Intertwined On a Battlefield

“It’s like trying to rebuild an engine from the Stone Age Ri, you getting onto Will’s list of Love will never happen” Carletta “Lettie” Haelstrom said to her best friend and partner-in-crime, but her answer was met with Riley simply still working on Team Havok’s Humvee.

(A/N: Sorry just a quick note, but the name “Team Havok” came from the story Unacceptable by Dmfritsc on Fanfiction.Net)

Not liking Riley’s absent reply, Lettie went under the Humvee to see Riley working her damndest to ignore Lettie and pay attention to what she was fixing on under the Humvee rather than the negative response that Lettie continually keeps giving her as a reply to when Riley thinks she has gotten closer to that unbreakable seal that Will had thrown up around his heart.

All of the female’s on-base has, in one way or another, tried to break down the barrier that Will had thrown up around his heart after he requested to be brought back to the desert for another tour of duty; Riley was the most stubborn to try.

She was trying to breach the barrier, seal, or whatever like she was approaching a bomb for her first time; she either cut the right wire to disable the barrier or cut the wrong one to make it explode with her chances of ever getting to the level of closeness that she has achieved with William ever again.

All she had to do was focus on her job, work on the bomb one piece at a time, and pray to God the last 100 days don’t drain away before the bomb is disabled and disposed of or else she’ll be put on a different base in either the desert or back home in the states.

97 Days to Go

“Damn it, damn it, damn it” Riley muttered as she washed her hands so she could get to the cut that appeared on her hand as she was digging the shrapnel out of Team Havok’s Humvee. It was William’s reckless driving that had ultimately saved SGT J.T. Sanborn, and SPC Owen Eldridge’s life when William couldn’t deactivate the bomb he had been working on for an hour, and accidentally cut the wire that usually deactivates the bombs but was put as the trigger this time.

They had driven up limping on their last spark plug before the engine completely fried out on them. Riley, scared shitless, ran up to each of them and demanded to know why her baby was looking like it could only be used for scrap metal and spare parts. J.T., being the pissed off soldier that he is usually, immediately pointed his finger at his Team Captain, Will, and said that he had cut the wrong wire before he drove recklessly out of the blast radius.

Owen wanted no part in the discussion and just said that they should have been dead before he departed to his bunk house for some much needed time to calm down and rest. Eldridge was never one for confrontation when it came to two guys that had as much testosterone as Barbarian’s who had just come out of battle.

Technically, they have.

Riley had eventually convinced J.T. to go take a shower and just cool off from the situation that he had just been in as William had been pacing the length of the Humvee from the other side. She could see the tension in Will’s body so she quickly calmed down Sanborn then sent him off to the showers.

Now was her chance to work on her Will bomb once more.

Going to the other side of the Humvee had been easy, calming the tense Sargent First Class had been another entirely; it was like adding a bigger bomb to the bomb she was already carefully working on. Hopefully this bomb would disable another barrier that would get her closer to the bigger barrier.

“Hey” Riley said as she gave William the space that he ultimately needed so that he could cool off a little bit. “Those fuckers fucked with me this time” Will said as he kept pacing and running his fingers through his short light ash blonde hair. Riley stood there thinking of an accurate response before she said, “They are just testing your abilities. Just be happy no one was hurt and that you were able to get the three of you out of the blast range safely.”

Will nodded his head as her response seemed to make sense to him. “It doesn’t matter about Sanborn’s frazzled nerves or Eldridge’s passiveness, it matters that the Team Captain was able to get his men out of the danger zone before anything fatal happened to you and the others” she told him as she took a small step closer to him so he could see that she was meaning what she was saying.

Will nodded again as he stopped his pacing between the front and rear doors of the Humvee. “You okay now Sargent?” she asked him looking him into his now calmed eyes. Will rubbed his forehead with his left hand, “Yeah I’m fine now” he said to her as he breathed out a heavy sigh.

Riley motioned to the exit of the Garage, “Get outta here soldier, I gotta fix this hunk of metal before Sarge thinks it’s nothing, but scrap metal” she told him as she looked at her poor Humvee; yes her poor Humvee, because this baby has been with her since day one.

“Hey Riley?” Will said as he looked back to her from near the exit of the Garage, “Thanks” he said as he looked to the floor then back up to her. Riley smirked a little before saying, “Don’t die Will” before she got on her creeper and rolled under her baby.

She didn’t see Will’s small smile before he exited the Garage to get a shower.

