As her white stilettos hit the floor, Jeremy looked up and smiled. He loved her more than life itself. General Pearce looked on in amusement. When his wife left him, it was meant not only to get away from army life, but to also save her daughter from the life she had chosen, and regretted. Hailey was much different than her mother though. She was army material, and if she wasn't going to enlist, she was going to stay on a base as long as she could.

"Hey Jer, long time no see." Hailey said as she ran into his arms. He kissed her forehead.

"You two have fun tonight. I won't wait up okay Hailey? We can talk tomorrow." General Pearce knew what tonight would bring for Hailey. As she kissed his cheek and waved goodbye, General Pearce could not imagine what the next few months would bring.

Jeremy kissed Hailey as soon as the door closed behind them. She laughed as they broke apart and held his hand as the walked down the driveway to his car. After holding the door so Hailey could get in, Jeremy walked around to the driver's side. He slid in and turned the ignition.

"What time is your first class tomorrow?" Jeremy asked with a strange look on his face.

"Not until 12:30, why?" Hailey answered playing with Jeremy's stereo system playing Jeremy's favorite band, MayDay Parade.

"Just wondering." Jeremy looked distracted as they drove in silence to the restaurant. It wasn't an awkward silence; it felt more foreboding to Hailey than anything. This sense scared Hailey because, quite honestly, Jeremy could be breaking up with her tonight on top of telling her that he was being deployed.

As Hailey climbed out of the car, Jeremy held the door. Out of nowhere, Jeremy held her close tom him. This sudden embrace made Hailey nervous. Walking into the restaurant, the two intertwined their fingers. The host asked for the reservation name.

"Sherwood, party of two" Jeremy answered with a smile. His free hand fell to his pocket as he and Hailey followed the host to their table checking to make sure it was still there. That perfect little box fit snuggly into his jeans pocket.

"Jer. Tell me right now what's going on, because to tell you the truth, I'd rather get this over with now and not have to sit here awkwardly through the whole night." Hailey could sense that Jeremy was distracted and with him deploying and all, she figured he was leaving her. "I'd rather find out right now that I should have gone with my mom."

"What are you talking about Hailey?" Jeremy was confused. They had barely sat down and Hailey was basically talking about breaking up.

"I know how this works Jer, my mom did the same thing to my dad. She took him out to this fancy restaurant and then wham! Was like, 'I'm leaving so bye. Oh by the way, I want Hailey.' And that was that, she made him suffer through dinner before she told him, even though he knew something was going on. Please Jer, don't do this to me. Just tell me you're being deployed, you don't think it's a good idea for us to say together and let's go home. Please." Hailey was almost crying.

Jer jumped up from his seat and took Hailey into his arms. "Hailey, no. None of that is right, well, part of it is. I am being deployed. I leave in a week, next Thursday. But I want to stay with you Hailey; I want to come home to you. I want, well Hailey, I want you." Hailey looked into Jeremy's eyes to see that he was genuine. He dragged his chair closer to her, dug around in his pocket. "Stay with me Hailey." Opening the box, a ring stood a wide silver band with a diamond in the center. "Forever."

"Jer… oh my god." Hailey blushed. "Of course I'll stay with you forever." Hailey smiled as Jeremy placed the ring on the third finger of her left hand. Jeremy kissed her, just as the waiter came to take their orders. Jeremy ordered for them both after being sure that it was what Hailey wanted.

After they finished eating, Jeremy held his hand out for Hailey to take. As they were leaving, Jeremy stopped Hailey. "Do you think you could do one more thing for me Hailey?"

"Anything at all Jeremy." Hailey smiled.

"Will you wear my tags when I leave?" Jeremy asked. Proposing wasn't as frightening to him as asking Hailey to wear his dog tags. It was almost a bigger deal to agree to marry a soldier… you could get out of it, but wearing a soldier's tags? That was a huge deal. Even if your love died, you were still expected to wear their tags.

"Of course Jer." Hailey answered as she kissed Jeremy on the cheek. Climbing into the car, Hailey was giddy and excited.

"So, uh Hail, you wanna come back to my house and watch a movie?" Jeremy was serious. Although he just asked and Hailey just agreed to marry him, he needed something normal to keep him from thinking about his upcoming deployment.

"Of course. But it's my turn to pick the movie you've picked the last three!" Hailey pretended to whine as Jeremy smiled at her.

Pulling into his driveway, Jeremy noticed that neither one of his parent's cars were there. To him it was odd, but for Hailey it was normal. Hailey was used to no one being home. Jeremy was slightly confused but then saw that his mother's car was parked farther back. Calming down a little bit, Jeremy realized that his parents had just gone out.

"Come one hon, what do you want to watch tonight?" Jeremy asked Hailey as they took off their jackets, ran to the living room and hunted around for the perfect movie.

"Something Scary. SAW III!!!!" Hailey yelled as she grabbed the movie off the shelf.

"You always get freaked out during those things baby." Jeremy said as he took the movie from her and placed it into the DVD player.

"Yeah… well… you like it and plus it gives me yet another reason to hide myself under you." Hailey laughed as Jeremy grabbed blankets and sat on the couch. Hailey joined him, her arms wrapped around him, and his arms around her waist.

"We don't have to watch a scary movie for you to be under me love." Jeremy commented with a sly grin.

"You PERV!" Hailey joked as she kissed Jeremy on the cheek.

Two hours later, with Hailey scared stiff, Jeremy leaned into to kiss his future wife. As his hands explored her body as though they had never been locked in an embrace before, Hailey began to unbutton the white plastic buttons of his shirt. Jeremy's hands found the zipper of Hailey's dress as she pulled off his shirt. Almost as quickly as the dress came off, Jeremy's pants were laying next to Hailey and Jeremy. Moving faster than they realized, Hailey wound up on Jeremy's bed. His skin was an inch above hers and the heat that radiated from them both made Hailey want to weep with pleasure. Jeremy brought his head up from Hailey's lips just once and happened to glance at the clock.

"Shit, Hails, you've gotta be home like right now!" Jeremy panicked. It was bad enough that he was dating a General's daughter, but if he got her home past 1:30 am, he was better off fighting in a war.

"Crap!" Hailey and Jeremy began to rush around to search for their clothes.

When they resembled the couple that left from the Pearce residence, Jeremy and Hailey ran for the car. Luckily, they pulled into Hailey's driveway. The front door opened a crack as the couple got out of the car and kissed lightly as they walked.

"Oh baby!" Denise called as she ran out of the house and towards Hailey. "Welcome!"

Frank and Hailey's father, Chris, stood in the doorway smiling. Hailey started to turn a bright shade of red, but in the early morning night, you couldn't tell. Jeremy allowed his mother to take his fiancée to the door. Frank hugged Hailey briefly and smiled at her. Chris on the other hand, a man who had never been warm and fuzzy reached out and pulled his daughter into a warm embrace. Jeremy shook both Chris and Frank's hand but ended up hugging each of them.

"I was waiting for the day that Jeremy would ask my permission to marry you Lee. When he finally did, although I have my reservations about your ages, I said yes. I don't think I've ever seen any one quite as in love as you two are, at least no one that hasn't been married for fifteen or more years. I want you to be happy Lee, and you're happiest with Jeremy. And you may only be nineteen, but you are the smartest woman I know and I am proud to call you my daughter." Chris ended his toast, and all drank from their high flutes.