{Normal POV}
(Sunday, November 7, 2021-5 pm)
[Troy & Hayden's Apartment]
Well, it had sucked to announce, but Troy and Hayden told their family and friends about the upcoming deployment for January. As expected, nobody was happy about it. How could they thrilled, knowing Troy and Hayden were, again, shipping out to fight in the war? Just like with some of the Inferno Platoon, the most significant thing that made everyone upset was the fact that it hadn't even been a year that they were out of Syria. Also, come January, it would be eleven months. The drill weekend was spent training for guards, patrols, and various types of missions that they would be doing in Afghanistan. The work week was used to get guns, swords, and other gear for Alpha Company. Hayden's week was used in meetings with the other platoon leaders acquiring information about the war going on where they would be stationed for a year. However, at least Hayden was back to working semi-normal hours. In at 7 am, out by 4 pm, home by 5 pm. The only difference between Hayden and Troy's hours is that Hayden works seven days a week still, instead of Troy's five. Hayden didn't like working with no day off, but since he knew what it was all for now; he didn't mind as much. Troy ended up sick with a cold for a few days after drill, and Hayden felt like he might be coming down with the same thing.
Hayden had a minor headache, his throat was sore, there were some coughing fits and a runny nose, but stuffy upon first waking up; all things Hayden could manage with Day or Nyquil. Hayden woke up stuffy with a little throat irritation. However, Hayden pushed it aside as nothing, but later on, at work around lunchtime; the throat got worse, and Hayden developed a headache after coughing harshly. Hayden went to the medic and got himself some cough drops to use and also took Dayquil to hopefully keep the symptoms down until he got him and could rest a bit. Now, he was just getting home from the transportation center. Troy came to pick Hayden up so he wouldn't have to walk back because Troy knew Hayden might be getting sick.
"You sure you don't want to go to the doctor?" Troy asked upon getting into their apartment.
"I'll be fine," Hayden stated after the slight coughing fin.
"You look miserable," Troy sighed.
"I have a cold, I work seven days a week to prepare for the upcoming deployment, and it's one-year anniversary of my grandfather passing away…" Hayden went to the bedroom to change out of his clothes and get comfortable. Troy had utterly forgotten what today was for Hayden, no wonder his fiancee didn't wake up in a good mood. Hayden returned and sat on the couch with his head back and eyes closed.
"Anything I can do to help?" Troy inquired, sitting beside Hayden now.
"Just being here is enough," Hayden smiled a little as he laid his head on Troy's shoulder. "We should probably talk about a few things, baby," he suggested.
"You're referring to our apartment, and the wedding situations have a part in our deployment?" Troy looked at him. "Well, there isn't much we can do about the apartment thing. We're on a two-year lease, and it would be a pain to move everything back to my parents' place,"
"And we have Sharpshot too now," Hayden reminded. Sharpshot is the kitten that Hayden and Troy adopted from the shelter after moving in; they got him right after the apartment warming party. "I suppose we'll just have to have someone coming here to take care of him every day, and we keep paying the rent while we're away?"
"Seems to be the only way to do it. Maybe we can ask our neighbors upstairs to look after Sharpshot? They have cats of their own anyway, and it'd be easier than asking anyone in the family to have to come out this way do it," Troy pointed out. "I think that will work. I guess that brings us to the other matter to handle; our wedding," Hayden lifted his head and looked at Troy now. "Can we really rely on getting our leave together for the time of the wedding?" Troy asked.
"I took care of that with Bludvist already. Our leave is already approved for two weeks in October. We'll get sixteen days, starting on October 1st. We return on the 16th; it gives us more than enough time to get home, take care of final things, have the wedding, and enjoy our honeymoon before getting home, and returning here to finish out the tour," Hayden explained.
"But is it set in stone, babe? I mean when we deployed to Syria, Hunters got killed in action, and you got called back to take his place a week early," Troy reminded.
