NEARLY CHRISTMAS! I'm so excited! This is the last full chapter – the next one will be the prologue and then DUN. We're finished. I hope you've enjoyed this story, thank you so much for everything you amazing readers have done. Keep an eye out for the one shot I'm writing based on something Santana says in this chapter. I hope you like where this goes and I hope you like the prologue. It will be up later. I'll try post it Christmas Eve but I may be busy so you may have it by tonight! Very early Christmas present. Enjoy this chapter!

I can't tell you how beautiful it feels to surprise the other half of your heart. The way their face twitches with every kind of emotion you could ever imagine when you witness them hear your voice for the first time in ages. The way their eyes go from closed, to open to wide open and narrowing in disbelief. The way their whole body starts to shake and it's all you can do not to run to them and tell them it's really you.

You, who has been away from them for seven months.

She looked at me awkwardly, like I'd been placed in the wrong time period. Like I didn't fit. But then my beautiful baby Ellie jumped off the bed and took her Mom's hand and led her to me. Led her right to me, so we were millimetres apart.

Brittany frowned at me, and when Ellie let go of her hand, she brought it up to my face and traced every part of my muddy cheek. And then tears were falling down her cheek and mine and we both brushed them away before I looked at my wife and repeated, "I'm home. Everything's gonna be okay now, because I'm home."

Brittany's face crumpled then and she fell into my arms, wrapping her own around my neck much like I had done after singing Landslide to her. The memory and the emotion of seeing her again overwhelmed me and I cried into her shoulder like she was crying into mine.

Instead of feeling painful, it felt incredible to feel Brittany gathering the corners of my khaki jacket, and pulling them towards her desperately, as if she was afraid it wasn't me or I was going to disappear absolutely any second.

"It's okay, it's okay," I kept whispering into her ear, pulling her so impossibly close, it was like we became one again. "I'm not going anywhere; it's really me, I promise."

This time I heard her tears. They were like choking sobs, racking from every inch of her body. I pulled her even closer. And closer again.

I didn't want to let her go. Not ever. I'd have to die first before they could drag me away from this woman.

"San," Brittany breathed into my shoulder. She moved her head so her lips were by my ear. She kissed it before saying, "I'm so sorry. I'm just so, so sorry."

I squeezed her close and brought my hand to the back of her head to stroke her hair. "No, baby," I said, "Never, ever apologise to me. Not ever."

We were so caught up in our embrace that I totally forgot my kids were in the room. I felt baby Ellie tap at my thigh, and when I looked down she smiled so wide, I held one of Brittany's hands and hoisted her onto my hip, kissing her cheek and making her giggle.

"I missed you, little baby Elzette!" I nuzzled, placing her back on the floor. She picked at the mud on my trousers and snorted.

"You're all muddy, Mama." She smiled back up at me. "Muddy Mama!"

I chuckled, ruffling her hair and squeezing Brittany's hands.

Will came over and enveloped me in the biggest lad hug I'd ever had. Bigger than Puck's used to be. Bigger than the kids in Iraq.

"Dude!" I boomed, holding him close.

"Boy, am I glad to see you." He said, his voice deeper and more gruff than the last time I'd seen him.

"Ditto."

He let me go and picked up Ellie. She giggled at him, hugging his neck because she couldn't contain her excitement.

I laughed at the scene. I'd missed my family so much.

Brittany led me to my baby girl, all skin and bones wrapped up in the drippiest of sheets. I gasped, feeling tears prick my eyes again. I saw Brittany's head drop and I could feel her guilt running through the veins in her hand and through to mine. I squeezed it, turned to her and whispered into her ear.

"I love you, B." I said. "And you did everything right. I promise you."

She squeezed my hand back. Then she turned to look at me questioningly.

What are you going here? Why are you back early? Are you actually real or am I just touching a fragment of my imagination? She asked through her eyes.

I pressed my lips to her forehead to tell her all the answers I knew for now. It would take a long explanation to tell her why I was home right now instead of January 18th next year and right now, my beautiful daughter was laying all skin and bones in a bed she shouldn't be in and I needed to be there for her.

