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Chapter 7



The surrounding noise had stopped and wide eyes searched out faces as thoughts of this being "the end of the fight" slammed into everyone's mind. William found himself actually holding his breath as he waited and when he saw one of his troop mates stand he lifted his gun as the others did.



The crackle of burning fires and the occasional cry of agony were the only sounds to be heard as the troop leader stood and surveyed the area. He took a cautionary step forward, looking around the area before smiling when seeing no one. Turning back to the others, he smiled at his men before his eyes grew larger and the sound of bullets rang out through the deserted streets.



William watched in horror as another man was killed. He closed his eyes, not able to watch the sight of another bloody body slumping lifelessly to the ground and as he heard the clamor of his fallen leader's gun hit the ground, the shouts of the other men rang out amongst the loud blaring as their weapons were fired.



Opening his eyes, William turned as the others did and shots rang out through the streets and the chaos began anew. Lifting his gun, he pulled the trigger, firing into the young men that had positioned themselves behind his troop. With every jolt his weapon made a new horror was etched into his mind forever.





~*~*~*~*~*~*~






Buffy walked toward town with a wide smile on her face. She had received another letter the previous day and she was still on a high from it. William had been gone for eight months now and his letter's came regularly with her receiving one each week. The long length of time it took the letters to arrive always had her reading of things that had happened the month before, but as long as the letters continued to arrive, she wasn't going to complain.



Every few nights she wrote to him, telling him of things that were happening around town and in her life. Sometimes the occasional embarrassing comment would make it onto the paper and no matter what she felt at the time, William's response would send her into a fit of giggles and a smile that ached, as he also told her of his feelings.



Her mother was still adamant of her not thinking too much into the whole thing, telling her that he was too old for her, but she thought otherwise. She was sixteen now and almost a woman. The makings of her first "real" love was blossoming and no matter how much she wanted to share the news, she felt the need to keep it to herself. No one, not even Willow, held out too much hope of William ever returning from Vietnam and the very notion sent Buffy into a fury. She would never believe that as she waited patiently for the day when the letter came saying he was returning.



"Morning Mrs. Baker," Buffy smiled as she passed the bookstore on her way to the diner.



"Good morning dear," Mrs. Baker smiled. "How's your mother?"



"She's good," Buffy said. "Is Mr. Baker still ill?"



"He's doing much better now," Mrs. Baker replied. "Thank your mother for the soup."



"I will," Buffy said as she continued on her way. Turning the corner, her smile was still present as she passed the shops on Main Street. There wasn't a window that wasn't decorated in red, white and blue and the sight always made her think of "her soldier".



As she passed Mr. Davis' bakery, Buffy stopped as the window display finally caught her attention. Turning back, she took the few steps back to the window and she felt her heart break. There, sitting in the window was a picture of Brian Davis in his army uniform. The picture wasn't what upset her; it was the death notice that accompanied it.



He had been killed in action and before Buffy even had time to process the thought, tears sprang to her eyes as she looked at the memorial. Taking a step backwards, Buffy turned slowly and started walking again. The words on the memorial echoed through her mind and her thoughts immediately turned to William. As thoughts of his death surfaced, she found her tears falling faster before she starting running.





~*~*~*~*~*~*~




"Pretty girl," Thomas said smiling as he took the seat across from William.



William looked up from the letter he was writing and gave a smile before looking at Buffy's picture. He wondered if he was the only one there to carry a picture with them at all times. Looking back up, he couldn't help to smile bigger as Thomas produced his own picture from his shirt pocket.



"This is my Katie," Thomas said, smiling. "There's not a minute that goes by that I don't wonder what she's doing."



"She's quite beautiful," William told him as he looked down at the brunette in the picture.



"That she is," Thomas smiled.



William watched him as he picked the picture back up and stared at it before the clamor of people coming inside the room caught his attention and he looked toward them. It was Angel and his goons and the involuntary eye-roll from William didn't go unnoticed.



"Don't pay him any mind," Thomas said, looking over toward Angel before returning his attention back to William. "The guy's just asking for a beat down and apparently the only person he feels up to taking on is you."



William chuckled at that, knowing full and well that if Angel did decide to pick a fight, he'd be put down in no time. "Yeah well, remind me again why I shouldn't run every time I see him then?"



"Because he's a waste of space," Thomas said. "The only thing he has on you is height and strength."



"And that makes me feel so much better," William chuckled before returning to his letter.



"Hey, it's not like you don't have the tools here to make a stand against him."



"Yeah, guess I could always shoot him in the back," William mumbled under his breath.



Thomas laughed as he glanced over at Angel before looking back to William. Sure William was smaller than Angel, but he had seen the guy in action and knew with the right amount of training and confidence, Angel would be no match for him. Smiling to himself, he picked up Buffy's picture.



"So, is this your girlfriend or your wife?" Thomas asked, grinning.



"Neither," William smiled as he looked up. "I met her when I stopped over in this little town on my way to the base."



