Warnings: None. Just us getting a little weepy in the end notes.
On the drive back, Santiago and Leah discuss plans, details, how things would happen, and how things would change. At one point, Pope pauses and stares off into the space on the road ahead of them for a moment. Leah picks up on it immediately as easily as if she could have seen tangible wheels turning and looks over from the passenger seat.
“What are you thinking about over there?”
“So follow me through this line of thought, and feel free to say no when I’m done,” he begins and she nods, waiting for him to continue. “Esperanza already calls you Mama, you’re the only mama she knows, and truthfully the only one that she’s ever going to know. What if, and I know this sounds a little crazy but…what if you adopt her? Obviously I’m already totally okay with it, and it would only be a matter of filling out and filing the legal documents. What do you say?” He finishes in a rush, wanting to get it out, and knowing that honestly, Leah is Esperanza’s mother in every way that matters.
“You really want me to do that?” Leah asks. She knows that this is big, certainly bigger for Santi than him asking her to marry him. This was him saying that he was willing to share the legal responsibility of his daughter, the most important thing in his life. Leah is honored that he would trust her with that.
“Yes I do, and I think Esperanza would too. If you want to talk to her about it we can. I don’t know how much she’ll be able to comprehend, but we could try.” Santiago reaches across the center console to take her hand, “I love you, Esperanza loves you, my mother loves you, and Richard adores you too. I don’t want to have just one foot in any more, no more half-assing. I’m all in this.”
Leah pulls their joined hands up to her lips and presses kisses to each of his knuckles. “Okay, I’m all in too. But we have to talk to Richard about this first.” She knows that the man has become an influential part of their lives and he deserves to know that they’re planning on taking this step with Esperanza, who will likely be his only biological grandchild.
“Deal. After we get back, we can go talk to him some time this week,” Pope says, pulling their hands towards him and planting a firm kiss on the back of her hand. “All in.”
After Santi and Leah had returned home and got settled back into their routine, and everyone had a chance to fawn over their rings, they made plans to go see Richard. The older man cleared his schedule for the afternoon, on the condition that they bring Esperanza along with them so he could take her out to ice cream.
When the small family arrived at his office, his secretary, a kind older woman who had been with the company for decades, smiled at them in greeting. As they waited, she let the comment slip that “Mr. Westingham has been a very different man now that he has something to focus his attention on. No more late nights in the office and he actually smiles again. He hasn’t done that since Virginia was a teenager, back before he lost Ella.”
Shortly after that small revelation, Richard walks out of his office to greet them where they’ve been waiting for him. He smiles at the pictures they make sitting together on the bench, Esperanza perched on Leah’s lap, babbling away at her father over something that is clearly very important to her.
“Santiago, Leah, Princesa, welcome! I’m so glad that you all asked to come by today,” he says as he strides across the space toward them. He shakes Santiago’s hand, hugs Leah, and when he turns his attention toward his granddaughter. He opens his arms to take her from Leah, but Esperanza practically launches herself out of Leah’s arms as she squeals “Papa!” and throws her small chubby arms around his neck. She loves Papa Westi, and she knows that there’s always a good chance that seeing him means that she gets ice cream.
“It’s good to see you, sir. We actually came to discuss some adult business with you, if that’s okay,” Pope tells him, his posture stiffening as a wave of nervousness washes over his body.
“Absolutely. Charlotte, would you mind watching Esperanza for a moment?” Richard asks, addressing the older woman. She just smiles and nods, and it’s easy to see that she’s overjoyed to see the man she’s known for years finally happy again. With Esperanza happily transferred into the care of Miss Charlotte, the trio of adults heads into Richard’s office.
Once they’re all seated around his desk, Richard begins speaking, “I see rings, so congratulations are in order. I am pleased that you both finally decided to do something about solidifying this relationship, although I do hope that I didn’t miss the wedding.” He looks slightly hurt as he finishes. Although he knows he has no right, over the past few months he has come to view Santiago as his own son.
“Oh, yes sir, definitely congratulations, but no marriage yet. This just happened this past weekend. We happened to propose to one another on the same trip,” Leah tells him, flushing slightly under his intense gaze. Richard nods, looking more at ease now knowing that he didn’t miss out on anything.
“No, no marriage yet, but what we did want to talk to you about was Esperanza. We would like, well, I would like, if Leah were to legally adopt Esperanza. Meaning that she would absolutely be Esperanza’s mother in every way but biological. But legally, we would have the same responsibilities for her. And obviously, we would both be responsible to love her and raise her as best as we can. I know that Lacy is no longer in Esperanza’s life, but Leah has been there through everything. And to be honest, if I”m going to make her my wife, then she’s going to be around her all the time anyway,” Santiago says, feeling a bit like he’s pleading his case before a courtroom judge.
Richard looks between the couple and hums contemplatively. “I agree, Virginia is no type of mother, nor is she ever going to be. I think it would be an excellent idea for Leah to adopt Esperanza and make the family completely official. At least legally speaking, since we all, including Princesa, know exactly who her mother is,” he says before pausing. “This wouldn’t change that I’m still able to be a part of her life, correct?” He asks, worried that he could potentially lose what has quickly become the best part of his life.
“No sir, absolutely not. She would still come to visit with you, and you would still be her Papa Westi, just legally I would be her mother. We still want you to be around for her, and for us. You’re an excellent person, and she deserves to grow up knowing her grandfather. Just because we get married, or I legally adopt her, doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be room for you too,” Leah tells him. “She’ll just be an extra loved little girl, and that’s not a bad thing. Family is important.”
After being assured that the current dynamics of his relationship to them would not be changing, Richard walks around his desk to the couple and gathers them both up in a hug. “I have no objections to Leah becoming Esperanza’s mother legally. In fact, I know a judge who would gladly review the case and settle the paperwork. Now, talk to me about this wedding while we go get some ice cream with my granddaughter…” Richard says, already on his way out of the office.
That evening was meant to be a small family dinner to catch up after everyone’s vacations and celebrate Leah and Santi’s engagement, but Jayme had quietly invited everyone. She hadn’t given any explanation, just that everyone should make it over to their house for a barbeque. By the time Santi and Leah showed up with Princesa, Frankie and Jayme were out back with their own children, Mama Garcia was there, Hayden and Benny, Will, Papa Westi, and Smokey and Diane (who had recently convinced all the kids to start calling her Lolli).
Pope and Leah look a bit overwhelmed at the number of people gathered in the Morales’ backyard, but by the time they set Esperanza down to go play with her cousins and make the rounds of hugging everyone, they’re thankful that their entire family is together. They take care to keep their rings as inconspicuous as possible, at least until they can find an appropriate time to tell everyone together.
After dinner has been eaten and everything has been cleaned, everyone is spread out across the yard talking and enjoying themselves. The grandmothers are chatting away together, the kids are all playing tag with Uncle Benny, and Richard and Smokey are getting along surprisingly well.
Pope wraps Leah up in his arms, pulling her back to his chest so he can rest his chin on her shoulder as he whispers, “Are you ready?”
Leah spins in his arms and cups his face in her hands before staring into his eyes and planting a quick kiss on his lips, “I’m ready if you are. All in.”
Santiago smiles as he responds, “All in,” and then turns her around again so he can gather everyone’s attention.
He grabs her hand and they walk out to the edge of the patio before clearing his throat and lifting Leah’s left hand in his.
“Hey everyone, we’re getting married!”
WHEW.Princesa is finished. At least for now…
I don’t think either of us had any idea when we first started bouncing around HCs about Santi as a girl dad that we would end up HERE. Here being almost 70k later and with plans for even more spin off stories and one shots.
We’re so incredibly thankful to all of you for going on this journey with us, and we hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have.
If you’re wondering what you’re gonna do without Santi, Leah, and The Gang™️ every Sunday, never fear! Each of the boys will be getting their own story/one shot in the near future, with some group reunion one shots.
Will’s very hyped up lunch with Mamá Garcia (the prologue/preview to his story, The Last to Fall) will be coming next Sunday, August 15, same bat time, same bat channel!
For our next We Were Warriors adventure, check out Down Payment, Frankie and Jayme’s story, starting Sunday, August 22, on @jedi-mando’s blog! She’ll be using the same WWW/Princesataglist for Down Payment, so if you would NOT like to be tagged, please let her know!
My soul sister and One Brain Cell™️ chaos twin @jedi-mando had a work emergency come up this weekend, and won’t be able to post Chapter Four of Down Payment this evening.
Hopefully it’ll be popping up on a screen near you next Sunday, September 19th! I’ve read it, and I promise, it’s worth the wait.
Thanks so much for being understanding and we’ll see you back next week, same bat time, same bat channel!
A/N: Thanks so much for such a warm welcome of Jayme and Frankie! They truly are an amazing couple and I’m happy to explore more of this universe with you! A huge thank you to my One Braincell™ partner @hotspacepilots for reading this over as I go.
