Letters from home

Set Up- AU Dan joined the marines after graduating from NYU, time line diverges from canon around the end of season 4, i.e. Vanessa never stole inside and it was never published. Set in plausible near future, Iran started a shooting war in the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. retaliated.

It was another hot dry day in the middle of the Iranian desert, and the skies showed no signs of that changing soon, not a cloud in a thousand miles.

A cloud of dust was rising from somewhere on the eastern horizon heading straight towards the encampment of marines on the outskirts of a small Iranian city called Taybad, Taybad was a city of about 45,000 sitting on the strategic confluence of two highways near the afghan border, it had controlled the north south and east west flow of U.S. Forces in eastern Iran during the initial invasion, now it was nothing more than a staging area and command post far behind the front lines. As the cloud of dust and sand grew nearer he could make out the shape of a deuce and a half cargo truck speeding along the highway from the border. The truck stopped as it reached the front gate and the driver presented his orders to the guard and parked in the motor pool

"Captain Humphrey?" asked the young driver as he offered a salute which was quickly returned.

"What is it private?"

"Mail call sir"

"Okay bring it over here and I'll distribute it among the men"

"Yes sir, also a General McMillan asked me to deliver this to you sir" the driver offered as he pulled out a large manila envelope with the seal of the commandant on it

Seeing the symbol on the envelope and surmising its sensitivity Dan quickly retrieved both it and the mail before sending the driver back on his way.

After he was alone Dan carefully placed the envelope in his personal officers safe and returned to the mail.

"Alright, gather 'round men we got mail, let's see what your families sent you this week"

Dan quickly called off the names of all the men who had received mail from their loved ones, his heart falling as he passed the H's, sure his dad and Lilly had a tough time accepting his choice to serve but he hoped they would at least be supportive, as he finished up the mail he noticed one orphaned piece of mail sitting at the bottom of the burlap mail sack, it had no return address except a pair of lips pressed onto the envelope in lipstick, but as he picked it up he realized it was addressed to him

"Captain Daniel J. Humphrey, 2nd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, USMC"

As he read the address he smiled, the only person who would bother to put his full name and rank along with his unit designation was her, she was the one person he felt like he was really leaving behind, after all that they had been through together he just had left, not that she hadn't tried to stop him every way she knew how, finally she relented to the fact that he had made up his mind and she became supportive of his decision. What had really surprised him was that she wanted to stay with him through it.

So it was only two weeks before he left for war that they had eloped quietly at a Brooklyn cathedral, the remaining time they spent together was bliss and their goodbyes were tear stained and bittersweet, but just before he walked down the jet way to catch his plane to hell, he pulled her close and whispered one thing in her ear.

"I love you, I always will no matter what, and some way, somehow I'll always come back to you, I promise"

With that the wall of tears she had been holding back started to cascade down her cheeks and she held on for dear life and begged him not to go. His response was a simple

"I have to"

choked out into her blonde mane while holding back tears of his own, and then he turned, put on his cover, picked up his ruck sack, and slowly walked away towards war, each step harder than the last.

The wave of memories, emotion and the effect they had on him was surprising, however he was still excited to open it up and see what she had sent him, thus he quickly retired to his quarters to open his bounty. When he was alone he could still detect the faint odor of her favorite perfume as he broke the seal of the envelope, waiting for him inside besides several pictures of his bride very scantily clad, were two things that meant the world, a letter scrawled in her dainty handwriting and the picture of them kissing at her cotillion with a message scrawled on the back

"I love you more than you will ever know –S"

He held it in his hands for a second before slipping it under a strap on the in his helmet so he could always have it with him in the field.

He grabbed the folded up pieces of paper and began to read

Dear Dan,

I miss you SO much, like I can't even bear the thought that you won't come back for six more months, I can hardly wait until you're here with me again. I'm planning the biggest welcome home party ever for you, but only if you want one. Anyways enough about parties I hope that you're safe and sound when you get this letter and the attached items, I had sooo much fun taking them for you, I sent you my favorite photo of us, I want you to have it with you wherever you are so you never forget me. It's been tough here without you but I'm doing pretty well. Rufus and Lilly are still mad that you left but I know they send their love even if they don't say it, I just think that they're both scared that you'll get hurt or worse…

At this point in the letter Dan noticed little spots where the paper had been wetted and dried out, and the ink smudged by quite a few tears.

I honestly don't know what I'd do if you were gone, I couldn't go on without you, so you have to keep your promise you have to come back to me in one piece. I still don't know why YOU had to go but I understand it and I support you fully, I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to write you must think I'm a horrible wife, but if I wrote to you that would make it real that you might not ever come back to me. God I'm so sorry I'm being depressing you don't need to hear any of this from me you already know it all. Anyways back to what's going on at home I got one of those stars to hang in the window, I got the biggest one I could find and it's on the big window overlooking the harbor in our new home, I'm so glad you convinced me to move out of the city and to Greenwich I love it here just like you said, although it feels empty by myself. I still haven't been able to tell Lilly and Rufus that we eloped, it just doesn't feel right doing it without you, and I can't wait to do it so I can officially take the Humphrey name. I've got some big plans and things we're gonna do when you get back so hurry home and be safe, remember those pictures don't compare to the real thing. I want to do a video chat with you so expect news of that soon.

I'm yours forever and always.

Love,

Serena

Dan sat on his cot just staring at her letter for a while, he really missed her and he could tell that him being gone was driving her insane, for the first time he really questioned if he was doing the right thing by leaving her behind to serve or if he was being selfish and following his compass without thinking of what it would do to other people, but then a wave of anger at his father and step mother swept over him, how, after six months were they still unable to even wish him a "good luck" or "we love you"? That drove him insane in itself. Suddenly Dan remembered the bundle in the safe and quickly folded and stowed the paper into the chest pocket of his uniform. Opening the safe he quickly and smoothly broke the wax seal on the parcel and pulled out a folder marked "For Your Eyes Only along with a note from the general explaining that his command had been selected for a special mission and that these were his detailed marching orders. Dan opened the folder and read the orders, hardly believing what he saw; his team was to provide cover and security for a DEVGRU mission to take out Iran's nuclear fuel enrichment facility, located in the desert south of Qom, before the ayatollah could enrich enough uranium to build a bomb, they left at dawn…