"It's finalized, Troy. Because our wedding date was selected and booked long before the tour came up. Bludvist won't mess with that, and it's already been settled with everyone needing to be aware at Military Headquarters. Believe me; we're all set for the wedding," Hayden assured. "I knew it would be an issue as soon as the tour time got announced during the meeting last weekend, so I took care of it,"
"Well, I'm glad we have the time and don't have to move anything, but now, how are we going to plan things?" Troy questioned.
"I figured we could just try to handle the biggest things that we need to be present for before we leave?" Hayden offered.
"Huh, not a bad idea. What do we still have to do?" Troy glanced at him.
"You mean like everything? All we've done so far is book our date with Mead Hall and the guest list. We figured we'd have the entire year to make plans, so we haven't planned much," Hayden informed.
"Yeah, that's true," Troy sighed. "Bigger aspects of this would be the dinner, cake, DJ, and the officiant to marry us," he added.
"We still have to pick Best Men, and the songs for first dance and what not too. I don't know about you, but I planned on dancing with my mom," Hayden shrugged. "And we've gotta handle picking a theme, then decorations, what we're wearing?"
"I was gonna dance with my mom too," Troy stated. "Can we pull all this off in two months, Hayden? On top of work? I mean, you work seven days a week, and right about now, most of these places we'd need to have meetings with are closed,"
"I think we can manage it. We're Marines, Troy; we're good at making big, split-second decisions, remember?" Hayden laughed a little. Troy smiled.
"That is so true. Alright, we'll do it. Most of the more accessible things we can do here at home anyway," Troy nodded. "Let's focus on handling Sharpshot first, I'll go up and talk to the neighbors while you're taking a shower. After that, we can focus on dinner and discussing some more of this stuff," Hayden kissed Troy's cheek, then got up to go shower, hoping the steam would clear his nose a bit. Troy stood, and headed outside to the left of the apartment to go upstairs and speak with the couple living above them.
. . .
(Saturday, January 8, 2022-6:20 pm)
It was the night before Troy and Hayden were leaving for Afghanistan. What better way to spend it than by having everyone over? Troy and Hayden took care of everything they needed to until they got home for their two-week leave. The upstairs neighbors had a key and were more than happen to come down every morning and night to check in on Sharpshot. Also to do his litter box, and make sure there was food and water. Hayden and Troy set up an agreement with the landlord; paying him $500 a month now to hold their apartment while they were away. The landlord made that offer as a token of gratitude that Hayden and Troy were deploying for a year to fight in a war to keep the entire Archipelago safe. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year had all been a blast; everyone had fun and got see one another. Hayden and Troy got all of their wedding planning done; it was easy since they knew exactly what they wanted after a little discussing over dinner back in November. The cake was ordered, the meal was picked, the guest list was finalized. Troy and Hayden picked out their wedding bands and got them re-sized; both rings were now sitting safely with Dustin.
For what they would be wearing; Troy was going to wear his Dress B uniform while Hayden would be in an all-white tuxedo and blue tie. Troy and Hayden made the entire wedding playlist instead of going with a DJ; everything was organized and saved on Troy's laptop. Rachel and Vivian were going to handle the invitations in August 2022; two months before the wedding, those invites would go out to people on the guest list, which wasn't a lot. Troy and Hayden were doing a very small ceremony and reception at Mead Hall. Things would begin at 6 pm with the actual marrying service, then Troy and Hayden would have their first dance by 6:15. After that, things would move into dinner for 6:30 after pictures were taken. Everything would open up for dancing and talking while the meal was cleaned up, then it would be Troy and Hayden dancing with their mothers, followed shortly after that by cake. Once that was all done; there wouldn't be much left, but more dancing and conversation until Troy and Hayden would go for their overnight hotel stay at 9:45 pm. The next morning; the two would be on their way to Disney World in Florida, which was a location on the East Coast of the United States of America.
