Chapter Eleven

                The weekends away continued, the next weekend they were back in Abilene, a different hotel this time though. Friday had been sports day, everyone on base that was in training was required to attend. Most students though spend the day just enjoying the fact that they weren’t in class. It was the second sports day since Michael and Sam had arrived, this time though Sam would be leaving base with the rest of the casuals to do volunteer work. Getting volunteer hours that could later be used on her EPR wasn’t exactly a bad thing, especially since she would be away from the mandatory fun and in civvies instead of PT gear. Being away from Michael on one of the last days they had together before they started separate shifts did put a damper on the experience however.

                Having been outside all morning and well into the afternoon Sam had gotten a pretty nasty sunburn on the back of her neck, the only place that she hadn’t put sun screen. Upon arriving in Abilene they lounged in their room, mostly watching TV, until Sam’s sunburn really started to bother her. At her complaint Michael told her to retrieve the aloe Vera cream from her backpack, remove her t-shirt and lay down on the bed. When she had done so he released the clasp on her bra and gently rubbed the green goop into the burned skin before continuing down her back; finding knots and doing his best to work them out.

                After the brief massaged ended Michael moved up to the head of the bed while Sam righted herself before joining him and nestling into his chest.

***

                Time away from base was something that the happy couple always looked forward to, even if it just an hour or two at “their” park. As nice as the weekend of the twenty-second had been it was only twenty-four hours away from base. The weekend that started on the twenty-ninth, Memorial Day weekend, was a three day weekend. That meant that following Sam’s first week back in class she would have two full days away from base and alone with the man that she loved.

                Michael was excited to be reunited with his girl and had made special plans for the weekend. They would be going to Dallas, well Plano, Texas, staying in a suite, and going ice skating at the rink in the local mall. Michael had never been skating, it wasn’t very big in the part of California that he was from, Sam however loved to skate and had talked about how she missed it and wanted to be back on the ice. So because Sam enjoyed and had her skates in Texas with her Michael was willing to try.

                Now, technically B shift wasn’t supposed to leave base until ten am on Saturdays if they were going out of town, but because Sam wouldn’t be driving the MTLs had decided to allow her to leave early. Before she went to bed she had packed her bag for the weekend away so that as soon as she woke up she and Michael could start their alone time.

                When they arrived at their hotel Sam’s mom called, Sam spoke with her for a while and learned that her youngest sister was sick, allergic to almost everything. While Sam was on the phone Michael fell asleep on her chest. She closed her phone to end the call and for a few minutes just watched Michael sleep; he was so adorable. The nap soon ended though and after a quick bite to eat they left for the mall and the skating rink.

                Sam was glad to be back in skates again, when she had finished tying hers she pulled the laces of Michael’s skates tight before walking towards the ice. As the cool air hit her so did the smell of the ice; her third favorite scent, it followed the  Mellon Arena and fire. Michael did well for his first time on the ice. At the beginning he stayed close to the boards, but the more time he spent on the ice the more comfortable he got. In the end he only fell once. After a while his wrist began to hurt from the fall so they shed their skates and Sam took Michael to the truck to wrap his wrist. They returned back inside the mall and began to explore. It was a large mall but only a few of the stores were of any interest to either Michael or Sam.

                Skating as well as the long drive had taken a lot out of them so they decided to go to bed at a reasonable time that night. The next morning they got changed and ate before heading back to the mall for more skating.

                Once they were tired they left the ice and went off in search of somewhere to eat lunch, The Cheesecake Factory was their final decision. When they had finished eating they made their way back down to the first floor, but instead of making a left and going towards the parking lot Michael guided Sam to the right, to Build-a- Bear.

                Together they picked out, stuffed, fluffed, and dressed a small brown bear. The outfit they chose was that of a hockey player, but because they were in Texas and close Dallas the only two hockey options were plain or that of the Dallas Stars; they chose the plain red and blue jersey and pants. Once they had tied little bows in the skate laces and  connected the Velcro on the strap of the helmet Michael squeezed the bear’s hand. “I love you, Sam, and I always will.” Sam smiled, she would have a part of Michael with her all of the time while he was thousands of miles away.

                “What do you want to name it?” Michael asked as they approached the computers to fill out the form.

                “I don’t know,” Sam shrugged, “You?” In the end they decided to name the bear Hailey Marie, this is what they had decided about a month earlier that they would name their daughter, if and when they had one.

               

                Sam asked for a back massage and Michael told her to remove her sleep shirt and lay down with her head at the foot of the bed. He unclasped her bra and when his hands touched her skin a shiver rolled down her spine. “I love you,” Sam said as she sat up.

