Gunslinger

25th October 2008

Salem, Massachusetts

Dana was standing in the bathroom of the hotel room she shared with Brian, putting on the finishing touches to her make-up. Her hand trembled a little with excitement as she finished applying her mascara. She couldn’t wait to see her friends again, as it had been so long.

She thought back over all that had happened in the three years since she and Brian had returned to the past, and her mind whirled. After Brian’s proposal, they had gone back downstairs to find the rest of the gang sitting downstairs in the kitchen wearing matching shit eating grins.
“Could you two be any louder?”, Jimmy had asked with a smirk. Dana had blushed, but then Brian had replied.
“Hey, now that’s no way to speak to my fiancée.” Jimmy’s mouth had dropped open and Emily had let out an ear piercing shriek.
“Fiancée!!!!!! Oh my fucking God!”

***************

Dana hadn’t wanted a huge wedding, however she had compromised with Brian and his family and they had a church service on 7th May 2006, followed by a reception in the backyard of the beach house that they shared. The fact that it was also her birthday was the best birthday present ever. She couldn’t wait to unwrap her “present” later.

When Brian had seen Dana walking along the aisle toward him in her purple wedding gown, she had stifled a gasp at seeing the tears in his eyes, and that set off her own waterworks.
“You look so beautiful”, Brian had breathed as she reached his side. “I love you.”
“I love you too baby”, she said and they turned to smile at the celebrant.

At the reception afterwards, Jimmy had confided in her that Brian had been, as he eloquently put it, “shitting bricks” that Dana wouldn’t show up to the church.
“Damn, I never thought I’d see the day that he’d settle down, but he loves you Danes.”
“I know Jimjam, I love him just as much.”
“And if he does anything stupid, you know your way around a rifle”, Jimmy smirked.
“I usually just have to threaten to not have sex with him, and he surrenders faster than France”, Dana smirked.

Six months later, Dana had learned that she was pregnant and the gang was over the moon about the first Avenged baby. As her pregnancy progressed Brian would often speak to her belly and advise his daughter that she was not allowed to date until she was at least thirty. Dana found it quite adorable, and she always smiled when she awoke in the middle of the night to find Brian’s hand softly placed over her belly.

She thought back fondly to the day that Jayde had entered this world, and the mad rush to get to the hospital on time. She had been with Emily at the mall when her water had broken, and she had made a frantic screaming phone call to Brian, who had been at the studio. He had screamed like a girl, then shrieked for Jimmy to drive him to the hospital, as he wasn’t sure he could do it without crashing the car.

When he had arrived at the hospital, and seen Dana in the process of giving birth, he had promptly fainted in the delivery room. Jimmy had never let him live it down.

************

When Dana emerged back into the bedroom of the hotel suite, she smiled watching Brian playing with their daughter, who had just turned two the week before. Her eyes misted a little as she watched Brian lying on his back and tossing their daughter into the air before catching her again. Jayde was giggling uncontrollably. She spotted Dana and began squirming.
“Mama!”, she cried. She smiled as Brian looked up at her, his loving chocolate brown eyes sweeping over her.

Brian stood and walked over to her, pulling her into a passionate kiss.
“Ukky”, Jayde exclaimed. She giggled when both Dana and Brian kissed her cheek. They were interrupted by a knock on the hotel room door, and Brian moved away to answer it. Dana smiled as Matt and Emily walked into the room.
“Uncle Matt and Auntie Ems are going to look after you for a little while, squirt”, Brian told his daughter, blowing a raspberry on her arm. His daughter was the spitting image of him and his strong Haner genes, however she had Dana’s wavy black hair. Jayde nodded her head enthusiastically.
“Horsey!”, she shrieked in Brian’s ear. He winced and set her back down, and she instantly galloped over to Matt. “Horsey, Unca Matt!”

Laughing, Dana and Brian left the hotel room where Matt was now giving Jayde a horsey ride, and proceeded to take the elevator down to the function centre.
“I can’t believe we waited so long to do this”, Brian murmured to Dana.
“I know, but it’s going to be wonderful to see them again”, Dana replied.