Word count: 3.6k
Warnings: Explicit language, more Tom being an asshole
It was coming up on a year of Jayme being a part of Frankie’s command. She had fit in beautifully, managed to get them out of a few scrapes, they had all attended Sandy’s wedding to his fiancé, Tom left her alone after the incident, and Frankie had tried his hardest to retain his military bearing around her.
The pre-mission and the post-mission drinks remained a tradition, of course, and they were at yet another pre-mission drinking night. Sandy and his wife, Amy, had left early. She was pregnant and the morning sickness was difficult, but they had managed to come out for Sandy to have a beer with his team. That night Jayme had decided against the regular jeans and shirt she wore and went instead with her black party dress, paired with red high heels and the perfect shade of red lipstick to match. She sauntered up to the guys, who were already gathered around the table, and everyone let out a whistle.
A/N: So I apologize right now if I get an Army term wrong, I’m Navy but can’t really make Catfish a Sailor can I? This work will span the period of time before, during and after Triple Frontier. It is also the precursor to ALL of the We Were Warriors series and definitely a precursor to Princesa, but we do get to see Leah, Pope and Mamá Garcia in this story. I gotta say a huge thank you to my partner in crime in this series and who constantly encourages me @hotspacepilots. Hope you enjoy!
Word count: 2.4k
Warnings: Explicit language, some sexism/misogyny, Tom being an asshole.
“This is Lieutenant Connor. They will be joining your merry band of misfit toys, Major Morales. Do take better care of this one than you did the last,” Colonel Sanders instructs Major Francisco Morales, as he stands in the office being introduced to the newest member of his squad’s tactical support team. The last one had to take a leave of absence due to some issues. Issues that members of his squad may have caused somewhat.
“Welcome aboard, Lt. Connor. Hopefully you will fit right in. Follow me please,” Major Morales says, more politely than most military officers would with regards to a junior ranking. They walk silently until they get to the room that housed the desks for the men of his squad and the few that were set aside as support members, when Francisco pauses, “Just be warned, we are a little intense to deal with.”
“Define intense,” Lt. Connor says, looking up at him.
“Well, we scared the last tactical support assistance we had off, they decided they could hang with us and they did pretty good for a fair amount of time until Sandy employed the snake. Then they split,” Francisco relays. Despite the fallout from it, that was actually a pretty funny story. The previous TSL officer they had, Lt. Dickerson, was good at his job, if a bit of a pretty boy, and he kept his mouth closed for the most part. At least that was until Francisco’s best friend and squad mate, Santiago Garcia, had found out the man was afraid of snakes. Needless to say, there is now a boa as the squad’s unofficial mascot.
A/N: Welcome to the beginning of Will’s story! It goes along with our entire We Were Warriors universe. The Lunch Date is the prologue, and there will be more to come (eventually), but everyone was so invested we felt like we needed to give the people what they wanted to see. And apparently, what y’all wanted to see was Will and MamáGarcia.
Word count: 2.1k
Warnings: None!
Gloria Garcia had been anxious her entire flight down. All of the nonsense with her granddaughter, Esperanza, and the child’s birth mother had her a fidgeting wreck. Gloria Garcia was not a fidgeting wreck. Thankfully, the young woman sitting next to her turned out to be absolutely lovely, and someone that she was glad to spend the flight speaking with. They had started out talking about books, and it had morphed into more from there. Gloria told the woman about her trip, why she was going, and how excited she was to see her Princesa, regardless of the circumstances.
The delightful younger woman’s name was Evelyn Jasper, and she explained that she was flying into town because she had a new job opportunity and she needed a fresh start. They chatted amicably for the majority of the flight and wished each other well as they departed from the baggage claim. When Gloria left with a tall, handsome blond man and an obviously pregnant woman, Evelyn waved her off and thought nothing of it. She got a taxi and went to her hotel to begin preparing for the interview she had scheduled for the morning.
The next day was a blur for everyone, Gloria and Evelyn included. Mamá Garcia learned that her granddaughter was safe, would be staying with her son and Leah, and that her biological mother wouldn’t be causing any more problems for their family. Evelyn’s interview had been a great success, and after a simple introductory review, they offered her the position on the spot. She quickly agreed and adjusted her plans with the airline so that she could spend the next few days looking for a new place to live.
That evening before Gloria went to bed, she joked with Santiago about her upcoming lunch date with Will, and while it was all in good fun, she was obviously looking forward to it. There was something about the soft spoken and meticulous man that Will had become after his fiancée left that left him that left him deeply endeared to the woman. She was proud of the growth that he had experienced and the man he had grown to be.
The next morning Will parked in the driveway of Pope’s house, grabbing the flowers off the passenger seat as he went and heading to the door. He knocked loudly as he opened the door and walked in to see Gloria and Leah already waiting to greet him.
“Good morning ladies,” he smiles at them both before handing the flowers to Gloria, “These are for you.”
“Oh William, you didn’t have to, but you are so sweet,” Gloria says, patting his cheek in her motherly way. She turns to head toward the kitchen to find a vase. Or at least, a substitute for one, since she knows her son doesn’t have any. She thinks that hopefully Leah will rectify that for him soon.
“Yes, I did. My mother said never to show up empty handed for a date, even a lunch date, and I would hate to disappoint her,” Will answers with a smile as he and Leah watch Gloria disappear into the kitchen.
“You know that she’s never going to stop if you keep encouraging her,” Leah says, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. She knows that Gloria means well, but it also points out the glaring reality that Will is the only single one left of the gang, and they occasionally give him a hard time about it.
“Eh, it’s okay. I wouldn’t want to disappoint her either, and besides, it’s looking more and more like she’s my best girl,” he laughs. “Maybe if I was thirty years older…” he says, knowing that Gloria is walking back from the kitchen and can hear him.
“Will, if you were thirty years older I would have proposed years ago. But you are not, and I am not thirty years younger, so we will just have to settle for dreaming. I am not cut out to be, uh, what is it called, a jaguar?” Gloria asks, causing Will to chuckle and Leah to snort.
“It’s a cougar, Mamá. An older woman with a younger man is called a cougar,” Leah tells her after composing herself.
“Ah,si si, una puma. No, I am not cut out for that life,” she says as she gathers her things. Will turns toward the door and offers his arm to her. “Come now, we will go to lunch. I am looking forward to this though. I will be home soon, mija. We will figure out dinner later.” With that, Gloria and Will head out the door for their lunch.
Will takes the time to open the car door for Gloria, walks her into the restaurant on his arm, and helps her with her chair. He does all of the things that his mother and father always taught him to do, even though some of them seemed to be falling out of style. But that was a thought for another day. They talked all through appetizers and hit a lull after ordering entrees, but Mamá Garcia has plenty more questions for Will.
“So, tell me about this ‘I’m dating her but we’re not dating’ girl that your brother had at the house yesterday,” Gloria probes. She’s been curious about the situation ever since she met Hayden. She wants all of her adopted sons to have partners as lovely as Jayme and Leah.
“Hayden, her name is Hayden. She’s a fighter like him. I’m not sure what she does for her other job, but she fights in a female league that’s comparable to Benny’s. I know he says they’re not dating, but they are dating. If he’s told our mom about her yet is another story, but from what I understand, he loves her. Or at least it certainly looks that way,” Will explains.
“I see. I wonder if he is aware that he is awfully clingy for one who claims that he is not dating her,” Gloria chuckles, taking a look around the restaurant as she waits for her meal to arrive. As she scans the room, she notices that the young woman from the plane, Evelyn, is at the hostess stand and she appears to be alone. Gloria had liked the woman immediately when they had met, and when she sees her again, an idea starts forming in her brain.
“William, will you please excuse me for a moment? I see someone that I know and would like to say hello to them,” she tells him, rising from her chair and quickly taking off before Will can object. She approaches the hostess stand and as she does, Evelyn raises her head.
“Mrs. Garcia! How lovely to see you again, how did everything turn out with your granddaughter?” Evelyn asks with a smile.
“Everything turned out wonderfully. She will be staying where she belongs with her father and her mama, and she also got a new grandfather out of it all. How about you, my dear? How was your interview?”
“It went well! I was offered the job and I’m staying a few extra days to find a place to live,” Evelyn tells her with a bright smile, excited and proud to have landed the new job.
“Excellent! Come join us, my dear, I’m here having lunch with my son, you should meet him,” Gloria says, motioning for Evelyn to follow her. When Evelyn glances over Gloria’s shoulder, she sees the same tall blond man from the airport watching their interaction. God, he certainly is handsome.
“Are you sure? I would hate to impose…” Evelyn is cut off as Gloria reaches out to grab her hand and tugs her along, reassuring her the entire time that she would be welcome. As they get closer to the table, Will stands to his feet and grabs another chair, already sensing that the woman Gloria was leading over would be joining them for the rest of their meal.
