When Dr. Owen Hunt decided to sign up for the army, everyone told him that he was crazy to become an army doctor. He had just finished his year of fellowship training at the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland. He had gone there, after he had finished his residency. He was always interested in trauma. Trauma and emergency room doctors were on the frontline, when it came to saving lives. He knew they were needed most in the war zones. He just wanted to save lives.
Not everyone understood why he needed to go to war to serve his country. His mom did, even though she was scared for him. After all, his dad had served in Vietnam. She understood the sense of duty that Hunt men had. Beth, his fiancée, was not so understanding. She wanted him to take a regular job at a Seattle hospital. She couldn't quite figure why he needed to be so far away from her. She was more interested in planning a wedding and starting their family. She just wanted to be a doctor's wife. He had to promise that as soon as he got back, they would get married and buy a house. In reality, he really wasn't so sure about Beth anymore. Being around her clouded his brain. She yammered too much about everything. He needed this time away from her though the fact that he joined the army to do so was probably not a good sign for their relationship. They had sent him for training before they deployed him to Iraq. As a trained medical doctor, he had been made an officer.
He was nervous, he knew. He had been assigned to a combat hospital. It was there he was going to do most of his work. On the rare occasion, he could be called out on to the field, when the wounded could not come to him. He did not think that he would relish those moments.
The days and months were filled with incoming casualties, on a regular basis. There were also the days when the combat hospital was quiet. That was a good thing because that meant that there were no young soldiers getting injured or dying. On those days, Owen used his time to catch up with new trauma procedures as well as write home to his mom and Beth. His mom was not too handy with the computer and would often ask the teenager next door to compose emails on her behalf. She would dictate what she wanted to say and the teen would transcribe it on to an email. She would tell him all the funny stories about what was going on in the neighborhood.
Beth's emails were different. Her emails were always about what they were going to do, when he got back home. As he read her emails, he realized more and more that she was not the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He wanted to break off the engagement but he wasn't quite sure about the way to do it. He didn't want to hurt her because she was the sensitive type but he knew whatever he did, she would still be hurt.
The day started off like any other. There were incoming casualties and everyone was on full alert. His patient was a young man – maybe about 24. He had brown hair and bright green eyes. He was awake but it was clear he was badly wounded and had suffered major internal injuries. "What's your name, son?" Owen asked. He called the young man "son" even though Owen was only seven years older than this young soldier.
"Joshua Daniels, PFC," the young man said. "Am I going to make it? I have a family, sir."
"I am going to darn well make sure that you do," Owen said. The young man clearly had his whole life ahead of him. "I am going to do my best." The soldier was in a real mess and he hoped dearly that he could save him.
For the next six hours, Owen and his team worked feverishly on the young man. A couple of times, it was touch and go. He coded on the table but they brought him back each time. Owen was determined to save him, especially since he had a family. And since he was a young man, his family had to be quite young, too.
When it was over, Owen was totally exhausted and he hoped that it was enough. All he could do now was hope for the best.
The next day, he went to check on his patient. The young soldier was awake. "Hey there," Owen said. "I am glad to see that you are up. We worked on you a long time, yesterday."
"You're the doctor who operated on me? I think I remember you," Josh said. His voice was hoarse and weak but Owen could still tell that he had a southern accent.
"You don't have to talk, Josh," Owen said. "Save your strength. Yes, I did operate on you, yesterday. I am Major Owen Hunt. We thought we lost you, a couple of times but you're a fighter."
"I have lots to live for," Josh said. He pointed to his wallet on the bedside table. Owen handed it to him. "It's always with me," Josh said. He pulled out a picture and handed it to him. "That's my family."
As Owen looked at the picture, his breath caught in his throat. Josh's wife was a beautiful Asian girl with flawless skin and long, dark curls. Josh said, "My wife, Cristina and our two baby girls – Iris and Laurel. Iris is the older one – she is four and Laurel is the baby – she is just two." The little girls, like their mom, had dark curls but their father's green eyes.
Josh grinned, "They both have my eyes. That's how I know my lady has not stepped out on me. You know when we're fighting across here, we have to trust that our ladies are not getting their loving elsewhere. But I know Cristina – she won't do that to me. I have known her since we were 16 years old."
"They are beautiful, Josh," Owen said. In that moment, he envied the young man and his family.
