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"Mail Call!" The words each soldier looked forward to with even more anticipation than the orders to move out.

Sgt. Aiden "Spot" Conlon had a grin on his face that not only reached ear to ear, it shone brightly in his eyes. They'd waited for weeks for word from home but since they were constantly on the move and rarely spent more than a few days in any one location in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan, and now they would be in the front lines of the war in Iraq, it was a miracle that their mail had finally caught up to them. He carried a huge duffle bag full of letters and packages from home, slung over his shoulder.

"Err, who are you Spot? The Army's version of Santa Clause?" Lt Alex McBride quipped.

"Few months late if ya are," Lt. Ty Myers added with a grin.

"Yeah yeah, you wont be jokin' when you see the other four bags they're bringing up," Spot smirked.

"Yer kiddin!" Capt Jack Kelly lifted his head from his journal. He'd decided the day the towers fell, to keep a journal of his experiences; not so much for himself as for Sage and their kids. That way, if -God, forbid- something happened to him, they would have a record of how much he loved them and what he was doing to keep them safe. Of course there was no vital top secret information included, and he wasn't going to write anything uber disturbing in it, but they would get the idea of how much he and his men were trying to do. "That much?"

Spot nodded. "It's still older stuff...but at least it's something. And...This bag is ALL ours...the others are for the men."

He dropped the bag down on his bunk with a soft "thud" and a bit of a groan attesting to the weighty nature of the duffle and started to rifle through the contents. "Kelly...Kelly...McBride...Myers...CONLON!" He tossed the letters to the guys as he read off their names. He beamed when he reached the first with his name, but just took an extra second to smell it then dropped the sweet scented envelope onto his pillow and kept going. "Higgins...Masters...Coulter...okay so I do feel a bit like Santa now," he grinned as the eyes of his friends lit up as their names were called.

They had long ago decided that they would wait and get all the mail in a shipment and sort it by post mark before opening it. This worked rather well for them, even though it added a ton of anticipation by the time they each had their respective piles.

"Screw it," Spot mumbled and hefted the bag over to Guv's empty bunk and up ended the bag, dumping its contents unceremoniously into a pile, making it easier to sort quickly. He sorted through the packages first. Those, they had decided, could be taken out of context and it didn't matter since it was usually stuff they needed or wanted to use immediately anyway. He tossed several light boxes to Jack.

Jack chuckled. "Looks like Sagey's been collecting Beanie Babies for us again," he smirked as he opened the first box and dumped out a bunch of the colorful, light weight toys. The soldiers liked these to give to the kids they encountered as they were easy to pack and nearly always ensured a smile.

Alex, deciding Spot was taking far too long to divi-up the bounty, got off his bunk and started going through the huge pile, making stacks for each of them.

Once they were done, three letters in his own pile caught his eye: the three most recent letters, according to the post marks.

The first had the flowing writing of his mother. His family was close, well, as close as could be with his parents in Jonsonville, NC., Sage back home in Utah, where he and Jack were stationed, and he and Jack in the center of the mid-east. He carefully opened the pale pink envelope with the floral pattern.

"Dylan's engaged!" He kept reading, a smile on his face as he read about his younger brothers and what the latest gossip was. "Josh is joining the ...MARINES? What? He can't join them...he needs to be Army if anything...not some...some...jar head Marine!" His protests and complaints were being met with laughter from the guys. He read on, till one line...one single line made him stop short and he nearly dropped the paper. "Uh...Jaaack...I think you need to read this."

Jack chuckled. "Tempting as that is Alex...and no offence to your mom, you know I adore her...but I'd rather read the letters from Sage first."

"But Jack...I know what she was trying to tell you."

That got his attention. He looked up from the letter he was reading and gave Alex one of his patented "tell me now or die" looks.

Alex leaned forward so as not to let the others hear him. "She's pregnant Jack..."

Jack was gob-smacked. His jaw dropped and he floundered like a fish for a moment before speaking. "Are you sure?"

Nodding, Alex handed Jack the letter and pointed to the spot he'd just read.

Jack stared wordlessly at the letter before a grin slowly spread across his face. "I'm gonna be a daddy again!" He passed the letter back to his brother-in-law.

Alex, smiled and opened the next letter. He closed his eyes and sniffed the paper, it was still slightly scented with Liz's perfume. Out of months worth of letters, this was the first one she'd ever sent that was less than five pages long. He pulled the single sheet of paper from the envelope.

