The characters and the plots belong to Dolphinheart99 and to their respective and rightful owners. I got authorization from Dolphinheart99 to take some elements of her stories. I therefore own nothing, minus the names of my OCs.
Two days after their arrival, Reese and the British Royal Marines saw other faces, who were Claire, her nephews Zach and Gray as well as Karen and Claire's new boyfriend Stephen. All of them had taken the vacation of a lifetime, since this was the first time since Karen's divorce they could spend some time together as a real family. Also leaving the airport were Lowery and Vivian, who also took vacations as friends, since Vivian got married with her boyfriend while Lowery brought his girlfriend along. Needless to say, when Lowery, Claire, Vivian and the rest of their gang met again, they indulged into hugs and joyful reunion.
After hitching their bus, the group disembarked the vehicle at Joey's bar, where they met Owen and the rest of their friends, as well as Sonja, Owen's sister who lived in Genovia. They then saw Valentina and her fellow scouts singing scout songs before they were all interrupted by Reese and her fellow service members, who began firing and advancing following a tactics called "Leapfrog". The British Royal Marines, Reese and her fellow US Marines leapfrogged for nearly three hours before finally taking some rest and getting hydrated due to the summer heat.
Gray, dressed in a button down shirt, shorts and sandals, asked, "Hey guys. Is that Reese? The US Marine with her date of birth tatooed on her forearm."
Reese indeed had her date of birth tatooed on her forearm, thus revealing her as Owen's daughter. Zach also wondered how Reese could stand the heat of summer, as did his girlfriend Mindy. Gray also brought his own girlfriend to tag along, although the two of them closely observed the British and American service members' uniform and realized these were made of breathable fabrics and also had hydration packs on their standard-issued backpack not to die of heatstrokes.
A British Royal Marine then said, "I got a good one. What does a nose fear the most?"
Everyone but Reese shrugged before Reese replied, "Smelling his life come to a close!"
Every service member laughed before Dani and Mia Thermopolis arrived and greeted Valentina and her fellow scouts. But Valentina couldn't help but see her cousin and the latter's fellow service members preparing thousands of blank cartridges and knew it would be another noisy day with Reese and her fellow US Marines, as well as their British allies reeking an unpleasant and acrid smell, which actually was a mix of urine, sweat, cordite and tobacco. Reese and the others indeed had no shower since two days and they were also very dirty due to the lack of washing machine. Reese and the others therefore drank clean water from smelly Camelbak water bladers. The smell was so unpleasant Owen and his friends were all wearing surgical masks to avoid the stench of Reese and other service members' stink. Reese and the others also took the pause to eat some rations, which reminded Owen of the tasteless rations he had to eat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Valentina and the others couldn't believe Reese could have trained one minute, and eating the next one. Reese on the other hand was now used to doing this routine, since she enlisted in the US Marines at age 19 as a Private before rising through the ranks as a PFC. But little did Reese know Major Cummings had plans for her. He indeed saw Reese actually had all of the human and professional potential to be a competent leader and wrote a letter to recommand her for a promotion to Corporal. He also projected her to rise through the ranks to an officer's rank, be it Captain or Major, thus making Reese a Mustang, the term used by the US Military for officers who began their career at the bottom and rose only due to their competency, mental strenghth and human principles. And Reese was a perfect mix of these requirements.
Meanwhile, at Joey's bar, everyone was having good time until Gray's girlfriend, Paige, stood up. Gray knew she had something to tell everyone and stood by her side before she made her announcement.
Paige then spoke up, "Alright guys. I should have told you earlier, but now's time. You probably know Gray and I have been dating for a while now. But we decided to take it a step further."
Gray then took a ring he bought with some money he got from his aunt and asked Paige, "Do you want to marry me?"
Paige then cupped her mouth and said, "Yes! I do!"
Claire, Stephen, Owen, Karen, Zach, Mindy, Sonja, Joey, Sophie, the Wincotts, Greg, Tricia and everyone in the bar applauded the newly-engaged couple before they heard Reese and the other service members running past them and shooting at Opfor soldiers simulating Russian forces. As usual, the Opfor soldiers were all eliminated, even if the Americans and Britons remained humble and analyzed their own mistakes before taking another pause.
Standing up, Tricia then announced good news, "Guys, good news for you. Greg, Sophie and I got hired by Mia Thermopolis herself!"
The trio indeed showed the answer letter stating the three of them got hired by Mia Thermopolis to work for her. Everyone then applauded while Reese and the others drank some water outside.