XFurubaX: Hey guys! Thank you for the support on the last few chapters! : ) So happy you are loving it! I will never do a story with Persian in it again…guh…..nor will I ever trust google translator again. Sorry for posting this the night directly after. Short chapter but I'd appreciate if you helped get me to 20 reviews! : )

Turner didn't make it.

He'd been hit in a vital point and lost too much blood and was dead by the time the sun was finally in the sky.

Drew mourned by himself as he sat by the flagpole, tears blurring everything in his vision out.

He met Turner when he was 18...10 years they've known each other… He remembered how they met as if it were yesterday.

It was boot camp and they were standing next to each other in the rows of soldiers when practicing drilling. It was their third week at camp and they never uttered a single word to each other. They were standing in line when the general Jankowski was ordering them. He walked up and down the long row,

"For the next two weeks, you will practice recon! In other words, scouting. This will be a great way to get useful information that we could use to destroy, the other side. In other words…spying."

Drew felt the need to speak out at that point, "Sir! Permission to speak sir!"

"Permission granted." he stood in front of Drew,

"A thought sir, what if the other team is planning out arrival?"

"Repeat…Torres is it?"

"What I mean sir, is what if they are aware of our recon system and provide false information-"

"Highly unlikely!" he began to walk back down the row, Drew spoke out once again,

"I think you should take this into consideration sir-"

"The point of recon Torres is for them not to know!"

"And the point of theirs is to know-"

"I've heard enough!"

Turner, who had been paying attention to the conversation the whole time spoke out next,

"I agree with him!"

Jankowski turned to walk back down the other way, "Thank you Turn-"

"No! I mean with Torres sir!"

Drew looked surprised as he tried to stand stiff,

"What's that?"

"Torres is right sir! It is rational to keep in mind that they have a recon as well, and if they are able to plan our arrival, can provide us with the false information they have in store."

There was a brief silence, Drew turned his head back facing forward as Jankowski walked up to Turner. Jankowski was the kind of guy who hated being pointed out wrong, and his temper was TNT waiting to explode.

He was about to call Turner out when sergeant Cassel stepped in, "Jankowski…" he gestured him over to the door and walked in front of the row,

"For the rest of the afternoon, I want you to run 10 miles." As they began to step out the door he called, "Except for Torres and Gray!" Gray was Turner's last name. They walked over to him, "You two stay here and clean up." he marked winking and he along with the rest of the troupe left.

They mopped the shelter while everyone else was gone when Turner spoke to Drew for the first time,

"You know, you've got some guts to fight back with Jankowski."

Drew snickered, "And you've got guts for agreeing with me."

"I swear that guy was born a general, I wonder what he was like as a kid."

"He'd scream and cry because his bottle wasn't warm I bet."

The two laughed. Turner stopped,

"So you're from Toronto to?"

"Yup, grew up there my whole life, me, my mom, dad,…and my brother." he smiled.

"Oh really?"

"Yup, he's 17. His name's Adam."

"Adam huh?" he leaned against a wall, "I got a brother…3 years old…he means everything to me."

"My god…15 years apart?"

Turner nodded, snorting. "He's the cutest little bugger though…looks just like me."

The two laughed once more. "So your…Torres?"

"Drew's the name." he held out a hand,

"Turner." they shook.

And it all started from there. As long as they had each other, they always felt war would be fine.

But now it was all gone.

He pushed the tears away with his finger tips and held a breath. He watched as they were packing all of Turner's things into a locker in which they would send home.

An empty, gaping hole formed in his stomach as he watched the soldiers and Cassel take it away. Many of them holding their helmets off in respect. Drew was not among them as he was still at the flagpole…Adam was no where to be found either…

He began to think…what if that was Adam on the stretcher…what if those were Adam's things they were packing?

God knows Drew wouldn't be able to live with himself if it was…

He had finally lost all of his tears and stood up, walking around the pole just thinking.

Negative thoughts swarmed in his head, what if he hadn't seen Adam being taken? What if he and Adam didn't make it to the shelter?…

What if Adam was killed right after the huge blow out the night before?

Turner's words echoed in his head. Up to the point where it was starting to bother him.

Right then he wanted to see Adam. More than anyone else. He checked the shelter and he wasn't there. He checked the small café and still no sign of him. He walked up to a Persian soldier,

"Bebakhshid, man donbale Adam migardam."

"Adam…Ai! Mostaghim boro ba'ad be Chap."

"Mamnoon."

He was alone practicing his targets. Drew walked up behind him and watched. Adam was striking and reloading the target not caring if he hit the bulls eye or not. Drew didn't say anything as Adam didn't notice him.

He couldn't tell if Adam was practicing reloading quickly enough or if he was just shooting out of anger.

After 3 minutes of watching him, he could feel someone behind him, it was Cassel.

"You doing ok Torres?"

He turned around, "I'm better. Thank you sir."

They both watched Adam, Cassel had a feeling of what Drew was thinking,

"…Your brother's got your talent…your wit."

Drew didn't say anything as Adam continued to shoot unaware of what was going on behind him.

"Indeed he does…possibly smarter than me…stronger." he started to think, all their lives Adam's always had the true strength in the family, the courage to go face the world everyday. And while Adam was seeing everyday as a blessing, Drew had been bypassing life like it was something one could buy at a store.

Cassel put a hand on his shoulder, "He is pretty brave to come out here like this…not knowing what the hell will happen nor what's to be expected of him. Then of course, what you would think when you found out."

Drew still didn't respond.

"I know you want to protect him Torres, any brother would…" he sighed, "But you can't be over his shoulder every second…he's gotta learn how to face the world some day."

He looked back out at Adam, "He's a warrior. You just got to let him be one." He walked away, leaving Drew to watch Adam until the afternoon.

-X-

That night they were setting up a camp outside as their shelter was destroyed. Drew gave Adam a sorrowful look as Adam gave him his 'sorry' look. They both awkwardly and silently set up sleeping packs next to each other until Drew raised his head,

"Adam…"

Adam raised a brow to let him know he was listening.

"I know I've been a little overprotective lately but…I'm sorry."

Adam raised both brows in surprise and looked at him.

"I just…" he took a breath, emotional by all that's been happening, "I want you to live Adam…that's all I want. I just…love you so much."

Adam just looked at him. He went to straightening out his sleeping bag and returned to facing Drew, taking a breath. "…I love you to."

Drew, for the first time in a while, smiled.

"Everything's been so…hard lately…it made me forget right and wrong I guess. Right now I just want to be home if you want to know the truth."

Drew took his hand, "I wanted to be home the moment I got here. With you…Emily…Catherine…" he sighed, "I wonder if they're doing ok."

"You chose the right girl to marry…she's strong…and Emily…I bet she is to."

"You don't know how badly I'd like to hear her laugh right now…or to, to be woken up in the middle of the night because she's crying or…anything from her."

Adam nodded in sympathy, "I'd like to wake up every morning not worrying if your dead or not."

The two snickered.

"…My god…the things war does to you psychologically…" Adam remarked amazed.

Drew laughed, "It's crazy."

"It's insane."

They laid down, "Drew…why did you want to join the army in the first place?…I never understood that."

Drew held his mouth agape…he'd never truly thought of the reason why but he knew it wasn't for the uniforms. "It just seemed like a way to get closer to a better world…"

Adam winced in confusion.

"Like…the good guys against the bad guys."

Adam was still confused, "But…what if your on their side? Saying that?"

Drew didn't want to think about that. He'd had that argument with himself about that many times, and never found a solution.

"I don't know…" he turned to his side. "Good night Adam."

Adam turned away from him, "Night Andrew."