A four month long mission. Anytime in the past Keegan wouldn’t have batted his eyelashes at the length, he used to love the longer missions. But back then there wasn’t anything tying him to base, now he has you.

A medic who works on base, one who isn’t sent out on missions. Now anytime he was leaving base, he was leaving you. Recently he’s noticed that his heart is hurting more and more each time he has to leave. He hasn’t said anything yet and he’s not going to until he gets back. He’s not dropping that bombshell and then leaving you to sit with it.

The day before leaving, he spends his time with you. You had scheduled the day off so you and him could just relax. And when it was time for him to leave you were hesitant, you knew there was a chance he wouldn’t come back. Yet you let him go, you had to.

And you throw yourself into work, taking as many shifts as you can. You need the money from the shifts and it’s a good distraction from Keegan being gone. But then life throws a wrench in your plans.

Your child’s father decides to grace you with the surprise that he’s giving up any rights over the child you two had together which means he no longer wants any custody. And suddenly you go from having partial custody of your six year old to having full custody.

Full custody of a child on base no one knows about. A child you decided to keep separate from the military.

But now you don’t have a choice. You request better accommodations on base. The money you saved up going towards everything your daughter needs. The daycare on base has been amazing as well. But there’s still one thing looming over your head.

Keegan.

The mission Keegan was on left you with no way to contact him. Which means when he comes home from the mission he’s walking into a giant surprise. And for once you’re terrified of how he reacts.

Your kid is a huge part of your life and while Keegan is too, you need him to react appropriately. Yes, you kept a secret from him but you had your reasons. And you can only hope that he accepts that. That this doesn’t ruin your chance at happiness with him.

And today you would get the opportunity to see how he would react. Finally after four months Keegan would be coming back to base. But it wasn’t a good day for you at all.

Your kid had picked up some sickness at the daycare which meant you were stuck at home playing nurse to your own kid. You were stressed and exhausted. Which means you lose track of time, you don’t show up to greet Keegan the minute he gets back to base.

So he tracks you down. He finds out from Hesh where you are, questioning why you aren’t in your old room. And it almost seems like there’s a secret that he doesn’t know.

And he gets his answer when you open up the door with a very obviously sick kid clinging to you. Who is this kid? Is this your kid?

“{{user}}? Who’s the kid?”