                “I love you too, baby,” he said looking into her eyes and not at her exposed breasts. “You ready for bed?”

                Sam nodded and put her bra and t-shirt back on before moving to the head of the bed and into Michael’s arms. They kissed goodnight and had fully intended on going to sleep, that is until Sam brought up Korea. “What if something happens to you? I can’t lose you.”

                “You’re not going to lose me, I promise.” Michael pulled Sam closer, as much as he didn’t want to think about it Korea wasn’t exactly the safest place to be going. A South Korean ship had sunk and the blame was put on the North, as was to be expected tension was thick.

                The conversation continued for a while, they eventually fell asleep at around three am. The sleep, as restful as it was, didn’t last very long. It was Monday, the last day that they had off, which meant that they had a GI party that night. Wanting to put off leaving as long as was absolutely possible they stayed in bed, their lips eventually finding each other.

                The kiss was deep, passionate, and intense. There had been smoldering kindling between the two of them from the very moment that they met, even if neither of them had known it at the time. That kindling had finally ignited dry logs, the fire was roaring and would never go out. They had started out sitting up but were soon laying and Michael, as if pulled, moved over Sam. They had thought that their weekend in Odessa was intense, this however was the most passion that either had felt in their entire life. There was no thinking, hands moved, Michael’s to Sam’s breasts and Sam’s to the nape of Michael’s neck, knotting her fingers in his hair. An unknown amount of time passed before Sam’s shirt and bra were removed and Michael’s lips and teeth took over where his hands had been.

                Sam was beside herself, she had never felt anything like this before. Michael moved to the side and since his hands were free on slowly grazed her stomach and soon was over her most private of places. She knew that she should push his hand away, tell him to stop, something. She just couldn’t do it, everything felt too good. Besides she knew that she would be with Michael for the rest of her life, if things were to go all the way he would be her first and only.

                When Michael asked if he could remove Sam’s shorts and underwear Sam was a bit apprehensive, but soon nodded in approval. Now they were both naked and after a minute or two of teasing Michael finally slid a finger inside of her, Sam letting out a gasp of pleasure telling Michael to continue. After bringing her over the edge twice Michael caught a glimpse of the clock, they needed to be on the road soon. “We should shower, we need to leave soon.” Leaving was the last thing that he wanted to do, spending the rest of his life like this with her would be more than enough.

                Once in the shower they unintentionally were lost in a kiss again. There was a seat in the shower and soon they found themselves on it, Sam straddling Michael. Before anything could really happen Sam found herself at the brink again. Michael was happy with the events of the morning, but slightly upset that he was unable to achieve release. There would always be more weekends away, they could pick up where they left of today next weekend.

                “I love you,” Michael said kissing Sam before closing the passenger side door after they had finished showering, packed , and checked-out.

                “I love you too, Michael, I really, really do.”

                                                                                           

Chapter Ten

A few weeks earlier the entire class had received their base assignments, almost everyone had received one to Osan, Korea. Every few days though someone was told to go to personnel to pick up their new assignment paperwork. It was the beginning of May and neither Michael nor Sam’s assignments had changed. After phone calls and trips to the clinic they both had an appointment for their mandatory shots. After leaving the school house early they ‘marched’ to the clinic to receive their shots.

The next morning when their instructor came into the room he read from the mass e-mail, “Smith, you need to go to MPF to pick up your RIP.”

“I already did.”

“It’s what the e-mail says.”

Sam turned to Michael, “Fine, we’ll go at lunch.”

Lunch finally came and they ‘marched’ to personnel, a change RIP awaited Sam. She skimmed the sheet of paper and the words Beale, California were like a knife through her heart. Michael was the only one in their class that still had an assignment to Korea. Of course there was still time for him to try to get his assignment changed, switch with someone who was going to Beale so that he could be with Sam. But what if he couldn’t?

“Beale,” she said weakly. “If they were going to do this why couldn’t they have done it two days ago? The day after I get the fucking shots, seriously?!” All Michael could do was shrug.

***

A week and a half later Sam, Michael and their whole class waited to take the hardest test yet. They had spent three long weeks studying OB (order of battle), tanks, airplanes, stuff like that. The instructor for this particular block had not been very good which only added to Sam’s nerves. Both she and Michael did their best, turned in their answer sheets, and went to the break room for the last person to finish their test. Michael had finished before Sam so when she sat down next to him he asked, “How do you think you did?”