That’s what had led up to now where she was disinfecting her cut before wrapping a cleaner than normal Garage rag around her cut before telling her CO (Commanding Officer) that she needed to go to the Medical Building to get stitches; he tried to tell her before she left that her baby was a lost cause and that she should just drive a new Humvee into the Garage to give the team she was working with, but she insisted that her baby would be up and running in a few days with new doors, and a new trunk door.

He didn’t look convinced, but he knew Riley was as stubborn as a mule and would figure out how to fix her baby before she even thought about moving onto another Humvee like some of these other dumbass mechanics did when they hadn’t a clue on how to fix the problem their own Humvee’s were having.

When walking into the Med Building, she saw Will playing soccer with the kid named Beckham who always solicited shitty pirated movie’s for money. The kid had won over many hearts in the Camp, but other, more seasoned soldiers, kept their distance because getting close to a kid was like shooting yourself in the heart.

All the kids looked the same so they couldn’t be distinguished from one to another so you never knew if a kid like Beckham was killed or if it was Beckham himself.

Riley shook herself out of her stupor and proceeded to walk to her destination because she didn’t want to bleed to death out in the open.

74 Days to Go

Somehow, Riley had been able to get all the shrapnel out of her baby. She replaced the doors, replaced the trunk door, and welded shut all of the shrapnel area’s that she couldn’t replace before replacing the burnt out tires that Will had damn near destroyed in his attempt to escape as quickly as possible from the bomb that had gone off behind them.

Now 74 days before Bravo Company pack up their supplies and go home, her baby comes swerving into the Garage once more. Riley’s left eye twitches as she knows exactly who was driving once more, but it was damn near night fall so she was wondering why they were pulling in so late if it was just supposed to be a routine search and disable and not something much bigger than that.

First Will jumped out before Sanborn and Eldridge, just to open the trunk door. Riley, knowing they’d probably need her assistance, saw there were three dead mercenaries and two dead Iraqi operatives.

“I’ll get the hose” she said as she sighed with disgust. She hated cleaning out ally and enemy blood from the Humvee, but someone’s got to do it so it doesn’t attract flies, and diseases. “We need some body bags” Will said as he looked at the five dead people in the back.

Riley walked back over and pointed the hose at Will spraying him with the cold water. “Ah! Damn it Riley! I’ll get a shower in 10 minutes!” he shouted at her trying to get the water away from himself, but she was spraying him head to foot.

“Eldridge, go to the Med Building at get five body bags so I can clean the blood out of my baby” Riley said before she started spraying the dirt and grime off of Sanborn; at least he knew what she was doing and openly accepted the spray down.

Soon Eldridge came back with a medical team so they could get all five bodies out of the Humvee and into their proper body bags. “Eldridge want a spray down?” Riley asked him as lifted to the hose to show him what she meant. He shook his head in the negative before he headed out of the Garage, and toward the showers.

Riley just shrugged her shoulders before taking her thumb away from the hose top so she could pour water into a bucket near her so she could get to washing the inside of the Humvee down; had the blood been on the outside of the Humvee she would have just sprayed it off, but, no, it was on the inside of the Humvee so she had to be careful because some of the stuff in the Humvee could get jammed if water got into it.

49 Days to Go

On the 49 days mark something had happened, because it had seemed like a routine mission to Eldridge, and Sanborn looked a little more than disturbed, but Will seemed to be the worst off. He didn’t even stick around to talk for a little while.

Riley sensed that there was a bad aura around Will; his aura screamed the he was sad, mad, upset, disappointed, pissed just every negative emotion you can think of; William was feeling it sevenfold.

“Hey guys, I’ll meet you in the Mess Hall” Riley told the two before she rushed after Will. He had gone into the showers in full gear; Will never wore full gear after a routine mission so this had to be really bad.

As Riley entered the showers, she heard a shower going, and then the bang of headgear hitting the tiled floor. She slowly approached so that she wouldn’t be right up on Will and make him tenser than he already was. Whenever she finally made it to him and bent down to his level, he looked like he was shaking even though the water was steaming hot.

“Will?” she asked softly as to not make him jump. He shot his eyes to hers before he looked back down and closed them once more as he rubbed his fingers through his hair once more as blood dripped off his BDU’s. She took a small step toward him so she could test how far into the emotionally compromised man’s space he’d allow her into.

A sudden jerking motion came to the front of her shirt before she was between two strong arms and a chest that belonged to none other than SFC William James. Apparently just being here to help Will had dismantled the last eight barriers that were surrounding the biggest barrier of all that remained around Will’s heart.

“Beckham’s dead” he muttered to her as he lightly rocked them to and fro. Riley’s eyebrows furrowed, because it didn’t make sense when she had seen Beckham leave earlier to see his Grandmother who was at a hospital in one of the safe zones in the city.

