I followed Hudson up to his room so he could give me this present he claims he has. I wasn't expecting much, to be honest, and I was fine with that. Hudson unzipped his duffel bag, rummaging around until he found a plastic bag from a store. "I didn't wrap it up all pretty, man," he said, handing it to me. "Hope you like it anyways."

The first thing I pulled out was a hardcover book with gold accents. It was blank, so obviously, it was a journal. "OK, it's . . . a fancy journal. I can get these anywhere."

"Look on the spine, man. I had your name engraved in it."

I think most people would say something like that is a little . . . pointless, I guess. I stared at it, though, and a weak smile came across my face. "Thanks, Hudson."

"No problem, man. I was talking to the cashier lady at a gift shop, and I says, 'My friend keeps a daily journal. Got anything appealing to that?' and she gave me that, saying, 'You can pay an extra five to have their name engraved on the side. That personal touch is always nice.'"

There were two more items in the bag. I reached in and took out a package of pens. Not the cheapo pens I get from dollar stores and USCM chains, but the good, long-lasting, nice-looking pens. The ones with the metal clips and large inkwells. Hell, I'm writing this entry with one of those things. "Wow, you went . . . above and beyond, Hudson. These'll last me . . . two years, I suppose."

"And there's one more gift for you, man."

The last gift was a wooden picture frame. My name and Vasquez's name had been etched at the bottom, along with some heart designs.

"I know you've been wanting to have a picture taken with her, man. I saw that and thought that your first picture with her should be kept in something special."

I finally had a real smile on my face. "Dammit, Hudson, you're gonna make me cry, you idiot."

"Well, don't cry, man, you still gotta go impress your girl." Hudson gave me a tight squeeze, and patted my back. He then let go, and shook me. "Go make her night, Drake. You still got your special undies on?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Go on." He slapped my shoulder. "You got this, man! I'll be down in the bar if you need me."

I headed back to my room, and grabbed the wrapped gifts from my duffel bag. There was a part of me that was a little nervous considering Vasquez and I had been separated for a few days, and I had no idea what she was thinking or feeling at that time. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on her door, the presents behind my back.

Frankly, I was shocked to see Vasquez had been crying, and I don't think she had left the room since we all arrived. That's not like her. Without a word, she pulled me into the room, and shut the door, locking it before taking the presents from my hands and placing them on the bed. She hugged me and kissed me, her arms wrapped around my neck. Then, she pushed me into the bed, laying on top of me before saying, "I've been waiting to do that for six days!"

I grinned. "I've been waiting, too. So . . . how are you?"

"Better. A lot better now."

"Should we talk before we get to the sappy Christmas stuff?"

"No. I want to be happy. I don't want to risk getting into another argument. I want to just . . . escape for a little bit."

"OK. That sounds fine to me." I picked up one of the wrapped gifts-the book with fifty things I love about her (it's actually around twenty or twenty-five), and handed it to her.

"Did you wrap these?"

I snorted. "No. I'm not that talented. Doctor Ranelli did."

Vasquez was shaking her head and smirking when she saw the book. "Of course, you got something dumb and sappy."

"Aw, come on. You can read through that if you need to feel some love."

She began flipping through it. "It's . . . half-empty, Drake."

"I know." I swallowed nervously. "There's a lot of things that . . . neither of us have experienced, and, you know, there were some questions I couldn't answer. I'm really sorry, honey."

"Don't be. I'll enjoy reading this whenever I have a bad day."

I handed her the tiny box containing the amethyst necklace, which was bundled with the teddy bear.

"Drake, you're an ass, sometimes." Vasquez held up the bear. "Does every gift have some level of sappiness?"

"No. One of them is sexy, and that's the only hint I'll give."

"Can't wait." Vasquez took the lid off the box, and gently touched the necklace. "Drake . . . it's . . ."

"Beautiful?"

"Yeah, but . . . how would I look in it?"

