Disclaimer(s): All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. TY lovely Twilight ladies for the great sample, this disclaimer is also not mine.

Thanks to THE READERS, my beta Kris, MY Kassiah for telling me where I need MORE, my prereaders and Amber for always doing polyvore for me! Smooches girls!

***Possible tissue alert ahead.

Previously

"Our deployment date's been moved up." Was all he said as he looked at me. His face void of expression.

"When?" I asked. He had told me earlier that they would give him a window, that he would be departing in so he could be prepared to leave at a moment's notice.

"Monday," he said as he stood up strong and tall. "I didn't want to marry you and leave you the next morning. So, if you're willing- I'd like to get married tonight. Then we can have the weekend together before I have to leave."

With tears in my eyes I looked up at the soldier in front of me. His unconditional love had brought us where we were today, he'd shown me sides of myself I knew nothing about.

"Edward," I sighed trying to give him a little bit of hesitation. "I love you. Of course I'll marry you tonight and would love nothing more than to spend the rest of your time here with my husband."

BPOV

On Monday morning I woke up in the arms of my naked husband. My body, sprawled across his, his hand resting lightly on the back of my thigh. I could feel certain parts of him stirring as I struggled to get closer to him.

The wedding had been amazing and beautiful, exactly like we had planned it to be. Just a little bit sooner than expected, which was quite alright with me. I was glad Edward had taken the initiative and moved it up. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like getting married last night and then saying goodbye to him today. The thought of him leaving me later today made me sad and I let my mind wander to the happier memories of our wedding ceremony.

Once Edward told me about the ceremony being moved up, we had about eight seconds before the door was thrown open and Alice, Rose, my mom and aunt crashed our intimate little love-fest. It took them approximately thirty minutes to stuff me into my dress, make my hair and makeup look presentable and get me down to the beach with everything still in tact before the ceremony was to start.

For anybody else, it would have been impossible, but they didn't let me or Edward down. We made it down the front steps and around the side of the house where the chairs were set up. Anybody that could make it, had. Even the friends of Edward's from the base. They would be leaving at the same time Edward was, but they were there for him, for US, now to show their support.

Walking down the aisle toward Edward was like a dream come true. Seeing him in his uniform standing there, waiting for me to promise myself to him forever brought a smile a mile wide to my face and made me feel as if I would burst with happiness. Whatever words the minister spoke were lost to me as I stared into the eyes of my future and heard nothing, saw nothing except for the love, passion, and devotion in my soon to-be-husband's eyes. Neither of us were quite done with our written vows yet, so we just spoke honestly, from the heart.

"Bella, I promise to spend everyday for the rest of our lives showing you how much I love you. How thankful I am that our paths led us here, to this day and to each other. You and our child will never want for anything as long as I'm alive. You two are who I'm coming home to, baby," he whispered as he leaned in and kissed me.

The minister cleared his throat and broke the moment as we laughed along with our family and friends. When I was done with my vows, the minister gave Edward permission to kiss his bride. I jumped into his arms as he bent forward to kiss me. Though he was surprised, he caught me, swinging me around and lifting me higher off the ground, while kissing me intensely.

Edward carried me back down the aisle not putting me down until our guests approached us with their congratulations, and even then he continues to hold me close. I met several of the other army wives and was told that we would be getting together while the men were gone. They seemed so much more at ease with things than I was. I guess having years or even months of marriage behind you before you sent your soldier off would make things a little less unknown. I knew they shared the same fears I did. The same what ifs that came with the uncertainty of war. They just did a better job at hiding it.

Edward and I had spent the last two days in this room, only leaving to feed ourselves and have dinner with my family and his dad last night since Edward would be leaving today. Leaving. I wasn't ready for him to leave me just yet though, I thought as I rolled off of him and on to my side snuggling up to him. My fingers began their descent as they swept along the naked form of my sexy husband. When they met with the silky skin of his morning wood a hiss escaped his mouth but I had yet to see those beautiful green eyes to let me know he had actually woken up.

I continued my exploration as I ran a single finger up and down his length. Watching it harden further under my touch made my own body begin to stir with desire. I reached between my legs to feel the evidence of my arousal, then brought my wet fingers back to him. Edward must have woken up because his hand reached out and grabbed mine.

I tried to stay in the moment with him, not letting the fact that this would be our last time together for quite a while cloud my thoughts. My body wanted him, always needed him and this morning was no different. I wanted this one last time before he left so he could always look back and remember with fond memories our last morning together wrapped up in each other.

Bringing my hand to his mouth he kissed each finger one by one, before wrapping his tongue around each of them sucking my wetness from them. He moaned, closing his eyes. Taking his hand, that had been holding my fingers to his mouth, he ran his own fingers through my wetness, swirling a single digit around my swollen bundle and causing me to buck against his hand. Chuckling, he pulled me closer to him into the same position we had been when I woke up, with me laying almost completely across him.

