Rainbow Six: Siege - The Fallen

by DJPet

Lukas Weiss has had an interesting life to say the least. As a member of the Global Counterterrorism Unit, Rainbow, he has met his best friend and fiancee. After the Chimera Parasite had been eradicated, Lukas believed it was time to settle down and start his own family but the past always seems to find a way to rear it's ugly head. (Sequel to Matter of Family)

11. Being the Best Husband

3Oth 0ct, 2O27

0ur House

San Francisco, CA. America

I was pulling up to my house with the groceries I had gone out to get about an hour ago when I saw it.

"No…NO!" I shouted. My home was on fire. Bodies were in the yard. 3 of them. 2 of which were very small. That figure was nearby again tossing a molotov cocktail from one hand to another. They were also laughing. This time, they decided to take off the mask. The face I saw made my heart plummet into my stomach. It was Monika. She had killed my family.

30th Oct, 2027

Our House

San Francisco, CA. America

I woke up with a start while suppressing a gasp. A quick glance at the clock told me that it was 7:30am and the first sound that I heard was the crying of a baby. I got up out of bed and wiped my eyes. Ela made a noise (and I'll be honest, that helped reassure me that she was alive) but I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Sleep Engel," I whispered. She responded with "mmm" and rolled over. Meanwhile, the baby that was crying was Izzy. Looking down at her I could tell she wasn't crying because she was hungry. Had…had she had a nightmare like me too?

"Izzy," I said softly. Izzy's eyes found me and she began to calm down. I picked her up out of the crib she shared with her brother (who was fast asleep) and held her close. She stopped crying within seconds.

"There you go, little one," I said. "Did you have a bad dream like daddy did?"

"What?!" Ela's voice said from behind me. I turned to see her sitting up in bed. She was looking at me with great concern. "Again?" I nodded and felt the sense of immense betrayal as I remembered who had been the cause of that night's misery. Tobey must have sensed his mother and he was making various baby noises. Almost subconsciously, Ela walked over to Tobey, picked him up and held him against her body.

"Lukas, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I…the figure again…but this time they took off the mask…" I said, trying not to feel…angry? Sad? Fucking what the fuck was that nonsense?! Ela gasped.

"Oh my god…it was Derrick wasn't it? He…well not the real one…but 'he' killed me and the babies right?" she asked.

"Worse…" I said. My daughter reached her hand towards my face. I took it gently. She proceeded to say "Ahh!" as per usual. I looked out of the nearby window while I still tried to process why my subconscious decided to make the woman that loves me more than her own fucking wife would kill her sister-in-law, niece and nephew.

"M…Monika?" Ela's voice asked behind me. I didn't answer. Pretty sure Ela knew she was right.

"Lukas, you and I both know that Monika loves you and our babies as much as I do," Ela said. I then felt her hand on my shoulder. I still stayed silent remembering that horrible smile I never wanted to see on Monika's face ever again. Izzy made her "ahh" noise again and it snapped me back to reality. I turned to face Ela and my son and had to stifle a grin. Both of them were pulling the same worried looking expression. Ela noticed and smiled.

"See that Tobey, we can make Daddy laugh too," she said to Tobey.

"Bah!" Tobey responded.

"Lukas, who was the last person you spoke to before going to sleep?" Ela asked. I racked my memory, then I remembered. Monika. She and I were talking in rapid German about Ela's birthday party we were planning for her. Ela can understand German when it's spoken at a normal pace but Monika, Derrick and I have realized she can't quite follow when we go rapid fire. It makes Tina and Meghan rather annoyed too, although Derrick and Meghan can speak rapid Italian too which makes Monika annoyed. Ela smiled at me again.

"Sorry I woke you," I said.

"It's ok, I was basically awake anyway," she said. "What were you and Monika talking about?"

"Oh you know, how the kiddos are," I lied. Thankfully Ela bought it. Not like she could really check. Suddenly Tobey started crying. Ela started to bounce him up and down while whispering "shh, shh, it's ok. It's mama" to no avail. Little guy kept on crying. That's odd. He was fine just a few minutes ago. He and his sister only cried like that when they wanted something or someone. At least that's what I had learned in the first month or so of being a parent. That and the fact that I was getting far less sleep than before. A thought crossed my mind. Tobey had started to cry when Ela had said Monika's name. It was worth a shot.

"What's the matter buddy? Do you miss Tante Monika?" I asked. Tobey stopped crying a little and looked around the room as if he was looking for his Tante. I looked down at Izzy who had remained calm this whole time.

