Before the night got to far away from us I did send Rob a text to let him know I'll look at the briefing in the morning. There was nothing I could do from home right now so I didn't feel to concerned that I took this long to get back to him. He understood and let me know how the training went with the team and I was happy to know that most of them took my advise seriously when I asked them to brush up on their language skills. Though I don't know Polish or Ukrainian, I am pretty fluent in Russian. One of dads biggest pieces of advice when I first started to move my career track towards special forces, the more languages I knew, the better and more of an asset I can be.

The rest of Thursday night was spend squished between mom and Peyton on the couch. We ordered Greek food and watched a few movies as I let them in on some more of my earlier relationship with Morgan. Mallory quickly became an afterthought the more I told them about Morgan and I's various hook ups over the years, then when we decided to just stop all together. Things between us just got overly complicated when she moved up the officer rank and together we knew we needed to stop before we hurt each other so badly we would be able to come back from. After we finished dinner they were both content with all the new gossip I gave them, I finally got to show them the two new tattoos I got this morning. Both of them teared up when they saw the easel and flowers. It made me really happy to see that it means this much to them.

When the conversation about my tattoos slowed down I called it a night and retired upstairs. I went for a shower and cleaned up my tattoos before I finally made my way into my bed. I didn't really even get a chance to check my phone as my body and mind were both too tired from the day and I fell asleep pretty quickly.

When I woke up Friday morning, I didn't want to move from the bed. My last full day at home had me wanting to just soak up laying in my childhood bed for as long as I could, secretly hoping if I laid here long enough, time would stop and I wouldn't have to get on that plane tomorrow. But time stops for no one and I got up when my stomach growled for breakfast. When I made my way downstairs, I found Dominic was already waiting for me at the kitchen table. He gave me a smile and pushed a plate of pancakes towards me. I didn't question it as I grabbed a few from the plate and smothered them in syrup. After I finished them off I downed the orange juice that was pushed in my direction and looked up to find Dominic staring at me still. I didn't let it get to me; I would be doing the same thing if he was about to go away for an unknown amount of time.

Full from breakfast, I stood up from the table and brought my plates over to the sink and found it full of all the things Dom must have used to cook breakfast.

"Asshole." I chuckled but started to run the water to clean off the dirty dishes.

"You love me though." Dom said.

"That I do." I said and flicked him with some water. Dom rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone while I finished washing the dishes.

With the dishes drying in the rack, I returned to the table and messed up Doms' hair before running off to the living room to escape his retaliation. I flew onto the couch and settled down for a few seconds before I heard Dom come chase after me. He jumped over the back of the couch and landed on top of me and I rolled us right off the couch and onto the floor where we just continued to wrestle around for a few minutes. We were both laughing our heads off rolling around trying to pin the other when we heard mom yell at us. Immediately we both stopped, still tangled up in each others limbs and turned to look at her.

"Take the rough housing outside, I don't need you guys to break something." Mom said and watched as we both got up and took our game outside. Once we got outside I went right over to the grass and laid out on my back and spread out like a starfish.

"You still do that?" Dom asked as he got closer.

"Yes, now don't mock, just join." I said. It took a few seconds but I felt Dom join me on the ground, his hand taking hold of mine and we just laid out like starfish in the sun.

"Is there anything you need help doing today?" Dom asked after a little bit of silence.

"I need to pack everything up if you want to give me a hand." I said.

"Yea, anything you need." Dom said and gave my hand a squeeze. I squeezed back and sat up.

We made our way inside and went up to my room. Most of the boxes from dads house was already sealed up so I didn't have to worry about them. I had Dom just fold everything I had left in the laundry basket from last week and put them into different piles for now. I needed to see what needed to go into my duffle and what can do back in a box. While he was working on that, I made work of packing up my dress uniform. I left all of my ribbons and medals on the jacket this time and and placed my dress shoes back in the box. The dress shoes found a home in another bigger box while the suit went back into the garment bag.

After I was done, I went over to see what Dominic has done and was able to make quick work of sorting it out. I only left out a pair of pajamas for tonight and my camos which I need to wear tomorrow. I also made a note to leave some clothes here at moms house now that I took everything from dads.

Dominic helped me stack everything inside the duffle bag and once I was done with that, we put it towards everything else in my room on the wall. The only thing left to do now was go over the guns. I took my pistol out of the gun safe I have in my room and and pulled my gun case out from under my bed. Dominic took a seat on my bed as I set the case down and opened it up. I pressed my pistol inside and pulled out my sniper rifle to go over it.

"Is that the one you use most often?" Dominic asked.

"Yea. I have another one for really long distances but it weighs like 30 pounds. I try to not use it if I don't need to. This one weighs just under 20 pounds but with an additional 20 pounds of gear, it all adds up quickly." I said and once it was clear, I held it out for Dominic to hold. He took the weapon from me and just held it.

"You can have it back." He said not even trying to mess around with it.