Normally she had felt fairly confident after all of the tests in this class, even the one that both she and Michael as well as two other people in their class had almost failed. This time however was different, very different. “I’m pretty sure I failed.” She had a heavy feeling in stomach and the longer they sat in the small room the worse it got. “You?”

“I don’t know, and I’m sure you did fine.”

Finally the last person came to the break room to tell everyone to come back. Sam sat at her desk twirling her thumbs nervously as the instructor handed back the graded tests. The half sheets of paper were placed face down on the desk in front of Michael and Sam, Michael turned his over first. A sigh of relief, he had passed.

Sam turned her paper over to find a less satisfying sight. Her heart sank. She had failed. She dropped the paper onto Michael’s desk and leaned back in her chair. What happened next was what she had feared, “Everyone turn in your papers and the three of you who failed go up to the instructor office.

“I’ll see you later,” Sam slowly stood up.

Michael nodded, “I love you.”

“I love you too.” With that she joined the other two who had failed in the hall to wait for their instructor to take them upstairs.

Once they were in the office the ‘lead instructor’ lectured them on how they were failures and that there were thousands of people currently doing the job that they were training for, if those thousands could do it why couldn’t they? Next he asked them why they had failed. What was one supposed to say? ‘I failed because I didn’t know the answers.’ That’s what Sam thought but she certainly didn’t say it out loud. Finally Sgt. Lewis told them that normally he would let them take the second version of the test but because he was in a bad mood he would be washing them back.

For the second time that day Sam’s heart sank. She would no longer be in the same class as Michael. She would have to repeat the entire three weeks of the class and go to study hall twice a week for the next month. Just as she thought that things couldn’t get any worse Sgt. Lewis spoke again, “You’ll be starting class again on the 24^th on B shift.” B shift, now she would never get to see Michael. If they would at least still be on the same shift they could see each other after class and at lunch. Now dinner and weekends would be the only time that they could see each other.

Once they were dismissed Sam returned to the classroom to find it empty. She grabbed her things from her desk and made her way back to the dorms as quickly as possible. One of the others who had been with her had elected to take the note to the MTLs that explained why they hadn’t been at formation. With that being taken care of Sam quickly went to her room and texted Michael while changing out of her uniform. ‘I’ll meet you in the laundry room.’

“How’d it go?”

“I start class again on the 24^th.”

“They’re not going to let you re-test?”

“Sgt. Lewis said that he was in a bad mood so he washed us back. That’s not even the worst of it; I’m going to B shift.” Sam couldn’t hold it in anymore, a single tear slid slowly down her cheek. She threw herself into Michael’s arms and the tears really began to fall. “This sucks.”

“It does, but I promise we’ll get through it.” He tightened his grip around her.

Outside as if to reflect Sam and Michael’s emotion the sky had turned black. The rain began slowly, just as Sam’s tears, but in an instant it turned into a torrential downpour. Sam and Michael both knew that things wouldn’t always be easy, but they didn’t want to know if things could get worse.

***

Saturday morning brought the start of another trip, this time they would be going to Odessa and staying in a suite. Sam was excited because Michael would be cooking for her for the first time. Just as they had in previous weeks they left base as soon as possible and made a short stop at the store to get food.

They spent the rest of the morning watching TV and following a delicious lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup they put in a movie and got comfortable on the bed. After a while either Sam or Michael, it doesn’t really matter which, leaned in to kiss the other. They were lying next to each so not much leaning was necessary. One slowly slid their tongue over the other’s lip and that’s all it took for the other to open their mouth, inviting the prying tongue in.

The kissing continued and soon Sam found herself lying on top of Michael. She certainly didn’t mind being there and he didn’t seem to mind either. Soon Michael needed to switch spots with Sam. Certain things were getting hard to hide with her being on top. Hard being the operative word. This was the first time that he had ever thought about having sex with her. He wouldn’t do anything now of course; but he could definitely see the two of them like this, minus the clothing however.

Sam was thinking along the same lines.

Completely ignoring the movie the kissing continued until it was time to make dinner. After dinner the kissing resumed and continued until they decided to go to bed.

After the next morning the resumed their spots on the bed, they didn’t want to leave until they absolutely had to. Weekends were the only time that they alone. Of course they were able to go off base and spend time at the park, but they only had a few hours and they were in public. On weekends they were all alone for twenty-four hours.

Back on the bed they had of course been kissing. Michael slid his hand under Sam’s shirt slowly grazed up her stomach and came to a stop at her breast. Over the bra of course. “Is this okay?”

