How to Deal with War

Chapter Five: Epilogue - Heather, Welcome Home

[AN: Only read this after reading How to Save a Hero's epilogue. It contains a couple of spoilers.]

~Chapter Five: Epilogue – Heather, Welcome Home~

The walk to her apartment seems to take an eternity. It might be on the first floor and not too far from the garage, but it took two flights to get all the way from Oregon – after being teleported there from Russia by a couple of gods to help finish a war – back to Ohio and there was just enough layover between flights for Heather to grow bored, but not enough to take a nap. If she had tried, she likely would have been dead to the world and would have slept through any flight announcements.

Though the first flight probably would have been long enough to sleep on, as it was about four hours, the kid sitting behind her made it impossible. There was no kicking or uncontrolled screaming that one usually expects to happen when seated directly in front of a small child; no, it was the non-stop questions in a high-pitched voice that were the problem. As soon as she would manage to start nodding off, the kid would perk up about something new – whether it was related to the plane's movie or something he saw outside, or even something about the plane emergency instructions that he found interesting – and practically shout his question. The other passengers seemed to have no problem with the noise, but her sensitive ears amplified the shouts, making sleep impossible.

The second flight was only about an hour and a half, so while she did manage to nod off, it felt more like she shut her eyes and opened them to the plane landing. The short nap did not leave her feeling rejuvenated and jet leg started kicking in shortly after. In other words, she is ready to drop and feels grumpy as hell about it, so if the stupid doormat would stop trying to trip her and steal her luggage, that would be great.

She tugs her suitcase into the apartment, which smells so clean and fresh it almost reminds her of a hotel room. Since it was definitely not in this state when she left, Heather knows her boyfriend is the likely culprit. Despite her grumpiness, the thought of seeing her boyfriend again in person instead of over a video call sounds amazing and she smiles a little. Unfortunately, though, Tyler is at work right now, seeing as it is the middle of the day.

When she trips over her shoes trying to carry the suitcase so it does not leave trail marks on the wood, Heather falls to her hands and knees and is tempted to just curl up on the rug in the entryway. However, that might lead to an ambulance being called if her boyfriend returns to find her passed out on the floor...and accidentally brains her with the door on the way in. That would be a horrible way to reunite after a long two years.

It is a miracle Tyler is even still with her, too, since she had a lot of disappearances over the years without ever really tell him where she was disappearing to or for how long. And that one short message she left him before disappearing for months into the Atlas statue – "I love you, Ty." – nearly gave her poor boyfriend a heart-

The suitcase catches the edge of the couch on her way through the living room and, instead of letting it go to fall on its own, she ends up being dragged down with it because she is too tired to care at this point. If she is destined to sleep on the floor, then so be it.

Only, instead of her face meeting the floor, it hits a soft, squishy chest instead. Arms wrap around her shoulders and waist to keep her from falling further and the suitcase lands with a clatter, finally having been released from her hands. Without hesitation, Heather wraps her arms around her boyfriend and takes a deep breath, enjoying the fruity cologne.

"Hey, Honey," Tyler greets, his voice soft. Heather feels like crying in both relief and joy, her eyes starting to burn.

"Hi, Ty," she replies, unable to say more when her voice wobbles. Instead, she just buries her face further into Tyler's chest and sighs.

He rubs circles against her back, sharing his calm with her. "I heard you won," he says, and there is definitely a smile in his voice at that. Judging from his tone, it is a gentle smile, not a smug one. Tyler only gets smug when he wins in Words with Friends; second-hand smugness is not a thing to him.

She nods, stopping only when he rests his chin on her head. He is about half a foot taller than her, so it is not all that hard for him to do, especially with her practically collapsed against him instead of standing on her own feet. "Who told you?" Heather asks after another couple of minutes of trying to find her voice.

"Cade called to give me an update last night. He's also how I knew you'd be coming home today. I took the day off," Tyler replies, still rubbing circles on her back. If he does not stop soon, Heather is going to fall asleep on him and she knows she is not a pretty sight when she passes out from exhaustion; she snores and drools like nobody's business.

Heather cringes slightly when she remembers that she forgot to call him herself. "Sorry."

Tyler's hands still, but he does not let her go. Instead, he just hugs her a bit tighter. "Nothing to be sorry about, Honey. Cade sent me a picture. You looked dead on your feet after it was all over," he explains, and then hesitantly adds, "and you don't look much better right now, either. Let's get you to bed."

"Good idea," she says, her breath hitching halfway through when he suddenly stoops down and picks her up, giving her a brief flash of soft black hair. Instead of a princess carry, she ends up over his Pikachu-pajamaed shoulder. Maybe it is the exhaustion or maybe it is just the relief at finally being home, but she giggles like an idiot and teasingly grabs Tyler's butt, making her boyfriend flinch in surprise before he also laughs, happy and loud.

"Later," he promises, pulling her shoes off as they approach the bedroom and tossing them next to the bedroom door. Next to go are her jeans, leaving her in her shirt and underwear. It might have been sexy, if it were not for the fact that he is tucking her into bed less than a minute later like a mother hen. "I'm going to grab my laptop, then I'll hang out in bed 'till you wake up. Okay?"

She nods sleepily as he leaves the bedroom. And while she does not manage to stay awake long enough to see him return, there is no doubt in her mind that he does.

Home sweet home.

[AN: So, this spells the end of Heather's story. Unlike with the How To series, she won't be appearing much, if at all, in the upcoming books. Also, in case anyone was confused or wondering, Tyler is transgender. I hope everyone is doing well!]