"Daddy's going to put you down ok? He'll be right back," I said and placed Izzy back in her crib. She didn't object. In fact, she looked tired to me. Ela was still trying to calm Tobey as I walked over to my closet and started to rummage through it again. I had noticed Ela had put back all my volumes of Berserk in order in the right bin too. Best wife? Yes. Then I found it. An old, but extremely well maintained teddy bear that was given to me when I turned one. Who gave this to me you ask? That's a dumb question. One of my earliest memories involves me watching TV with Monika while holding this bear. Apparently, I had fallen asleep against her that day too. His name was "Kuschelt" which just means "cuddles" or "snuggles" in German. Blame Julia for that one. I pulled out the bear and gave it a sniff. Smelled just like a dryer sheet. Perfect. I had remembered to give him his monthly wash and touch up. HEY! I see you rolling your eyes at me! I'm so sorry I cherish the things I have been given! Anyway, I walked back over to Ela and Tobey. He was still crying a little but spotted the bear in my hands.

"See this little guy? This is Kuschelt. He was my bear when I was your age," I said to him. He had stopped crying at this point and smiled at the bear. He must know.

"Tante Monika gave him to me to be my friend and to remind me of her whenever she wasn't around. Daddy wants you to have him ok? You just gotta be careful with him," I said and handed him the bear. Tobey took it and gave it his version of a hug. He even said "Tah!" I smiled as did Ela.

"Tobey loves Monika as much as his own father does, it seems," Ela said. "But not as much as you love Momma." I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture of Tobey hugging Kuschelt and sent it to Monika. Got a response almost immediately (plus I had also sent it to my other family members).

Har-Monika - "Lukas. Lukas, I am sobbing."

Me - "Little guy was crying cause he missed you."

Har-Monika - "Stop. I'm losing my mind here. Meghan is concerned."

Me- "You'll see him soon :) "

Har-Monika - "You tell him Tante loves him very much and he will always be my little Knuddelbär"

Joyce Kinney - "Monika is sobbing at her phone right now. What did you do?"

Me - "You didn't see the picture did you?"

Joyce Kinney - "Aww! Is that the bear Monika gave you as a baby?"

Me - "Yes"

Joyce Kinney - "Like father, like son it seems"

Rick - "Hmm, where have I seen that before? ;) "

Julia - "Aww! You kept him all those years? 5 euros Mon is simply bawling right now"

Mami - "Look how happy he is! Tell him Oma and Opa will be there for Ela's surprise party next week!" (this was in German. I have translated it for you)

Dad - "Little guy is just like his father it seems"

Ela kissed me on the cheek as I read my messages. Oh yeah! My dad's reaction upon realizing his new grandson was named after him. I had called him a few days after the kiddos were born and told him myself. Lemme tell ya, my dad is not a huge crier (he shed tears at both of his daughter's weddings though) but I could hear him do so even over the phone. My mom also cried when she realized her new granddaughter was Izabela Emilita Weiss.

"You ok?" she asked. Tobey continued to hold Kuschelt close to him. Looked like he was about to go back to sleep.

"Yeah," I answered and picked up Izzy again. Izzy babbled happily. "Wanna know something Izzy? Mommy's birthday is next week!"

"Bah!" both Izzy and Tobey responded. Ela turned a little red. She's always been a little weird when it comes to her birthday. Mainly because of how she was treated by her father when she was growing up. As in, the guy often forgot or didn't care. Zofia once told me when Ela turned 5, her father completely ignored her that entire day and the only presents she got was from her grandfather and Zofia. Then her grandfather had scolded her father rather harshly that day which is something Ela remembers fondly. As soon as she had started dating me, I had never failed to make that day special for her. Don't tell her I told you this but on her first birthday after we had gotten together, I had her favorite type of cake ordered and gave her the present she had always wanted since she was in her teens, the beanie baby that was "born" on her birthday. It was a fox named "Snocap." Son of a bitch was hard to track down and a little expensive but I came through. I vividly remember her taking Snocap out of the bag, staring at it for a few seconds and then essentially tackling me. Yes, Ela liked stuffed animals. It's one of her big secrets. She does have a good amount but not enough for it to be a problem. Most of which are from her grandfather and those sit next to Snocap on her dresser in the bedroom.

"You know my birthday's never that big of a deal right? I never liked getting presents," Ela said, trying to lie. It was unsuccessful. Nowadays, she actually enjoyed it when it was her birthday due to her new family life. And Christmas was one of her favorite holidays now that she had me and more friends.

