Just as I thought my day couldn't get any worse, in walked Mal and her now husband Troy. The reason why he looked so familiar was because we all went to high school together.
"Daniella Donovan, I would say it's nice to see you again after all these years but we are at my fathers funeral after all." I said and grabbed Troy's hand and gave it an extra hard squeeze to show him who is boss right now. Troy's face gave him away when I squeezed to hard, it looked like he was ready to rip his hand away from me.
"Well, nothing brings a community together like a death." Troy said and tried to soothe his now aching hand.
"Dude don't start." Morgan said from my right already stepping up to him.
"We didn't come here for trouble Daniella, your dad was always really good to me when we were growing up, I just wanted to come and pay my respects." Mallory said trying to keep the peace between us.
"Are your friends Rangers like you?" Logan's young voice pierced through the adult tension as he continued to look up at Rob and Morgan.
"I am, I work really close with Dani here. I watch her back while she gets to do all the cool stuff. Morgan over there works in intelligence, she finds us the bad guys to go after." Rob explained to him going into dad mode.
"Mallory Jenko, wow it's been a really long time." Mom said coming up behind us.
"Shannon, I'm sorry to be crashing in like this, I think we got the time wrong. When I heard about Peter I wanted to come and offer my deepest sympathies." Mallory said to mom.
"Thank you for coming." Mom said and pulled her into a hug.
With the tension broken for the moment, mom pulled Mallory into conversation while Troy pulled Logan inside and the pair found a seat while I went back to pacing in entry way of the funeral home.
"Was that Mal?" Dominic asked in a rush as he came over to me and pulled me more toward the front door.
"Yes" I answered.
"What the hell is she doing here? I have half the mind to tell her to fuck off for everything she's done to you." Dominic said getting worked up.
"That was 10 years ago Dom." I said trying to calm him down from doing something stupid.
"Hey, if he is telling her to fuck off, I want in. That husband of her is nothing but an intitled asshat." Morgan said.
"I'm with the team Dani, if Logan didn't come in and ask us about the military, I probably would have bum rushed Troy out the door." Rob chimed in.
"As much as dad would love to have this going on at his funeral, can we have some decorum. This his funeral after all, people are started to arrive anyway, it's too late to make a seen now." I said and sighed. The trio seemed to finally catch my drift and they dropped the subject for the moment.
"Wait, the kid was who you wanted the patches for?" Morgan asked.
"Yea, I met him in the park and he got so excited to talk to a soldier, I wanted him to have one of our patches except I came straight from country and didn't go home first." I answered Morgan.
She didn't say anything else but did give me the 'I want details' eyes' as we started to make our way back into the main room. After the initial disturbance, things settled down with my friend and brother keeping there distance from Mallory. It wasn't hard to forget she was even here as soon as friends and some of our extended family started to arrive. Since I didn't want to be anywhere near dads casket, I took up the job of welcoming everyone inside. I just couldn't sit still like people were telling me to. I just needed to keep moving. Welcoming everyone that walked through the front door seemed like a good way to do that.
Towards the end of the wake, I left my post and sat down on a couch at the very back of the room. Since my father wasn't particularly religious, there is going to be no priest or rabbi attending tonight or tomorrow. My dad's younger brother got up and spoke about him for a little bit. It was nice to hear his stories from when they were kids. Dad never really told us much about his life before the Army. Once he was in, it became his life and that was pretty much it.
After his brother was done speaking, someone came and sat down next to me on the couch. When I turned to look see who it was I had to do a double take. Mallory sat down next to me, paper cup in her hands.
"Thought you would have left by now." I said surprised to see her here.
"Trust me, I would have but Logan is too enamored with your friends for Troy or myself to be able to pull him away." Mallory said.
"When I met him the other day in the park he said something, he said that soldiers don't come back. What did he mean by that?" I asked and turned to look at her.
"You left Dani, you just left and didn't come back. When he started to get older and the news would be on, he would see videos of the military and he would get so excited and it just came out one day." Mallory said and turned to look at me.
