Chapter 9

Monday 10 December

Present — Ben - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

It's great to be back with Jens again! I've really missed our shared closeness. There are still things I haven't told her and I can tell there are still things she needs to tell me, but none of that makes any difference anymore. Nothing will keep us apart.

I'm a little disappointed the girls can't be here to see our wedding, but I understand Jens's feelings and I honor her decision. I want to move to the mountains and raise babies with Jens, but I can't right now — there's some unfinished business to take care of and his name is Hussein.

We cuddled for a while and I announce, "Okay Jens, let's call the chaplain and get married."

She pulls away from me, grins and says, "Honey, I'd love to do that. But — and I hope I'm not going to disappoint you — I want a big wedding."

I look at her a bit puzzled, "Jens, I guess I thought the wedding wouldn't really matter."

She gives me a pissed look, "Now who's being dense! The wedding just doesn't matter? The wedding really matters. After all I'm only getting married once and that means you're only getting married once. I want the whole world to know and watch when we tie the knot."

I realize I'm on really thin ice as I say, "Jens, I'll marry you now or I'll marry you later or I'll marry you twice. There's nothing to keep us from getting married."

"Goodie! I can't wait to plan our big wedding. Oh, I need to call Liz," she gushed.

"That reminds me, where is Liz?"

She shrugs her shoulders, "I have no idea. She was here and then all of a sudden she needed to take off and do something but wouldn't tell me what it was."

The minute the next words are out of my mouth, I wish I could take them back, "So are you inviting you're parents?"

I feel Jens go stiff as she spits, "Those fricken sons-of-a-bitch! There's no way in hell I'm letting them come to my wedding! In fact, I thought I told you I don't ever want to talk about them."

So much more went on between her and her parents than I was told. If what she said earlier is true about them being happy when I was 'dead', and I have no reason to believe it isn't, then I'm pretty pissed at them too. I need to talk to someone about this, and it can't be Jens or her parents so I need Liz here.

"Jens, I think you should call Liz, tell her the good news and ask when she's going to be back."

She smiles at me and says, "You're finally making some sense. Invite my damn parents to the wedding - that will happen when pigs fricken fly!"

Present — Jens - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

Ben wants to marry me right now, today, THIS MINUTE! This starts an intense battle inside of me. I have a feeling I should take him up on it and marry him NOW! But I have this dream of a big wedding and walking down the aisle in a white dress. I hug him tight and I know he's back with me forever so I decide on the big wedding with the white dress. Still, for some reason I really don't know if this is the right decision.

Then he brings up my fucking parents. I think I'm more pissed at them then he is at Hussein. Every time I hear their names or think about them I want to break something! He finally makes sense when he suggests I call Liz.

"Ben, did you see where they put my purse?"

He looks at me, "You're purse? I don't remember seeing it."

"Oh shit! It was on the bench next to me." I jump out of bed and start anxiously looking around the room. I heave a sigh of relief when I find it in the closet. That lasts until I open it and find a note from fucking Glen. I pull the note out and throw it in the trash without reading it.

Ben gives me a quizzical look, "What's all the attitude about?"

I give him an angry look and snap at him, "That was a fucking note from Glen."

"Well excuse the hell out of me for breathing the same air as you do," Ben grumps at me.

Oh shit, now I've been bitchy and hurt his feelings. I grab my phone and hop back into bed with him. I almost laugh as he tries to scoot away from me. With his injured arm he can't escape me. "Sorry my love for being so bitchy, but I hate Glen and Evelyn as much as you hate Hussein."

He continues trying to pull away from me and spouts, "Jens, how dare you compare your parents with that — that — that fucking animal! I don't know what they did to you, but it cannot even be close to what Hussein did to me!"

I want to argue since many things they did to me seem like torture, but he's so upset at me I need to fix things so I start biting on his neck.

"Leave me alone," he grumps as he tries to squirm away from me.

I just hug him tighter and whisper, "Come on Ben, forgive me. I'm sorry." I then attack his neck and give him a big love-bite. At first he's squirming as he tries to get away, but then he starts squirming because he likes it.

I finally release my lip lock on his neck and grin at him. "There, now I've marked my man!" I proudly announce.

