Before he dropped me off at mom's house, Dominic and I went to get some food. We stopped off at a diner not far from base that both him and I remember dad taking us too whenever we with him. We both got dad's special, a French dip sandwich with waffle fries and a chocolate milkshake for dessert. The chocolate milkshake was a bit too sweat for my taste but it didn't stop me from draining every last drop.

After Dominic dropped me off at home, I found mom and Peyton curled up together on the couch. I didn't bother them as I took the boxes now filled with things I wanted to take home with me to Georgia and brought them up to my room. I went through the boxes and organized them a bit better and then sealed them up for transport.

When that was done I felt a bit better about things and I went downstairs. Mom and Peyton were still curled up together on the couch so I just took the soccer ball my team found into the backyard. I dragged the old soccer goal I had in the shed out and set it up before I started some music. Shot after shot made me feel a bit better. By the time the sun set behind the clouds, sweat was pouring down my face and I finally gave up to lay down in the grass. The pinks and oranges blurred together as darkness slowly crept into the summer sky.

Peyton came outside just as the last of bits of orange started to faded from the sky to check on me. She didn't have to say anything, she just sat down on the grass with me for a few minutes before we got up together and put away the goal before going back inside. While her and mom started to prepare some dinner I called it a night, still full from the big lunch I had with Dominic. My shower was long and felt nice to wash away the sadness of the day. My bed was calling my name once I was done and I crawled right inside.

For the first time in a few days, sleep was actually restful. There were no dreams, no nightmares, barely any tossing and turning, just actual rest. When I woke up the next morning, I started my day with a good breakfast and read the paper before taking a call from Rob to go over a few training things I wanted him and Monica to brush the team up on. After going over the training details, I wished Rob luck and hung up so I could get ready for the day. It was going to be another hot one out so I went simple, a pair of black jean shorts and a blue t-shirt I had from my stash at dads house. Before I left my room, I grabbed two of my knifes I took home with me and placed them in easy to reach places. The unpredictability of the day left me to want to take my pistol with me too, but I knew better then to take the gun out from my safe, and, it was easier to hide the knifes.

On my way out the door, I left mom and Peyton a note to tell them I would be out all day, grabbed my camo hat and keys and I was gone. The tattoo shop was once again empty when I got there. Shane was waiting behind the desk this time though and gave me a smile when I walked in. After a brief chit chat and going over how my other tattoo is healing, I gave him the idea's I wanted for these two new tattoos. On my left forearm I wanted to get dad and Dominic's Chevy while on my right forearm I wanted to get a simple easel with a blank canvas sitting on it wrapped in a vine of flowers that are to be pride colors for mom and Peyton and how they first met at that art show.



Shane ran with the ideas and went to go draw them up while I wandered around the shop. The art hanging all over the walls was impressive and I even paused when I thought I saw one of mom's paintings. I actually did a double take when I saw it and searched for her signature in blue paint in the bottom left corner. 'Mandala' was one of her first paintings when she realized she could become an artist full time. It was just before things went south between her and dad and she put months into finishing this piece.



"I love this piece, it's one of the favorites I have in the shop. It gave me so much peace when I saw it for the first time. It just hit me in my core, you know?" Shane said all of a sudden standing close to me.

"How did you get it?" I wondering, trying to remember when the last time I saw it was.

"I went to a gallery show a few years back around the same time I was opening this shop and saw it just there on a wall being showcased by itself. At first the gallery owner didn't realize he left it up and had no intention of selling it. But when I expressed so much interest in the piece, he put it up for sale and I wasn't leaving the show without it, even though it cost me a small fortune." Shane said.

"Do you you have anything else by the artist?" I asked turning to look at him.

"I don't, the artist, Shannon Edwards-Murphy, hasn't put on a gallery show in years, from what I heard, she is only taking commissions now which good for her because her work is amazing, but sad for me because I would love to see what she has been up to over the years. You ready? I got the tattoos drawn up for you to take a look at." Shane said and pointed towards his station.

I quickly nodded and followed him over to the station. The drawings were perfect, I didn't have any changes I wanted to make so Shane printed out the stencil and soon enough, his tattoo machine was buzzing against my skin. He started on the car first. We really didn't speak much as he worked, I was lost in my own head about the painting and thinking about Mallory. As Shane finished up the shading on the car I sighed and looked over to the painting again.