"That's rich, that's really rich coming from you Mal." I shook my head and got up from the couch. "If he asks again you should tell him the truth, that soldiers do come back, just not when the love of their life breaks there heart and tells them to leave." I sip back and stalked off towards the side exit.
Mallory's POV:
I painfully watched as Daniella stalked off out of the funeral home. The familiar pain of heart ache was back in my chest before I could do anything to stop it. Just as I was about to get up off the couch to try and follow her, Troy sat down next to me. With one look at my face he just sighed and pulled me into him. His embrace was familiar and grounding but did nothing to ease the ache in my heart.
"You haven't told her yet have you?" Troy asked quietly.
"No. You know our history and how I left things with her in the first place. It's going to take a little bit before I tell her the truth about us Troy." I said into his shoulder.
"Don't wait to long. I know where your feelings truly lye and I don't like seeing you hurt like this." Tory said.
"I promise I'll tell her soon." I sighed and made the promise to myself. I need to tell Daniella the truth about what has been going on with Troy and I and soon before things get even messier between us.
Daniella's POV:
The July heat was still with us even though the sun was started to set. I unbuttoned my jacket and pushed it open to try and relieve some of the heat in my chest while I felt tears started to pool in my eyes. I tried to not let it get to me but after this emotional roller-coaster of a week, it was hard not too. Once upon a time I thought Mal and I would end up together. I would do my first four-year term in the army, get out and then we would be set to do whatever we wanted in life. But everything came crashing down at prom and then I left for the army and haven't been back since.
I stayed outside a little bit longer before I heard someone call my name from behind me. When I turned around I found Morgan standing by the side door looking concerned and my heart softened. After everything that happened with Mal, I went into boot camp with such fierce determination to get to the front lines with the mentality of if I get blown up over there, the hurt in my chest would finally stop. But then Morgan got assigned to the same buck as me and she pulled my head up from below water and kept me going through boot camp. I truly don't know if I would be here without her.
The hurt in my heart lessened as Morgan came over to me and pulled me into a hug. She didn't let me go for a while and I just clung onto her like I did during boot camp. We heard some tires on gravel and that's when Morgan pulled away from me. She gave me a kiss on the forehead and pulled me into the waiting truck with Rob behind the wheel.
Morgan forced me into the backseat with her while Dominic hopping into the passenger seat. Dominic and Rob talked quietly amongst themselves as I just watched the trees pass through the window. Morgan still had her arm around my waist as I leaned into her. When Rob finally cut the engine I made my eyes focus on our surroundings. We were parked somewhere not in front of the house. Before I could complain about wanting to go home Morgan just gave me a tug on my elbow. My eyes found hers and she nodded to the door and I sigh and followed after her.
Turns out we were in the parking lot of the bar called Screaming Eagles, a military bar restaurant that's about in the middle from home and Fort Bragg. I took a deep breath and threw my beret back into the truck before unbuttoning my jacket and loosening my tie. When I was ready, I started walking across the parking lot with Morgan by my side and Rob and Dominic in front of me.
When we got inside, I stopped still in my tracks. Standing in front of us was the rest of my Ranger unit and I almost lost it. I was barely able to hold it together but when they all stood up to salute me, I lost my battle with my tears. They came streaming down my face as I took a few hard breaths and saluted them back.
Morgan pulled us towards the back of the bar where the rest of the team was gathered together and I went around my unit and gave them all hugs for being here. I don't know who got the strings pulled for them to all be here while we are in the middle of deployment but I'm not going to complain. Getting to have all 12 of us together is more then I could ever ask for.
After getting to great everyone, my other segreant, Monica pulled me down in a seat in the middle of her and Morgan and the pair ordered me some food for dinner as a beer and a shot was put down in front of me. The shot went down easier then I would have liked as I slowly sipped on my beer. While we were waiting for the food I just sat quietly in between my friends who were both pressed up against me keeping me grounded. The rest of the unit was chatting amongst themselves and I just took everything in.
