"Sergeant Woods, you got a new recruit on your squad," A young man with auburn hair said with a grin, casually walking up beside him.

Sergeant Frank Woods moved his blue eyes from the choppers that had been flying in and out of the base, moving wounded soldiers or those returning from the field. The same woman he had met days earlier was already out there, running alongside the cot as someone read their report of the young man lying unconsciously or moaning in pain. She seemed well trained and very skilled at her job. She still had some rust though; he figured that she was used to regular check-ups at a hospital before she moved down here.

"Who is it?" He asked, rubbing his temples with his fingertips, trying to rub away the sudden exhaustion he was feeling. He guessed that was what he got for taking a moment to sit down.

"A Private named Thorne- Justin. He's twenty-four and has been training for six years. Looks as though he finally earned his place. Should be here in a matter of days," The man said stretching his arm muscles as he quoted what he had learned from the young man's, Justin's, report. It sounded like he had spent hours memorizing it and was growing annoyed of repeating it.

"Hm," Was all Woods had to say about the man's news. He was used to hearing about new recruits so this was no surprise to him.

The two men watched as another man was carried into the infirmary. This time, Woods spotted the younger woman that had been with the slightly older one, Jesselynn, if he remembered right. Roxanne? Wasn't that the name she had given him? He had remembered her as the one who had scolded Jesselynn during their brief discussion.

He hadn't had another encounter with the woman, but he'd be more surprised if he had. They were both engrossed in their line of duty that having the occasional conversation would be highly unlikely. The only way he could think of meeting the woman again would be taking a visit to the infirmary. Patient or not.

"You keep staring at 'em, man. It's starting to get a little creepy," The man suddenly said to him, breaking their momentary silence.

Woods looked up at him, brow arching, "What the hell are you talking about, Dale?" He questioned, straightening himself from his bent-over position on the crate he was using as a chair.

"I know you're just waiting for something to do, but staring at that girl who comes out every now and then is just weird," The man, Dale, said, grinning stretching across his mouth.

Woods just shook his head at the man, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just watching the only thing that has any action right now. Doesn't have anything to do with Jesselynn," He said, hoping it was as believable as it was in his mind.

"Oh, so her name's Jesselynn? How'd you get that slice of information?" He teased with a sly grin, causing the Sergeant beside him to shake his head, hiding a chuckle.

"Because I ran into her, jackass. The first day she was here she was roaming around with the other medic, Roxanne. I was trying to hurry to the field and I bumped into her, literally. We talked for a moment and told me her name. That's it," Frank said, explaining the origin of his knowledge of the woman, wanting Dale to know the facts before he started thinking any different.

Dale just chuckled, "Oh yeah, that's the woman Jacob mentioned. Said one of 'em might've been very flirtatious with our dear friend, Sergeant Woods," He said, remembering the man's, Jacob's, words and how he said that Frank had stumbled upon two new women who he had spoken with, a little bit longer than necessary.

Woods just rolled his eyes, "Whatever. You people gossip like old women. None of 'em were 'flirtatious', matter of fact, Jesselynn was the complete opposite. Not very fond of her, I must say, but she is interesting. Most of the women just kind of stay clear from our way and duck their heads. Guess she's just used to walking around freely," He said, his mind dwelling on the strange woman once again, staring off into the distance.

"Okay…Before this gets any weirder, I have to go. Oh, and you got some drool on your chin there, buddy," Dale said walking off with a smile, knowing Frank would be annoyed and maybe even a little angered with his constant mocking.

"Shut up, Dale," Woods just said, waving the man away as he continued to sit there, trying to think of other things besides the man. He was glad to be by himself anyway, he had more time to think about things.

He placed his elbows on his knees, brushing Jesselynn out of his mind as his thoughts returned to something he was more use to. His mind focused on this new recruit he was receiving in a few days, welcoming the thoughts of training as the sun began to set behind him.