“Will, this is my friend Evelyn, and she has graciously agreed to join us for lunch. Evelyn, this is one of my sons, Will,” Gloria gets introductions out of the way as everyone gets settled. Will holds chairs for both of the ladies as they sit before returning to his own seat.
Evelyn looks around for a moment and Gloria asks, “What are you looking for?”
“I was looking for your daughter, Gloria. I thought that she would be here too,” Evelyn tells her, confused.
“Oh, Jayme! She is at home with her husband and their children. He didn’t have to fly today, so he was staying home to go with her to her doctor’s appointment later,” Gloria explains. Seeing that Evelyn doesn’t look any less bewildered, she goes on, “Ah, lo siento, you are confused. I have four sons, but only one is biologically mine, and the rest are his friends. Santiago is my first son, and his best friend is Jayme’s husband. Will here and his brother Benny served with them both, and I have adopted them all.”
As Gloria explains the situation and Evelyn gains a better understanding of her “sons” and the family dynamic, a small part of her is excited to hear that Will is not married, or that at least Gloria has yet to mention a partner.
“Now, Santiago is with Leah, and his daughter Esperanza is the one that I came out to see this week,” Gloria continues, pulling out her phone to pull up the photos from yesterday, the happy adults hugging the dark haired toddler. Will sits quietly as he watches the woman chat, noticing a spark of recognition in Evelyn’s eyes when she looks at the photo of Pope, Leah, and Princesa. He noticed right away that she was gorgeous, she seems to be quiet but confident, and clearly comfortable speaking with Gloria.
“Is that Leah Connor?” Evelyn questions.
“Si, it is, do you know her?” Gloria asks. A tinge of defensiveness enters her voice against her will, but after all of the drama had just settled down, she is more than a little protective of her family.
“I do know her, she used to teach a self defense class in that town that I live in. We had become friends and I was disappointed when she left, but glad that she was moving to be closer to her sister. It looks like it worked out well for her,” Evelyn answers.
“Ah! Well, I hope that you will have an opportunity to reconnect with her now. So, tell me about this new job…” Gloria launches into a series of questions and Evelyn answers until Gloria has exhausted her curiosity and Will finally has a chance to join the conversation. Evelyn learns that Will is very well spoken, that he’s a partner at the company he works at, and that he enjoys helping his brother train as an MMA fighter. He was also an uncle to several nieces and nephews, both from his own sisters and Santiago and Frankie.
As the lunch hour turns into early evening, Gloria checks the time before exclaiming that she needs to return to the house, as she had promised Leah that she would be back in time to help with dinner for the evening. The time had passed so easily when Will and Evelyn had begun speaking and asking questions of each other that Gloria had simply sat back with a smile and cataloged things for later, like telling Leah that her friend was moving to town.
“What is going on in that golden head of yours, William?” Gloria asks on the drive home, knowing that the wheels are turning in his mind. “What did you think of Evelyn? She is a lovely girl, yes?”
“Yes ma’am, she was. To tell you the truth, I probably could have spent several more hours talking to Miss Jasper. She’s easy to get along with. Did you have a good time?” Will responds carefully, knowing that the older woman is probably weighing everything he had to say.
“I certainly did, thank you for taking me. Hopefully I can find a place we like and these lunches can happen more frequently. Would that be okay with you?” Gloria asks with a smile, already knowing the answer.
“Of course I would, you know you’re my best gal, Mrs. Garcia. I would love to go to lunch with you any time we both have a free afternoon.”
“That’s a good thing, William. I plan on making it happen. I look forward to our lunches, and maybe in the future we could include Miss Jasper from time to time?” She hopes that he will be agreeable; after seeing how they had talked and how ease they were with each other, Gloria hoped that she would get to witness the start of a beautiful friendship, and possibly more to come.
For more We Were Warriors content, check out our finished story Pope’s Princesa or Down Payment, coming next week from @jedi-mando!
Warnings:Brief ass slapping, discussion of a ruined car by a jealous lover and I think that’s it.
Pairing: Frankie Morales x OFC
A/N: Quick update, still figuring out the new work schedule but hopefully next week we will return to posting full chapters and there’s a SURPRISE at the end.
Word count:1.2k
The month passed at a decent pace, before they knew it the deadline for out-processing all the team and whether Jayme would stay or go came. While Pope, Ironhead, and Catfish (and of course Redfly), all had close to seventeen years in Jayme only had ten.
After many a discussion with Frankie about possibilities, where they would move to what, what they would possibly do they decided that Jayme would discharge and go with Frankie. Having more discussions with Molly, Redfly, and their family it was decided they would all head together. Starting life over in a new area and new scenery but still as a team.
Once Jayme informed her parents of what she was doing they were once again supportive, never once doubting her and even asking when they could come help pack them out and move them down. Thankfully though the Army would provide one last move to most of them. During their last days on base, Benny was approached by a guy looking to bring him into cage fighting, telling him that the training he had would only help him. Will was against it but Benny took the guy’s card anyway. Benny was always one after his own mind.
They all decided on the city to go to, a major deciding factor was that Frankie had already been offered a job as a helicopter tour pilot. Molly and Tom decided on Florida and went there with the girls, while they were missed Jayme mostly hoped they could work out their problems and reconcile. Pope, Benny, and Ironhead all got jobs with a security firm and Ironhead even started dating a woman not long after they all moved to the area.
For a while everything was fine, Jayme landed an amazing job working at the Veteran’s Affairs and writing part-time for a women’s veteran magazine. Life went on. The team kept in touch with Molly and Tom, civilian life began to develop for the group, Benny started doing some fighting and boxing matches and Will became engaged to the woman he was seeing.
It was more nights at home consecutively than any of the men had had in the past seventeen years, and that presented a new set of challenges. It was stressful, these men were always used to being on the go, mission to mission with very little downtime. Being home every night was a stumbling block for most, and the fact that they started frequenting the same bars over and over again and that Benny and Pope started picking up women from these same bars. Frankie and Will just started running more and working on small projects together to keep their hands busy while not with their ladies.
Jayme, ever the big sister of the group, tried to warn them that it was a bad idea. “Keep it clean and make sure you don’t shit in your nest.” She tried telling Benny and Pope. Then one lazy Sunday morning while Frankie and Jayme were still laying in bed when the quiet was broken by the sounds of Metallica playing from Frankie’s phone, groaning he rolled over to pick it up knowing that it was going to be Pope.
“Heyhermano, what’s up?” Frankie says, with Jayme listening in to what she can, hearing Pope’s voice stressed out but can only pick up certain words; keys, car, crazy. It didn’t take much for Jayme to put two and two together, leaving Frankie to talk to him she got out of bed and shrugged on her robe, and headed to make coffee.
Ten minutes later after hearing Frankie showering Jayme was standing in the kitchen when he walked in with his hair still wet from the shower. Pouring him his own mug she handed him coffee and kissed him on the cheek. “That was Pope on the phone,” Frankie said as he snaked an arm around Jayme’s waist.
“No really? I thought you had changed my father’s ringtone to For Whom The Bell Tolls. Silly me.” She said with a wink, before turning from his arms to finish preparing what was on the counter.
Frankie laughed and slapped her on the butt as she turned around, “you’re lucky I like you missy, not most can sass me like that.”
“You’re lucky I love you Catfish, not most get my sass,” Jayme said as she finished preparing what Frankie assumed was lunch, including a thermos of hot coffee. “Lunch, coffee, and sodas are in the fridge chilling. I figured something happened with Pope’s Challenger and knew you would head over there. I have things to do around here, I have that article to finish too, I’ll be okay. I’ll see you this evening.”
Frankie smirked at her and reached out and pulled her into his arms kissing her soundly, “I’m not sure what I would do without you, you sure you’re going to be okay? I know we planned for a lazy Sunday.”
Kissing him back Jayme reassured him she would be fine and sent him out the door with an “I love you”, with that he was off heading towards Pope’s in his truck. Knowing that Jayme was undoubtedly the most perfect fit for him. Pulling into the parking lot for Pope’s apartment Frankie spotted the gunmetal challenger in its assigned parking spot, covered in hot pink spray paint, eggs, bologna, and probably more damage but Frankie couldn’t see it from the truck.
Getting out he headed for Pope’s door and knocked, upon answering Pope looked at Frankie who held up the bag Jayme had packed. Pope waved him in as he was on the phone, hopefully with the insurance. It had started to seem more likely the more “uh-huh, yeah, umm,” that came from him, finally after asking “and how much is this going to cost me?” Pope hung up.
