Jack was cold. It was dark, and he didn't know where he was. The last thing he remembered was an explosion at the base. He couldn't tell if his eyes were even open or not, he couldn't tell. All he knew was the he was cold and in pain. And then suddenly, he wasn't anymore. He went numb. And then he faded back into unconsciousness.

oOo

Katherine stared blankly at her type writer. She was supposed to be writing an article about World War One. But when she thought about the war, all she could think about was Jack and how much she missed him. But she knew she had to get herself together. She hadn't been getting much sleep in the past seven months, so her articles hadn't been as good. Her editor had threatened to put her back to entertainment if she didn't start writing articles that were not 'the worst garbage that anyone had ever read', as he put it. She ran her fingers through her already messy hair, when she heard someone calling her from outside her office.

"Miss Kelly?" it was Margaret, her editor's secretary. She sighed. Her editor probably wanted to yell at her some more about how awful her articles were.

"Yes Margaret, what is it?"

"A letter came for you." A letter. Why would there be a letter for her here?

"...Alright, bring it in then."

"Yes, ma'am." Margaret came in, placed the letter on her desk, and retreated from the room. Katherine's eyes fell on the address. It's from Washington D.C. Now she was kind of nervous. She hesitantly opened the envelope. When she saw the content, her heart stopped.

Katherine E Kelly,

New York, New York

The secretary of war desires me to express his deep sympathy that your husband Private Jack M Kelly has been reported missing in action since sixteenth December in France. If further details or other information are received you will be promptly notified.

Dunlap the adjutant general

Katherine couldn't breath. The letter that she'd been desperately hoping, even praying wouldn't come, came. Yes, it didn't say he was dead, but he most likely was. She couldn't believe it. Jack was all that she and the boys had left. The boys. They were going to be crushed when they found out, but she knew she had to tell them. Plus, it felt like the walls of her office were closing in on her. She needed to get out. She stuffed the letter in her pocket and ran out. Margaret nearly jumped out of her skin as Katherine flung the door open. She began calling after her, but she couldn't hear. She needed to get to the boys.

oOo

Katherine flung open the door to the Manhattan Lodging House, and practically ran into Davey and Les, who were on their way out.

"Katherine? What's wrong?" Katherine didn't respond, she just thrust the letter at Davey. He took it, and scanned the paper. He grew visibly pale. "Missing in action... oh my god." Katherine choked back another sob.

"Davey, what is it?" Les asked, but nobody answered him. After a moment, Race stepped up.

"Lemme see that." He took the paper from Davey. Race cursed. Soon, the letter had been passed around to all the other boys, and the room was filled with distressed murmurs.

"Davey what's going on? What happened?" Les was still confused. Nobody wanted to tell the poor kid, but eventually Davey crouched down to his level.

"Les... Jack went missing during the war... and he probably won't be coming back." The boy's face filled with horror.

"No. You're lying!" he looked around the room. "You're all lying!" with that he ran out the door.

"Les!" Davey chased after him, leaving Katherine standing in front of a room full of boys with wide-eyed expressions. Katherine wasn't sure how it started, but soon they were all participants in a huge group hug. They all wanted to cry, but they couldn't. They didn't have any tears left. So they were just sad. Because Jack was gone.

AN: I almost cried writing this.