My incredible wife nodded understandingly before letting my hand go and ushering Will and Ellie out the room. She hovered at the door and I chuckled lightly.

"I'm still going to be here, Britt, I promise you. I'm real and I'm not going anywhere." I assured her.

She smiled weakly. "I love you too, San."

I blew her a kiss and didn't turn around to Tee until the door was closed.

When I did, I had to force myself not to run my eyes all the way down her body.

"Since when did you not have a fucking huge-ass stomach, baby girl?" I teased, tucking a stray strand of hair behind Tee's ear.

She seemed to freeze a little before she laughed but I think it was because she was overwhelmed I was with her.

I looked into her eyes before removing my jacket and climbing onto the bed with her, telling her to shove over or I'd push her off.

"I got your note," I said, once I was lying down beside her. I scooted closer because being far away from Tee felt stupid.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, pulling her into a hug. She squeezed back tighter than I thought she'd have the energy for and it made my heart hurt.

When we pulled back, I looked into her eyes again. It was like looking into me. "I can't go back, Tee," I admitted, looking down and shaking my head. "For so many different reasons but the main one being you. You, your brother, your sister and your mom."

She frowned at me and I could visibly see her swallow. "Why?"

"Because look at you, Tee." I exclaimed, tilting her chin in my fingers. "You're a mess,"

We both giggled. I'd missed her giggle a lot.

"And I'm a mess, too." I told her, sharing the pain with her. "Killing other innocent soldiers doesn't come without its fair share of haunting nightmares and the awful knowledge that you can quite easily be labelled as a murderer."

Tee cocked her head sadly. "You hate labels."

"Tell me about it, baby girl." I laughed lightly, kissing my fingers and placing them above her heart. "But I can't have this hurting anymore, can I?"

She looked down and I brought her head back up again with my fingers. "Reducing my tours means there are consequences," I informed her, looking into her lap and back up at her. "I was allowed to come home because of you, thank fuck," I chuckled, basking in the joy of her smile. "But even though my twelve years in the army is nearly up, I shouldn't properly finish until next June. So," I looked at her with a sly smile and a wink, "I need my gorgeous daughter to find me some course I can do on photography so I can understand your passion better and so I can pass off my early leave as 'applying for further education'."

Tee snorted. "Even though you're like, forty-one?"

"Even though I'm, like, forty-one." I smirked.

Tee giggled at me, nodding her head. "Okay, I guess I can do that." She looked down and I could almost see the thoughts and everything she wanted to say running through her mind at a million miles an hour. I squeezed her arm, encouragingly.

"Mama," She said, still looking at the bed sheets. "I've really needed you at home,"

I felt my eyes well up and dammit I was meant to be the strong one here. "Oh, baby girl," I said, hugging her again and wishing I could have stopped all this from happening.

We hugged for a while, trying to stop each other from crying. It wasn't really working.

"You know?" I began, still hugging her, "When I was your age, I went through a really, really sad time. Your Mom calls it The Black Duck."

Tee giggled into my shoulder. Half crying half laughing.

"I didn't wanna get out of bed in the morning, I didn't wanna make an effort for school, I didn't even want to see her for a while." I closed my eyes at the memory of how stupid I had been. "And then one day, I realised that I had to stop running from myself. I had to stop being so mad at the world and even though many people helped me realise it, nobody did as much as your Mom. And she did it without even thinking. She just was there. She just stayed with me, without even offering and without even asking me if she could. And when I finally realised this, I finally realised that I couldn't not be with her. I had to stay with her like she stayed with me because that's what people do when they're meant to be with each other forever."

I felt Tee let out a burst of tears and I pulled her closer. "That's what I'm gonna do with you, Tee. I'm gonna stay there forever so you're never alone. And even if you become some huge-ass photographer and you're constantly travelling the world with your super fit boyfriend or girlfriend, I don't know, you just have to know that I will always be there," I kissed her temple. "And so will your Mom."

When we pulled back for the second time this evening, Tee looked at me with tear stained cheeks and said, "You're really home now, Mama,"

"Yeah," I nodded, taking her hand and squeezing it. "And just like I'm gonna help you, you're gonna help me,"

She frowned.

"I need help forgetting, Tee,"

She nodded.