The last guy that Sam had dated, the clingy one, had done this and she had wanted to smack him. With Michael though, it just felt right. “Mhm.” It was so okay with her that she left him wiggle his way to under her bra.

They were enjoying themselves but sadly the time to leave was quickly getting closer. They took a break from kissing to quickly back what they had brought with them. A few more kisses were exchanged before they decided that they really did need to leave soon.

Michael sat down on the couch and brought Sam onto his lap. His hands rested at the hem of her t-shirt, “May I?”

Sam knew what he wanted but she was nervous. When it came to her breasts Sam was more self-conscious than most. Yes they were of a reasonable size, but size was exactly the problem. They were two different sizes. “Go ahead.”

He lifted her shift and bra, “They’re perfect, I promise. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

With that Sam’s shirt was put back down and one more weekend trip was in the books.

Chapter Nine

It's a little shorter than normal, but there's not a lot of detail to put into this part. Hope the few of you enjoy it though.


Chapter Nine

The next morning Michael knew not to bother Sam until after 11; she liked to sleep as much as possible, especially on the weekends. While he waited for Sam to wake up and text him he got online to look at rings. He had been thinking about proposing for quite a while but something about the night before had felt right. If he had planned it he would have gotten the ring beforehand.

Sam’s best friend Cassie was online and when Michael found a decent ring he sent her the link. When he finally found the perfect one he knew it right away. It was a simple silver ring, but that’s what she had said she wanted. He sent the link to the picture to Cassie and anxiously awaited her opinion. “It’s amazing, she’ll love it.”

Michael immediately ordered it and continued to talk to Cassie until Sam woke up. Sam talked to him on AIM while she got ready, “What have you been up to today?”

“Been talking to Cassie.”

“Cool, about?”

“Stuff. What would you say if I were to get you an engagement ring?”

“I would tell you that you don’t need to.”

“I hate not being able to keep secrets from you. I got you a ring.” To the message he attached the link to the picture of the ring.

When the picture opened on her screen Sam’s eyes lit up, it was perfect. “It’s beautiful. You know you didn’t have to.” There was no winning with him.

***

Wednesday during lunch on the way back from the chow hall Michael and Sam stopped at the Post Office to check their mail. The delivery time varied daily, but it was worth a try to see if it had already gotten there. This time in particular it had definitely been worth it. The ring had arrived. Michael took the small box from the bigger one, put it in his pocket, and they ‘marched’ back to the school house.

As usual they were the first ones from their class to get back and when they returned to their classroom they left the lights off, it was too bright with them on. Michael pulled the box from his pocket, “Do you want to look at it?”

“No, I’ll wait until this weekend.” She turned towards the wall and away from Michael.

He opened the box and inside was small, beautiful, silver ring. “It looks even better than it did online, are you sure you don’t want to see it?” Sam nodded.

They heard the clicking of someone putting in the code to get into the room and Michael quickly put the ring back in his pocket. Just like they had when they started dating they didn’t want anyone in their class to know.

***

Saturday morning just before six o’clock Sam and Michael grabbed their bags before meeting in CQ to sign out of the squadron and were soon on their way, once again to Abilene. Before arriving at their hotel they stopped at the store for snacks and something to have for lunch. After checking in and putting everything down in their room Michael got ready to propose for the third and final time. This time was nothing like the first; no nerves, no worries. This time was only because of the ring.

Michael took the ring from his bag and dropped down to his knee again. “Sam, for the last time will you marry me?”

“I will.” With that he slid the ring onto her finger. It was beautiful. The only problem was that it was a bit loose; the fingers on her left hand were smaller than the ones on her right, she and Cassie had only known her ring size for her right hand.

“We’ll get It re-sized,” Michael said. “But do you like it?”

“I love it and you.”

“I love you too.”

The next day after the GI party they took the ring to the store in the mall to get re-sized. After being given a hard time because the ring had been bought online Michael and Sam walked out of the store ring less. “I may not have had it that long but not it feels weird not having anything on my left hand.”

Michael took the ring from her right hand and placed it on her left hand once again, it wasn’t an engagement ring but it would have to do as a place holder until they could get the real one back. It would be a long week.

Chapter Eight

“You gonna do it?” Michael asked when the paper made it to their desk.

“I guess, we’ll need it for our EPR.” With that they both signed the sheet of paper that was almost full of names. Saturday they would be doing some sort of volunteer activity—all they were told was that they would be fixing houses for people in the area who needed it. That could mean anything… painting, replacing carpet?