Coming into the kitchen Pope saw what Frankie had laid out from the bag, barbequed pulled pork sandwiches with a side of potato salad, the thermos of coffee and sodas. Pope sagged, against the entryway to the kitchen, listening to his hunger growl, ever since he woke up and headed out to go get breakfast and he discovered that mess of his car now, he had been on the phone or taking pictures to send to the insurance company.
Frankie saw Pope standing there and jerked his head towards the food telling him to come on over. Pope gladly did and they dug in in silence both focused on the food than talking. Once that was finished and they were cleaning the table up Pope sat back down and let out a sigh, he looked at Frankie and said “Frankie, if you don’t hurry up and marry her I will cause if she cooks like that I would be a happy man every night of the week.”
Rolling his eyes Frankie looked at his best friend, “don’t you worry yourself about that, Jayme’s only ever going to be a sister to you because, and I swear to God, Pope if you tell her a lick of what I’m about to tell you I will tell Mama Garcia on you.” Staring Pope down to let him know how serious he was, while the man was good at OpSec he wasn’t the best at keeping secrets from Jayme, like their first Christmas and Frankie didn’t know what to get her so he had bought her a simple opal necklace, Jayme had out within two days of the purchase thanks to Pope.
“I won’t I swear, I already have to deal with one angry woman in my life I don’t need my own mother complicating things because I upset Jayme.” Pope made a cross-my-heart motion and zipped his lip.
“I’m asking Jayme to marry me next week.”
Well? What did you think of that surprise, I mean not entirely shocking, we all knew it was coming but oooh how’s he going to do it?
Warnings: Mentions of military acts, military trial, self-doubt and we finally find out about why Redfly was the most loathed man…..
Pairing: Frankie Morales x OFC
A/N: Please remember that this is a work of fiction and not real, I tried to make it as close to the real world procedures as I could but obviously they weren’t going to be 100% factual.
Word count: 1.9k
“Well fuck.” Were the words out of Catfish, Pope and Benny’s mouth after General Watson gave the announcement and directly left the room. Once the initial shock wore off and the realization that they were being sent home for court-martial.
None of them wanted to believe it, but after the last mission it wasn’t a surprise. General Watson was probably trying to court-martial them all for disobeying direct and lawful orders. Jayme looked to Frankie and found him looking back at her, worry clear in his eyes. Tom was the only one who seemed nonplussed by the idea of going back home, even being court martialed, like he had done it all before.
Packing up the rooms proved to be a challenge with the image of the deranged grin on General Watson’s face haunting Jayme. Three days later the team was all stateside standing in front of a group of Generals and Admirals, being told that they will not be returning to the warzone, nor would they be allowed lots of freedoms such as associating outside of the base supervised. The board almost forced Jayme and Frankie to be housed in separate locations but the argument from Will was that it was a two bedroom apartment and that they wouldn’t associate in the apartment, keeping to their “separate rooms.”
Later that night, laying in bed next to one another Frankie voiced his apprehension of this court-martial to Jayme, “it scares me, it worries me about what is going to happen to you should for some reason it be found that you acted unlawfully. I don’t want to see you go to Leavenworth.” He tells Jayme, kissing her head.
“It’ll be okay, whatever happens will happen and its out of our hands now. Although I would really like answers as to why General Watson had it out for your team so much. Do you have any clue?” She asks while drawing circles on Frankie’s chest.
“Well I would have to do some double-checking but I have a theory. Let’s not worry about it, hopefully this nightmare will be over soon enough.” Frankie pressed a soft kiss to Jayme’s forehead, “come on, let’s get some sleep.”
The next six-weeks passed in a haze. Countless times Jayme was called to the stand to answer questions about one mission or another, to give testimony about her actions, Tom’s actions, even Will’s actions. Same with Frankie, though the retelling of how the helicopter went up in flames was the most horrifying one from Jayme.
That mission Tom had managed to lead a cell of enemy soldiers back to where Frankie was waiting with the helicopter, a rocket launcher was involved and it all equated to the Army being down a helicopter, Frankie barely missing being in the helicopter when it was hit and the five of them walking back to their base in the middle of a desert. She held Frankie extra tight that night as it was the closest she had really ever come to the reality that he could not come home from these missions. While its something most are acquainted with in dealing with the military the first time it comes close to home brings a whole new level of reality to it.
As the trial came to a close there was quite a few interesting faces in the viewing area, General Gwendolyn Mayford, Smokey the Bear, a few other high ranking officials that Jayme knew and had worked with. Finally the day came that the verdicts and sentences if any would be handed out. Standing at attention in dress uniforms the lead Admiral reads out the verdicts the board had come up with.
Benny for being enlisted was being honorably discharged, would maintain his rank and would retain his benefits too. Will and Pope would retain their ranks, be honorably discharged and medically retired due to injuries they had sustained while in service. Jayme was cleared of any wrongdoing, it was found that General Watson had issued an unlawful order to her and she was doing what was right, she was given the opportunity to have her service continue or be honorably discharged. Frankie was found to be innocent of all charges, would maintain the rank of Major but would be retired from service honorably as well.
Then there was Tom’s verdict. While none of the team had been allowed to sit in on the parts that focused mainly on Tom they just assumed it was due to not wanting to have emotions get in the way of the facts. That was not the case when the Admiral who was reading off the verdicts passed the paper over to a woman in business dress who Jayme vaguely recognized as a Congresswoman.
Answers were had when the woman stood and looked Tom right in the face before reading off the verdict on the paper. “Major Tom Davis, you have had quite a military career; mostly decent and good hard work. However in the last several years there has been doubt cast upon your ability to lead, friendly-fire that cost time in theater not to mention a man’s eye. Holding over and basically bullying your crew and team liaison into doing whatever you wanted, conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman by sleeping around including with multiple general wives,” Jayme side-eyed Tom while at attention, the angriness of General Watson was becoming a LOT clearer.
“But on top of all that you led the enemy purposely back to your evac aircraft, allowing for it to be destroyed and any surviving tech to be taken over by opposing forces. Tom Davis, the following is recommended from this board of Generals and Admirals as well as a recommendation of Congress that you are lowered in rank from Major to Captain, stripped of your duties, given an other-than honorable discharge, and not allowed back into any service.”
The Congresswoman laid down the paper and looked at him, then to Molly sitting in the viewing area and back to Tom before continuing, “now just to show that we, myself and my colleagues are not monsters will allow you to keep the majority of your retirement in order to cover the living expenses of your wife and daughters. This is the decision of the Congressional committee.” With that explanation the woman handed back the paper to the leading Admiral and sat back down.
“Thank you Congresswoman Wellers, this and what the Congresswoman relayed is the decision of this committee. Lt Connor we expect an answer within the month on whether you will remain on active service or wish to resign from your commission free of any strings attached. Dismissed.” With that he sat back down and let the team file out while collective breaths were let out and shoulders deflated in the members of the view areas.
As they walked single-file down the the office that had turned into the teams waiting area they were mostly dumbfounded at how the verdicts came out. Most of the team retired with full benefits for the, hopeful, resolution of their post traumatic stress, surgeries that will be required and years of therapy. While they hadn’t expected things to go that way for Tom, Jayme had to figure that it was actually fairly decent of the committee to take the girls and Molly into account and not leave them completely destitute.
Looking around the room as the door shut, Jayme took in the look of exhaustion and shock written all over her teammates faces. Benny and Will were sitting next to each other with Benny staring off into the distance and Will rubbing his temples, Pope was leaned against a wall, Frankie next to him, while Tom was sequestered over into a corner looking for some solitude the verdict for himself was the heaviest and simultaneously the worst.
Jayme sat down behind a desk and processed her day and luck, she could stay or go, just have to share with the Army what she decided to do. The weight of all of it finally settling in when there was a knock on the door and in walked Smokey the Bear. “Men, Jayme, I came to see if I could get you guys anything, its a heavy ordeal you’ve been through. Food, drink, sanity, what do you need?”
Before anyone could speak Molly strode in the open door, “Davis, you are coming home with me, now. We have tons of things to discuss and you have daughters to see.” The finality in her voice when she said it made Jayme wonder if she needed to go home with her as well, she bet Molly was a force to reckon with when it came to it and now was one of those times.
Will stood and nodded, “Thank you Mr. Shandler, I think we could all use some food and drink that isn’t Army chowhall.”
“Please, call me Smokey, you’ve all mostly earned it. Gwenie told me what you did for Jayme over there when she got tossed in the brig. Come now, lets go, I know a good spot nearby.” Smokey said as he placed an arm around Jayme’s shoulders leading her and the rest of the group out. “What are you thinking of doing?” he asked her in a low voice as the traversed the hallway.
“I don’t know dad, I don’t, I just wanted make sure I made you and mom proud. I don’t want you thinking I road your coattails or ….” Jayme tapered off on what she was saying as they passed the group of men who had sat on the board of the court-martial.
