"I wish you didn't have to go," I say quietly, wrapping my arms around his waist from behind.
"I know, I wish I didn't have to either," he says. He turns around and snakes his arms around my lower back, pulling me against him. "We're write, okay. It won't be the same, but it's something."
I nod, tearing up a little but try not to, I don't want him to feel even worse than he already does.
"Lilly, you know I love you," he whispers and I let out a laugh.
"How could I not? You tell me every day," I say.
"Just remember that, and remember that one day soon, I'll be coming home, coming back to you," he promises.
"Don't make promises you can't make sure you can keep," I whisper and he doesn't say anything, knowing I'm right. He just kisses my temple and pulls me into a tight hug.
"Jackson?"
My head snaps to the right. "Yeah?"
"What's home for you?" Private Andrews asks.
An image of Daniel's face flashes in my mind, but I settle on the answer they're expecting; the name of a place. "West Forks, Tennessee."
"Family?"
"Define family," I say, my face turning hard when I think of my father.
Andrews exchanges a look with Long and says, "You know, mother, father, siblings…"
"Well my mom died when I was a baby, and my father is…" I wince, "out of the picture. I have a husband though; his family- his mother Ruth, and sister Alice, his father died a year ago- has been more of a family to me than my own has, and we consider each other family."
"A husband eh? What's his name?"
"Daniel Jackson, a private in the army, Second Rangers Battalion. We grew up together," I answer.
"And what does he think of you flying behind enemy lines and becoming a field medic?" Long asks.
"He doesn't know," I say, "Come on fellas, all our mail was censored when we were waiting for the invasion to start."
"Yeah, yeah, okay, so how do you think he'd react?" Andrews asks.
"I think he'd probably think I was crazy and be rather angry with me before it faded a few minutes later into pride and worry. He was the one who taught me how to fire a gun, and how to fight hand to hand, so I don't think he'd have a problem with me picking up a weapon," I say.
Before they can ask anything else, I ask, "And you? What is home for you?"
"Holbrook, Arizona. My ma and da are there, waiting for me to come back. I had a sweetheart, but she broke up with me a few months after I left," Andrews answers.
"Tough luck man," another private says, Henderson, I think.
"Yeah, I mean I join the army, go to fight in a war I may not survive in, and I get a letter that says 'sorry, can't do it anymore'. I mean she might've been called cold when I started dating her, but that was just cruel."
"Yeah, nothing worse than getting bad news from home when you have so much bad news here," Long adds.
My mind flits back to sitting at that table, debating whether or not I should've told Daniel about the baby, and how I lost it.
Dunne suddenly stops and holds up his hand. Everyone halts and immediately stops talking. There is the light sound of gunfire in the distance and Dunne waves us forward as we crest a hill. There, a little ways away, is Neuville, and it looks like the fighting there isn't over yet.
When we enter the town, we immediately run into American forces.
"Thunder!" one of them shouts.
"Flash!" Dunne yells back and they lower their guns. We run through the gate to where the other men are squatting on the ground behind a fractured wall of a building that's only half intact.
Captain Dunne kneels next to a soldier that waved him over; this must be the guy in charge or at least in charge in this section of the town anyway.
"You our relief?"
"Sort of, we had orders to come and help you, but we're only nine in number," Dunne informs him.
"Well, I guess some help is better than none," the soldier says and then points, "Private Fredrick, take them to Captain Hamill."
"Yes sir," Fredrick says and Dunne motions for Andrews and Henderson to stay here while the rest of us follow the private into a small building that's relatively intact considering how much damage has been done to this town.
"Captain Hamill sir," the private says. The captain looks up at us, taking us in.
"Captain Dunne, here to help as best we can," Dunne introduces himself.
"How many are you?" Captain Hamill asks.
"Nine," Dunne answers.
Captain Hamill nods before he sees me. It's still obvious under the standard army uniform I'm now wearing that I'm still a woman.
"And that is…?" Hamill asks.
Dunne looks at me and says, "Lieutenant Jackson sir, our field medic."
"I see, and by field medic you mean…?" he emphasizes the word field.
"Meaning she's already seen combat sir and preformed just as well as any man," Dunne says.
Hamill nods, "Okay then, why not? At the moment the streets are quiet, but it's bound to start up again within the hour."
"Sir, with your permission I would like to see your wounded, see if I could do anything for them," I ask politely.
"Granted, Private you take her," Hamill orders and the private gives the standard "yes, sir" before making for the door. Dunne gives me a nod which I return and I follow the private down the street to another abandoned building where about ten to fifteen men are. There are two medics here but they can only do so much. Hopefully a third one will help.
I turn to the private who lead me here and ask, "You got anywhere you need to be at this very moment?"
"No ma'am," he answers and I nod.
"Good, I could use your help here," I say and get to work on the most seriously wounded soldier I see.
After getting through the priority patients, gunfire is heard outside. It starts and stops, and Long runs into the room.
"We're moving," he says and I use a piece of fabric to wipe my hands clean somewhat before following his outside to the front line. It's darker out and I see it's about to rain; great, because this place wasn't desolate enough.
Dunne is kneeling with his men around him and when we approach he starts to talk. "Hamill needs us to check out a building in the south east corner of the inner part of the town. There's been some movement inside, not us. If possible we are to eliminate them, if not than collect intelligence and return to get a bigger strike force. Everyone got it?"
There's a chorus of 'yes, sir's and he starts giving out orders. "Stick together in pairs of two, Henderson with Shaw, Long with Jackson, Andrews with Wilson, and Myers with Owens."
Dunne found out a few days ago that Shaw and Myers hate pairing up with me, seeing me as someone they have to protect. Long however doesn't mind, and in fact since he saw me in action, has quite the opposite opinion than Shaw and Myer's.
"Okay, let's go," Dunne says and leads us down a street as raindrops start coming down.