Troy and Hayden were big Disney and Dreamworks fans, so picking the place to spend a week of newlywed life had not been difficult. Everything for the wedding in eight months was set, except for Troy and Hayden announcing who their Best Men were. However, that was supposed to come out tonight whenever Hayden got home from a final meeting about tomorrow's departure. Right now, Hayden was late, but Troy figured that could happen.
"Are you two all ready for tomorrow?" Vivian asked Troy.
"Yep. We packed last night; the bags are over there," Troy pointed to the wall closest to the front door. A moment later, Hayden walked in. "Welcome home, babe,"
"It's s-so friggin cold outside," Hayden shivered. "Sorry that I'm late. The current weather situation became a cause for concern at the meeting,"
"I assumed as much," Troy hugged Hayden, then kissed him. "Why don't you go grab a hot shower real quick? I'll get you some supper," Hayden nodded as he waved to the others, then headed through the living room to get to the bathroom.
. . .
Hayden's shower didn't take long; just eight minutes or so, then he dried off and got dressed in the bathroom before exiting and joining his family and friends in the living room where Troy brought him a plate of dinner, and some hot chocolate.
"Thanks, baby," Hayden smiled.
"I take it we're still flying tomorrow unless the weather gets worse?" Troy inquired.
Hayden shook his head. "No, actually we're postponed until Monday the 10th. We can get off the ground at Fort Archian, but the officers and I agreed that it's not safe for the ferry rides to the mainland as this storm is supposed to get worse overnight and into tomorrow,"
"Well, an extra day to relax then," Troy chuckled. Hayden took a drink of his hot chocolate. "Guess that means we don't have to go to bed early tonight and since we won't get to do it for another eight months; I can give you the fucking of a lifetime," as soon as the words left his mouth, Hayden fought spitting the liquid out. "Don't spit, babe. Spitters are quitters, remember?" Hayden swallowed fast and coughed a bit.
"Troy!" Hayden stared, trying to recover.
"You can scream my name later, babe; we have company over," Troy grinned.
"TROY RASERI!" Hayden glared.
"I'm just teasing you, which you love by the way. Calm down a little; I have to have a little fun and crack sexual jokes before we get deployed and have to be all professional and shit," Troy kissed his cheek.
"Yeah, that's true," Hayden smiled and shook his head. "We'll make it work just like last time," he saw Troy smirking. "If you say anything; you get nothing tonight," he warned.
"My lips are sealed," Troy said casually.
"You know, I'm not even going to ask about what last time is about," Cole remarked.
"Good choice," Troy informed.
"So, can we know who you two chose for Best Men?" Rachel giggled.
"You first, babe?" Hayden invited while he was eating his food.
"I chose my little brother," Troy mentioned, motioning to Cole, whose eyes lit up with surprise and joy.
"And I was hoping that you, Shane, would be mine," Hayden looked at his cousin.
"It would be my esteemed pleasure and honor, Hayden," Shane nodded as Hayden smiled.
"Well, that's the last of the wedding things until we get home in October," Troy enlightened. "Now, I think we can enjoy the get-together," he added. Everyone cheered and the fun began.
. . .
(Monday, January 10, 2022-7 am)
[Fort Archian]
Troy and Hayden did make love that night after everyone left, and it had been incredible. Sunday was spent double checking everything and relaxing. Hell, they even had sex one more time before turning in early at 10:30 pm. Now, it was finally Monday; the day they were leaving for a year-long deployment. Nothing about the flight changed except for the fact the Alpha Company was going a day later and an hour earlier. Troy and Hayden arrived at Fort Archian at 5 am with their bags, and everyone was now accounted for and making their way onto the C-130 aircraft for the 7 am departure from the base. Last on was Commander Bludvist, then he took his seat and the hatch closed. Less than ten minutes later of rolling down the strip and picking up speed; the Alpha Company was officially on it's way to Afghanistan for their second tour of duty.