In the Arms of an Angel

"Right this way Ma'am." Manuel tipped his hat and followed her as they walked to the barn. As they got closer, they saw the Veterinarian intern standing there with a lunch box in her hands.

"You can eat your lunch with the others' Maria." Maggie said wondering why she was standing there like a moon struck idiot.

"Oh, it's not for me. Miss Wilma said to bring this to the new guy. I've tried to get his attention, but he hasn't stopped yet." Her eyes followed every move of the man in the barn.

"We'll take it." Manuel smiled, ignoring the sigh and look.

Maggie just shook her head. "She needs to go see her boyfriend soon. I think she's getting man crazy...." She stopped as John climbed a stack without his shirt. He made it look so easy and those muscles. She was a woman, and well, John was all man.

Manuel smiled as he put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly. "Break time John!" He called out over the noise of the loader and held up the lunch box. John nodded and stopped what he was doing.

Maggie looked on, unable to close her eyes, as he jumped from stack to stack until he hit the floor. She was used to looking down at men, but for once she actually had to look up to meet his eyes as he approached. She saw the scars, but they didn't detract for his overall pure maleness. If he was breeding stock, he would be one prime stud.

"Hey boss... I've got only about a third done. I went every five bales. There is a lot of just surface mold and only a few with mold all the way through. I figured you can make the final yes or no, but why waste it if you don't have to. The surface mold will die in the dry sun and air. Ma'am" He acknowledged Maggie with a nod and a quick look.

John knew if he didn't want to make a fool of himself, he needed to focus on Manuel. If he took the time to look at Maggie, he'd be lost. She was better looking up close than from a distance.

Manuel saw the way he refused to look at Maggie and how Maggie was shuffling her feet. He smiled knowing if he let these two alone, it would be spontaneous combustion. But he also knew not yet. They needed to simmer a bit before they would throw caution to the wind. Then, maybe Maggie could settle down and start having the heard of kids he thought she needed.

"Well, take thirty and have some lunch. They didn't build Rome in a day." He handed John the box.

"Who is Wilma anyway, she's one fine cook." John said looking into his lunch.

"Wilma is Manny's wife." Maggie said and grinned as John's head popped up and looked at her friend.

"She cooks like this and you're still so skinny. Imagine that. Mike could out eat three of us and he was a shrimp too." He smiled and walked over to a short stack and started eating.

"We'll see you at supper." Maggie waved and turned away before she could start drooling. "He knows he isn't expected to work doesn't he." She asked in a quiet voice.

"Are you going to tell him not to work? He might even be able to keep up with you." Manny smiled at his internal double meaning "Not bad to look at either if you look past the scars."

"No and NO...! Go fire that idiot and bill him for ten tons of hay. I've got work to do." Maggie stomped off, knowing Manny was laughing at her.

***************************************

So set their schedule for the next month. Maggie would wake up fifteen minutes earlier to watch him take his laps, try and avoid him as he outworked everyone there but her, and act like she wasn't looking at him during supper.

That all changed one hot, dry, night at two o'clock in the morning. She heard the screaming and it woke her out of a nice dream. She ran to her window and looked out. In the middle of her yard stood John, but it wasn't the John she knew. He was screaming and yelling. She grabbed her robe and headed to the front door.

"Get down; get the fuck down... incoming. God damn it Taz, watch your back. I'm coming. No you don't, mother fucker." John was lost in his past. To him he was in the middle of a firefight in the desert again. He ran and jumped, not caring he was only in his boxers. "Tony, Billy, watch the flank. Taz stay clear. Grenade...!"

Maggie went out to get him, but was stopped by Manny and Wilma. "Don't, he might hurt you. He isn't here right now." Manny said with tears in his eyes. "I know where he's at, maybe now I'll really know how Michael died."

"Medic...! I need a fucking medic. God damn it Taz, I told you to watch your back. Die you fucker!" There was an evil glint in his eye as he pulled a trigger that wasn't there. "I got him buddy you just fucking hold on. We got them all! Don't you fucking die on me. You can't die. Mike, you stay right here, you hear me Taz. I need a fucking medic." John was trying to hold in the blood of a man, dead over a year.