My Darling Alex,

I'm laying here watching the news 'cause I can't sleep. You'd think I'd learn by now not to do that when it concerns the war but I can't help it. The only thing they show any more are firefights and tell how many casualties there are. Since I don't know where you are, all I can do is pray you're not in the worst of it and that you are safe. You and Jack both. Look after each other, huh? I met your mother -she's here to help with the kids and all- and showed her the ring. She seems to be happy about it. grin I can't wait for you to get home.

I love you with all of my heart,

Lizzy XOXO

An impression of her lips marked the bottom of the page in rum raisin lipstick. He brought the paper to his own lips and pressed them to the lip print. The closest thing to a kiss he'd had from his young fiancé in months, but to him...it was a moment of heaven in the midst of the hell he was living in.

Jack opened and scanned each letter from Sage looking for some confirmation of what was said in her mother's letter to Alex.

A small stack of photos fell from an envelope. Amidst the photos of his children, and a picture of Katie standing at attention between Ben Meyers and Sean Conlon - they were dressed in mini fatigues and saluting for the camera- he found it. A photo of Sage standing sideways, one arm draped over the top of her belly and her other wrapped around the bottom, holding her sun-dress tightly to her so the swell and size was very noticeable. He grabbed the other photos she'd sent him and looked through them...now that he was looking for it he could see a slight swell in her belly in some of them.

"When is she due Jack?" Ty Meyers beamed. He was happy for his Captain and friend. Sage had suffered a terribly difficult miscarriage just a month before they left and it had weighed heavily on Jack so news of another baby was welcome.

"May 20th," Jack said softly. "Less than 2 months to go and I'm just finding out..." He was thrilled with the news but was a bit concerned as to why it'd taken so long for him to find out. He knew much of it had to do with the lack of consistency with their mail service, but he was still concerned.

"Congrats," Ty grinned and tossed him a strawberry fruit roll up - courtesy of his three year old daughter Mila who had insisted on sending him a box of them every few days.

Alex smiled and leaned back against his bunk as he read the other letters from Liz. Finally, after looking over photos and cds of music she'd burned for him on her computer, he picked up the last letter.


Dear Son,

I'm sorry I ain't written. This war, well it just stirred up so darned many memories I'd thought were safely buried. Things I'd rather not ever think of again. But, regardless of that, I want you to know how proud I am to be your Daddy, Son. Keep up the good work and come home safe.

His father was not the kind of man that was super affectionate with his sons. Sage was daddy's girl and the affection between them was genuine and noticeable, but with the boys he was more reserved. That wasn't to say they weren't close, just that he was a quiet guy. Alex thought most of his father's silence on the matter stemmed from the fact that he'd served two tours of duty during Viet Nam, and did his best every day to forget everything he'd experienced there. He was right.

"Who's that one from?" Justin asked with his head cocked to one side.

Alex had to clear his throat and wipe his eyes with the end of his shirt tail. "My Dad."



Letters From Home - John Michael Montgomery


My Dear Son, it is almost June,
I hope this letter catches up to you, and finds you well
Its been dry but they're calling for rain,
And everything's the same ol' same in Johnsonville
Your stubborn 'ol Daddy ain't said too much,
But I'm sure you know he sends his love,
And she goes on,
In a letter from home

I hold it up and show my buddies,
Like we ain't scared and our boots ain't muddy, and they all laugh,
Like there's something funny bout' the way I talk,
When I say: "Mama sends her best y'all"
I fold it up an' put it in my shirt,
Pick up my gun an' get back to work
An' it keeps me driving me on,
Waiting on letters from home

My Dearest Love, its almost dawn
I've been lying here all night long wondering where you might be
I saw your Mama and I showed her the ring
Man on the television said something so I couldn't sleep
But I'll be all right, I'm just missing you
An' this is me kissing you
XX's and OO's,
In a letter from home

I hold it up and show my buddies,
Like we ain't scared and our boots ain't muddy, and they all laugh,
'Cause she calls me "Honey", but they take it hard,
'Cause I don't read the good parts
I fold it up an' put it in my shirt,
Pick up my gun an' get back to work
An' it keeps me driving me on,
Waiting on letters from home

Dear Son, I know I ain't written,
But sittin' here tonight, alone in the kitchen, it occurs to me,
I might not have said, so I'll say it now
Son, you make me proud

I hold it up and show my buddies,
Like we ain't scared and our boots ain't muddy, but no one laughs,
'Cause there ain't nothing funny when a soldier cries
An' I just wipe me eyes
I fold it up an' put it in my shirt,
Pick up my gun an' get back to work
An' it keeps me driving me on,
Waiting on letters from home