C. Brown - Compromising

To the Troops! Thank you all for loving Alex and Cassie and making them what they are. J

Pretty Noose - Soundgarden

Uprising - Muse

Shadow of the Day - Linkin Park

Land of Confusion - Disturbed

Rooster - Alice in Chains

Like Youll Never See Me Again - Alicia Keys

I Stand Alone - Godsmack

Free - Zac Brown Band

Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day

Goodbye in Her Eyes - Zac Brown Band

Best of You - Foo Fighters

In Bloom - Nirvana

Black - Pearl Jam

Let Me Down Easy - Billy Currington

Creep -Radiohead

Gorilla - Bruno Mars

Over Now - Alice in Chains

Grillz - Nelly

Say It Aint So - Weezer

The Man I Want To Be - Chris Young

Like A Star - Corinne Bailey Rae

Fall For You - Secondhand Serenade

Friends in Low Places - Garth Brooks

Whatever You Like - T.I.

Love Me When Im Gone - 3 Doors Down

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

When Youre Gone - The Cranberries

21 Guns - Green Day

Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton

Mother Mother - Tracy Bonham

Wonderwall - Oasis

Sweet Annie - Zac Brown Band

Amazed - Lonestar

A Song For Mama - Boys II Men

Breathe Your Name - Sixpence None The Richer

Nothing Else Matters - Metallica

Id spent the night in a lonely, barren barracks room worried sick about Cassie, but placated by the soft, soothing sound of the word yes as I was herded out of her hospital room. The look in her eyesthe sheer panic had made me want to rush back to her, hold her in my arms, and let her know that everything would be okay.

But I couldnt.

I couldnt do a fucking thing besides walk out with Gunny Chavez and Gunny Bokowski. To say I was pissed off would have been a world class understatement. I wasnt pissed at them, per se, but I was pissed at First Sergeant OHara, and the cowardice that seemed to follow him like a foul stench. Id lost a bit of respect for the man as everything went down. After all of the insults and bullshit in his office, Id fully expected him to be the one to wrangle me in. Those chevrons on his collar hadnt done shit for his balls. For every chevron he wore, he lost some fucking cojones, and I just didnt think I could ever look at him the same.

My phone was confiscated from me, so I had no way of calling Cassie at the hospital, but as they marched me out of there, I was worried about one person.

Emmalyn fucking Bennett.

That walking disaster had strolled her ass in there, and lived up to every vile thing Cassie had already told me about her. The way shed had little to no compassion for Cassie and what she had just gone through made me sick with violence. My head could not come to grips with the woman. What kind of mother would treat her only child the way shed treated Cassie?

A bitch. That kind of woman.

I wanted to have Riley or Dalton go and sit in the hospital with her until she was cleared to leave. Only, I couldnt. Leaving her with her mother was like blood for a shark. Emmalyn possessed a specialized amount of hatred that seized me with fear, put my heart on hold, and sent ice through my veins. Thinking about her strung me tighter than guitar strings, and the accompanying anxiety had me ready to break shit, so I tried to occupy my mind, but there were only so many push-ups and sit-ups I could do before I grew bored with them. There was no TV in my room, so the blank walls were all I had and a few magazines. My guests had been cut-off and anywhere I needed to go was under the watchful eyes of the OODOfficer of the Day. It was as if Id murdered a Marine instead of simply fucked one, but truthfully, if Id had my way, that piece of shit, Allen would have been dead and gone.

My night had been long and tiresome. Partly because I was so worried about Cassie, but also because flashes of the attack came crashing back, taunting me with the fact that the motherfucker was still breathing. Cassie said he hadnt stuck his dick inside of her but I couldnt shake the visual of seeing his shit out and hard, and her huddled in the corner half-naked and crying. The fact that his shit got that close to her was bad enough. Id wanted to kick the life out of that prick, and if it hadnt been for Riley, I probably would have done it.

Besides being escorted to the chow hall and over to the seven day store, I wasnt seeing the outdoors. Those twenty-four hours felt like days. The OOD had brought my uniforms to me, but besides him Id had no outside communication. The bereft feeling was beginning to take hold of me, driving me fucking crazy with the ever present tick tock sounding off inside my head. My thoughts had begun to run wild, and at one point Id even thought that once I was free of this place, and ready to make Cassie my wife, she wouldnt want to go through with it. I kept imagining that shed said yes on a whim, that she hadnt exactly meant it, and that after shed had time to think everything through shed come to her senses and remember that we hadnt been together for very long, and that marriage at this point was a bad idea.

If I werent already feeling the pain from my broken knuckle, Id have punched the fucking wall. As enticing as the prospect of making another trip back to the hospital sounded, I knew it would be in vain. I knew that Id be watched like a hawk, and any attempts at getting back to Cassie would be thwarted.

So

I was left to rot in the prison cell that they called a barracks room and wait for my judgment day. The consequences of my forbidden relationship with Cassie were not what had me so worried, but where we would end up after the dust finally settled. Cassie was the only thing on my mind, and not being able to speak to her was damn near destroying me.

Monday morning came, and I was awakened by the pounding sounds on my door. I couldnt recall falling asleep the night before. Staff Sergeant. Ryanlast nights OODstood on the other side letting me know that he was getting ready to turn over to Staff Sergeant. Mitchell, and that I would be escorted down to First Sergeant OHaras office by him. I nodded my head and shut the door, then made my way into the bathroom where I showered and then proceeded to get dressed.

I wasnt going to run, and I didnt need a sitter. Surely there was something much more pressing that these guys could have been doing with their time besides watching over me. Instead of voicing my frustrations, I went along for the ride, playing the hardened criminal who couldnt be let out of anyones sight. If this shit werent keeping me away from Cassie, I probably would have laughed at it.

Good morning, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant. Mitchell greeted me as I walked out of the room and to the duty hut with him.

Good morning, Staff Sergeant, I coolly responded.

He signed me out in the fucking log book as if I were a piece of equipment being rented for the day. All I could do was shake my head as he led me down the duty vehicle, then over to the chow hall for breakfast.

So you know you are to grab breakfast, eat quickly, and then get over to First Sergeant OHaras office?

Yes, Staff Sergeant, I am aware.

Okay. I will be waiting for you out here.

I stepped out of the vehicle and walked into the chow hall that was filled with Marines who looked unusually gleeful for such an early Monday morning. That happiness further eroded my already pissed off mood, and I hurried to get in line and grab my food, so I could go and deal with the prick who was missing a set of balls.

Hey, Alex, hows it going? I heard about everything that happened.