Storm Of Pain

chapter 9

Joshua P.O.V

"Jennifer?" We approached her carefully and slowly, not knowing what she'll do or how she'll react. Noah was right, she looked so broken, in the few weeks that I've known her, she was a strong-headed stubborn woman that stood for what she believed in,

"Just get out..." she barely whispered and got up taking the vodka bottle with her. She took another swig and glared at us, "I said get the hell out! I don't want you in my room!"

"Jennifer, give me the bottle," I asked and made my way over to her, "No! Don't you dare touch my stuff! No! Let me go! Give me that back!" She yelled at me as I grabbed onto her and took the bottle, passing it to Calleb, "Jennifer what's wrong?"

"Nothing, everything if bloody peachy!"

"What did we say about being honest-"

"Yeah what did we say about that? But what do I know? I'm just 'a waste of time' as you put it. So please, don't go waste any more of your oh so precious time on me!"

"Jennifer that's enough. You're drunk, you need to sleep,"

"What I need is my brother!"

"What? Your brother?"

"I just need-I want-I need him!" She cried and wobbled on her feet. Catching her I slid down the wall with her in my arms, Calleb sitting next to us,

"Why don't you-"

"Call him? Don't you think I would if I could!?"

"What do you mean?"

She was quiet, letting out small sobs while she clutched onto my shirt, "The General... I know he told you bits of what happened, b-but he doesn't know all of it... no one does. I-I'm the only one..." She hiccupped, "I told them I didn't remember, that I didn't know what happened, at first it was true, b-b-but I remember it all. It-it was so bad,"

"What happened, Jennifer?"

"We w-were ambushed. Someone leaked our location to save his own ass. When the bombs came, half my team were killed instantly and the other had severe injuries. We were ordered to go up anyway to try and shoot them down. W-We were managing and we were coping. My brother flew with me, kept talking to me, warned me when I didn't see something. But w-when I shot down one of their j-jets, Neither of us s-saw the offender charging at us on the right, b-but when we s-saw it, we were too late.

"They shot our engines, we barely had enough time to eject ourselves. I landed in a bush near base, but m-my brother-I never-we never... they never found him. My-my team weren't the ones to find me first, they-they had to extract me with a rescue team that was sent weeks after I was taken."

"Taken?"

"Everyone thinks I lost my arm when I ejected from the jet, I didn't. The torture I went through, what they did to me. I remember everything, how it felt, how disgusted I w-was. You might think I'm being stupid, but seeing your entire team getting blown up in front of you and losing your brother can do a hell of a lot to a person. I still can't close my eyes without seeing the explosions..." Jennifer started sobbing again and I just wrapped my arms tighter around her.

"Jennifer, did you tell anyone else this?"

"N-No... I couldn't..."

"Jen, have you considered that you might have PTSD?"

"PTSD? N-No..."

"Come on, you need some sleep, we'll talk in the morning when you're feeling better,"

"N-N-No. I'm not sleeping. I haven't needed more than a few hours in days, I'll be f-fine."

"A few hours?"

"I don't sleep, I told you that,"

"I tell you what, how about we take the rest of the day off, Calleb and I were only supposed to do fitness with you today, but your fitness is fine according to me, how about you Calleb?" I asked him with a pointed look. He just shrugged and stood up, "Fine with me. Let's watch a movie, we haven't watched one in ages,"

"You up for that, Jen?"'

I don't know what the hell came over me with the nickname I've given her, but it suits her in a way. Picking her feather-like body up, Calleb and I made our way to the living room and put the movie "X-Men" on. Calleb and I haven't watched it yet and we've been meaning to, so this was the perfect opportunity for us. Laying Jennifer on the couch with her head in my lap, I started playing with her silky soft hair just like I would with my sister when we watched movies.

I missed that little up-to-no-good girl more than anyone could think, and oh my word, don't get me started on my mom's home-cooked meals, those are to die for. My family has always been close, although my dad usually wasn't home, he worked his ass off to support my mom and sister and whatever their hearts desired, so he was in his office the majority of the time or in court. Him being a lawyer has saved my troublesome ass a hell of a lot of times when I was a teenager, it's because of him that I joined the military, I wanted to show him that I wasn't some screwed up knucklehead that wasn't worth anything, that he and my mom did raise me right, that I had a sense of responsibility.

Jennifer stirred in my lap while I ran my hands through her hair, her breathing evening out as she fell asleep, snuggling closer to the heat my body provided her. Staring down at the girl I wouldn't have been able to tell you that she's been through hell, but when she took her shirt off, you would see the angry scars and the robotic arm definitely grabbing your attention. You would only know what it was from if she told you she was deployed, even though some men don't get those amount of scars over a lifetime of being in the army. Mentally she was strong, but it was obvious she was breaking inside with the loss of her team and her brother, it's no wonder why she doesn't want her other siblings staying with her father.

The hazel-eyed beauty has been through a lot more than Calleb and me, and I can tell that she hasn't even touched the tip of the ice burg when she told us about her deployment. She heard our conversation with the General when Calleb said people are saying she's a waste of time, but Jennifer is worth every second. She saved our General's life and a hundred more than she probably realizes, it was this moment when I realized I would do anything to help her. She wasn't going to suffer through anything else if I could help it, I would spend extra hours with her if it meant she would be able to fly again.

"You know we're going to have to tell General right?"

"Yeah, I know. But you realize that we're also going to ask him to help find her brother, and maybe help her fly now and again,"

"I do. And I totally agree, no one deserves to lose a sibling that way and not know if they're actually gone or not."

"Then it's settled, we're going to General tomorrow first thing, I'll ask Noah if we can use the simulator more often and longer hours,"