Maggie couldn't stand it. She could feel his pain. She didn't care. She ran out and tackled the hysterical man. "I've got you John.... I'm right here... John, JOHN!" She shook him as he fought his demons.

"I need a medic... I need, don't die. Take me... just take me...."He was crying and holding on to Maggie.

"I'm here John, I'm right here." She rocked him as the tremors got weaker.

"Let's get him back into the...." Wilma started saying.

"No, the house... we'll take him to the house. I don't want him alone right now." Maggie ordered.

It took all of them to get the big man into the house. Maggie pulled the cushions off the long couch and laid him down. "Grab some blankets." She told them when John wouldn't let her go.

"Just take me... I don't want.... just take me instead." He was still talking in his sleep.

"I'm right here. I've got you John. Just sleep. I've got you." Maggie kept repeating as she rocked and stroked his hair.

"You've got... me. You've got... angel eyes." John sighed and slumped against her breasts.

Just for a second, Maggie thought he was looking at her. She thought he was seeing her. She has heard many comments about her grey eyes, but no one ever called them angel eyes. She hoped he wouldn't remember. She hoped he could forget the terror that haunted him, even though she knew she never would.

The next morning, John woke up at his usual time. It didn't bother him that he was on a lumpy floor. He had slept in worse places. He turned as saw Maggie laying there in her robe. He noticed that one breast was exposed from her open robe and twisted nightgown. He realized he was in her living room. He covered he eyes with one hand and rubbed hard.

'Shit, I must have had a bad night.' He thought as he noticed the mud smears on his legs and feet. Sighing, he softly pulled her robe up to cover her, and quietly walked out of the house. He wondered if it was time to cut and run or if he should suck it up and face the consequences. He was never any good at running away, so he went to the bunk house and got ready for the day.

Maggie felt him cover her up, but kept her eyes closed. She heard him move and wanted to call him back. She was watching him as he stood in her dooryard and made up his mind. She had tears in her eyes, realizing just how strong John was just to live with the pain he felt every day. She wondered how many of these nights he had had to live through.

**************************************

"How is he doing?" Maggie asked a week later.

"If he works any harder he'll kill himself. Sometimes I think that is what he wants." Manny said sadly.

"Any more bad nights?" She asked concerned. John had stopped coming to supper and she was starting to get worried.

"Just the one and some yelling in his bed. Wilma thinks he is close to some kind of break or breakthrough. She spends most her time on the computer looking things up." He shrugged.

"He calls you boss all the time. Just make sure he comes to supper. Tie him down if you have to. He'll take it from you." She sighed and walked away. She got three steps.

"Manny, Maggie come quick." Wilma shouted.

"What's wrong?" They started running.

"The hay barn... John is in the hay barn." She pointed. Halfway there they heard John yelling.

"Come on you son of bitches... come get some. Mother fucking rag heads; Come fight like a man. Come on; you fucking cowards. You'll pay for this shit. COME ON...!"

"I think he fell asleep while eating his lunch." Wilma said her eyes wide. "They say that sleep can trigger one of these flashbacks. That and any kind of stress. John has been working so hard." They all had come to respect the quiet efficient man.

"You think that hurt. Well fuck you in the ass." They saw him on top of the hay stack, shirtless and wiping his arm across his scar. "I'll show you some fucking hurt, you stupid camel fucker." Maggie almost froze. She knew one wrong step and John would fall thirty feet to the concrete floor. Some reason she remembered his last time and shouted.

"John get down... incoming!" She watched him and saw his instant reaction.

"In coming... get down... everybody get the fuck down! In coming...!" He took horrific leaps as he bound down the stacks. "Billy, get that Ma-duce up and running, we'll show these fucking bastards. Tony... call it in... come on damn it, come get some."

Maggie was waiting. She knew it was going to hurt. She was ready for him as soon as his feet touch the ground, she tackled him again. "I've got you.... It's okay John, I've got you." She yelled as he tried to strike at her. John's eyes went unfocused for a second as Maggie's voice started to penetrate the fog of his brain.

"I've got... you're okay. I've got you." She repeated and rocked him like a baby. He shook his head and looked at her blankly.

"Angel eyes... you've come for me... just take me instead." He said with a blank look on his face.

"I've got you... you are okay. I've got you... sleep... go to sleep, I've got you." She kissed his brow and rocked him until his body went lax. She stroked his face as tears clouded her eyes. She felt him slip into sleep and then back to wakefulness.

