Bobby Meets His Match Chapter 36
Ok, probably about 4 chapters to go. Bobby gets to the heart of it. Please leave feedback as I live for it.
Bobby paced back and forth, not even sure what to say. When the hell should he start talking about how fucked up he was? Now that he was willing to do it, he was stymied about where to start. Well, ok, he wasn't really willing to do it… more like resigned.
Dr. Bynes paged through his file, giving him a minute to gather himself, then started the conversation. " I see you are very decorated. Several medals including a Purple Heart. Not surprising, given what I know of you. But I also see one reprimand, that seems surprising.
Bobby's face darkened. "I don't want to talk about that "… he whispered. " I… I .. can't talk about that." From the cloud that came over Bobby's face when she mentioned it, she knew that she had hit upon the source of at least one of Bobby's nightmares.
"It's classified." Bobby said, not even using it as an excuse. The events of that op were completely classified and needed to be shut away forever. Bobby picked up his unloaded gun again, and caressed it, as if holding it gave him some comfort.
Dr. Bynes was startled when the other man, Lester, spoke quietly to Bobby. She had almost forgotten he was in the room. "You should tell her man," Lester said. You can tell her without giving details that would violate OPSEC. Bobby sat rigid, still caressing his gun. "I don't really even remember all of it," Bobby claimed. Dr. Bynes bet that whatever Bobby couldn't remember when he was awake but when he was asleep he relived it.
" Bobby, this might be a good place to start," she said gently. Bobby sat for a moment, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then made eye contact with Lester, who nodded at him. Bobby got up and went to the window, staring out it blankly, his voice was so quiet that she had to strain to hear.
" I was a sniper, on a mission, I can't say where. My SEAL team had been doing reconnaissance for several days on this compound where we thought some terrorists were hiding out and making bombs. Anyway, I was on a building in sniper position. We were told to observe, but I couldn't engage unless we were in immediate danger." Bobby stood rigidly staring out the window.
" Finally, someone came out dressed in robes, his face covered, and carrying an assault rifle. He fit the physical profile of a wanted terrorist, whom we knew to be in the building. He approached us and fired, barely missing one of my guys. I shot back, but I went for a leg shot, since we wanted to capture him alive if possible, so we could get intelligence."
Bobby stopped and there was complete silence in the room for at least a minute. Bobby rubbed his eyes, as if he were brushing back tears, still staring out the window, " After I took him down, we approached, and, well, he …wasn't who we thought he was." Bobby's voice broke. " He was… well, he was just a kid… I shot a kid…" Bobby swallowed hard and choked, "The rest is a blur."
Les came over and put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and some silent communication passed between them, Bobby nodded, and Lester began to speak, again in a quiet tone. " I was with him on the mission that day. Bobby had hit the kid in the leg. He was pretty upset when he saw that it was a kid and not the terrorist that we expected. But Bobby morphed right into medic mode. He bandaged up the kid, and set up an IV, gave him plasma. We had about a 10 mile hike to our extraction point, but by the time we got to the exfil site, we were ambushed and penned in. We were overrun so we had to retreat and find cover. Every hour or so, Bobby was checking the kid, giving him plasma, talking to him, telling him he would be ok. We were stuck there for hours, trying to keep from getting over run, and Bobby fighting his way out while trying to keep the kid alive. Our air support was delayed, so we had to hike another 12 miles to a temporary forward base, Bobby was constantly taking care of this kid. When we got to the FOB, Bobby took the kid into the hospital area, and kept telling them the boy needed a blood transfusion. I don't know if the kid had been dead for awhile and Bobby couldn't accept it, or if the kid had just died. But when the doc told Bobby that the kid had already bled to death, Bobby kept yelling that the doctor had to save the kid, and refused to believe that the kid had died, that he had killed him. When they covered the kid with the sheet, Bobby went crazy and tried to beat the shit out of the doctor. It took me and two other guys to pull him off. THAT is why he got the reprimand.
There was complete silence in the room. Bobby had completely closed up, finally he whispered. " I see that kid's face in my dreams. The kid that I killed." One of the many ways he was fucked up.
Bobby sat on the bench in the locker room at Rangeman, trying to get himself back together after the therapy session. He looked like shit. He did NOT want Cathy to see him like this. Cathy had said she liked his beard in the picture he sent, so he decided to keep it for her. But since he currently looked like a cross between Grizzly Adams and Bigfoot, he trimmed it up and showered.
