"Are you almost ready for our date?" Logan asks, pulling on one of his nicer jackets. The kids were running around the living room, making a huge ruckus about some toy I couldn't see. I wasn't too worried about it right now. Leaning forward to look into the mirror, I wiped some of the smeared lipstick off the edge of my mouth. Popping my lips and tossing my hair to the side to fluff it up a little more.

"Yeah, I'm pretty much ready. If you want to get the kids jackets on and such, we should be ready to go." I touched up my makeup one last time. Logan grabbed my hips as he shuffled past me to head towards the living room.

The noise in the living room settled as soon as Logan had left the bathroom. I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of the kids seeing their dad and running to their side of the room to pretend like they weren't doing anything wrong. I was a little nervous for tonight, so the humor of the twins helped a great deal.

My stomach was twisted Into so many knots I wasn't sure I'd be able to untie it later. Why was I so nervous? I was just going on a date with my husband. We weren't doing anything super out of the box. First we would go to dinner and then to a movie. It was our typical date night as the smaller town we lived in had very little options.

The political climate of our town made it difficult for any small business to survive.

Once I finally felt ready, and had done enough deep breathing exercises to get myself through the car ride to my mother's house, I made my way to the living room.

The twins were sitting perfectly on the couch, their coats were on, their shoes were on and they even had their to go bags.

I was quite amazed with how quickly Logan was able to get everything ready.

"Let's go." I smiled, waving the kids to follow.

~*~

"I'm so glad your mother was able to watch the kids for the night." Logan smiles, holding my hand from across the table. His eyes were focused on me. Mine dances across the menu struggling to find something that I would like. At times I hated going to these nicer restaurants. I was always in a struggle between something I would like and trying somewhere new and food was always so difficult for me.

"I am too, and I feel a little sad that we haven't seen her much since you've been back. It always feels strange to go spend some time with your parents, then to not do that with mine. I don't know why we could, but I feel like I'm always caught in the struggle of keeping things even between the in-laws." My parents loved our kids more than anything and it's true, we hadn't been around as much as we had been. When Logan is away we go to my parents house at least once a week. Once he returns that seems to all stop the second he walks through the door.

He didn't have any issues with my parents so that definitely wasn't our problem. Things just got busy and with the focus leaning more towards his family, we didn't seem to have the time.

"Am I just this horrible husband that keeps you away from all of these things?" Logan asked, leaning against the back of his chair.

"Where would you get an insane idea like that?" I wanted to shout it, but my brain forced me to keep quiet to not disturb any of the others in the restaurant.

"It seems like I'm always messing things up. You rarely see your parents, I've made you cry this month more than I've kept you happy. I can't ever seem to do things right. It weighs on me at times and I feel like a failure and the only thing I am good at is being a dad and the military." He took a sip of his water. The waitress stops by placing down a bowl of bread before informing us she would be back in a few moments to take our order.

"I'd never say any of that was true." It didn't matter if I would say it though, it mattered that he felt it and as hard of a time I've had with him coming home, seems like he's had just as hard of a time.

"I really don't want to let you down Ari. You, or the kids. When I'm gone all I think about is coming home to you three and being a family again. Then when it does happen I mess it all up."

The waitress interrupts us again, taking our orders before running off towards the kitchen.

"I don't know what I would do without you!" My voice was a little louder this time, and definitely more confident in the words it was speaking.

I didn't know what I would do without him. Logan was the love of my life and there was no doubt about that. Even if I've had my doubts that this lifestyle is the best for me, I've never questioned that Logan was right.

"It's not you-"

"It's me?" He cut me off, a little anger starting to show on his face. My heart began to race at the thought of this going sideways. I wanted to enjoy a nice evening with him.

"No, that's not at all what I was going to say. Please don't put words in my mouth like that." I paused for a moment just trying to gain my composure. What he said had thrown me for a loop and it was filled with so much anger that he must have been holding on to.

"It's not you, it's the military. Logan, it's never been that we've had problems, it's been that we have weird expectations based on what we know life is like before the military and the military simply does not give a shit about what we have going on. You have to make it a priority until you retire here in the next year or so. I can't control that and we need to work with it, not against it."

"What do you mean by that?" He asks, leaning forward on the table to finally grab one of the rolls from the basket.

"I was only mad that you forgot about the fundraiser event at the kids school, because I know if the military wasn't in the way you would have never missed it. You miss so many events and it's because of the military, but if you had a normal job I know you would have been there." I tried to sound as sure of myself as I could. I knew it deep down in my heart, but the nerves of the conversation were effecting the way things were coming out of me.

"Maybe you are right, but what about all the other times? With my parents and such?" He took a big bite of the bread, seeming to be thinking of the conversation we were having.

"That's a different ball game, and that's not fair on you anyways because it's putting you between a rock and a hard spot. How do you ever truly win? Keep your parents happy and your wife is pissed, piss your parents off and your wife is happy. Though I wouldn't say I'm happy about the situation, I fell so much deeper in love with you when you finally stood up for me against them. That's been years of dealing with it and I've had enough." I stopped to grab my own roll. Watching him eat his bread made me realize how hungry I was.

"I don't want you to stop talking to your parents. I just maybe won't be there as much. Everyone deserves to have a relationship with their parents, and I don't want to hold you back from that. I'm not happy about what happened. Your mother couldn't just keep her mouth shut, and I'm devastated about it. I never wanted things to end like that."

"I'm sorry I didn't defend you sooner. You shouldn't have had to go through all those years listening to all of that."

"You don't need to apologize now. I have a new understanding of the whole thing."

The waitress brought our food out to us. Placing the large plate of shrimp alfredo in front of me and a burger in front of Logan. We dug in, both of us feeling the hunger and the stress of our conversation.

"I love you, Logan, and I'm so happy to be your wife. Please don't ever forget that. I'm also so happy for you to retire so we can get the hell away from this career and finally settle down into something a little more normal." I smiled, swirling my fork in the noodles to gather myself a bite.

"Everything I do is for you and the kids, and I hope you always remember that." He smiled back. The air around the conversation felt lighter, easier to breathe than the tension laced stuff earlier.

We finished our meal rather quickly, stuffing ourselves and talking about all the things we wanted to work on. I could feel a true smile work its way over my lips as Logan spoke about dreams he had for our future.

I could listen to this man for the rest of my life.

Once we paid for the food, we walked towards the movie theater, picking this location due to how close it was to the restaurant. It's been forever since I've been to a theater and the smell of buttered popcorn filled the air. Even though I'd stuffed myself at the restaurant, there was no way I was making it through a movie without some of that.

Logan bought us two tickets before getting in line for the concessions.

How's it going? A text from my mother appeared on my phone.

Really good. We are on the same page about everything and honestly just need to work better at remembering what team we are on.

So you feel like you got it all figured out?

Yes! I think Logan and I have things figured out. How are the kids doing?

Good, they are in bed. Will see you in the morning.

I smiled at my mother, checking in on me. I'd called her earlier this week to get some insight into how I was feeling about the whole situation. She was able to lead me even further down the path Sandra had started me on. Logan and I weren't fighting because we couldn't get along. We were fighting because we were both hurt by the same thing.

The military.

"Are you ready to head inside?" Logan asks, finally returning with our snacks. I nod looking at the man that I fell so madly in love with all those years ago.

"Yep, let's watch these aliens kick some ass." I giggled, feeling like a schoolgirl on her first date.