Saturday morning came; Sam and Michael donned jeans, hoodies and their boots, and were off to the meeting place for everyone who signed up. At least one hundred people filled a parking lot at a warehouse, more people than either Michael or Sam had expected. Upon finding the table that displayed their ‘team name’ they followed suite; signed the sheet of paper that had been taped to the table so that the strong wind that was causing everything else to blow around to not come to the same fate, picked up a white t-shirt, and ate a somewhat cold, fairly decent breakfast burrito.

Sam and Michael recognized a few people, most people however they had only seen in passing if at all. Students and instructors alike continued to arrive for twenty more minutes before instructions were given: quite quietly even though given over a bullhorn, addresses were handed out and everyone was off to their ‘build site’.

When the team leader arrived on scene ‘assignments’ were given out; Michael and Sam would be working together to fix a door. One wouldn’t think that it would take three people to handle removing an old back door and putting a new one in place, this one however did, and then some. The screen door brought the most trouble. The project was completed after many long hours and two trips to Home Depot.

“We’re supposed to be done by now,” Sam was anxious to get back to base. “The game.” The Penguins were taking on the Ottawa Senators that night and Sam had thought that she had already missed enough games that season.

“We’ll make it, stop worrying.”

Sam looked from Michael to her ten dollar BMT watch and back again. “We better.”

When the bed of the truck was full they finally took off for the warehouse once again. The leftover supplies were taken inside and once the task was complete Sam tapped her foot anxiously the whole ride back to base. “Thank God.”

Michael ran to his room to grab his computer and charger and back again. The short drive from their dorms to the event center lasted longer than normal and when they finally arrived Sam breathed a sigh of relief, ten minutes to spare.

A small group of Pens fans had gathered in the large room to watch the game, Sam would actually get to watch this game on TV. As great as that was, it was being broadcasted on Versus, number two in the ranks of sports networks, followed only by NBC.

Ottawa scored the first three goals, one in the first and two in the second. Things were not looking good for the Pens. It was game six, but they lead the series three games to two so even if they lost tonight they had another change to end the series. Game seven was not what they want though; they wanted this to end tonight.

Matt Cooke scored just over a minute after the Sens third goal to get the Pens on the board. Two more goals were scored in the third period to take it to overtime. Overtime as always, was a bittersweet thought. Another chance to win, but unlike during the regular season, if you didn’t win nothing would be awarded to your team. The intermission between the third period and overtime drug on, but finally the puck was dropped again.

Pascal Dupuis scored to end the game and the series half-way through the overtime period. Everyone was excited, all of the Pens’ fans that is, they had once again defeated the Sens in the playoffs.

It had been a long day, with not a lot of food. The breakfast burritos had been okay that morning, lunch however was less than satisfying; sandwiches and chips. Their original plan had been to grab food from the chow hall before the game but because they had been in such a rush they decided to forgo food. This being said both Sam and Michael were hungry. There was only one choice for nourishment this late in the small town, well two if you count Wal-Mart, the choice they made however was Wendy’s.

After their hamburgers and fries were handed through the drive-thru window it was off to their park. The fast food was devoured in the truck and shortly following it completion Sam and Michael made their way to the swing set. For a few minutes they both swung as high as they could, but just as it had for the last few years actually swinging caused Sam’s head to hurt. Slowing down to a gentle swinging motion by dragging her feet Sam announced her headache. “Can I see your ring for a minute?” Michael asked.

“Sure,” she slid the ring from her finger and placed it in Michael’s hand. “I’ll go get you something for your head.” He went to the truck to grab painkillers and water and returned to the swings.

Sam took the medicine and few moments passed before Michael stood up again. “I love you,” he said before taking her hand and getting down on one knee, Sam standing but still leaning against the swing. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, Sam, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she kissed him and put her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Hang on can I get up, this is starting to hurt.” Michael stood and they hugged again before he slid the ring back onto Sam’s finger and they went to the grass to sit and look at the water. Sam was happy but wasn’t sure if Michael had meant for now or for later, they had talked about it a lot but had agreed that they would wait. Just to make sure she sent a text asking if he had been serious. Most probably the best way to go, but she had always been the type to type things than say or ask them out loud.

Michael read the text and as he did worry came crashing around him. ‘Shit she didn’t think I was serious.’ To make his feelings clear he made her stand before saying, “How’s this for, for real, Sam, will you marry me? For real.”

“I will,” Sam said happily. They lay on the grass for a while just looking up at the stars and talking. Before the night was over Sam sent a text to best friend Cassie that read, ‘We’re engaged.’