"You gave me a hicky? I haven't had a hicky in years."

"I prefer the term love-bite. And I've given you a world class love-bite. Better than any of those bitches you dated ever gave you. I want to let you know what to expect when we're married. Everything is going to be better than you've ever had before."

He gives me a quizzical look and I can tell he wants to say something. He opens his mouth but then closes it again. I patiently wait until he finally says, "Jens, you already made my life better than it's ever been before."

I grin at him, "Now tell me what you were going to say before you changed your mind."

Oh boy! Ben gets so uncomfortable he even tries to pull away from me. "Uh — Jens — I'd rather not talk about it right now."

There's no way in hell I'm letting him off this easy, "What's wrong, don't you think everything will be so much better for you? Tell me what you think was better in your past. Was it the hugs?" I ask and give him a huge hug while running my hands across his chest and pretending I'm going to slip them lower.

He moans, "No, your hugs are the best ever."

I giggle, "Well then is it the kisses?" and I give him a toe curling kiss.

As I pull away and look in his eyes he answers, "No, your kisses are the best ever!"

I snuggle up close to his ear and whisper, "That just leaves the sex. Ben, you're going to be my first and my last so it's going to be the best for me. And know I love you and will do anything and everything to make it the best ever for you!"

I look at him and watch the blush slowly rise in his cheeks. I love it! I can still make my big strong man blush. I giggle and whisper, "God, I've missed you and I've missed those blushes." I fall on top of his good arm and start attacking him again since there's a lot of lost time to make up. I'm well into giving him a matching love-bite on the other side of his neck so he's squirming and thrashing and moaning on the bed. Then someone clears their throat behind us.

Present — Glen - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

I'm hoping Ben has been able to talk some sense into Jens. Evelyn has been chewing my ass so hard about her I almost don't have an ass left. I walk into their room and things look really good for them as Jens is making out with Ben. I clear my throat to let them know I'm here.

Ben looks at me and for the first time I can remember he doesn't try to salute. "Good morning Glen," he says in a tone I can't quite place.

Jens turns around in the bed, "What the fuck are you doing here?" Uh oh, it doesn't look like Ben's done anything about her attitude yet.

"Is that any way to greet your father?" I snap back at her. I respond with more anger than I feel, but she certainly knows how to push my buttons!

I expected an answer from Jens, but I'm surprised when Ben takes charge. "Jens shut your mouth and let me talk. Glen, Jens tells me you and Evelyn were happy when you thought I was dead because neither of you felt I was good enough for her,"

"Is that anyway to talk to your commanding officer?" I snap back in anger.

I don't believe it when he starts laughing, "Glen, thank you! Your response confirms that what Jens told me is the truth, not that I had any doubt. As far as you being my commanding officer," he says as he looks down at his arm, "This wound has ended my career as a Marine. I want a medical discharge."

"Be reasonable Ben, there's still many things you can do for the Marines."

I watch a coldness slip across his face, "Sure there is. I could shuffle papers for a living, I could train snipers for a living. I could step and fetch and kiss your ass whenever you told me to for a living. But I've asked myself this question many times - why would I want to do any of that for an organization which left me for dead in a God forsaken country and has a leader I no longer respect."

"Ben, it looked like you were killed in the helicopter."

Jens interrupts, "Glen, you know I proved to you Ben survived the helicopter crash."

Ben looked at her, "Jens, keep your mouth shut and let me finish." I expect her to lay into him, but instead she just snuggles close to him and sighs.

He rises up in the bed, "Glen don't bullshit me! I'm not some stupid recruit who will swallow the shit you're feeding me. Jens hasn't told me everything and it's probably a good thing. Otherwise, I'd jump out of bed and use this worthless arm as a club to beat you senseless. What Jens told me is the only thing that makes logical sense."

I start to open my mouth and Ben interrupts, "Glen shut the fuck up and listen. The only thing we want out of you is my medical discharge. If you're good we might even invite you and Evelyn to our wedding." I see Jens start to sit up and complain, Ben says to her, "Jens, I told you to keep your mouth shut."

