The backyard of the Haddock residence had fallen utterly silent. Hunter was standing there before them still in his ACU with a backpack on his back and a longer black bag over his shoulder. The man had the biggest grin on his face, knowing full well that he tricked them good into believing he was still in Iraq. In truth, he'd been right outside in the driveway during the Skype call and then proceeded to jump the fence while they were focused on the gate for a gift Hunter said would arrive there for Audrey's eighteenth birthday. However, when Audrey began to yell about being kissed on the cheek, she turned to see Hunter there and then everyone else turned too. The shock had befallen all of them.

"So...I've been gone eight months, and I get no hugs or a welcome home? Well, that's fine. I suppose I can just go back?" Hunter stated sarcastically. No sooner than the words left his mouth, Audrey jumped at him fully. The tears fell freely as she wrapped her arms around his waist, arms locked around his neck. Hunter chuckled a little and hugged her back after dropping his black bag and keeping his arms snaked around her back.

"I'm not dreaming, right? You're here; you're really here?!" Audrey sobbed while lifting her head to see his face. Hunter leaned in and kissed her deeply, then he pulled back and wiped her tears with his thumb and gave a smile.

"I'm here," Hunter replied.

"B-But how? I don't understand. You said you wouldn't be back until the start of June, what are you doing here?" Audrey asked after Hunter eased her down onto the ground but continued to hold her close to him.

"The tour ended at on Monday, and we've all been catching different flights out in groups of twenty to thirty. Hooligan just got back today, worked out well that I'm back for your birthday if you ask me," Hunter laughed a little as Audrey just hugged him tighter.

"I'm so glad you're home!" Audrey breathed a sigh of relief and then stepped aside so his parents, sister, and other family members could welcome him back. Salvatore, Viola, and Caitlyn were first to greet him with smiles and hugs. Next was Shane, Uncle Shawn, and Aunt Mikayla with a hug or handshake. Then it was the friends and finally, Audrey's parents who shook his hand and said 'welcome home.'

"So, does this top the phone call?" Hunter asked looking at Audrey who was leaning against him contently.

"Definitely beats the phone call. So you've been home during the whole call?" Audrey asked, and Hunter nodded to her, "How did you get back from the airport, taxi?" she inquired.

"Nah. Rode in with Treyden and his father, they dropped me off fifteen minutes ago and jumped the fence when you were looking at the gate," Hunter chuckled.

"Well, it's good to have you back home, son," Salvatore smiled wide. "Very clever way to surprise everyone," he added.

"Right? We weren't expecting the tour to end early. Monday morning at 6 am, Hooligan was just getting off a patrol and Andersen announced that Plasma Fire's tour was over, but we had to leave in smaller groups from Baghdad Airport, so we've been going home by platoon the last few days. Tuesday afternoon is when Bravo left. Charlie went in the early hours of Wednesday and Hooligan left eight hours ago today," Hunter explained. "I think Delta comes home tomorrow night,"

"So, things going back to how they were now that you're off deployment?" Caitlyn asked.

"Somewhat. I'm still set to report to drill first weekend of every month starting in July since they're giving us June off, have not yet heard if I'm staying at the Berkton support base for work," Hunter shrugged.

"Any idea when you will know?" Heather questioned.

"From what I've been told by Harry who is still in Iraq wrapping things up, we'll have to report to Fort Draco on Monday the 14th of May for debriefing, and I think he said something about psych evaluations and physicals," Hunter informed.

"Ah, sounds like the standard end of deployment protocol," Sal mentioned. "The soldiers returning have to be checked out to make sure nothing too traumatic took place to affect them integrating back into civilian life. And the physicals are to ensure that the soldiers can still perform their duties and no injuries sustained have affected their ability to keep doing what is required of them,"

"Sounds like what he said. I know a few from Hooligan will end up medically discharged and then other soldiers will get pulled from recently graduated AIT groups and become the replacements in my platoon," Hunter sighed heavily.

"A couple of them couldn't handle it, could they, son?" Salvatore asked, and Hunter shook his head. "It's not easy, I know. Those who choose this path don't truly understand what they could experience until it happens and then they realize it's not something they want to continue doing,"

"What about you?" Shane asked.

"I still want to be in the army," Hunter answered.

"That's not what he meant, Hunter. Are you okay with everything that happened over the last eighteen months you've been deployed?" Salvatore elaborated.

