Mary smiles slightly "Well Robert it's a pretty nice town so enjoy yourself while you can before you have to go home and start working again", she said. The waitress came up setting their plates of off food in front of them, "I broght you another cup of coffee to sweaty and here's your lemonade young man", she set down the drinks and leaned over to Mary. "Mary he's a handsome man if I were younger I'd might go after him myself", she said with a chuckle as she took her tray and made her way to clear away another table. Mary could feel herself blushing, "Oh my I'm sorry about that Robert she's known me since I was little". She went straight to her breakfast to take her mind off what the waitress had said.

Coming to her senses somewhere through the confusion, Juliet nodded her head and placed a hand on his chest once he was moved back from her forcing them to remain at that distance from each other. She kept her smile as the mask to her facade, hiding every thing she had felt, although it was proven difficult to hide something that had grown over the course of years. Somehow she was managing it. She told him about her job and how she's been keeping up with the house and seeing the family almost every day.
"Did you get all my letters? There were some in there from your family as well," he knew that by 'family' she meant his grandmother and his sister. His parents weren't very interested in his ordeals. She continued bombing him with questions, "Did you get hurt any where? Are you okay? Was the trip bearable? Did you meet any people?" Asking this, it dawned on her that he had not yet tried to kiss her. She felt her heart sink in her chest, the pain coming like a sting. She tried to hide it. This was it, the moment she'd been dreading since the day he left her. He was about to tell her. Did he meet someone else? Does he not love her anymore? Will he want to start a whole new life with no attachments? As she ran through the possibilities, she began to not pay much attention to their conversation.

“Yah, I got some of them,” thoughts drifted to the sadness he felt while he was gone after hearing of his grandmother’s demise. “I appreciate the letters honey,” from behind him Gabriel begins to hear the sound of the soldiers begin to cheer slowly getting louder. Behind his back he waves them silent. On her face he could see something…there was something there, a look. Disappointment? Her reciting the tales fills his ears while he mulls over the look on her face.

Showing her his only injury, a scar on his forearm and part of his neck from a mortar he reassures her that that was the last of his “combat” days. Should her kiss her now, she had not once said that she was happy to see him or tried to even kiss his cheek. He wanted to propose so bad but what if she rejects him? Clearing his throat he nods to the group of marines and catches a ring box.

“Juliet, I have waited two years…and its felt like a life time,” Getting down on one knee he looks up at her,” Juliet, I have known you for what has been almost the biggest part of my life. I have fought my way down deserted streets and muddy roads. I have saved tens of lives and ended many others. All of that can’t compare to the feeling that you give me. I went to sleep every night knowing that when I come back I could be able to be with you forever. People wait their entire life to have what we have but now I know that I won’t wait any more,” opening the box he smiles with a tear sliding down his face. Behind him he could hear the sound of hundreds of people all around watching with held breaths.
“Will you marry me?”…

Seeing his scar was shocking, Juliet rubbed her hand over it with a subtle feeling of loss. He had told her not to worry, but how could he expect that after she saw something like this? With her hand still on his scarred wound, she looked around at all his military comrades as they began a cheer which increased in volume. Although confused, she began to have a growing suspicion.
Gabriel turned and gave a signal to them and a box was thrown to him. That wasn't obvious in itself. She began tearing up again. Instinctively her head shook from side to side in disbelief. He knelt down, and his little speech made her cry even harder. It was a mixture of emotion, some was from the normal happy and giddiness a girl would feel in this situation, some was from a temporary relief of everything she has doubted up to now, and some was from sadness that she couldn't fully believe he really wanted this. She wanted it though. She's wanted it more than anything she has ever come across her entire life. Which compelled her to answer, "Yes."

She's wanted it for years, which made it hard to believe he would wait this long. But for her elated enjoyment of the moment, she basked being wrapped in his arms and swung around while he laughed in her ear...tears streaming from both their faces.

Tommy sat there awkwardly, no matter how welcoming George's mother was he'd never really feel comfortable staying at another person's home. He sat with his hands clasped together resting on his knee's, looking around at the cluttered living room the sound of the dog's paws scraping against the wooden porch kept them company while they both sat awkwardly in silence not really having much to say to each other.

When the banging of the door burst into their eardrums, Tommy relaxed a little heaving a sigh of relief to see his old friend George standing in the door way. He hadn't changed much since he last saw him and he was sure glad to have some familiarity in this country. His face was dirty from working on the ranch, and his sleeves were rolled up showing a deep tanned colouring on his white skin: his appearance had changed slightly, George was still quite grubby in the war but his skin had never been that dark, and his hair had grown slightly longer than the shaved look he had opted for throughout the years.