Put it on and see." I unhooked the clasp, and carefully placed it around her neck. The gemstone glinted whenever light from the bedside lamp hit it. "Wow."

"What?"

"I don't think I tell you 'you're beautiful' enough. I don't think I'll ever see, in my entire life, a more beautiful, intelligent, and badass woman than you. Unless we have a daughter. Then I'll see two beautiful, intelligent, and badass women every day."

"I think, deep down, you want a baby girl."

"I really don't care what we have. But . . . if we do have a girl, I have a name idea that I hope you like."

"What is it?"

"Bridget."

Vasquez thought about that for a moment. "OK. I like it, and if we have a girl, I'll consider it. Just, out of curiosity, how'd you come up with 'Bridget?'"

"I don't really remember. I must've heard it somewhere and thought it'd be a good baby name."

"Alright. Do you have any boy names?"

"Two, actually. What do you think of . . . Daniel or Andrew?"

"I think they're nice. I also think we might come up with something different by the time we're ready."

"Yeah, that's possible." I kissed Vasquez's cheek. "Ready for you next gift?"

"Sure."

I gave her the wrapped paint set. "I knew you've been wanting to put something personal on your armor and smartgun, but there's not a lot of stuff left in the armory, so I got you your own."

"What about you? Didn't you want to paint your new weapon?"

"I already did, and I put something in my armor that . . . I'm not comfortable showing everyone else."

"You can tell me."

"OK. It's . . . an Annexer pawprint. I carved it on the armor interior. I'll show you when we get home. Now, I've got one last gift for you, and, be warned, I got the wrong size, but Hudson said that's fine." I stood up, and began removing my shirt and pants. What I didn't expect was the room to be kinda cold. I smirked a little as I stood there in my underwear. "I made sure it was in your favorite color."

Vasquez shook her head while smiling. "That is the wrong size alright, but I'm not gonna complain too much. I'm more impressed at the fact that you still have abs."

"You think they're pathetic, don't you?"

"No. If you flex a little, maybe they'll show more-I said flex, not suck in your gut."

"Sorry. Only way I can flex my abs is by doing a sit-up."

"Lie down on the floor. I'll help."

"I'm terrible at sit-ups, honey."

"Just do it." Vasquez knelt on my socks, and rested her arms on my knees. Her smile got bigger as I tried to do a sit-up. "Nice. Come on, do more."

I laughed. "I get a reward after this, right?"

"Aww, of course you do." She reached over to run her finger under my chin. "Give me five more. And you have to kiss me each time you come up."

"OK." I sat up, kissed her, and went back down, which I repeated four more times.

"See? You can do it." Vasquez got up. "Time for your present." She went through her duffel bag, and pulled out a small, crudely wrapped item. "Here. I thought it'd go good with your Annexer bones."

I took off the wrapping, seeing a tiny gold pendent. "Alright, what's the story on this?" I said, grinning.

"Well, it's a sand dollar pendent. Hudson and I dug it up at the beach by the abandoned parts of Hueco. We didn't find anything in the city, so we started looking around the beach for little things we thought you wouldn't mind making another . . . weird necklace out of."

"Hey, I didn't choose to receive this," I said, toying with the hare bone necklace. "A Polar Annexer thought I was 'worthy.'"

"Whatever. I . . . I thought you'd like it."

"I do like it. It's a little weird, but, it certainly fits with the hare bones for that reason. Maybe when we get back, we can go out and look for raven feathers and other weird shit."

"Well, we don't need all that getting in the way for now-" Vasquez took the pendent and the hare bones from my neck. "If you forgot protection, I have some in my bag."

I grinned. "It's only seven-thirty."

"So? I'm ready."

"I'd . . . How about we shower first? I sweat when I did the sit-ups, and I'd hate to be all gross when we get busy."

Vasquez sighed. "Fine. Hurry up."