Walking past Smokey nodded to several and even reached out to shake the one General’s hand, “Mitch, how are ya?” He asked pulling Jayme to a stop beside the man.
“I am well Smokey, how are you? Why are you here?” General Mitchell Franks questioned looking between Jayme and how Smokey’s arm was around her shoulders, “You didn’t break it off with Diane did you?!” Shock coloring the mans voice causing Smokey to laugh heartily.
“No sir, Diane Connor, or Diane Shandler as you no doubt know her, is my mother. I’m Smokey’s firstborn.” Jayme says offering her hand to General Franks.
“Oh. OH!” The General said as he took Jayme’s had and realization had dawned on him, “why didn’t you say anything to me during all this? I had no idea she was your daughter and things might have gone completely different.”
“No no, my girl wanted to do this career on her own, it wasn’t until she put her team CO on the ground, that Tom Davis, did she even let it be known she was related to me. I tried offering her advice but she’s just as stubborn and hard headed as Diane. I will have to tell her you thought I traded her in. HA! That is the only thing in this world that scares me is my wife pissed off. No though, honestly, Diane and I couldn’t be more proud of Jayme and her choices, she’s a damn good daughter, friend and soldier.” Smokey told General Franks, making sure to look at Jayme during the last bit of his statement.
“Very good, well before you leave lets get a beer. One hell of a daughter you and Diane raised though, I wished they had team liaisons like her when I was on the teams, probably wouldn’t have so many bullet holes if I did. Good luck ma’am in whatever you choose.” With that he and Smokey exchanged phone numbers before the group separated and Jayme and Smokey continued outside while General Franks went over to talk to others from the board.
1) I am alive. I have been on overtime since mid-December and managed to only have 4 days off the last month.
2) I have the next chapter of Down Payment so I will be sharing that.
3) I am so so sorry for just ditching like that, I just literally had no time even for my phone. If I wasn’t working or driving my kid somewhere I was sleeping.
See I am going to take a vacation this next week for my son’s birthday. But as Murphy’s Law would have it work has piled on tons for me to get done and I’ve been working 2 weeks straight again.
There will be a new chapter of Down Payment next week I promise as I will be using one of my vacation days just to write.
Once again I am so so sorry. I’m going to do better. I promise. Thank you for your patience.
A/N: Quick update for the second part of Downtime on Deployment. This is not beta-read I have no beta currently (she’s working). Thank you dear reader for your patience and grace you have afforded me.
Word count: 1.8k
Warnings: Explicit language, making out, some explicit spice, and cliffhanger.
Frankie nodded eagerly at the thought of getting to share the bed with Jayme, it was preferable to sleeping in the same room as Santiago, when he was there he snored. “I like that, and while I want to have sex with you I would love to just sleep next to you and hold you,” he tells Jayme in all honesty.
Framing his face and placing a sweet kiss on his lip Jayme loved her Frankie, so sweet, considerate, and even after the ordeal with the General, Tom, and thinking he was long gone he would just be happy to sleep beside her. Making sure to put her shirt on the end table so it’s close at hand should she need it she turned to look at Frankie. Pulling Frankie down to lie beside her she whispered “whatever you want to do, I’m just thankful that you’re here.”
Before he got too comfortable Frankie peeled off his shorts and laid down gathering Jayme close to him, not there was much need to do that. Twin-sized beds don’t offer a lot of room, but neither Jayme nor Frankie minds. Nuzzling her face into his chest Jayme sighs. While she had been amped up and wanted to have sex with Frankie, laying with him now she was content just to be next to him, chest to chest and breathing each other in.
Frankie sighs and looks down and was about to tell Jayme he had missed her again when he notices she was asleep. Smiling he presses a kiss to her forehead and then closes his own eyes joining her in sleep.
Hours later Frankie is woken up by whimpers and cries from Jayme. Rolling her on her back he shakes her gently, “Jayme, Jayme!” he tries to wake her, and she comes to with a gasp and eyes flying open.
“Frankie!” she cries as she wraps her arms around Frankie’s neck and catches her breath. A few moments later she finally relaxes her hold on his neck, “sorry, go back to sleep.” Trying to brush it off and play off what had happened. She moves to turn around with her back to Frankie.
“Oh no you don’t,” Frankie says and scoops her up pulling her into his lap, “don’t shut me out and don’t play it off. What’s going on?” He had a pretty big idea as to what is going on but he wasn’t going to voice it until she shares it.
Taking in the warmth of Frankie’s body, Jayme slowly relaxes. Once she’s finally calm she doesn’t share what caused her very obvious nightmare and Frankie doesn’t push, just laid them back down in the bed and they went back to sleep.
This was the pattern for several nights; sleep, wake with Jayme’s nightmares, then back to sleep, work and repeat. Finally by the fourth night Jayme couldn’t take it anymore, she had hoped that she wouldn’t have a nightmare again but if she did she was going to share with Frankie what it was.
Waking again with the same nightmare Frankie was just getting ready to shift them back to laying down when she grabbed his hand and stopped him. “Hang on,” she says shifting out of his lap so she can look at him in the face, “I can’t keep on like this. I’m having nightmares.”
Getting that off her chest she felt infinitely better already but she knew she needed to share the rest and as she looked at Frankie’s face he was just patiently awaiting her to share with those beautifully soulful brown eyes watching her. “They are about this last mission, except you didn’t make it back, or you did but one of you is missing, or you missing and gone, or the entire team doesn’t make it back. It kills me a little inside every time it happens, even as much as we don’t seem to be on the same team Tom.
“I can’t do this anymore.” Jayme says as she ducks her head. She’s exhausted and if Frankie was going to be honest he was too, but Jayme needed him more than he needed to admit the exhaustion. The team had four more days of rest and they were spending it the best they could. “I’ve tried to be strong, I’ve tried to be resilient but Francisco,” the use of his full given name causes him to pause and look at her closer, “I love you and I don’t think I want to go home without you so please be safe out there.”
Frankie smiles and looks at Jayme, he knew he loves her, and knows she loves him, until now it’s been an unspoken thing, now it’s been spoken, its out in the open and Frankie loves to hear it. “Jayme, I love you too and I promise to do everything I can to make it back to you always, I have I have made that down payment and many more to come.” Frankie presses a kiss to Jayme’s lips enjoying the feeling and now that those words had been spoken and shared they brought a new light and weight to the relationship.
Jayme laced her fingers into Frankie’s hair and pulled him closer to her, it wasn’t close enough she shifted her body, moving to straddle his body while she continued to kiss him. Pulling her closer to him, Frankie’s tongue slipped along her lips seeking admittance and when he gained it he plundered her mouth.
Moaning as his tongue danced with hers Jayme slid her pelvis against his in slow torturing motions as Frankie’s hands moved to her breast, pinching and pulling on the pebbled nipples. Breaking the kiss he ducks his head to take one into his mouth pulling at it with his lips and laving it with his tongue. While his one hand and mouth are busy with her breast he moves the other between where Jayme is perched above him and adjusts his hard length.
Moving one hand from his head she buries it between them rubbing on his hard cock while stroking herself too. Batting her hand away from her own pelvis Frankie pulls the shorts barely covering Jayme aside exposing her to the cooler air of the room. Sweeping a finger through her weeping folds Frankie finds her clit and slowly circles it causing Jayme to gasp.
Palming in through his own shorts Jayme wastes no time in shifting to remove not only hers but also his shorts. Finally, free the weight of Frankie in her palm is heady and stoking her fire and lust more. Bringing her thumb up she swipes it through the pearl of moisture gathering at the tip. Usually, there would be more fun and foreplay involved but tonight it was quick and to the point. Jayme leaned up to line Frankie up when he scooped her up and flipped them over, and as he lined up he continued to play with her secret pearl.
As he breached her center slowly he continued swiping at her, bringing her closer and closer to the edge. Inch by glorious inch Frankie settled in, while there was an urgency in need each other, wanting each other he couldn’t help but go slowly. Weeks without Jayme’s touch paired with the freshly spoken admissions of love, slow was perfect.
As Frankie continued to sink into Jayme she wrapped one leg around his hips and pulled him back down to her lips, kissing him and running her hands across his shoulders and through his hair. When he finally bottomed out, he rested his forehead against hers and just stayed still enjoying the sensation of Jayme fluttering around him and Jayme enjoying Franking throbbing inside her.
Beginning to move Frankie slowly withdrew and then sunk back into Jayme, and continued to piston into her slowly with Jayme arching to meet each thrust, enjoying the slow methodical movement all while stroking at her clit every once in a while with no pattern. Continuing Frankie changed the angle of his hips and allowed him to hit that secret spot inside of Jayme causing her to call out and forcing Frankie to kiss her in order to keep her quiet.
Between Frankie’s finger and the divine feeling of him pistoning in and out of her stroking her deeply it didn’t take long before Jayme was falling over the edge into the blissful orgasm that she had sought and missed for so long with Frankie.
