Taylor

Strong arms pulled her closer and a face nuzzled into her neck. She sighed happily as warm breath tickled her skin.

The sound of an alarm pulled Taylor from her dream. The air was warm and her single bed lacked the space for anyone sleeping next to her. With another sigh she pushed away the sheets and sat up. Gathering a clean uniform the Air Force captain made her way to the showers. Today was her day of extra shower privileges and Taylor greedily took advantage to wash the grease and sand from her hair.

Leaving her hair loose to dry, she made her way back across the base to her quarters.

'Merry Christmas, captain!' one of her airman greeted as he was making his way to the showers.

Taylor just waved at him and felt a sad tug at her heart. A note pinned to her door had her smiling, however. She quickly went inside and started up her laptop before opening Skype. Her call was answered on the second ring.

Eric's smiling face appeared on her screen framed by a Christmas tree behind him and the shadows of a fire burning in the fireplace dancing across his features. Obviously he'd been sitting on the floor by the tree, waiting for her to come online.

'Hi,' she mouthed at him, enjoying the opportunity to silently stare at him.

'Hey,' he mouthed back, letting the silence stretch as he took her in.

A few moments later the silence was disturbed by a cry and the sound of running feet. Two boys appeared on screen. The younger settled in Eric's lap while the older hang around his neck. Taylor laughed and tears prickled in her eyes at seeing her family.

'Hey,' Taylor smiled.

'Hey, mommy,' the elder boy called brightly and Taylor saw Eric wince at the volume of the exclamation right next to his ear. Her younger son just waved. 'Merry Christmas! Daddy says it's already Christmas for you.'

'It sure is,' Taylor agreed. 'But I don't have a pretty Christmas tree like you guys.'

'Bray picked it.'

The little boy in Eric's lap nodded, now having stuck his thumb into his mouth.

'You have a good eye for tree picking, Brayden. What are you doing for Christmas tomorrow?' Taylor asked, leaning forward in her chair.

'Grandpa Alan,' Brayden said around his thumb.

'Are you visiting grandpa?'

'Yeah, eh invited us for dinner,' her eldest son nodded. 'And uncle Wes and aunt Jen are going to be there too with Iris, Brooke and Michael. And we get to have a sleepover in one of the big beds. I have to share with Bray again. Can't we get our own? Grandpa Alan has enough.'

'Slow down, Ezra. Breathe,' Taylor laughed. 'You could always ask grandpa, but think of your poor father. He would first have to tug you into one of those big beds and then walk all the way to another room with a big bed to tug Brayden in. Grandpa's house is a lot bigger than ours and daddy's getting old.'

Eric looked indignant at the suggestion of being old, but Ezra was nodding again.

'Wil you come to dinner too, mommy?' Brayden asked.

'Well…' Taylor started hesitantly.

'Of course,' Eric cut in, finally speaking. 'Grandpa Alan promised to save her a seat. Ezra can sit next to her and you get to sit next to me.' Brayden looked up at Eric with an excited smile. 'And you know what. I happened to talk to Santa and he said that if mommy managed to call tonight you may each open one present already so she can see, but then you'll have to go to bed.'

Both boys whooped happily and Eric pulled two packages from under the tree. Taylor watched her sons rip the wrappings off and show her their presents. Ezra got a Transformer toy and Brayden a Lego Juniors Marvel set. Eric gently reminded the boys it was time for bed now and send them upstairs, telling them he'd be right up.

Taylor smiled at him. 'You did good on those presents.'

'Thanks, the key was ignoring Wes and the age indications,' Eric smiled and Taylor laughed. 'There's a few under there for you as well. I'll keep them wrapped for you and safe from the boys until you get back.'

'I wish I was back already. I'm missing out on so much. Is Ezra still enjoying school? Has Brayden had any accidents?'

'No, Brayden has not had any accidents since I threw the diapers out. And so far, yeah Ezra seems to be enjoying school. But I'm not. They had a Christmas thing and parents were invited too. I got hit on again by moms thinking I was a single dad and available, since they've never seen Ezra's mom around.'

