Wounded Warrior No More

I didn't waste any time when I got home from work in getting packed and filling out the order forms that were left over. Thankfully it didn't take as long as I thought to get the forms all filled out and then I began packing what clothes I wanted to take and the necessary items like shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. For some reason Payge wanted me to pack my Class A inform and bring all the medals I had gathered for the years of my service. Maybe she thought there would be a day where I would need to wear it or I'd like to wear it. It was a good idea so I packed them as well. I showered and once my head hit the pillow I was out like a light. The next morning all the guys were over at the house helping us get our things into the tour bus. The damn thing looked like a house inside but a bus on the outside. This thing must have cost them some serious bucks. Before I got on with the others, I put the forms in the mail box so Jerry could pick them up. Our first stop on the tour was Los Angeles. Payge was right about them sounding so good live. I watched and Zacky would glance over at me every now and then and smile which made my heart flutter. After all these months he can still do that to me.

They played in Los Angeles for almost a week and now we're on our way to Las Vegas, Nevada. Matt and Brian were sitting at the small table playing Call of Duty like always, Jimmy and Johnny were once again picking on each other, Payge and the girls were discussing what they could do in Vegas, and I was sitting on the couch with Zacky with my head on his shoulder. I could feel myself relaxing more and more until my eyes began to close. I let sleep take me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Zacky's POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I looked down at Blaze and she was sound asleep so I carefully picked her up and took her to the back where our bunk is. I laid her down and she turned over and opened her tired eyes.

"I'm sorry babe I didn't mean to wake you up." I said sitting down.

"It's alright. Are you going to lay down?" I nodded and laid back taking her into my arms. It wasn't long before she had fallen asleep again. I gently ran my hand through her long hair and my mind began to wonder about the woman laying next to me. She's been through a lot in her life. I can't even began to image what I would have done if I had all the things she had done to her. I can't even wrap my mind around how she survived being a Prisoner of War or how she ran out to get buddies who were shot or even begin to understand how she felt when the Humvee ran over the roadside bomb which left her permenately injured both mentally and physically. She's one tough girl and I guess that's what I love most about her. I laid my head on top of hers until I slipped off into a dreamless sleep myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Blaze's POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up to an empty bunk but with the voices that carried in this bus...who could sleep? I pulled myself up and went to see what everyone was so excited about.

"Hey baby!" Zacky said getting up and lifting me from my feet and spinning me around.

"What's got you all so excited?"

"We're in Vegas!" Jimmy yelled with a beer in his hand. I chuckled and Zacky put me back on my feet. I looked out the window as night was approaching. The lights were...inticing. The bus pulled in front of a hotel and I gave Zacky a confused look.

"We don't start playing here until tomorrow so we're staying in a hotel tonight." I nodded and we gathered our things and went into the hotel. Matt checked us in and we went up to our rooms. Matt and Payge were obviously sharing a room. Jimmy had Leana in his room, Johnny had Lacey, Brian and Michelle in another room, and Zacky and I were in the last room. Zacky unlocked the door and we went inside. The room was like a house. It had a full kitchen, the living room was with the bedroom and it even had a couch. I went to the balcony where it had a hot tub for relaxing but there was no way I was going in it. I'm still not confidant enough to show Zacky all the scars.

"Sweet they have a hot tub!'' Zacky said smiling but when he looked over at me his smile faded.

"What's wrong baby?"

"Nothing Zacky. I guess I'm still alittle tired." I said lying through my teeth.

"Please don't lie to me Blaze." I looked at him and smiled while shaking my head. He can already read me like an open book.

"I seen the hot tub and remembered that I don't have a suit." I said giving him the truth this time.

"No problem. You can wear a pair of my basketball shorts but right now I'm going to wrap my arms around you and give you the sweetest kiss in the world." I chuckled and he did what he said he was going to do. I wrapped my arms around him and I feel his tongue begging for entrance which I granted. The kiss was so slow and passionate. I never wanted it to end but we can't always get what we want. A loud knock came from the door and I shook my head. I pulled open the door to show Payge and the girls in.

"Does your balcony have a hot tub too?" Payge asked and I nodded.

"Sweet! Do you want to walk around Vegas with us?"

"Sure. Are you coming Zacky?" I asked as I looked over at him.

"Is it like a girl's only thing?"

"Nope. The guys are coming too." Payge said shaking her head.

"Well let's go." We left the room and got on the elvator and went down to the lobby. I held Zacky's hand as we walked down the sidewalk. I sure was enjoying the view. I could hear music being played on the streets and coming out of buildings. We all went into a few stores and the guys were voted to hold the bags. I didn't find anything I liked so Zacky's hands were free.

