Band of Brothers

A/N- "The Monkees" are owned by other folks and I am seeking no monies in this fanfic. In addition, even though the television show used the identical names for the performers for their characters, by no means do I pretend that this story has anything to do with their real lives or their families past or present.

It was early evening when Davy Jones came home after finishing his shift at the stable. He opened the front door of a small, cozy two-story council house in Manchester, England May 8,1965- and did his usual routine of taking off his cap and jacket and leaving them at the coatrack by the front door then taking off his boots to leave them at its base. Before walking into the living room, he brushed some lint from his red turtleneck sweater and blue slacks.

"Mum, ya shouldn't have!" 20-year-old Davy Jones exclaimed as he walked into the room in his while his 43-year-old mother Sal set a lit birthday cake before him.

"Now, Luv! You know the rule. Make a wish and don't tell what it was when ya blow out the candles," exclaimed Sal who held the platter supporting the homemade applesauce cake with lemon frosting that had 21 candles alit.

Sal Jones was a skinny woman in a patterned smock dress,apron and espadrilles with her shoulder-length red hair in a hairnet and glasses of shorter than average height [4'9"].

Davy closed his eyes and thought very hard [as hard as he could] before taking a deep breath and blowing out all 21 candles.

"Happy Birthday, Luv!" Sal cheered as she hugged him.

"Happy Birthday, Mum! Couldn't 'ave done it without you! "Davy laughed.

"Pshaw!" Sal scoffed.

Will ya tell me again how everyone was cheerin' in the streets the day I was born?" Davy asked.

" Aye! Hitler's goons had just surrendered the day before that VE Day an' for the first time in ages, everyone was happy but no one was happier than me gettin' me own baby boy on the First Day of Peace!" Sal recalled while hugging him.

Davy sighed a bit.

" What's wrong, Darlin'?" Sal asked.

"Nothing, Mum," Davy sighed.

"Now, you can't tell yer old Mum it's nothing. I know you too well," Sal sighed while brushing an errant lock of hair from his forehead .

"Well. .. it's just that I wish Dad hadn't been killed by that V2 before I was even born," Davy sighed.

"Davy," Sal sighed while shaking her head.

"Don't get me wrong, Mum. As much as we've struggled, you've been the best mum a lad could ask for but. . . I just would have liked to have had a dad an' maybe some brothers. It ain't fair that bomb had to. .." Davy exclaimed.

At that Sal started to cry.

"I'm sorry, Mum. But seeing that I'm now twenty-one. .." Davy started to say as he put his arms around Sal.

"You just turned twenty!" Sal half-laughed.

"But you put that extra candle on the cake like always," Davy replied.

"So? That's one to grow on," Sal snapped.

"Well, seein' that I've likely grown all I'm going to, I'm taking that extra year now!" Davy quipped.

"Cheeky lad!"Sal sniffed while unsuccessfully trying not to laugh.

"Mum, I'm really ready," Davy pleaded.

"You're right, Luv. I ain't been fair to ya and you're old enough to know the truth," Sal sighed.

"The truth?" Davy asked as he sat down on the well worn couch.

"Yeah, Luv! Yer dad didn't die in the Blitz from a V2," Sal groaned.

"What?!" Davy gasped.

"Yeah, I was in London helpin' out during that time working in a 'ospital with them bombs dropping but we parted ways without tyin' the knot," Sal confessed.

Davy shook his head somewhat stunned by what she was saying.

"All this time, you've told everyone you were a widow and I was an orphan! Why'd you lie?" Davy asked while looking at her in puzzlement.

"Why d'ya think, Luv? Ya think folks would have done more than spat at us if they knew you'd bin made on the wrong side of the blanket? " Sal shuddered.

"But why did you lie to me?" Davy asked.

" Because I loved and wanted you as soon as I knew I was havin' ya and I didn't want you to have cause not to hold yer head up!" Sal insisted.

"But what about Dad? What happened to him? Was he really a soldier like you'd said?" Davy asked.

"Yeah, but he was a Yank instead of one of ours," Sal explained.

" A Colonist, eh. Did he know about me?" Davy asked.

"We only were an item for a short time while he healed an' he soon got posted to join his mates to invade the Continent but he did send this in 1950," Sal explained as she took a key from her house keychain she'd had tied securely to her waist and unlocked a small drawer in the table in front of the couch then took out a postcard.

"It's the Statue of Liberty! "Davy exclaimed as he examined the postcard.

"Read the other side," Sal gulped.

With shaking hands, Davy turned over the postcard and saw his father's handwriting for the first time ever.

" 'Dear Sal,

Made it back here in one piece! Send the boy over to see me in the city!

Love,

Jonesy' Jonesy?!" Davy gulped.

"Yeah, he was Sgt. Jones so his mates and I always called 'im 'Jonesy'," Sal confessed.

"He's got our same surname, then?" Davy asked.

"Yeah," Sal sighed.

"And what about his Christian nay. ." Davy asked.

"I never got to know him well enough to ask him that," Sal shrugged.

"Mum, he wanted to meet me. Why didn't you take me over?" Davy asked.

"Davy, I was workin' double shifts at the mill keepin' a roof over our heads back then. I couldn't go gallavantin' across the Pond back then an' I 'd have been a horrible mum if I'd sent you all by your lonesome when you were five," Sal explained.

"But I'm twenty-one now,"Davy pleaded.

"Twenty! I'm takin' back that extra candle!" Sal quipped- as she yanked said candle off the cake.

"Mum, I won't give up on ya! I just want to meet him and find out what it's like to be part of a bigger family," Davy pleaded as he hugged her.

Sal sighed and for a few moments became quiet but then responded.

"I guess I wouldn't be a good mum if I didn't let ya fly. But them States are a lot bigger than our little island so please be careful," Sal begged as they hugged.

Two weeks later at the Manchester Piccadilly Railway Station.

"Mum, I can tie me own tie," Davy scoffed as Sal straightened the knot of his black tie and smoothed out the shirt collar.

"You're about to make a big journey an' I want folks to know you deserve to be treated like a gentleman!" Sal exclaimed.

"I don't care about other folks- just as long as I get to meet Dad," Davy exclaimed.

"You're sure you're ready for this, Luv?" Sal asked.

Davy sighed and swallowed a bit.

"Mum, I need to see what the States have to offer. Even if I don't make a big splash with Dad, I can't help but there'll be no turning back ! " Davy beamed.

A loud whistle was heard at that moment.

"Last call for the 12:15 London Express!" the announcer proclaimed.

"This is it, Mum! I love you!" Davy proclaimed as the two of them hugged while he grabbed his duffle bag and started running towards the train.

"Take care, Darlin. I pray you'll find your dad and maybe even some brothers!" Sal laughed as she waved while Davy jumped on the moving train and then as soon as it rounded the first corner, allowed herself a good cry.

As for Davy, he started to shake . He was simultaneously excited about his impending journey to a new land with unexplored potential for a reunion with his father and all the opportunities of a new world beckoning him yet scared as each minute on the train put him further and further away from his mother, girlfriends, friends, neighbors, the horses he'd grown attached to at the stable, co-workers, Manchester and all he'd ever known.