'We'll bring him to school together. Have a "first day of school" do-over while we're at it.'

'I'll make sure to have the day off and Brayden does go to day-care so we'll have the day for just the two of us.'

Taylor shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the ideas of how exactly she would spend such a day and saw a smirk appear on Eric's face as he caught the movement. 'Can't we ask grandpa to take the kids for a week or two?'

'I'm sure grandpa wouldn't mind, but the boys might protest since they're missing you just as much as me. They will most certainly disagree with spending another week or two without you.'

'I guess you're right. I've never been this ready to come home from deployment, though.'

'Because you have people to come home to,' Eric pointed out with a soft smile. 'Just don't do anything stupid to come home earlier, Earhardt. We want you home in one piece.'

'That's Myers to you,' Taylor grinned. Eric smirked again in reply. 'I should get going,' she sighed reluctantly.

'I should go put our sons to bed.'

Taylor stared for a moment longer before reaching to cut the connection.

'Wait, one more thing,' Eric stopped her.

Taylor raised her eyebrow at him and Eric just smiled. Raising a mistletoe and holding it over his head. Taylor laughed, tears once again in her eyes. She pressed a kiss to her fingers and pressed them to the screen to cover his lips.

'See you soon,' Eric told her longingly.

'I'll be counting down the days,' Taylor nodded before quickly cutting the connection. She buried her face in her hands. Almost eight months away from her family now. Eric had picked a school for Ezra on his own, with a little help from Wes and Jen, and he'd been alone on their son's first day of school and every day after. Brayden was now out of diapers and had been for a few months. And now her husband was handling Christmas alone.

A knock on her door startled her out of her thoughts. 'Captain Myers, ma'am. Are you coming to breakfast?'

'I'll be right there, Parker,' she called out and started fixing her now dry hair back into its regulation braid.

Five minutes later she entered the mess hall. Her squad was gathered at one of the tables. Food was covering the table. Real bread rolls and fancier foods than standard rations to celebrate Christmas. No one was eating yet, the seat at the head of the table left empty. Taylor took the hint and sat down with a smile.

'Morning, captain,' the table coursed, making Taylor's smile grow wider.

'Good morning and merry Christmas,' she replied. 'If you were waiting for me, say grace and tug in.'

Food was passed around and plates were filled quickly.

'Did you manage to make the call home?' one of her airman asked Taylor.

'Yeah, they had the internet back up just in time,' Taylor smiled. 'The house is still standing.'

'Six more weeks,' one of her lieutenants smiled encouragingly. 'You'll be home in time for the birthday of your youngest, right?'

'Yeah, with a few days to spare. He'll turn 3 on February 10th and Ezra will be 6 already on March 4th. At least I'm not missing out on their birthdays.'

'Speaking of birthdays,' airman Parker started, standing up. 'I have an announcement to make. When I opened my email this morning, I had a message from home. My girlfriend gave birth to our daughter at 15.49 local time. We named her Amelia.'

'After Amelia Earhart?' someone asked.

'My girlfriend actually wanted to call her Taylor,' Parker admitted. 'I convinced her that might be a bit overdone.'

'So instead she's named after me in a more convoluted way?' Taylor asked, raising an eyebrow? 'Poor kid.'

'My girlfriend insisted she'd be named after the woman keeping me safe out here,' Parker blushed.

'Well, it's spelled differently and I don't think I deserve this honour. So thank you for talking her out of the name Taylor. But now I will have to make sure I'm taking your ass back home in one piece. Congratulations,' Taylor nodded at Parker and raised her cup of coffee. 'To Amelia.'

The rest of the table followed her and echoed the call, Parker shining with pride. They were all missing out on so much with their families back home. But at least they had each other to share some happy moments with. No matter the distance, everyone was home for Christmas today. If only in their dreams.

A/N: Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day. I broke this story into two chapters because it was getting too long. Hope I'll finish that one in a bit. So keep an eye out for chapter 2!