Edward shifted yet again, grateful to Gail for finding the new bed. It wasn’t any softer, but it was wider, originally designed for the obese that no longer existed in Jericho. It fit two skinny people fairly well. He managed to slowly move his leg to a position where it would wake up and Heather would stay asleep. It was so easy to wake her ( Read more... )

“Hi. I’m here to pick up your daughter.”

John Green held his hands behind his back so his white knuckles wouldn’t show. He was the first guy, so far as he knew, to actually ask Alex out on a date. And as he looked at General (ret.) Beck, he was hit again with the reason why. Despite the fact that Alex’s father was shorter than John, he was still ( Read more... )

Edward Beck didn’t want to let Captain Dunne in. Not because he had anything against Karin, but because he knew why she was here. He didn’t want to force Heather to relive that, even though he knew, logically, she had to. That she would whether they asked those questions or not. But in the end, he let her in, returning to Heather’s side.

“Ma’am ( Read more... )

“How’s the baby?”

It was the first thing out of Heather’s mouth when Kenchy walked through the door the second time.

“I - I don’t know.” Heather was visibly upset. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have an ultrasound machine. We were on the waiting list, of course, but we were way down that list.” He shot a glance at the major, hoping that he -

“My ( Read more... )

“How do you think it’s going?”

Lieutenant Sorey looked over at Lieutenant Goodman on the front step.

“Well, she hasn’t broken them out yet, and they’ve stopped yelling for help. I’d say they’ve settled in to wait for rescue.”

“Good. We should check on them in an hour.”

They were referring to Major Beck and Heather Lisinski, whom they had ‘ ( Read more... )

It was the first Christmas since the war, and Heather had insisted on hosting. That, and Jericho’s central location among the family made it a no-brainer. She’d outdone herself; the house looked amazing. He’d tried to tell her to take it easy; morning sickness was not kind to her, but she was irrepressibly cheerful. She’d had a smile seemingly ( Read more... )

Jake shifted the ice on his head out by the nurses’ station.

“So is she going to be okay?”

“Well, physically, probably.”

“Physically?”

“She’s a pretty girl, Jake. What do you think they did to her?”

“Oh.” Jake deflated as it registered, looking through the blinds at a sobbing Heather, buried in Beck’s arms. It still struck him as odd that ( Read more... )

There was a stretcher waiting at the med center, but Heather resisted any attempt to put her on it.

“I won’t leave you, I’ll be right here. Just let me put you down so they can help you.”

The only response was a whimper. He sighed.

“Where’s her room?”

“Over there.”

He carried her over and sat down on the bed, settling her in his lap. Gail ( Read more... )

In the back of the humvee, Beck bit back the urge to tell the driver to hurry up yet again. Heather was bundled up in his arms; he’d gotten her to drink a little water and she’d just finished a bit of bread. He looked out the window, seeing that they were still twenty miles from Jericho. The potholes weren’t helping their time, either.

Just then ( Read more... )

Private Felser was not surprised when Major Beck’s humvee screeched to a halt down the block from where they had found Heather. He was surprised, however, that Beck wasn’t wearing either armor or helmet. They had not secured the area yet; to walk around like that was asking for trouble. To make matters worse, he focus was…off. He was clearly a ( Read more... )