God, his chest hurt. That was all Jeremy Sherwood could think as he was stirred from his deep, morphine-induced sleep. It took him a moment to realize where he was, in a hospital after he shot himself.

His dark eyelashes fluttered open slowly, his eyes burning as they adjusted to the harsh fluorescent light that filled the hospital room. Dark brown eyes drifted across the room, finding his father reading silently in a chair next to his bed, still wearing his dress uniform, his mother nowhere to be found. His eyes glided downward finding the Holden girl sleeping in his bed, practically draped over his body, their limbs entangled. His dad had thrown his dress jacket over the brunette, to keep her from getting cold.

Emmalin's dark hair, still curly from the night before, fanned out around her like a halo, her dress wrinkled and bunched around their knees, her head nestled in the crook of his neck. Jeremy noticed how her hands were gripping him, clutching his hospital gown, even in her slumber. Getting a better look at her face he realized there were dark mascara trails leading down her cheeks, she had been crying.

The nineteen year old groaned, pain tearing through the side opposite Emmalin, his body shifting slowly careful not to wake the sleeping girl. Despite the pain, it felt good to stretch his muscles. How long had he been out for? Major Sherwood quickly turned toward the bed, smiling wholehearted when he saw that his son was awake.

"Good to see you awake, boy. Scared the shit out of me." The blond smiled, rubbing his son's buzz cut affectionately, his eyes shining. Frank and Jeremy's relationship could usually be described as difficult at best, but they had their moments.

"Hey Dad. How long have I been out? How long's she been out?" Jeremy asked, yawning, only slightly uncomfortable. The elephant in the room still unspoken, 'why did he shoot himself?'. The nineteen year old figured it was only a matter of time before his father asked, Major Sherwood was a straight-to-the-point kind of man and didn't like to beat around the bush.

"Couple hours. It's around 5:30 am. Your Mom went to get some coffee, she's been worried outta her mind, kid." The Major laughed, a smile still covering his face. God, it felt amazing to see that his only son was going to make it, that he'd be okay soon.

"What's Emmalin doing here? Where's her parents?" Directing his questions to the seventeen year old on top of him.

"Well Michael and Claudia Joy went to go get everybody a change of clothes and… Emmalin sort of threw herself on top of you last night. How long have you two been dating, Jeremy?" Frank asked gently, not wanting to prod his son at the moment.

"We're not dating. She's just a friend, Dad." Jeremy finished quickly, almost defensively.

"Not from what I saw last night." Questioned the Major, an eyebrow raised.

"What happened last night?"
"She was loving up on you, boy? You don't remember?" Frank almost had to laugh. Not that he would approve of his son having a relationship with a minor but Jeremy's lack of recollection was sort of ironic. The nurse last night mentioned that the morphine might make Jeremy kinda out of it.

"Nope. I remember the ambulance ride here and that's all. Loving up on?" He frowned at his father's choice of words.

"Yeah. Emmalin was crying and kissing all over you. Didn't notice a damn thing other than you. Mike looked like he wanted to deck ya." Frank laughed.

"I kissed our post commander's underage daughter right in front of him? That's great." He groaned, as a nurse walked in to shot pain meds into his IV. Quickly briefing the two before taking her leave.

"Nah, she did all the kissing, on the cheek and forehead mostly. Emmalin didn't kiss you on the lips or anything. You were pretty out of it ,Jere, you fell asleep while she was crying on you, then she fell asleep. When I woke up you both were still out cold."

"She didn't even change outta her ceremony dress." Stroking Emmalin's long, dark hair gently, feeling the silky strands slip through his calloused fingers.

"Emmalin feels partly responsible." Major Sherwood said sternly.

"Why?" His finger trailing across her full bottom lip, feeling the rose-colored flesh quiver beneath his gentle touch.

"She said she tried talkin' to you, knew you were feeling blue. You should set her straight when she wakes up."

"I'll talk to her."

"That's good, son. So you're not dating her?"

"We're not dating, Dad."

"Do you wish you were?" Okay, so he couldn't help himself and prodded his son a little, but just a little.

"She's only seventeen." His thumb unconsciously stroking her tear-stained cheek, his eyes staring at her disheveled appearance. For some reason the solider found her even more attractive then he normally did, he found her tousled look sexy even. Although he knew he shouldn't be thinking of her that way, especially not in a hospital.

"Well that doesn't answer my question."

"I'm no good for her."

"Still avoiding the question."

"I've thought about it, recently. But it can't happen."

"Emmalin's a pretty little thing." The Major commented, watching his son's gentle displays of affection toward the girl.

"I'm no good for her." He mumbled, willing his father to stop asking about his love life, or lack thereof.

"Sure you are." The most surprising part of this statement was that his dad actually sounded dead serious. Not that Major Sherwood wasn't serious because truth be told the man was never anything but serious, it was what he was saying seriously that shocked his son.

