Chapter 4

Wednesday 05 December

Present — Ben - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

My mind slowly stops swimming in a maze of confusion as I start to wake. I wake from what feels like the sleep of the death. I think I'm very lucky this time because the Grim Reaper knocked hard on the door to my heart and I almost let him in. I chuckle as I remember one of my t-shirts, "Marines don't die. We just go to hell and regroup."

I start to blink and open my eyes but it's hard at first because the sleepers are thick. I try to reach up with my arms to rub my eyes. Son of a bitch, my right arm hurts like hell and I can't move it! At first I think I can't move my left arm either but something heavy is holding it down and then it comes free. I rub my eyes with my left hand and I can finally see.

Oh Shit! I realize I'm in the hospital again. I look down at my right arm and see it's in a splint and is all bandaged up. Oh yeah, now I remember, I was shot in Tajikistan. Thank God, Zarika and Yasmeen got me to the embassy in time.

I glance around the room, expecting to see them and almost jump out of bed when I see Jens! She has her head on the side of my bed and is asleep. Jens, Jens, Jens — I didn't know if I would ever see you again — and now you're here, wherever the hell here is! She's snoring worse than I've ever heard her so she must be exhausted.

I reach my left arm down and gently stroke her hair. Finally I can touch the hair of the woman that has haunted my dreams for so long. I want to pinch myself just to make sure I'm not dreaming again. The dreams were so real, just as real as this is. Tears of joy and happiness fall down my cheeks and onto the bed.

I hear a noise to my right; I turn, look, and Liz is standing in the doorway. She's in a gown and gloves, is putting on a mask but smiles before she covers her face. Now I'm almost sure this isn't a dream. She walks over to my bed, looks down at Jens and whispers to me, "It's about time you woke up, Price Charming. I thought the beautiful princess was supposed to sleep.".

"Liz, p-p-please tell me this is real and I'm not dreaming."

She leans over, pulls back her mask, kisses me on the cheek and then rubs my head, "Ben, this is real. You've made it back to Jens."

"I was worried. Almost every night I've dreamed of Jens and the dreams were so real." I continue to cry.

"Well hero, you defied the odds. You were captured by the Taliban and you made it back. This is going to make a hell of a news story."

"Where am I? Tajikistan?"

"No hero, you're at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany." Liz replied.

"What about the girls, my wives-uh-sisters? Are they here too?"

"Ben, are you talking about the two little girls that brought you to the embassy in Dushanbe?"

I start getting a little agitated, "Yes, them. Zarika and Yasmeen are now my little sisters and I promised them I'd bring them to America with me. Where are they?"

Liz gives me a pensive look, "Ben, the guards at the embassy didn't know and chased them off."

I struggle trying to get up and knock a wire loose from a monitor. It starts complaining and wakes Jens up. She jumps to her feet, looking ready to fight the world. She see's I'm awake and falls on top of me giving me huge hug. Her body shakes with sobs - like a palm tree in a hurricane. "My Ben, you're alive. You came back to me." I finally hear the voice that's been only in my dreams since I left her in Turkey.

I hug her tight with my left arm and rub her back. It's true, it's real. I made it back to Jens!

She pulls away, yanks off her mask and looks at me. I smile saying, "Remember our last kiss!"

"I bet it's not as good as this one!" Our lips join in the first kiss of the rest of our life.

A nurse comes running into the room, "What's going on here? And what are you doing in his bed?"

"Ben's awake and I'm getting my first hug and kiss from him." Jens announces.

"Well, you can't be in his bed and you need to wear your mask." The nurse grumps.

"Can't you give us just a few minutes?" I ask. "Liz can you help us?"

Liz is beaming, and I finally notice the news crew taping everything. She goes over and whispers something in the nurse's ear and the nurse smiles. "Okay, you can have five more minutes, but first I need to plug in the monitor." She re-connects the monitor and leaves the room.

Jens cuddles up against me, "I've been so worried about you. You're so sick this time."

"Shhh, don't waste our cuddle time on this. I just want to hold you and enjoy being with you. There's time to talk later."

I enjoy holding her close, smelling her hair and feeling her familiar body close to mine again. I try to let myself relax, but I can't because I remember the girls and worry about their safety. I start to get sleepy, yawn and fall asleep.