"It's my moms painting." I said as Shane did one last wipe down of the fresh tattoo.

"What?" Shane asked as he put the piece of Saniderm on my arm.

"Mandala, it's my moms painting. My mom is Shannon Edwards-Murphy." I said.

"No fucken way." Shane said and looked at me like I just blew his mind.

"Yea. She got the idea for the painting when we went Clark Park Nature Preserve on a class trip. We laid in a clearing together and just watched the trees above us for a while before there was this magical moment when the sun perfectly filled the small opening in the canopy. That was the moment I knew everything was going to be okay and I came out to her. I was so young I didn't realize how big of deal that moment was. I just told her that I had a crush on a girl in my class and was so excited that she sat next to me on the bus for the trip. A few days later I remember going into her office and found her starting on that painting." I said smiling at the memory.

"I have to meet you mother, I have so many questions." Shane said and started to rattle them off. I could help but chuckle as he continued on for a few minutes. It took a few minutes to get Shane back on task to start my second tattoo but finally he dropped my moms art.

The easel itself didn't take long as it was mostly just an outline and no shading. The color afterwards took a lot longer as it was going into such a small space. As Shane continued on with the second tattoo my mind finally started to ease a bit and I was able to relax a bit more and feel more at peace now to know I'll have piece's of my family with me when I leave on Saturday. Just as Shane was filling in some of the last leaf's the bell rang, indicating that someone walked into the shop. Shane looked up from the tattoo, smiled and continued on.

"So, how much longer till you guys are done?" Mallory asked and appeared in front of me to look over Shane's shoulder.

"None, because I just finished, you have great timing by the way. Is little man with you?" Shane asked and put down his tattoo gun.

"No, Troy took the day off so he would watch him. Told me to tell you to give him a call when Brittany gets in so they can come rescue you." Mallory said as Shane wiped down the tattoo.

"Oh my hero, saving me from walk ins. Thank you Mallory." Shane said and put the piece of Saniderm in place.

I walked up to the front with Shane and paid for the tattoos and made sure to grab his card from the desk when he wasn't looking. After trying to give him a tip he wouldn't take, I went over to see the painting one more time. I couldn't help but pull my phone out and take a picture of it before finding Mallory waiting for me outside on the phone with Logan. After she hung up I gave her a smile which she returned.

"So, I totally didn't plan anything for us to do today. I wasn't sure what you would want to do so I just made sure someone was looking after Logan and now here we are." Mallory said looking nervous.

"How about we go to the park? The one I met Logan at? We can hang out on the swings like old times." I said.

"That sounds perfect. Do you want to drop the truck off at your house so we only have one car? Unless you want to go separately which is fine too." Mallory said and flipped her keys around in her hand.

"Mal, you need to take a chill pill for a second, I'm not going to run away. We can drop off the truck at my mom house and go from there." I said and reached out to take her hand but missed and grabbed her whole wrist instead.

"Sorry, my brain keeps sending these thoughts that this is just a dream and I'm going to wake up and you'll be gone again." Mallory said. From the way I was holding onto her wrist I could feel how fast her pulse was racing and I knew if she didn't calm down, she was going to send herself into an anxiety attack. So I did the one of the few things I could think of to prove this was real. I tugged on her wrist and pulled her into a hug.

I could hear Mallory gasp as I just held her close. It took a few second before I felt her arms raise around my back and hug me back. Then I felt them tighten and almost claw into my shoulder blades.

"I'm here and I'm real." I said firmly in her ear.

It took another minute but Mallory sagged against my hold and we broke apart. We didn't say anything but just got into our cars and she followed me back to mom's house. I didn't go inside the house, just parked the truck out front and hopped right into the passenger seat of Mallory's waiting car. She drove us over to the park and I just watched the trees pass us by.

When we got there Mallory parked in the lot and turned her car off. Our eyes met for a few seconds and I gave her a smirk before I fly out of the car and ran over to the swing set.

"Not fair!" Mallory yelled out from behind me as I laughed and took my favorite swing.

"How was that not fair? Whenever we went to the park back then we would always race over to the swings. I was keeping with tradition." I said and smiled at Mallory plopped down on the swing next to me.

"What's not far is that you are extremely athletic and you run all the time. The most running I do now it when Logan runs out the front door to chase down the ice cream truck before we could stop him." Mallory said and got her breath back.

