A Promise Kept Ch. 03

"I'm doing really well so; thank you for asking," I proudly replied, gently patting him on the shoulder. Then I impishly grinned, and said, "Oh, and by the way, her name is Natalie, Lady Natalie Wickham."

"I'll be damned," he knowingly grinned, "That's the same girl who's life you saved when we were in Malibu that day, isn't it?"

"That would be her," I again proudly smiled, "I've even been dubbed, Knight-Companion to her family."

"Well, well," Danny teased, "Isn't that just convenient?"

"Shut up," I laughed, "It isn't like that at all...and even if it were, I still have a little less than seven years left to go on my enlistment before I could even consider it."

"Damn, Mikey," Danny grinned, "It sounds to me like you wouldn't have any trouble whatsoever in deciding what to do, were that situation liable to come about."

"I don't know," I chuckled, "Maybe..."

~~~~~~

SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND TWO WEEKS LATER 2100 HOURS

"Alright, gentlemen," Admiral White told, a strained look on his face, "The American Ambassador to Argentina and his whole family have been taken hostage by a Nazi War Criminal that the American Ambassador managed to expose. His name is Eric Eisinger and he says that he wants ten million American Dollars and a fully-fueled Seven-Twenty-Seven Aircraft, with two pilots, waiting for him in the main runway of the Ministro Pistarini International Airport in Buenos Aires. He says that if he doesn't have it by seven o'clock tomorrow evening, he's going to start killing The Ambassador's family members one at a time until he gets what he wants."

"This one is mine," I seriously replied, "I'm the smallest man on the team, and I can get in and out of that aircraft quickly." Then I looked at Danny and asked, "Did I, or did I not have the highest score in the class when we did plane assaults in training...and there's only one man, correct?"

"We're not certain," Admiral White replied, "But we've seen nothing to indicate that he has help, either."

"Where is he holding the hostages?" I asked, "I can go in there in no time and..."

"Oh, no," Danny told me, in no uncertain terms, "You're not going in there without me, and that's an order, Masterchief," he had me there so; I was forced to comply, watching him victoriously laugh...

~~~~~~

"Alright," I said, after we'd landed into Argentina, and had taken our bearing, "I'll get the MX 20/20 set up while you check our weapons."

"Aye, aye, sir," I quietly teased, "I'll do as I'm told, Lieutenant."

"You can whine about this all you want to," he chuckled, "But I wasn't going to let you even think about dropping in here all alone so; deal with it."

"Yes, sir, Lieutenant," I continued teasing him, using an old southern accent, "I live to serve, Lieutenant, Reed, sir..."

~~~~~~

LOS ANGELES CLASS ATTACK SUBMARINE, THE USS BONEFISH TWELVE MILES OF THE COAST OF BUENOS AIRES PROVINCE 0430 HOURS

"Good luck, you two," Commander Nick Hawkins, Commanding Officer of the USS Bonefish, grinned, "I still think you SEALs are nuts."

"Hoo-yah," I laughed, "That's why girls don't do this kind of work, sir."

"Get out of here," Hawkins chuckled, "Ya bums..."

~~~~~~

Danny and I were swiftly being taken ashore in a motorized, smaller type of "Zodiac" style boat know as an IBS. It was primarily used by the C.I.A. operatives, or, in this case, one or two-man SEAL teams. It carried not only the MX 20/20, but also our weapons, and survival gear; in the event that we couldn't be extracted without exposing ourselves, and had to basically "spend the night".

~~~~~~

After we'd established communications we and remembering the satellite photos that we'd been given privy to, we made our way to the location where the Ambassador and his family were being held.

The reason that we knew his location was because of the tracking chip that had been implanted under his skin, just like all Diplomatic, as well as high executive United States government officials are required by law to wear...

~~~~~~

After silently moving for through the Argentinean Jungle for about forty minutes, we came on a house in a clearing that had roughly three hundred meters of clear killing ground surrounding it, with jungle on all sides. And from the antennae that we saw, as well as two satellite dishes, as well as a single, oscillating radar dish; It appeared that our adversary had more than several means of communication available, not to mention, ground to air radar. That also meant that he had to have had more than a couple of SAM (portable Surface to Air Missile, and launcher) sites somewhere nearby.

"So, what's your plan of attack, Genius?" Danny whispered, widely grinning, "Aren't you glad that I came along now?"