Present — Jens - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

I was dreaming about the days after my surgery, when Ben's monitor woke me out of my deep sleep. I jump up, ready to do CPR - I'm not letting him die now. When I see he's awake I jump onto the bed and hug the hell out of him.

He squeezes me so tight with his left arm it hurts, but it is the best hurt I have ever felt and I'm sure not going to complain! I pull away to look at him, I want to get lost in his eyes again when he says, "Remember our last kiss." I sure as hell do and I rip off the mask to give him a new toe-curling kiss he's going to remember for the rest of his life.

The bitch nurse comes in and yells at us, trying to get me off my man. I was getting ready to flip her off when Ben takes care of it by getting Liz to help.

We cuddle together again! It's so wonderful, but then my tired man drifts off to sleep. I spend another minute cuddling beside him and the nurse comes back in the room. "Okay miss, you need to get out of the bed and get your mask back on."

I hug him one more time and slip back into the chair. She comes over, "Did he fall back to sleep?"

I nod my head with concern showing in my eyes. "Don't worry that's normal. With what he's been through you can expect this for the next few days." She takes Ben's temperature, "Good, it's down some. Maybe your kiss helped."

"Really, you think so? I'd be happy to give him more!"

She laughs, "Sorry, I was just teasing you. It was good he woke up, how did he seem?"

"I only talked with him a little bit. He seemed fine but was very worried about something."

Liz came up, "He was awake when I first walked in the room. We talked for about five minutes. At first he was extremely disoriented but became better after a few minutes."

"How did the monitor get disconnected?" The nurse asks.

Liz replies, "He tried to hug Jens and knocked the cable loose." I could tell she lied and I'll ask her why later.

"So should we let him sleep or should we try waking him up?"

"If he's asleep I'd let him sleep. Please call us the next time he wakes up so we can evaluate him." The nurse replies and leaves the room.

I look at Liz, "Liz, kill the cameras so we can talk."

"One minute Jens." She does a quick intro and exit spot for the video and Jon and Bernie take off with the cameras. She comes over and sits beside me, "Okay sis, what do you want?"

"What was the lie about on how the monitor cable became disconnected?"

She looks down at the floor and then back at me, "Jens do you have the picture Ben brought with him?" I remember the picture of Ben and the two girls, I reach in my pocket and hand it to her.

"Jens, I'm not sure Ben's mind is right. He called these girls his sisters, one is Zarika and one is Yasmeen."

"What the hell do you mean Liz!" I interrupt in a shout, Ben starts stirring in the bed and we go back to whispering. So these are the two he was mumbling about earlier."

Ben moans, "Zarika, Yasmeennnn." We both look at him and I sense Liz didn't tell me everything so I grab her arm and squeeze the hell out of it. "Ouch Jens that hurts."

"Liz, if you tell me one more lie I'm going to kick your butt so hard you'll have to ride your lovers cowgirl style for a month."

She blushes, "You know about that?"

"Liz, I'm not a prude and I wasn't born yesterday. Being with you the last few days has just confirmed my suspicions. You sometimes use sexual favors to get information. Quit stalling girlfriend!"

She looks down at the floor, her face is bright red. "Jens, I didn't want you to know about the sexual favors. I'm ashamed I do use sex to get information - it's a long story and you don't need to hear it right now."

I squeeze her arm tighter, "Liz, you're still stalling."

She looks at me with tears, in her eyes, "Jens, I'm not going to tell you. Not until I have a chance to research this more. You can kick my butt now if you want to."

I let go of her arm and look at her, this has to be serious if she is willing to get her ass kicked. I hold out my arms, she falls into them and I hug her while she sobs on my shoulder. "I'm sorry Jens, I can't tell you right now."

I shush her, "I'm not happy about this and you really have my curiosity going. But I'm not going to beat this information out of you, at least not yet. But someday you will tell me." I try to sense her feelings to see if I can figure it out, but it doesn't work.

I let go of her and she shows me the things she brought for me, including the laptop and new mobile phone. "Linus will be here later to scan the room and your clothes." Liz tells me.

I look at her - she's a good friend and has been a rock for me during these times. "Thanks Liz, you're a great friend and I really love you like a sister."

"Jens, I'm going to need to go away for a couple of days. Will you be okay without me?"

"Where are you going Liz?"