I left her room in a good mood, and, looking back on that night, I realize that I wasn't all that concerned about maintaining that happiness. I was just glad that we weren't fighting about stupid things. After taking a quick shower, I went out into the hallway, only to see Hicks walking by. He didn't look happy at all. At first, I was afraid that Hudson had done something stupid, but it didn't take long to realize that wasn't the case. Before he could slam shut his door, I reached out to him. "Wait, Hicks! What's going on?"

"Not now! Leave me alone!" Hicks snarled.

"Something's wrong-"

"Isn't it obvious? I said, leave me alone." He shoved me back out into the hallway. "I don't want to talk to anyone right now!"

The door was shut in my face, and I decided it wasn't worth the effort right now.

I went into Vasquez's room, finding she was still in the shower, so I sat on the bed and tried not to think about Hicks. My guess was that someone said something bad about his friend, the one who hung himself in a ballroom. Just let him go for now. Let him be alone and gather his thoughts.

A few minutes later, Vasquez came out of the bathroom, looking confused. "I heard someone yelling. Is everything OK?"

"Hicks is upset about something," I replied. "He's not in the mood to talk about it."

"Ah." Vasquez got under the covers, and gestured for me to climb in as well. We began kissing to get a passionate moment going, let one thing lead to another. I'll admit, we tried to get a little adventurous, but nothing too crazy.

I don't know how long we spent in that moment, but it was undoubtedly an incredible moment. No interruptions. No arguments. Nothing. Just me and her. Everything melted away temporarily. We were not thinking about any of our problems, our past traumas, our other relationships. Our thoughts were on us.

We eventually pulled apart, and lay next to each other, smiling. I'm pretty sure other people would've written overly sappy paragraphs describing how they felt their heart and their partner's heart were beating in sync, how they were breathing, etc. I'm not, because . . . I dunno. Being able to not feel bothered by everything was enough for me. I don't even think we spoke to each other the whole time. We just held each other tightly, and eventually fell asleep in each other's arms.

We woke up in a good mood, something I haven't experienced in a really long time. I gave Vasquez a kiss on the cheek, and whispered, "Good morning, sweetheart."

"'Morning, Drake," Vasquez whispered back.

I smirked, pressing my forehead against hers. "How'd you sleep?"

"Great. You?"

"No nightmares, for once. No waking up at stupid hours. Hell, I didn't even have to get up to pee."

"I take it that's a step in the right direction for you?"

I nodded, then sighed. "But, it's morning, and we have to return to our regular lives. I know tonight's the party, but, you know how I feel about that."

"I do know. I think you're gonna be fine." Vasquez glanced toward the door. "We should get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast."

"Why? I'm not hungry at all, and I had a light dinner."

"You're going to be moody and unpleasant if you don't eat. I know you." She kissed the tip of my nose. "Besides, Apone and Hicks will be on your ass if you refuse to eat."

I remembered that Hicks was in a foul mood last night, for some reason. "I should probably see if Hicks is OK. Hopefully, he'll tell me what happened that made him upset." I sat up, grabbing my bone necklace and new pendent from the nightstand. "Maybe you can stay in my room tonight."

"Sure."

I listened for people outside in the hallway as I tied the waistband of my bathrobe. When I didn't hear anything, I quickly left the room, and ducked into mine. No one would ever know. Well, except for Hudson.

Speaking of Hudson, he was already downstairs in the breakfast bar when Vasquez and I arrived, and promptly waved us over. "There's our two lovebirds," he said.

"We're in public, so shut up," Vasquez snapped.

"It's just us, man. Relax."

"Did you already eat?" I asked, trying to change the topic.

"No. I'm enjoying coffee while waiting for my breakfast," Hudson replied. "This's some pretty good coffee, too."

"What'd you order?"

"Um . . ." Before Hudson could answer, a waiter came over with a tray, loaded down with around five courses.

"Everything?"

"No, not everything. This is not even half the menu, man." Hudson picked up a fork and began digging into the large stack of waffles, dripping with syrup and butter, and topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream.

