"You look so beautiful!" My mother told me as I looked in the mirror. Today was the day I would finally be getting married to the love of my life. We would've been married sooner, but due to his hectic work schedule we always had to set the date back. Did I mention that Kelly is a Navy S.E.A.L? I looked over at my mother "Aw, thanks mom..." I smiled looking in the mirror at my wedding dress, it was the basic white dress, one shoulder mermaid style and fitted to my body, it had just the right amount of sparkle, but not too dramatic. As for my hair it was half up, half down and curled, and a natural Smokey eye for make-up. As I stood there admiring myself in the mirror there was a knock at the door, "Come in." I said softly, I heard the door open and turned around it was James, to Kelly he is known as 'Red' but to me I call him James. "Are you allowed to be here?" I asked him smiling, he laughed slightly, "I think the only person who cannot see you is the groom." He said laughing; James "Red" Atkins he is a explosive specialist and a M-60 Machine Gunner, he is one of Kelly's best friends in the squad and also the best man at our wedding. He is probably the same height as Kelly, has blonde/brown hair slightly spiked, and blue eyes that look like crystals. I've known him just as long as I've known Kelly. "Yeah, you are probably right." I said smiling than taking a deep breath, "This is really happening isn't it? I am about to get married." I said, James laughed slightly, "You've only waited 5 years and probably 3 date changes later." he chuckled and I laughed as well, just then my mother came back into the room "Sweetie it is time!" She said with the biggest smile on her face, than my best friend since we were little girls and maid of honor Lacy walked into the room, "I still cannot believe my best friend is getting married!" she said, ironically she was married to Danny Kelley, known as "Doc" and just happens to be apart of Kelly and James squad, he was a Corpsman hint the nickname Doc and a grenadier, I actually first met Kelly at their wedding, we had really hit it off at their reception. "I'll see you out there" James said to me smiling, "By the way you look really beautiful, Kelly is going to be jaw-dropped when he sees you out there." He said smiling, I smiled at him "Thank you James, that really means a lot to me." I said hugging him and he walked out of the room, my mother walked up to me, "Are you ready sweetie?" She said, I looked at her, "Yes, I am. I just wish daddy was here to walk me down the isle." I said looking down at my feet, my father was Gunnery Sergeant Woods of The United States Marine Corps, he had passed away around the time I actually started to date Kelly, and since Kelly is also in the service I always worry about him when he is away. "I know baby, but I know for a fact that he would love Kelly as a son-in-law and he is going to be watching over you as you get married today." She said grabbing my arm, and my friend grabbed my other arm and we walked towards the isle entrance.
I watched as my friend walked down the isle, my mother looked at me, "Oh before I forget, here." she said handing me a box, "Mother what is this? I asked her examining the box then looking at her, "Just open it Heather, goodness must you be so difficult." she said, I laughed and then opened it and it revealed dog tags, not just any dog tags, my fathers, I looked up at my mom "I cannot wear these mom." she looked at me, "Yes you can, then that way it will be as if your father is here with you." She smiled, I smiled as well holding back the tears, I put on the dog tags and then looked at her taking a deep breath. "Well lets do this." I said turning around and getting ready to walk down the isle.
*At the reception*
"We will now have Mr. and Mrs. Lake have their first dance." said the D.J, Kelly walked over to me grabbing my hand and slowly pulling me onto the dance floor, as the music played we just started to dance. When you looked at Kelly you wouldn't believe he was in the service, due to his choice of hairstyle. He had a Mohawk, no not like what most rock bands have, but it was buzzed and the ends were cleaned up nicely. Kelly was the lead scout and rifleman of his group, so he knew his way around pretty much anything. I looked him in his eyes, which are really easy to get lost in because they were a ocean blue. "I love you." he whispered to me, "I love you too." I smiled kissing him. The night carried on, and everything was just perfect. Until we go to the honeymoon sweet.