"Sorry Jens, that's NALTS¹."

¹ Not At Liberty To Say.

My anger flares for a moment, but then I control myself, "Liz, I don't like this. You've never been this secretive from me."

"I have to this time sis. Please trust me." Liz replies. Nobody is more worthy of trust than Liz. "Liz, can you stay by Ben while I go shower again and change into some new clothes? It'll take me less than thirty minutes."

"Please, I wish you'd change out of those clothes." She laughs. I'm in no mood for humor and start walking out of the room with my clothes. At the door I run into Glen and Evelyn.

"Jens, is it true Ben's awake?" Evelyn asks.

I push them apart and walk right between them, "Why the fuck do either of you care?" I turn and say, "Liz make sure they don't bother Ben or wake him up." And then I storm off to the shower.

Flashback Jens - Incirlik Airbase in Turkey - Sunday 14 October

Liz was a real lifesaver. I'm not going home until I find Ben but they won't let me out of this fricken hospital right now so she's going to help bust me out of here. I ran, well maybe really just moved quickly, into the bathroom and checked what Liz brought.

The first thing I did was hop in the shower and dye my hair. Oh if Ben saw me now he'd be upset. The blonde hair he loved so much is now an ugly, mousy shade of brown. I stepped out of the shower and looked at myself in the mirror - I hated the hair but the scar was going to look great.

I stuck my head out the door, "I'm ready Liz." She came in the bathroom, took out the scissors and cut my hair. It ended up shorter than I wanted but looked pretty good. I turned and caught her looking at me and she blushed. I ignored her and said, "Thanks Liz, if you ever lose your job you can always become a beautician."

I jumped back in the shower and rinsed all the hair off. I was feeling great and nothing was going to stop me now. I dried off again, making sure to leave no sign of the hair color change and pulled on my undies, a blouse and new blue jeans. I checked myself in the mirror and looked funny, so I stuck my tongue at the new and definitely not improved Jens. I pulled on my socks and mary janes and stepped out of the bathroom.

Liz looked at me and smiled, "You certainly look different."

I stuck my tongue out at her, "Don't worry I'm still the same annoying Jens. Let's get out of here." But before I left, I held up four boxes of feminine products and said, "What the hell are these for? I don't need them right now and it's a weird selection no woman in her right mind would ever use."

Liz giggled, "Let's move it and I'll tell you on the way out."

While I was in the shower, she'd loaded up everything, including my smelly t-shirt and the computer. She stood up, went to the door, checked the hallway and motioned for me to follow her.

As we slipped out in the hallway, Liz took my arm closest to the nursing station and we walked right past it. She told me the story about the feminine products and I almost blew it by laughing, "Liz, sometimes you're evil."

"Natasha, (that was my new code name) you should have seen the look on the salesgirl face, she was doing her best not to laugh."

We made it to the elevator, nailed the button and waited for it to come. I turned, faced Liz and we kept gabbing like girls. The elevator opened, Liz held my arm, a man walked past and then she pulled me in the elevator. It was empty and she said as the door closed, "Natasha that was Jens's doctor."

The ride down seemed to take forever but the door finally opened and we headed right for the front door. This time no one stopped us and we walked outside to freedom.

Liz leaned close, "Natasha, they have surveillance cameras and they might be able to figure out your disguise from them, just by seeing us together."

"It's a risk we'll have to take. How are we getting out of here?"

No sooner had I asked when an MP pulled up in a Humvee. I started to tense up.

"Hello Liz, did you need a ride." The young MP asked.

"Thanks, it'd be great if you gave Natasha and me a ride." Liz answered.

I sat in the back, Liz sat up front and flirted the hell out of the MP. He took us most of the way to where we were going and dropped us off. Liz gave him a hell of a kiss and I even saw him feel her up a little.

She walked over to me, I gave her a disapproving look and she blushed. "Hey it's not like I slept with him. Come on, we'll walk the rest of the way so they don't know exactly where we're going."

Current - Liz - Late Tuesday 04 December - Hospital — Ramstein AFB Germany

Seeing Ben awake and stroking Jens's head makes me so damn happy! I walk over to his bed and look into his dreamy eyes, shit the little school girl is coming out again.

