24. Home

A few days later... Henry, Jasper, and Charlotte were hanging out in Junk N' Stuff when the Thornton twins burst through the doors yelling at Henry, they were saying the same thing but it was at different times so it came out as a bunch of gibberish. Then Henry saw his girlfriend's cousins Regina and Valarie Zagorski come into the store out of breath. Valarie fell on the floor and Regina balanced against Charlotte for support. "Sorry...guys...." Gina said, taking breaths between words.

Valarie stood up bent over and put her hands on her knees to help catch her breath. She let out a big exhale, "Man...those girls REALLY take after Elizabeth." Regina nodded in agreement, "I mean...where did they learn how to run like that!?"

"The question is!" Regina intervened, "How, and where...did ELIZABETH LILLIAN learn to run like that!" She said looking at her twin while Valarie nodded back.

"She's Elizabeth-Lillian Thornton!" Valarie added, "who knows!"

"Are you guys okay," Charlotte asked worriedly, "what happened?"

"As soon as...David told the girls what happened...they rushed over here...to tell Henry...so he can come along." Informed Regina.

"What, what happened!?" Henry asked, panicked.

Then the girls started doing their babbling again where one twin would talk then the other would talk at the same time but it came out as gibberish. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa!!!" Yelled Ray when he heard a commotion. "What's the big deal!" The girls returned to their performance of gibberish, "Okay on the count of three, both you two, say what you have to say." The two girls nodded "one...two...three..."

"They're coming home!" They screamed at the same time. "The deployment is done!"

Henry's mouth dropped open, "Kid, are you okay?" Asked Ray when he didn't say anything for a while.

"Yeah," Henry said a smile spreading across his face, "yeah, I'm great."

————

They all watched intently waiting to see one of their loved ones come around the corner. Then a tall man, with a crew cut, and blonde hair came around the corner with some duffel bags. As the man came into view, everyone's heart raced. Because he was alone.

"DADDY!!!!!!!" The Thornton twins, Amanda and Topanga screamed as they saw him. They started running at him at full speed. When he was out of the way of people and saw his daughters running towards him, he dropped his bags, got on one knee, and hugged his daughters as if there was no tomorrow. The girls were crying and kept saying something but he couldn't hear because of their whimpering.

"Where's Elizabeth Lillian?" Asked David.

"Oh, because she's part of Young Services she has to do some homecoming stuff, nothing to worry about, she's just at Green Bay, she'll be back soon." He said smiling and caressing the back of daughters' heads, "nothing to worry about."

Soon they made their commute back to Swellview and "Uh...Mr.Thornton?" Henry asked cautiously.

————

The next day at Swellview High... The intercom came on and everyone went to their seats. "In honor of those who lost their lives in the Afghanistan sneak attack, please reserve a moment of silence." Henry put his head down on his desk, he felt like crying, but once he felt Jasper's hand on his shoulder he couldn't help but let a few tears escape. "Good Morning staff and students, today is Thursday, February 11, 2016. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance"

After the Pledge of Allegiance, the voice continued the story, "In the early hours of Sunday, January 31, 2016 squads of the United States Marine Corps led a sneak attack against The Seven Rings, he plotted to transport tons of poisonous gases. Many fought valiantly, many died valiantly. The point is that they're all heroes." The woman took a deep breath, "one of these heroes stood out more than the others, one of these brave Marines didn't think of herself in this action. She put the lives of loved ones and strangers in front of their own." Henry was starting to shake with grief and anger as he heard the story of his lovely Elizabeth-Lillian. "She flew the aircraft full of weaponry high into the sky and out of the radius of hurting both allies and enemies. Then she blew up the aircraft, destroying the deadly weaponry, saving many lives, at the expense of hers."

Some kids started choking up and you could hear her starting to cry, then another person took over for them, but you could still hear her crying in the background. "Thank you, Corporal Elizabeth-Lillian Thornton, for your service and sacrifice." Many people gasped and some put a hand to their hearts, Henry wanted to turn around and look at his friends for support. But he didn't want the rest of his classmates to see his tear-streaked face.