My mouth falls open a little as she replies, "Yes dear, anything you say." She cuddles back with him. But my mouth hits the floor when Ben grins at me and says, "Glen, you're dismissed." God damn, Evelyn's going to chew my ass for this! I turn and walk out of the room.

Jens yells after me, "Don't let the door hit you in the fat ass."

I turn and see her yelp as Ben spanks her. "I told you to keep your mouth shut." "Sorry dear!" she replies.

Evelyn's looking at me in the hallway, "Well, what went on in there?"

I walk over to a chair, sit down and Evelyn joins me. "Evelyn, it's worse than ever. Ben didn't help at all. In fact it's just the opposite. Jens told him enough so Ben hates us too."

"I told you to keep those two apart until we could work on Ben. But no! You wouldn't listen to me," She scolds.

I look at the floor, "It's worse than that, Ben wants a medical discharge. And with his wound there's nothing I can do to stop it."

Evelyn looks at me with alarm, "Okay what else aren't you telling me?"

"One more thing, they're still getting married and Ben threatened they wouldn't invite us if I give him any problems."

Evelyn pokes me in the side, "You'd better figure out a way we can go to their wedding. Otherwise you're going to learn the meaning of hell."

I thought to myself, you've already taught me that, bitch.

Present — Jens - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

I am so excited! My Ben is more than back, he's back and in control like I've never seen him before. When Glen walked into our room I was going to rip him a new asshole, but I didn't have to because my MAN took care of it perfectly.

He even told me to shut up five fricken times. Normally I would have jumped his shit for doing that. But it was more fun to cuddle and watch the expression of utter surprise on Glen's face. Sometimes there is a benefit to acting like a submissive wife.

When Ben dismissed Glen, it made me so excited and hot I considered calling the chaplain and getting married right away so I could screw his brains out. Then I looked at his arm and figured we'd better wait - what I have in mind for him on our wedding night would kill him in his current condition. So I cuddle up tight against my MAN! I sense he's in turmoil inside so I wait for him to talk.

"Jens, sorry about telling you to shut up. It was hard enough for me without you interrupting."

I pull away and look at him and see a few tears on his cheek, I start kissing each one of them away and apologize, "sorry I interrupted you, my love."

He looks down at me and says, "And I'm really sorry for spanking you. By the way, I don't know what you've been doing for exercise, but your butt's so hard it hurt my hand."

I sit up and grin real big at him. "Ben, I was acting like it hurt because it made Glen upset. You're little love tap didn't hurt my buns of steel." I jump out of bed and drop my hospital gown to the floor and pirouette in the nude in front of him. "So do you like the new and improved Jens?"

I have his total attention. "I most certainly do like the package. Wow is that the scar from your appendectomy?"

I grin, walk close, take his hand and put it on the scar, "It sure is. So tell me do you dig chicks with scars?"

He runs his hand over the scar and the excitement builds in me, he's so close to...

The door opens and the doctor walks into the room, I scramble to get back in my hospital gown but not before the doctor gets a good look at everything.

Present — Ben - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

I start laughing my ass off at Jens scrambling to cover up as the doctor walks into our room. He doesn't make it any easier by watching her the whole time. Normally I'd get pissed off and tell him to look away, but this is too much fun.

Jens jumps back into bed with me and complains, "What the hell are you laughing at?" That sets the doctor off and soon we're both laughing like hyenas.

The doctor finally regains his composer and explains, "Don't worry Ms. Donaldson, it's not like I haven't seen it all before."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to try to memorize everything," Jens grumps.

I remark, "You should have taken a picture, it would have lasted longer." We both start laughing again.

Jens pokes me in the side, "You'd better behave. And doctor, I would have expected you to act more professionally!"

He winks at me and Jens didn't notice, "Well, it's not like I walk into the middle of an orgy every day."

Jens is flabbergasted and doesn't know what to say so I just hug her close, "We're just teasing you my love, don't worry about it."

The doctor looks at both of us, "You two are both doing very well. SM Blaine I can't believe how fast you've recovered. Ms. Donaldson, your MRI just came back and you're head looks fine. There are no broken bones and your face should heal with no problems."

I chuckle and ask, "Did the MRI find a brain?"

