Disclaimer: I Own Nothing :'( if I did…and I'm such a procrastinator that it probably would be a disaster if I did.
Author's Note: I am terrible, terrible author, if I were you guys I would hate me :'( I wait entirely too long between updates! I used to put a new chapter up like every three days, and now I'm awful; so I do apologize :'( just remember the more reviews I get the sooner I update ;)
Ohhh and p.s. If Tanya disappears this season I give my WORD to post three new chapters!...that's how much I want her gone :/
His palms were sweaty, sweatier than they should've been. Specialist Jeremy Sherwood also knew that if he let his father sleep on his shoulder any longer, the man would probably drool all down the front of his ACUs.
With a gentle nudge to the rib, Jeremy woke the sleeping officer. Frank Sherwood was alert imedietly, his eyes wide as he pulled his head off his son's shoulder.
Looking back and forth, Frank asked Jeremy, "We landing yet, boy?"
Frank looked across the air force jet, passengers were sleeping, air attendants were checking seatbelts, and nothing had much changed since before Frank had fallen into dreamland.
"No, Sir. We've got at least two more hours…I just didn't want you drooling on me anymore." The almost twenty year old told his father. He wiped his overly sweaty palms on his ACU pants.
"Whoops, sorry. You get any sleep boy?" Frank yawned, dabbing at some drool on his lips.
"No, Sir." The enlisted man said distractedly, his mind was anywhere but this air force craft.
"Why not. It's a fourteen hour flight, you're gonna be exhausted when we get home." Frank raised a brow. They were closer now then they had ever been, but deep heart-to-hearts still didn't come easy. Frank knew there were touchy subject Jeremy didn't like talking about, God, he hoped he wasn't walking into one.
"I just couldn't sleep, Dad." Jeremy sighed.
"…Why?" Frank hesitated.
"Been thinking." The soldier said simply. God, neither one of them was good at this.
"…About?" Frank pushed. He was pushy and he knew, Dee told him all the time not to push Jeremy, just let him come to him….he couldn't help it, that's how he showed he cared.
"Mom, the new baby…Emmalin." Jeremy bit his lip nervously.
"Mostly Emmalin, I'd guess?" Frank took a wild shot in the dark.
"Of course." He chuckled.
"What's the problem then, boy?" Geez, this wasn't hard. This was simple, this he could handle…unless Jeremy wanted to break up with his boss/best friend's daughter…that was badddd.
"What if she's changed while I've been overseas? What if she's decided she wants to move on, you know, couldn't handle a guy that's been gone for so long." Jeremy sighed, rubbing his shoulder nervously.
"Hahahaha, boy, I don't think I've ever seen you this nervous." Frank laughed.
"Glad to amuse you, ol' man." Jeremy frowned, clearly not amused himself.
"Oh you know what I mean. And don't worry, it's Emmalin you're coming home to, you write her every five minutes, call her every Thursday and God knows how many time's you've emailed her since you've been gone. In order to grow apart you actually have to not speak every single waking moment of the day. She hasn't changed, she loves you just at much as she did when you pulled out of Fort Marshall." The Officer said reassuringly, patting his son on the shoulder.
"I guess but…" Jeremy hesitated, not completely convinced.
"No 'but's. You love her, she loves you; I can't seem to find a problem here boy. This fear you have right now, its just cause you've never come home to someone before. I got it the first time I came back to your Mom, it'll go away by the time we land." Frank patted his son's buzz cut and then grabbed his blanket and resumed his resting position on his son's shoulder. Telling his 'boy' to get some sleep was his final command before he began snoring.
"Alright Dad." Jeremy smiled at his now drooling father.
Love-love-love-love-love-love-love-love
"Does this look okay?" Emmalin Holden asked, swirling around in a purple sundress.
Claudia Joy Holden and Roxy LeBlanc watched quietly as Emmalin modeled what had to be the 37th dress that morning.
"Sweetheart, it looks great. The last seven dresses you tried on looked great too." Claudia Joy frowned; picking a dress shouldn't be nearly this difficult. She was glad her daughter wanted to look nice when the troops came home today, but this was insane.
"Well which one do you think Jeremy will like best?" Emmalin asked still wearing the purple dress, but now holding up a yellow one and a green one.
"I don't know Emmalin." Claudia Joy sighed. This was exhausting.
"Guess." Emmalin replied, gesturing to the mountain of dresses behind her.
"Emmal-" the Army Wife began. She looked towards Roxy for help but the younger Army Wife waved her hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Guess." Emmalin interrupted firmly. It was an option, this was mandatory.
"The blue one." Claudia Joy said nervously, hoping blue was the answer her daughter was looking for.
"The blue one?" the eighteen year old repeated, "Yeah, he's always liked it when I wear blue." Emmalin smiled. 'She was going to wear the blue one, this was a good idea, and Jeremy likes the color blue.' Emmalin thought.
"Okay but honey I don't think you need to worry so much, I can't really imagine Jeremy being worried about what color dress you're wearing." Claudia Joy said carefully.
"Yeah, it's all about what's underneath the dress anyways! He just wants sexy panties!" Roxy suggested!
"Roxy!" Claudia Joy gasped.
"…It's true." The Army Wife shrugged. Well, it was true…
"Honey, what I was trying to say is that Jeremy loves you too much to care about what color dress you're wearing."
"I know that Mom, but that doesn't mean I don't want to look nice. It's special…. Jeremy's coming home, and it's his first deployment since we've been together…and I want to look nice, okay?" Emmalin sighed frustrated.
"The blue dress then." Claudia Joy smiled.
Love-love-love-love-love-love-love-love
The combination of the warm humid South Carolina air and the warm body masses tightly packed together, made the airport hot and suffocating.
But the suffocating part could just be her nerves. Emmalin Holden was a box of ranging emotions. She was nervous, and excited, and happy, and she even felt like she was about to throw up.
Emmalin had been waiting for this moment for months, and now that it was here she just wanted it to be perfect. The perfect dress, the perfect welcome home kiss…the perfect everything. She was taking extraordinary care with every last detail. The Army Brat had even spent three hours picking out the right pair of underwear this morning.
Then suddenly, when she saw those familiar broad shoulders with duffel casually slung over one of them. The pearly white grin that he usually saved for her adorned his face. God, it's like she'd never been nervous in the first place.
She had her arms around his faster then anyone could have thought possible, her lips kissing him everywhere, hands stroking his hair and cheeks, feeling the muscles on his back and arms. Without realizing it, she had started crying.
"Why are you crying, baby?" He whispered against her ear, his rough calloused thumb dabbing at the salty trails.
"I'm just really happy you're home, Jeremy." She mumbled into his shoulder.
"Me too, baby." Jeremy laughed, running his hand through her long chocolate hair.
The old saying, "Home Sweet Home" couldn't be more true.