"And thank you for looking after Mom like you did," I said, smiling appreciatively. At the thought of her, I felt a clench in my stomach and I couldn't wait to be near her again. My Brittany.

"Mom's been amazing, Mama." Tee whispered, smiling slightly.

I smiled back. "I always knew she would be."

I looked at the clock and saw that it was ten two midnight. Ten minutes until the New Year. Tee followed my gaze. I saw her eyes glaze over with disappointment and I asked her what was wrong. She explained to me that she wasn't allowed to watch the ball drop even though she'd eaten already.

"Well, that's fucking bullshit." I cursed, standing up and calling for the nurse. A moment later, a young blonde kid walked in.

"You called?" She said.

"Yeah, I wanna speak to the asshole who told my daughter she couldn't watch the ball drop tonight." I explained, perhaps a little too harshly.

The nurse smiled awkwardly. "Renata has to eat something first and then we said we'd maybe consider it."

"Well my daughter has eaten," I replied, angry, "She's eaten a fucking elephant, now god dammit; we're getting on that roof."

The nurse looked a little lost.

"Look, lady," I tried again, knowing Brittany always told me to try and be nice. "I've just returned from Iraq and I can tell you, it ain't pretty out there. I've spent nearly eight months away from my family, missing my youngest kid's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and over my dead body am I missing New Years Eve with them."

She looked lost still but scurried out the room, muttering something about getting the doctor.

When she returned, she had a piece of paper with a number on.

"This is the code for the door to the roof. Be back as soon as the countdown is over."

I smiled thankfully at her.

"See you next year," She said, scurrying out the door.

I helped Tee out the bed and together we went and found the rest of our family.

Brittany ran up to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and kissing my neck. I turned to kiss her properly before pulling both her and Tee closer to me.

My wife smelt exactly the same as I remembered. I breathed her in deeply, not being able to stop kissing her neck. Brittany sighed in contentment and when we reached the stairs, Will took hold of Tee and pulled her into his arms like a princess.

I laughed at him. "Ells," I said, pulling her to me, "Come here!" I did the same with little Ellie, whilst Brittany ran ahead and decoded the door.

The cold New York air hit me hard but it felt great. I inhaled deeply and kissed Ellie's forehead. She wriggled to get down so she could run back to Will, linking her little hand into his giant one. Tee had her arms around Will and she looked freezing.

I handed her my jacket I had grabbed from the chair in her hospital room and zipped it up for her. "There you go, baby girl." I kissed her forehead.

We turned towards Times Square. We had the perfect view.

I stood behind my kids, and pulled my wife into me, wrapping my arms around her torso and settling my head on her left shoulder. I could have been cold, standing here in the middle of winter, in a plain white t-shirt. But standing next to Brittany and all three of my children, I didn't think I'd ever been warmer.

We heard the countdown begin and Will picked Ellie up onto his hip.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven," We all chanted, "six, five, four, three, two, one, Happy New Year!"

I turned to Brittany and realised that I hadn't kissed her for seven and a half months. I cupped her cheek and looked into her eyes longingly.

"I love you," I whispered, before leaning in and capturing her lips with mine.

I could have been anywhere. I wouldn't even have noticed. Everything was Brittany in this moment and nothing had felt more fantastic. I sucked on her bottom lip and swallowed it, earning a whimper from my blonde. Brittany bit down on my lip and I pulled her closer, letting my own moan fall into her mouth. The feel of her tongue was like nothing I'd felt before. It was like I was kissing her for the first time again, when we'd lain in the middle of the road and I'd leant over and just kissed the life out of her.

"I love you too, San," Brittany whispered against my lips, giving me one last kiss. "I love you so much,"

I smiled against her and closed my eyes. "Happy New Year, B,"

"Happy New Year, "

This moment could not have been more perfect. Me and my family, touching the sky and watching the greatest moment of New Year history.

It felt so good to say that not once, in all my life, had I ever felt so complete and so happy.

I'd found it. I'd found what I'd always searched for.

I'd found perfection.

Review, comment, pass it on – whatever! Prologue up later. I promise. Muchos love! Poppy x Oh and MERRY CHRISTMAS.