CHAPTER 7:

James woke up in the dead of night. Jen was sound asleep next to him. He had had a nightmare. Not of him getting beat by Marcus but of something darker and more disturbing. He was in some interrogation room, in which they had him tied to his chair. In front of him was Jen, tied up again on the floor. And there was another man, and in his hands was a large leather whip. James in his dream had struggled to stop the man from relentlessly beating Jen and before he woke, she looked like she was dead. James however calmed himself down and realised that Jen was still there in his arms, sleeping soundly next to him. His breathing relaxed and he stopped sweating. He pulled Jen as best he could closer to him and soon he fell back asleep.

Jen had also had a dream. A dream in which she and James left without a trace and moved to some warm tropical country where no one could find them. There they lived peacefully and got married. Jen felt herself smiling in her dream. But, before she awoke, she saw Marcus as well as the gunman who had broken in her apartment. They were both trying to get James. Jen however woke up before anything had happened.

"Way to put a damper on things." Jen muttered to herself quietly upon waking. She shook the remnants of the dream away and looked at James' calm face. It was still only six in the morning. Jen put her head back on his shoulder. James suddenly took her hand in his. "So, you're awake." Jen whispered directly in his ear.

"Yeah, I am. I have been for awhile." He replied.

"I love you."

"I love you too." James replied, stiffly planting a kiss on Jennifer's lips. He was still hardly able to move most of his body but he was glad he was at least able to kiss her. His head was throbbing with pain and his abdomen felt so sore, he felt like he could be sick if he moved the wrong way. Luckily, the doctors had given him decent pain medication. James was also planning to press charges against Marcus for assault. James figured his defence would be that even though he started the fight with a punch to Marcus' nose, his response was that Marcus urged him on by suggesting he was screwing around with James' girlfriend. James figured it would work out in his favour.

A while later, Jen left James to go get herself some food. She had to go to the cafeteria, which she was not looking forward to. However, the cafeteria food was not as bad as she was expecting it to be. Jen grabbed a turkey sandwich and a bottle of apple juice. She paid for it, and then found herself a seat at a table. As Jen began taking a bite into her sandwich, a familiar figure approached the table. Jen looked over her food to see Marcus, still with the bag of ice in his hand against his broken nose. Jen slowly put her sandwich down, completely avoiding his glaring eyes.

"Did I not tell you to leave me and James alone?" Jen said quietly, still without looking up.

"Je- er I mean Mui...please just listen to me."

"No. I'm done with you. Get over yourself, I've moved on." Jen looked up at the sorry sod standing in front of her.

"Mui, you're not moved on, I mean look at you. You're dating some like what, twenty-year old? He's a boy, I'm a man. There's a difference."

"Yeah and you just brutally attacked that 'boy'! What kind of 'man' does that?" Jen got out of her seat, and stood in front of Marcus.

"I…"

"Bloody right you don't know what to say you wretched bastard!" Jen yelled. People started turning round in their seats to see what was going on.

"How dare you!" Marcus roared, throwing his baggie of partially melted ice on the floor.

"How dare I what?" Jen retorted loudly. The cashier guy started walking towards the pair, at the ready to intervene if he had to.

"Insult me!" Marcus paused to pick up the bag of ice as his nose was still dreadfully painful. "I thought we had something between us. What ever happened to you after Korea?"

"Had something? Are you kidding me? Is that what you've said to all those other female mercenaries, that you've all had a little 'something'?"

"Blimey, no! I never!"

"Oh bollocks you didn't! I even saw you hitting on Fiona at one point!"
"No I never!"

"LIAR!" Jen screamed.

"I am not a liar! I would never lie to you!"

"Oh really? Then why if we were so 'together' at the time that you tried coaxing Fiona into your tent bed?" Marcus looked in shock. "Oh yes, she told me. I guess you didn't know just how good of friends we were, did you?"

"Mui…I…"

"Oh I knew, I bloody well knew! You were a horrid cheating bastard! I was only in it to get some, and considering you were the only man around at the time, well, it was my only option."

"You bitch!" Marcus made a lunge for Jen. She quickly dived out of the tall man's grasp. She then round-house kicked him in the face, and then she gave him a sucker punch in between his legs. He fell down, and crawled into a ball.

"Don't ever come back and don't even think to mess around with me any longer." Jen gave him one last glance over her shoulder as she grabbed her lunch and left the cafeteria. The few people who were in the area gave Jen a round of quiet applause as she proceeded back to James' room.