Saved Soldier (AB/DL)

27: Good Guys

Vicky's Pov:
     "What are you making?" I ask Jono with a soft laugh. He was currently covered in paints that I had let him get himself into. We were finger painting today. He really seemed to be enjoying himself.
     "Nothing!!" He pouts and shields me from seeing his paper. "You can't see yet!"
     "I'm starting to think you're getting more paint off your paper instead of on." I smile gently and sit down in a rocking chair, watching him paint with a soft sigh. Things have been going great this past week. I really feel like I've devolved a great connection with him- well, that's not the important part.
     Jono has been perfect and childish, just the way we've been asked to change them. But honestly, everything about Jono, and I suppose Brodie as well, seems so natural. The childishness just seems to be a part of their nature rather than an artificial side that we have created. I guess everyone really does have an inner child.
     "Almost done mommy!" Jono chimes out happily.
     "Okay sweetheart! I can't wait to see it!" I hum back out. We now had two weeks until whatever this all is will be complete... I'm not sure what it is. We were given orders to make them little by the end of the month. I prey that they won't be taking them away... I guess I haven't really given it much thought.
What if they took Jono away? I don't know if they'd be the same without Clay and me. I don't know what they'd do to my little guy, and that scares me. But, we are supposed to be the good guys in this war, right? So we wouldn't do anything terrible to them. I mean, sure we have the occasional crummy leader, like one of our bosses from this base. I still can't believe that he's become so high in the rankings, he was such an idiot in high school. I suppose popular people tend to get what they want though...
     "Andddd done!" Jono stood up quickly and held his paper close. His face was covered in purple and yellow paints. "Wanna see?" He made his way over to me.
     "Of course I wanna see! You've been working so hard on it, I'm sure it's amazing!" I pull the other into my lap and held him close. Jono grins in response and quickly held his paper out.
     "It's us on the grass watching the sunset! That's what we are gonna do after the war! Right mommy?! We are gonna watch the pretty sky with the fluffy clouds pass by!" He points to everything while describing it, his paper mostly being covered with blobs of color to represent different things.
     I suppose I haven't really given much thought to what comes after this war. The goal of joining was to push back a country, the place these two come from, back to where it belongs. They treat their people, and especially their prisoners, absolutely terribly. I'm glad Clay captured these two and it wasn't the other way around.
     "It's absolutely beautiful, baby! I'm gonna have to frame it and hang it up! You're such an artist!" I bounce him up and down, causing a small squeal to escape him.
     "You really mean it??"
     "Of course I do! Masterpieces like this deserve to be hung!" I stand up, holding him on my hip. Jono let out a soft giggle and held his painting close. "But maybe we should get you bathed first, huh? That'll give your masterpiece time to dry. Alright? Why don't we set it down here for now." I carry him to a small wooden nightstand next to my bed, allowing for my messy man to set it down.
     "Can I have a duckie while I take my bath?" Jono asks, rather excited for the bath.
     "Of course you can, honey. You can have whatever you want! Whatever it takes to get you all cleaned up, my little artist!" I carry him toward the bathroom and slowly open the knob, stepping inside and gently setting him down on the sink. I start the water and make sure the water is at a nice and warm temperature, though not too warm, since heated water is expensive. It is a nice treat though, and I deem it essential for my little guy.
     "Thank you mommy!" Jono hums out and bounces around a little. I have him a rubber duck, which he instantly starts to play with and talk to. I think he was talking about grapes with it. We had gone over different fruits this week, since I wanted to teach him more about good countries. I think he's more excited to try new fruits above anything else.
     Teaching him about something new was easier and more fun than I thought it would be. He picked up on the information faster than soldiers do just about anything. He seemed eager to learn about our country too, surprisingly enough. He wanted to learn about our culture, about our cities and people. It honestly brought a smile to my face. I never realized how exciting it is to share your culture and customs with a foreigner. I hope I can ask him about his country some day too.