"Why don't you girls go do something. We're going to check out the clubs and see which ones we want to come to after our show." Matt said handing Payge his credit card. The other guys did the same with their girls even Zacky. I tried to protest but he asked me to take it just in case I found something. I reluctantly agreed and followed the girls to where ever they wanted to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Zacky's POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watched as the woman I love walked out of my sight in the crowd of people.

"Alright Zacky let's go." Matt said smiling. A few days ago when we were doing a sound check in Los Angeles, I asked Matt what he thought about me asking Blaze to marry me. Matt said if that's what I want then I should do it. We went into a jewelry store where I looked around trying to find the perfect engagement ring for Blaze. Matt pointed out a few but none of them were something that said I love you so much.

"What about this one?" Matt said pointing down to a ring through the glass display. My eyes followed to the ring he was pointing at and I smiled. The ring had 16 tiny diamonds around one large sapphire diamond.

"I think this is the one." I said smiling. Matt patted me on the back as a clerk came over to us. I asked to see the ring up close and the clerk pulled it from the display. I knew Blaze was going to like this. I purchased the ring since it was already in her size and we left the store. I just hope she'll say yes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Blaze's POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time we got back to the hotel I was ready to lay down and relax. I don't see how people walk around so much. What am I talking about? I've walked longer than this. Damn I'm getting soft. I knocked on the door to the hotel room I'm sharing with Zacky and he opened the door for me. He took the only 2 bags I had in my hand and set them down on the bed.

"Did you have fun with the girls?"

"I always do but they sure do buy a lot of shit. Oh here's your card." I said pulling it from my pocket and handing it to him.

"So what did you get?"

"Just things I needed." I said pulling the bathing siut from the bag. It was 2 peice but the bottom had skirt on it that came to the middle of my thigh.

"You going to wear that for me tonight?"

"I don't know if I will or not." I said folding it back up and putting the suit into the plastic bag. I felt Zacky's hands on my shoulders and his breath on my ear.

"Baby...I know you have scars on you from when you were a Prisoner of War. You don't have to hide them from me. I love you no matter what." I could tell by the tone of his voice that he meant it. I turned around and wrapped my arms around him and laid my head on his chest.

"I'll wear it tonight baby." I said looking up at him. He smiled at me before leaning down and kissing my lips ever so softly.

"Now we've planned on going out to eat tonight. So you need to get dressed."

"Please don't tell me it's formal." I said placing my hand on my head.

"No it's casual." he chuckled at my relieved sigh and I playfully punched him in the arm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I did get to rest for a little while but it wasn't long enough. While Zacky was changing in the room I was in the bathroom having a really difficult time getting my pants on. I lost my footing and fell right on my back with a loud thump. I looked up s the door was pulled open and Zacky helped me up.

"Are you alright baby?" he asked while looking me over.

"Yeah I'm fine. I just lost my footing." I pulled my pants up and buttoned them.

"Are you sure. That thump was pretty loud." he said and I nodded. He put his arm around me and led me over to the bed.

"Baby I'm alright."

"I just want to make sure baby. I don't want to see you in pain later." he said as he felt my legs and went up to my back.

"See I'm alright. Shouldn't we be down in the lobby meeting the others?" I stood to my feet taking his hand in mine. I've taken worse falls than that. We got on the elevator and down to the lobby where the others were sitting at the bar area. Once we met up with them we headed over to the resturant.

It was a pretty awesome restuarant. It was one of those that included dinner in with a show and it was amazing. I couldn't hardly focus on eating but somehow I managed to do both. Once dinner was over the guys all paid for it and we went back to our hotel to get some much needed relaxtion before having to get up in the morning to do some autograph signings before the sound check. I stood inside the locked bathroom looking at myself in the mirror. The 2 peice looked good on me but it would look better with a real leg and no scars. I wrapped the towel around my torso and left the bathroom. I watched as Zacky was messing around with the hot tub and I stood by watching him. He looked up and smiled at me before standing to his feet. My gaze met his and my doubts suddenly flew from me. His hands took the towel from my body as he kept his eyes on mine. I watched as he knelt down and unstrapped the prosthesis from me and lifted me off the ground. He smiled at me as he walked down into the warm water and sat down on one of the steps.

"There...that wasn't so bad now was it?" he asked smiling.

"No." he held me in his arms and I could feel his love radiating from him. Right here and now, I've finally realized what it's like to be in love.