A month or two later, it was deployment time.

And he barely recognized himself. Normally, he looked forward to deployments. Deployments held its own kind of simplicity, which he appreciated.

Less than two weeks into the deployment, he started counting down the days until he was back home. The most important part of his week changed from the slow evenings where they all just hung out, to the video calls he had with Emily.

He loved getting updates on how her pregnancy was going. How she was feeling, how much she had grown and if she'd had any appointments.

SEALTEAM

"You talking with Emily?" Trent asked once he stepped inside the barracks.

"Yeah, I'm talking with Em." Metal grinned back over the screen.

Trent almost jogged around the screen and gave a wave.

"Hey there Trent" Emily grinned as Trent leaned one elbow against Metal's shoulder, "I need intel, is Metal behaving?"

"Still don't know what you've done to him…" Trent chuckled, "But yeah, he's actually being a good boy."

Metal scoffed and pushed Trent's elbow off his shoulder, "Get off me…"

Emily chuckled at the other side of the world.

"Nah, we're making sure he's not doing something ridiculously stupid." Trent winked at her, "How are his offsprings treating you? You staying comfortable?"

"I have to wear scrubs two sizes larger than before." Emily rolled her eyes a little, "And maternity wear is a blessing. I can't imagine how big I'll be by the time these two are ready to come out. Other than that, I'm good. Just feel like a pregnant hippo."

Metal smiled, "Wrong species."

"I definitely feel like one." Emily chuckled.

"Looks good on you." Trent offered up, before slapping Metal's shoulder, "We've got a briefing in 15. Thought I'd come by to tell you."

Metal nodded and thanked Trent, as Trent started making his way towards the door again.

"So, guess we better round this up then…" Emily sighed as she studied Metal on her screen.

"I guess." He nodded in return, "It's possible that I won't be back on base for next week's videocall."

She nodded a little.

"I'll send you an email when we're back…" he winked.

"Thank you."

He nodded, "I love you."

"You too…" she winked back.

They sat in silence, just studying each other until Trent opened the door a few minutes later, "Hey brother… Time to go!"

"Gotcha!" Metal nodded, then he winked at Emily, "I really, really love you Em. Talk to you later."

"I love you too, a lot." She smiled, "Looking forward to talk to you again."