Team Havok had left before Beckham had; William must have not seen Beckham that morning when Will went to head out to disable to bomb, and that must explain why there was so much blood on Will’s hands and BDU’s.

A dead child was used as a bomb.

She shifted to where she was cradling Will’s head to her chest as she got soaked in the shower water. “It’s okay, Beckham is fine I saw him today. He went to see his Grandmother before you boys got back” she whispered to him as he wrapped his arms around her instead. “It was him, I saw him” Will tried to insist, but Riley would have none of it, “He left a few hours after you guys did. He’ll be here tomorrow, you’ll see” she whispered to him as she lightly brushed her hand down his right cheek as he looked into her eyes.

She always thought that it’d be Will comforting her for something that has happened, because he has always been the type of guy to barricade his emotion’s behind a mask of absolute confidence, but Riley guessed that Will had a soft spot when it came to children being near or in a war.

She just sat there holding the broken soldier, because, at that moment, he needed her; William James, the cowboy of Bravo Company, needed her to make sure he didn’t dissolve into a crying mess. She kept whispering to him about everything being okay and Beckham coming back the next day, he’ll just have to see.

24 Days to Go

24 days, it seems like its forever until she will be shipped home. To what home though? Her Dad kicked her out when he found out his prodigy mechanically apt daughter was going to war; bastard didn’t even let her explain that she wouldn’t be going out into the field. The only thing she’d be doing would be taking on a Humvee that sees more action than he does.

Only action that prick gets is changing rich people’s oil; she gets to, not only change oil, but gets to take shrapnel out of her baby, wash the blood off it and in it, gets to repair anything that’s been corrupted by the unforgiving terrain and heat, and talk to people that actually have a job they life. Fucker’s just jealous because his color blindness was a disability that the Army wasn’t going to risk.

At least Riley had her Mom; the woman’s patience is as far reaching as the ocean from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

The phone rang into Riley’s ear as she waited for the only woman who understood her inside and out to pick up. “Hello?” an uncertain elderly woman said into the phone.

Immediately Riley smiled, “Hey Mom, it’s Riley” she said into the receiver. “Riley? Oh my goodness dear! How are you?” her mother asked her joyously. “I’m doing good, just got enough money to buy more minutes from the Communication guys, how are you doing?” Riley replied as she sat on the table near her.

“I’m alright, Douglas has been screechin’ up and down again about how ya joined the Army and are going to get killed before ya come home” her mother replied sounding rather annoyed with her husband. “That sounds like Dad alright; he’ll never let me live it down. How are the other crazy fucks of the family?” she asked as she spied Will outside the window looking in her direction, she just waved and smiled at him, but his reply was just to simply stick his tongue out at her which just made Riley roll her eyes.

“Language! Well, your cousin Kristy went to jail for drug abuse again. She’s gotten into it deep, and I don’t know if her Momma’ll be able to get her out this time; that child was a right good child up until her car accident then some screws got loosened or lost” her Mom replied in a disappointed tone.

Kristy Redfield was one of Riley’s cousin’s that had been one of the better people in the family; that is until she got into a car accident and had to be placed on a pill regimen that she got addicted to.

“Listen Mom, I’ll be home in twenty-four days, and then I can either sort this mess out with Kristy or we have to let her change her ways on her own” Riley said as she stood up and heaved a heavy sigh. Family issues are the last things that Riley wanted to think about since her family was thousands of miles away from the Mortar Bombs and heavy artillery she saw day in and day out.

“Okay sweetie, she can use all the help that she can get” her Mother told her. Riley was getting pissed off, because it seemed like everyone back home could give two shit’s and a fuck less that Riley could one day die over here while they are just gossiping together about the screw ups in the family.

Riley liked to believe that she was higher up in the not-so-screwed-up part of the family, but she guessed wrong if she thought that she wanted to help her cousin out. “Hey Mom, I gotta get back to the Garage” she said as she saw how many minutes she had left.

“Okay sweetheart, you knock them boys on their asses ya hear?” her Mother said as she sounded like she was stirring something; the animosity rang clear over the phone from her father, but Riley didn’t comment on it.

“K, love you bye” Riley said before she hung up the phone. She had to get herself back in control before she went back to the Garage; she can’t very well blend in if her mind is on home and not on her job.
18 Days to Go

Apparently, late last night Will went to seek revenge for the boy that had died by the body bomb, but he wasn’t able to dig anything up because he didn’t know who the kid was and why he was sitting on the surgeon’s table with a bomb inside him in the first place.