He starts laughing, "Yes, but unfortunately it looks abnormal."

Jens looks at me and says, "If you weren't sick I'd kick your butt!"

I grin and offer, "Well, since I'm sick maybe you should kiss it instead."

She turns about four shades of red and demands, "Doctor, I want a new room."

I hug her tight. "Oh no you don't, you're not leaving me again. Jens, let me introduce you to Dr. Crispin, he's worked on me before."

Jens looks at me in frustration then says, "You- you- you sneaky devil dog. I should have known."

Dr. Crispin came up, "Ms. Donaldson, it a pleasure to meet the woman that's going to finally settle down this Marine." They shook hands.

"Okay Crispy (my nickname for him) tell me about my arm."

He gets a serious look on his face, "Banzai, you've really fucked up this time..."

I interrupt, "Look I've already figured most if this out. I just want to know about the nerve issues."

He rings the buzzer for a nurse, "Let's remove your dressing and take a look."

The nurse comes in and he sends her out for supplies. We shoot the breeze and catch up on things until she comes back.

"You want something for pain?" Crispy asks.

I look at him, "You know me better than that."

"Good it will make the tests more valid." He replies. "Jens, I want you to get up and come over here." He makes her stand so I can't see my arm then I feel him start his examination.

"Yes, it's looking much better. We finally have the infection under control and we kept it out of the bones and the joint capsule. You're lucky you didn't lose your arm, we came within a half a day of taking it."

I'm distracted by the opening in the back of Jens gown - damn her butt looks better than ever. She turns, catches me then smiles, "See honey things are looking better."

"Things do look pretty good from here," I reply and watch her blush.

"Okay Ben, we're going to do some tests and I want you to tell me when you feel anything," Crispy says.

I don't feel anything at all and then suddenly I jerk, "Hey, that felt like someone poking me with a pencil."

"Good, just concentrate and let me know when you feel anything." Dr. Crispin says.

It seems like it takes forever and finally I feel a needle, "Son-of-a-bitch stop poking me with the needle." I yell.

"Just a bit more Banzai," he says.

I keep moving, "You know I'm getting pissed off being poked in the upper arm with the needle. Don't you think I've been tortured enough?"

Crispy leaves the nurse to dress my arm, "Okay Banzai, I'm not going to lie to you. You have serious nerve damage in your right lower arm."

Jens turns around and I see the tears in her eyes, "Ben, he was pushing a needle into your ring and pinky fingers and you didn't even feel it."

Dr. Crispin continues, "Some of it could be because the wound is still so aggravated, but I think it's more than that."

I gulp, "It's okay Crispy, just tell me everything."

"Ben, I've consulted with the best doctors I know and we all think you have two issues. The first is limited use of your elbow. We don't think we will be able to give you full range of motion back. Second even when the bones are fixed we're pretty sure you're going to have significant nerve issues."

I see the tears roll down Jens's cheeks. I motion her into bed beside me. "How bad will the nerve problems be?"

He looks at me, "Ben, it's hard to tell. My guess is half sensation at the best."

I look at my fingers and wiggle them, "Well that explains why things don't work right any more. I tried to practice playing piano earlier and they wouldn't move right. What about physical therapy?"

He shakes his head, "It won't help the nerve damage. All it will do is help you keep things loose."

I swallow, "Okay Crispy, how about you start the paperwork for a medical discharge."

"It's a little premature. Normally we wait to determine your total disability. But in your case I don't think there will be any issues," He replies.

Jens cuddles up close to me and Dr. Crispin smiles at both of us. "So when do you want to take Ben back to the states?"

Jens grins, "Is he well enough to travel?"

Dr. Crispin laughs, "If he can beat up half the hospital looking for you, then I'd say he's well enough for a little plane flight."

"I'd like to get him back as soon as possible so we can get surgery on his arm," Jens says.

"I'll see what we can arrange for tonight," Crispy answers.

"Let us know if you can't arrange transport because we'll just lease a jet," Jens answers.

"I'll leave a bunch of instructions along with a list of the best surgeons for his lower arm. If you need anything don't hesitate to call." He turns and leaves the room.

