Strawberry Red

Chapter 7 Buck

Buck and Bucky were driving towards the plane in complete silence. The weight of the upcoming mission was laying between the unspoken words. In a strange way Buck didn't feel nervous at all. He had faith in his crew. It gave him enough hope to go up there and get the job done. He also had a strong motivation now because he promised Ruby to come back. And he intended to keep that promise. Something about Ruby made him want to get to know her and spend time with her. He didn't know exactly what, but he was fascinated by her.

They reached the plane and Buck sprung over the car's side. He grabbed his bag and headed over to the plane. Bucky walked with him over to his crew which was standing next t the plane.

"Major Cleven is going to fly with us today," announced Curt to his crew. "Any words of motivation?"

"Let's rock them up and knock them down," said Buck with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, let's get up there and drop some bombs on those Nazi fucks!" agreed Biddick and laughed. The whole crew cheered and started to make their way inside the fort.

"Good luck, Buck. See you later," wished Bucky before he turned around to leave.

"Thanks." Buck followed his crew and made his way into the fort. He passed by the navigator and the bombardier on the way to the cockpit.

"You saved my seat." Buck was standing in the doorway to the cockpit.

"Yeah, I thought I'd rather offer it to you than have you sit on my lap until I moved," replied Biddick. Buck nodded and sat down. They began the preflight check to make sure everything that was as it should be. Slowly all the planes lined up and rolled onto the runway. One after one took of, and eventually it was Buck and Biddick's turn.

The crew spent the whole flight to Norway in complete silence. Sometimes the navigator mumbled prayers. But apart from that the crew was dead silent. Buck was grateful for the silence. He felt at peace being in the air. He truly found his passion in flying. It came easy to him and felt natural. His thoughts wandered to the mysterious Ruby a lot during the flight. He often had to force himself to keep a clear head for the unknown and up-coming dangers. Just as his thoughts were starting to trail off to the red head, he saw flak appearing in the sky.

"Here we go, flak incoming. Hold on, boys," warned Buck the crew. The flak started to shoot up in the sky and exploded leaving small clouds of smoke. More and more bullets came flying towards them, trying to shoot them out of the air.

"Ball to crew, flak incoming 11 o'clock." Heard Buck over the radio. "Flak 10 o'clock. Flak 4 o'clock. Flak everywhere."

"Navigator, what's the ETA for our target?", asked Buck as the flak shot up more concentrated. With every shot that hit the metal, the whole fort shook.

"About eleven minutes," replied the navigator.

"Rodger."

"Eleven minutes?" asked Biddick and Buck nodded. They continued to fly through the flak. The whole plane was shaking, and it seemed like the world around them exploded. It also felt like the world slowed down around them. The eleven minutes to the target felt like hours of being shot at. Buck's heart was pounding in his chest as they flew further. He felt helpless because he couldn't do anything more than just sit in the cockpit and keep the plane steady.

"Flak stopped. You know what that means, boys," informed Buck over the radio. In the back the gunners went to their guns and loaded them. Seconds later the first round of fighter planes appeared. From everywhere shots were being fired.

Buck felt helpless watching other crews getting shot down and going up in flames. It felt like a nightmare sitting there and he couldn't escape it. He just had to embrace it and take whatever was thrown his way. The flak had been bad, but the fighter planes were bad in a whole other dimension. Buck felt like they were exposed in every direction. It was pure luck to not get shot down.

"Uncle, Fox, X-Ray," said Colonel Huglin over the radio. "I repeat Uncle, Fox, X-Ray."

Buck could see from the corner of his eyes that Biddick was looking at him waiting for an explanation on why they weren't dropping any bombs.

"Damnit CO is scrubbing," explained Buck annoyed. "Pilot to crew: Mission scrubbed."

The cloud cover was really heavy, so Colonel decided to abort the mission without dropping any bombs. The mission would cost them many men and they didn't even do any damage. It was a useless mission. They flew over for nothing and those men died for nothing. The flak started again after the fighters disappeared and continued until they were finally over water again on their way back to base.

"Can someone get me out? There's a hole and I'm freezing to death," pleaded the ball gunner.

"Get him out and warm him up," demanded Buck over the radio. They had a few moments of peace until they had to land and go to interrogation. Buck didn't even know where to start and how to talk about what just happened.

They landed early in the afternoon. The ground crews were anxiously waiting for them and ready to help in anyway. Buck pulled up into the parking spot. He stayed in the cockpit and just sat there watching the scene unfold in front of him. Two of his crew were screaming in antagonising pain as they were being pulled out of the plane by red cross volunteers. He saw Ruby tending to his ball gunner. Her presence was calming and steady. She smiled at the gunner and told him he'd be fine; they'd take care of him now. Then seconds later she was called over to Colonel Huglin who was laying passed out on the runway. Blood covered his chin.

Buck finally had enough of watching the chaos on base and left the cockpit. He rested in the back of the plane looking through the many bullet-holes the Germans had put there. Around him were laying many bullets, papers, and stuff of the crews. It was a mess. But his head was an even bigger mess. Thoughts were spinning around finding no end. He sat there for a while enjoying the quietness.

"Are you hurt?", asked a female voice. Buck looked up and saw Ruby standing in the belly of the plane with him.

"No, I'm fine," was all Buck could say. She was right, it was damn rough to be up there.

"It's okay to struggle. Even the best pilots struggle." Ruby sat down next to him. "My father always struggled after missions even if he didn't want to admit it. He tried to play it cool to not trouble us too much. But I could see it in his eyes, the guilt and terror."

"It was horrible like you had warned. I just don't if I can go up there again knowing it will end in a disaster," confessed Buck.

"One day at a time. Today was a tough mission to start with. Just don't lose hope."

Silence fell over the two. For both it was a moment to breath and rest before they had to return to the chaos on base. Buck would eventually have to show up for interrogation. He would have to talk about this mess, which he didn't feel ready to do. And Ruby had to return to the hospital and help with the countless patients. It wasn't that they didn't enjoy their jobs but sometimes it felt overwhelming, and this break brought normality and quietness into their busy and noisy lives.

"Buck, where are you?", shouted Bucky for him and cut their break short. "Buck!"

"I guess I better go out there," said Buck and stood up. He held out his hand for Ruby to take and together they climbed out of the plane.

"There you are," said Bucky and looked at them with bewilderment. "Had a good time?"

"Not now, Bucky," whispered Ruby and walked past him. Buck watched as she left the runway with a couple of other nurses.

"Why didn't you tell me it was like that?" asked Buck when they were finally seated in the car and on the way to interrogation.

"I didn't know what to say," answered Bucky honestly. "You've seen it now."

"We've got a long road ahead of us," says Buck and leaned back into his seat.

A/N: How do you like the development of Ruby and Buck's relationship so far?