"I guess you're probably wondering how a good ole southern boy like me, ended up with an Asian princess like that," Josh said, his voice suddenly getting stronger. He loved talking about his family. "I am from South Carolina and we met when we were juniors in high school. She was a transfer student from California. Her dad is a doctor and he had joined a practice in our town. I couldn't believe it when Miss Jones introduced her to our class. She was so beautiful and had the most amazing head of hair I had ever seen.
"I tried to ask her out after class but she turned me down. I asked her out every day for a whole month until she finally relented. Our first date was at the movies. I got my first kiss two weeks after that. The rest, as they say, is history. Her daddy did not like me too much. He wanted his baby to marry a professional man like himself. I wanted to join the army and serve my country. Cristina understood that. So I joined the army when I was 18 and Cristina went off to college. She is really, really smart. Lots of book learning in that beautiful head. Then, I came home from on leave and she got pregnant. Her dad was so mad. He was fuming – you could see the smoke coming out of his ears. She was only a junior in college, then.
"She had the baby but I wasn't there for that. One of my biggest regrets in life. Then, we got married when I was back home on leave. Then, we had a second baby. Little baby Laurel. I made it home in time for that. My father-in-law still doesn't like me all that much but the grandbabies helped my cause. He tolerates me, now." Joshua grinned, but then winced in pain.
"You should get some rest," Owen said. "Thanks for telling me about your family." He still had the picture of Josh's family in his hand. He gave it a final look, staring intently at the face of Cristina, before handing it back to the young man. "When you stabilize, Josh, we will see about getting you to Germany, and then back home to your family," he said.
As he walked away, he could not feel a little bit envious of the young soldier. It was clear he loved his family more than anything in life. He wished he had someone he loved that much. Then, he thought about Beth. It was true he had some feelings towards her at one time and as time went by, it just seemed like a natural progression that he would ask her to marry him. Now, he wasn't so sure that had been the right thing. He didn't love Beth the way that Joshua loved Cristina. Beth deserved better than that, he reasoned. She needed someone who would love her that way and he was not the man to do it. In that instant, he finally made up his mind. He needed to break it off with Beth.
He sat in front of the terminal and started composing the email. Every time he started it, he ended up scrapping it. He finally decided that there was no better way to handle it than to just say it. It was just two lines, saying that he did not think that he could go forward with their impending marriage and that he was very sorry. In the instant that he clicked on "send", he felt horrible for hurting Beth this way but it would be better for them to break now than to have a lifetime, where the both of them would be miserable.
It was late at night, when he was awakened. His patient, Joshua Daniels, was in trouble. He pulled on his scrubs and ran to the patients' ward. "What's happening?" he yelled.
"It seems there is internal bleeding. Lots of it," the nurse said. Josh looked at him with frightened eyes. "Doc, am I gonna die?"
"Not if I can help it," Owen said. "Let's get him to the OR." Joshua shoved the picture of his family in Owen's hands. "If I don't make it, can you tell her how much I love her and that my last thoughts were about her and the kids? Tell her she is the love of my life. She is at Fort Williamson in Georgia."
"You can her tell yourself," Owen said, hoping that was a task he would not have to do.
"Please," Josh said. "Promise me that you will do this for me."
Owen sighed. "Okay," he said, taking the picture from Josh and shoving it into the pocket of his scrub pants. "Let's get going." In the OR, Owen tried his very best. The first time Josh coded, they brought him back. The second time he coded, despite all of their best efforts, the young man never came back. "Time of death, 3.42 a.m.," Owen said. He left the OR, feeling defeated. He badly needed a drink – scotch but the only scotch to be found was in the combat hospital head's stash and he certainly wasn't going to take that. He found a cold beer in the communal fridge. He twisted off the cap and took a drink. It wasn't scotch but it would suffice. He sat down and felt something in his pocket stick his leg. He pulled it out – it was the picture of Josh's family. He stared at the picture for a long time. He traced the curve of Cristina's face with his pinkie finger.
He had made that promise to Josh. "He loved you very much, Cristina. I am so sorry that I could not save him," Owen said. "I promised him I will let you know how much he loved you." Owen had some upcoming leave and he figured that he would make the trip to Fort Williamson to see Cristina Daniels. It was the least he could do. He felt he owed Joshua that.
A/N Please leave your thoughts and comments. I wasn't too sure about this story. I started it and then scrapped it and then rewrote it again. I would appreciate if you can give me your feedback.