"Good morning, beautiful," he whispered as he bumped his nose against mine and kissed me.

"Mmm, morning."

Reaching between us I grasped his shaft with my right hand and guided him closer to where I was needy for him but he stopped me. I groaned, and he just smiled at me and kissed me.

"I love you," he whispered as flipped us so that he was now hovering over me.

"I love you too," I replied happily as I kissed him.

The feel of his fingers as he caressed my skin, the look in his eyes as his body covered mine, the tender, reverent kisses he pressed against my skin were just a reminder for me that this was actually goodbye.

"Don't cry, baby," he shushed me as he entered me. Dropping his head, he placed open mouthed kisses against my neck as I stroked his back. Our bodies moved as one. We made the sweetest love not knowing how long it would be before he could come back to me.

I knew I had to be strong for him, so after those initial tears, I forced myself to stop before I really began. I savored the way his hands brushed the hair from my face. His breath washing over me as he whispered all the things he loved about me; all of the things he would miss. Even with my emotions running high, I stayed with Edward in the moment, thriving underneath him. Just loving the feel of him. The intensity of our love.

I didn't think I could ever tire of the way it felt to have Edward moving inside of me. Reaching places I could never reach myself. He knew me. He was a part of me just as I was a part of him. My body recognized the feelings he was evoking and I felt my impending release moments before Edward found his.

After a few moments, Edward rolled off of me and scooted down to the end of the bed.

"What are you-"

"I'm going to miss you too," he whispered as he placed kisses against my stomach. "You're going to make daddy proud, aren't you? You'll be big and strong by the time I come back. "

"Oh, Edward."

It broke my heart that he wasn't just saying goodbye to me this time, but our baby as well. Our baby that would more than likely be born before he got to come back to us.

I ran my fingers through his hair and scratched the back of his neck as he said goodbye to our little one. He looked up at me and I saw tears in the eyes of my strong soldier. With one final kiss for our baby he came back up to me.

"I'm sorry it's harder for you this time," I whispered as I wiped away the single tear that had fallen from his eyes. I had never seen Edward cry before.

"I'm not, I'm glad I have you two to come home to. You're what I'm fighting for, Bella."

As Edward pressed his lips against mine once again, his phone rang and he reached behind him to the night stand to get it.

"Masen," he answered in his super serious I'm in the Army tone. Sighing I laid back and stretched. Glancing up at him I saw that he wasn't smiling. And I knew this was it.

"Yes, sir. I understand," He said as he hung up the phone and laid it back on the night stand. "I deploy in three hours."

~*0*~

Arriving on base Edward had to secure some things for us, now that I was his wife before his departure. He had all of the paperwork ready, so we just had to file the martial status change, register his revised will and I had my picture taken for my new military dependent ID so that I could access the base by myself if I ever needed it. When things were finalized we headed over to where he was to meet his unit.

After Edward parked the car he grabbed his bag and reached for my hand. Lacing my fingers with his I followed him onto the grass across from where the bus would pick him up. Dropping his bag, he sighed and pulled me against him.

"I hate this," I whispered, breaking the silence.

"I know you do, but this is what we signed up for."

"I know." Even though that wasn't entirely true because he was in the Army when I met him, though I had agreed to it the moment I accepted his marriage proposal and took his last name.

Silence lingered between us as we looked into each others eyes. I knew our time was limited, so I reached into my purse and pulled out my letter for him. He cracked a smile as I handed him the envelope with his name on it.

"What's this?" he asked as he turned it over.

"Don't open it 'til you leave. I just," I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "I just thought since I wrote you a letter last time you left, I would do it again."

"Well," he paused as he reached into his inside jacket pocket with a smirk. "I wrote you one too."

I was shocked that he had thought to write me a letter before he left. Since I wouldn't be able to keep him with me physically, I would keep this with me as a connection to him.

"I love you," I breathed as I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. He ran his tongue lightly against my lip deepening the kiss lifting me off the ground as I wrapped my arms around him tightly.

I heard someone call for the soldiers and knew that our time was over. Reluctantly, I relinquished my hold on him as he set me back on the ground. Resting his forehead against mine he kissed me one last time.

"I'll see you soon," he whispered and then he reached down, grabbed his gear and walked away. With one final glance and a sad smile, he got on the bus and I stayed there until the bus disappeared from my sight, taking the man I loved more than anything with the exception of our baby growing inside of me, with it.

Somehow I managed to drive home, my mother helped me up the stairs and into bed and that's where I stayed for the rest of the night.

I must have fallen asleep sometime after she had brought up some soup for me because when I woke up it was morning and Alice was sitting on my bed.