"Tommy! Nice to see ya' how you doin'?" He exclaimed in a cheerful manner, his strong voice echoing through the house while his mother sat there with a perplexed look on her face, watching the two soldiers meet up once again.

"Doing well, didn't expect the train journey to be that long though! How are you?" Tommy asked rising to his feet in one simple movement while George slapped him on the back with a large heavy hand his crooked teeth showing through his smiling lips.

"It's good to see you again...C'mon I'll show you around." He continued on nodding his head in the direction of the door, to which they both walked through into the dimly lit hall the smell of cooking food filling Tommy's nose pleasantly his stomach rumbling in reply to the smell of beef.

Hours had passed while the men and women cheered them on around the crowd. from somewhere a bottle of alcohol was produced and started to get passed amongst everyone. Gabriel smile and introduced everyone and their family to her and made sure that she was the best that he could manage comfort wise. He tried everything from bragging about how he missed her to the letters but she still had that look. A hidden look of loss that he couldn't get out of his mind, as if he never came home and she did want him to. After a little more time passes he walks her away from the main group and begins to vanish into the crowd so that they can head away. At one point he paid a buddy with a car to drop off all his bags at his place later and grab a bite to eat the next day. Asking about the transportation home Gabriel asks," so how did you get here?" He can still see the look of sorrow buried in her eyes and it was beginning to worry that maybe they needed to talk.

Reluctant to bring it up he tries to keep small talk with her.

Juliet enjoyed being introduced to everyone, although none of their names were sticking in her head very well as she was rather taken up in the commotion. Gabriel seemed, somewhat on edge. She wanted to tell him to relax, but she figured how could he be calm after all this? She shrugged it away. There were so many new people who knew him, she felt so...out of place. She didn't see herself fitting very well into his world with so many rugged looking characters. This is what he's been submersed in for years. He would never be comfortable in her mundane life. As soon as he found that out, he would be gone.
She shook it out of her thoughts. That's not what she wanted to think about at the moment. She should be trying to enjoy the time she had left with him instead. She answered him when he pulled her aside, "I took the bus."

Doing his best to shrug off the weight of military bearing Gabriel smiles and pauses before taking her hand and walking to the bus station. "I've missed you...things are going to be hard but i know that no matter what happens we can make it as long as we keep trying." Pulling out some cash he pays for two tickets and pauses before turning back to her and asking," Um, this is the right area,... right?" as he shows the tickets bus stop.

The bus ride back to the house seemed to be amazing, no talking only the sweet warmth o her skin and the occasional kiss on the cheek from Gabriel. Every time he leaned over for the kisses he had to take a deep breath to work himself up to doing it. even after all this time and now being engaged he still gets the butterfly's from kissing her, even if only on the cheek. By the time the bus stopped he had scooted over all the way and held onto her hand like a lost child, he just couldn't get close enough. The hiss of brakes stand them both of them up and send them out onto the street to walk the rest of the way home.

Juliet's heart sank when he couldn't remember the area of the house he had bought himself for her. She tried her best to give an approving smile as she nodded but she felt her eyes tear up anyways. He says they'd work through it, but he couldn't even remember their house? What else had he forgotten?

On the bus, she made the effort not to turn to him so he wouldn't see her eyes. He inched closer and closer, giving her occasional kisses on the cheek. Every time she felt her muscles tense up underneath her skin. She didn't mean to. It was just odd. His body warmth was familiar to her, but as though out of a childhood fantasy, not an old lover. His touch was foreign to her skin, no male had touched her in the last few years and now he was trying to make it as though he had never been gone. But, he had forgotten how to touch her. He treated her like an awkwardly shaped piece of glass or clay; an object to be transported with care but not actually cared for. Did this mean they had to start over? Like two teenagers again, nervous about even being around each other, going through a courtship process neither knew how to do. She sighed. What was she to do now?

Juliet held her balance as the bus stopped noisily. She want him to take the lead, and when he didn't she quickly stepped off and led him toward their house. Her house really. It crossed her mind that he would notice there would be not a single trace of him in that house. No pictures, no letters, no keepsakes. Not even her letters that had been sent back to her when they couldn't locate his unit. They were all in boxes she kept hidden in her closet like a dark secret. In reality, she couldn't stand looking at them. They made her heart ache with such intensity that she didn't have the will to get out of bed in the mornings. One day in a fit, she had broken quite a few things she received from him before he deployed. They weren't too bad, she was able to piece them back together. But for more reason than she cared to count, she had to put it all away out of sight for her own state of mind. She had to find ways not to think of him.
She paused in front of her house and back from it to Gabriel to the house. She waited to see if he would say anything.