Sleeping With the Telephone Part 2

Once Emily was busy coloring a picture for him, Mark went up the stairs to check on his wife. He opened the door silently and saw Tina sleeping on the bed. He noted her appearance. Her uniform was wrinkled, the ribbons and insignias were messed up, and he could easily note the worry lines that were on her forehead and around her mouth. Mark sat on the edge of the bed and brushed Tina's bangs away from her eyes. "Wake up, beautiful," he kissed the corner of her mouth.

She stirred slightly and mumbled something before she opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry, hon. I didn't understand that."

"Tell me it was all a dream." She demanded in a whisper.

"I wish I could."

She sighed and traced the outline of his face with her index finger. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you more."

A faint smile spread across her lips. "Em says that." Then she started to sit up. "Speaking of, where is Em? I was expecting to doze off like that."

"She is in her room coloring a picture for me to take with me."

"What did you tell her?"

"That I had to go to the other side of the ocean and help make sick soldiers better so that they could come home."

"How'd she take it?"

"Okay, I guess. She doesn't really understand. But," he chuckled slightly, "she said that Papa could tell them that I didn't want to go and then I could stay here."

Tina smiled sadly. "I wish my dad could do that."

"Me, too." Mark sighed heavily and ran a hand through is dark hair. "If you want to change, I'll go get Emily ready for dinner. What do you want to do for dinner?"

"Order in."

"That's fine. Now, go change."

"No way, Commander. I am not wasting one second away from you. Got that?"

"Yes, ma'am." They got off the bed and started to walk down the hallway. "I must warn you, though."

Confused, Tina stopped walking. "What?"

"Emily made you a snack."

"How sweet."

"But, like I said, I must warn you."

"What did my little chef conjure up this time? More raw spaghetti and chocolate syrup?"

"No. Cheerios and orange juice."

Tina brought a hand up to her mouth to muffle her laughter. "My goodness. What will our daughter come up with next?"

Mark shrugged sadly as he wished that he would be home to see it.

- - -

The rest of the afternoon was spent calmly. The Tate's had pizza, watched cartoons and enjoyed each other's company. But, all too soon, it was time for Mark to leave.

At promptly 7pm, Tina and Emily were seeing Mark off. Tina straightened Mark's collar and adjusted his pins for the umpteenth time since they were there. "Now, are you sure you have everything?"

"Yes."

"Don't forget to call your mother when you get there…to help settle her mind some. Emily and I will go visit her in a few weeks...Um…call me whenever…no matter what time; I'll be sure that Emily gets to speak with you, too…Uh, what else. Oh, yes. I put extra batteries in your carry on, as well as a first-aid kit, some more phone cards, and um…and, oh, stationary, a sewing kit and some more t-shirts."

Mark shifted Emily to his other hip and cupped Tina's face in his hands. "Take a breath."

A tear escaped and made its way down her cheek. "Promise me," she swallowed. "Promise me you'll come home."

"I'll come home. As soon as I can."

"Emily," Tina's voice was shaky as her trembling hands smoothed her daughter's hair. "You do understand what is going to happen, right? In two hours Daddy will be on that plane. He'll be going bye-byes for a while."

"Miss you."

"I'll miss you, too, baby. I'm gonna call you as soon as I can."

Emily wrapped her arms tightly around her Daddy's neck and said. "I wuv you lots…like tater tots!"

Tina and Mark both smiled. "Where do you come up with these things, Miss Emily, huh?" He asked as he rubbed her back. He swallowed the lump in his throat before he spoke again, "It's time for you to go to Mommy; I have to leave now."

"No," the little girl shook her head and buried it in the crook of her father's head. "I don't wanna you to goooo. Nooo!"

"We talked about this, sweetheart. I have to go."

"But, but," her bottom lip trembled. "I'm a gonna miss you!"

"I'll miss you and Mommy, too, sweat pea."

Tina sniffled. "Come to Mommy, baby." She said as she extended her arms.

"Nun-huh." Emily wrapped her wrapped her arms even tighter around her father's neck.

Mark began to pry Emily's arms away from his neck. "Go to Mommy."

"No!" Emily protested.

Once Emily was in her mother's arms, she broke into one of her rare tantrums. "Don't go, Dada! Nooo!" She began kicking and waving her arms back and forth.

Mark gave Tina a kiss. "You have to take her out. It'll be too hard if you don't."

She blinked several times trying to stop her tears. "Love you."

"And I love you."

Tina shifted Emily to her hip. "I'll see you soon, Doctor."

"You, too, Commander." With that, Mark turned on his heal and went to board the plane.

- - -

Tina stole another glance of Mark from the other side of the gate, but a kick from Emily caused her to focus her attention on her daughter. "Don't kick me," she said in her firm, yet gentle 'command' voice.

"I don't want Daddy to go," she cried.

The tears pooled around her mouth, as she answered, "I don't either."

A few seconds later, a woman came up to Tina. "Excuse me, I'm Gina Maroni. I haven't seen you here before. Are you a new Navy wife?"

"Um, no," Tina wiped her eyes. "No. Actually, my husband and I have been married for eight years, and we both are in the Navy."

"Ah, so this is the first deployment."

"Correct."

"I'm not going to lie or sugarcoat this. All deployments are hard, but the first one is usually the worst."

Tina nodded and realized that she never introduced herself. "I'm Christina Tate, by the way, and this is my daughter, Emily. Emily, say hello to Mrs. Maroni."

"Hello, Mrs..M-m-ar-oni," Emily sounded out shyly with tear stained cheeks.

The woman smiled warmly. "Hello, sweetie." Then she took a piece of paper out off her purse and jotted some things down before handing the paper to Tina. "Here is my phone number and e-mail address. Call me sometime. I also have a daughter around Emily's age; maybe they can have a play date."

Tina folded up the paper and put it in her pocket. "Thank you. I really do appreciate your kindness."

Gina smiled. "Well you are very welcome. I wish I could stay longer, but I have to go to work. I'll see you soon though."

"Alright. I'll be sure to get in touch with you sometime." She said before Gina walked away.

Suddenly, there was a chill in the air and Tina wrapped her arms a little tighter around Emily. "Let's take a ride to Nana and Papa's, Emily."