Why Haven't I Heard From You?

Posted on Wed May 1st, 2019 @ 1:20am by 1st Lieutenant Hunter Williams & Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Corvus

Mission: Interlude 1
Location: Cheyenne Base - Barracks
Timeline: 1st Friday afternoon

Hunter opened the door and stepped inside the barracks room at the invitation to enter. He looked around again, wanting to know where they put the television inside these smaller rooms. Conveniently enough, it was on the wall next to the door, opposite the bed. "Hey, Crow," he said as he crossed the room and pulled out the desk chair to sit. He laid a stack of files on the desk and leaned forward. "How'd it go?"

Jeremy pulled himself to a straighter seated position as his lieutenant came through the door. He tried not to roll his eyes at the stack of work it seemed Williams was bringing him. But, it was what he asked for, some work to help him stay occupied. But, at the question, he shrugged. "Not as well as I hoped." He shifted again, trying to slot the makeshift lump under his knee, to keep his foot elevated but comfortable. Having the lieutenant ask about it drew his attention to the offending appendage. He'd left it unwrapped for the moment. Mostly because he found it difficult to change on his own. "I'm still on restricted duty. They said something about me doing too much and that I had a setback."

He picked up the pill bottle on the desk, knocked over when Williams set the file down. "I'm on antibiotics again, cause it looks like a minor infection is trying to set in, and I have to go back to using the crutches. They want to see me again Monday morning and see where I'm at."

He spoke while staring at the dark stitches holding several parts of his foot/ankle closed. It wasn't a question of if he would scar, but how bad. Which was another concern - it was on an ankle joint and scar tissue could affect the joint's functioning.

"Okay, not terrible, right?"

Jeremy shrugged, arms folded across his bare chest. "I was hoping to have some fun this weekend, but can't very well do that with the restrictions I'm on."

"I'm sure you'll find something," Hunter said. He knocked on the pile of files. "It's almost time to knock off for the day, and we have liberty this weekens, so don't worry too much about these until after PT and training on Monday."

"Oh," Jeremy said, groaning. At least with his foot he had a good reason to be sore. The rest of him was just because of the lieutenant and major. And their 'training'. He wasn't sure which it seemed more like - BMT or initial PJ training. "I don't want to interrupt your plans."

"Plans?" Jeremy said. "I don't have any plans...other than hanging out on base and enjoying PT free mornings." It was only two days so far, but he forgot how bad PT was when it was ordered. He couldn't even have his music when they did it. He really couldn't complain, though, because he was on restricted duty so he couldn't do everything the others were doing.

"Yeah," Hunter said then remembered he had the message in his breast pocket. He pulled it out. "I didn't get a chance to tell you just how much I enjoy playing secretary to a Staff Sergeant. But she was very...adament....that something had to be wrong since you weren't answering your phone." He handed the folded Post-It note to Jeremy.

Taking the note, Jeremy glanced at it, then went back and read it more carefully. It didn't seem to mean much of anything, a few scribbled lines, what could be a time, which was about three hours from now. "I don't understand," Jeremy said, glancing at Williams.

"Arrival time, arrival gate," Williams said, pointing to the various lines on the note. "I didn't get the name of the hotel, but I'm sure you'll want to meet them at the airport. How long has it been since you've seen your family?"

"My family?" Jeremy asked, sitting up and on the edge of the bed. "What do you mean seen my family?"

"You mother called me, don't ask me how she got through to me, but she did. She said they were concerned because the last real phone call they received from you was about your injury and how you narrowly avoided losing your foot. Then, you just stopped talking to them all together. Naturally they're concerned so they said they were going to fly out to see you."

"No!" Jeremy said, leaping to his feet. Where was his phone? He snatched it off the desk and flicked through the screens - looking for a voicemail, text or even some indication his parents were trying to get a hold of him. "Oh holy grail!" he muttered. He forgot that he drew a new phone from supply. It had a whole new number just in case it was determined the girls were somehow playing them. Which he forgot to contact his parents and give them the new number. "No, no, no, no!" Jeremy said, forgetting Williams was sitting in the room. He dropped his shorts, kicking them to near the clothing hamper while he brought out a fresh, regular Air Force uniform.

"Something wrong, Crow?" Hunter asked, scooting back away from the frentic sergeant. He had to admit, he expected a strong reaction to the news that his family was coming for a visit, but he expected joy rather than this panic.

"No, nothing at all, sir," Jeremy said, hopping around to get his pants on. "Only that they're expecting to find me at my current assignment."

"Yes, which is why I got their flight information. Then you can meet them at the airport, redirect them to their hotel or dinner, or something. Obviously they're not going to come here." Hunter said. He was pretty certain the staff sergeant wouldn't believe he could bring his parents here. It was bad enough they were already having problems with kitchen staff possibly being unreliable and new background checks on them were ordered - and the investigation into other leaks. Allowing civilian family members from the outside? That wasn't going to happen.

