From Friendship to Forever

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Prompt: Can u please write a short fluffy happy prompt of Emily returning from the army and meeting Alison and her kids in the airport?

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A/N: Have a few prompts that I forgot to post here. Editing and formatting, so here's two in one day (counting the previous on I just posted). Will be posting a few more in the next few days.

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Home

Grace had insisted on blue. Lily wanted pink. They'd settled on purple. They had managed to get most of the marker on the poster board. Their little fingers ended up covered in glitter and glue. The first 'e' in "Welcome" was backwards and the 'o' in "home" had gotten smudged. But when they looked at Alison and asked,

"How does it look, mommy?"

Alison said, "Perfect."

Because it was. They had made it with love. They were so excited that their mama was coming home.

o ~ O ~ o

The flight had been nerve-wracking. It's not like Emily hadn't flown before. She was used to it. It wasn't the actual plane ride itself. She was having trouble shaking off the residual anxiety she had from being in combat. She was also anxious to hold her babies and kiss her wife again. She spent the entire flight thinking about them. She couldn't wait to see them again.

When the plane was approaching Rosewood Emily opened the window shade and looked at her town below. When the aircraft started its descent Emily could see the clouds, as soft as white mountain peaks covered in snow. The wings sliced through them as though they were nothing. She could see the bulbous shadows hovering above the ground.

She felt something brush against her arm on the armrest. When she looked over her shoulder she saw the little girl next to her sitting up high in her seat, trying to look out the window. She had been playing games on the screen in the seat in front of her the entire trip, but now that the window was open she was trying to get a better look at what was happening outside.

"Can I see?" she batted her big blue eyes at Emily. She had her little palms against Emily's arm.

Her mother looked over and saw the little girl practically climbing over on to Emily.

"Amelia, honey, what did we talk about earlier? It's not polite to touch people without asking first." She faced Emily. "I'm sorry. She doesn't understand boundaries yet."

"It's okay. I get it. I've got two girls around her age." Emily smiled.

"Must be hard to be away from them."

There was an unspoken understanding between the two mothers.

"Yeah. They grow up so fast." Emily looked at Amelia, who was oblivious to the adults talking around her.

"Amy, you remember how we talked about how some mommies and daddies have to spend time away from their babies to be somewhere else to protect us?"

"Uh huh."

"What do we say, do you remember?"

The little girl looked at Emily's uniform and it registered. She smiled at Emily and leaned up on her knees.

"Thank you for your service."

Emily had to bite back tears. It was such a sweet and simple gesture. And it was something that she'd obviously learned from caring parents. It made her realize how much of her daughters' lives she was missing. She had been gone for nine months. What had she missed in that time?