Jaxson's entire being tensed as he considered these shocking words; his mind flooding suddenly with a rain of memories that shook him to the core. He was the one always in control. This was new to him.
He still wasn't certain as to exactly what had happened to him; but he did recall the mission gone bad, vaguely. He saw the flash. He heard the explosion. He felt the explosive thrash his body.
"Explain" he demanded, fixing his physician with a pleading yet assertive gaze.
The doctor sighed.
"According to your commanding officers, it was a quiet day. You were playing cards on deck with your best buddy, Tommy Lopez, when another officer alerted you to what appeared to be the presence of a fallen man underwater, a scuba diver they had thought," she recited the story as she'd heard it, voice barely above a whisper as she continued, "You discovered too late that below the ‘body' was a bomb."
Dr. Clarkson bit her lip.
"I'm very pleased some of your memory is returning, that's and excellent sign".
"What about my team?" Jax finally asked, judging by the expression on her face.
"I'm sorry to tell you, there was an incident with Lt. Thomas Lopez."
Jaxson nodded, impatiently. "And!?"
Dr. Clarkson shook her head. She explained, "Shortly after you dove overboard to save what you perceived to be a person in trouble, your ship's scanner detected the presence of the bomb-it was initially cloaked, and in the very place you were heading. Tommy immediately sprang to action, suiting up and diving in after you." She paused here,
"Tommy was right beside you when the bomb exploded. He had taken position between the bomb and yourself to shield you. He suffered the worst of the it. He's had internal injuries, and deep lacerations to the leg. At first doctors didn't think they would be able to save it, but they fortunately were. He is in ICU and has been in an induced coma for the last week. It's still touch and go."
Jaxson gasped.
"Oh no. Is his room close to mine? When can I see him? Will you take me to him now, please?" he begged.
Dr. Clarkson held her hands up before her, halting his barrage of inquiries with a firm gesture and somber eyes.
"I'm so sorry Jaxson," I can't do that. He's been moved to the Military hospital. They took him there so his wife could be by his side, since we know coma patients respond well to loved ones, speaking to them to lure them back."
The doctor shook her head.
"Now Jaxson, you've got to relax, seeing he was now becoming dizzy from reality setting in" she admonished him, adding as she raised an authoritative finger in his direction, "You can't do anything to help your friend right now. You've got to help yourself first. Rest and get your bearings and we'll begin the best course of rehab as soon as we can."
Jaxson buried his head in his hands, taking a deep sustaining breath as he considered her words of advice, begrudgingly.
"OK then," he exhaled finally, an unwilling acceptance as he looked his doctor straight in the eyes. "Tell me when I'll be getting out of this place." He paused here, adding in a stronger tone, "And back to active duty."
The doctor sighed.
"If all goes well Jaxson, we should be able to release you from the hospital in about three weeks," she revealed, adding as she shuffled her feet beneath her, "And when you leave here, you'll be going home."
Jaxson shook his head.
"Home? Why!?" he asked, confused. "For how long?"
Dr. Clarkson looked at him for a long moment, then let loose with a weary sigh that told the truth of the tale.
"Your injuries appear to be pretty extensive, Kid," she revealed, tone low and motherly. "It may be months or even a year before you return to the Seals." She paused here, and decided to keep her next statement to herself, "That is, if you ever go back".
CHAPTER THREE
One month later
The coming of nightfall found Jaxson once again in bed; and although this particular resting place seemed far more familiar, it supplied little comfort in the jarring context of a life turned upside down.
Staring up at the ceiling of his combination modern-contemporary four room apartment in downtown Miami, Jaxson considered the brutal shift of fate that-in the course of just a few weeks--had ripped his life apart.
Just a month and a half ago, he mused, he rode the high seas as a top and well respected Navy Seal; fulfilling a long held childhood dream that had developed into a lifetime career.
He'd never felt stronger, happier or more fulfilled; or more certain of his goal and destiny in what seemed a perfect life, for him.