The food came out shortly after it was ordered and I slowly picked my way through the burger and fries as I downed a few more shots and my beer. When I finished up dinner I left the pair to go to the bathroom and took a few moments by myself before actually using the bathroom and washing my hands. After I was done, I went to the bartender and asked for a round for my group. When I tried to pay he told me it was taken care of so I just took a few bills from my wallet and put them into the tip jar. When I got my to my unit the bartender was right behind me with the shots and placed them down on the table and everyone grabbed one as I stood up straight in front of my seat.
I left my glass on the table and looked around at my group. Everyone was waiting for me to say something so I took a breath and then looked around again and noticed that most of the bar was standing at attention as well.
"For those of you know knew my dad you would have never expected him to be a Lieutenant Colonel when he told you he was in the army. He always wanted to be in the field fighting beside his fellow solider and hated behind the desk. But in my opinion, him behind the desk is where he did some of his best work. With his push, I'm standing before you as the leader of our Ranger Unit and I hope with his guidance I could be half the leader he was.
"I know he would be really happy to know you guys are all here for this, to see him off one last time. So from the bottom of my heart thank you for being here. If you all would like to raise a glass for Lieutenant Colonel Donovan, dad keep watching over us." I said and down the shoot. The rest of the bar did the same and I just sank down into my seat.
We stayed at the bar a little bit longer as everyone was chatting and I gave them all the information for tomorrow. When the clock was getting close to 11 and the crowd at the restaurant started to turn into more of a bar crowd, we left. Rob drove us home as he was the only one who didn't have a drink tonight. The drive back was a blur as I'm pretty sure I fell asleep for most of it. The few things I remember from the drive was getting into the truck and then Morgan pulling on my elbow to get me out.
I couldn't tell where mom and Peyton were as I was mostly dragged through the front door and up the stairs. Morgan sat me down on the bed and and got me out of my jacket then followed it up with my dress suit and slacks. After they were all hanging on hangers she did the same and together we walked down the hall towards the bathroom.
"You need to get into the shower, you reek of bar." Morgan said as she turned the water on.
"I'm drunk aren't I?" I mumbled and leaned back into the vanity so I wouldn't fall over.
"Oh yes. I don't know who, but someone kept giving you shots. Come here, you need to get in and I don't trust you in here alone." Morgan said as I tried to get my sports bra off but not having any luck with my drunk limbs.
Morgan pushed my arms away and pulled it up and over my head in one motion. I was able to get my underwear off my self and then got into the shower. I was too drunk and numb actually try and wash my hair so I just grabbed my soap and washed my body. When I was done, I turned the water off and Morgan wrapped me in a towel. Carefully she guided me out of the shower and sat me down on the toilet. I stayed in place as Morgan jumped into the shower herself. I think I might have dosed off again because the next thing I knew Morgan was standing in front of me dressed in a large t-shirt and and shorts with wet hair tossed over her shoulders.
She got me up and walked behind me to my room. Once there, some pajamas were already out for me on the bed. Morgan made me sit on the edge of my bed and pulled the shirt over my head. Once it was on I grabbed the underwear and shorts and got those up my legs myself then pushed my towel away. Morgan grabbed it before it hit the floor and used it dry my hair. When she was satisfied, Morgan threw my hair up in a loose bun and then threw the towel on my floor.
Finally I was able to crawl under the blankets as Morgan turned off the lights before joining me. As she got settled in couldn't help myself as I laid my head on her chest. Morgan wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into her. I sighed and left the last of my willpower to stay awake was gone.
a/n: this chapter was completely different when I wrote it before I paused this story to finish Fire and Ice. now that I came back to it, I wanted to changed how much you found out about Dani and Mallory's relationship and how soon. This is still a bit of a teaser and we also get to see more of Morgan and Dani too. Also took the name for the bar from an old Airborne division of the army, the 101st Screaming Eagles.