9:19 PM.

"Babe, hey. How're ya' holdin' up there?" Keegan's velvety, melodic voice queries through the phone, his tone making the mixture of anxiousness and anticipation stir deep within your heart. You can hear the warm smile on his face through his words.

He had been away on a mission for near a week and a half, though it might as well be a year and a day from your perspective, and had promised to be home by Christmas. It was already the 24th. Your plans, his plans, disrupted by the precipitous appearance of the mission, had left you home, longing for his presence within his absence, only hoping that he would come home in time.

You tell him about the past long, couple days, and you can hear him shuffling around over the phone. Obliviously, you leave the supposedly trivial factor to be. "Sounds interestin'," he chuckles softly, clearing his throat. "Hey, do me a favor?" Keegan asks, and after a few moments, he continues, "could you open the door?"

Your brows furrow. It takes you a few seconds, but as soon as it clicks, your jaw drops, a moment of enlightenment washing over your entire being.

Just in the nick of time. He's home.