Jesselynn wiped some of the blood from her hands as she stood outside the operation room. One of the soldiers had been shot in the abdomen earlier that day and the bullet had broken into several different pieces so it was a long procedure, but one she was familiar with. Her long hair was in a braid down her back, some strands lying lazily against her temple as she began to wash her hands once again.

Roxanne stood beside her, drying her hands with a calm face. Her hazel eyes stared down at the towel she was using, her head bobbing sleepily.

"Still haven't been sleeping well, Roxanne?" Jesselynn surprisingly asked, catching her friend's exhausted eyes.

Roxanne looked up to see Jesselynn looking straight at her, concern showing in her eyes. This surprised her, in all honesty, for she had considered that this woman she thought a friend cared nothing about her.

"Well…No. I don't know why, I'm just having troubled adjusting, I guess. It's different than my usual hours. Been…worried, also," Roxanne said in a weary tone, sighing at the start and began folding the towel she was using once she was done with it.

"Worried about what?" Jesselynn asked as she began to dry her hands, wondering what could be troubling the usual peppy woman she was becoming fond of. Jesselynn herself had been worrying herself, but it was mainly about her brother and from what she remembered, Roxanne had no siblings since she was an only child. She knew she lived a normal and happy life so she was completely surprised that something could've been troubling the calm woman's mind.

Roxanne played with the corner of the towel, trying to figure out how to speak of her worries. She sighed before starting, "Well, I guess I've just let this whole war thing get to me. Every second, it seems, men are wheeled or carried in to us nearly dying or asking about their fellow men's conditions. It just makes me sad, really," She said, trying to explain her feelings of all of this chaos she had signed up for.

"I know what you mean. It kills me to think that my brother could be out there in all this madness or even dead. I don't know and I can't get any information on him. Now a days, he's the only reason I'm continuing in this world. He's the only thing I got left," Jesselynn said trying to comfort the woman in front of her, giving her an encouraging grin.

There was a moment of silence between the two as Roxanne took a seat across from her, calm expression turning into a sorrowful one. She rested her elbows against her knees as she let out a deep breath, continuing the story she had told herself she was going to keep quiet, but now she was tired of holding it in.

"I know what you and some of the others thought about me. Hell, maybe even still think about me. An immature air-head who refuses to see the reality in this situation I'm in. I act like that to guard myself. Every single day it makes me think of what happened…why I'm alone.

"I was married, you know? You probably didn't, but yeah, I was married. He was a Sergeant in the army. We had married so young…I met him when I was just thirteen and he was fourteen. Looking back on it now, it seems that we were together for decades. Well, when I turned eighteen, we got married. Sometime after that I was pregnant with my little girl. The same time he was deployed in the army. It broke my heart to see him go, but I know that he had the best intentions. That was also the same year I started my medical career. Well, about a year, maybe two, later, I was reported with the news that my husband was shot and died hours later on an operating table. It tore me apart. I felt so broken and alone. If I didn't have my baby girl, Sonora, with me I probably wouldn't be standing here, breathing, talking with you.

"After I had my time to grieve, I started working harder. I always thought that if I had been there in that operating room, my husband would be alive. I never would have given up trying to save his life. I would've done anything! I mean, I had known him since we were kids and I know I'm probably just being dramatic and that it's pretty corny, but he was my soul mate. When he died, it was like a piece of me went with him. Ever since then, I've acted different. I tried to be oblivious to all that was around me, but being in that operating room…Reality never hit me so hard in my life. All I could was my husband's face and I could hear him in my head. My messed-up conscience was using my husband's voice to tell me how much I had failed him…" Roxanne said, pain in her voice as she ducked her head, trying to hide her face from Jesselynn.

Roxanne trailed off as tears appeared in her eyes, creating slow trails along her now pale cheeks. Jesselynn had never seen Roxanne like this and she honestly had no idea what to say or do. She wanted to comfort her friend, tell her that everything was going to be alright and that it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't find the right words.