He's so disoriented at first and thinks he's dreaming. Until I kiss his cheek (I want to play tonsil-hockey with him, but Jens would kill me) and rub his head. He is becoming even more awake and things are fine until he starts asking about the "girls" and accidentally calls them his wives. My knees almost buckle when he says that and I grab the rail to hold myself up.

He starts fighting to get up, I pull the wire off for his heart monitor and it wakes Jens up. She jumps on top of him and I start crying as I watch their reunion. But I wonder in my mind about Ben. Is he crazy? Did he really marry those two little girls? If he did Jens will just die. I look at both of them and I can't believe Ben could ever be unfaithful to Jens. It just doesn't seem right or make sense.

A nurse comes in and yells at Jens, but I sweet-talk her, and Jens gets to cuddle with Ben until he falls asleep again. The nurse comes back in the room, grills us about Ben, and leaves us alone. Then Jens lays into me about the lie I told the nurse. Son of a bitch - I hate that I can't lie to her! This damn sense thing she has going drives me crazy. It'd be so much easier if I could just lie to her.

She's so upset at me, but I'm not going to tell her anything about the girls possibly being Ben's wives until I can check it out. I finally get a reprieve when she leaves to shower but she meets her bastard parents as she leaves the room. She lays into them and I silently laugh - the bastards both deserve it.

They get into the isolation crap and walk over to me. Evelyn smiles and asks, "We heard Ben woke up, is it true?"

She didn't whisper and Ben stirs some, "Shhh, you need to whisper so you don't wake him up. Yes he was awake for about five or ten minutes."

"How was he?" Glen whispers.

I glare at him. Damn, I don't even like him, "What the fuck do you care? You left him to rot in Pakistan."

"Young lady, don't use that tone of voice with us!" Evelyn yells and it wakes up Ben. I stand up and slap her across the face, "I'll use any damn tone of voice with you I like, you pompous, self-righteous bitch. Jens is going to be so pissed you woke Ben up."

"Hey, what the hell is going on?" Ben says. He sees the General and tries to sit up and salute him forgetting about his right arm. "Ayeeee," he yells and then passes out from the pain.

The nurse runs in the room, "What's going on in here?"

I look at her and decide to take Glen and Evelyn down a notch or two, "These two came in here and started yelling and it woke up Ben. He saw the General and tried to salute him and passed out."

The nurse looks at Ben, "Shoot! His arm is messed up again. I think when he tried to move it he messed it up. All of you out of the room right now!"

We walk out of the room and Glen and Evelyn tried to nag me. I hold up my hand and flip them off. I need to find myself a doctor. I walk up to the nurses' station and ask to see the doctor on call. He comes out and I flirt him up a little, then we head back to his private office for some friendly persuasion and I get him to write an order: Jens, I, and the news crew can see Ben, but no one else, especially Glen and Evelyn.

I walk back out of the office and Glen and Evelyn are still standing outside of Ben's room. I start getting on my isolation crap to walk in the room. "Hey you can't go in there," they tell me. "Oh yes I can, it's you two that can't see him anymore." I walk by and Glen grabs my arm. I turn around and say, "Get your grubby paws off me or I will have you brought up on charges of assault."

"Like hell you will!" He says.

I see the doctor and go over to him sniffling and holding my arm like it was hurt, "Those two are the ones you said aren't supposed to see Ben. You see that fat fuck; he just grabbed my arm and bruised it."

The doctor said, "That bastard, I'm calling the MPs."

I held his arm as he made the call. It only took about five minutes for them to show up; they walk up to the doctor. "I witnessed the General physically assault this young lady. I want you to arrest him and take him to the brig. I need to examine this young lady to substantiate the bruises."

"But Sir, that's General Donaldson. We can't just arrest him." One of the MPs complains.

"Like hell you can't! He assaulted her. Call the OD² and get his ass up here."

² Officer of the Day.

I look at the MPs as I sniffle and carry on, "I want to press charges, he bruised my arm."

"I witnessed it and we also have the tape from those security cameras," the doctor says.

Glen noticed all the commotion and comes over, "What's going on here."

One of the MPs says, "Sorry sir but this lady says you assaulted her and the doctor corroborates her story. She wants to press charges."

Glen's anger rose and he turned red in the face, "Why you little slut! I thought you were our friend." I cower back from him, "Please don't let him hit me again."

