Bullet To The Heart

Sister Like a Devil

Sister like a DevilElliothad never seen so much open land that wasn't overtaken by war, the fields offlowers, and the mountains and farm lands, he had never seen a place sopeaceful and beautiful.

"Weonly got another' hour to go" Randy said, his hands still wound inElliot's, neither of the men tried to pull away once Randy had reached out tocomfort the soldier. Elliot noticed that Randy's hands were soft, strangely sofor a farmer. Elliot's own hands were slightly worn, scars traced his left handfrom shielding his face from an ammo shed being blown up. But the coolness ofRandy's hand was addicting, just how the warmth of José's was.

"Areyou nervous?" Randy asked.

"Forsome reason, yes" Elliot played with Randy's fingers.

"Don'tbe, my family is a wonderful group of people, they welcomed Carson with openarms, and the town is rather sweet as well"

"I'llbe okay" Elliot breathed, "as long as you're with me"

"Aslong as you're here, I'll be with you" Randy smiled and brought Elliot'shand to his lips, he pressed a soft kiss to Elliot's knuckles and kept his new-foundcompanions’ hand in his lap, intertwined with his own hand.

Therest of the ride was filled with Elliot asking questions about certain flowers,farm fields, animals, and other things. Randy drove the truck into the driveway of his family's barn and found himself lingering before unwinding hisfingers from Elliot and opening the rusty door.

"We'rehere" Randy said and Elliot took a deep breath and stepped out of thetruck. His feet landed lightly on the ground and he rose a brow at the brightgreen grass he was standing on.

"Softhuh" Randy snickered and pulled Elliot's bag from the bed of his truck andstarted walking towards the two-story red paneled house.

"Eventhe sand in the desert wasn't this soft" Elliot mused and stepped away tofollow Randy. Randy didn't hear his comment and he was happy, no matter howhard Elliot tried to get his time in war out of his mind he could related itback to every second of his new everyday life.

Hecaught up to Randy who was opening to door, he walked in and Elliot followed,"I'm home!" Randy cheered, and the stomping of feet made Elliotstraighten up. A girl with long wavy blond hair trampled down the stairs and lungedto wrap her thin arms around her brother's torso.

"HeyLizzy, I was only gone a day" Randy hugged his sister back and she pulledaway, "maw and pa are speaking with the father about Carson andHarry"

"Awe,have you eaten?" Randy asked worriedly, Elliot smiled at the sweetness,Randy was a caregiver, a lover, he was someone people could count on. Elliotfrowned at a sudden realization, if they were to ever...be somethingmore...Randy would want to stay here, in this town, with his family.

"Mawleft lunch, but it's rounding supper time and they aren't back yet, and Blakeis out on the town"

"Ofcourse, that bugger is out on the town" Randy shook his head, his voicestill thick with affection, "I'll make you something, please take Elliotupstairs to my room"

Lizzylooked at Elliot, the man staggering into a soldier like position and lookingat the teenage girl, she squinted and flashed a fake smile and nodded,releasing her hold on her older brother and gesturing for Elliot to pick up hisbag. He did, and Randy squeezed his arm and he started to walk after the 15-year-old.

Thestairs were covered in light oak wood and the walls were painted white withlittle yellow flowers on the walls. "This is Randy's room" Lizzy saidopening a door to a bright and airy room.

"Thankyou"

"Areyou and my bother in love?" Lizzy asked bluntly.

Elliotgasped and turned to face Lizzy, "uh...no..."

"Doyou want to be in love with my brother?"

"Iwant to help Randy, I know he lost a loved one, I want to lessen the blow, helphim move on"

"Iknow my brother, I saw the squeeze he gave you, he gave that to Eli when theywere in high school, and I've seen pictures"

"Whatare you implying?"

"Couldyou be called back?" she pointed to his uniform, "to whatever you'rewearing that for?"

"I..."Elliot had to think, and his hand drifted back unto the José's cross, "I...I don't know...maybe"

"Thenplease, stay just friends with him" Lizzy walked out of the room butstopped before she disappeared down the hallway, "the guest room is downthe hall"

Elliotwas unable to breathe correctly, he staggered and fell on his butt. His handwrapped tightly around the cross and the tears fell from his eyes, making hisuniform wet. His legs and arms began to shake, and heart-breaking whimpers ofpain came from him.

Therewere more footsteps and Randy dropped to his knees in front of Elliot. Randyhesitated, he didn't know what to do.

"Hey,hey, Ellie, it's okay" Randy wound his arms around Elliot's chest andpulled him closer, Elliot was pressed close to Randy, Randy had one handwrapped around Elliot's back, holing the man upright and the other cuppedElliot's red and crying face. Elliot still clung to the cross but managed towrap his other arm around Randy's shoulders and cried loudly into the farmer'sneck.

"I-I-I'mso sorry, I-I-I don't m-mean to b-b-be a bay-baby" Elliot attempted to gethimself together, but the tears kept streaming and Lizzy's words kept ringingin his ears.

"Shhhhh,Teddy, there is nothing to apologize for, you are okay, I'm so happy you'rehere, please, Teddy, tell me what's wrong"

"I'msupposed to be helping you god damn it" Elliot cursed, "here I amhaving a f*****g panic attack over something your sister said, I'm useless, Iwas useless to José and I'm useless to you"

"oh,Teddy, no" Randy kissed is head and made circles on Elliot's jaw with histhumb, "there was nothing you could do back then, it's not your fault,it's not my fault that Eli died, okay, that's just war, a war we were notsupposed to be in, what did Lizzy say to you?"

"I-Iwas a special forces Sargent, if they need my skills, they could call me backanytime, she found out and told me to keep this friendly, you didn't needanother dumb ass dead solider to cry over"

"Damnthe lazy daisy" Randy frowned, "Elliot..." Randy sighed, "Ilike you, I've come to like you over the past two months we've been speaking,and I think we can help each other, this place, the place I was raised, it isbeautiful and it heals let it heal you, and let me heal you, and I'll let youheal me"

Elliothad stopped sobbing but was still clinging to Randy. Randy smiled sadly andpressed his forehead to Elliot's damp one. Randy kissed Elliot's nose andnuzzled their noes together.

"Lizzyhas dinner, it's been a very long day Teddy, for both of us, why don't we go tosleep, hit the hay?" Randy whispered.

Elliotnodded and let Randy strip him of his uniform and show him the bed, he watchedas Randy closed the door and turned the lights off, making the room dim, butElliot could see the few tattoos littering the farmer's arms. Randy crawled innext to Elliot and the two drifted off into the starry night.