"Truthfully, yeah. I know I've seen some shit, but I'm all right," Hunter replied.

"You know that if anything starts to bother you that you can come to me, right?" Sal reminded.

"Of course, but I'm good. Now, enough about all that. It's my girl's birthday, and we're gonna have fun," Hunter smiled broadly as he left them briefly for twenty minutes to shower and change into regular clothes, then return outside. "I'll unpack later," he said after coming back out.

(A Few Hours Later; 5 pm)

The music was going, and everyone was having fun, things were much better with Hunter home now. Audrey was over the moon about it; the best birthday she'd ever had. Mostly, the party guests were just walking around and talking among one another about whatever came to mind. Some of the conversations were fun times in Iraq for Hunter and Plasma Fire, others were missions he had to go on, but Hunter could never go into a lot of detail about it.

"So who from Hooligan isn't staying after the evaluations?" Fisher inquired while they were all sitting around in the yard with a small fire going while Sal, Viola, Mikayla, Shawn, and Audrey's parents were working on dinner.

"Well, I can't speak for anyone on Striker Two, but I know that in Striker One, Danielle will be leaving and I think Amanda too," Hunter replied.

"Is it because of all the things you've seen?" Drew questioned curiously.

"Amanda just doesn't want to see any more death; she went to Harry about that when her nightmares started getting too bad. For Dani, she hasn't been the same since Liz died," Hunter sighed.

"What do you mean? We saw her during the dignified transfer and ceremony when you came home for leave; she seemed okay," Travis mentioned. Hunter appeared to close his eyes, then open them and look off to the side.

"That was just faces of soldiers doing their duty. We were assigned to bring those bodies home and preform the ceremony. The day Liz passed away wasn't easy for anyone in the platoon, but she was killed on a mission that we still had to pull together to finish and get out. Jay was also killed that day, and that made things worse. I had to remove Dani from the mission when Liz died because she just froze and then broke down," Hunter responded. "Her death was hard to watch, and there wasn't anything we could do,"

"How did she die?" Renee asked as it got quieter and Salvatore glanced over to see Hunter close his eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it," Hunter stated. It remained silent, and then Hunter's cell phone rang as he pulled it from his pocket and pressed answer without looking at who was calling then placed it to his ear. "Haddock here," he said and just listened while whoever had called him was talking. Hunter's eyes snapped open quickly, "What the hell do you mean that it's going to take another week before you and Delta arrive?! And that there will only be sixteen of you?"

"What's wrong, babe?" Audrey asked putting her hand on his arm, but Hunter ignored her to keep listening.

"Harry, I respect you as my CO and love you as a friend, but that is not only a bad idea but a stupid one too! Seven soldiers are dead and you're going to attempt to do a baseline patrol with fourteen of them since two have to stay at the EAH post and you have to stay back too. It's impossible," Hunter emphasized. "What are you going to do if they get ambushed, Major? You have no one from Plasma Fire to go in and help them and four other companies from Dreki are gone as well. Being straightforward, Major, you are fucked if anything happens,"

"No! It won't be fine, Harry. Alright? Think back to when you sent nineteen of us. I got taken hostage, remember? You want to risk that shit again?" Hunter snapped as the others listening blinked a few times. When the hell had Hunter been taken hostage?! Hunter sighed now with closed eyes. "I'm not trying to yell at you but Plasma Fire has lost enough people over the last eighteen months and now we have to bury seven more. Don't sentence the rest of Delta to their deaths, it's suicide. I'll inform Charlie and Bravo, as well as my own platoon about what happened and we'll be at the service for those who have left us. Stay safe, Major and we'll see you next week. Bye," he lowered the phone and hung up while putting it away.

"Hunter? When were you taken as a hostage?" Viola inquired with worry.

"It was when I subbed in for Conqueror leader, and we got ambushed," Hunter explained as they gasped.

"Why didn't you mention this when we talked to you after it happened!?" Caitlyn screeched.

"Because I wasn't supposed to tell you, okay? It doesn't leave this yard," Hunter informed.

"What...happened when you were taken hostage?" Fisher asked cautiously.

"Don't worry about it," Hunter responded.

"Harry never mentioned that to us, only that you got shot and were sick. Please tell us," Viola tried again.

