It was Saturday morning when the doorbell rang and 16-year-old Greg Halstead opened the door, and he received a few letters from the postman. He walked back inside just to see his father Jay coming down the stairs and asking who that was.

"It was just the postman. Here are your letters." Greg answered and handed a few letters to Jay.

"Thanks. Mostly just bills." Jay said to his teenage son as he looked through the letters. He paused when he saw a letter from the military. Jay looked shocked because he thought he would never get a letter from them again.

"What is it, dad?" Greg asked astonished. "Nothing important." He said and turned to Amelia. "Hey Amelia, go get your mother and your sister for breakfast." He said to his youngest child. Amelia ran upstairs and you could hear her shouting at Molly to finally get up and come downstairs for breakfast. You could also her Hailey telling Amelia not to shout at her sister.

"Good morning sunshine," Jay said as he saw his wife come down the stairs with the 6-year-old Amelia on her back followed by 14-year-old Molly. "Good morning babe," Hailey answered her husband, took Amelia down and looked at the suspicious-looking letter. "What's that?" she asked and pointed at the letter in Jay's hand. "Nothing important," Jay answered, put the letter at the kitchen counter and sat down.

After they finished breakfast the kids went upstairs to get dressed and Jay cleaned the kitchen. Hailey was still thinking about the letter and that Jay isn't telling her everything. "You know you can tell me everything?" she asked looking at him. "Yeah of course."

"Then why aren't you telling me what the letter is about?"

"I wanted to wait until the right moment to tell you this." He answered. "Jay what is it?"

"The letter is from the army... They want me to go back to Afghanistan." Jay answered looking at Hailey. She was shocked.

"What? I thought you were honourably discharged. ... When do you have to leave?" Hailey felt like her whole world was about to collapse. Her husband has to go back to war which he didn't take well the last time. What should she tell the children? What if Jay wouldn't come back to her? Or what if he came back but as a completely different person? She felt tears coming in her eyes.

"In 2 weeks. My flight is at the 30th this month. And I don't know why they want me to go back." he realized tears in Hailey's eyes and hugged her. "Everything will be just fine, ok?" he said trying to calm her.

She set free from the embrace and said "You have to tell Will and Hank. Call them." "Okay but not yet. I want to wait a few days, so I can figure out how to tell them." was all he said. He then left for a run to clear his mind. The cold November air went through his lungs, and he could feel that it calmed him a bit, and he could think about something else. He thought about his wedding 17 years ago and how much he missed his parents on that day. He also thought about that one night Hailey went home early because she wasn't feeling good. When he came home from work Hailey sat on the couch and wanted him to sit next to her. She smiled like she was at their wedding. After he set down Hailey asked him to close his eyes and open his hands. When he was allowed to open his eyes again he saw a pregnancy test in his hands. A positive one. He looked at Hailey who had happy tears falling down her cheeks. He was so happy and excited for his family to grow. Jay thought about the birth of their first child, Greg. And the births that followed.

When he came back home Hailey and the children were gone. Greg had a football game today and before that a few friends and him wanted to meet. Molly met with some friends and after that, they wanted to go to the game. Amelia was invited to a birthday party which meant Jay and Hailey would have a morning and afternoon without children. Just what they needed right now.

He took a quick shower and got dressed. After he was finished, Hailey came back from dropping off the kids. She went upstairs because she figured Jay was in their bedroom. And there he was, staring at his uniform. "Jay? Are you ok?" She asked as she entered the room. "I don't know. I don't want to leave you and the kids. I want to stay!" He said not looking at her. She could feel how scared he was about the coming time. She hugged him and rubbed his back trying to calm him down.

After a while standing like this Hailey asked "When do we want to tell the kids. I want them to know as soon as possible, so they can enjoy the time left with you."

"I don't know. I don't want them to be sad about me leaving. I want them to be happy." Jay finally looked at Hailey and their eyes locked. "We need to tell them. Otherwise, they will feel deceived and will be angry with you." Hailey told Jay.

"Let's tell them tomorrow after the game. And after that I will call Hank and Will." Jay answered trying to sound confident.

They enjoyed the time alone. Around 4 o'clock Hailey and Jay both went to pick up Amelia from the birthday party. She was so happy about the whole birthday party and that she could stay up late today because of the game. When they came back home Jay got a text from Will. ' Hey, when and where do we meet at the game? '

"Ah shit."

"What's wrong babe?" Hailey asked Jay. She could feel him being strained.

"I just totally forget Will is coming to the game tonight. I can't hide the army thing from him. You know he always knows when something is off." Jay responded.

Hailey walked over to Jay. Amelia was in her room, so she couldn't hear anything from their conversation. "Hey it's going to be ok. Maybe you should tell him before the game?"

"But then he probably won't enjoy the game and this would make the others suspicious." Jay told her concerned about the evening.

"Then tell him after the game. But please tell him." Hailey answered.

"I think I will just get it over and call him, so we can meet. Then he has enough time until the game to process it." Jay responded and quickly dialed Will's phone number.

"Hey Jay. What's up?"

"Will we need to talk. Can we meet in 20 minutes at Molly's?" Jay asked his older brother trying not to sound as scared.

"Yeah sure." Will answered sounding confused.