A little something I felt compelled to whip up in rememberence to the Fallen Heros.
Be forewarned, this is raw and unedited. Please forgive me any mistakes I've made with my grammer and sentance structure/spelling.

As any author would hope for their audience, Have a good read. ^_^

May 31 2010: Early morning hours...

The Guardian was closed when I got there. Hell, the Sun’s not even fully up just yet so I figured that Terry wouldn’t even be close to awake just yet. Pulling my lock pick set out of my back pocket, I worked the lock open on the back door. Moving quickly, I entered the security code and then turned to close the door behind me. Silently, I made my way to the bar. Hopping lightly over the counter, I grabbed one glass and poured a Guinness from the tap. I don’t work the bar as a tender all that often, only on special occasions, but I made it a point to learn how to pour one of these the right way. After putting it on the customer’s side of the bar in front of one of the stools, I pulled out two post-it notes and a pen. One went in front of the beer and the other, along with some cash to pay for the beer, went in front of the register. After I finished, I walked back to the backdoor, re-armed the system and left for the day.

A couple of hours later...

Geeze, I hope she’s not mad at me for not visiting all that often.” I thought as I walked up Suzanne’s driveway. It had been at least four years since I’d even spoken to her, which was far too long in my opinion. She had been willing to help me when I needed it. Gently, I knock on the front door.

“Oh. What a surprise. What, might I ask, brings you here after so long?” She asked, sounding a little miffed that I had disappeared on her.

“This.” I said to her as I handed her a half dozen white carnations held together with a pale yellow ribbon. “Mama San told me that you once served in the Army. Thank you.”

When she reached out for the flowers, I reached out and gave her a hug. With what she went through, I figured that she earned it.

After promising to stop being such a stranger, I went back home to spend a little time with Mama. I would have gone to bug Cindy, but I promised her that I wouldn’t on national holidays as she usually has family over and all that. It just wouldn’t do to interrupt something like that.

Later that afternoon...

“I’m going to guess that your name is Mason Locke, right?” I ask the ridiculously hot man in front of me. He’s a were, so it’s to be expected, but still... DA-YUM!

“I fail to see how that has anything to do with you, vampire.” He replies.

“Please. I’m not trying to start trouble here. I heard from somewhere that you served in the military.” I told him. “All I want is to know if that is true or not.”

“Yes, it is.” He told me after a minute or two of thinking it over.

“Then here.” I replied, taking out the bottle of beer I had picked up from the store earlier and handing it to him. “Thank you for your service.”

“Care if I ask why?”

“It’s Memorial Day. Why not?”

“Meh.” He said with a shrug as he got up from the park bench he and I were setting at and left. Yes, it was a little cold of him, but I wasn’t high on his list of priorities. As the Omega of his pack, the only thinking he was supposed to think about was how best to follow orders. That aside, it didn’t seem like he was used to someone doing something like this for him, so I let his rudeness slide.

After a few more moments, I got up and left as well. My last stop for today was going to be the hardest for me.

Closing time at the Guardian...

“Hey Dani, time to go home now.” Terry called out to me from the other side of the bar.

“I know. I’m just spending a little more time with my buddy here.” I explained. Terry, Mama, and I were the only three left in the bar, so I didn’t bother hiding the blood red tear that came down my cheek. Looking back down at the note I had written in the small hours of the morning, I read it again:

“Hope you’re doin’ okay up there. I miss the hell out of you, buddy. Tell my Mom and Dan I still love ‘em and I miss them too, would ya?” I said to the empty stool at the bar. While I wanted to say more, I just couldn’t think of anything else to say. Slowly, I picked up the note and kissed it. While it’s true that he was my best friend when I was human, and a man, I was neither of those things now so I didn’t really care.

All I knew was that his life was ended before his natural time. Small consolation that it was, he died as a hero to the daughter of the American Ambassador to Liberia. The bullet that took his life was meant for her. He died being true to his sense of honor. The Jimmy that died there that day, the Jimmy I knew so well, would have taken a bullet for an innocent girl any day of the week. That’s just how he was.

I put the note back down on the bar and turned toward Mama and Terry. With that, we left the building and left the beer sitting at the bar. I was sure that Terry would clean it up after he took us home, but I was fine with that. The last call for the night had already been made.