Finding Home

"1530," said Andy glancing at his watch.

"Sara, we need to go. NOW."

"Why?"

"It's a 30-minute drive to the mall, to that store we need to visit if we're going to spend the night with our Andy. I think it closes at 6 PM. Andy, sweetie, can we meet you at the Dining Commons?" asked Eden.

"Sure. I'll swing by the VFW and then I too have an errand to run before tonight," explained Andy. "18:30 for dinner?"

"Perfect," said Eden.

She walked over to him and kissed him deeply, "We are so going to blow your mind tonight, and that fabulous cock. You may want to skip the VFW and take a nap. You'll need it."

Turning to Sara, she said, "Sara, come and kiss our man. He's going to make love to us tonight, and we will blow his mind."

Andy quickly ran his errands, Walgreen's, the florist, and a few supplies from the main house had the boat house ready for his evening with the two women. He ran back to the Commons, packed an overnight bag, and drove the truck to the dining commons. He parked in the far parking lot, and began to walk across the lawn. He was so preoccupied with what the evening was going to hold, he missed the brass plaque welcoming him to the DeGroat Memorial Lawn. What he could not miss, however, was the 5-foot brass sculpture of his mother playing her cello as a college senior, or the second sculpture of his dad on the pitcher's mound. As his gait slowed, tears began to well up in his eyes. He walked further along the lawn bleary-eyed; but at the sight of the sculpture of his entire family during a trip to Disney World a couple of months before 9/11, Andy's entire body began to heave. He fell to his knees, and began sobbing -- uncontrollably and loudly.

The girls had made their run to a well-known women's lingerie store, and had chosen some tasteful, but alluring, attire for their night with Andy. They had also upgraded their pajama game, anticipating their subsequent nights in Andy's bed. Eden pushed the Volvo past the speed limit, and got to the parking lot in time to see Andy walk onto the lawn. It took the girls a moment to put their purchases in their overnight bags, and they were stunned to come across the kneeling figure of Andy DeGroat weeping in front of the sculpture of his entire family. The girls had walked past the statues numerous times, and thought nothing of the cute little boy wearing Mickey Mouse ears, surrounded by his parents and his two sisters. Andy, however, had never actually seen the sculptures. The loss, triggered by seeing the bronze sculptures for the first time, overwhelmed him.

Sara knelt by him and hugged him, "Andy, baby talk to us. Are you OK?" In the pit of her stomach, Sara knew what had happened. Andy had been marked by loss. That loss had both haunted and hunted him, and it finally caught him. The bronze statue of a young family at the "happiest place on earth" had shattered him. She wept with him, wracked with the knowledge that another human being had experienced a loss similar to hers.

Andy did not even acknowledge their presence. He could not. He simply continued to sob uncontrollably.

Eden grabbed her phone and called her mom. She explained what was going on, and asked her to come ASAP, and please bring her dad along. Dr. Sean Adams would know what to do. He always did.

Sara continued to try to comfort Andy, and Eden gave the stink eye to anyone who paused to give this spectacle a look. "Nothing to fucking see here. Move your sorry ass on," said Eden forcibly when passersby stopped to see what was going on. Ten minutes later, her mom and dad came walking quickly to the lawn.

"What do you know?" asked the male Dr. Adams.

"Daddy, I have no idea. We pulled up after him, we saw him walking up, and then all of a sudden, we couldn't see him, but we could hear him. He's just been here and doesn't even act like anybody else is here. He won't stop crying," said Eden, as tears began to well in her eyes.

Sara, crying as well, looked up at Dr. Adams. "You've got to help him. He's such a good dude. He's really smart, and funny, and kind. You've got to help him."

Gloria and Sean Adams exchanged a knowing look. Both had been worried about Eden's calloused attitude to life at Colton. She had done very well athletically and academically, and she and Sara quickly became BFF's. However, she had grown distant and aloof to just about everyone else. She had never been this calloused before, and this concerned them. Now, however, here she was crying about the well-being of a young man she met some 8 hours before.

Sean Adams knelt next to Andy and tried to talk to him. No response. He then tried an approach he had seen before with other traumatized veterans. Using a command voice, he addressed Andy, "Sargent DeGroat, what is the meaning of this?"

After a few minutes, Andy spoke quietly, "I'm sorry sir. I've never seen this before. That little boy is me, sir. That's my family -- or it was -- before they were murdered. I -- I wasn't ready to see this."

Dr. Adam's opened his bag, filled a syringe, and spoke softly to Andy. "I see. Well, Sargent, let's do this. I'm going to give you a shot to help you. We'll then go get in our car and take you back to President's Hall. The shot will help you sleep, and we can talk more in the morning."

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir," replied Andy breathing heavily, his face soaked with tears.

"Good man. Hold very still, you'll feel a slight pinch."

Andy felt nothing, and did not remember Dr. Adams helping him to his feet and walking him to his SUV. He did not remember the doctor helping him get undressed and into his bed. He did not hear the worried and tearful conversations between Sara, Eden, and the Dr's Adams.

"He'll be OK. He's had a great shock, and I suspect there's all kinds of horrible things he's seen as a soldier," said Sean Adams. "At some point, our bodies won't let our minds keep those things out anymore."

"Will the girls be OK with him here?" asked the female Dr. Adams.

"Oh yes. In fact, their presence will help him a great deal," said Sean, winking at the girls. "Though we should probably call his grandparents, or at least one of his sisters."

Gloria dismissed herself to call the Judge, and Sean Adams hugged his daughter and her roommate.

"You two did well caring for him," he said. "You both acted quickly. He must be some guy."

"Thank you, daddy," said Eden. He noted that the second part of his statement had been not so tactfully turned aside.

"What makes him so special?" he asked.

"You mean aside from the fact that he's fine as hell, and bad ass?" asked Sara.

All three laughed.

"Daddy, he's kind. He's not intimidated by us, and he talks to us, I mean really talks to us. He doesn't just act like he's listening, either. At lunch, he asked about Elise and Evie. He remembered their names! We went to lunch, and he took us to his family's cabin, and he's just a really, really, good guy. You'd like him. He opens doors for us, and insisted on paying for lunch. He has guns and smokes cigars and drinks bourbon and his truck is a stick shift. He has real clothes, and doesn't have an X-box or anything like that. He's not at all like the boys this place usually attracts," Eden's assessment of their new roommate spilled out of her rapid-fire.

Sean Adams could not help but grin at his obviously smitten daughter. "OK. Well, let him sleep tonight. If he wakes up, or anything changes, call me. Sleep is the best thing for him right now. I suspect the Judge will be up here first thing in the morning, and we'll see what the plan will be going forward."

Just then, Gloria Adams rejoined the conversation. "The Judge sounded relieved. He said, 'It's about damn time Andrew broke down a bit,'" she smiled. "He'll be up tomorrow about noon, along with Andy's younger sister Ellen. Have you two eaten?" she asked.

"No ma'am," said Sara.

"Well, since I know the three of you won't want to leave here, what do you say we order a pizza and watch something on that massive TV? Just make sure your dad doesn't raid Andy's humidor when he goes up to check on him," she offered, smiling.

After the pizza had been consumed, and the four settled on one of the big sectional couches, Gloria looked on with amazement and envy as Eden snuggled in next to her dad, and Sara did the same on his other side. Eden had not done this in probably 6 years, and her father recognized the significance of the moment, giving appropriate fatherly affection to both girls. "Well," she thought to herself, "Thank you very much, Andy DeGroat. You may be helping us get our daughter back."