He was physically exhausted from the emotional two-hour session with Dr. Bynes. This had been exactly what he was afraid of in the first place. Talking about that shit had drained him, made him weak. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. Emotional shit made you weak. He needed to get his shit together because he didn't want Cathy to see him like this. He just wanted to forget about the session and lose himself in her. He hadn't seen her in weeks, and he was physically and emotionally worn out from the training and the therapy. He didn't want any heavy conversations with her tonight. He just wanted to be with her.
Cathy looked in the rearview mirror and smiled at the large black SUV following her. The Rangeman named Ram had followed her to work today and to the three house checks she had to make. Two of the houses were in the bad parts of Trenton and Ram hadn't wanted her to go into the homes alone. She'd had to argue that doing house checks was part of her job and yes, sometimes it got dicey, but she knew how to be careful. Woody said Bobby would rip him to pieces if anything happened to her on his watch, especially after all they had been through and with her pregnant with Bobby's child. He'd wanted her to leave her cell on so he could hear if she got into trouble, but Cathy had refused because client information was confidential. In the end, they had determined a signal she could use if she needed help. Cathy laughed. Ram was as overprotective as Bobby.
The SUV followed her to the Rangeman garage, ensuring she was in before flashing its lights and continuing down the street. Cathy parked in Bobby's space and sighed. She and Bobby were going to have to stay at her place or get another apartment or house before the baby came. She couldn't imagine a baby living at Rangeman. It was probably enough to have a cat living there. She waved to the camera in the elevator and quietly let herself into Bobby's place. A soft " mreowr" greeted her, and she stopped to pet Cinder before filling her little dish with her dinner. She hoped that Cinder and the baby would get along, too. She was so tired, and she missed Bobby. He should be coming home in the next day or so. She grabbed one of his t-shirts to put on after her shower. His shirts were huge on her, but they still smelled like him and they made her feel closer to him. The family meetings had been so stressful, and all she wanted was to get some hot water on her achy muscles.
Bobby knew Cathy was home because the guys in the control room had notified him on his way up. He had been hoping to catch her in the shower, but he heard the shower shut off just as he opened the door. The loud whirring of the blow dryer disguised the " mreower" from Cinder at his entrance. Bobby put his finger to his lips to silence the cat- as if it knew what that meant. He quietly undressed and got under the covers of his bed, leaving his chest bare, waiting to surprise her.
Cathy finished drying her hair and put on Bobby's T-shirt to take a nap. It was only mid afternoon, but she was exhausted. This pregnancy was tiring her out.
Cathy grabbed Cinder and headed into the bedroom. She opened the door and AUGHHH! She screamed and jerked her head back out of the doorway. Cinder got scared and jumped out of her arms. Cathy quickly did a double take and came back into the room again to be greeted by Bobby's smile. "Oh my God, Bobby! You scared me. How did you get in here?"
Hi baby, he whispered. "None of that is important right now. The only important thing is this." He took her face in his hands and gave her the sweetest, gentlest, yet most passionate kisses. He pulled her down against his warm, firm chest and it was a few minutes before they came up for air.
Cathy pulled back and looked at him, her hands running over the now nicely trimmed beard. Oh, Bobby. I like the beard. It makes you look so sexy and dangerous.
He grinned a sexy, evil grin. Wait until you see what I can do with it.
Cathy sighed dreamily as she settled, sated, her back cradled against Bobby's chest. Her body was tingling from the aftermath of the three orgasms Bobby's tongue had given her, not to mention his beard. OMG, that beard should be registered as a lethal weapon. Cathy had nearly come apart from the sensation when Bobby wickedly rubbed his beard against the inside of her leg, and then her clit… she shuddered at the remembered pleasure. She did love that beard.
Bobby kissed her head and wound his arms around her, caressing the tiny mound of her belly. They had a lot of things to talk about, plan for the baby, but tonight was all about relaxing together. Bobby leaned over and kissed her belly. " Hey little one, daddy's home," he whispered. Bobby's arm drew her to him possessively.
"You still need to see a doctor. We got an appointment with the best OBGYN in all of New Jersey. Cathy looked at him in surprise. "Well, Rangeman did a job for her Trenton office, so she knows me. We have an appointment at her Atlantic City office on Friday. What do you say we go tomorrow and make a weekend of it in Atlantic City?"