"Not a big deal?" I said. "Well, I'll return Snocap then."

"NO! MINE!" Ela said loudly. Tobey responded with an almost incredulous sounding "BAH!" I raised my eyebrows then turned to Izzy.

"Mommy likes stuffed animals more than daddy it seems," I said and picked her up.

"Daddy's a big doofus Izzy," Ela responded. "You sure you wanna be near him for long?"

"Dah!" Izzy said. I held my daughter close and she made a content noise. Take THAT mean Polish lady!

30th Oct, 2027

Cal-Mart

San Francisco, CA. America

By mid-afternoon, Ela and I had taken the kiddos to the grocery store with us to get some things for the house. I was also going to pick up some last minute items to finish making some of Ela's favorite foods from Poland. I had been hiding the ingredients at Zofia's place for a while. I was of course going to be making these with Zofia's help. Helps that she lives right across from us now and her cooking was substantially better than what Ela had told me she had to endure. We were going to make the classic perogies (love those by the way) and something else called pyzy which is similar to say a dumpling. I was also making some of Ela's favorite American food like pulled pork…and by me I mean Derrick was gonna cook that at his place for me. Yes indeed, Ela loves a pulled pork sandwich with that cabbage stuff…with the mayonnaise…COLESLAW! There it is! God, you'd think being in America for the past few years and 4 years of college I'd pick up on some of its culture by now. After the customary double takes from a few people (I happened to be wearing a backwards baseball cap with Spider-Man's logo on it) people started to pay more attention to Tobey and Izzy in the double stroller. As per usual, both of them were calm and looking around the brightly lit environment. If I were to guess, they were actually listening to the music playing throughout the store. Ela was busy looking at some fruit in the produce section while I looked down at my kids.

"Man, I lucked out didn't I?" I muttered in German…and that's when it happened.

"What the fuck? Is there a Nazi in here?!" some asshole said from nearby. I put on my "fuck off" expression and looked in that person's direction and saw exactly what I expected. Someone that spent too much time on the internet and had no friends.

"Yep. Thought so. Tall, blonde, blue-eyes. Like every fucking Kraut bastard. Didn't we teach you a lesson in World War one and two?" the asshole continued, this time directly to my face. I felt the rage begin to boil but I suppressed it. Ela however, did not.

"What did you just call my husband?!" she said rather loudly. I glanced towards her and saw that same expression she once wore when she rescued me from some White Masks. This could get ugly fast. The asshole scoffed.

"Way to go lady, you married a Nazi. You sound Polish, am I right," they continued before noticing the kids. Bad move because that ignited some deeper feelings of pure rage. This person needs to shut the fuck up right-

"Babies? Fucking well it's not the first time Germany invaded Poland and according to what I'm seeing, it certainly won't be the last." Before I knew it, I was lunging at the racist douchebag with a fury I have never felt in my life before.

"Lukas! NO!" some other voices shouted. People nearby screamed in fear. Right when I was about to get my hands around this fucking cunt's neck, some guy rammed his shoulder into me and pushed me back a few centimeters. I then felt 4 arms holding me at bay. 2 of them were Ela's and the others were…

"Jak śmiesz, pieprzony dupku!" Zofia swore in Polish in the asshole's direction. The guy that shoulder checked me was standing in front of the asshole blocking him from my view. I knew who it was immediately.

"Somebody," Derrick began. "Needs to learn their manners. I understand why you don't have them. Your parents must be appalled by what you turned out to be huh? Am I in the ballpark?" The asshole shoved Derrick out of the way, ran over and punched me right in the face. I felt nothing. My head didn't even move. Their blow felt like someone tossed a pillow at me. I even felt his bones crack a little.

"My turn," I growled. Ela and Zofia kept their grips on me as Derrick grabbed the asshole by the back of their collar and started to "escort" them towards the door. The asshole was objecting fiercely but Derrick was way too strong for them.

"Lukas, look at me," Ela ordered and I snapped my still rage filled face in her direction. Seeing her standing there looking at me with the kiddos positioned behind her made my rage evaporate almost at once. She nodded and let go of my arms as did Zofia. Zofia was still swearing under her breath in Polish. That stopped when she noticed her niece and nephew. Izzy said "Fah!" upon recognizing her. I had been showing the kiddos pictures of their other family members whenever I could and Izzy seemed to have a firm grasp on who Zofia was.

"I'm…I'm…" I began before Ela stopped me with a shoulder squeeze.