Feeling Jayme grip him and watching her fall apart with an awe-inspiring beauty Frankie soon followed her over the cusp of orgasmic bliss. Collapsing onto the bed to the side to keep from crushing Jayme they cuddled with each other while sweaty and Frankie still deep inside of her.
Catching their breath and cooling down Frankie finally gets up and grabs the extra towel that was in Jayme’s room and cleans her up. Once she’s clean and Frankie wipes himself up he tosses the towel onto the floor to be washed later. Getting back in bed and gathering Jayme back up in his arms he savors the feel of her beside him.
He wouldn’t admit it tonight but there was a time during that week that the team went missing he wondered if he would get to see her again, now he was back and in bed, with her, the next beautiful thing was that they had vocally stated their love. Looking down at her Frankie decided he wanted the next step when they got back to the states.
Tilting her face up Jayme kissed Frankie’s chin, “I love you Frankie” she whispers and closes her eyes as she wraps her arm around him.
Pressing a kiss to her temple Frankie smiles “I love you too Jayme,” and settled himself down while they both drifted off to sleep. The rest of the night went peacefully, there were no more nightmares that night for Jayme.
The next night went smoothly as well, there were no nightmares. Finally, by the last night of the team’s downtime, the nightmares had subsided. Smiling at Frankie as they dressed in the morning, Jayme gave him one more kiss on the cheek and they head for the team’s office. Getting there they met up with Will, Benny, and Santiago, but beat Tom into the office.
Finally, thirty minutes later Tom comes in along with General Watson looking like the cat that had caught the canary. “Pack your shit! You’re done here, you’re getting the hell off my base and even your cousin can’t save you this time Lieutenant!”
“Can we at least ask why you’re sending us back to the states before our rotation is done, sir?” Will asks ever the diplomat.
“Oh absolutely, you’re being court-martialed. All of you,” was the response from General Watson. As the team took time looking at each other and took in the weight of the situation hitting them and settling. “You’re out of here by the end of the day!” With that General Watson strode out of the room like nothing was wrong.
As the reality sunk in and just before they sprung into action Benny seemed to sum up the entire situation in two words.
I’m trying to get the next chapter (or bonus chapter ) done but I am currently under a Poppet who has decided she is a lap kitty all of a sudden. Please be patient.
Warnings: Swearing, military sexism, vague sexual harassment, surprise military people, catty females, handcuffs, prison/brig talk, (if I missed something please tell me)
A/N: We are back! Well okay I am back. After a long, completely surprise hiatus I have a new chapter of Down Payment for you. This one deals with the military and the reality that sometimes its just a sucky place, for all people but especial those that are female. Plus Tom shows just a bit of his human side in this.
Word count: 5.3k
Two months later everyone on the team was wishing they were back dealing with Smokey the Bear and the beating he had laid upon Tom. Instead, they were in the middle of a desert, during the summer and were trying to deal with surviving the deployment. All while praying they didn’t get extended.
It was day four of a six-day mission for the team and they had been out of communication since day three. Jayme didn’t have a normal habit of chewing at her nails but she was quickly developing one while waiting for the team to check back in or to hear from Frankie. She couldn’t pace so she worked out in the gym that the base had set up.
It was five days past when the Team was supposed to return that Jayme was beginning to feel the dread and the worry that she was going to have to make some difficult phone calls. The Teams CO General Watson, was putting the pressure on to call the mission off and write the guys off as well. The thought and subsequent discussion had caused a lead brick to form in Jayme’s stomach. She laid awake that night, after having taken a smaller version of the radios to bed to be awoken if anything should happen. She wasn’t ready to call it quits yet, but she did admit that the feeling of helplessness was no different over here than it was stateside.
At 0200 in the morning, the time when the base was quiet even for night watch and shift the radio starts crackling. Sounding like someone is trying to communicate, the static coming in bursts. It rouses Jayme from her sleep and she listens. In the dead silences, she responds asking for whoever it is to identify themselves. This continues until 0400 when finally the static gives way to a voice.
“Jaybird?” was the only thing the voice says. It’s a male voice that’s all she can make out. Waiting a few more minutes to see if the unidentified voice communicates again she paces about her room. It was only five minutes but it felt even longer. She was just about to give up on the idea that it had been a voice when the radio crackled back to life. “Come on Jaybird, if that’s you please respond.”
Picking up the microphone she acknowledges that it is her and that she waits. “Boy am I glad to hear your voice Jaybird. Music to my ears.” The voice, now identifiable enough to be recognized as Frankie’s.
“Frankie?” The female voice bleeds over the earpiece that he is wearing and causes a smile to break over his face, the first in over a week. He wasn’t sure how things went so off the rails but the last thing he cohesively put together before they ended up having to walk back to base and their long-range comms were destroyed was Redfly had gotten into a firefight with others, then the helicopter had been hit by something, either an RPG or missile, Frankie didn’t know what but the bird went up in flames.
To say the team had been pissed had been an understatement, and all the time walking and navigating back to base tensions were growing with the team. Pope and Benny were even at each other’s throats, which is saying a lot considering those two were the ones you would have sworn were siblings instead of Benny and Will.
“Yes, it’s me. Sorry about all that.” Frankie begins only to be cut off by Jayme.
“Save it, where are you? What happened to the helicopter? Why are you almost a week past your return window?” Jayme asks and he can hear her voice running through the octaves like she has a habit of when she is worried.
“Long story Jaybird, one that I will have to fill you in on when I get back. Bird went up in flames though so we are having to walk back, just got into radio range tonight, well this morning. You didn’t send any letters or make any phone calls did you?” Frankie wants to know so he can pass it along to the team, knowing that has been something weighing heavily on their minds. No one wants to get that phone call, letter, or knock on the door.
Jayme’s mind tries to process the information she is being given. “Catfish, how far were ya’ll when this happened?”
“Oh just about thirty miles out. We should be walking up two days time.” Frankie relays. The walk was going to be hell but if it meant getting back to Jayme then he would gladly do it. “I’ll explain the rest when we get back.”
“Can you at least relay the coordinates you are walking?” Jayme asks hoping that he will tell her not knowing what she might do with the information. When he relays the coordinates they are walking along the signal starts to fade, “just come back, safely.” That was the last thing Frankie heard from Jayme.
When the signal was lost Jayme couldn’t settle herself, she continued to pace her room. Minutes turned to hours and she had come up with a plan by the time reveille came. Dressing and securing herself in her gear she grabbed her bunkmates forgotten patrol gear. Her bunkmate was long gone as it was frowned upon to have a pregnant woman in an active warzone.
Shouldering the bag she headed for the base headquarters where her office was located, as she walks in she takes note of who is in motorpool, it’s McMannis and Anders. Anders was always trying to find Jayme alone, asking her to the showers or his bunk. No one knew that she and Frankie were together, they couldn’t, so she and Frankie played it as if they both were single. After the incident with Rowena, Jayme was confident that she and Frankie were on firmer ground than they had ever been in their relationship.
Waiting for General Watson to show Jayme thought over her plan more and more. She knew what she would do if necessary. Finally when the CO’s administrative assistant, Sargent Alison Alexander, Jayme set her plan in motion. Walking up to the assistant’s desk Jayme nodded, knowing that the woman had enjoyed Pope’s company more than once, speaking when she was next to the desk, “is the General in yet?”
Alison looked to the door and then back to Jayme, “he is, he wanted to see you when you got here. Obviously you haven’t seen him yet despite being here for what, thirty minutes?”
“How could I know he wanted to see me when I got here if you weren’t here to pass along the message? Weren’t you supposed to be here an hour ago?” when Alison opened her mouth to speak, Jayme held a hand up, “I don’t care about your excuses I’m going to go in and see the General now.” With that Jayme moved to the door, knocked twice and waited for the response to enter and when it was heard she did just that.
Walking in she moved to stand in front of the desk and stood at attention awaiting the General to tell her to parade rest or at ease, but the possibility remained that the General would leave her at attention. So she waited, making sure her knees weren’t locked, until the General looked up from his desk. When he finally did he took in her appearance and made sure that she was in proper uniform. “At ease” was all he said and Jayme shifted only slightly to widen her stance and bring her head down so she could look at the General.
“Lieutenant I want to know why Major Davis’s team has not been listed as either missing in action or killed in action? I believe I instructed you to do that thirty-six hours ago. Explain.” The General said his blue eyes narrowing on her, displeasure evident across his face.
“I held out sir, I believed they would return and I have…” she never got to finish that sentence because the General stood and looked her eye to eye.