"Yeah, yeah," I laughed, moving down the tree line with my sniper rifle, a Winchester .308 with a 20x Powered Unertyl Scope, complete with an exact yardage, targeting laser, "I'm going to see what I can see..."

~~~~~~

I'd already seen pictures of this clown during our briefing so; when I saw him appear in one of the windows of the building that he was holding the Ambassador and his family in, I went ahead and took the shot, smiling, as through the scope, I watched his head explode right before my eyes.

~~~~~~

Three minutes later the Ambassador and his family were loading through the back door of the chopper, when shots suddenly rang out of the woods from our two o'clock.

Danny wasted no time throwing a hand grenade in the direction the gun fire had come from. Then he began laughing as he saw two men running from the grenade, unfortunately coming out into the open, meeting their fates as they were cut down by the M-60 that belonged to one of the chopper gunners.

"Oh, man, damn," I said, when I realized that I'd been hit in the left shoulder, "Son of a bitch..."

~~~~~~

THE HOSPITAL SHIP REPOSE SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN NINETY MINUTES LATER

"Well, it looks like they got the bullet out with no problem," Danny smiled, when I woke up from surgery, "I've talked to Admiral White and he said that you haven't bee home since you were in the Navy so; it looks like you're on thirty days leave the minute we get back...oh," he laughed, tossing me a small box, "Here!"

"Aw man, come on, Danny," I complained, opening the box to find a Purple Heart Medal, as well as the service ribbon inside, "Can I refuse this?"

"Go right ahead," he glared, "But that'll be the end of our friendship if you do."

"I'm sorry," I regretfully told him, "You're right...and I'm wrong."

"Yeah, you are," he smiled, taking the box from me and gently setting it on the table beside my bed, "Did you know that the U.S. government handed out almost half a million Purple Hearts during the Vietnam War alone."

"Shit," I gasped, "That's a lot...too many."

"I know," he said, "And almost half of those were rewarded post-humously, too."

~~~~~~

SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA THE NEXT MORNING

"Danny stood with me as I waited to board my flight home to Texas. It had been a little over four years since I'd seen my family, and if I wasn't mistaken, my little sister, Brittany, was getting ready to graduate from high school, and from the way it looked now, would be doing so while I was home. So; in a sense, I at least had something to look forward to other than sit around the house, with everyone spoiling me because I'd been wounded. Shit, Dad was going to have a cow over this one; that much was certain.

~~~~~~

HOUSTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT HOUSTON, TEXAS THAT AFTERNOON 1400 HOURS (2 pm)

"Hi, baby," Mom smiled, tightly hugging me as soon as she saw me, "Let me look at you in that uniform. Oh, my goodness, you look like your father did in his."

"Bullshit," Dad laughed, shaking my hand, "He looks a lot better than I ever did...hello son. How are you?"

"Where's Brittany?" I asked looking for her, "Why didn't she come with you guys?"

"Because," Mom knowingly grinned, "She wanted to stay home so she could finish the surprise she has for you."

~~~~~~

THE PRESENT

"I remember when you came home that first time," Kara sweetly told me, "I'd graduated three years before, and hadn't finished lost all of my weight yet...but you still looked so beautiful that day. I'll never forget."

"Yeah," I smiled, "And when we got back home I thought you and Brittany were going to smother me with kisses, too."

"We tried," Kara giggled, nuzzling in closer to me, "At least I sure did anyway..."

~~~~~~

I went to my little sister's graduation ceremony that night, not knowing that Mom and Dad had agreed to let her class have their Graduation Party at the house. You can only imagine my gratitude when I discovered that Mom and Dad had created another room from what used to be the basement. I was tired, but I still successfully managed to hide the fact that I'd been wounded from my family. As a matter of fact, I thought I'd done rather well, until Brittany barged into my room without knocking, just as she's always done ever since she first learned to walk.

"Oh, my God, Mikey," she said, tears beginning to fill her eyes, "Has Mom and Dad seen this yet?" and then before I could move, she was out of my room and back up the stairs telling Mom and Dad only God knows what...

~~~~~~

"Would you like to tell me what happened, son?" Dad asked, looking at my wounds as I changed the bandages, "Not only does that look like a bullet wound, but I see that there's a Purple Heart ribbon on your uniform. What the hell have you been into, Michael?"