When the elevator reached the ground floor, she and Brian emerged and walked toward the function room. A simple sign had been affixed outside the function room door which read

Welcome 101st Airborne
506 PIR Easy Company Veterans
For the 63rd Reunion

As she and Brian approached the registration desk just inside the entrance door, the elderly man sitting behind the table gaped in amazement at them.
“Oh my god”, he stuttered. “Brouchard was right!”
“Right about what?”, Brian asked in confusion. Dana looked at the man in front of her and then her eyes widened.
“O’Shannessy!”, she squealed. O’Shannessy stood up and the pair embraced, before he shook hands with Brian.
“Now what were you saying about Brouchard?”, Dana asked him. O’Shannessy grinned.
“He told us about 15 years ago that you and Haner had come from the future. He was a few sheets to the wind at the time, and we all thought he was pulling our leg, but then the reply to the invitation came. We thought you must have been descendants, but goddamn here you are.”
“Yes, we did go back in time”, Dana replied with a loving smile at her husband.
“Well, let me get your name tag, Sergeant Vandenberg”, O’Shannessy said with a smile.
“It’s actually Sergeant Haner now”, Dana said with a soft smile. O’Shannessy paused and looked back at them.
“You two got married!”, he exclaimed.
“We did. Did you really think I was going to let this one get away?”, Brian asked with a smirk.
“By the love of all that is holy, get over here and hug me woman!”, a loud voice called out, and Dana looked up to see a smiling silver haired veteran on crutches. Her quick glance took in that he was missing a leg, and she felt her eyes mist.
“Pagliaro!”, she yelled and took off running toward the man who threw his arms around her. “Oh my God, it is so good to see you”, Dana cried.
“Careful, doll”, Pagliaro smirked. “Can’t have my wife seeing me cavorting me with a hot brunette. She’ll get all possessive and whack me with me crutches.” Dana punched his shoulder with a smile, as Brian strolled over to join them.
“You made a honest woman of her yet?”, Pagliaro asked him, and Brian smirked.
“Of course I fucking did”, he replied. “Not letting this one escape.”

Dana looked up upon seeing two more men approach, and her eyes misted with more tears as she pulled them both into a hug.
“How did you know I was in the hospital?”, she asked them, wiping tears from her eyes and trying not to look like a panda. “And those flowers were lovely.”

O’Shea smiled down at her. His red hair had faded to a shock of white fluff, and he looked adorable.
“When Brouchard told us about the whole time travel thing, it kinda made sense. Both you and Haner spoke differently to what you had before, and used slang we’d never heard before, and it all fell into place. My grand-daughter”, he said, with a smirk at Brian, “is a fan of your band and told me about the guitarist and a woman collapsing outside a bar in Huntington Beach. When she read out the guitarist’s name I knew that Brouchard had been telling the truth and we wanted to let Dana know that we still cared and remembered her.”

Dana was sniffling now as she turned to look at Somerville. He smiled down at her.
“You know, you were one of the best soldiers we had”, he said softly. “It’s not often that men will follow a woman into combat, but all of the men in 1st Platoon loved you.”
“They better not have loved her too much”, Brian said with a grin.
“They would have had to beat your land speed records into the shower to do that”, O’Shea replied with a waggle of his eyebrows, and smirked when Brian blushed.

Dana and Brian sat at one of the large tables with Somerville, O’Shea, Pagliaro, O’Shannessy, Hanson and their wives. They laughed and talked throughout the day.
“This is amazing”, Brian said to Dana. “I wish we had done this sooner.”
“I know”, Dana sighed, looking around the room. “It’s been so long, and time’s taken so many good men with it.” She was sad that so many of the men had passed on before she had had a chance to see them again. The men had told her that some of the men were still alive, but were not up to travelling any more. Brian and Dana decided then and there that they would visit those that were not able to make it to the reunion.
“They’ll always be with us, baby”, Brian said as he gently kissed his wife’s lips. “Everyone we served with will always be right here”, he added, placing his hand gently over Dana’s heart. “And you’ll always be in mine.”