“You decided it was for the best, you decided. Lieutenant I am your commanding officer when I give an order I expect it to be followed. Now you will go out there and begin generating the reports that show that the team was either killed in action or is missing in action and I want them on my desk for approval in thirty minutes. Is that understood?” The General was demanding, his voice escalating just slightly with the obvious frustration. Jayme could feel her ire rising and while she wondered what her father would do in this moment it was her mother’s advice that rang through her mind.
“Follow your heart, hold your ground and do the right thing no matter what.” Her mother’s voice whispered in her mind, she had told Jayme that after she had gotten into a fight in school over some girls picking on another girl just because of her last name. Jayme had gotten suspended from school but her mother hadn’t punished her and when her father got home from his mission he had taken her for ice cream and new Vans shoes.
“No General, I have evidence that they are alive and if you just….” Jayme tried to begin not wanting to write those letters when she knew that the Team was alive and well. But the knowledge seemed to have fallen onto deaf ears.
“LIEUTENANT! Those men are dead, you are just their Team Liaison and now you are without a team, generate those letters then go pack your shit, you’re on the next transport stateside with any luck with their bodies! Now, GET OUT OF MY OFFICE AND PRODUCE THOSE LETTERS!” The General screamed, vein bulging in his forehead and neck, pointing towards the door.
“Yes sir,” Jayme says as she turns and heads out the door, greeted by a smirking Alison. As she breezed past the desk she headed for her own and grabbed her pack, having decided on what course of action she was taking. It did not involve writing those damn letters or reports.
Heading straight for motor pool Jayme smiled at McMannis, “Hey Mac, hows the kids?” She asked the woman, Jayme couldn’t imagine being a mother in this position but she was in awe of the woman and how she pressed on through the days.
The other woman smiled, “oh their fine, their daddy’s done given them mohawks all three of them.”
“Even Lily?” Jayme asked, knowing that it must have been a bit of a shock to see in the pictures.
“Yup, especially Lily, she’s the one who instigated it. Have a look,” McMannis said as she swung the computer monitor around showed Jayme the smiling toothless smiles of the three McMannis children. Sure enough, Lily had the biggest, and brightest colored mohawk.
“Oh my, that’s fun, are you okay with that?” Jayme asked, knowing that obviously the other woman wasn’t really upset about it and it probably helped the kids take their mind off of their mom not being home.
“Yeah, why not? They’re young, its summer break and its just hair, it grows back. What can I help you with today Jaybird, you usually never pop in here because of,” Mac pauses and looks at Anders who is asleep in his chair, “well because of reasons. Any news on the team? I heard the general yelling.”
“That’s where I need your help Mac, I got a call early this morning…” Jayme tells her as she begins to relay the story to her friend and with little convincing Mac agreed to the plan Jayme had come up with.
Twenty minutes later after Jayme had gone back to her desk, Mac left her desk quietly as to not wake Anders leaving a pair of humvee keys sitting under a set of papers. Jayme got up and headed out of her office area with her pack and snuck into Mac’s picking up the keys she headed for where the vehicles were parked, having plotted out how she was going to get to where the guys should be.
She knew this was going to be risky, knew there was a chance of court martial but getting the guys back would be worth it, especially if it allowed Jayme to ensure Frankie was okay. Getting through the gate was going to be difficult as they usually only let patrols out or in. Looking around Jayme couldn’t believe her luck, of all the times for a patrol to be leaving one was about to pull out.
Putting the humvee in drive and falling in line with the rest of the patrol Jayme left the base and once cleared from sight she turned off and left the patrol heading their way while she headed for her team. This definitely wasn’t in the description of her job post but she’s glad to do it. Heading out towards the coordinates Frankie had told her she drove and drove, what seemed for like a long while it was only about forty minutes, but the desert made everything look the same.
Catfish was getting tired of walking, and tired of listening to Tom and his mouth. Tom was wearing everyone out. He was the reason they were in this mess in the first place, if he hadn’t botched the mission as bad as he did they would have been back in time and they wouldn’t have to be walking across the damned desert.
Water, despite rationing, was running out and he was starving, as he knew the rest of the team was. Benny had started complaining about it on day three. Will was quiet and keeping count of everything, as always. Pope was surprisingly quiet, Tom wouldn’t shut up though. He wasn’t even talking about Molly or his daughters, he was talking about some female on the base. It was really beginning to rankle Frankie.
All he wanted was to get back to Jayme, he wanted to see her and hold her. Reassure himself that he was alright, she was alright, and hope this deployment ended quickly. But until he did he walked on, hoping to get to base without any problems.
They continued walking, Pope had taken point and suddenly stopped and raised his fist up. The team came to a halt and spread out scanning around them when Frankie moved up to stand with Pope and the man pointed at a cloud of dust. Frankie dug for the scope he had on him out and looked through it, and felt hope stir in his chest when he saw what it was.
“It’s a humvee.” Frankie says as he hands the scope over to Santiago so he could confirm it. Santiago grabs the scope and brings it up and zeros in on the moving vehicle.
“Holy shit it is.” Looking again he tries to focus on the driver of the vehicle, wondering if one of theirs had been commandeered by the enemy. Finally focusing on the driver, Santiago couldn’t believe his eyes. “Fish, you’re not going to believe this,” he tells his friend handing the scope back.
“Believe what?” Catfish asks as he grabs the scope and brings it back to his face. He focuses in on the driver and doesn’t understand what he is seeing, swings his focus to the passenger seat and then into the back of the humvee. It was all empty except for the driver. Focusing back on the driver again Frankie sees who it is. Jayme, his Jayme was out, beyond the safety of the base, was out here driving towards them.
Jayme drove and finally saw movement ahead of her and noticed it was five men, her team. Frankie and the guys. She was excited and couldn’t believe she actually found them and they all seemed to be in one piece. Pulling up to them she put the humvee in park but left it running. Checking the surroundings she hops out of the humvee and moves towards the men.
None of the men say anything, even Tom, he’s more just dumbfounded that Jayme would risk herself for them. Frankie however runs towards her and sweeps Jayme up in his arms and holds her close. Jayme holds Frankie close and holds him for a moment. Pulling back she frames his face with her hands and looks him over before kissing him.
“What the fuck are you doing out here?” Tom asks, recovering from the surprise of Jayme just showing up here. “You shouldn’t be out here, you aren’t trained to be out here. Why are you out here?” The rest of the team wanted to know too, Frankie sets Jayme down concern clouding his features.
“I came out here to get you guys. I couldn’t leave you, get in the humvee and we can get back to base. I have water in the humvee but we need to go. I’ll explain on the way back.” Jayme grabs Frankie by the hand and heads for the vehicle.
“You’re not supposed to be out here Jaybird, you’re going to get in trouble aren’t you?” Will asks softly as they all head towards the vehicle, Jayme just looks at him and shrugs as if to say it was worth it. Will hangs his head and shakes it in dismay, “get in the back, Frankie, Pope, and Benny you get in the back too. Redfly you and I are up front. Jaybird can fill us in, lets get going.”
Everyone loaded back up in the humvee, Frankie had Jayme settled between him and Pope, trying to hide her in the shadows of the covering. Steering the vehicle Will heads for base while Jayme retells everything, including the part of General Watson wanting to write the guys off as MIA or KIA.
By the time she was finished even Tom was ranckled with what they had learned. “So General Watson wanted us to be written off, does he know you’re out here?”
“No, he doesn’t. I’m out here of my own accord and disobeying a direct order, one I considered unlawful, but nonetheless I am out here when I shouldn’t be.” Jayme admitted, knowing that should this go badly she’ll end up in handcuffs by the end of the day and not in an enjoyable way.
“We’ll deal with that when we come to it. I know I’ve been an ass but thank you Jayme, I don’t think any of us could have walked much longer.” Tom said in an amazing show of human which shocked Jayme just a bit but they were coming back to the entry point for the base and Frankie removed his hat and plopped it down on Jayme’s head and Pope elbowed her so she bowed over to hide her nametag.
Getting through the gate with Will driving was surprisingly simple the guards let them in no problem once they saw the occupants. Once the humvee was parked back in motorpool looking like it was never missing they all left the vehicle. Frankie wasn’t going to say it out loud but he was worried what was going to happen to Jayme. He was thankful she had come to get them but wished she hadn’t risked her career.
Walking back in the building to the teams offices the men formed only what could be thought of as a perimeter around Jayme, Tom was on point with Frankie being the last position. Mac happened to be in the hall and Jayme passed the keys to Pope who placed them in Mac’s hands with a wink. As they entered the doorway to their office they all took notice of Alison, General Watson and there were two MP’s standing off to the side.
Standing just inside the door Tom drew the group to a stop, when the General saw Jayme in the middle he pointed to her and looked to the MP’s “that’s her, arrest her. Failure to follow a direct order, going AWOL and I’m not sure what else yet.”