Thomas chuckled at that as he stared at Buffy's picture. "Love at first sight then?" He asked before William looked up at him and smiled before returning to his letter. "It is possible, you know?"



"What's possible?" William asked as he continued writing.



"Love at first sight," Thomas said. "That's the way it was for me and Katie. I saw her and knew instantly that we'd be together forever."



"Really?" William asked, amused.



"Yeah. I met her the week before I shipped out," Thomas told him. "We spent every minute we could together and the day before I left, I married her."



"You knew her a week and married her?" William asked, surprised.



"That I did," Thomas said, smiling. "And I'd do it over again if given the chance."



William looked at Buffy's picture as Thomas laid it back down on the table. He had asked himself a thousand times what he really felt for Buffy and somewhere in the back of his mind wondered if it were possible to fall in love with someone you had only seen once, but Thomas seemed to think he could.



The past eight months of writing to Buffy had left him almost emotionally drained trying to figure out why he missed her so much when he barely even knew her. Sure, they shared a lot in their letters and there wasn't anything about him that Buffy didn't know. He had opened his soul to her and she had done the same. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't consume his thoughts and as he looked at her picture the need to see her again was staggering.



"Yep, he's in love," Thomas laughed as he stood up.



"What?" William asked as he looked up.



"If you feel it in your bones, then it's real," Thomas told him. "Love isn't something you can ration out. It's either there or it isn't."



William watched as Thomas walked away before he looked down and picked up Buffy's picture. He studied her features and a soft sigh escaped him before he smiled.



Chapter 8



November 1, 1967





Hello William,



I hate that this letter won’t reach you for another month. I’ve been so confused lately, not to mention frightened. The news reports are depressing and it seems like the list of missing or dead is increasing every hour.



Our little town hasn’t escaped from that tragedy either. I saw a memorial today in the bakery window. Brian Davis was eighteen and I instantly thought of you when I saw it. I’ve tried to not think of the danger you’re in or how bad things are over there but every once in a while something will happen and it all comes crashing down around me. I’m so scared William. I’m scared you won’t come back. That I’ll never get to see you again or tell you how much you mean to me.



My mother keeps insisting that it’s just a crush and that I’ll get over you soon, but I won’t. You’ll always be in my thoughts. I know I’m young but I know what I feel. I know that my heart aches for you and I cry more tears than I should. I love you William and I miss you. Come home to me.



Buffy





William was glad he was the only person in the tent as he read Buffy’s last letter because he didn’t want to try and explain his tears to anyone. He tried so many times to tell her how he felt and it always came out wrong. Poetry seemed so right at the time but after rereading what he had wrote, he had torn the letters up. He thought not telling her at all would be best in case something did happen to him but knew if something did, he’d want her to know. After talking to Thomas he finally settled for just blurting it out and waiting. The worst that could happen would be for her to ignore it but now he knew she felt the same.



He had told her in a letter three weeks back and now he held in his hands her true feelings. She loved him. She hadn’t even mentioned his admission which meant she hadn’t seen it yet. He had been scared that she would think him insane and being in the hell he had been living in the thought had crossed his mind, but now he couldn’t help but miss her more. His beautiful girl loved him and missed him as much as he missed her.



Not wasting another minute, William grabbed his stationary and pen and started writing to her. He knew the length of time it took for the letters to finally make it to her varied depending on where he was, but he couldn’t wait to talk to her. To tell her again how much he loved her.





~*~*~*~*~*~*~



October 20, 1967



Hey pet,



Have I told you how much I hate it here? Fighting all day, looking over your shoulder to keep from getting shot and the one place you think you’re safe, you’re not. I bunk with the biggest horses’ asses there are. Angel and his crew need to be left in the jungle with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They make it their life long mission to make this whole experience as miserable as possible. I could almost forget where I’m at when I’m here in the bunk, but not when he’s here.



Thomas is the only person here that I can tolerate spending any time with. Speaking of Thomas, he just sat down….



Can you believe he married a girl he met right before shipping out? Say’s love at first sight is possible. I wouldn’t have thought so, but after seeing you, I know it is. I’ve wanted to tell you for so long how much you mean to me, but the words never come so I’ll just say it. I love you Buffy. You’re all I think about, dream about. You’re the only thing that keeps me fighting. I carry your picture with me always and spend more time looking at it than I should. It’s gonna get me killed one of these days, but when I do go, knowing your face was the last thing I saw will be worth it.



Well, guess I’ll go for now. I’m feeling sort of nervous now that I’ve spilled my secret and I’m not sure how much longer I can keep the pen steady, so until next time.



William



Buffy laid back on the bed with a huge smile spread across her face. She sighed deeply, closing her eyes and picturing his face. He loved her. She knew her letter hadn’t reached him yet and he had said it first. He loved her. William was in love with her.



Standing quickly, she rushed to her desk and grabbed her stationary and pulled out a fresh sheet of paper. With shaking hands, she started her third letter of the week.





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