Jens squeezes me, "Are you ready to get back on American soil?"

I squeeze her back, "Hell yes!"

Present — Dr. Crispin - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

I finish talking to Ben, walk out into the hallway and lean against the wall. I feel like shit for not telling those two everything, but we aren't sure yet. Until we can run more tests we won't know. And there's no need to run those tests here, they can wait until stateside.

God those bastards who tortured him, what the hell did they do!

Flashback Natasha (Jens) — Kabul Afghanistan - Monday 15 October

Damn, Liz hasn't come back yet and it's getting late. Linus is working on the file we downloaded from the Jalalabad server, Bernie's screwing around with some video gear and I don't have anything to do but sit around and worry. Worry about Ben and Liz.

I heard a yell from Linus and ran into the side room. "Jens, I cracked the encryption on the file. Someone sure wanted to keep people from looking at this. The file was encrypted using Truecrypt¹. It was even a hidden volume."

¹ Freeware data and hard drive encryption program. It works great and we use it on all our computers.

I looked over his shoulder at not a single file but a whole folder of files. He browsed the directory. I wanted to ask him how in the hell he was able to sort this all out because it was a major hack but first, I wanted to see those files. "Linus, let me take a look at those files." I sat down at the computer and poured through the data, oblivious to everything else. An hour later I'm pissed — no I'm extremely pissed — no I'm more pissed than I've ever been in my whole life! I walked into the other room, "Guys, I hope there's a punching bag around here because I need to kick the shit out of something. If we don't have a punching bag I may have to start kicking your butts."

They both looked up at me and Bernie said, "Jens, what's wrong?"

I open my mouth to tell them what I found, but just then we heard gunfire from outside. The door flew open and Liz ran into the room with her burka missing. Linus throws me an AK and I start shooting out the door. "We need to get the hell out of here! They followed me!" Liz shouts.

The guys jumped up and started humping gear into the back room as I kept the door covered, "I need some mags." Bernie ran up and gave me a gear bag full of mags. I reloaded and kept firing.

Linus ran up, "Let's go Jens."

"Did you get the laptop?"

"Fuck the laptop. There's a squad outside and we can't hold them off forever. I think they're Seals."

"I'm not leaving without the damn laptop! We need the proof on it. Linus cover me because I'm going to get it." I ran towards the room grabbed the laptop, the sat phone and booked to the back of the building. Linus followed me and we all hopped into a Humvee.

"Jens lie on the floor and hide. They don't know for sure you're here," Liz ordered and I hugged the floor.

Liz floored it and we crashed through the garage door. There was a hail of gunfire, but it's all aimed at the tires and the engine. Liz looked over, "This one's armored and their piddly M4 rounds won't stop us!" She laughed and drove off into the night.

Present - Liz - Friday 07 December — Dushanbe, Tajikistan

I don't want to work for Kostia because I don't like to answer to others - well except for Jens and Ben. I swore after what I've been through, I'd never fall in love and then I go and fall in love with a couple. And a couple I know will never return my love. Kostia is a good looking man and he is mature enough to be a good lover. But this time I won't be using sex to get information. My guess is he won't tell me anything while we're in the sack.

Matt and Jim are in deep shit! Ira and Mira are going to be a handful, and the guys aren't the sort of men to mess around much on their wives. I can tell Kostia planned to keep them busy. It makes me wonder how much he really knows about me and my crew. I hear a bunch of noise from the back seat and turn around to see what's happening.

Matt is wrestling with one of the twins, "Quit it and keep your hands to yourself!"

I grin and ask, "Having problems Matt?"

"She is trying to hug me and I'm telling her I'm a married man. My wife Molly's from Texas and she'll kill me if I mess around on her."

I look over at Jim but he doesn't seem to have near the problems Matt has. His twin is hugging the hell out of him and his hand is on her leg - pretty far up. I knew he was somewhat of a lech, but then his wife Sally is a real East Coast bitch. It still doesn't mean he should cheat on her. "You look quite cozy Jim."

He looks ashamed and tries to pull his hand back, but the twin clamps her legs on his hand and he can barely move it. She pouts and says, "Ms. Morgan, you need to leave us alone and let us have fun. I promise we won't break your cameramen."