That's all the doctor needs to hear, the OD shows up and the doctor lays into him. The OD lays into the MPs and they haul Glen's sorry ass off to the brig. Evelyn comes over, "Please don't let her hurt me," I whine.

The OD looks at her, "Ma'am I'd be very careful right now about what you say or do to this young lady. We've already taken your husband away for assault and it would be a shame if you joined him."

Evelyn starts to open her mouth, decides against it, turns and walks out of the ICU. "Thank you doctor," I hug him. "Thank you Sir," I hug the OD, they both get a little embarrassed.

"Let's look at that arm and photograph it." The doctor says and takes me into an examination room. The OD follows to maintain the chain of evidence. I take off my shirt and at first they're busy checking out my breasts, then they see a huge bruise on my arm (it was bruised earlier by Jens), "Wow look at that. He must have really grabbed and yanked your arm. I even see nail marks," the doctor remarks.

The OD takes pictures, I lean over so I'm sure he gets a good look down my bra and I notice a couple of photos aren't of my arm. He looks at me. I smile and bat my eyes, "I don't know how I can ever thank both of you."

"It's okay miss, I'm just doing my job. But you will have to come to my office and fill out the paperwork."

I think for a moment, I really don't want to get Glen in trouble because there are times we can really use his help. "Sir, I think it was just a little misunderstanding. Perhaps if you just talked to Glen he would understand he can't do this." I put my hand on his arm and smile.

He looks relieved, "I wasn't looking forward to processing this paperwork. And I think a little talk might just work. Thank you, Miss for being so reasonable."

I jump up and hug him tight, then turn and hug the doctor even tighter. "Thank both of you! You two are my heroes. I'm going to see Ben." I walk out the door, blow them both a kiss and notice the tents in both their pants. I giggle silently to myself and I head back to Ben's room.

I hate doing all the isolation crap, but I don't want to make more waves than I already have. So I put on all the junk again and head into his room. I go over, look at Ben, sit down beside him and hold his hand. Ben, Ben, Ben, did you marry those little girls? Were you forced to marry them? And why do you call them your sisters? What the hell happened to you for all those days?

I keep mulling those questions in my mind. I try to decide on the best way to investigate this when I notice Jens. As she's getting into her isolation crap I see she looks much better.

"Greetings sister, has he been awake again?" She asks.

"Your parent woke him up. He saw Glen and hurt his arm trying to salute him."

"Those bastards! I told them not to wake him up." She angrily says.

"Don't worry Jens, I took care of them for you." I replied and told her what happened.

"You are sure devious when you want to be." Jens remarks.

"They aren't allowed in the room so you shouldn't be bothered by them anymore. I'm going to take off and I won't be back for a while." We hug and I head out of the room to figure out what the hell Ben did in Pakistan.

Flashback - Liz — Hospital - Incirlik Airbase in Turkey Sunday 14 October

Well I'm in deep shit now. I just helped Jens escape from the hospital. I wonder what will happen to me if I ever get caught.

The MP gave us a ride almost to where I wanted to go and I decided it would be safer if we walked the rest of the way. I kissed the hell out of him and he grabbed a handful of my tits before we said goodbye. I walked over to Jens and she gave me her prude act and some crap.

"Where are we going Liz?" Jens asked.

"First, we're picking up the rest of my stuff. Then we're getting off the airbase and catching a flight to Kabul."

We got to the room on base where I had been staying - don't ask me how I got it. We grabbed my gear and I called an MP, "Hey sweetie, I was wondering if we could get a ride off base?" He was more than happy to help.

Jens looked at me, "Don't tell me you have all the men on this base eating out of your hand?" "Not yet, but that's just because I haven't been here long enough." I laughed. She gave me a dirty look. "Hey, this girl just does what she needs to do to get by."

I told the MP we'd meet him at an intersection so we took off. I carried most of the gear because Jens was still recovering. "Hey, I can carry some of gear," she complained. I stopped and looked at her, "I'm not having you break those stitches open again, I'll manage."

As it turned out I didn't have to. We ran into a couple of Airmen who were more than happy to assist two helpless females. Jens didn't flirt with them, so I flirted enough for both of us. When they dropped us at the intersection, one tried to hug Jens and she about decked him. "Sorry miss, I was just trying to be friendly." He said.

"I'm engaged to a Marine and he wouldn't appreciate you trying to hug me." Jens said.