"I know," she said. I then started to panic. What if I was going to be arrested for attempted assault? Schiße! At that moment Derrick was walking back over to us with a member of the SFPD. Great.

"Mr….Weiss?" the officer asked.

"Yes," I responded. I even pulled out my military ID and handed it to them. They took it.

"Mr. Castellano tells me that the perpetrator that we currently have in custody threw some hate speech towards you and your wife? We were tailing them all day in an event that something like this happened."

"Yes."

"You are also stationed nearby as a member of…German Special Forces?" the officer said and handed the ID back to me.

"Yes."

"You are not going to be taken in. This perpetrator is known as a supporter of domestic terrorism with a focus on hatred towards immigrants. I do, however, need to know what was said verbatim."

"Certainly. They called me a Nazi and a Kraut bastard, basically said that Americans 'taught us a lesson in World War one and two', then said "it's not the first time Germany invaded Poland' upon seeing my two kids I have with my wife. Then they punched me in the face," I recounted. Over the officer's shoulder, I could see other shoppers nodding in agreement as well as waiting to give the officer their statements as well. The officer turned to Ela.

"You are Mrs. Weiss?"

"Yes."

"Is what your husband said correct?"

"Yes officer," she said. "The perp also told me that I married a Nazi which is one hundred percent not true. Lukas has never committed atrocities like that in his life." The officer then turned to Zofia.

"And you are?"

"Specialist Zofia Bosak of GROM," Zofia responded crisply. "I am Mrs. Weiss's sister and sister-in-law of Mr. Weiss."

"Anything to add?"

"Negative. The first thing I heard was the perp telling my sister that she married a Nazi as well as everything else that was already said," Zofia said. The officer continued to take notes before turning to me again.

"You are free to go Mr. Weiss. I just need a few more eyewitness accounts and we'll be in touch. The city will call you if any action is needed on your part. Thank you for your service by the way," they said and moved away towards the other shoppers. I waited until the officer was out of earshot before turning towards my family and best buddy. Zofia was currently soothing a crying Tobey while Ela did the same to Izzy.

"Man, that certainly happened didn't it?" Derrick said to me. Near him on the ground was a basket containing a lot of sweets. He saw me looking at it in confusion. Derrick does like his share of sweets, but that was considerably more than usual.

"Teen's father had a small accident at his work. He's fine but she didn't take hearing the news well. I probably should have said 'your dad broke his arm' rather than 'your dad's in the hospital.' That one's on me," he said. "Lucky me and Zo were here though. Thought I saw the Weiss-mobile outside. You looked ready to kill." I turned to Zofia who looked up from her nephew.

"I needed some things for next week's dinners," she said and gave me the slightest wink. It was unnecessary, Ela was too busy calming her daughter.

"Has…has that ever happened before?" Zofia asked. I nodded. Multiple times as a matter of fact. Most times I just ignore it but this time, the racist brought my family into it. If you know my family's history when it comes to someone taunting or threatening our family, it never ends well for them.

8th Nov, 2027

Our House

San Francisco, CA. America

I'll fill you in. Yes, the person who threw hate speech at me and Ela was officially arrested but not for that incident with us. They actually got caught committing a hate crime. Enough about that though. Not my problem. It was Ela's birthday and she was still fast asleep upstairs. I was in the family room with the kiddos watching TV while keeping an eye on them. Tobey was once again holding Kuschelt. Little guy was even very gentle with him and now never slept without him under his arm. I had dressed them in matching onesies that read "Happy Birthday Mommy!" that Monika had picked out for them. Speaking of Monika, yes I had told her about the nightmare as well as the incident at Cal-Mart. Needless to say, she had opinions. Most of them being "I would never do that to you Lukas!" and "SOMEONE CALLED YOU A WHAT?!" My phone buzzed as soon as the weather report came on. It was a message from Zofia telling me that the food was ready and a message from Derrick telling me the same thing. Plus his house now smelled like BBQ and that Zoey was walking around going "oink oink." My parents had arrived late last night and were staying in a nearby hotel for the night. Both of them were incredibly excited to meet their new grandkids and I expected them to come over shortly before the party started. Zofia was supposed to get Ela away from the house around 11 this morning. This was going to be a smaller gathering. Derrick and Tina were coming (along with Zoey) as well as Zofia and her family obviously. Meghan and Monika had been able to get away from tracking the Fallen and even Eliza and Jordan were coming. What did I get for Ela this year? You'll have to wait and see. Don't want to spoil the surprise. I began to hear movement from upstairs which was my cue to begin making breakfast for the birthday girl. Izzy looked at me with a sad expression when she saw I was getting up though.

