Walker

Smiling. "Fine until someone decided to crack my ribs,"

"So, you're still an ass. I'm going to have to have my good buddy Rear Admiral Jacobs straighten you out. Now let's go home. But first, you need to kiss me, Commander."

The grand jury met. He testified, as did Sam, Emily, and the Rear Admiral. The jury recommended against charging Walker with any crime. Clearly he had intervened in a brutal crime and the shot was fired first. The DA was disgruntled, but accepted their decision. No charges were filed.

"Sam, I need to talk to you." She stopped dead in her tracks and dropped a plate. "And, no, no, it's not that. I... I've been doing a lot of thinking. And, welI...I think I've had enough of war, and battle and stuff. I need some peace. I need quiet. Nature. Family. My thought was that I'd go home and then start on my Master's at Western Carolina. That is...if..."

"When do we leave, Walker?" Then with a worried look filled her face. "You did mean 'we', right?"

He hugged her. "Of course! I don't think I could live with any more Sam spooks running through my brain. It will always be 'we'. Well, except for some little ghosts running around the place to make it 'us.' Sometime."

"Walker! This is so wonderful. It'll be great! I just love the Rockies this time of year."

Laughing. "Yea, they're great."

"And I can buzz into Chicago and buy some fancy clothes when I want..."

"Yup. I can see your knowledge of geography has improved."

"Actually, Walker, my dear, your mom and I have already worked on a number of things. Just in case. Well, actually, it's all set up. The Admiral's given you a leave of absence and your folks and I were going to abduct you and take you home. At least for a while. Maybe a long time?

We are going to live with your folks for a bit and then, there are some lovely apartments in Cullowhee. We just hop onto the road to Dillsboro, and down route 74 to Topton to visit your folks. It's still like an hour or so. I hope that's alright, but the western part of the state goes on forever.

"You and Mom have been pretty busy."

"And, there's more. I can finish most of my nonclinical courses on line and then apply to the nursing program at Western."

"Nursing?"

"Yup. Big changes, Commander. I've been a very busy person in your absence. They said I'd be a good candidate. Oh, and you can work on your elk stuff or whatever. I even talked to the folks there and they have a number of projects with the elk. They even have one studying the ectoparasites, is that right? Like ticks and stuff." Making an ugly face, "Sounds simply fascinating. Yuk."

"Walker, you will never understand how much I love you. From the first glimpse as you made that door squeal in Professor Mitchel's class." She laughed at the recollection. "But why don't we just go back there and I'll try to show you. Aaaaand! Since you're still recovering, I'll get on top and do all the work. Just don't get used to that Commander. You'll be plenty busy in the line of duty once you're all ship shape."

She fell asleep in his arms, happy, contented. An hour later a panicked look filled her face, she started panting, thrashed around, sat bolt upright and screamed, "NOOOOO! STOP! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"

"Sam! Sam! It's alright. I'm here. You're home. You're OK. You're safe. It was just a dream." He hugged her as she sobbed.

She was soaked, still gasping for air, a hand on her neck. "Oh, God, Walker. It's been awful ever since...ever since it happened. I can only imagine what you went through. Thank you for being here. To be honest, I've been scared to death to go to sleep. Every night it happens. Every time I shut my eyes. Over and over and over. I'm exhausted."

"It gets better and we'll do it together. You fixed me and now it's my turn to fix you, my little fixer upper."