After the announcements the new Social Studies teacher, Mr.Feeny was flabbergasted he looked as if he lost his own child as if he knew Elizabeth-Lillian Thornton. He let the class sit in silence for a while, some kids got out of their seats to chat. Henry's head was up and he just sat staring straight forward, he kept reliving his short time with Elizabeth-Lillian and the horrible moment when he found out her fate.

Henry was broken out of his trance when he felt arms around him hugging him. He looked over and saw Regina Zagorski hugging him, "I miss her too." She said her voice shaking, "but it's going to get better, it did with Daniel and Abigail-Isabelle."

"Mr.Hart," said the new school teacher, "Why don't you go take a walk, and get a nice drink of water." Henry nodded and left the classroom.

———

Green Bay Military Hospital... The nurses lead Jack, David, and Andy into a room, where a young girl is lying on a bed and rapidly looking around.

Jack, David, and Andy sat in chairs next to the bed, the girl looked very agitated and startled by their presence. "Who are you?"

The men all looked at each other, "Elizabeth-Lillian it's me, Dad"

"Dad? Hi Dad! Hi Dad! Hi Dad! Hi Dad! Hi Dad!" She kept repeating and her speech was slurred.

"Hi," Jack said going along.

David had an eyebrow raised confused by his niece's actions. She began to rapidly and largely blink. "Why is your daughter drunk?" Andy whispered.

"She's not drunk."

"That may be but she's sure acting like it." Agreed David

When she finished blinking she looked at her Dad and uncles only to reveal that she had unequal pupils. "Ahhhhhh!" Jack, David, and Andy let out a shaky yell.

"Is she high?" Andy suggested. Elizabeth began to have difficulty speaking, and no matter how hard you tried you couldn't make out what she was saying.

"I'm gonna go get a nurse," said David

—————

Thornton Home... Henry and Charlotte showed up at their house to see how they could help the grieving family over the loss of Elizabeth-Lillian. But when they walked inside there was Josefina and Jessie, frantically arguing.

"Enough!" Yelled the Corlãrian grandmother, "I am not dealing with this sinvergüenza" (scoundrel)

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Jessie yelled.

"It means that ju do not know enough eh Spanish, to know that I am insulting ju!"

"Ay," Josefina said tapping Peter's shoulder, "tu hermana no sabe lo que significa sinvergüenza" (your sister doesn't know what scoundrel mean)

"¿En serio? qué tonto" (really? What a fool) Peter said and Josefina laughed.

"Abuelita" Jessie smiled, "I learn more Spanish when you learn more English"

Josefina looked at her glaring daggers, "I. Know. The English"

"What's going on?" Asked Charlotte. When Regina and Valarie darted through the door and up the stairs.

"They're trying to find stuff for Lizzie-Anne," informed Topanga.

"Because she can't remember." Added Amanda.

"What do you mean? Isn't she dead!?" Stated Henry.

"No!" All of the Thorntons yelled.

"Why would ju think that my granddaughter is dead?" Asked Josefina.

"At school, they said thanks for your service and SACRIFICE, and then Regina said I miss her too, and that it'll get better like it did with Daniel and Abigail!"

"Service and sacrifice meant the sacrifice of her mental state." Stated Jessie.

"I miss her too means that she misses Lizzie, she can't remember who she is." Stated Amanda.

"And when Regina said it'll get better like it did with Abigail and Daniel means... actually what you thought it meant because Liz practically did in a way die."

"What do you mean by she can't remember? Asked Charlotte.

"Liz has TBI and Amnesia" Stated Jessie,

"She didn't even recognize who Dad was." Stated Peter, "which is saying something because they are REALLY close."

"So what do we do?" Asked Charlotte.

"Mama said to bring some very meaningful stuff over to Green Bay" stated Jessie.

"What are you guys going to bring?"

"We're still trying to figure that out 'cause it's hard to find things that are meaningful to Elizabeth."

