The Rat Patrol tag to The Last Harbor Raid
880 words
This is chapter two of my tag fic but you don't really need to read the first one to understand this chapter.
Tully and Hitch angst. G rated, just keep the kleenex handy.
Thanks again to Jen C for the comments /reviews /encouragement.
Marianne stands near the wheelhouse, her eyes searching the sea that grows ever rougher with each passing minute. At last she spots Hitch and waves to him, calling his name.
Marianne crowds to the side with the fishermen, determined to help him aboard. He stumbles a bit, yelping softly as he falls to the deck.
“Oh Hitch.” She sighs, pulling him close, not caring that he is dripping wet. “I was so worried.” She can feel him shivering and she pulls him to the front of the boat, out of the way of the others climbing on board.
“You must be freezing.” Marianne presses him back against the rough wood, blocking the wind from him.
Hitchcock wraps his arms around her, snuggling into the warmth of her neck with a relaxed sigh. She jerks and he can feel warm wetness dripping down onto his hand, he brings it up to see why the sea spray would be warm and is surprised to see that his hand is bloodied. He looks back toward Troy, the others look shocked.
Marianne?” she is limp in his arms. The deck pitches under him and he gently lays her down.
“Hold me.” She asks softly.
Hitch hugs her, gently kissing her lips.
“Don’t leave me.” He pleads. She doesn’t answer. “Oh, no. No.” he cries, rocking her in his arms. He senses his friends around him but he is lost in sorrow.
When the boats return to the dock, the fishermen take charge of Marianne’s body. She will be buried with her father in the morning.
Troy leads them off the dock and Hitch numbly follows.
“We’ll rest for a couple of hours and then we head back to the desert.” Troy tells them, his eyes on his driver. “You did well. We saved a lot of lives today.”
Hitchcock mumbles something, turns and walks away.
Troy starts after him but Moffitt stops him with a hand on his arm.
Moffitt shakes his head, “Let him have some time, he’ll be all right.
Two and a half hours later, Troy is pacing, “Where is he?” Troy demands. “We’ve got orders to get back.”
Tully shakes his head, “I don’t know.”
“Find him.” Troy growls, “Find him and get him back here pronto.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Tully gets in the jeep, sticks a fresh match in his mouth, and pulls out. He drives around the town for a little bit, not heading in any place in particular, nor looking too closely at where he is driving. He is certain that Hitch is not in town. With a thousand yard stare, Tully drives slowly toward the ocean. His eyes are on the road but he isn’t truly seeing the dirt track that leads up the cliff, he just drives without a concrete direction.
The track ends and he parks the jeep and gets out. Wind blowing off the ocean ruffles his hair and he finger-combs it back but the wind tangles it again.
He walks toward the sound of the waves crashing far below the cliff. Hitchcock is standing there, staring out at the sun, his arms wrapped around himself as though the wind has chilled him.
Hitch looks exhausted, Tully is certain the younger man hasn’t slept or eaten in at least three days.
“Are you okay?” Tully asks.
“No.”
“You gotta let it go, Hitch.”
Mark takes a step closer to the edge, his voice is broken, “I wasn’t lying to her all the time.”
“I know.” Tully says gently.
A sob catches in his throat, “I really did love her.”
“Don’t do this.” Tully fights the urge to rush his friend and drag him away from the edge. “We have to go, they need us.” Tully senses he can’t appeal to his friend using the sergeants, Mark is too angry, too hurt by them to feel any loyalty towards the other men right now. “I need you.”
Mark doesn’t seem to hear, his hands are shaking as he wipes the tears from his face. “She just wanted to be safe; she was tired of being afraid. I thought she’d be safe when I left her behind.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Whose fault is it, then?” The anger is gone from his voice now; all that remains is despair. “Is it your fault? Should I blame God?” He edges closer to the brink.
Tully is afraid that nothing he says will bring Hitchcock back. “She wouldn’t want you to do this.”
“How do you know what she would want? You didn’t even know her!”
“I didn’t have to spend more than a few minutes with her to know that she was a strong and courageous woman who would hate a weak man who would take the easy way out.”
Mark screams, heart-broken and angry, he lunges and Tully catches who him as he stumbles and falls.
“Why? Why her?” Hitch cries, his tears hot on Tully’s shoulder. “I promised I would keep her safe. I failed.”
“I’m sorry, Hitch.” Tully gathers his friend into his arms and starts back to the jeep. Troy may not like it but he is going to insist that the sergeants ride together for the trip back, Mark needs time to rest, time to grieve without having to deal with them.