"It's ok Izzy, Daddy's just gonna make some food for Mommy," I said. I began preparing the batter for some pancakes which was one of Ela's favorite breakfast foods. Right around the time I finished using all the batter, Izzy started crying when the TV started playing footage from a thunderstorm. I turned off the stove and made my way over to my daughter. Ela had finally come downstairs and said, "Pancakes! YES!" She came into view wearing sweatpants and my old Skid Row shirt. That gave me an idea. These kiddos always liked hearing music of any kind and one of my acoustic guitars happened to be up here because I needed to fix the semi warped neck. I had done that last night and just left the guitar up here. I grabbed it, looked at my still crying daughter and played the acoustic guitar part of the song "I'll Remember You." Izzy stopped crying almost immediately and gave me a real genuine smile.

"He's the best daddy isn't he Izzy," Ela's voice said from behind me. She then gasped. Must have seen the onesies the kiddos were wearing. I put the guitar down and gave her a hug.

"Happy Birthday Engel," I said. "Zo says she wants to take you out to lunch with Jana around 11. Sound good?"

"Ok," she responded and took a bite of her pancake. "As long as it's just you, me and the babies tonight. I don't mind just spending my birthday with my family." I hid a grin. Little did she know she still was going to get that but not exactly the way she was thinking.

A few hours later, I was opening the door to see my parents as well as Monika and Meghan standing there.

"Hi Mami," I said and gave her a hug. She was shorter than me (around Monika's height) but still hugged me as if I was still her little boy.

"Where's my hug," Monika muttered just loud enough to hear. I gave her one too as well as my dad and Meghan. Then we all went into the family room where my parents first laid eyes on their new grandkids. As expected, my mom immediately lost it. Thankfully, both Tobey and Izzy were awake but looked a little scared upon seeing the new people.

"Hi sweetie! I'm your Oma!" my mom said to Izzy. Izzy looked from my mom to Monika and then to me. Her little brain must have made something click because she didn't object to being picked up. She even smiled at my mom. Tobey however spotted Monika and his eyes got wide with happiness. Kuschelt was on the ground next to Tobey but he didn't look upset about it.

"Hi Tobias!" Monika said. My dad (who I could see was rather emotional) picked up his new grandson and held him close. Tobey made a content sounding noise.

"Hi little guy, I'm your Opa," he said softly.

"They are so precious Lukas," my mom said.

"Where's the wife son?" my dad asked after sniffing.

"Out with her sister. She'll be back in time," I said. My parents, Monika, Meghan and I proceeded to talk amongst each other for a while until the doorbell rang. It was Derrick and Tina. Derrick had the pulled pork in a container which he was carrying. Tina was carrying Zoey.

"Lookus!" Zoey said. Wow, she was better at saying my name now! Although, I had a feeling I would forever be known as "Ookuss."

"Is that my little Munchkin I hear?" Meghan's voice called before she came into view of the front door. Zoey saw her and smiled big and wide.

"AUNTIE MEGS!" she said and motioned to Tina that she wanted to get down. Zoey ran a few steps before falling over. She got up quickly though and ran into Meghan's outstretched arms while laughing.

"Who's a big clown Munchkin?" Meghan asked.

"Dada!" Zoey answered. Tina and I chuckled. Derrick scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Eliza and Jordan are on their way. Ela has no clue?" Tina asked as she and Derrick came inside. From around the corner I heard Monika say "These are my parents Zoey. Remember?" to which Zoey responded with "Hi!" I shook my head at Tina's question.

"As far as she knows, she's spending her birthday with her family," I said.

"Not that far off to be honest," Derrick said.

"Hey, how's your father Tina?" I asked, taking a risk in doing so. From what I have been told, Tina was also a big daddy's girl. Must be where Zoey got it from.

"Oh he's fine, thanks for asking. He just broke his arm after missing a step at work. Doctors told us it's healing as expected," Tina answered. We all mingled for a few more minutes waiting for the guest of honor to show up. Eliza and Jordan did arrive shortly before Ela and Zofia did. They got to meet my kids face to face.

"Tobias looks just like his daddy doesn't he Jordan?" Eliza said, taking a look at the snoozing Tobey. "He naps just like his dad."