"What...?" He asked wondered why he was in the hay barn.

"Shhhh, I've got you." Maggie was still stroking him. The words reverberated in his head. He looked up and those eyes were looking down at him.

"I know you." He said his brow wrinkling. "I know those eyes... those Angel Eyes.... Maggie...!" He tried to sit up.

"No you don't, you just lay here. You're exhausted. You're taking the afternoon off, if I have to hold you down to do it." She told him and pushed him back down to prove she meant business.

"Yes Ma'am..." he sighed, "how bad was it this time?" He asked afraid that he might have hurt her. He didn't think he could stand it, if he hurt her.

"Not as bad as the other night, but you still scared the shit out of me." She smiled at him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Depends... I really don't remember much afterwards. You'd have to tell me what I was doing...." He shrugged noncommittally.

"I'll tell you what. I have to go to the pond and clean out the filter. Meet me at the truck in ten minutes. We can talk about it and get something done at the same time." She helped him up and dusted him off.

John changed into some shorts under his pants and waited. He knew he couldn't keep doing this. He didn't even know why he was doing this. All he knew is that Maggie and the rest, just like his parents, wouldn't have patients for putting up with it for too long.

Manny watched as they headed down to the big pond that fed the farm's backup water system. "I hope she knows what she's doing." He said to himself.

"She is the only one who has been able to get through to him. What she did, shouldn't have worked, but it did. Some of the things he says, point to survivors guilt, some just call it all PTSD. He needs a release. You said yourself there is heat between them. Maybe she is his release valve. I just hope she doesn't get hurt when he runs."

"Why would he run?" Manny didn't understand. John wasn't the running kind. He was a stand there and gets the shit kicked out of you, fighter kind.

"He will if he thinks it is to protect her. If he falls in love with her, he will run to protect her from his evil." She touched her husband. "PTSD doesn't make sense, but they have done quite a bit a research recently. Retuning vets have an eighty five percent divorce rate. The highest group known. Most say they are doing it to protect their family, once you can get them into counseling." She tried to warn her husband.

"John is a good man; he will do what is right." Manny was sure of John. John wasn't a coward.

"He will do what he thinks is right to him. He rather be dead than hurt the ones he loves. They think that is why the suicide rate is climbing for vets too." She warned Manny.

"I'm betting on Maggie. She'll take care of him." Wilma just nodded her head because she knew how stubborn her husband could be.

***********************************

"Who are Billy, Mike, Taz and Tony?" Maggie asked as she drove.

"Taz and Mike are the same, he was Manny's brother. Taz was for Tasmanian devil. Billie was the M60 or 50 cal gunner, Tony was the radio man." John looked out the window.

"How long were you over there?" Maggie though if she could ask the easy questions, he might not balk at the harder ones.

"I was in country seventeen months, two weeks, five days, and nine hours." He shrugged. "I have it calculated down to the minutes and seconds, but that just irritates most people."

"I can see why you did it though." She looked at the road and knew this was going to be a hard one. "What was Michael like?"

"Mike... he was a short, foul mouth, pain in my ass, trouble maker, that drove me crazy. He was also my best friend." John smiled. "His mouth used to get him in so much trouble, but he figured it was my job to get him out of it. We had some great times." He smiled fondly at the memories.

"How did he die?" She knew she was close to the wound.

"We were in a firefight. Some idiot made a bad throw with a grenade. He jumped on it to save all of us. Stupid fucker; I was just about ready to boot it out of the way when he jumped on it. We were taking fire so I couldn't get to him in time."

"What happened after?" She could hear the pain and anguish in his voice.

"We went after the bastards that did it. Fucking chicken shit assholes. They hide in villages since they knew we try and not harm innocent civilians." He face went tight and his eyes flat and lifeless.

"That's when you got your scar?" She knew it. She just lived it less than an hour ago.

"Yeah, Mr. Taliban asshole couldn't shoot straight." He sighed. "I take it this was what I thought was happening back there?"

"Parts of it. Here we are." She pulled up to the far side where she knew she could have some privacy. She knew she was tempting the devil, but the man she saw, was worth it. She pulled out the towels and the bar of soap.

