"Mummy" Zalie yelled as she saw her disembark from the C130,
"Hey my little Super Zah, what are you doing here" Jess asked surprised to see Zalie standing there
"I had to come back and see Doctor Ariana, Boompa brought me, he's talking to a old friend called Metal" Zalie said pointing over towards where Jay was standing
"He's your daddy's friend to, you remember back when you were really young and daddy got hurt, and we spent lots of time with him at the hospital" Jess said
"That was scary" Zalie said remembering the whole time, Luca wasn't in a good head space and would yell a lot about things she didn't understand
"Yeah well Metal was the man who helped Boompa get your daddy to safety" Jess said pointing back at Metal
"He did" Zalie asked surprised
"Yep, sure did, hey dad" Jess said greeting her dad
"Hey baby girl, everyone back safe" Jay said
"Yep, everything okay, why did Zah have to come back and see Doctor Shah" Jess asked concerned
"I had to go and see Doctor Sambridge while you were away, and I got to wear glasses now, and I need to have 2 different surgeries, one is to stop my hips hurting, and I need to wear a big cast while they heal, and then I have to have another one because my heart goes funny and starts beating to fast, the doctor is going to put something in my leg and it will go up into my heart and make it so it doesn't beat as fast" Zalie said telling Jess everything at once
"Why does she need glasses" Jess asked breaking down what Zalie had said as she picked her up and held her on her hip
"Turns out we have another little migraine sufferer, who didn't think to mention she gets bad headaches" Jay said tickling Zalie under the ribs
"Oh my little Super Zah, why didn't you say anything about getting headaches" Jess said pulling her in closer, she knew how miserable they could make a child
"I don't know" Zalie said not looking at her mother
"She had one when she saw Doctor Sambridge, they when we talked about the spewing she does, well Doctor Sambridge pieced it together, and thinks it played a part in your small bowel getting all twisted up as well" Jay said
"Ah, were you just a little to sick that night perhaps" Jess said, Zalie had been throwing up while she'd been talking to Alie, just before all the machines went of, Zalie had been a spewey baby but the doctors never said why
"Projectile" Jay said rubbing Zalie's back as she snuggled into her mums chest for a cuddle
"Fair enough, oh I got some other news for you" Jess said peaking Zalie's attention
"You do, whats that" Zalie asked surprised
"Someone else is going to be moving over soon" Jess said
"Who" Zalie asked
"Someone really special, they've helped look after you since you were a baby and loves looking after animals" Jess said
"Aunty Laura is coming soon" Zalie yelled excitedly
"Yep, 5 weeks, she'll be here just before I leave for my big deployment" Jess said to her
"Yay, and daddy's here in 5 sleeps as well" Zalie said snuggling her head back down on her mums chest
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"Isn't today the big day" Jason asked as Jess entered the team room 5 days after they had returned from Libya
"Excuse me" Jess asked oblivious
"Hubby to be gets in tonight doesn't he, you know, your love bear" Sonny said from his cage
"Watch out who you go calling my love bear or you won't get these" Jess said poking her tongue out at him as she pulled up a tote bag full of parcels, the gaming consoles had arrived yesterday and her and Zalie had spent the night setting them up and charging them so they were ready to go
"I say that calls for a welcome home party" Brock said walking over to Jess to get his console, it had already been packed in a protective case with a built in power bank and some over ear headphones, his boyish grin appeared when Jess handed it over to him
"The kids have been begging Naima to come and play again" Ray said accepting RJ's
"They were there 3 days ago" Jess said surprised
"Yeah, I think its more they want pizza, nothing Naima buys from the shops seems to cut it after having Alie's that night" Ray said
"Not many places bake them in the stone oven, tell her to go to The Cornerstone Pizzeria, they're the closest substitute you can get for a traditional home made Italian pizza" Jess said explaining what the difference was
"I'll remember that" Ray said
"So welcome party at your place" Trent asked as Jess continued to hand the consoles out
"Sure why not" she responded
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"DADDY" Zalie screamed as she saw her dad walk through customs security, no longer able to contain herself because of the excitement she ran over to him for a big cuddle
"Hey, there's my little Super Zah, and my little cuddle bug, my two favourite women in the whole world" Luca said scooping her up and planting a huge kiss on her then wrapping his spare arm around Jess and giving her a huge kiss as well