"Okay, fair point." I said and smiled at her.

We both sat on the swings for a few minutes in silence, taking in the beautiful day we were having. It's another warm one but not overly oppressive that made being out in the sun too hot. The swinging on the swing actually helped with that which was nice.

"You know, thinking about everything that happened between us all those years ago, I want to apologize to you Mallory." I said and sighed.

"What?" Mallory asked sharply and looked over at me.

"Shane has an original piece of work from my mom's early years of painting. The piece he has was inspired by me coming out to mom way back when I was a child. The moment was so peaceful, calm and full of acceptance. Thinking about it now, I know that if you tried to do that with your own family, it wouldn't have been the same and I never tried to fully understand that back then. Going into the military, I felt like I was basically being shoved back into the closet and I finally started to understand what you felt like. Even though Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed, if I had any commanding officer who knew about my sexuality and didn't like it, my whole career could have been on the line. Things are better now but there is always that fear in the back of my mind that it could happen. So again, I just wanted to apologize for putting all of that on you when we so young." I swallowed hard and looked over to Mallory.

Seeing Mandala again really stirred up some old feelings in me thinking about it more now. Mallory seamed to be processing everything I said so I just gave her some space to collect her thoughts while I swung back and forth.

"My parents caught me in a lie. I told them I was going to be out with Troy and Logan for the night and we didn't need them to babysit. In reality, I was out on a date with a women I worked with while Logan was home with Troy and Shane. We ended up at a bar after dinner having drinks and one thing led to another and we ended up making out in the hall by the bathroom. My mom saw us when I pulled away to answer if I wanted to go back to her place. Once she saw me, she pulled me off of the women and slapped me across the face."

My head whipped over to see her face contorted in pain. Mallory's eyes were already filling with tears and I didn't know if I should stop her or let her finish what she wanted to say.

"She slapped me so hard her ring cut open my lip causing it to split. I was in shock and it took me a few seconds to long to realize what actually was happening. Before I could react to what was happening, my father came down the hall and my mother told him what she saw. He went try and get a hit in but my mother beat him to it and punched me square in the jaw. That's when I woke up a bit I guess. I pushed my date away and she ran to get the bouncers as my parents cornered me in the end of the hall. They didn't listen to anything I had to say and my father got a hard slap in before the bouncers ran down the hall to rush them away from me but the damage was already done." Mallory said as tears fell from her eyes.

"My date stayed with me while they called the police and Troy. I didn't want to press charges, I just wanted to go home. The police did a report and took photo's of my face for evidence. My date felt bad but I wasn't in the right head space to talk to her so Troy talked to her for me and then we went home. A few days later by parents filed a custody petition to take Logan away from us. Things were really messy for a while. I took a leave from work and so did Troy while we spoke to attorneys about what happened and how to go about the petition. The hearing was a nightmare and I was just thankful that we had a judge who wasn't homophobic. I haven't talk to them since the hearing four years ago." Mallory said.

It took a few moments to let all of the information sink in but as it did, all I wanted to do was hit something. Preferably Mallory's parents. I took a few calming breaths and was about to response to hearing about everything when Mallory spoke again.

"So thank you for your apologize but I should have told the them the truth and cut them out of my life a long time ago."

I looked over to Mallory and she still looked upset about the story but there was this new freedom in her eyes that wasn't there before. I stuck my feet into the sand and came to a hard stop and hopped off the swing. Mallory looked surprised but I didn't care, I went right over to her swing and pulled her into a hug. Her fingers dug into my back and I could feel more tears soak into the front of my shirt.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." I finally said and slowly pulled away from her.

"It's okay, we're safe now and that's what matters." Mallory said and looked up at me. I gave her a soft smile and slowly backed away from her and sat back down on my swing.

We sat in silence for a little bit just letting the weight of her story roll off of both us as we continued to swing. To cut the lingering tension between us, I pulled my phone out and started some music.

"Thank you for telling me about what happened with your parents. I'm glad they are no longer in your life or Logans." I said not looking at her.

"You're welcome." Mallory said.

"I do have a question though, not about your parents." I said and looked over at Mallory.

"Sure" She said and turned to look at me.

"How did you end up marrying Troy. I feel like that's the only puzzle piece missing for me." I said. Mallory just smiled at me and started to swing again.