"Dad, I shot myself last night. On purpose." Jeremy figured he might as well clear the air with his ole man right now, get it out of the way. Even though Jeremy and Frank Sherwood fought 99.9% of the time, they truly loved each other and would do anything within their power to help the other out. They really drove each other crazy most of the time, but only because they were so similar, not that either of the stubborn men would ever admit it.

"Balled her eyes out until you started comforting her. She cares about you a lot, boy." Frank revealed, nudging his son softly. The blond didn't feel this was the time to discuss the happenings of last night, he just was happy that his son turned out okay and that was all that really mattered.

"I know." His thumb tracing the mascara trails on her soft cheek, making the teenager on his chest whimper softly.

"Look here comes your Mom." Major Sherwood said, "He's up, Dee." Smiling at his wife, as a relieved expression passed over her face.

"Jeremy, thank God you're awake…and alive. You had me in hysterics last night." Kissing her son's forehead affectionately, relief evident in her voice. His mother had always loved and adored him, so of course her son's suicide attempt would drive her mad.

"I'm alright Mom." Jeremy insisted, knowing she wouldn't listen to him anyway. Denise Sherwood was going to worry herself sick about his well-being no matter what he said, she was a great mom and sincerely adored him.

"Thank God. Is Emmalin still sleeping?" Peeking at the brunette that rested against her son, the unspoken question evident in her voice, she looked toward her husband for a clue as to what was going on between the two young adults. In response all she received was a shrug.

"I think she's waking up." The solider replied as Emmalin shifted against him, her body burring itself deeper into his body heat, her eyes fluttering open, long eyelashes tickling his shoulder. He heard the petite Army Brat mew into his chest softly, her hands gripping him tighter, the Major's dress jacket slipping off her shoulders slightly.

"Morning." He whispered gently, pulling his father's jacket back over her frame.

"Morning." Emmalin moaned into the crook of Jeremy's neck, "Am I hurting you?" she whispered, her warm breath tickling his collar.

"No. You're fine." His parents quietly left the room giving the two a private moment.

"God, what the hell's wrong with you? You had me worried sick, Jeremy. You shot yourself? You shot yourself!" She yelled suddenly angry, sitting up with her hands still grasping him. Jeremy's side rippled with amusement, the force of his laughter shaking the Army Brat gently. "You're laughing? You shot yourself and you're laughing?" He had been told on more than one occasion that the young Holden had a temper, she could go from zero to sixty in seconds. Jeremy was surprised by this angry, glaring Emmalin, he had always thought of her as a sweet, little thing, someone delicate and fragile, like a flower maybe.

"It's not that I shot myself, it's that you're the first person to even mention it." He smirked, his chuckles subsiding now, his broken rib aching slightly.

"You almost died Jeremy. God, you almost died." Her amber eyes suddenly filled with melancholy, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes before slowly falling down her cheeks. Smudging her already ruined makeup.

"Mmhhh. Don't cry anymore…please. I'm fine, I'm not dead, I'm right here, okay?" His calloused thumb wiping her tears gently, pulling her to his chest again. He didn't want Emmalin to cry, he didn't understand why he suddenly cared so much for the Holden girl but he couldn't stand seeing her in tears.

Her tears drenched his shoulder, the brunette's sobs shook the bed. His arms subconsciously wrapped around her, rubbing her back soothingly as he shushed her kindly.

"Emmalin, I'm fine. Stop crying." Jeremy whispered against her ear, pleading with her to stop the heavy flow of tears, his hand smoothing her glossy hair back. Salt droplets fell from her eyes as intensely as the rain in Charleston did in late April. Without thinking he kissed Emmalin's forehead gently, his lips caressing her soft skin. Instantly Jeremy recognized how wrong that was. There were tons of reasons, a few of them being that she was too young, that her father was his boss, that her father was a General and he was enlisted, and then of course he had dated her sister before she died.

Despite all of the reasons why kissing Emmalin Holden was wrong, he couldn't help but think it felt right. Kissing the pretty girl in his lap, even just barely on the forehead, was incredible. Reluctantly, the solider noticed how perfectly Emmalin's small body fit against his much larger one, like she was specially made by God to rest against him. But he couldn't let himself focus on her like this, he might accidentally kiss her again and she didn't need that, there couldn't be a 'them'. Dating, and kissing, Emmalin Holden was not something he should engage in.

Her tears slowly came to a stop, Emmalin's amber eyes staring straight into his brown ones. Slim arms wrapped around his neck as she kissed his cheek gently, her full lips brushing against him as soft as a feather. The feel of her rosy lips was exhilarating, he'd never felt anything like it before.