"I'm not sure if dad has any more guns in the condo but I went through the safe and took everything out. If you come across any while you go through the house please be careful because everything I found was fully loaded and none of them had the safety on. If you find anything, just leave it be and call Peyton okay." I said wanting to make sure he got the point.

"I'll let mom and Peyton know when we go back over things." Dominic said as I put all of my knifes inside the case and locked it up.

After I put my case down with my stuff, I grabbed the ammo box and made sure it was locked up before I grabbed the other gun case with the weapons I found at dads house. I took them all of out of the case and went through them to make sure there was nothing in the chamber. Once I was sure they were all clear, I made sure the safety was on before I put them back into the case.

"What should we do with them if we find any?" Dominic asked as I zipped up the bag.

"Have Peyton unload them and make sure the safety in on then call me and I'll find out what to do with them. Everything is registered in dads name so I have to turn them in or change ownership of them if I'm allowed or if you want to keep something." I said and placed the other gun case next to my own.

"I don't need the guns, just wanted to know what we should do with them other then unloading them and safely storing them." Dominic said.

"That's fine, I just wanted to check. Right, so I'm done now, any chance you want to go get some lunch?" I asked after wiping my hands on my shorts.

"Sure, you good with going to the diner?" Dominic asked and popped up from my bed.

"Sounds good with me." I said and followed him out of my room and down the stairs.

We yelled out to mom and Peyton that we were heading out and we were out the door. Dominic started up the old Chevy and it let out a roar as we started down the road. It was still towards the beginning of the lunch rush so it wasn't too busy and we were seated right away. It wasn't even a decision, both of us didn't even look at a menu, we just ordered dads special.

"So, what is new with you? I feel like we barely got to talk about what your life has been like since I've been home." The 'and I'm leaving tomorrow' stayed on the tip of my tongue and I knew I felt like I waited too long to ask him this.

"I mean, we've been a little busy since you've got here Dani." Dominic said and sighed before running a hand through his hair. A piece of it stuck straight up still and I couldn't help but smile before reaching out to push it down.

"I know, but I still want an update." I said and gave him a smile.

"Okay, well, I got a promotion to manager at the shop so I got a nice pay raise and some not so nice responsibilities to go along with the title." Dominic started and I couldn't help but interrupt him before he continued.

"What?! Why didn't you say anything sooner! We could have gone out for drinks instead of just getting food!" I said and pushed his shoulder as he smirked.

"We'll go out for the drink to celebrate when you eventually come home." Dominic said still smirking.

"So, moms filled you in on that little detail." I was hoping to leave before telling Dominic that I didn't know exactly when I would be home again.

"Yea, it was a nice kick in the teeth to find out." Dominic said and threw a little paper ball at my face.

"Sorry, I wasn't going to tell you. I thought it would have been easier to just be gone." I said and sighed.

"I know, just know that I'll miss you and want you home in one piece okay." Dominic said leveling me with a concerned stare. It's the most emotion he's shown since the burial.

"I'll try my hardest." I said and gave him a half smile.

"That's all I ask." Dominic said and grabbed my hand over the table.

"Okay, enough of that, what else is going on? I want to know more about what's been going on." I said and pushed past the wave of sadness that crashed through me at the thought of missing more of Dominics achievements.

Our food came shortly after and we paused talking to dig in while it was still hot. Dom did fill me in a bit more as we continued to eat. He is still working at the same shop he started at once he graduated from trade school five years ago. The owner of the shop seems to like him that he pushed Dominic to become a manager. It made me happy to know that the people he works for treat him well and want him to stick around.

When I tried to bring up if he has been seeing someone, Dominic immediately blushed and I knew I touched on something juicy. I gave him until he finished his sandwich before I started to grill him a little bit more. He gave up a bit more, that he was talking to a girl for a little while now and they have been on a few dates but they haven't committed to anything yet. Things were heading towards that direction when dad died and Dom admitted he was being spacy. The girl, who's name I found out to be Dina, actually came to the funeral but I was too wrapped up in my own drama to notice.

We finished our milkshakes to him talking about Dina some more. As he paid the bill and we left, I convinced him to drop me off at home and go talk to her. It seamed like this girl really makes him happy and I don't want him to run from that. With an agreement of him being at the house early tomorrow to come drop me off at base, Dom dropped me off at home and waved as before he raced down the street.

As I closed the door behind me I found Mom sitting down on the couch so I walked over and jumped over the back of the couch to join her. Once I sat down mom put her arm around me and I leaned into her.

"Have a good lunch?" She asked.

"Yea, I talked some sense into him to go talk to Dina. Made him drop me off and go see her now so they can work things out." I said and got comfortable against moms hold.

"Good, I've been trying to do the same thing but he doesn't listen to me. Hopefully he will listen to you instead." Mom said and we both just sank into the couch.

"Where's Peyton?" I asked wondering where she was on this Friday afternoon.

"She had to go to the office, she'll be back for dinner though." Mom said and pressed play to resume the movie she was watching.