"I got hurt in a training accident," I simply replied, "No more, no less."

"BULLSHIT," he loudly yelled, then, remembering that there were guests beginning to arrive upstairs, Dad lowered his voice and told me, "You don't get a Purple Heart for training accidents. You SEALs try to be so secretive, but I know better. Don't forget that I've been there and done that, kid so; quit trying to insult my intelligence, boy."

"Alright, Dad, you win," I replied, "And while I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, I still can't talk about it so; you're just going to have to accept that. I'm sorry."

"That's better," he grinned, patting me on the other shoulder, "Get that cleaned up and then come upstairs for a while, okay?"

"Okay, Dad," I smiled, "I could stand to party with my family."

"Dad," I said, stopping him right before he walked out of my room, making him turn to look at me, "Thanks...I appreciate the way you handled this just now."

"You're my son, and I love you," he smiled, then frowned, "But don't think for a minute that your mother is gonna let you off easy," and then he conspiratorially laughed, winking at me right before he left the room.

~~~~~~

I finished redressing my wound, and per my sister's orders, I put my uniform back on, stopping to make sure there were no scuff marks on my jump boots, I made my way up stairs.

~~~~~~

The Moment I walked through the basement door and into the house, I could see a bunch of my sister's friends, dancing in the living room, making the whole floor look as though it were alive and moving in time to the music. I immediately spotted my sister, who hadn't seen me yet, as she danced among and with her friends.

I took a moment to admire my sister, Brittany, as well as how unbelievably beautiful she'd become since the last time I saw her, and it was then that memories of her coming into my room as a little girl and snuggling up next to me crying, because a storm had woken her from her sleep began to materialize in my mind. I can still see her smiling as I would get my Boy Scout flashlight, and while Brittany held it still, I would make shadow pictures on the ceiling with my hands, calming her fears until she was back to sleep in no time...

~~~~~~

Chapter Eight

"Hey, Mike," smiled, Teri Crawford, one of Brittany's childhood friend, "You look really good in the uniform. When are you going to take me out on a date? I'm eighteen years old and legal now."

"Girl, leave him alone," Brittany said, trying to chase her away from me, "My brother is way too old for you."

"Says who?" she seductively purred, "He looks perfect from what I can see."

"Whatever," Brit spat, dragging me further into the room amongst her friends, "Come on, big brother; you're liable to catch something that you don't want from her if you're not careful."

"Screw you, Brittany," Teri said, tears beginning to fill her eyes, "Why did you even invite me to this party if you're gonna treat me like this?"

"You're right, and I'm sorry, Teri," Brittany sweetly said, "But you can understand that I don't want my friends to date my brother, don't you? It would be a little weird for me, okay?"

"Okay," Teri smiled, "You should've told me that in the first place."

"You're right," my sister grinned, "You can help me spread the word that he's off limits then..."

~~~~~~

I went to bed when the party began to wind down about four hours later. I'll admit that it was good to see some of the people that came to the party, but my shoulder was hurting like hell, and I still had to change the dressing again before I went to sleep.

~~~~~~

When I woke up the next morning it was still very early, around six, or six-thirty in the morning. It was a Saturday so; Mom and Dad didn't have to go to work, which also meant that I was going to have to answer the same barrage of questions from Mom that I did from Dad. Still though, even though it was my Mom, one of the sweetest people I'd ever known, I was not going to go through any questioning from anyone else, and that was that.

~~~~~~

"Well, good morning, sleepyhead," Mom quietly smiled, as both Dad and Brittany were still asleep, "I'd like to talk to you about something honey, okay?"

"I know what you're going to ask me, Mom," I told her, as she and I sat down with our morning coffee, "It's about being wounded, isn't it?"

"Sort of," Mom said, "But I only want to say one thing, and then after that, I'll never breathe another word about it, alright?"

"Okay, Mom," I asked, "What is it that you wanted to say?"

As opposed to saying anything, Mom reached across the table and slapped me on the inside of my thigh...very hard, too.

"Ouch, that hurt, dammit," I swore, "Why did you do that, Mom?"

That's for not telling us that you were going into the SEALs," she told me, anger still in her eyes, "When your father told me what kind of things that the SEALs do, it scares the hell outta me, Michael," and then I saw tears beginning to fall down her pretty face as she continued, "I don't want anything to happen to you, baby. You're my only son; can't you see what it would do to me if something were to happen to you?"

