Claire glanced at her watch. John was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago. She'd checked the phone by the couch twice now, getting a ringtone both times.

She must have fallen asleep on the couch because the next thing she knew the clock on the wall said it was after one in the morning.

No John.

It was completely unlike him.

The ball was his idea after all.

If he didn't want to go, why did he even ask her?

It was too late to call anyone, and anyone she'd call was at the ball anyway. What was she going to do? Call the base and ask them why her fiance hadn't come to pick her up?

It took her an hour of being furious and plotting ways to throw his ring at him most effectively before she realized that John would not have just stood her up. They'd come too far. And what did he have to gain by inviting her to a ball and then standing her up? Her owning another gown? Humiliating her? In front of his friends who didn't know her or what she was like in high school?

She changed out of the gown, hanging it back in the garment bag carefully before showering and getting ready for bed.

Something had to have happened.

He was in the military. Things happened all of the time that she, the public, didn't know about. This was likely one of those times.

No word the following day. She reached out to Gloria and June, neither of whom had heard anything but as it turned out neither of them had gone to the ball. They had been to one before and their husbands seemed of similar mindset to John. That was one being more than sufficient.

She hated leaving without knowing. She didn't want to be worried but she was. She put an outgoing letter to John in the house's mailbox before leaving for school Monday morning.

It was right before Christmas break when she came out of her apartment and saw Gloria standing by her car.

"Hi," she said with a frown at her friend.

"I wasn't sure which one was yours," she said, gesturing to the building.

Her heart started hammering in her chest. Pounding. Her ears were ringing. Could there be anything good behind Gloria being here unexpectedly? Claire didn't think so.

"John…"

"Is all right. He's being a stubborn jerk if you ask me, but he's fine."

"I'm sorry?"

Gloria smiled, ducking her head a bit.

"He's fine, Claire," she said, settling a hand over Claire's forearm. "He was hurt, though."

"Gloria!"

"I'm not supposed to be telling you this. They were called away the day of the ball to somewhere in Central America. They were gone for about three weeks. John was gone for four."

"He was hurt?"

She already knew that! She just wished Gloria would get on with it.

"Yes. He got captured. He was abused before they were able to retrieve him. It took a week for them to find him."

"That's it?" Claire said, staring at her friend. They did find him, though. She'd said he was gone for four weeks. "What aren't you telling me?"

Gloria looked at her feet then, shaking her head. Claire knew her well enough to know she was wondering if she should be seeing any of this. "He thinks you aren't going to want to marry him anymore."

"What?" Claire asked.

"It's why he hasn't called you. He thinks," she shrugged, shaking her head. "He's at the hospital." She reached for Claire, clutching her forearm. "I haven't visited him, I don't think anyone but you can. He insisted I think that you not be contacted. Rick was one of the ones who rescued him. Prove to me that you're as good a person as I think you are."

"Well, now you're scaring me."

"Rick told me to stay out of it, but it's obvious you two love one another. How are you supposed to know he's in the hospital if he doesn't tell you?"

"Yeah, okay," she said. Claire looked from Gloria to her car and then back to her apartment. Did she want to drive all that way to just have him tell her to get out. "Um, I was on my way to the library, which can wait. Let me just go in and call my mom so she knows I won't be home."

"Good luck."

"Yeah, sure," Claire said, really wondering what was going on. What was Gloria not telling her? Why would John think she wouldn't marry him? She honestly couldn't think of anything he could do that would make her call off the wedding at this point. Shoot someone? He was a Marine. She knew that was a possibility. So, it wasn't that.

Other than cheating on her. Over two years into this she didn't see him doing that. If he had done that, she didn't think Gloria would have come here to tell her to go see him at the hospital either.

She made the drive, leaving less than an hour after Gloria. This trip was different than the others had been. She had no idea what she was going to be walking into. She'd made sure to grab the Power of Attorney paperwork she had. She hoped that would be enough. She hadn't had to use the document before, and it had taken her a few minutes to remember where she put it after packing up from college, going home, and then coming down here.

She was led to his room and gave a soft gasp at the sight of him. Even in high school before they'd actually talked to one another one thing was true about John Bender. He was larger than life. Seeing him on a hospital bed, motionless and bandaged made a piece of her ache that went far deeper than her heart. He wasn't supposed to look like this. He was supposed to be cocky and sarcastic and just there, pissing people like Assistant Principal Vernon off. (And her, truthfully, he'd done that very well!)

He turned his head to look toward the door and he had bandages on his face, too. There was relief in his eyes, but he hid it almost immediately. The person looking back at her after that first thirty seconds or so wasn't her fiance but a Marine. It was a look she'd seen in his Boot Camp picture, but never aimed directly at her.

"You shouldn't be here," he whispered.

"I would have been here sooner…"

"You shouldn't be here, Claire."

"John."

He shook his head, lifting a hand and she noticed it was bandaged too. Good God, what had happened to him.

She closed the distance to the bed then, settling a hand on his forearm that didn't have an IV in it.

"Why wouldn't you think I'd want to be here?"

He looked at her, though only one eye was available to him right now. She fought back tears. Crying was not going to do either of them any good.

"It's pretty bad, Princess."

"John."

"I basically had to stitch up my own face," he said, reaching for the bandaged side of his face.

"Do you want to call off the wedding?"

"No, but I'm not an idiot, Claire. You deserve better than a freak show. At least until now my face was scar free."

"Have I ever looked at or treated you as if your scars matter to me?"

"No, but they will to others."

"Fuck them and fuck you, John David Bender, for thinking that you getting hurt in service to our country would make me rethink things."

"You haven't seen it…"

"I don't care! I'm not that girl anymore, John. I want you. I was so worried that being your Power of Attorney wouldn't get me in here. I hate the idea of you being in here all alone. I hate the idea that your parents would get the call."

"It will. Always. Even if you did call it off I'm not changing it. And they would never be called."

"Yes, well, being your wife would work better."

He chuckled and then groaned softly. Evidently that hurt.

"What happened?"

"I can't…" He reached for her then and she bent down so he could brush the back of his unbandaged hand over her cheek. She understood. He couldn't tell her. "I'm sorry we didn't get to go to that dance. I wasn't allowed to call."

"Oh, I won't deny I was pissed at first."

He chuckled again, causing him to cough. She drew away a bit, grabbing a glass full of ice chips on the table tray by his bed. A nurse must have been here not that long ago because the ice chips had hardly melted. She fed him a spoonful and he nodded. She set the glass down again and then drew a chair over so she could sit down.

"So Gloria or June? I assume Gloria, Rick's the only one who knows I'm here I think."

"Yes. Don't be mad at her."

"I'm not."

"And John," she said, sliding her hand along the side of his face that wasn't bandaged.

"Yes?"

"Don't you dare make a life altering decision like that for me again."

"Yes, ma'am," he said and she leaned in to kiss his cheek. "Tell me about the rest of your semester," he murmured.

"Really? That's what you want to talk about."

"That's what I want you to talk about right now. How many times do I have to tell you that I'm counting on you to ensure what happened to me doesn't to anyone else. I want to hear about it, even the stuff I don't understand."

Story ©Susan Matthews/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com