Chapter 5

Eric awoke several hours later to find her lying next to him on the floor and his arm draped over her, his hand cupping her breast. It felt so natural that he didn't move it; he loved the way her body felt next to his. He fell back to sleep with a small smile on his lips.

The next time he awoke, it was to find her staring at him, her smile brightened as his eyes focused on hers. The sunlight filtering through the blinds cast a ray of sun into them, allowing him to see all of the color and brilliance they held. He smiled and groaned as he stretched.

"We should get up." He murmured.

"Do we have to?" she pouted in return.

"No, not really. But I am hungry, and I don't have any food. Would you like to go to the corner market, or go visit Aldo again?" Eric asked, stretching again.

"Decisions decisions," Rain said with a smile, "I think it would be fun to cook breakfast with you. I have to warn you though, I have trouble boiling water."

"The corner market it is," Eric said, patting Rain's hip, "come on, time to get up."

"I've been up," Rain replied, "for over an hour, you're the one that has slept the morning away."

Eric stuck out his tongue at her while walking to the bathroom.

"Don't stick it out unless you intend to share it." Rain said, giggling.

Eric stopped dead in his tracks and sputtered before regaining his composure, "I think I have an extra toothbrush in here somewhere." he called over his shoulder.

"No worries, I brought mine." Rain said with a grin. A small bag was in her hand.

"But you couldn't bring a change of clothes?" Eric quipped.

"It was more fun this way. Besides, I would have needed a larger purse." Rain shot back, adding her own tongue this time.

Eric ran to the small shop and greeted the owners cheerfully as he walked in. A few short minutes later Eric staggered back to his apartment with enough food to feed a small army. Rain jumped up to grab some of the overburdened sacks before their contents spilled out onto the floor. As they finished putting the groceries away, Eric noticed Rain's hair was damp and she was wearing an old Marine Corps t-shirt and PT shorts from his dresser. He grinned as he leaned over close to her and kissed her cheek.

"If my Sergeants were as cute as you in that outfit, I might have stayed in the Corps."

Rain giggled and pirouetted, showing off her borrowed clothes. "Like what you see, Marine?"

"Yes ma'am," Eric replied snapping a quick salute, "but you know that if you put a PT uniform on, you actually have to do some PT."

"PT? What's that?" Rain asked, looking rather confused.

"Physical Training, usually about a three mile run, some calisthenics, and if your PT instructor is especially sadistic you finish with the obstacle course;" Eric answered, "so do you want to run before or after breakfast? Or you could just get out of the uniform." Eric supplied the last with wiggling eyebrows.

Eric's mouth dropped as Rain started to pull the hem of the shirt up her body swiftly, the mischievous glint in her eyes growing as the bottom of the shirt neared her breasts. Eric's surprise turned to anguish as the upward motion of her hands stopped just short of the bottom of her lovely breasts and she laughed. "Yeah right, buddy, in your dreams. I run 5 miles three times a week. You're lucky this is an off day, but I'll take you up on your offer one day. Right now, I'm starving."

They spent the next hour destroying Eric's recently cleaned kitchen with omelets, flapjacks, and sausage. Eric pointed out several times that she had potential to be a good cook and even taught her to flip and fold the omelets. After brewing coffee and making fresh squeezed orange juice, they sat and enjoyed their breakfast with light conversation.

"So where were you stationed?" Rain asked around a mouthful of pancake.

"The Stumps." Eric replied matter-of-factually before elaborating, "Twentynine Palms, California. The Marines call it "the stumps." Supposedly there was a small oasis nearby that originally had twenty-nine palm trees around it, but some kids cut them down; that's the legend, anyway." Eric continued after looking up to find her actually interested, "The ARMY originally owned the land and used it to train glider pilots before and during early World War II, they abandoned it in 1941. The Navy picked it up and in turn abandoned it in 1945. The Marines picked it up in 1952, just as the Korean War was kicking off, and they've been training us Jarheads there ever since."

"Wow, that's quite a history lesson." Rain commented, "Do all Marines know this much history, or are you a history buff?"

"I just love history," Eric said, standing up and offering his hand, "come see my study."

She took his hand, and held it as he led her to the apartment's other bedroom. Eric smiled as he looked around, "I know it sounds cheesy, but this is where I make history come to life. For me at least."

The room was filled with book shelves, models of every description and in various stages of completion, and a computer sat humming quietly. Eric patiently answered her questions about the models and books, and when she started complementing about the quality of the work, he blushed and smiled.

While she was walking around the room she noticed several pictures of Eric in the desert with his unit. She noticed a small chain hanging off the corner one of them with several dog tags on the chain. She reached out and touched them lightly, noticing Eric's sigh when she did so.

"Is something wrong, Eric?" she asked, crossing the room quickly to comfort him.

"Those belonged to some great friends of mine," he said, "that picture was the last time we were all together."