That was the night first night that William had woken Riley up to confide in her, because he trusted no one else but her to make him feel better; since she had initially helped him out with the grieving part of knowing he couldn’t have saved the kid from his fate, and, ever since then, he hung out with Beckham as much as he could.

William James had let Beckham break into his barrier and have a piece of his heart while he was at war with the kids own country, but Riley could see the reason why as plain as day.

William wanted to let the kid know that he’d be able to protect him while he was around. Will would protect Beckham while he was on-base as best as he could.

Riley knew William had a family back home; a son that needed his father, but, she also knew, that Will wouldn’t be content with a normal life this time around. Will lived to be in the line of duty to his country, he lived for the rush that he got when he was called out to dismantle a bomb, and he lived for the knowledge of knowing that one wrong move and he wouldn’t be coming back home; the damn man was crazier than Albert Einstein and Albert’s ingenious way of bringing about modern Mathematics.

Riley sighed tiredly as she, once again, had to do a routine inspection on her baby; she knew that this Humvee wouldn’t be her baby in 18 days, but she couldn’t give a shit and a fuck less. This Humvee was her prized possession until the days are up, and she’d make sure she was purring even after she left the beauty.

She felt someone pull her out from under her Humvee, which made her pissed, but as soon as she saw the familiar BDU’s she knew it was one of three people and all she had to do was look up to see William sporting his messy light ash blonde hair.

“I need to talk to you” he said to her so Riley took his hand as he motioned to help her up.

As soon as Riley was up and standing, Will started walking away from the Garage. She decided against standing there looking like an idiot and decided the best course of action was to follow him. His face read all business as he walked, and his eyes said he was in turmoil over something that was going through his head.

“I know that many of Camp Victory’s women have tried to get me to open up and have a relationship with them, but all have them failed in their endeavors” he said as he kept walking around base. “Yes, I noticed that as well” Riley replied as her head nodded in the positive. “They all never got that it’d have to be someone that was there for me constantly, and not expect anything in return” Will said as they came upon his bunk.

“I’d rather talk more about this in private if you don’t mind” Will said as he opened his bunk door. Riley nodded, because he had brought her here to confide in her when he had went to seek revenge so it wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary for him, but still; she was the curious cat so she walked in after him.

As she walked in, she saw that he was taking off his gear, and left nothing but his plain white undershirt on along with his BDU pants and combat boots. He looked much more comfortable than he was when he was in his matching BDU shirt and hat.

“Go on” she said trying to prompt Will to go on with what he was saying, and praying to every holy figure she knew of that he hadn’t known she was trying to break his barrier’s down as well. “Every person on this base know that I have a child and an ex-wife back home that I need to take care of, but I love my job but, somehow, someone else has wormed their way into having me love them as well” Will said as he sat on the end of his bed facing the couch that Riley sat upon with his head down and hands rubbing as if he was nervous.

“Do you know who it is?” Riley asked trying to stay as nonchalant as she possibly can. “…Yeah I do” he said as he looked up at her with a serious expression. “Is it Sargent Tamera Beckett?” Riley said thinking she could guess who it was. Will shook his head in the negative. Riley would have thought Tamera would have been the one, because she had gotten Will to hold her hand in the Mess Hall.

“No, it’s not Beckett. It’s you” he said as he came right out with it. “What?” Riley said as her eyes went wide with innocent shock. “You, Staff Sargent Riley Annaleigh Cost, have wormed your way into my heart, and have made me love you” he said as he came over and sat by her. For lack of better words, Riley was tongue-tied; what he said had shocked into oblivion apparently.

“Riley, don’t seem so shocked. I knew you were pursuing me, and, at first, I was against it because I thought you’d try to make me put you before my work or come cry to me about how agonizing being a woman is, but, no, the only times you ever talked to me was for a nice chat, when you sensed I was angry and needed someone to vent to, when I needed someone to confide in you were there, and when I needed comfort you were there for me. How did you know what I needed?” he said as he looked at her in astonishment.

Riley cleared her throat as she pieced her thoughts together, “Well I just treated you like a friend when you were around and weren’t mad, scared, confused, or sad. When you thought Beckett died, I knew I needed to comfort you somehow so I looked for you in the showers because that’s where you usually go if you weren’t in your bunk after a mission. When I found you, it broke my heart because you are one of the strongest people I know Will, and I’d be damned if I let that haunt you just because of a dead kid that you knew you couldn’t save. You can’t save them all Will, we all have expiration dates, it’s just some are a lot sooner than others” Riley explained as she pieced together what she wanted to say bit by bit.