"I've already told you way more than allowed so let's drop it," Hunter muttered. "Now, can we please just talk about something else? Anything but things that happened over there,"

"Hunter Haddock! I'm not asking anymore; you tell me what happened right now what those awful people did to you!" Viola demanded. Hunter got to his feet slowly and then glared which made his mother back up a little, the last time anyone saw that look in his eyes, Hunter had refused to call anyone for two months straight.

"For the love of-I CAN'T!" Hunter yelled at her. "Have you not been listening to a word I've said? You weren't supposed to know, and I can't tell you because I'm not allowed to! Do you have any idea how much trouble I can get into for revealing details about a level eight situation? Anything above a level four is not to be discussed with anyone besides military personnel. All of that aside, I asked if we could talk about anything else because I just got home from eighteen hellish months in that place and I don't want to fucking talk about the war!" with that, he disappeared behind the sliding glass door that led into the kitchen.

"Vi, really? He JUST got home a few hours ago," Salvatore arched a brow.

"I wanted to know what happened to him, Sal. He's the one who brought it up," Viola countered.

"It slipped out when he was trying to make Harry see reason in a bad idea he wanted to go through with. Hunter kept telling you he couldn't talk about it. I know it's concerning to learn months later he was held hostage, but Hunter mentioned that the situation was level eight and that means he can't talk about it to civilians, you need to accept that. Hunter can't tell us everything that happened over there," Salvatore sighed.

"So what now? Safe to say that Hunter's probably not coming out the rest of the night," Caitlyn mumbled sadly.

"Wait, what happened?" came a familiar voice. Now looking towards the gate, the group could see Treyden, Theo, and Andrew had just arrived with what appeared to be Treyden's father.

"Sorry for the intrusion. Hunter left his laptop bag in the car, so we thought we'd bring it back once we dropped our stuff off to our houses. My parents are on vacation since they didn't know we were coming back early and Theo's dad is on a business trip until Sunday, so we're crashing with Trey for now," Andrew informed.

"Oh, and Happy Birthday, Audrey," Theo smiled.

"Thank you. Hunter's mom upset him a few minutes ago by asking what happened when he was taken hostage during that ambush with Conqueror. Hunter hadn't meant to tell us, but Harry called, and it slipped, but Mrs. Haddock hounded Hunter, and then he walked off saying he didn't want to talk about the war," Audrey explained.

"Want us to talk to him?" Treyden offered.

"No, it's okay. I think Hunter is just a little tense because Harry told him that seven soldiers from Delta were killed and he was planning to send fourteen out on a baseline patrol but Hunter reminded him about what happened with nineteen being ambushed. I think it's just too much at once coming home and he needs time to sort it out and get used to not being at war," Salvatore informed as he took the laptop bag from Andrew with a smile.

"Same goes for all of us. Have him keep us posted on Delta?" Andrew asked.

"Of course. Oh, welcome home and you too, Mr. Fury. Trey mentioned you were also deployed last year," Salvatore shook his hand. After that, the boys and Treyden's dad left as it was getting later now so Audrey's parents decided it might be a good time to shut down the party. Everyone worked together to bring in food, wrap it up, and clean outside. By 6 pm, it was done, and everyone was inside except Audrey's parents who were leaving, but she wanted to stay a little longer and make sure Hunter was alright. The two parents said it was okay as long as Audrey was home by 10:30 pm since she did have school in the morning. Audrey agreed and headed inside as her parents left, then she looked to Hunter's door.

"Audrey, why don't you talk to him?" Renee offered.

Audrey moved to Hunter's door and knocked a few times. "Baby? It's me, can I come in?" Audrey asked lightly. It was quiet a few minutes with Shane, Caitlyn, Salvatore, Shawn, Mikayla and the others watching from the kitchen to see if Hunter would let her in. Viola was keeping her distance for now knowing that Hunter probably didn't want to see her right away. Finally, the door to Hunter's room opened a bit as his eyes locked on with Audrey's.

"Sorry, Audrey. I didn't mean to get snappy earlier, I just-" Hunter began, but Audrey put a finger to his lips with a soft smile then leaned in and kissed him deeply. Hunter had been a little shocked, but he picked her up as she locked her legs around his waist and pressed her against the door frame.

"Oh my Gods, we said talk to him! Get a room!" Heather exclaimed. Hunter broke the kiss for only a moment to grin at them.

"With pleasure," was all Hunter said before stepping more into his room and then shutting the door, locking it afterward.