"Hey my love bear" Jess finally said after the kiss was finished
"Well, we made it, together at last" he said softly
"Together at last, how was your retirement party" Jess asked
"It was pretty quiet actually, I don't think to many were that impressed to find out that you are the fiance I've kept hidden from them for all these years" Luca said
"Well they'll get over it" Jess said, there were some people who simply didn't understand what she'd been through, or why she was now with DEVGRU, why Luca was the one resigning
"That's what I told them" Luca said reassuring her he was fine with their attitude, Jess's name had been mentioned a few times in scuttlebutt and the clearance divers because of the reserves being called in and that some were now in jail, and that she was the cause of it. Luca felt sick to his stomach when someone approached him and asked him for his opinion on her, Luca hadn't mentioned anything to Jess about it yet, she probably wouldn't care, but he wasn't souring the mood now
"Guess what daddy, I got a hole in my tummy like mummy's now" Zalie said excitedly
"I know, which makes you just as special as she is" Luca said kissing her again
"And aunty Laura is coming soon as well" Zalie said
"Really, are you okay with aunty Laura living with us again while she settles in over here" Luca asked
"Yep" Zalie said proudly
"Hope you don't mind but my brothers decided to chuck a welcome home party for you" Jess said
"Its fine, as long as I'm going to get some you time as well, after Zah's in bed of course" Luca said
"Uh uh, I don't want any screaming babies in the house" Zalie said
"Well you're in luck, because there won't be any arriving" Jess said reassuring her
"Promise" Zalie asked
"Promise" Luca and Jess said in unison
"Well, the pictures don't do this place justice" Luca said as they pulled up
"Wait till you see the best part" Zalie said excitedly
"Wouldn't happen to be your games room would it" Luca asked curiously
"How did you know" Zalie asked surprised
"Because I know you and how your mind thinks, you roped in any new victims yet" Luca asked
"Uncle Brock likes games, but mummy and the others have been out twice since I arrived so I haven't really had a chance to play against him yet" Zalie said
"We need to do a contraband search each time he leaves now" Jess said with a smile
"Okay, got it" Luca said
"We're home" Jess said as the trio walked in
"Hey there he is" Sonny said
"Good to see you again Luca" Jason said
"Thanks, you to" Luca said
"Pitt-bull, mate, you're a sight for sore eyes" Metal said embracing the guy
"Well the one and only Full Metal Carter, still as ugly as ever, how's the tooth" Luca said patting the side of his face
"Huh" Metal asked surprised as the group looked on sensing there was a story here that they didn't know
"You ever tried to drag this bloke to the dentist, its nearly impossible, unless he's got a severely elevated blood alcohol content" Luca said with a chuckle
"Yeah, with my scotch, even then we still had to have the dentist come to the barracks" Jay said remembering the night, he'd been saving the bottle for a special occasion, but the sacrifice had to be made
"I don't remember that" Metal said
"Not surprising considering what you drunk" Jay said
"Which was the whole bottle" Luca added
"It took like 5 days to realise that the tooth wasn't even there anymore, we had the dentist pull it why you were out with the fairies" Jay told the group
"Had to, the guy was impossible to be in the same barracks with" Luca said, it was borderline mutiny
"You know I still don't understand how someone like you, ended up with someone with the pedigree and refinement of her, I mean the big man's daughter himself, come on, she's his most prized possession. It would be like Clay asking Jason to date Emma" Metal said trying to distract the attention from his dentist phobia
"Which would never happen" Ray said knowing how protective Jason was of his daughter
"Ah I'm not going to be so quick to write that off as never happening, I think I'd rather Emma be with someone I already knew, than some complete stranger" Jason said
"You would want Emma to date a frog man" Clay asked surprised
"Jay, help, I've dug myself into a hole here" Jason laughed looking at the guy for backup
"Lets stick with the Clay and Emma scenario, what excuses would most men use to get away with trying to hide them cheating on their partner, compared to what Clay would be able to pull with Jase being his team leader" Jay said
"Sweet nada, would be it" Sonny said
"Exactly, a lot harder to cheat or lie to your girlfriend if their father knows exactly what you're doing every moment at work and the rest" Jay said pointing at Luca
"Never thought of it like that" Ray said
"So I'm guessing that we won't be seeing Bookworm on base to late tomorrow" Sonny asked
"No, she'll be there on time" Luca said as he pulled Jess down to sit on his lap