"No, absolutely not, sir," Jeremy said as he sat to throw on socks. "Where are my blousing straps?" he muttered as he was looking around. "That's not the problem. They think I'm teaching at the Air Force Academy."

"Why would they be thinking that?" Hunter asked, handing over the straps from the other side of the desk.

"Because this assignment is top secret and classified!" Jeremy said, "I couldn't tell them about what I'm really doing but I had to tell them something about why I'm in Colorado. They weren't supposed to come out here, I told them I'd come home when I got the chance. Why are they coming out here?"

Hunter leaned forward and put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder, hoping to get him to settle for a moment. He didn't understand the near panic. "Because they're your parents and they're worried. You called and told them you were injured, you might lose your foot, and then stopped talking to them. Things like that tend to worry parents. A lot. I know I'd be on a plane if my kid told me he was going to lose a foot an then stopped taking my calls."

"Okay, so yeah, that makes sense," Jeremy said, shrugging into the t-shirt. "Still, they shouldn't have come out here."

"Let me make sure I understand this," Hunter said, squaring his shoulders and schooling his face into his best military bearing. He knew he shouldn't do what he was about to do, but couldn't resist. "You come out here to the States, call your parents to tell them you're here and then everything you tell them after that is a lie?"

"No," Jeremy said, patting down his pockets. "Not everything. Not much of anything really." He started moving things around on the desk. "Just why I'm here and what my job is." He continued looking around the room. "I don't have a car."

"Check the motor pool to see if they have a loaner," Williams said. "What did you tell them about your injury?"

Jeremy sighed. "Where's my wallet?" It had more than just his cards and a bit of cash, it contained his DL and military ID. Both of which he needed to get on and off the base, and most likely to have a loaner car.

"Sergeant, sit down," Williams said, not sure if it came out SNCO voice or 'dad' voice, but either way it had the same effect. Jeremy sat on the edge of the bed, but in a move that Williams remembered all too well, the young man didn't look at him, but straight ahead at the wall. "Look, I know this is an issue for you, but you need to stop and think for a moment. Your parents are scared."

"No," Jeremy said, "Not my parents. Nothing scares my dad and my mom is way too smart to be worried about something like this."

"Yeah, the guy who isn't scared of anything married to the big brain dropped everything and flew out here for nothing," Williams said, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Crow, I am a parent and I'll tell you something; I'm scared all the time for my kids. And they're in college, not special warfare units. That they're flying out here should tell you how scared they are."

"No, that's not..." Jeremy said, shaking his head. "If that's true then..."

Williams moved to sit next to the young man. "Yes, this is part of the same screwup that you've already committed. But hopefully this is near the end of that. And look at the bright side, you'll get a weekend with your parents."

"Yeah," Jeremy said, still sounding a bit glum. But he did glance over for a moment. "And I'll bet they'll have to bring Donut with them."

"Donut? Is that your dog or something?" Williams asked, confused.

"No," Jeremy smiled. "Amaya, my sister. I was young when they first got her as a foster kid and, well, I was a real jerk about it. Poor kid needed a good home and I was just thinking about how this meant that I wasn't 'special' anymore. That I wasn't 'the baby'. In a way it was good for me, better for her because she needed the home. I started calling her 'donut' and it just sort of stuck to this day. She's great. Just the best kid ever."

"Sounds like it," Williams said, sure that if the kid had his wallet on him, he'd be forced to look at 'the cutest picture ever'. "And it sounds like you could do with a weekend visit with the family, no matter how it happened. When was the last time you got to see them? In person, not on a video screen?"

Jeremy shrugged. "A couple months before I got deployed again. Halfway through training. I got a week between classes." He looked up and saw his wallet on the corner of the desk, behind the desk lamp. "You're right, Lieutenant. It's just a weekend, they can see I'm okay and I can see them again. I'm not sure when I'll get the chance again but I should take every opportunity. And, it's just a weekend so I can maintain."

"Sounds good, Crow," Williams said, then let out a breath. "Okay, go ahead, show my the photos. I see that you want to. And I'll not feel as bad when I get photos of my grandbaby."

Jeremy smiled wide as he flipped open the wallet and pulled out several photos. "Grandbaby, sir?"

"That's right, I'm going to be a grandfather. I found out just before I get sent to CRO, when I told my kids I was re-enlisting. That was a hard conversation, but they understood."

"Subtle, Lieutenant, subtle. This is Donut, the last school photo," Jeremy said, passing over the typical, bland school photo of a young girl with rich brown eyes, hot cocoa colored skin and a black cloud of hair framing her pixie face. Her smile was wide and joyful, as if no sadness touched her life. "She's just the best. I'm very lucky, I got my older brothers and then, for a few years anyway, I got to be an older brother."

Williams patted Jeremy on the shoulder. "Go, meet your family at the airport and have a weekend."

"Yes, sir," Jeremy said, putting the photos back into his wallet.