"You know, I don't think Miranda is gonna find this attractive," I said.

"I don't think she's gonna care, man." Hudson put sticky forkful in his mouth, and gave a contented sigh. "Oh . . . man, these're good. You should order some, with all the fixings."

"I'll just have a bagel with cream cheese," I replied.

"Yeah. Besides, we're getting a good-sized buffet tonight," Vasquez added.

"I know. I'll have room by then," Hudson said.

"You're not gonna ignore Miranda because you're stuffing your face tonight, are you?" I asked.

"No, of course not," Hudson replied, with his mouth full. "I know we need to talk about things."

Vasquez looked at me, then back at Hudson. "Look . . . can we give you some advice?"

"Sure!"

"Can you not talk with your mouth full, and wipe the syrup off your face?" Vasquez took a breath. "OK, Hudson, dumbass, you . . . tonight, you need to focus all your energy on Miranda. Can you do that?"

Hudson nodded.

"You know that she's a little sensitive, right?" I said. "Don't be distracted when you're talking to her, because then she's gonna assume she's not good enough for you."

"And don't goof off. There's a lot of shit you do that can be a major turnoff," Vasquez said.

Hudson glanced between us. "So, you're saying . . . don't act like myself?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, I . . . I didn't exactly connect with Miranda by not being myself. I mean, I was a little goofy when we were in that pizza place in D.C., man. She was still interested in me." Now Hudson looked a little embarrassed. "Things could change, though." He pushed his plate away. "Man, I don't wanna screw this up."

"We're trying to help."

"No, you're not. You're just pointing out that the only thing I'm fucking good for are one-night stands!"

"Hudson-"

"Nope! I don't want anymore. You think you know everything because you're together and you think what works for you two is gonna work for everyone else! Well, guess what: it's not, man! I don't want your advice. I know Miranda likes me for who I am, so that's exactly what I'm gonna be tonight." With that, Hudson picked up his plate and coffee, and went to another table.

I gave Vasquez a dirty look. "Nice job, honey."

"Really? You went along with it!" she snapped. "He said 'yes' when I offered it."

"Forget it. We both fucked up and now he's upset." I sighed. "I just hope he doesn't make a fool of himself."

"This is Hudson we're talking about. He's going to embarrass himself, the whole squadron, Apone, and worst of all, the Marine brass that're gonna be here."

"You know what? I think he'll be fine. He's a smart guy, and I don't think he'll be too much of a goofball in front of the brass."

"You keep hoping that."

I smirked. "Aww, do you think I'm wrong?"

"No."

"You can say that I'm wrong. I don't care."

"Drake, stop."

I kissed her cheek. "You think I'm wrong. That's adorable."

Vasquez grabbed my jaw. "I said, 'stop.' You are really annoying today."

"It's only eight-thirty, baby. I have all day to just get more and more annoying."

"Well, please don't." Vasquez patted my head, and ruffled my hair. "What the hell should we do all day?"

"There's a lounge next to the bar. Maybe we can go sit by the fire and cuddle."

"And what if there are people in there?"

"We can . . . sit and talk about what's been going on the last few days. Without getting angry. We can do that."

She nodded. "OK. We really should do that."

"Alright. We gotta shake on the 'not getting angry' part." I held out my hand.

"Sure." She grabbed my hand, squeezing it hard while shaking. "It's a promise. I won't get angry if you won't."

"Agreed."

Question: Out of all the flaws Hudson has, which one could potentially be his downfall in a relationship?

Author's Note: This is definitely one of those fluffy chapters where a majority of it is spent on Drake and Vasquez talking about their future and making their deaths even more tragic.

I do love Drake's little trinkets that he wears around his neck and on his hat, because it adds a lot to his character. I feel like there's an interesting story behind each item. There aren't that many good close-up shots of his stuff, so it took awhile to see what some of them are. One item looks like a tiny gold sand dollar. I don't know for sure what it is. I thought it looked a little like a sand dollar.