Her chin was soon lifted, and turned toward William’s; the searching his eyes were doing to hers made her wonder what he was going to do, but she got her answer when she felt a pair of lips on hers. They were chapped, but warm and, as she responded to the kiss, Will brought her to where she was straddle sitting on his legs so they could each just enjoy the kiss that was being sent and received by them both.

Soon they both separated as Will ran his hands up and down Riley’s thighs lazily before giving her one last kiss. “You need to get back to work on your baby” Will whispered to her before kissing her again. “You need to get some rest” Riley told him as she massaged the back of his head with her right hand. “Actually I got called to a petrol tanker detonation that I need to be ready for in five minutes” he told her as he enjoyed the massage.

“Then soldier, get your gear on, you gotta get out of here” she told him as she got up from his lap. He then proceeded to stand up as well, and get his gear on. It didn’t take him nothing, but two minutes to get his clothes and gear back on before he was leading Riley out the door.

Riley watched as Sargent First Class William James left to go to his mission with the rest of his team. The brown flyaway’s that were loose from her bun danced in the light wind as her muddy green eyes watched after her travelin’ soldier. She prayed that he came back safe.

2 Days to Go

As it turns out, Will might have accidentally gotten Specialist Owen Eldridge shot which sent Owen home two days earlier than everyone else, because the surgery he needed couldn’t be provided on-base.

Apparently, Will wanted to go after the insurgents himself rather than wait for the real Army guys to find them and take them down, but Eldridge got himself kidnapped and that’s everything but what Will had wanted to happen so Sanborn and himself went to rescue him, and everything was shot to shit…literally.

Riley’s just glad they all came back alive and minimally hurt.

But, just two days away from being sent home back to the states, Will and J.T. were sent out for one last mission. She doesn’t know what happened, but she’s got to deal with the aftermath of one William James because she could tell he was about to tear himself apart from the guilt he was feeling, but, what Riley didn’t expect, was that Sanborn was coming apart at the seams as well and she knew she had to comfort him first so she could take her time with Will.

Comforting a guilty William is like comforting a dead person it’s harder than it looks.

“Sanborn, Sanborn!” Riley called out as she came to stand in front of him. “It’s not alright Riley” Sanborn said as he tried to put a commanding tone to his voice, but he ended up sounding like he was going to cry. “Yes it is Sanborn, because you’re getting out in just two days not two months. Tomorrow you get to start packing your belongings away, the day after you get to fill out your duty papers, and the day after that you are home. You get to be with your girl, and start a family; you don’t have to look back on the last year you were forced to live just the future” she told him as she rubbed his back comfortingly.

Taking her words to heart, he nodded his head and went to take a shower to ease up the tension in his muscles.

Now to deal with Will.

When she made it to his bunk door, she could her curses and mutterings going on inside so she just let herself in. The place was a wreck when she saw it, but, she knew, his guilt would guide him to try and take it out on something that wasn’t human, but as soon as she stepped in he lunged at her and brought her into a hug as his tears leaked out of his eyes.

Something bad must have really happened to affect Will like it did when he had to dismantle the bomb that was in the dead kid. Now he was muttering that he could save the man, so Riley knew that a person died because Will couldn’t disable a bomb from hurting someone.

She brought them over to the couch and sat down on it; just letting Will tire himself out so his guilt could be washed away so he could prepare for a new day; one of his last days.

Riley knew over the next two days would determine their fate in being able to still be a couple in the states or not, but she sure hopes that can make it. She prays they make it, because she had let the first man that had ever really captured attention into her heart and now, she fears, that’ll be over before it really began.

16 Days Home

“Hey Riles! Get a beer for me would ya?” Douglas shouted at his daughter from under a 1968 Dodge Challenger that they were both restoring to showcase new. “Alright, alright I’ll get ya your damn beer” Riley said as she stopped working under the hood of the car. Her white work tank was pulled tightly over her bosom while the short jean shorts hung around her mid-thigh, and, as she exited the garage, her biker boots clomped on the floor.

“Hey honey” her Mom said as there was an already opened beer on the bar. Riley looked at it strangely before she turned around to get to the fridge when she came face to chest with a very familiar chest. “Hi Riley” a very familiar voice said to her so of course Riley was going to look up to see who it was.

When she looked up she came into a lip lock with the only man that her heart had been yearning for.

William James.

He was home, safe and sound.

Riley was home, safe and sound.

Oh she couldn’t wait until she got back on duty; sneaking around had been her favorite thing to do while on tour of duty.