The MP’s started walking towards Jayme and the group closed the space around her and Tom started to speak, “no General that won’t be necessary. She was never AWOL, she was acting under direct orders from me. I told her to do anything necessary to locate us should we ever go missing or come back from a mission late. Lt Connor was just following standing orders.”
“Major! I don’t care if she was following orders from the president herself, she disobeyed me. She made a mockery of me. I will not stand for this. Take her to the brig.” The guys moved to pull in tighter around Jayme but she subtly reached down and squeezed Frankie’s hand, looking at him trying to convey that she would be okay and stepped out from the group.
Turning her back to the MP’s the one MP on the right grabbed her hands and pulled them behind and placed the cuffs on her while the one on the left read her the charges. Jayme knew this would be a possibility but her Frankie and most of the men she had or would come to adopt as family, were back here safely and except for the cuts and bruises it was worth it. As the final handcuff was locked into place with a click, Jayme made sure to hold her head high and squared her shoulder as much as she was able to.
As she was being led out of the office the men of the team looked furious, Benny was upset because Jayme looked after him, Will was upset because Jayme had done the right thing, Tom was upset and Pope had moved to keep Frankie from doing anything stupid which he could see the wheels turning that Frankie was about to do something.
Mac and Anders were watching from motorpool door and most of the other people in the administration building had come to watch. To see the person who seemed to be a model soldier marched to the brig. All the while Jayme continued to march proudly.
Even when the cell door shut behind Jayme she maintained her pride and composure. She did the right thing and she was positive the higher ups would see it, for some reason General Watson had always had it out for the team. She was pretty sure Redfly had something to do with it but she didn’t have any conclusive proof.
Watching Jayme be led out of the room Frankie wanted to run his mouth at the General but Pope had moved to stand beside him. Obviously Pope knew what was going through his friend’s mind. So he settled for looking at the General, “this isn’t over and that’s false imprisonment and you know it.”
“Prove it Major.” Was all the General said as he smirked at the team, like he had just won some prize. Frankie turned around and left the room not being able to stand being in the same area as the General. He didn’t know how he could fix this but he was going to try and figure out a way.
Three days later Jayme was released from the brig, and instructed to head to General Watson’s office. Trying to make do with the wrinkled uniform she did as instructed. Trying to figure out why she was released she discovered the answer when she reached the office. Opening the door she took in the people of the room, her team, General Watson, Anders, and the lead officer in charge of the entire forward operating position; a four-star general General Gwendolyn Mayford.
Moving to stand in the center of the room, once again Jayme stood at attention in this office. General Watson did not look please but Will, Pope and Frankie had a more relaxed air about them, Sergeant Alexander, the two MP’s that had arrested her and General Mayford, for all her height, commanded the room. “Good morning Lt. Connor, I trust you are well?” the general asked, her voice genuinely inquisitive.
“Yes ma’am, I am well.” Jayme says, maintaining attention but catching the glower General Watson took on.
“Very good, at ease please. Do relax.” General Mayford told her, then she instructed the rest of the room “at ease for the rest of you, with the exception of General Watson and Sergeant Alexander.” The rest of the room relaxed visibly.
“Now I’m sure you are confused as to what I am doing here, I was too until I pieced together the reasoning why. Through a series of phone calls and emails I was informed about the events of the last two weeks. I had no idea this base was under such foolish and incapable hands. Why it has taken this long to come to my attention is anyone’s guess. There must be some decent coverups to keep the news of actual events that were occurring here.
“I must say, I was disappointed in the discovery that a lieutenant who was following standing orders from her direct commanding officer was being punished. Not only was she punished unnecessarily but she was then thrown into the brig for an offense that did not require such a punishment.” General Mayford paused, “I must say I am disappointed. Therefore General Watson, Sergeant Alexander, you are both relieved of duty pending full investigation by my staff into the operations of this base.
“Gentlemen,” the general turns to the MP’s, “you are to escort General Watson and Sergeant Alexander from this structure and they are not allowed back into this structure until my investigation is complete. Dismissed.” General Mayford tells the MP’s and awaits as they escort those two from the room.
While awaiting them to leave General Mayford turned to Anders, “thank you Staff Sergeant for bringing this whole incident to my attention, rest assured that it will be looked into and I will be recommending your package for Warrant Officer. Once again with my thanks, you are dismissed.” Anders looked between the General and Jayme and mumbled a thank you and took off. “Please shut the door behind you.” Mayford called out as Anders made his way to the door.
Once the office was quiet General Mayford plopped down into the chair behind the desk and took her glasses off. “Now that the unpleasantness is over, Jayme how are you?” dropping all formalities and dropping all military bearing.
Jayme sagged and sat down in the chair in front of the desk, “I don’t know Gwen, I really don’t. I did what I thought was right, I did what I knew Dad did at least twice and this fell like this. I spent three days in the brig all for doing what was right. Frankly I’m a little pissed.”
“No doubt, I would be too, I know for a fact Dougie did this at least twice, possibly four times but the other two are unclear. Twatson, excuse me, Watson there has a burr up under his saddle and I can’t abide his treatment of this base, or of you, I can’t believe he did that to you. But if he did it to you then there must be others. I’ll get to the bottom of it. Now, how was Leah, Jake and Samuel, it’s been so long since we got to see them.”
“Oh they are fine, Leah is moving out on her own finally her business has picked up, Jake is doing his thing and Samuel well who knows what is up with him, he and I don’t really talk. Although Dad finally got to pull the typical dad card on me right before this deployment and thought he was coming to my rescue when it was actually me that screwed things up. So that was fun, the team got introduced to Smokey the Bear though so that was a bonus for them it seems.” Jayme tells the general, all while Will, Santiago and Frankie had moved to stand behind her.
The three men wore the same expression of dumbfounded curiosity as to why their team liaison was just chatting amicably with a four-star general. Their conversation continued for a while until Frankie cleared his throat and got Jayme’s attention.
Both the women giggled when they took in the faces of the confused men. Standing up, Jayme turned to the men and the general stayed seated. “Pope, Ironhead and Catfish, this is my cousin, Lieutenant General Gwendolyn Mayford. Gwen, these are my friends William ‘Ironhead’ Miller, his younger brother Benny is on the team as well, Santiago ‘Pope’ Garcia and this is Francisco ‘Catfish’ Morales, my boyfriend.” All the men seemed to be processing the information that not only were they introduced to Jayme’s cousin as friends, and in Catfish’s case boyfriend, but that her cousin was one of the most powerful women in the Army, let alone military.
“Gentleman it is lovely to meet you, I am glad I happened to take that call and decided to investigate. When I discovered it was Jayme here that was in the center of this I knew this had to be interesting circumstances.” Gwen told them, “now, as for the investigation, I will allow it to continue, once it brings forth all the evidence I will decide what to do with General Watson and Sergeant Alexander. For now though, the team is on downtime, per my orders for three weeks. I am also curious as to how we lost a helicopter but I have a feeling that is another investigation, and conversation for another time.”
Standing up, Gwen points to a box on the desk, “by the way that is from my sister, Douglas had told her you were over here so she sent me a box to get to you somehow. Gentleman, it was a pleasure, Mr. Morales you have a woman here who would walk through fire for you, obviously, take care of that just don’t get caught. Enjoy your downtime,” she tells the group as she gathers her cover to head out the door, “and don’t go making me third-cousin anytime soon, especially over here. Good luck and watch your six.”
With that the general opened the door and breezed out, personnel parting like the biblical story of the Red Sea.
“So, now that we have some downtime, I want a shower and then we can find what is in this box.” Jayme says as she gathers up her box of goodies no doubt her cousin Samantha had sent and leaves the room headed for her barracks room. “Meet me in the team lounge in three hours yes?”
All the men did was nod and watch as she walked away. Will was the first one to break the silence, “so ‘Fish, did you know your were sleeping with the Lieutenant General’s little cousin?”
“No man, I had no fucking clue. Wonder what other secrets I will discover.” Frankie said, surprised and worried about the implications on his career should he fuck the relationship with Jayme up.
Pope lets out a low whistle beside him, “man I don’t know, but that family seems full of surprises. Come on, lets go tell Benny and Redfly what happened.”
“I like that idea, but can we keep the fact that Jayme’s cousin in the General in charge of all this under wraps until necessary? We don’t need Tom holding that over her head.” Frankie asks, knowing Redfly would find a way to exploit it.
“Agreed, none of that information leaves this room. Right Pope?” Will asks pinning the dark haired man with a stare, knowing Pope can let things slip if he thinks he can use them too.
“Are you kidding? I’m not saying anything, Smokey the Bear is scary enough, could you imagine Jayme after my hide? Nope, I’m not saying nothing.” Pope says as he walks out the door. Frankie and Will following close behind. Pope and Will are talking about what they might find in the box but Frankie is just looking forward to a little downtime on deployment and a chance to maybe spend some of it with Jayme.