"I'm sorry, Mom, I didn't think about that," I told her, gently pulling her into my lap so that I could hold her for a minute like I used to do when I was younger, "But there's something I want to tell you that I just know you're going to love. And it was then that I told her about being Knighted, as well as my trip to London, England, and meeting Natalie, as well as the rest of her family. She was very pleased to hear that, but Mom cried her eyes out when I told her about Jill, and the terrible way that I lost her.

"Why didn't you call home, baby?" Mom sweetly asked, "Your father and I would've flown out to be with you, sweetie."

However, when I told her about the outpouring of love that was shown to me by all of my friends, I think that maybe Mom might've rested a little easier just then...at least I hope she did.

~~~~~~

While I was home, Brittany didn't let me do anything for myself, once she knew that I was wounded. She waited on me hand and foot, and I halfway expected her to follow me into the bathroom, but she didn't, although I did make it a point to jest with her over it.

"In your dreams, you perv," she would laugh, when I messed with her about it, "You wished..."

~~~~~~

The days that I'd spent at home were not only good for my body, but they were also good for my morale, too, leaving me barely able to contain myself until I went back out to California; and when that day finally arrived, I was ecstatic.

~~~~~~

"You be careful out there, big brother," Brittany warned me smiling, "You're the only brother I've got and I love you, ya big dummy."

"I love you, too, girlie," I smiled, firmly hugging her, "I want you to look out for Mom and Dad while I'm gone, okay?"

"I want you two take care of each other while I'm gone," I told my parents, before I boarded my plane, "I've still got a little over six years left to do on my enlistment, but I'll try my best to be back before then, I promise," not realizing that I wouldn't see them again until after my enlistment expired, and I came home for good.

~~~~~~

"Hey, L.B.," Danny grinned, when he picked me up t the airport, "You look well...rested. How's your shoulder feeling?"

"It's a little bit stiff," I said, rotating it, trying to stretch the soreness out, "But I think that after a quick three-mile swim, it'll all be better."

"You're crazy," Danny laughed, "But you're also the Doc so; I'll shut up."

"Bullshit," I teased, "That's something you won't ever learn to do."

"Piss off, Mate, as your English friends would say," Danny laughed, "Oh, by the way, you got a letter from England yesterday...it looked like a woman's handwriting on the front of it.. You think it might be Natalie?"

"I don't know," I knowingly smiled, "But there's only one way to find out," as we retrieved my bag and left the airport, headed for the parking lot.

~~~~~~

I went directly to the base, and after coming across that quarter-deck, I asked the yeoman on duty to give me any and all messages I've received since I'd been gone. He reached back into my box and retrieved a stack of envelopes about four inches thick. However, right there on the top was the letter of which Danny had spoken. Wasting no time, I opened it and red it right there; and in Natalie's beautiful hand; this is what it said:

My Darling Michael,

It's going on a month since I've seen and/or talked to you. I can't help it, but I'm going mad not being able to see you. I know it's for the best that we don't see one another, we can't for fuck's sake, but it doesn't mean that I don't love you with every fibre of my being.

Because you're involved with, and employed by you're own government, you made me realize that I wanted to do something for my country, too. So, I made a commitment to my government for the next six years, and I don't see where that leaves a lot of room for you and me. It hurts me deeply to have to let you go, Michael, but it has to be this way, and if it's God's will; we'll see one another again. I want you to know that I will always love you, my darling, and no man will ever be able to compare to you. Take care of yourself and don't let anything happen to you. I love you, and am forever yours,

Natalie

~~~~~~

So, what did she say," Danny asked, "Good news?"

"She said that she made a six year commitment to her government," I told him, "She probably in the RAF by now...I hope she's okay though."

"Think positive, L.B." Danny smiled, patting me on the shoulder, "Let's go grab something to eat over at Mickey's...I'm buying."

"No shit, you're buying?" I teased, "Hell man, I better jump on this one while I can. What happened, did you make a good bet or something?"

"Nah, no bets," he smiled, "I just decided to quit gambling, that's all."

"Good for you," I grinned, "Next thing you know, you'll be actually taking some girls out on dates instead of making them go dutch, ya cheap bastard," and then I couldn't help but laugh my ass off.

"Fuck off," he laughed, "Just for that wise ass remark; you can buy your own dinner, asshole..."