“You okay, Alex?” Riley asked, steadying me on his arm. “I’m not letting you drive like this.”

“Fuck off, dude. I’m going to the hospital.”

“You’re not driving yourself. Here, Private Jacobs is my A-duty, he can take you in my truck.”

Riley tossed the keys to Jacobs, who looked stunned but quickly walked out to the parking lot, not saying anything to anyone. I looked around at the mass amounts of spectators who had formed around the area, my eyes landing on Dalton who looked about as sick as I was, and had been crying as much as I had, if not more. Our eyes met and he nodded, letting me know that he was right there with me. Ruiz was there as well, the same broken look I had seen in the room was still filling her face.

I waited for the EMTs to load her up in the back of the ambulance before Riley pushed me off in the direction of his truck. Once I was there, I hopped in and Jacobs took off for the base hospital, gunning it to get me there without a lag in time between our arrival and hers. I jumped out as he came to a stop, still feeling my stomach churning from my earlier thoughts, but finding enough resolve to brush past the people moseying along near the entrance. I rushed to the front desk, sweating and breathing hard, nearly scaring the nurse who stood there to help me.

“I’m here for Pfc. Cassie Bennett,” I breathed, nervously running my blood riddled hands over the back of my neck.

She stared at me for a second before typing something into the computer, then warily looked back up to me, politely saying, “She’s just being brought in. It’ll be a while.” She typed something else into the computer and then looked back at me and asked, “Are you family?”

The question froze me. I wasn’t Cassie’s family. I wasn’t anything to her. As far as everyone knew, I was just an instructor and she was just a student.

“No. I’m not.” I answered, hoping she would look beyond it and allow me to see her.

“Well I’m sorry—“ she stopped and I slid my ID card to her before continuing, “Sergeant Cruz. You’ll need to take a seat in the waiting area and we’ll let you know when the doctor has examined her, and if she can have visitors.”

I slowly turned away from the counter, feeling bogged down with overly sensitized emotions. I was certain that she was scared, hurting--emotionally and physically--and right now, all I wanted was to see her…to hold her…to console her… to just let her know that I was here and she was safe. That wasn’t going to happen, so I sat down in the first open seat I found, blowing out a heavily lodged breath, then dropping my face in my hands as I choked back a new set of tears that were threatening to spill. My phone buzzed, pulling me out of my overwhelming sadness and giving me something else to focus on.


Riley: Hey! First Sergeant O’Hara was up here. He’s speaking to EVERYONE about what happened. He’ll be at the hospital either tonight or some time tomorrow.

Me: Good shit. Did you speak to him?

Riley: Yeah! I told him exactly what happened. Nothing more, nothing less.

Me: Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

Riley: I’ll see you first thing in the morning. Go home, try and get some rest.

Me: I’m not fucking leaving. I’ll sleep in this goddamned waiting room if I have to.

Riley: Well in that case, I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I’m off duty. I’ll bring you some clothes and shit.

Me: Thanks!

Riley: No problem, brother!


I laid my head back on the seat, the pain from my hand beginning to take hold as my head filled with a throbbing ache. I didn’t care. I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.



When I woke up, the nurse from earlier was standing over me, calling my name while holding an icepack to my hand. The cold compress up against my warm and sensitized skin intensified the sting that came with the touch. I tried to focus as she asked me to please follow her, standing and stretching as the pain from my hand was now filling my body. She led me into a treatment room and asked me to sit on the examination table.

“What am I in here for?” I asked, wondering how I had somehow become the patient.

“Your hand is swollen and it needs to be looked at.”

She took her blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around my arm, then placed a thermometer in my mouth, and watched the time.

“You’re all good,” she said, unstrapping the cuff and taking the thermometer out of my mouth. “The doctor will be in to see you shortly.”

I stopped her, gently grabbing her arm as she turned to walk out of the room. She looked back to me, her eyes wide, almost sympathetic.

“Please just let me know how Pfc. Bennett is doing. I just need to see her. I need to know she’s okay.”

Her look softened. She pressed her lips together, contemplating if she should talk or not. Her compassionate side won out as she blew out a breath and began talking.

“She is going to be okay. She was battered pretty badly, but her scans showed no internal damage. She has a slight concussion, a bruised nose and cheek bone, and sprained wrists. She was lucky. It could have been much worse.”

I closed my eyes as I listened to the nurse read me what felt like a fucking laundry list of things wrong with Cassie. But after thinking about how much worse things could have been, I finally settled down, knowing that she was hurt, but that she was going to be alright.

“Can I please see her? I’m not family, but I need to see her. I’m begging you.”

She thought about it for a minute. “Let the doctor examine you, and get your x-rays because you’re going to need them. Then I’ll take you to see her.”

A smile touched my lips. I finally had a reason to feel some sort of happiness.

The doctor came in, an older gentleman with a head full of grey hair. He took one look at my hands and immediately said I had broken a knuckle, but that he wanted x-rays to confirm and pinpoint it. I didn’t argue, just followed everything they wanted to do so that I could get back to see Cassie. I wouldn’t rest until I could drink in her beautiful face.

The x-rays came back and confirmed the doctor’s suspicions. They wrapped my hand in a splint, sternly instructing me not to use it so that it would heal with time. I nodded, wanting to hurry out of there and get in the room to see Cassie. When the doctor gave me the all clear, the nurse escorted me down to her room. I looked into the door window, finding her asleep.

“Try not to wake her. She’s been through a lot,” the nurse said, finally curving her lips into something that resembled a smile.

I nodded, then pushed open the door and softly strode in, taking a seat in the chair next to her bedside. I stared at her, seeing the wrap around her tiny wrists, the bandages on her face, the IV needle in her arm. All of it stunned me. I had never seen anything short of a beautifully, robust woman whenever I looked at her. She was still all of that, only broken. I held her hand in mine, resting back in the chair and watching her breathe peacefully as she slept. There was nothing better than this at the moment.

She stirred, her eyes blinking furiously as they tried to adjust to the light. I sat up, eager to talk to her…to hear her voice…to apologize to her.

“Hey, Blondie,” I lightly greeted, smiling as she tried to focus on me. Even with her marks, she was still the most beautiful girl that I had ever fucking laid eyes on.

She smiled, then swallowed, the painful wince as she did so surprising me.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better,” she answered, finally curving her lips into a smile.

There was a pink bucket full of ice water so I filled a cup with water and helped her drink from it. She took small sips, easing it down her throat. I couldn’t help but smile at her as I realized that I was so close to losing her, losing the one thing that mattered most to me. I took her hand again, bringing it to my lips, and kissing the top ever so gently.

“I can’t even begin to apologize enough to you, Blondie. I can’t seem to stop fucking up.”

Her eyebrows scrunched. “What do you mean?”

“I was wallowing in my own selfish bullshit, and that’s why you were left alone. I should have sucked it up. I should have had you with me, and that fucking—“ my anger was beginning to flair again, “—that fucking animal would have never gotten to you.” I could feel my body temperature rising, but I tried hard to control it, not wanting to upset her.

“Shhhh…” she said, closing her eyes then reopening them. “I don’t want you blaming yourself for this. Allen is responsible for his own actions.”

“I know, but...fuck! If I’d had you with me—“

She stopped me again.

“Alex, there is no point in that. Allen did what he did, and none of us could have predicted it.”