I only let the movie play for a few minutes before I reached over and grabbed the remote from the coffee table to pause the movie again. Mom didn't say anything to me, she just turned her attention from the TV to me as I gave her a smile.

"When did you sell Mandala?" I asked. I watched the confusion on her face for a few moments before the light bulb went off in her head.

"I didn't sell it by choice. It was in the gallery with my other work at my first show and before we could move it off the wall, people were in a bidding war over it. I don't remember who actually ended up buying it but the final price was forty-five thousand dollars. Mandala selling for that much gave me the final push I needed to quit my job and purse art full time. That was a really random question chicken and I'm surprised you remember that piece." Mom said.

"I saw it yesterday. I don't know if he is the original purchaser of it, but I just wanted to tell you I saw it. It was at the tattoo shop I went to get these done. The owner, Shane, loves your work, he went on about Mandala and your other gallery shows for a little bit. When I told him I was your daughter he almost fell off his stool. If you're free one of these days and want something to do, you should go see it." I said.

"Wow, I always wondered where it ended up. I've always wanted to get it back because of how much it means to us but never could find out where it went. Leave me the information for the shop and I'll check it out one day." Mom explained.

"I need to ask a few favors of you." I said and sighed getting to the heart of what I've been wanting to say.

"I hate it when you do this Daniella." Mom said and I could tell she was starting to tear up already.

"I know you do but please, for me?" I asked and turned to face her again.

"What are they then?" Mom asked.

"One, make sure Dominic makes things right with the girl he is talking to. Bully him a bit about it to make sure he doesn't let this girl go." I started.

"I have a feeling that will be the easiest thing you're about to ask me to do, so yes I can easily do that, what else?" Mom asked and I was happy that I started off with an easy one.

"I need you to keep Mallory in the loop. I left her crying yesterday and even though there is no future there, I don't want to keep her in the dark. When you want to go to see Mandala, you should give her a call and she can take you over there. This is the first time I'm leaving where she is activity in my life and I don't want to just up and leave her with nothing." I said and took a deep breath.

"Leave me her phone number and I'll give her a call when I'm ready to see it. Is there anything else?" Mom asked.

"Just know that I love you so much. That if I do come home in a box, that I tried whatever I could to make it back to you guys alive. Try to find some comfort that I went out with my team and I wasn't alone, okay." I said and bit my lip to try and stop the tears I knew were trying to come to my eyes.

"Okay chicken, but no more talk about you coming home in a box alright, my heart can't bare the thought of it after just burying your father." Mom said with a few tears falling from her eyes. I could only nod and wipe away the few tears from moms cheeks.

"Deal, we have to leave here at 4am tomorrow since my flight is at 6am and I need to bring cargo and go to the armory on base before." I said.

"Anything for you." Mom said and patted my hand as I brought it down off her face.

Mom and I took a few deep breaths before mom put her head down on my chest and I started the movie up again. We quietly watched the rest of the movie together both realizing that we needed this quiet time together after that heavy conversation. Peyton came home a little while later with a pizza in hand and she joined us on the couch where were drank a few beers and ate. When I was ready to call it a night I stood from the couch and cleaned up the pizza from the coffee table and brought all the empties to the recycle bin out back.

After leaving kisses for Peyton and mom on their foreheads, I made my way upstairs. I took stock of the boxes I had to take with me for the flight tomorrow morning and numbered them. I pulled my phone from my pocket and confirmed my ticket with the flight management system and confirmed how many boxes and bags I had coming with me as well. Once that was done, I sent the final flight information to Morgan so she can come pick me up. Morgan sent me a text to confirm she got the info and just when I was about to send her a follow up, there was a knock on my door and Peyton pushed the door open a crack.

When she saw I was still up and looking back at her, she walked into my room and closed the door firmly behind her. She took a seat next to me and held out an old looking flip phone.

"I went to the office to confirm locations of some of my guys and get their final phone numbers. I put them into this phone and told them very little about what you were going over there to do. But if you find yourself in a terrible position and need help, they will answer. The battery on this phone will last for months. Keep it off until you need it. Once you turn it on, I'll get an alert and I'll be better able to help from here if needed." Peyton said and I took the phone in my hand.

"I hope I never have to turn this on." I said and held onto the phone tightly in my hand.

"You and I both Dani." Peyton said.

We both sat in silence for a few second before Peyton stood from my bed and kissed my temple before leaving my room. The phone in my hand felt like it weighed a million pounds. I carefully tuck it into my duffle before taking my pajamas over to the bathroom for a shower. Once I was clean I tucked myself into bed and sent a text over to Dominic to remind him what time he needed to be here tomorrow morning before setting an alarm. Sleep did not come easy tonight.



a/n: song on the side is The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert. I wanted to give Dani a chapter with the house that built her. This song only just came to me while I was editing this chapter together. Fit so well with what I wanted to do in these last few moments with her family.

are you guys ready for the next chapter? the final goodbye and the long awaited reunion?