Starting Over

For Noah Reddington life had always come easy. He was a standout athlete in high school, joined the Army as soon as he graduated and had spent the last 8 years serving in the 511th Special Forces Brigade after excelling at every aspect of being a soldier. But things don't always work out.

Noah had a beautiful wife and a daughter once, but constant deployments on his part had led to feelings of anger and seperation on hers. It wasn't long before she started sharing her bed with others while Noah was away serving his country. Noah didn't blame her and quietly and politely let the marraige come to an end, as well as the custody of his daughter.

He figured at 6'3" 195 lbs, chiseled good looks, baby blue eyes, under a blond high and tight cut that it wouldn't be hard to find someone to replace her, and Noah was right. He found himself in bed with women the world over, but none that ever understood him, nor stayed around long enough to try. After 8 amazing years serving his country, Noah was medically discharged from the army with a heart condition, too mild for it to be life threatening, but just enough to keep him from being able to perform the job he loved.

Noah was crushed and had to start all over again. His parents had passed away while he was serving in the military, his wife had been given the house in the divorce. He had to start all over and just figured an apartment for himself would be a good way to get started.

Phone rings:

"Hello" Noah says not recognizing the number right away

"Noah, it's James man, got a new phone just thought I'd call and make sure you got the new number. What's up man, how you dealing with the end of an era?" a voice said from the other end, it was James, Noah's best friend from high school, who had also served in the army, but had been out for over 3 years now.

"It's a culture shock bro, I'm sure it's like what you went through when you got out." Noah said sullenly in to the phone, still not sure what he was really going to do now that the army was over.

"Yeah I hear ya, so what's the plans, where you gonna be living? Are you coming back to the old hometown?" James asked, trying to sound excited and happy for Noah while trying to gain information at the same time.

"I don't even know yet. I'm probably just gonna get a rundown single apartment someplace until I find a job and go from there." Noah replied, suprised his voice was so convinced of his low expectations for himself.

"No way in hell my best bud is gonna do that shit. You're gonna come stay with me and Rebecca, it'll let you save up that medical pay the army's giving you and give you more time to find the right job." James offers

"Are you sure I won't be intruding?" Noah asked unsure if to accept his offer.

"Of course not, I can't promise you hadji's to protect the perimeter from, or night time mortar attacks, but I've got an extra room and homecooking." James laughs.

"I like the sound of that. I'll think about it and hit you back alright." Noah says

"Alright man let me know something. Later" James says before hanging up

And it had come to that, start over on his own, or accept the hospitality of an old friend. You had heard about his girlfriend Rebecca but never met her. She was only 18, 8 years younger than James, he'd met her through school where James was a Football coach, and promptly started dating her almost immediately after she graduated. He told you that she was attractive, but you knew really nothing else about her, but that she seemed nice on the phone when she answered, always interested in how you were doing and what type of missions you had been out on, though you never disclosed that information. James seemed to be happy with her, so it's definitely an option.