----------

Green Bay hospital... The family including Henry and Charlotte approached the Trauma wing of the hospital. They found David, Briar, and Jack sitting outside of the room where Elizabeth was.

"Hey darlins'" Briar said in a quiet tone when she saw her children. "How are you?"

The twins hugged their mother, "Mama what's wrong with Elizabeth Lillian?" Asked Topanga.

"She just got a bad bump on the head" Jack cut in.

"I'll say." Scoffed David

"I still don't understand why she was acting like that." Added Andy

"She has TBI Andy," said Briar Rose, "it's only natural for her to react like that. Let's just be grateful that she's still alive."

Jack started clenching his jaw again, "you got the stuff?" Jack asked, his voice low and commanding. Regina handed him the box and he opened the door and walked into the room where his third-born daughter awaited.

"Hey Flower." He said quietly and smiling, the room was very dimly lit, there was a lamp in the corner that gave the room a warm orange glow.

"... Hi ..."

"Dad." He stated.

"Right, Dad. Hi, Dad."

"We brought you some stuff," Briar said, walking over to the bed. "To try to help you remember." She said, smiling with a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Elizabeth looked around at all of the faces, standing outside her door, it was very unsettling for her. She didn't know these people---at least she didn't remember them.

Jack pulled up a chair and put the box down next to him. Jack pulled out a small brown bear on a camouflage uniform and held it in front of her. "Do you remember this?" He asked hopefully. "It's your old teddy bear, Sergeant Eckles." He said, letting out a little laugh.

Elizabeth took the bear from him and ran her hand over the fabric. "No. I don't remember this."

You could tell Jack was disappointed, but he puts on a brave face to hide what he was feeling, something Elizabeth often did. The next thing he pulled out was a pink ribbon with a jeweled trim on the sides. When Elizabeth looked at it you could tell something clicked.

Jack looked at his daughter, "do you remember something Flower?"

"Yeah, the ribbon..." she began to trail off.

"What about it?" Briar asked hopefully.

"Abigail and I would trick ride in rodeos together." She said letting the ribbon run through her fingers, "our final act was when we would both get on Shamrock, she would do the suicide drag and I'd do the hippodrome and hold up the ribbon." She said smiling.

"That's right, you guys did that," Briar said smiling.

"Speaking of Abigail, where is she? I really want to talk to her right now." She said excitedly, wanting to talk to her sister.

"Elizabeth," Jack said calmly. "Abigail Isabelle...she...she...she passed."

Elizabeth looked mortified. "Oh." She said looking down at the ribbon. "What happened?" She asked, her voice cracking.

"Well, less than a year ago---"

"Hey," said one of the nurses. "Sorry to interrupt but we need to go to therapy now."

Jack nodded and helped Elizabeth into a wheelchair and the nurse took her to therapy.

Jack and Briar walked out of the room. "Dad." Stated Jessie, "why does Elizabeth need to go to therapy?"

"Jessica---"

"Dad! What's going on with my little sister!? First, you tell me she can't remember who she is or what happened! Now you're telling me she needs therapy! For what Dad!?"

"Because she has PTSD!" Jack yelled frustrated.

Jessica shook her head, grabbed her bag, and walked out of the building yelling something in Spanish.

Josefina's eyes went wide, "she can speak eh Spanish."

Thank You to all service members and their families for their service and sacrifice. God bless you all!

Did I trick you!? I tried my best to make it seem like she was dead, but I probably had a majority of you guys hanging by a thread, at the possibility of her death, you didn't seriously think I'd let someone die. Even if she did, we're still learning the characters, and there are a lot more stories to share. Did you notice Mr.Feeny from Boy Meets World? I think he'll make a good addition to the A Third Danger cast. Like all of the other characters...except the ones I made up. NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED. I DO NOT OWN MR. GEORGE FEENY OR ANY OTHER BOY MEETS WORLD CHARACTERS. NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED.

Military coming home -

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