The Soldier Next Door

It has been an endless wait.

Gibbs has not come to yet, to say that my nerves are not killing me would be such a lie. I am being tormented by thoughts that should not be running through my mind. Williams, who is still very much here and much to the annoyance of the doctor, refusing to move. She is yet to see the determination of a Marine.

But is it a determination that is beginning to falter? No. What is beginning to falter is that I have not phoned Ana as I told her I would. I am sure the woman is beside herself. So it is very reluctantly that I step away from Gibbs’s side to go call her.

Though before I can even think of swiping up and dialing her number, I need to gather my composure. She cannot hear that I am falling apart, not truly falling apart, but my mind is not where it should be.

So I take one rather large deep breath and count down from ten. As soon I have gotten a grip on myself, I swipe to find her number. And let me tell you, that phone is practically answered in an instant.

“My god, soldier, are you okay?”

As I try to speak, my voice starts to tremble beyond my control. Why can I not get a hold of my emotions? I am looking weak; I am not weak. I need to not only be strong for myself but for Gibbs too. So I bite into my lip and start again.

“Sorry boo, it was crazy out there. We ran into far more trouble than we anticipated.”

I hear her gasp, and she stutters to find the words herself, “What do you mean trouble?”

Well, now do I lie to my soon to be wife, or do I scare the living shit out of her? Let’s opt for telling the truth, for I would be dead if she finds out that I have been lying to her.

“Well, we sort of maybe, perhaps got taken, hostage.”

“What!” I pull the phone away from my ear as I hear her scream rather loudly. “You were what?”

“We got ambushed and were taken, hostage.”

“My god! Okay, if you are talking to me, then it means that everyone is fine?”

“Yes, sort of.”

She starts to mumble at herself, cursing, and I know that she is grinding her teeth taken by the muffling sounds coming through the phone, “Okay, please explain the sort of.”

“Well, we did not come back to base.”

“Are you fucking crazy? Why?”

“We were not done clearing the area.”

“Have you ever heard of going back?”

Yes, now I have to explain to her that we did, in fact, go back but only after a rather fucked up situation where a Marine is no fighting for his life. There is truly no way to explain it; there is no way to sugar-coat something that you cannot even dare to speak about.

“We did go back.”

“So why are you not with them?”

“I am with Gibbs.”

“Okay,” she says, and I just know that she is frowning as she speaks. “Why is Gibbs not out with the squad?”

“We came under fire further down the road.”

Wait for it…

“What! You got what? Please tell me everyone is still fine?”

“No,” I say as I try to hold back the tears. “Gibbs was shot.”

“Fuck! is he okay?”

“No, he is still under.”

Then I hear her anger turn into compassion; she knows what Gibbs means to me. She also knows that I am now probably blaming myself for what has happened. If she only knew. If I could have taken his place, I would have done it without even blinking once.

“Shit, soldier, are you okay?”

“Ya, maybe ask me once he has come to. Right now, I do not know if I am here or not. I am trying to keep it together, boo, but I just don’t know how to. Maybe it was a bad idea for me to have come here. If I did not decide that we should push forward, then this would not have happened.

“Come on, don’t do that. You know it is not your fault. You, of all people, should know that the enemy is brutal and savage. There is nothing that you did that made this happen. If it were not Gibbs, then it would have been someone else.”

“That is what Williams also says, but yet this shit should not happen.”

Then she pauses for a second as if she has remembered something or there is a thought that comes to mind, “But you say they went back. Who went back?”

“Lopez, he has gone back to make sure that they are taken out.”

“Well, as they say, revenge is a bitch.”Exclusive content from NôvelDrama.Org.

“Boo, it is karma is a bitch.”

I can hear her laugh through the phone, and it just warms my heart. This is what I needed. She always knows how to make me feel better, even when she sometimes does not even know it. I cannot wait to get back home to marry this woman, but that apart, I need to get back to Gibbs.

“Boo, let me get back; I will try sneak another call in later to let you know how he is doing.”

“Okay, soldier. Talk to you later then.”

“Wait, how is the baby?”

“Making mommy sick.”

I chuckle to myself as I remember her hunched over the toilet, definitely not a pretty sight.

“Soldier are you laughing?”

“No, I would never laugh at you. How is mommy doing?”

“Mommy is getting fat.”

That chuckle has now turned into a burst of soft laughter that I am not hiding very well.

“Now you are really laughing at me.”

“I am not laughing; I think it is cute.”

“Cute is my ass when it is going to look like a bus.”

“I hate to break it to you, but a big bottom is not pretty at all.”

She grunts at me, I can hear she wants to laugh at my stupid comment, yet she is trying to compose herself pretty well.

“Soldier, get back to Gibbs.”

“Love you, boo.”

“Love you too.”

With that, I drop my phone back onto my bag and make my way back to the nurse’s tent. All the way that I am walking there, I try to clear my head and get myself back. I need to fight for this man when he can not fight for himself. But he can; what am I saying? I need to have faith in him. He is a goddamn Marine, we fight until the end, and the end is not here, not even by a long shot.

So it is very refreshed and hyped up that I turn the corner to enter the tent. I see a very distressed Williams sitting and crying as not even a baby will. My immediate thought cripples my body, and I need to stop every part of me from caving in. I am dead scared to ask him what is wrong as he sits over Gibbs.

I walk towards the bed and drop down onto the chair; with a loud roar that can be heard throughout the entire camp, I utter only two words.

“God no!”

Williams looks at me, somewhat confused as he has now stopped crying; I shake my head at him in disbelief.

“What? What happened?”

Just then, I feel the touch of a tender but very much manly hand wrap over mine. I am completely scared into another dimension. Out of stupid reflex, I rip my hand away and nearly jump off from my chair. As I move my gaze to Gibbs, I see, with eyes that have grown larger than the water bottle that Williams is holding, that he has woken up.

“Fuck, Gibbs! Your dumb ass has finally decided to join us,” he tries his best not to burst with laughter, but yet he does and cringes as the pain shoots through his body.

Then I look at Williams, that has oddly started to cry once more, “Why the fuck are you crying?”

“These are happy tears.”

“Damn, then I do not want to see your sad tears.”

And just like that, my spirit is lifted; the man that is like a brother to me has pulled through this one. Guess faith is far more powerful than I thought, but yet again, it is not just faith; it is a bond that forces you to keep it strong. A bond that, no matter where you find yourself, it will keep on fighting to stay strong.

So as the relief starts to calm our hearts, and we feel like we can once again breathe, in comes a rookie from one of the other squads that did not go out with Lopez. He seems to be highly spooked and somewhat pale. All I can think to myself is, what the fuck has the man messed up now. But as he comes to salute me and can barely utter his words, I know that it is not just some shit he has caused around the camp.

“Lieutenant, Sir.”

“Yes, soldier?”

“Lopez said we must take another squad out; they need back-up.”