One thing Jeremy Sherwood had plenty of experience with was girls, he burned through women recklessly. Girls flocked to him in herds, he had been told on more than one occasion that they liked the 'rugged sexy, bad boy' look he pulled off effortlessly. The Private had a habit of sleeping with girls and never calling again, he'd hooked up with more women in the last year than most guys ever did in their lifetime. Jeremy Sherwood preferred one night stands to relationships. He wasn't an emotional guy and being in love with somebody meant lots of emotional-ness, or so he always thought. He'd honestly never been in love before but Jeremy thought Emmalin Holden was easily someone he could grow to love, especially if her kissing him on the cheek left him absolutely breathless. Damn, was he ever fearful now.

"You scared me last night."

"I didn't mean to scare you." Stroking her cheek softly, their eyes locking again.

Fuck, when did she start meaning this much to him? The Army Private had ran into her a lot these last few weeks since returning home, and she occupied his mind occasionally but when did he become this attracted to her? Sure Emmalin was a beauty; with dark hair and eyes, tan skin, rosy lips, not to mention she had a centerfold figure. Most of her clothes left a lot to the imagination but anyone could tell that she was filled out in all of a man's favorite places despite how skinny she was. Dejectedly though, Jeremy Sherwood realized that his feelings for her were more than physical. Here he was in bed with a beautiful, gorgeous, innocent girl and the last thing on his mind was sex, Jeremy was focusing on the tears that had moments ago flowed from her eyes.

"Can I see it?" Emmalin asked nervously, nibbling her thumbnail while waiting for his response.

"See what?"

"The bullet wound." She whispered softly, as if afraid that saying the word bullet would result in pain for him. Wordlessly, he began tugging his hospital gown off his shoulder, groaning quietly in the process. Emmalin gently swatted his hands away and carefully pulled the gown off with her own hands, then gently removed his bandages.

Jeremy's chest looked awful, even he thought so. There were dark ebony and plum bruises coating the hard cords of muscle on his chest, the impact of the gun shot had caused all the shadowy marks. The worst of it was the sinister-looking red cuts, one from the bullet and one from the surgery to remove the bullet and repair his rib. The skin had been pulled back together with stitches, the nurse from earlier had mentioned that he had about twenty-five.

"Oh, Jeremy." Emmalin moaned, her hand reluctantly stroking some of the gloomy bruises, being especially gentle so she wouldn't hurt him.

"It's not as bad as it looks… I don't feel anything." He insisted, trying to prevent her from crying again. He knew she was worried silly over him right now.

"Well it looks bad, Jeremy and I'm sure that if you weren't on morphine it would hurt just as bad." The Army Brat whispered, fingers slowly, carefully caressing the scars now, before darting to the other side of his chest to trace his tattoo. The Army Black Hawk tattoo was identical to the one his dad had on his arm, Jeremy had gotten it a few year back.

"You know what's ironic? I've never been in bed with a guy before now. I guess I always thought when I was finally got in bed with someone it wouldn't be a hospital bed." She laughed softly, receiving a chuckle from him. Her confession had lightened the slight tension that had gathered when they saw his cringe-worthy injuries.

"Emmalin, sweetheart?" Claudia Joy interrupted from the doorway, peeking in at the two. Her eyes glancing over the close proximity of their bodies, watching her seventeen year old daughter nearly straddling the soldier's lap.

"Oh. Mom, hey." Emmalin greeted, her eyes and hands never leaving Jeremy's chest.

"Morning, glad to see your awake Jeremy." She smiled, clearly wondering about his relationship with her daughter. "Emmalin, we should go. The Doctor's probably going to be checking on Jeremy soon and I'm sure there are things the Sherwood's need to discuss." Claudia Joy was approaching the bed now.

"Umm. Okay." Emmalin agreed reluctantly, she slide off the nineteen year old being cautious not to hurt him. Emmalin's thin arms wrapped around his neck in a gentle embrace "I'll visit soon, 'kay? Be good." she whispered in his ear before leaving a tender kiss on his cheek. Mrs. Holden handed Emmalin her shoes, dragging her daughter from the hospital room before she even had time to put them on.

He watched her back as she exited, he couldn't help but wish she could stay longer. Emmalin turned back to glance at Jeremy, a smile gracing her delicate features, once again leaving him with that breathless feeling.

"So what happened while I was gone, boy?" Major Sherwood asked laughing, walking in after the Holden's had left and taking a seat in the chair at his bedside.

"There's no wedding plans if that's what you're asking." Jeremy joked, knowing his dad wasn't going to let up until they talked about this. One thing they both had in common was their stubbornness, clearly the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

"You kiss her?" He prodded, slugging his son lightly on the shoulder.

"Not on the lips…and it was a one time thing." He insisted.

"Who you kidding? You're probably already thinking of a pet name to call her or something." He chuckled.