*At The Honeymoon sweet*
We were both extremely exhausted after the wedding, from the quick planning and not to mention Kelly did just get home a day before the wedding it was all just tiring, so we decided to just end the night with a nice hot bubble bath and some beer, we aren't really into the fancy drinks like most couples on their wedding night are. I looked over at him "I cannot believe we are finally married." he chuckled, "Yeah I am sorry about the fact that it took so long, I will be real honest with you Heather... I thought you would've left me or called off the engagement because work kept getting in the way." He said looking at me, I placed my hands on his chest looking in his eyes, "Now why would I do that? I knew what I signed up for when I agreed to even date you... Yes it gets hard, but it makes every deployment worth it because every homecoming is something that I look forward to." I said kissing him. Just then his phone started to go off, I watched as he reached for it and got sad while listening to the conversation "What's up LT?" ... "So we have to leave at 0900 tomorrow?" ... "Alright sir I will see you tomorrow." he said hanging up the phone, I looked at him and sighed, "Work?" I said, he nodded "Yes babe, we will be getting debriefed about it a bit more tomorrow morning... I'm sorry, I know you thought we at least had the weekend together." he said, "Stop saying sorry, duty calls baby... And anyways at least we have to rest of tonight to spend together." I smiled kissing him, just then he had picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, "What are you doing?" I said, "Making tonight a great night for us... Duh" he said taking us to the bed.
-The Next Morning-
I heard the alarm go off and slowly opened my eyes, it was 7A.M or 0700 in military language. I looked and seen Kelly already dressed, "Is my gear still in the trunk babe?" he asked me, I nodded and started getting dressed myself, "Yes Kelly, everything is still in the car, am I driving you?" I said he nodded "Yeah that would be great, then I can double check and make sure I have everything... Oh that reminds me." he walked up to me and grabbed my face with both hands and kissing me, "Good morning Mrs. Lake." he smiled and I smiled as well, "Gosh I need to get use to the name change." I laughed grabbing the suit cases and we were off to the airport... It wasn't that long of a ride, surprisingly the traffic wasn't as bad as I thought. I pulled up and seen the rest of Kelly's Squad saying their goodbyes to their loved ones, I seen Lacy and waved to her, then James came up to us. "So how are the newly weds doing?" He smiled, "We are doing good, our honeymoon got cut shorter then I anticipated, but it is ok." Kelly said looking at myself then Red. "I will actually be right back I want to go talk to LT." Lake said walking away leaving myself and Red alone, "So what are you guys doing now?" I asked him, he looked at me, "Well I cannot give you a lot of information, but we are going to Nigeria." he said, I sighed "Oh great a foreign country where they most likely hate Americans." I said, "Well don't worry so much about it Heather, Lake is one of the best guys on our team, he'll be ok." Red said to me, I took a deep breath "Yeah I know he is, but still... C-Can you just watch his back for me please, make sure he comes home... Alive." I said, "Hey, I will make sure I bring him home to you alive and in one piece ok?" Red said, I looked at him "You be careful to James, I want all of you to come home safe and in one piece." I said, he looked at me "No worries we will, also why don't you just call me Red like everyone else does?" he asked, I looked at him shrugging "Eh, I am just different like that, you'll just have to deal with it." I said laughing, and he laughed as well, then Kelly walked back over to us, "Well I am going to go board, you take care of yourself Heather, and I'll save you a seat Lake." Red said walking over to the plane and then Kelly stepped in front of me, placing both his hands on my shoulders, "Well baby, this is it." he said, I just looked at him and gave him a big hug, he wrapped his arms around me holding me tightly, we released and he looked me in the eyes, "I love you... So much, I will try and contact you as much as I can Heather, I am going to miss you." he said I kissed him "I love you too and will miss you, stay safe for me ok?" I said, he looked at me "You already know I will, I have to go now baby." he gave me one last kiss before heading over to the plan, I just watched him board the plan.
*Kelly's POV*
I got on the plan and took my seat right near Red, I got the window seat and was able to look at Heather while the plan was getting ready for take off, she was just waving at me, "I know it sucks man, but you'll be able to see her again soon" Red said, I looked at him, "You're right. I just hate leaving her, especially now that we are married." I said, Red patted my shoulder, "I know man, but she is strong she'll get through this just like you will." he said, I looked at him "If anything were to ever happen to me, while we are on missions, to where I don't come home to her... Would you take care of her for me and make sure nothing bad happens to her?" I said, Red nodded "Yeah man, of course I will." he said, and after that our flight took off.
Authors Note: Ok well you all made it through the first chapter, I am always open to what your feedback is, so feel free to give me your input. I feel like it is all over the place right now. But it will all come together and things will make sense lol. But again thank you for reading it! Tune in for chapter 2.