Jesselynn knew that her reason of worry wouldn't compare to Roxanne's for she was just a worried, over-protective, older sister. She wouldn't know the pain of having the love of your life just ripped away from you like that. She wouldn't know how it felt to hide the pain from a small child you had to remain strong for no matter how much you just wanted to scream or cry.

Jesselynn looked at the woman in front of her with a saddened expression; she hated seeing the woman like this. Slowly, Jesselynn made her way to the silently grieving woman, hands folded in front of her as she took a seat beside her, unfolding a hand and placed it on Roxanne's shoulder.

"I…I don't know what it's like to go through what you had to go through, but…Roxanne, I'm here for you. I won't lie you; I'm guilty of having those same thoughts along with the others, but that was before you told me you're story… I'm sorry all this happened to you. I'm sorry for being a real bitch to you during the start of this. If you wanna slap me, you can," She paused with a grin, hoping to amuse the woman at least slightly. Roxanne just grinned for a moment, "You shouldn't beat yourself up over your husband's death. I'm sure the nurses and doctors did absolutely everything they could to, besides, I'm sure he's in a much better place now. I know it's kinda corny also and I normally don't talk about stuff like this, but I'm sure he's watching over you and your daughter, Sonora, isn't it?" Jesselynn said trying to encourage her and comfort her, catching the woman's hazel eyes as she began to wipe away tears.

Roxanne looked up at the woman and smiled, "Yeah, thank you. I really do appreciate you trying to cheer me up," She paused for a moment, smiling at a memory that had come to mind, "Today's her birthday. She wrote her own letter and everything telling me about the early birthday party her grandmother had planned for her. It's her tenth. I feel awful for missing it. I mean, isn't it kind of a big deal. A whole decade; double digits from now on? She told me that her Grandpa gave her ten dollars and that she can't wait for her one hundredth birthday if she gets money for every birthday," Roxanne explained, laughing at her daughter's crazy theories.

Jesselynn just smiled with her, trying to act as if she understood, but she didn't. She had been there for her brother's, but she knew it must be different when it's your own child. She remembered her mother talking about how unbelievable it had been on Jesselynn's tenth birthday and how it seemed like yesterday she had been a small baby.

Their moment was interrupted when someone came in for Roxanne, asking for her assistance with something. Jesselynn sat there by herself, trying to think back on what had just happened before her seconds ago.

Roxanne had been through hard times and so had she. They had something to relate to. She remembered going through the same pain when her parents had died. The only two people she had cared about, before she was left with just her brother. Her parents had been her rock and she could always go to them when she needed them. It still hurt her to this day to think of them and the memories they had shared.

She had had a close relationship with her father like any little girl would have. She was always wanting to be with him and he was the one she'd always run to when her mother would get on to her or wouldn't let her have that cookie before dinner. She remembered how much her mother hated that, but Jesselynn still smiled to this day at it.

It was weird and different for Jesselynn to think about that and try to understand the ways of mothers; it had been hard for her to relate to Roxanne earlier about her daughter because she didn't know what she was supposed to say to that. Jesselynn knew that she most likely wouldn't be starting any kind of family anytime soon. She figured Justin would be the one to want that later on in his life. Matter of fact, she remembered hearing him speak about it once in his life.

She had no plans for a family, husband, or kids and honestly, she didn't want it. She was so used to worrying about her or Justin that it would be hard for her think about anything else. Like it was against her "programming". Hell, she figured she'd be awful with children anyway. She remembered working with children once and they just looked at her if she was some robot. She wasn't used to acting, what she thought, dumb and using the ridiculous voices or faces.

Besides, she figured she was far too busy to even think about that kind of thing. She had her career to think about now that Justin was a man and old enough to make his own decisions. Her nursing career was just beginning with this new step, why should she slack off now?

Surprisingly, her thoughts changed completely when she looked down at her arm and noticed a familiar mark she had received the night before she left Marcus. He was drunk and annoyed by her decision that he shoved her back which caused her to cut her forearm with the knife she had accidently left out before speaking with him. She had been able to clean and patch it up since it wasn't a major cut, but it left its mark on her.

