Military Mate

Chapter 19

I collapse in Eugene's arms, crying, while he stroked my hair and held me tight.

 "I wish I could tell you I know you'll be fine, but I won't. But I will tell you this, I will be with you through every minute. This is our fight, you're not alone. Hey," he says, lifting my head. "do you want to play 20 questions?"

 We rise and start walking back towards the house. I look back, worried. "Don't worry, someone's coming for him. We'll figure it out. Now come on, we need to get you inside and warm."

 I nod, and for the first time actually look around. We are surrounded on all sides with poking pine and fluffy fern. The sky void of clouds and breeze on this perfectly horrible day. The gulls flying towards the sea, careening through the warm day on light wings. Before I realized it, we were in our room with Eugene's arms still around me. 

Lying down on the couch, Eugene looked at me, "Netflix or 20 questions, whichever you want. Either way, we're ordering pizza. I might add ice cream to the list now that I think about it. What's your favorite?" 

I roll my eyes and sit up a little. "You know, good ol' fashion Rocky Road will suit me just fine. How about you? What's your favorite?" I ask almost teasing, enjoying not thinking about my dad at the moment.

 "To be honest, and you better not tease me about it, mine is rainbow sherbet. It's really tasty. You should try some one of these days. You might change your favorite..." 

I smirk, "Never, but I will try this 'tasty' ice cream, as you call it."

 "I'll have you know, rainbow sherbet is a God sent amazing food. If you don't like it, that's on you." Eugene counters, smiling. "Now come on let's watch a movie. I'll have someone get the pizza and ice cream. What do you want to watch?"

 I gave it some thought. "Infinity War, I've heard it's good."

 "Are you sure?" I nod, what could go wrong. "OK, I warned you..." 

"But why?!" I ball between bites of pizza. "They were supposed to be together forever!" I shove more ice cream in my mouth.

"I thought that this was going to be a happy movie," I whine.

Eugene gives me a look, " Are Marvel ever happy throughout the whole movie?"

"Well, there was that one time...." I counter. "Oh wait, that was the Flintstones," I say pursing my lips. "I hate to say this, but you're right."

"Of course I'm right! I'm always right! Now, maybe some Disney will lighten the mood. What will it be? Cinderella? Or maybe The Lion King? How about Moana? Wait, bad idea.... maybe-"

"Maybe we could do something else."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I honestly forgot we had this in the house. It's been ages since I played. Oh, and fifteen-for-two." He says, moving the peg across the cribbage board. "It's almost relaxing."

"And that is exactly why I chose it. It gets my mind off things, that and punching things. This seems more productive." I sigh and put down my cards. "Fifteen-two, fifteen-four, and a pair make eight."

"Six."

"Huh?"

"A pair makes six, not eight."

"Oh right, I guess my mind's off more than the bad. Sorry." I give a shrug. "I'll figure it out."

"We both will, We'll figure it out together. Whether you like it or not, we're in this together. If not as mates, then as friends."

"I'd like that. We have been going pretty fast haven't we?" I realize.

"Yeah, I guess we have. I want this to last, so I think we should take our time. If you want we could get separate rooms again if you want." he offers, sounding sad.

"A few weeks ago I would have been all for that, but right now I think it would be smarter to stay right where we are. Besides, I don't think I could sleep without your insanely loud snoring, it's almost like music to me. OK, now I sound insane."

I stand up and start pacing, running my hands through my hair. I keep doing this, getting more stressed as I went on. I was heading to the point where punching something seemed necessary when Eugene got in front of me.

"I need you to stop, take a breath. Look at me, my eyes." I do as he says, "I want to help. We all need someone for these times. I may not have been your top pick, but that doesn't matter. How about this? We shift and I show you our old secret spot. Sound good?" I nod. " Good, now let's go pack. We're going to stay there till you have most of your brain back. I'll help."