     I stop the water and smile, grabbing onto Jono and helping him into the water. Some paint blended with the water the second he stepped in, causing for the water to be a rainbow of different colors. I smile as he sits down and began to explain the different colors to the duck, telling him different fruits that matched those colors. His favorite was definitely the first one, telling the duck about apples and strawberries.
     I begin to massage some shampoo into his hair, which he seemed to enjoy. I smile a little bit and watch him. He was humming a song to his ducks and having them swim around.
     "Hey mommmmmmy?" He asks with a giggle.
     "Yes little one?" I smile and rince his hair out, being careful to prevent the shampoo from getting into his eyes.
"Can we do this for forever?" He asks and looks up at me with a held tilt.
"Do what? Take a bath? Of course not!" I laugh. "You'd turn into a fish!"
"That's not what I meant but- fishy?" He gasps and giggles. "I wanna be a fishy! Blub Blub!!" He puts his hands together like he was praying and began to squirm around in the water, pretending to be swimming.
     I laugh gently and watch him move around. I wish we could do this forever. Well, not forever, but maybe as a hobby? I know this whole thing is about a 'reboot' program, and that we are supposed to make them little then move on... but I'm finding myself way more invested and attached than I thought. I don't want to let him go, especially to our idiot of a boss.
     If I were to guess what the reboot program meant, it might be like we are rebooting their lives, restarting them from the ground up... but I'm not sure. It is so difficult to deal with the trauma of war, and the trauma of where Jono is from. I haven't seen his home close up, but I know it's a terrible place. A terrible, scary place. I heard rumors that over three quarters of their population is fighting with us. They are fighting for such stupid reasons. They started this war and now we have to end it.
     Wars are started for stupid reasons. Money, nationalism, imperialism, and of course, territory. My side is the good guys, we look to beat off this power-hungry country and protect ourselves, they're the bad ones. They're the ones acting so selfish and greedy.
"Mommy? Can we get a fishy?" I look down at Jono and laugh softly.
"No, not today honey... but it's too bad that you are a fish! Because fishies don't get kissies!" Jono gasps.
"But I want kissies!!" He pouts and squirmed around. "I'm not a fish mommy! I'm a real boy! See?!" He drains the water and held his arms out to me. I couldn't help but smile and let out another soft laugh before pulling Jono close and wrapping him in a large, fluffy towel.
I've learned a lot from my experiences, both as a soldier and as a mommy. Even though they are our enemies and have terrible ideas, there are individuals with different morals and view points. I hug Jono close to my chest, making him look rather confused for a second.
"Mommy?" He asks softly. If someone this pure, precious and amazing can come from a horrific, bloody and disgusting place, and if my sad excuse for a boss can be high ranked as a 'good guy', then anything can happen really. I spin Jono around and plant a kiss on his cheek.
"Sorry baby, you just make me so happy." I smile down at him. I really don't want him to leave me. Maybe when he's done the program, he can come back to me... maybe he doesn't need to go.
"You make me super happy too..." he hugs me tightly and rests his head in the crock of my neck. "I love you Vicky."
"I love you too, Jono." I whisper and plant a soft kiss on his cheek, all before feeling my face being grabbed and pulled into a deeper kiss on the lips. I set Jono down on the counter gently, and we kiss for a little while.
If Clay finds out about this-... well whatever. It doesn't matter. I wouldn't be surprised if he's done this before too. We pull off of the kiss and Jono grabbed onto my hands.
"Thank you for everything... I know this is weird because you're probably just doing your job but, I really like you Vicky, and just- I- I just," He stutters and looks down, his entire face was the color of a strawberry. "I don't want this to end. Please tell me it won't and promise me this isn't a dream." He squeezes my hands and looks at me with his beautiful eyes.
     "I don't want it to end either... I really like you too and you've been so amazing to me." I say, not sure how to answer him. I wasn't sure what would happen after these two weeks.
     Jono just hugs me tightly. "What are they gonna do to us?" He whispers.
     I take a slow and deep breath before answering back. "I don't know, honey... I don't know..."
We are the good guys. We couldn't possibly do something bad to them, even if they are our enemies. They are amazing people... we wouldn't do anything to hurt them... right?

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