Die for You

Chapter 66

I was woken from my sleep, not by a nightmare this time, but by the ringing of my phone; the incessant noise causing me to mutter and swear as I blinked through sleep filled eyes to find out who was calling; only to see it was from a blocked number.

"Hello?" I croaked, jerking awake at the familiar voice that came out of the earpiece.

"Blondie, how the fuck are you?" James said with a grin in his voice, "and more importantly where the fuck are you?"

"I'm on holiday, boss" I replied, slightly confused, "I'm supposed to be getting away from it all for a few days, having some time on my own, remember?"

"I know that, my friend," he drawled back, seemingly unconcerned at disturbing me at stupid o'clock on my day off, "but I wanted to let you know that I'm back in country if you wanted to come visit JJ with me."

"How is the LT, boss?" I asked, my stomach clenching at the thought of him being in hospital.

"He's doing good," he replied brightly, "isn't out of the woods by a long shot, and he still can't walk; but he's stable and conscious and the dumb fucker keeps insisting he's wiggling his toes at us."

"I take it he isn't then," I replied feeling a bit sick.

"Between me and you, Blondie, there's a tiny bit of movement... but I'm figuring that if I tell him there isn't he'll keep on fighting to move the fuckers and that's got to be a good thing."

"That's good," I replied flatly. A bit of movement was better than none, but I couldn't help but think that he should still be walking, not lying in a hospital bed attempting to move his fucking toes. 

He'd survived I don't know how many tours of duty while he was in the CPU, seen action several times with me along the way too. It had been my job to keep him safe back then, in Iraq, and it should have been part of my job this time too.

"More than good, Blondie, it's fucking awesome. So when are you coming to see him then? He's been asking after you since before we left Baghdad."

"I don't think that's a good idea, boss, not right now anyway..."

"Well, I do Freen, call it an order if you like; JJ wants to see you and so do I, I'm going to mail you the address of the hospital he's in and I expect to see you... soon."

"But..."

"But nothing, come on, Freen. Bonnie's told me what's been going on while I've been away and I understand, but it's time to come home, my friend."

"I am home, James," I told him, "I'm in Cheltenham right now, and that's a long way from London."

"Well get your butt back here as soon as you can then, don't forget you've got to be back at work Monday morning and I want you on your A-Game again."

"Yeah, we need to talk about that, boss," I ventured, waiting for the explosion but getting only a sigh.

"Yeah, that I do know, Blondie, and I sure as hell ain't having that conversation over the phone... look, I've just sent you the address of my place; get yourself here and bring whatever things you're carrying with you... I've got a washing machine around here somewhere and I daresay you need one. Just get over here," James added quietly. "If you're where you say you are, I'm pretty sure you can be here by lunchtime. No hard times, I promise you; from either of us. JJ wants to see you mate, he wants to say thanks face to face."

"We'll see," I said reluctantly, already wondering what excuse I could come up with. "I still have some things to do here you know, then I have to find myself somewhere to rent."