once a bat

biography Maria and Thomas had been married just shy of a year when they welcomed their baby boy into the world. A true honeymoon baby if ever there was one. Maria had a rough pregnancy, to the point that the doctors weren't sure she'd carry her child to term and after having him, they weren't sure she'd ever have another. Maria and Thomas agreed that one child was enough and they would be just as happy with him as they would with others. Benjamin Wayne graced the world in the middle of summer, during a heat wave that New Yorkers complained about for years. As a child, Ben was spoiled rotten but expected to mind and be a pillar of society. From a young age the child never really acted out, knowing that he was blessed beyond reproach. His parents required him to help give back anytime they had a charity event. It was the weekend of one of these such events that Ben begged not to have to go and went to a friend's house instead. But in the middle of the night, he and the friend got into a heated fight and he called his parents begging to come home. When they told him to stay and work it out he threw the only fit he'd ever thrown in his life, and at ten years old, he got his way. His parents drove to Manhattan and picked their son up at 1:30am. What none of them would realize, was that decision would end up costing Ben his parents. A drunk driver, going the wrong direction in the tunnel to Brooklyn hit the family head on, killing the parents instantly and leaving Ben in the hospital for nearly a month as he recovered.

Ben blamed himself for the death of his parents. Even when he was released from the hospital and told how it wasn't his fault, he couldn't wrap around it. He spent his formitive teen years angry and sullen, deep in his own thoughts about how life would be different had he just sucked it up and not been a giant baby. He was taken in by a family friend, who did all he could to give Ben the life his parents wanted for him. He expected the boy to get good grades and to have a plan, but as much as he fought Ben on his choices he also knew that the boy had to find his own path. In high school he met the girl that changed his general out look, giving him a reason to give a shit. He fought hard against her but fell in love anyway, and started to slowly turn his life around. He started passing his classes and began to try to think about life beyond just that day. She was the reason he decided to go into the military, wanting to give himself a chance and to possibly give her a life. He got permission to sign up at 17 from his guardian, and with an early graduation by the grace of God, he was in bootcamp by spring. Ben went into Medic training as soon as he was out of bootcamp, while no one expected him to become a doctor, he was driven to help those who needed it by the loss of his parents. He didn't plan to become a doctor but he did want to be a field medic.

Three years into the army and Ben decided he wanted to go to medical school. The army put him through his undergrad, which he did in Washington DC near where he did his medic training, then he went straight into his med school in New York, back home near where he grew up. During his education he was only sent on depolyments during the summer months, and each time he was itching to go back. When he finally settled into a residency again back in Washington DC, he was happy that he'd be surrounded by bases and hopefully able to help Vets. His residency took nearly twice as long at four years, due to deployments and other military obligations. By the time he was finished and was a full fledged doctor, he was deployed longer than most, as during war doctors are needed.

It was during his undergraduate studies that he got married to the girl he fell in love with in high school. She stuck by him as he moved around for the military, through each deployment. It devistated her when he'd come home from a trip over seas, only to watch him jump at the slightest sound. But it was while he was on a flight home to surprise her that the world around him shattered. As he landed his phone was bombarded with texts and voice mails, sympathy and condolences. While he was in route home she was killed in a corner market robbery. He took berrevement leave and then threw himself into his work. He'd thought about ending his career for her, to get out of the army, but with her gone he had no reason to and threw himself in deeper, offering to stay anytime someone else wanted to leave.

After twenty years, Lt.Col Benjamin Wayne, retired out of the army and landed wherever he could get a job. Massachusetts General Hospital hired him. They were beside themselves with the level of experience he had under pressure and with a trauma one ER they knew they'd need a doctor with that kind of experience. Ben moved to Boston, bought himself a small house near the water, where he thought he might have less noise and settled in, relatively quietly.