She knew by the time they were done, they'd need to clean up in the creek that ran out of the pond. She also pulled out the blanket and the two boxed dinners she picked up from the kitchen. She started pulling off her clothes. This was going to be the interesting part. She didn't bring a suit, other than the one she was born with.

John politely turned his head as he stripped down to his shorts. He caught glimpses of her as she stripped. He had a raging hard-on by the time he was ready to look at her. He was shocked that she stood completely naked in front of him.

"What are...? Ahhhhh um errrr." He stammered as he took in her naked form.

"You might want to lose those shorts. They'll be ruined by the muck on the bottom of the pond, by the time we're done." She walked out into the water, bringing up her arms to cover her hard nipples as the cold water hit her crotch. "Come on, daylight is burning and this is going to take some time."

John thought of all the maximum effective ranges of every weapon he ever used. He thought of the stock market and the national debt. He thought of anything to try and get his dick to go down. When he got it at least half way, he pulled down his shorts and quick stepped it into the water.

Maggie smiled as she saw him. She knew instantly she couldn't call him a pencil dick. Either that or he had one big pencil. She turned and started looking for the pipe in the water with her feet.

John was glad for the cold water. It let him get a little bit of control. Not much, but a little anyway.

"What are we looking for?" He asked not able to take his eyes off hers, or what control he had would disappear like a kite in a thunder storm. After awhile, they got busy with the chore, and tried not to think of the naked person standing there.

It took them over an hour to pull up the clogged filter and replace it. They were head to toe muck by the time they let it drift down to the bottom again. Maggie didn't even try and rinse off in the pond. She just grabbed the soap and headed for the stream.

"Come on, we don't want it to suck in the muck and reclog. We can clean up over here." She said and walked behind a screen of foliage. "Come scrub my back, and I'll do yours."

He walked around the bush and saw her bend over, opening a water valve. Nothing could stop him from getting hard as he saw a peek of her pink sex pouting at him. Part of his mind screamed at him to burry himself into that waiting cleft.

"The soap is over there." She pointed trying not to look down at the eight inch pole sticking out in front of him. She turned her back and waited. "You can scrub harder. I'm not going to break." She said over her shoulder as he stood back softly rubbing the soap on her back. She mewled in pleasure as he increased the pressure and went from top down. She was biting her lip when he didn't stop at her back and had his hands full of her butt cheeks.

John was in a haze of lust as he scrubbed Maggie. His cock couldn't get any harder. He didn't want to stop when she said "My turn" and took the soap form him. He stood under the small spray as she cleaned his back. He wanted something to hold onto as she cleaned his ass. He closed his eyes as she cleaned the rest. His eyes flashed open when she started cleaning the front.

Maggie wanted nothing more than to lie down and let John fuck her silly. She knew he was just the man to do it. But she also knew with his wide streak of nobility, he wouldn't make the first move. That was up to her. She kneeled down and started on his legs. She moved around and couldn't ignore the bobbing phallus in front of her eyes. The head was purple and throbbing.

She dropped the soap when she reached his balls. She stroked him and saw his legs flex. She let the water rinse him off and then leaned forward. She wasted no time as the heavy glad passed her lips and sat on her tongue.

She locked herself around him and sucked him in as far as she could take him. She felt him grab for her head. She knew this wasn't going to last that long, but he needed to shoot in the worst way.

"OH GOD...!" He exclaimed as his first rope of cum shot out of him and into the back of her throat. She sucked and flicked her tongue over the tip as she tasted him for the first time.

She knew if she did this right, he wouldn't go soft. As the last big surge left him, she reduced her suction as just let his cock slide in and out of her mouth. She was able to take him all the way in. Then he started hardening again. When he was hard again, she stood up and told him.

"I'm not some fragile china doll, I won't break." She looked at him and waited for his reaction.

John's head was still roaring from his first orgasm in over a year. He had hoped she didn't mind that he didn't have time to warn her. When she stood up and told she wouldn't break, he picked her up and looked for a softer spot to lay her down on.

Holding her up brought those fabulous tits into his reach as his mouth found a hard nipple as he walked to the sandy part of the pond. He set her down, never letting go of her nipple. He licked and kissed every inch he could get into his mouth as she started moaning. He switched to the other one when she begged.