I'm think 'yeah right!' If you two have your way there will be blackmail pictures we'll have to deal with. I turn back around and say, "Kostia, I need to have a private conversation with my cameramen. How about you pull over and let us talk?"

"I'm sorry Liz, but we're not stopping until we reach the office."

I turn back around and give Matt and Jim a look which says they'd better behave themselves and I hope they understand. I feel Kostia's hand on my leg. I wondered when he was going to start. I grab his hand and slide it all the way up my leg because I want to see if I can control the situation. It startles him, he swerves the car and starts swearing. I hear the twin's laughter coming from the back seat. One of them asks him if I'm too much woman for him and he snaps at her. So, I am having some effect on him.

I want to see how far I can push things so I pull my phone out of my purse and call Jens. Kostia gives me a dirty look and says, "Hang up the phone, I didn't give you permission to call anyone."

I hang up the phone and decide to have some fun, "I've decided I don't like our deal so I'm calling the American Embassy."

He pulls his hand out from between my legs and says, "Ms. Morgan, you should know better than to lie to me. I can tell you called a USA phone number."

Ah, that's what I thought. He can tell what numbers are dialed from the tones on the phone. I smile at him and say, "You're right Kostia I was just teasing you. I'm calling Jens to give her the good news about the girls."

"Ms. Morgan..." I interrupt and say, "Don't you think you should call me Liz, all my boy toys do."

I hear the twins giggle from the back seat and again he tells them to shut up. "Liz, please clear all phone calls with me before you make them."

I am not going to stand for this, and I don't think he'd ever been put it his place. "Kostia, like hell I will! We may be working together and if you're a really good boy I might screw you till you can't walk. But I'm not a blonde bimbo you can control. I will call whomever whenever I want. If you don't like it then I'd suggest you go fuck yourself and throw us all in prison."

I hear the twins gasp from the back seat. He swerves the car to the side of the road, slams on the brakes, turns and looks at me. "Ms. Morgan, you will never talk to me that way again."

I grin at him and say, "Kostia, are you deaf or did you just not hear me? I might agree to work with you, but I'm not your fucking slave and I will talk to you however you deserve to be talked to." I look at the guys, "Come on we're leaving the deal is off." I open the door and Kostia grabs my arm, "If you don't let go of my arm, I'll break your fucking wrist," I spit at him.

"Liz, let's be reasonable. There are many benefits to working together." He says.

"Are you going to let go of my arm?" He releases my arm. "Kostia, I don't see any benefit for me if we work together. Yes you could lock all three of us up in your prison for about a day. But when my friends in America and here find out about it they'd fry your ass. And yes I'm sure you're an adequate lover and would amuse me for a night, maybe two." The twins interrupt with giggles from the back seat so he yells at them again. "Let's be realistic, you're much too old to keep up with me for very long. You need us because you think I can lead you to the girls. And frankly we don't need you to find them. I'm sure SM Blaine knows right where they are."

I decided to take it to the limit so I step out of the Porsche and open the back door, "Come on guys we're leaving."

Kostia is now at my side and says, "Liz, don't do this! Let's be reasonable."

I step back, look at him, cross my arms and tap my foot, "You have two minutes to tell me what's in it for me otherwise we walk."

The twin closest to us grins up a storm because I don't think she's ever seen him treated this way. She winks at me in a way which lets me know I've got him. She then gets out of the Porsche to let Matt and Jim slide out. The other twin slides out and they still sandwich my guys.

Kostia comes up with a bunch of lame reasons, but I grow tired of it, "Kostia, this is a bunch of bullshit! We're leaving." I turn and walk away. Jim takes the lead, Matt follows and surprisingly enough the twins bring up the rear.

After about three blocks, I turn and look at the twins, "What the hell are you two doing following us?"

They both grin at me and one starts, "Ms. Morgan, we want to thank you for the way you treated Kostia." The other continues, "He is an arrogant bastard and we are tired of working under him." They switch again, "He is old but thinks he is God's gift to women." And the other finishes, "But we are tired of being forced to have sex with him, he is old and it is boring!"