"Oh, no. No, absolutely not. They are not having sex in my house at 6 pm," Viola protested quickly.

"Leave it be, Vi. Hunter wouldn't be locked in his room at all if you had stopped when he said to drop it in the first place. Hunter and Audrey are eighteen, consenting adults, and protected. Also, Hunter is tired, stressed out and could the sex to relax a little so maybe he'll be less angry with you. It's been a long eight months for him, so for once will you please have your son's feelings at heart and let him do what he wants to do. The more you fight him, the more you push him away," Shawn sighed.

(Hunter's Room)

(AudreyXHunter Lemon)

Within five minutes of their kissing, Hunter and Audrey's shirts were gone and on the floor followed by Audrey's bra which Hunter had just taken off and tossed carelessly into the pile of growing clothes that were being discarded from their bodies. Audrey couldn't help but giggle through the kisses they shared when Hunter gently pulled her down with him on the bed, then he flipped her so he was on top and continued to deepen the kiss while his hands rested on her breasts and Audrey moaned lightly.

"Gods, it's been too long since we've done this," Audrey said when Hunter's kisses moved to her neck.

"At least you had the ability to use self-pleasure if you wanted. I've suffered eight long months with nothing," Hunter reminded while nipping at her earlobe which made her gasp out and bit her bottom lip.

"Well, then I think we should skip the foreplay and fix you being pent up," Audrey stated softly as Hunter stopped and looked at her with an arched brow. "We can take it slow another time, but I just want us to go crazy, so let's just jump right into it? Besides, I haven't masturbated since before your leave, so I want it as bad as you do right now,"

"Have I ever told you how hot it is when you tell me just to fuck you?" Hunter asked, and Audrey shook her head before pulling his head back down and letting her lips crash against his in a heated kiss. Hunter broke it long enough to sit back on his knees and undo Audrey's pants and pull them down along with her underwear then got them out of his way before crawling over her again while she removed Hunter's pants and boxers. Of course, when they were past his knees, Hunter was able to kick them the rest of the way off.

Hunter continued to kiss her while reaching over into his nightstand drawer and grabbing one of the new condoms from the pack. After getting it on then positioning himself at Audrey's entrance as she spread her legs for him, Hunter pushed inside of her as she started to moan out, Hunter leaned down and kissed her to lessen the sound. Once in fully, Hunter began to rock his hips into her steady and hard. They both needed this, just to be in each other's arms again after so long apart. Usually, they wouldn't dare have sex with everyone over, but tonight they didn't care in the slightest.

"Mmm! Hunter, Gods! I love you," Audrey panted out through the moans after Hunter stopped the kiss to push up with his arms and stare down at her with a smile while keeping his thrusts the way she liked them.

"I love you too," Hunter replied as Audrey smiled back at him. Two hours must have passed before they were at their climaxes again. It happened a few times already, both of them cumming and then Hunter would switch out the condom to ensure it didn't break. Hunter had cum three times, and Audrey was at her fifth because Hunter decided to finger her after cumming once, and then he ate her out after the second time. It was his was of taking a break so he'd be ready again. Hunter's third time cumming occurred twenty minutes ago.

There had been many position changes over the course of two hours in their intense fucking. Hunter had been in control for most of them, and then there were two Audrey took over to do, and Hunter didn't mind at all. At the moment, they were going to finish in doggy-style because it was one of Audrey's favorites.

"It's amazing, Gods! Hunter...more, please?" Audrey moaned out and buried her head into the pillow while breathing hard. The room was hot, both of them were sweating and their hair a mess. Hunter started to rock his hips a little harder to her core, and it only brought on more moaning. "Yes, yes baby! Right there, I'm so close," she urged.

"What...do you want, babe?" Hunter asked through hard pants and small grunts of pleasure.

"Ah!" she yelled a bit. "I-I want...t-to cum, please!" Audrey pleaded him, her walls tightened which made it harder for Hunter to keep from releasing.

It was something they did to increase the pleasure, play the game of Audrey begging him to make her cum. Hunter would slow down and lighten the force of his thrusts into her if she didn't answer his questions about what she wanted from him. "Okay, you can as soon as you tell me how bad you want it," he said while slowing down and Audrey almost whimpered out. "Come on, babe. How badly do you want that orgasm?"

"Badly! Gods, I want to cum on you. I want you to make me spasm with pleasure from your cock, please! Please, Hunter. I love you, only you forever. Make me cum...Please give me release," Audrey begged him.

