Colliding Forces

A/N - OK, here it is, my new story. This is going to be completely different than anything I've ever written, and a really ambitious story for my second full length fanfic. I hope you enjoy it! Please read and respond!

I would like to thank the three people who have been instrumental in giving me the confidence to move forward with this story. Babe - MM Love, Margaret aka whymelucylu and my awesome Beta, Svendances! Svendances was the one who took this prologue from the hurried writings of my muse to this much better fleshed out Prologue. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I will not be updating this as often as I did with the Choice. I'm not sure of a regular schedule yet, but I will update as quickly as I can.

Again, I want to say Thank You so much for making my first experience with a full length fic so enjoyable and I look forward to your response to this story!

I forgot this before NOT MINE just playing!

Prologue

My name is Frank - actually, it's General Frank Plum – and I've led a very interesting life. I could tell you stories, but then I'd have to kill you. For the last 35 years, I have faithfully served my country and my country has served me in return, providing me a successful and rewarding career.

The beginning of my time in the military was spent as an Army Ranger. Unfortunately, it made me lose time with my wife, Helen. Time that I thought we'd be able to make up for in our golden years. I had so many plans for those years…

Helen and I were married for 10 wonderful years. We spent much of that time trying to have children, and just when we gave up that dream, Helen became pregnant with our first blessing, Valerie. Three years later, we were blessed again when Stephanie was born.

While I was on a mission, Helen had taken the girls back to New Jersey to visit her parents. I arrived back stateside, and was met by my CO and the chaplain with the news that my wife had been killed two days before and my daughters were in New Jersey with Helen's parents. I crumpled on the tarmac.

No amount of government provided training could have prepared me for the pain I felt at the loss of my Helen. She had been my light in the darkness I faced during missions and now that light had been extinguished. I couldn't even confront the man with what he'd done, much less be the one to extinguish his life as I wanted to. The drunk driver who had T-boned Helen's car on the driver's side when he ran the red light had also been killed.

Instead of being able to do what I'd been trained to do, I had to bury my wife and find a way to take care of my daughters who were three and six months old at the time. Cradling Stephanie and holding Valerie's hand at my side as the love of my life was lowered into the ground was the lowest moment of my life.

The three of us had to move on with our lives, which meant returning to Ft. Benning, GA where I was stationed. Luckily for me, Helen's parents, Edna and Harry, were willing to rent out their house in Trenton and move to Georgia to help me care for the girls.

It was difficult to juggle my career and being a father. Edna and Harry helped me deal with the demands, but the time away from my family spent on missions made me feel guilty. I didn't want to regret time away from my girls like I regretted the time I spent away from Helen.

Don't get me wrong, I did my job and I did it well. What I did was important, but I needed to find a way to be home with my girls. I spoke to my CO and he suggested that instead of leaving the service at the end of my contract, I should train future Rangers at Ft. Benning. This gave me the opportunity to spend more time with my girls.

I worked my way up through the ranks before finally being promoted to General and given my own command at Ft. Dix back in New Jersey. The girls, who were now teenagers, Edna, Harry and I packed up and headed back to live in the Chambersburg section of Trenton where Helen and I had grown up.

Valerie had a much easier transition into Burg life than Stephanie did. Valerie reminded me so much of her mother. She took Home Ec in school and took care of the house for us. Her dream was to marry and have a house and children of her own. Val was the perfect Burg girl.

Valerie met a young man while she was in college. Steve. She married him before he went on to law school in California, and they have given me two beautiful granddaughters; Angie and Mary Alice. Valerie loves her life in California and is living her dream of being a housewife.

Stephanie, on the other hand, was and continues to be the antithesis of the perfect Burg girl. The complete opposite of both her mother and sister, my Pumpkin takes after me. She craves adventure, and always wanted to be Wonder Woman so she could save the world, taking down one bad guy at a time.

I trained both girls in self defense, but while Stephanie really enjoyed the training (the Wonder Woman thing), Valerie only tolerated it. By the time she was 12, Stephanie was a black belt in both Karate and Tae Kwon Do. Valerie refused gun training, but Stephanie thrived on it. My Pumpkin had better training scores than some of the Rangers I had trained. She was so good that at 15, Stephanie won a place on the U.S. Olympic rifling team. Stephanie worked hard and was determined to win gold in all three of her events. I'll be damned if she didn't! When Stephanie is determined, nothing will stop her!

For me, it meant being able to beam with pride at my child's accomplishments during each medal ceremony while my daughter was at the center of the podium, with the Stars and Stripes rising, while our national anthem played. Those medal ceremonies were the proudest moments of my life so far!

Of course, her achievements brought her to the government's attention. They wanted to recruit my baby girl for "special" government work. This of course was not something I wanted for my Pumpkin and I was prepared to try and talk her out of it, however, it was Stephanie that shot them down. While she appreciated the opportunity, Stephanie knew a career in the military or with any of the "alphabets" was not what she wanted. I was relieved. I knew what that life entailed and I did not want that for my daughter.

Stephanie graduated top of her class in high school and got a full scholarship to Columbia University where she majored in journalism. Pumpkin is now an investigative journalist for the Times of Trenton. She's more Lois Lane than Wonder Woman these days, but she is still trying to save the world one bad guy at a time.

So, what am I doing now that my metaphoric nest is empty, you ask? I'm living in Washington, D.C. and I'm the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Not bad, right?

I've also just made a big decision that will affect all of our lives. There are consequences associated with my decision…..

And one of those consequences is walking through my office door right now…