Work Text:
Soldier Boy
by Tayla
When she woke that morning she felt good. Colby wasn't a traitor. And he wasn't dead. David was still being a pain, but she had confidence that the situation would work itself out and her little family would be complete again.
She was almost bouncing as she got off the elevator and walked to the nurse's station. They weren't supposed to give her any information. She wasn't family and she wasn't Colby's boss. But Maggie, the head nurse told her anyway. That Colby had passed the night quietly, that his condition was steadily improving and that he would probably wake up sometime that morning. She cheerily thanked the nurse and continued to Colby's room
Her good mood evaporated when she saw the woman in the slightly rumpled army uniform sitting by Colby's bed. She was about the storm in and demand answers from the woman when she noticed the intimacy of their positions. She had his left hand clutched in hers. She was intently watching Colby's face. As Megan watched, the woman raised her right hand and tenderly touched his stubbly cheek. And now she could hear that the woman was singing under her breath. "...oh my little soldier boy. I'll be true to you..."
Megan mentally smacked herself. Colby had said that he came from five generations of duty, honor and following orders. She had automatically assumed that there was a long line of Granger men in Colby's history, proudly serving their country in the armed forces. It didn't even occur to her that he could be talking about his mother's family. For the woman broke off her song and looked up as Megan entered the room and Megan could see the family resemblance. The same hazel eyes and the same shade of dark blonde hair. The jaw line less pronounced in the woman.
Megan smiled at her and was about to introduce herself when woman beat her to it.
"Agent Reeves, I presume? I'm Martina Winchester."
"You're Colby's mother?"
The colonel nodded. Megan took the chair on the other side of the bed. "How is he doing?"
"Looks like he's starting to come around. I think I saw a sliver of hazel a few minutes ago." Just then Colby's eyelids fluttered a bit, and he raised a hand to his face to brush at the oxygen mask.
Martina caught his wrist. "Easy now, son. You've got to leave that on."
Colby's head turned toward her voice. His eyes opened briefly and closed again. Megan could see the hint of a smile on his lips and the barely breathed exhalation of "Colonel..."
"Yes, soldier boy, I'm here. Go back to sleep, dear. You're going to be fine."
Colby sighed and drifted back to sleep.
Martina kept a hold of his hand and started humming.
tayla36@aol.com
Authors Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/tayla36/index.html