"Good morning, sunshine," she smiled at me as she smoothed my bed head away from my face.

"Hmph," I grunted at her as I buried my face back against the pillow.

"Come on, Bella. I have the day off and Jamie is in school. You aren't going to deprive me of hanging out with you when we're both off, are you?" she asked as she laid down next to me and tucked her hands under her head.

I made another grunting noise as she continued to run her hands up and down my back. I wasn't ready to get up yet, I had to pee but I knew if I got out of bed she wouldn't let me back in.

After a few minutes I gave up and rolled out of bed, heading straight for the bathroom, without a word to her.

"Don't take too long, we have spa appointments in an hour," she hollered after me. I just grunted and rolled my eyes.

After finishing up in the bathroom, I came back into my room to find it empty with the exception of the new outfit laying on my freshly made bed. Sighing I picked up the the sundress and held it up against myself as I gazed into the mirror. Stepping away from the mirror I dropped my towel and pulled it over my head, grabbed the sweater she had laid with it and went into the bathroom to fluff my hair a little more and apply some lip gloss.

Slowly, I made my way down the stairs and found my mother and Alice chatting away.

"Hey guys, where's dad?" I asked. For the few weeks my parents had been here my dad had managed to spend the mornings with us before he worked the late afternoon and evening shifts at the hospital a few times a week.

"He went into the hospital early. I'm glad to see you up and walking around. Would you like some breakfast dear?" my mother asked me as she added another plate to the counter and grabbed a glass from the cupboard.

"That would be great, I'm starving."

Both of them laughed as I rolled my eyes, just thankful for yet another day of waking up without even a hint of nausea.

"What do you have planned for today, Alice?"

"Oh, you know. The usual," she said with a flip of her hand.

"Shopping or the spa?" I questioned with a groan. The spa sounded enticing, but I really wasn't in the mood to shop. However, I was getting to the point where things were getting a bit snug so shopping for a few outfits wouldn't be a bad idea I just wasn't going to tell her that.

"But not just any shopping though, baby shopping."

"Alice, we don't even know the sex of the baby."

"I know, but we can buy things for you and a few things for the baby. They make a lot of cute things that work for both genders because a lot of couples are choosing to be surprised."

"Did you and Jake know what you were having?"

"We did, I found out so I told him when he called me one night. That was a few years ago, so before the Internet had any kind of presence like it does now. Jake had known that I had an appointment earlier in the week so when he called those were the first words out of his mouth."

"That's cute, I don't even know what Edward and I are going to do. Since I am not far enough along to know before he left, I just figured we would find out when the little one arrives."

While Alice and I chatted I quickly ate the plate of food my mother had placed in front of me and then we were off on Alice's version of a cheer-up-Bella day. It was several hours later when Alice dropped me off at home and I couldn't have pictured a better way to spend my first day without Edward. I was even glad she had kept me out so late since I wasn't really looking forward to sleeping without him tonight.

As I undressed, I laid the letter he gave me on the nightstand and stripped back the covers before getting in bed. Crawling underneath the sheets I scooted closer to his side and switched his pillow with mine, loving the smell of Edward that permeated the air around it.

After I was settled I turned on the bedside lamp and picked up the envelope. Nothing had changed since I read it yesterday, I was sure but I took comfort in knowing that I could have him with me, even if only in this small way. The outside of the envelope was blank, and there was the single page inside.

Bella, Baby,

I love you. I don't know how I got so lucky that I now have a beautiful wife and a baby on the way, but I'll be counting my blessings everyday.

I know this is hard on you I'm so glad you have your family and Alice with you, taking care of you when I can't be there. Even though I've lived overseas for the majority of my military career, this is totally different. I've never been to war, I'm scared baby.

I'll miss you every minute of everyday and don't even think about having our baby until I get back. I am coming back to you, baby. There isn't a thing in this world that could keep me away from you. Be strong, and don't ever forget how much I love you and our little baby.

Always,

Edward

A/N: Since you got two chapters within a few weeks of each other, I know this one seems like it's been forever, sorry. Thanks so much for reading! In honor of #fandomloveday on twitter I'm challenging myself to reply to reviews today!

Many thanks to those of you that are sticking around for my crazy update schedule, I don't think you have any idea how much it means when people read, review, pimp or ReTweet. It's shocking to still get reviews and it keeps me in the mood to write.

I wrote a O/S for the Fandom For Preemies which becomes available in November and will be working on something for Fandom Against Domestic Violence which will be available in January. Links on my profile page!

Rec(s): One that I just read. The Long Way Home by Magnolia822 won 1st place in the Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Contest. It's amazing, read it.

Parachute by KitsuShel is another one that I read recently and...you should read that one too.