"After I had Logan, my parents health insurance picked up the bills. When Troy got the job at his first firm he had better health insurance then my parents. I was still in the closet and so was Troy and so he just asked me one day if I ever thought about getting married. I told him I did, but the only person I ever thought about marrying was you." Mallory said and her eyes met mine.

"But you were gone, and I told him that if I couldn't have you, having Troy was more then I could ever hope for. We've been through so much together by that point that getting married didn't seem like that big of a deal. So one day we went down to the court house and eloped. We didn't tell anybody about and a few weeks later, Troy woke me up with breakfast in bed with a ring sitting on the tray. It's simple, a sapphire with little diamonds around it set in rose gold. Most people thought it was just a ring until I told them I was actually married. We've been a little family ever since." Mallory said with a smile on her face.

"Even though we're married on paper, that's about where our marriage actually ends. We have our own rooms at our house and we have flings and relationships with whomever we want. For Troy, it's mainly just been Shane. For me it's mostly one-night stands, only a handful of actual dates and it usually ends when I bring up Logan. But what about you? I feel like I've been talking about myself this whole time. Anybody been keeping you up late at night?" Mallory asked and turned to look at me.

It took a few seconds to process everything Mallory told me again. The fact that her and Troy really are just best friends finally started to set in. Then the second part of her sentence landed in my chest, that her relationships didn't last farther then a few dates. There was still a lot to process about that sentence but I knew I've been quiet to long.

"Well, home base for me is Fort Benning, Georgia. After spending the first four years of my career in the barracks on base, I kind of had enough and Morgan and I pooled our money together and bought a three bed-room house on the residential side of base. Neither of us wanted to go far and with a little bit of help from my dad, we had enough for a sizeable deposit. We've been in the house ever since." I said and smiled at the memory of the day Morgan and I finally finished signing all of the paperwork and got the keys. Dad was waiting for us on the porch with a bottle of champagne by the time we got back from the lawyers office.

"One-night stands were a thing for a while but they always made me feel dirty afterwards. I've tried the relationship path as well, they usually ended badly. Nobody wants to be with someone who can be here one day and gone next with no timetable for a return or an explanation as to why I left and where I was going. Living with Morgan made things easy. No questions if I got spun up or her late nights in the office or just being gone for months at a time with little to no communication." I said.

"So you and Morgan are together?" Mallory asked.

"Things are complicated." I said instead hoping Mallory will get the hint that I did not want to talk to her about Morgan.

"Come on." Mallory said and stood from the swing and held out her hand for me. I looked at her for a second to long because then Mallory wiggled her fingers. I rolled my eyes and took her hand to stand from the swing.

We didn't say anything as Mallory pulled me towards the grassy area of the park. I held onto her hand as we walked towards a shady spot. From out of nowhere Mallory pulled a blanket out and spread it on the ground before sitting down. I gave her an amused smiled and sat down next to her. I only stayed sitting for a few seconds before I actually laid down and sighed. The muscles in my body finally started to relax as I let my eyes fall shut. It only took a few second before I felt Mallory put her head down on my stomach just like we used to in high school. My hand came up wrapped it around her chest to hold her close.

"I've really missed you Dani." Mallory said quietly not wanting to disturb the peace of the moment.

"I wish I came home and saw you sooner." I said and let my grip on Mallory's ribs tighten.

We laid together like this for a while. Music still played from my phone and I couldn't help but mumble along to yet another Taylor Swift song that came on. My other hand reached out and moved the blanket away so I was able to feel the blades of grass through my fingers. The feeling I have come to miss being stuck in the desert for so many years.

"I feel like this is the most relaxed I've ever seen you." Mallory said breaking the silence between us.

"This is the moment relaxed I've been in a while. I've missed the feeling of grass under my feet." I said and continued to reach out and play with a few strains of grass.

"Do you not have grass planted at home?" Mallory asked sounding confused.

"We do, it's just, being away all the time in mostly desert climates, just makes me grateful to feel it when I get home." I answered and finally pulled my hand back from the grass wrap it around Mallory's waist.

"What's that like?" Mallory asked.

"Sand just gets everywhere, in everything. It's always hot to the touch, makes running with 50 pounds of gear on your back a horrible chore. I haven't been to the beach in years because it's kind of ruined for me now." I said trying not to think back to the all blood I have seen splattered along the sand.

