"Love and war are the same thing, and stratagems and policy are as allowable in the one as in the other."

~Miguel de Cervantes

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Abigail

James and I returned home later that evening, but my brother remained in the garage rather than going in the house with me. He said Chris's truck needed to be cleaned and taken care of, but I knew there was more to the story.

Nathan, Hannah Lee, and Grey sat on the couch, my fiancée holding a sleeping CJ. Hannah Lee, thoroughly amused, said, "He's a baby, not a bomb."

Grey grimaced. "I don't know. That stench coming out of his diaper might be."

"Oh, boy, I think he needs a diaper change." Hannah Lee took her son from Grey. "I'll be right- Abigail!"

"Hey," I said, walking over to them. "Nathan, James wants to talk to you in the garage."

My brother gulped and nodded, leaving the room without a word. Hannah Lee watched him worriedly and said, "He's been beating himself up about this ever since you two left. He's not going to have a black eye when he comes back, is he?"

"No, I don't think so. James' anger has dissipated. He's just... going through some things since the letter."

"All right. I'm going to get CJ ready for bed. I'll see you two later."

Bidding her good night, I went over to Grey, who pulled me onto his lap. Giving me a peck on the lips, he asked, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just... exhausted by today. You?"

"Other than everything that happened earlier, I'm doing good." Grey kissed me again. "You look so beautiful right now. I don't know how I got so lucky. What do you say we go grab some ice cream and spend the night watching Friends?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Grey protested. I raised my eyebrow at him, and his shoulders sagged in defeat. "Okay, fine, I didn't do anything necessarily, but my orders got changed for my next deployment."

My heart dropped into my stomach. "When are you having to leave now? Do we need to reschedule the wedding?"

"No, no, but instead of heading home with you when we return from our honeymoon, I'll be hopping on another flight to go back to the Middle East."

"Oh," I said, feeling sort of relieved. As selfish as it might sound, I didn't want his deployment to interfere with our wedding. The honeymoon I could deal with, but I wanted to be married to Grey before he left. I wanted to have the ability to say I was married to the love of my life whenever anyone asked me about him. "Okay, that's okay."

"Really?" Grey stared at me suspiciously. "You're not upset?"

"I mean, of course, I'm not okay because I don't want you leaving any sooner than you have to. It just means we have to make the most of our time together while we still have it." I ran my hand through his hair. "That means a lot of me hanging all over you, spending as much time as I physically can with you, and probably a lot of sex."

Grey nearly spewed the drink he'd been sipping. "I mean, I'm not going to disagree. I need to work out as much as I can. What do you say we go have the sex right now?"

I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck. "We should have the sex right now? On the couch for everyone to walk in on and see?"

"Oh. Oh, no. I wouldn't want your brothers to feel inadequate if they saw me," he said cockily, wearing a cheeky grin. I slapped him on the chest. "What?"

"I'm not going to inflate your ego any more than it right now by having the sex with you." Giving him a peck on the cheek, I got off his lap and headed upstairs. Grey followed, right on my heels.

Once in our room, my fiancé hopped on the bed on his knees, ripping off his shirt and revealing his well-defined six-pack. I bit my lip at the sight but kept my resolve, telling him, "Nice try. Besides, we both have to get rest before our bachelor parties tomorrow. God only knows what the boys have planned for you."

Grey grinned. "First off, I can't wait. Secondly, in three weeks, you're going to be in a beautiful white dress with everyone watching you come down the aisle and-"

"You're trying to pull a Chandler Bing, aren't you?"

"Maybe. Only if it's working." Grey looked at me critically. "Is it?"

"I really hate that is." Launching myself at Grey, we locked lips, falling backward onto the bed.

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I woke up to the sound of Grey shuffling around the room. Noticing the sun had barely peeked over the horizon, I groggily propped myself up on my elbows, mumbling, "What's wrong?"

He didn't answer.

"Grey, what are you doing?"

"Stop, you're going to wake them up," Grey responded stoically.

"I'm going to w-" I shook my head, suddenly becoming more alert. "What are you talking about? Who's they?"

"Your mom, your brothers, Hannah Lee, and Abigail. Them."

Highly concerned, I slowly got out of bed and threw on Grey's discarded t-shirt before cautiously walking up to him. "I'm Abigail. I'm awake. Why don't you want the others waking up?"

"Stop messing around, Chris. We've talked about this."

"Chr- oh, honey," I breathed, realizing what was happening. Placing a feather-light hand on his arm, I directed Grey back to bed, hoping he'd either snap out of his sleepwalking session or simply go back to sleep. "Come on, let's go back to sleep."

"What are you talking about? What are you-" Grey suddenly started looking around, disoriented. His gaze fell on me. "Abigail? What are you doing up?"

"You were sleepwalking," I replied softly. "I was trying to get you back into bed."

"Oh. Did I do anything?"

"Other than thinking you were talking to Chris, no. You kept telling him to be quiet because you were worried he'd wake us up. Every time I talked, you thought it was Chris."

"I'm sorry. I thought I-" Grey sank onto the edge of the bed. "I was planning on surprising all of you with him. In my dream. He kept talking. I thought it was going to wake y'all up. Did I?"

I smiled sadly. "Yeah, but honestly, if I'd woken up just a little later when the sun had risen, I probably would've just gone back to bed."

Grey took my hand and kissed the back of it. "Sorry."

"You couldn't help it. What do you say we go back to bed, try to get a little more sleep before our weekend starts?"

"We could do that, or-" Grey looked me up and down hungrily- "I really wouldn't mind a distraction right now."

I shook my head in amusement. "Really? Now?"

"Hey-"

"I swear if you bring up the wedding dress again..."

"No, no, I was going to say that as much as I love seeing you in my shirt, personally-" Grey pulled me back onto the bed up against the pillows, trailing kisses up my neck to my ear, whispering- "I think I look better on you."