"Sorry again miss," he said one more time. So I hugged him to make up for it, "Don't worry, she's just a little grumpy right now because she's on the rag." I said.

Jens gave me a nasty look and turned away from me as the Airmen left. I said to her, "Hey, if you're going to act PMS then I might as well give you an excuse."

"I'm not PMS, I don't get PMS, and I just didn't want him hugging me." Jens grumped.

I laughed, "You know, in this case denial isn't a river in Egypt." She looked at me and started laughing, "Sorry Liz if I've been grumpy. I'm really worried about Ben."

I went over and hugged her, "Jens, I promise you I'll either find him or die trying."

She pulled back, "Liz, you'd better not do something stupid and die. You're my only support."

I felt the tears in my eyes and turned away. Jen came over and hugged me. "Liz, it's okay if you cry. Look I'm a Marine and I still cry."

I was able to get myself under control and fixed my face before our ride showed up. He jumped out and loaded the gear into the back of the Humvee - he even opened the doors for us. I sat in the front and Jens in the back. He climbed in and asked, "Where to ladies?"

"Thanks so much for picking us up, we need to get to the Sakirpasa airport at Adana." I answered.

"Oh, are you two leaving?" He asked in a sad tone.

"Unfortunately, we have some news to go cover. But we'll be back soon."

He leaned over and asked about getting a three way on the way. I told him we were both out of commission because Aunt Flo was visiting but someday I'd make it up to him. He smiled and drove up to the gate. They were stopping all the traffic, but because he was an MP they waved us through.

"What was that all about?" Jens asked.

"I guess some Marine Sgt., the daughter of the General, escaped from the hospital today and went AWOL. So they're stopping and searching all the vehicles to keep her on the base." He replied.

It didn't take long for him to get us to the airport, he even carried the bags inside and I gave him a big hug and kiss. "Thank you so much. We'll see you when we get back," I said.

When he left Jens said, "Liz, I don't have a passport with me. How am I going to get a ticket, let alone board the plane?"

"Jens, you sit here and just leave that little problem up to me." I took off to find us a ride to Kabul.

Flashback - Zarika and Yasmeen — Tajikistan Day Seventeen

"Zarika, wake up!"

"Yasmeen, I want to sleep. Leave me alone."

"Zarika, we fell asleep and did not take care of Ben. Now his arm looks and smells bad."

I sat up and looked around - it was daylight again. I yelled to the front of the truck and found out we slept all night. I looked over at Ben's arm: It had leaked a lot, it wasn't blood, it looked like something else and it did not look good. The whole cloth below his arm was soaked. I felt Ben's head, he was very hot. "Yasmeen wet this cloth and try to cool Ben's head with it."

I started taking off the cloth on his arm and I almost got sick because it smelled very bad. When the bandage was off I looked at it. Parts of it looked dead and there was goo coming out of it. I looked at Yasmeen, "What do you think we should do?"

"Maybe we can wake Ben up and ask him." Yasmeen answered.

I shook Ben a little and he didn't wake up. "Try harder Zarika." So I shook him hard and he opened his eyes finally.

"Uhhh, hey, stop shaking me. That hurts." Ben said.

"Ben, I am happy you are awake. Your arm looks very bad, and we do not know what to do."

"Water, I need some water." Ben asked. So I gave him water and he drank four glasses. After drinking he said, "Where are we?"

"We're in the back of the truck on the way to Dushanbe." Yasmeen answered.

"Help raise me a little so I can look at my arm," Ben requested. Yasmeen and I put our hands under his back and slowly raised him and he made bad noises as we moved him. "Be gentle Yasmeen, you are hurting Ben." "I am being gentle, it is you that hurts Ben."

Ben yelled and scared us, "Girls, if you fight anymore you will not be my sisters. Do not make me yell again." He looked down at his arm, turned his head and threw up. Yasmeen let go of Ben, he fell back against his bed and went to sleep.

Flashback - Ben — Tajikistan Day Seventeen

Zarika woke me up and I was sick as hell. I'm not sure what happened but it seems like I've been asleep for a very long time - too long. I'm thirsty as hell and drink a bunch of water but it makes my stomach upset. I ask the girls to raise my head because I'm too sick and weak to do it myself but they start fighting with each other again.