"Now tell me how you want me to make you cum, what does my girl need me to do to her?" Hunter smiled.

"Mm, hard and...fast, please! I want you to...fuck me harder and faster, baby!"Audrey demanded as Hunter started moving harder and faster before she even finished her sentence. A last minute change was Hunter pulling out and got Audrey on her back then put his hands on her thighs and pushed them up towards her chest while Hunter pushed his hardened length back into her and Audrey practically screamed at the feeling of how deep Hunter was in her now. Without waiting, Hunter began to pound into her the way she liked it. "Dear Gods above, yes! Oh, yes! S-So close!" Hunter pushed in a little deeper, and Audrey gave a breathless moan and arched a little.

"Cum for me, Audrey," Hunter pushed his girlfriend to finish before he did. Audrey managed to move her fingers to her clitoris and start rubbing it in a circular motion which made the moans louder again. Hunter understood, Audrey loved the vaginal orgasm but also the clitoral one, so she was going for both. "That's my girl. Come on, baby. Show me how much like me pounding into you. Show me how much you missed me, show me how much you love me and cum," he whispered to her.

Audrey's hand began to move faster, and Hunter felt her start to tighten around his length, and it drove him closer to his climax. " Ah, yes! Fuck, it so good! Hunter...Mmm." she panted while her hips began to move in meeting Hunter's thrusts. It was too much for both of them. "Hunter! I'm...gonna cum," she tried to warn him and moved her hand away.

"Me...too," Hunter managed while keeping her legs from closing up to stop her oncoming orgasm. Instead, Hunter spread her legs farther and held them down while moving as hard and fast that he could go. To give her more, he placed his fingers on her sensitive nub and massage her with a side to side fashion. That seemed to be all it took.

"Gods, yes, just like that! Do-Don't...stop, please don't!" she pleaded her boyfriend while gripping the bed comforter. Hunter began to bring his hips back fully and slamming into her with the same speed. Audrey's eyes widened quickly feeling him hit her G-spot, "Ah, that's it! I'm cumming! I'm cumming, baby! Cum with me, please cum with me!" Audrey cried out in pleasure as her back arched and core tightened.

"G-Gah! I'm...cumming, babe! F-Fuck!" Hunter growled almost as he burst from the pleasure he felt, "A-Audrey!" he moaned out as he released quickly.

"Hunter!" Audrey moaned while her hips bucked into Hunter's which made him grunt and she came as he did, he womanhood pulsing from the orgasm and she squirted hard over his length. Hunter's cock twitched when he finished cumming, he released her legs and remained buried inside of her while they continued to ride out the waves of absolute pleasure rolling over them. Both of them were panting hard, trying to catch their breath but Hunter leaned in and kissed her deeply.

"I...love you," Hunter forced out.

"I love...you t-too," Audrey replied lovingly. As Hunter fell soft, he pulled out and sat back to remove the condom and throw it away. Grabbing his towel from before, he let Audrey clean up first and then himself. Afterward, both of them got dressed, and Hunter had to help Audrey since she couldn't feel her legs. When all that was taken care of, the two cuddled until 9:20 pm and Audrey was falling asleep there, but Hunter knew she couldn't stay over tonight, which really sucked for when they had nights like this.

(End Lemon)

"Babe, hey, you can't sleep. I have to get you home, remember?" Hunter reminded softly. Audrey shook her head to him. "You realize your parents will kill me, right?" he mentioned.

"What...are they gonna do, Hunt?" Audrey asked tiredly. "I'm eighteen-years-old. If they hurt you, they get in trouble, and if they go to the police, the authorities will laugh and remind them I'm legally an adult now. If I feel like staying overnight at my boyfriend's place, they can't stop me," she offered. Hunter hadn't thought of that, and she was completely right too.

"Fair play, Milady. Alright, you can stay but get some sleep because you are going to school tomorrow morning. Deal?" Hunter said.

"Deal," Audrey yawned as she snuggled up in his arms before knocking out five minutes later. Hunter laid awake for another fifteen minutes; he did make sure to text his Dad that Audrey was staying overnight because she was eighteen and could make her own choices. Hunter knew his father would understand the reasoning, after that, Hunter used the two chargers for their phones and relaxed as sleep began to take him. The day itself hadn't been what he expected, but he certainly couldn't have asked for a perfect night like this.