"Izabela has that resting bitch face Ela sometimes has doesn't she Luke," Jordan said pointing at Izzy. I looked at Izzy and flinched. He was right. Izzy was pulling a face that looked remarkably like her mother's whenever she was sitting there doing nothing. That changed when she saw Meghan sitting next to her. My phone buzzed and I saw that it was from Zofia telling me that she and Ela were here. Sure enough the front door opened and I heard a sentence in Polish. It was "Dlaczego jest tu tyle samochodów?" which translates to "why are there so many cars here?" Ela turned the corner and spotted all of us standing there and all of us said "Happy Birthday" in unison. Zoey said something more like "BIRFDAY" but I'm going to count it. Ela looked around at the gathered guests and then saw me. I shrugged.

"Couldn't resist," I said before she hugged me tightly. Andrzej and Jana came around the corner holding the perogies as well as the pyzy. Zofia walked over and picked up Izzy while saying "Hi Izabela! It's Ciocia!" We proceeded to eat food and chat for a while before gifts were given to Ela. Most people didn't do anything extravagant which is what I expected and even requested. I was supposed to be the one with the best gift. I snuck off to go grab it from downstairs while Ela was calming a crying Tobey. Little guy got scared by some asshole blasting down the street at high speeds. I grabbed the large wrapped package and made my way back upstairs.

"Oh boy, did you do that one in crayon or watercolors Duke Boy?" Derrick said before Tina lightly slapped him. Zoey was currently snoozing against Meghan in case you were wondering. As for my kiddos, Izzy was with my mom and Tobey was with Monika. I walked over and handed Ela the package.

"I did have this commissioned by a different artist if that's ok," I said. She gave me a "very funny" expression before opening the package. The front of the portrait wasn't facing her which was great because everyone else gave incredible reactions. Derrick included. He choked a little on his drink, stared at the portrait and said "Dude…" Tina had put her hand over her mouth. Monika did something similar but said in a choked up voice "L…Lukas…" Same with Eliza, Jordan, Meghan and my parents. Zofia had clutched her heart again and fell against the wall before she covered her face entirely. Ela looked incredibly confused for a few seconds before she turned the portrait around to face her. As soon as she saw what it was, she was struck dumb. Completely speechless. What was the portrait of you ask? It was a portrait of Ela, her parents and her grandfather with Tobey and Izzy in front of Ela's painted body. Ela's mother (also named Izabela) resembled Ela almost one to one. She was pictured on Ela's right side with Izzy right in front of her and her hand was on Ela's shoulder. Ela's grandfather, Antoni, was pictured wearing his old army hat he wore during his time as a Cichociemni in WWII. He was smiling down at Ela and Tobey. Ela's father, Jan, was pictured in GROM attire and the artist had drawn him with an expression that read one thing. "I'm proud of you and all you've done." My colleagues must have recognized Jan Bosak and made the other connections rather quickly. Ela was still staring at the portrait in stunned silence. Eventually she stroked her finger against Antoni's painted face as well as her mother's.

"How…how…how did you do this?" Zofia asked almost incoherently.

"I helped. Lukas and I went through your old photos Laska. We had to send the company a reference picture for each of them. Kind of spoils what I had planned to give you for our anniversary. I know how badly you wanted your father to meet Jana," Andrzej said in a mixture of English and Polish (I just told you in English to save time). I saw that Jana was looking at Jan's painted form with admiration. She was named in his honor after all. Ela finally looked up from the portrait and oh man was she about to lose it. I could tell. I pulled the portrait away from her (that proved to be more difficult than I expected) and she fell into me sobbing uncontrollably.

"What a gift man," Derrick said, wiping his eyes. Tina proceeded to hand him a napkin and then put an arm around him.

"See that Tobey, that's how you're supposed to treat a woman," my dad said to Tobey after sniffing. My mom walked over and gave me a hug too and said "I raised such a great man." She handed Izzy to me too.

"See this Izzy, that's you right there along with your grandparents. The other man is your great grandpa who Momma was very close with when she was little," I explained. Izzy smiled and then said "Bah!" Tobey meanwhile had looked over to see his mom crying and started to flail his arms in her direction. Monika walked over and sat down next to Ela and Tobey put his little hand against Ela's shoulder. Ela eventually raised her soaking wet face up to me and gave me a kiss.

"I love you. So much," she said through sobs. Then she kissed her son's forehead.

"Your birthday's not a big deal huh?" I said softly. "I know how much you miss your grandfather and to an extent your father. This way, you'll always be able to see those that are gone with our kiddos." Ela fell into me sobbing again. I looked toward the portrait myself and promised her parents that I would protect their daughter and grandkids with my life. Nothing was taking this moment away from me. Nothing. Not even some Fallen terrorist or racist fuckface that called me a Nazi in public.