonder what it's going to be like here? I know it's a random question, but you know me. I can't go five minutes without my mouth being open," The woman asked trying to smuggle a light joke into her sentence.

Jesselynn partially felt bad that this woman knew her name and maybe even considered her a friend and she didn't even know her first name let alone some of the background she had yammered about one night. She hadn't cared about making any friends, for that wasn't why she had agreed to this, but she thought that this woman at least deserved an answer out of her.

"I, uh, don't know. I just know this is war so it's definitely not going to be summer camp," She answered, realizing it had come out colder than she had wanted it to. She thought the question was ridiculous! What did she expect to get out of this?

The woman cast her eyes to the ground, catching the coldness off her words. Her hazel eyes studied the dirt and rocks under their feet as she tried to continue their conversation. Well, more like her speaking and Jesselynn walking idly by.

"Well, I know, I just thought that there could be something amazing in store for us during this," She paused for a moment as she tried to get out of the way of one of the soldiers who were running in their direction and looked back at Jesselynn who continued to stare forward, silent, "I'm a glass-half-full kind of girl. I tried to find the best case scenario out of everything," She finished with a child-like grin lifting the corner of her mouth.

Jesselynn took in everything that she was saying, but didn't know what to say to her. Congratulate her for her optimism? She just felt better keeping quiet and acting as if though she couldn't hear the woman, no matter how rude it actually was.

The woman caught drift of this and sighed, giving up with the stubborn woman in front of her. She tightened her grip on her bag as she continued to walk a step behind her, taking in the scenery around them silently.

Jesselynn felt bad for being so rude to the woman behind her, but decided not to act on that feeling. She scoffed knowing how much Justin would have hated seeing her do that. He was always trying to play match-maker, even if it was just the friendly version of the game. As Jesselynn thought about it, he was probably going to be even more strict about the game now. He was probably wanting her to have a whole group of friends if things did go bad...A support group if he died.

A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of it and threw it aside to be abandoned. She didn't need to think about that. Justin was smart and capable of keeping himself alive. He was like the woman behind her sometimes, a glass-half-full kind of guy.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a large man came running towards her out of nowhere, and crashed into her shoulder. She was bounced back a step and felt herself collide into the woman behind her as she grunted.

"Hey! Watch it, as-" The angered, annoyed voice said loudly from the man's voice before cutting off suddenly in realization that it wasn't just some new recruit. Well, the new recruit he was thinking of.

Jesselynn craned her head up slightly to see a tall man with dark brown hair and matching facial hair around his chin and lip. He was in his uniform, the same as almost everyone else, and had light blue eyes that stood out the most in his dirty skin.

"Watch it, what?" She pressed on with her arms folded across her chest.

The woman behind Jesselynn still had her hands on Jesselynn's shoulders from where she caught when she fell back into her. Her hazel eyes glanced back and forth between this man and Jesselynn, wary and nervous about what Jesselynn was going to say to this man. She could tell just by looking at him that he was a soldier and had an authority that Jesselynn shouldn't mess with.

The man just stood upright and looked down at the two, "You just need to watch where you're going. Men are going to be running around here all the time, so I suggest you not take another stroll around here at that time again," He said with a grin.

Jesselynn arched a brow. She knew he was just trying to offer some, what she guessed, help to the two new women, but she didn't like being treated like some lost little girl, "Oh really? Well, we might need to be taking one of our 'little strolls' around here in case one of your soldiers asses nearly get blown off, sir," She said with a smirk.

The woman behind her slapped her upper arm and muttered a stern 'Jesse' under her breath at the woman's sudden harsh attitude.

He didn't think nothing of it and just brushed it aside. He had more important matters to attend to anyway, "Now, if you'll excuse me..." He said trailing off, inquiring their names.

"Jesselynn, I'm one of the new medics," She said letting her arms drop to her sides as the dust began to fly around them with the presence of one of the choppers landing nearby.

"Same here, I'm Roxanne," The woman, Roxanne, said stepping out from behind Jesselynn and offering the man before her a shake of her hand.

Jesselynn arched a brow curiously as she watched him take Roxanne's hand in his and firmly shake it once, gave a simple nod to Jesselynn and disappeared behind them as he heard his name being called behind him.

"Well...That was pleasant," Roxanne said sarcastically as she watched the man run off behind them and turned back to Jesselynn who still had her brow arched at her, "What?" She demanded with a surprised tone.

She just sighed, "Nothing, let's just go, okay? We still have to go by the infirmary and work out everything and get our schedules," Jesselynn said, already walking away from the scene of her encounter with the strange soldier that interested her and angered her at the same time.

Roxanne glanced behind them before following the woman. She could already tell that being with this woman was going to get her into trouble. That or some very interesting situations. Roxanne jogged to catch up with her, hoping to get to something normal.

Okay, so, sorry that this chapter is short. I wanted to make more for Jesselynn's first encounter with the 'lovable' Mr. Woods, but my brain just shut down and wouldn't let me go into as much detail and writing as I wanted to, so, blame my brain.

I hope this suited you guys, for I try my best just for you. If there is anything that could help me with my writing, I would seriously love it if you could let me know in a review or any kind of feedback!

I hope this story is still interesting in anyway and hope you guys enjoyed this! Sorry for not updating faster, also. My sister (well, best friend, but we're like sisters...I think you're picking up what I'm laying down) is moving far away and I probably won't see her for years, so I've been spending a lot of time with as I possibly can before the big move so I haven't really had time to just sit down and write like I need and want to.

Anyway, I'll quit boring you with my rambling and let you get back to your busy schedule (which I'm sure you have. Well, everyone does besides me since I have like no social life whatsoever). So yeah, sorry for the wait and short chapter, leave me any kind of feedback, and have an awesome day oh and HAPPY HOLIDAYS and MERRY CHRISTMAS :)