I OWN NOTHING!

It took the squad almost an hour to reach the trees after Harper passed out. Though he didn't want to, Jackson had to let Reiben take over carrying Harper for the last half of the trip. Though Jackson was stringer than almost any of them, Reiben surpassed him in strength. Jackson let him take her but stayed on his heels keeping a protective eye on her at all times. The newcomer also kept an oddly virulent eye on her, though this didn't make Jackson uneasy for some reason. He hadn't talked to him yet, but something told him this man, well boy if Jackson compared him to his own age, would jump in front of a tank for Harper.

When they finally made it far enough into the trees to make Miller happy, Wade went to work re-doing stitches and bandages. Weston hovered, occasionally asking if there was anything he could do, but mostly he just got in the way. Finally Wade told him to go make friends with the squad. Weston took the hint from the hard eyes of the medic.

He glumly walked toward the firelight where the rest of the squad was gathered. Wade's small fire looked almost insignificant to the large one Reiben, Jackson, Mellish, Upham, Miller and Horvath had positioned themselves around.

"How do you know Harper?" Jackson asked immediately.

"Harp and I go way back," he answered sitting between Jackson and Upham. "How's it going Tim?" he asked lightly patting him on the back.

Upham, who hadn't been paying attention, jumped and fell backward off the log he was sitting on. Reiben and Mellish snickered and Weston looked afraid he had hurt him, but otherwise no one even acknowledged the stupidity of the translator. Weston turned back to Jackson and said, "I helped her through a lot of crap from her family."

When the squad's faces remained blank and confused, (all but Reiben) he continued.

"I met her in her 6th grade English class. My mom was the teacher. I was in 8th grade at the time. I came in after my classes were over to help her and that where I met Harper."

He let his gaze fall to the fire as he continued.

"The first thing she said to me was 'are you going to hurt me like my father does?' I told her I would never hurt her and she asked me if I would adopt her. I laughed, but after a week of her asking every day, I began believing how bad her life was. I kind of watched out for her for the rest of her elementary years, then when she got into junior high, she and I were inseparable. We lived a block away from each other so every night she would sneak out after her father hurt her, and climbed through my window. Every night for eight years I stayed up until I heard her on my balcony. She would come and stay the night with me, sometimes crying, sometimes laughing, sometimes saying nothing at all. I would just hold her. We would fall asleep like that and sometimes she would be there when I woke up, and sometimes she wouldn't. she was mysterious to say the least, but I cared about her."

Weston's face had taken on a dreamy look while Jackson's had turned dark and stony. Weston noticed it and suddenly laughed. The squad jumped, not expecting the outburst.

"Don't worry sharpshooter, she and I were never together. Actually I think you are probably the only other man she has ever let into her life." He glanced around then added, "Well probably all of you. I was terrified she would do something stupid when I left. Well she did the dumbest thing, but at least she was surrounded by you men. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for protecting her."

None of the Privates said anything. They were examining their boots, or the ants on the ground. Weston looked around confused. Mellish finally spoke.

"We didn't protect her. She almost died once before, and now-"

He stopped and glanced at the unconscious woman and her ever virulent doctor. Wade was sitting on a log, resting his head in his hands, and rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hand.

"And before this is over, Wade is probably going to die of stress," said Mellish letting his head fall to his hands.

Weston reached over and grabbed Mellish's jacket by the collar.

"She is not going to die. If I have to kill every last Kraut to save her. She isn't going to die. Was I mistaken in thinking you would throw yourselves under a tank for that girl?" he asked pointing a convicting finger toward Wade and Harper.

Wade looked up hearing the elevated volume of his voice.

"No," said Reiben looking at Weston. Though it was ironic because Reiben had actually jumped under a tank for her, he was not laughing. They could all see a storm brewing, but no one, not even Miller felt like stopping it, but it was Jackson who broke the silence in an angry rage. He jumped up and in one quick motion, he had pulled a large hunting knife from his boot and had it at Weston's neck.

"Where have you been for the last week? Have you been here for her? Have you been risking your life to keep her safe? Have you been risking you're neck to save our lives? I don't think so, so until you have you can keep you comments to yourself, because I… care… about… her… more… than… you… will… ever… know…"

The last 10 words were quiet and venomous, and also said an inch away from Weston's face.

"Where was he keeping that?" whispered Reiben to Mellish referring to the knife.

Mellish shrugged as Jackson let Weston go. He looked taken back as Jackson left the circle to go sit by Wade.

"Way to go asshole," said Reiben as he and Mellish followed Jackson and sat across from Harper's sleeping form.

After some internal debate, Upham followed them. Horvath and Miller sat back down to talk over plans for the coming days which meant Weston was left to either sit in awkward silence with the group around Harper or try to find sleep. He chose the latter. As he lay down a smile spread over his face. They had done exactly what he had wanted them to do. They got angry, and if anything was going to keep his friend alive, he needed the people who were going to be looking out for her to be angry, even if the anger was toward him.

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