She quickly pulled her sleeve down as someone barged into the room she continued to sit in, scared that someone would see her dreadful secret she wanted so desperately to hide.

"Jesselynn Thorne?" A man questioned, face partially lit up from the orange and red sunlight that was beaming down on his face. It wasn't a second later that she realized that those pair of blue eyes were very familiar.

"Yes?" She questioned, wondering what could have been wrong that this man of all people would be requesting her presence.

"Got a new recruit that came in early, wants to see you," Sergeant Woods said taking a step closer to her as she stood up from her seat, trying to hurry up with this errand.

Jesselynn wanted to question it more, but she decided not to once she figured it could be important and didn't want to make both Woods and whoever was requesting her wait.

He let her step through the door first before walking alongside of her, guiding her to the place the new recruit had been last and asked to meet the woman at.

Jesselynn remembered him as the man that annoyed and interested her then began to think of her rude behavior to him. She sighed knowing what she should do.

"Since I've been on a roll today with the apologies –don't ask-I must apologize for my bitchy behavior the other day. I don't know why I acted like that. Guess I was just nervous when it came to making a reputation for myself. Probably didn't make a very good one," She said looking forward ahead of her, glancing occasionally at the man beside her.

He just scoffed, "To be honest, no, you didn't, but I'll accept your apology. I know how that can be. Never wanna be known as the weakest link. Especially in this kind of situation," He said as he looked around him, finding the woman's green eyes searching his face for his expression.

"No shit," She said simply with a grin, seeing him return hers with a grin of his own. It didn't last long, but Jesselynn figured he had more important things on his mind. Couldn't blame him either. She was the worst person to have a conversation with.

"So, uh, I believe we didn't have a formal introduction. My name's Jesselynn Thorne. I'm one of the new surgeons in the infirmary," She said trying to fill in the awkward, silent moments she knew were bound to happen if she didn't say anything.

"Frank Woods – Sergeant," He said with his stern voice and grinned for a second, "Jesselynn, huh? Kind of mouthful. S'alright if I call you Jesse for short?" He said thinking about the unique name.

She just smiled, "Sure, my parents and brother called me Jess or Jesse all the time. Kind of nice hearing it again, to be honest," She said, immediately regretting how that sounded in her mind.

He just passed it off with a grin, "Well, I guess it was nice meeting you, formally, Jesse. Recruit's over there, waiting just for you," He said suddenly stopping, offering a proper handshake before pointing over to the tall man that was sitting, waiting as patiently as possible for the woman to appear in his sights.

Jesselynn shook his hand as she turned her head to look at the man that required her presence. Her heart dropped to her stomach and her eyes were wide as she felt a smile spread across her mouth. Those identical green eyes found hers and lit up with joy.

She looked back at Frank who was now walking away from her, returning to his previous duties. Jesselynn didn't care though; her brother was actually with her now. She looked around her for a second before she began to run over to the taller man who had stood up to meet the woman halfway.

Frank looked back to see the woman running towards the man, Justin and smirked. She had tried to remain calm just seconds before, but the moment she thought no one was watching her, she acting like a little kid running down the stairs on Christmas morning.

"Jesse…Hm," He just said to himself, seeing a whole new person from the unpleasant woman he had met days ago.

He liked this one better.

Okay, so, here's chapter four. I don't really know what to say about it besides, it's done. I hope I didn't make Woods completely opposite of his normal awesomeness, but I definitely tried my hardest. If you guys have any tips for me when it comes to him, or anything, please let me know. It will definitely be appreciated and maybe even make the story better...Or good if it's not :P

Merry Christmas Eve (or just Merry Christmas, depending on where you live) and have a wonderful day! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and hopefully I'll start having more Woods & Jesselynn moments, but I'm trying not to rush a romance. I really want to delve into that and not just have, there was a man and woman involved in the army...Then they kissed, you know what I mean? Anyway, thanks for reading either way!

Anyone ready to meet Justin? Yes? No? Well, either way, you're fixing to! :D