"Yea, I bet that's the last place you want to be when you get home." Mallory said.

"Yup, usually when I would get home from a tour, I to finish up any last reports in the office and then I'll have a week or two of relaxing. As long as the weather is nice, Morgan would usually find me laying in the grass all day. Most days she'd have to pull me off of it and cover my legs and back in lotion from various bug bites." I said.

"I'm hoping she made you at least lay down on a towel after that." Mallory said with a chuckle.

"Eh, she tries, do I listen, absolutely not." I said and laughed back.

"She seems like she is good for you, Dani. I know you said things are complicated between you two, but if you like her the way she likes you, you shouldn't let something stand in the way of that. I mean, look what happened to us." Mallory said.

I sighed and closed my eyes. Mallory gripped my arm that is wrapped around her and I tried to stop the spiraling thoughts of Morgan take over.

"I know. There's just so much going on with me leaving again and Morgan getting deployed with us. I can't let my feelings get in the way of my judgment when we get over there." I said.

"No, we aren't talking about you leaving again for an unknown amount of time, not today Dani." Mallory said forcefully.

"I know you don't want to but you need to know what comes along with this Mal." I said and sat up, forcing Mallory up and off of my stomach.

"Why can't we just live in a place of bliss and the unknown?" Mallory asked.

"Because this is my reality and if you want to be apart of that, then you need to know what to expect." I said trying to convey the seriousness of my words.

Mallory's blue eyes were sad and I wish I didn't have to pop this lovely bubble we have found ourselves in. But if she wants to be apart of my future, she needs to know. It took a few seconds but Mallory nodded and I gave her a smile.

"So, rules of engagement for this op are pretty strict. I'm leaving all personal devices here. Before I leave for Germany I'll get my secure phone and laptop and I'll be able to make phone calls. I can also send letters home and you can send letters to me. I'll be in Germany for a little bit so communication should be pretty stable. But once I leave Germany things will change and I don't know when or even if, you'll hear from me. I'll make sure my mom gets in touch with you if things in my status change." I said looking her in the eyes, hoping she'll be able to read between the lines.

"So basically, I'll have to stalk your mom for news once you leave Germany?" Mallory asked.

"Yup, that's pretty much how it works on these kinds of mission." I said.

"Okay, how about we table all things about you leaving and get some food. I'm honestly surprised you haven't crashed yet from the tattoo's." Mallory said changing the subject.

"This is nothing compared to some my various injuries I've gotten and needed to push through in the middle of a mission, but I'm game for food." I said and offered a smile.

Mallory and I got up together and grabbed her blanket off the ground before walking off to her car. When we got into her car, Mallory started it up and off we went. We ended up at a bar restaurant not far from my moms house that was pretty quiet. Once we got inside I took the seat against the wall and took in my surroundings, taking note of everyone inside and all the exits. If Mallory noticed; she didn't say anything as she just went right into looking at the menu. I skimmed it briefly and settled on a burger pretty quickly and went back to people watching until the waiter came over to take our drink order. I went with a beer and Mallory followed my lead before the waiter left us alone again.

"Watching you shift back to being on guard is something I don't think I'll ever get used too." Mallory said as I focused back in on her.

"Side effect of my job unfortunately. If I'm not constantly vigilant, someone can die." I said not bothering to sugar coat the truth.

"It must be hard way to live." Mallory said.

"Yea, it's not the easiest, even though I'm home and my body is here, my mind is already thinking ahead for next week." I said and thanked the waiter when he brought us over our drinks. I held my beer bottle up and Mallory followed my led.

"To you coming home safe." Mallory said and clinked her bottle into mine. I could only nod in agreement and take a long sip of the beer.

After our first sips were down, Mallory shifted the conversation to Logan after getting a text from Troy with a picture of him sitting in Shane's tattoo chair with a 'tattoo' drawn on his arm. It was a conversation shift we needed as I didn't want to keep talking about my work. Apparently this happens often and Mallory started to show me all of Logan's previous ink and I couldn't help but chuckle at. While going through some of the photos the waiter appeared again and we placed our lunch orders.

The food didn't take long to get to us after we placed the order as it was still quite dead in the restaurant. The food definitely was a pick me up that I needed as I finally started to feel the crash from the tattoo's. We mostly eat in silence, both of us hungry and the food being really good. Neither of us went for a refill on the drinks though and switched to waters. After we finished off our food Mallory went off to the bathroom and I quickly paid the bill while she was away from the table before pulling my phone out to make sure I haven't missed anything important.