Now he struggled every day, undergoing incessant rounds of intense physical therapy before dropping from exhaustion in the evenings. Yet even as the pain and fatigue eventually overtook him, still he found he couldn't sleep; his nocturnal hours cursed by frequent fits of insomnia as well as ceaseless nightmares, the explosion and near death experience weighing more heavily on him than he expected it would. He was tougher than this, he thought.
"No more," he decided now, pulling himself up from his bed as he faced the full length mirror that formed a far corner of his bedroom.
Thanks to his vigorous rounds of intense physical therapy, and extra albeit unobserved self-directed physical training, Jax managed to remain exceedingly fit despite circumstances; and due to some minor reconstructive surgery, his chiseled blue eyed face remained what the ladies might call strikingly handsome.
"I'm a Navy SEAL-and this is temporary, he decreed to himself and the Universe." he released with conviction. "I may be down now, but I am still a man."
Suddenly this man decided enough was enough. He was getting out of his luxury jail, given it wasn't on his terms, and decided instead on some action, women and beer. "Why not" he thought.
There's a new bar around the corner, Jax remembered. "No nightmares tonight, if I'm stuck here, I may as well remove sleep from the agenda, at least for tonight, anyway. After a good shower and a sound shave, I should be ready to make my own action", he thought, missing his buds from SEAL team 7. "This is out character for me", he decided to let that thought slide, forging a way through the frustration of downtime and a future of uncertainty.
CHAPTER FOUR
Once again Jaxson found himself wallowing in the sheets of his own bed; seeking a brief respite from the unmitigated hell his life had become.
Only this time, he wasn't alone.
Sharing his crisp, soft cotton sheets this morning was a slender bleached blonde with abnormally sizable breasts; one whose name he struggled to remember as he tried to gently shake her awake.
"Um, Miss?" he summoned her in a soft voice, uncomfortable with her presence in his bed.
Letting out a soft grunt, the woman opened her sleep-glazed eyes to focus on the man who disturbed her slumber.
"Hiii" she purred, she grasped his head with two rough hands and dragged it toward her; seizing his lips in a passionate kiss as he grumbled his protests.
"Ma'am!" he exclaimed, breaking their kiss as he sat away from her in bed. "I had a great time last night, but my mom is due here anytime this morning and I really think it might be awkward … .."
Jumping from his bed the disgruntled stranger pulled on her clothes-a simple shirt and jeans ensemble found at the edge of Jaxson's bed-as she seared him with a hardened gaze.
"You lied to me last night. You told me you were a Navy Seal," she spat out these last words with unmistakable venom before adding, "No Seal would kick a woman out of bed like this." He realized she was one of those ‘Seal hoppers', and he was a notch in her belt. How things had changed.
Within moments she cleared the room and grabbed the black purse that was hanging from Jaxson's door knob; slinging it over her shoulder as she opened his front door to reveal a most unwelcome sight.
Dorothy Palmer, a slender dark-haired woman wearing a proper blue dress with a conservative white sweater, stood in the doorway with mouth agape; staring wordless at the coarse young woman who swept past her into the hallway.
"He's all yours Mamma," the girl declared, heading with brisk steps out of his apartment and away from Jax, minus her unfulfilled morning desires, it seemed.
Moments later Jax lay quiet and still in his sheets; wishing fervent that his bed would open up and swallow him as his mother seared him with a condemning gaze.
"Mom," he finally spoke, his voice cracking as he attempted a casual shrug. "This isn't what it looks like. I swear."
His mother shook her head.
"This is indeed exactly what it looks like, and you have no need to explain," she assured him, adding as she folded her arms before her, "I don't know where my son is, but I really don't care for the irresponsible jerk who has taken his place. You stay out partying all night, bring home strange women, and you've skipped numerous physical therapy sessions. You won't go out and do something productive with your days-ah, but you seem well enough to trek out to the neighborhood bar, to get drunk and make the acquaintance of a sundry one night stand. Worst of all Jaxson Wayne, you refuse find the character you once had. Who the hell are you anyway?" she demanded to know, "and what have you done with my upstanding son!?"