Gone 2 Long (Christen Press/You)

Chapter 37

Christen's POV

Here I was. Standing around at the military base in Utah. Completely lost and not knowing what to do. Why am I lost? Oh right, my girlfriend.
We weren't even on the base 5 minutes before she got sucked into an urgent meeting.

Today was the day I was to attend the meeting on preparing to send a loved one, more specifically a spouse, leave for deployment. Especially for a high risk mission. They aren't allowed to give us all the specific details but, I know. Well at least I have a feeling it's the United States pushing back at the attack on the base.

The meeting starts in 10 minutes and I have no idea where I'm going and all these people here are intimidating. Fortunately, I bumped into Zoey's girlfriend... or fiancé... maybe it's her wife. I don't remember what Y/n told me.

"Hey Chris! It's nice to see a familiar face."
"Yours as well. Do you have any idea where we're supposed to be going? Y/n got pulled into a meeting and left me no direction... well she did and I forgot already."

"Yeah I know where to go." Zoey's girlfriend Josie and i began walking. Her leading the way of course.
"I've never been to one of these meeting things, I don't really know what to expect."

"Zoey just told me we're getting more information about where they're going, communication, stuff like that. I'm pretty sure they won't tell us the specifics because they don't want to scare us. And I know, this must be harder on you. You're pregnant with her child, you just got back together, congratulations by the way... it's all unfortunate timing but the world is shit right now."

I nodded as we finally approached the room. It was filled with different men and women, all seemingly different ages. The youngest person in the room had to be around 18 years old.

Josie and I found seats in the middle at one table. About a minute later, a woman in a camouflage uniform walks in and heads to the computer to pull up a slide show.

As I waited, Y/n sent me a text.

Babe 💍💋: Hey, sorry about earlier. I'll be finished before your "meeting" is over with. See you soon 😚

I smiled before putting my phone away.

"Okay, slides are up. Nice to meet you ladies and gentleman. I am Corporal Davies and I'll be your instructor today. I know a lot of you are probably confused as to what this is about. Some of you may not be. You're here because you have a loved one, a significant other, someone you depend on, someone close to you, that will be leaving you for an unknown length of time. With deployments, sometimes you know how long your loved one will be gone, sometimes you don't. Our goal is for these men and women to be gone approximately 5-6 months but, as we've seen in the past, that can change to a year real quick. You never know."

I hate this already.

Davies continued to go on about the process of deployment, what to expect, how to prepare ourselves to be financially stable if we depend on their income which, thankfully, I don't have to worry about.

She comes to a halt when she approaches one of the slides.
"The next few slides or so may be disturbing. I do have videos and pictures that may also be disturbing. Basically, what I am going to show you is the hard truth of what your loved one may be involved in. Yes, you've probably seen lots of war movies, lots of action, crazy things. But, this, these videos, these pictures, they come from our own soldiers on the frontlines with go pros attached to them. Viewer discretion is advised. If you need to step out, please do so now."

Josie and I looked at each other and stayed seated. A few women walked out and I could see them still trying to peak in through the window.

The video began, nothing but gunfire rang through the speakers. We watched as the marine with the go pro hopped out of one of their trucks and immediately was under fire. It was a small group, only about 5 people with the man.

They were surrounded. Nowhere to go. The man looks to his left and Pow! His partners eyes still opened, was gone. He reached over, pulling his legs behind their vehicle to remove his dog tags.

Dust, debris, blood, it was all in frame. Just imagining my girlfriend in the scenario. Imagining my children's mother out in danger, it broke me.

The corporal stopped the video as we heard sniffles around the room.

"K.I.A. Killed in Action. M.I.A. Missing in action. P.O.W. Prisoner of War. Remember those acronyms. Now, the sad truth about what your loved one is doing is, at any point, your communication with them can stop. At any point, they can be taking their last breath. At any point, they can be dead. And I hate to give it to you like this but, my job is to make sure this is as blunt as possible so you get it. This is no game. They are all risking their lives. For all of us. For you. For your families. Death notifications are real. Two servicemen will show up to your door, if it is necessary, and inform you of your marines passing if you are next of kin. With all that being said, mentally prepare yourselves for anything. You never know what will happen once they leave. I wish the best to all of you and I hope your marines will return to you all in good health."

Josie and I immediately stood up and walked out the room. I was emotional. The thought of losing Y/n haunted me. I feel like her being murder by enemies or the United States would hurt more than anything else because who knows what my last words to her would be.

Who knows whether or not she'll ever see our child? There were so many possibilities. Josie's eyes were filled with worry as well and I could tell she was wrecking her brain, think of all the possible outcomes.

Just as my eyes began to fill with more tears on the brim of rolling down my cheeks, Y/n and Zoey arrived to the building. Smiling and laughing as they approached.

Josie and I immediately latched onto them.
"Wow what happened to you two?"
"Don't die on me." I sobbed into Y/n's neck.
"What? Chris I'm not-"
"You don't know that. No one does, I just can't afford to-"
"Then don't think about it. Think about now. You have time with me before i leave and it shouldn't be filled with you being so worried and worked up about the possibility of me dying. People die all the time. I'm here now, focus on that."

My breathing slowed as I began to relax. I looked over to Josie who still was holding onto Zoey. I'm not ready. Definitely not ready.

A/n: It's nearing the time of Y/n's departure 👀 Chris is freaking out, as she should. Do you think Y/n will miss her child's birth? Also I know this was like ehh. It's another filler :,) cause ya know why not. Should I touch back on Tyler & Y/n 👀