By the time Mallory returned to the table, I didn't have any new communications from command or my sergeants which were both very good in my book. When Mallory tried to flag down the waiter to pay, I told her I got it already. Needless to say she was a bit annoyed with me and hit me in the shoulder as we walked out of the restaurant together after she left a cash tip already on top of what I left on my card.

When we found ourselves back in her car Mallory started it up but we didn't move for a few minutes. I turned to look at her and found her picking at her nails, her most obvious nervous habit.

"What's up Mal?" I asked and put my hand over hers to stop her from picking off her nail.

"Would you want to come back to my house? We can hang out in the backyard and have another drink if you want, I just, I'm not ready to say goodbye to you yet." Mallory asked anxiety written in her eyes.

"I don't have anywhere else to be Mal. I'm all yours today." I said and offered her a smile.

Mallory still looked a bit nervous but took a sigh of relief and put her car into drive. The drive over to her house only took about five minutes. The two-story house looks like it was recently renovated from the outside and as we walk through the front door, I could tell that the inside was most likely done at the same time. There were plenty of pictures of Logan all around the space and his toys were laying all around the living room as we walked through the main floor towards the open floor plan kitchen and dining room.

"The boys should be out for a while, is another beer good for you?" Mallory asked after she put her bag down on the kitchen table and made her way to the fridge.

"Fine with me." I said and watched as Mallory pulled two beers from the fridge and turn around.

"Go outside, I'll be there in a second." Mallory said and walked down the hall.

"I got the beer!" I yelled after her and walked to the backdoor and opened it up and step out onto a small porch.

There were only three steps to the ground and I took a look at the backyard. A swing set is set in the back corner next to a shed. A mini lacrosse net was not far from the swing set and there are a handful of colorful balls sitting inside the net. I couldn't help but smile as I sat down right in the middle of the yard and opened up a beer.

Just as I took my first sip, Mallory fanned out a towel and sat down on top of it. She took her beer from me and twisted the cap off.

"You know I would share this towel with you if you want it." Mallory said after taking a large sip.

"I told you before, I like the grass, I'm good." I said and continued to run my hand along the ground.

We were both quiet as Mallory started up some music on her phone and we went through the first beers like water. The second beers went down just as quick as the first and by the time we were half way through the our third, I could definitely start to feel the buzz of the alcohol. Before I knew it, we drank through all of the beers Mallory brought outside in a small cooler and we were just laughing at each other as we started singing along to the music.

Taylor Swift bleed into Paramore which went right into Carly Rae Jepsen to be brought right back around again to Skillet. The playlist was impressive as we both finally let go of the last resentments toward each other. I don't know how long we went at it but finally I had enough and laid back down on the grass again. Mallory wasn't far behind and she laid her head on my stomach again, just like always. My hand wrapped around her chest and I held tightly onto her ribs and our laughter died down as we both stared up at the sky. I sighed and looked around the backyard again before tightening my hold onto Mallory.

"Do you think we could have had this?" Mallory asked my unspoken question. I could feel my eyes watering at her question because deep down I think a part of me will always still want this her.

I must have taken too long to answer because the next thing I knew Mallory's hand is on my cheek and is brushing away a tear that escaped. Her blue eyes were sad and I knew that the alcohol most likely ruined the moment.

"Eventually yes." I finally answered as another tear fell. Mallory's eyes were watering and I knew it wouldn't be long before hers fell too. But, before I could do anything else, I realized how close Mallory's face is to mine. Her shallow breaths were hitting me right on my lips and with one finally look in her eyes, both of our lips met in a kiss ten years in the making.

a/n: me slipping out the side door leaving you guys on a bit of a cliff hanger. the picture of the painting i used was actually done by Lynn Rene, i stalked her insta a while ago and saw this piece and thought i could use it in the story somewhere. also hench why i left her insta handle in the picture if you want to see more of her art. song on the side is called 19 by Xana. I honestly couldn't get myself together after the first time listening to this song because it hit me so f*cken hard in the chest. I thought it would fit perfectly with the tone of this chapter especially towards the end of the chapter. but seriously anybody who wants an amazing new queer artist to listen to during pride month, Xana is your girl.