Chapter 27 Coming Together
COMING TOGETHER
Fort Liberty, North Carolina - Six Weeks Later
But the deployment was done. Mission successful. Everyone coming home alive. And somewhere in Louisiana, Mara was waiting for him.
The team went through the standard post-deployment processing.
Equipment turn-in. Medical checks. Debriefs that could have been emails but weren't. Logan went through the motions on autopilot, his mind already in Louisiana.
Already planning the drive to the airport.
Already thinking about seeing Mara's face when he walked through arrivals.
"You're gone already," Bulldog observed as they cleared the final checkpoint. "Mentally checked out the second we landed."
"Can you blame me? Six weeks of radio silence. I haven't talked to her in four weeks." Logan grabbed his personal bag from the pile. "I'm going to Louisiana. Soon as I can get a flight."
"Yeah, I figured." Bulldog grinned. "Go. Get out of here. Rest of us will handle the after-action paperwork."
"You sure?"
"Positive. Hawk already approved it. You've got two weeks leave starting now. Don't waste it standing around here."
Logan didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed his phone from his locker and powered it on for the first time in six weeks.
It took a moment to connect, to download the backlog of messages and voicemails.
Most were from his sister. A few from his mom.
And seventeen from Mara, spread out over the weeks he'd been gone.
He scrolled through them. Short messages. Updates about operations and life at L'Abri S?r. Nothing that required a response, just her way of staying connected even when he couldn't respond. The most recent one was from yesterday.
"Heard through Quinn that your team's wheels down tomorrow. Call me when you can. I'll be waiting. Love you."
Logan hit dial before he even left the building. She answered on the first ring.
"Logan." Just his name but he could hear everything in it. Relief. Joy. The sound of someone who'd been holding their breath for six weeks finally exhaling.
"Hey. I'm home. We just landed." Logan stepped outside into the North Carolina morning, the phone pressed to his ear. "I'm okay. Everyone's okay."
"Thank God." Mara's voice was thick with emotion. "Six weeks is too long. Way too long."
"Agreed. Not doing that again if I can help it." Logan checked his watch. "What are you doing right now?"
"Right now? Sitting on the dock pretending to review Quinn's latest intelligence but actually just staring at my phone waiting for you to call." A pause. "Why?"
"Because I'm getting on the next flight to Lafayette. Should be there by this afternoon. That work for you?"
"That works perfectly for me." He could hear the smile in her voice. "I'll pick you up. Same as always."
"Can't wait."
Logan booked the flight from his phone while walking to his truck. Three hours until departure. Just enough time to go home, shower, grab clean clothes, and get to the airport. He drove faster than he probably should have, his mind already in Louisiana.
The apartment felt empty when he walked in. He'd been gone for six weeks but it looked like he'd left yesterday. Bed made. Kitchen clean. Everything exactly where he'd left it. He showered quickly, washing away six weeks of deployment grime, and packed a bag with clothes for two weeks.
Two weeks with Mara. Two weeks of the vacation they'd planned before he deployed. Two weeks of being regular people instead of operators and soldiers.
He couldn't wait.
The flight to Lafayette was packed but Logan barely noticed. He tried to sleep but couldn't. Tried to read but the words didn't stick. Just sat there counting down the minutes until landing, until he'd see Mara again, until six weeks of distance collapsed into nothing.
When the plane finally touched down, Logan was the first one off. He didn't bother with baggage claim, had everything he needed in his carry-on. Just headed straight for arrivals where Mara would be waiting.
And there she was. Standing near the exit, scanning the crowd, her face lighting up the second she spotted him.
She looked good. Healthy. The scars from Iraq had faded to thin white lines on her wrists.
The bruises were long gone. She was wearing jeans and a simple tank top and she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.
Logan crossed to her in long strides and pulled her into his arms. She wrapped herself around him, face buried in his neck, holding on tight. They stood there for a long moment, neither speaking, just breathing each other in. Solid. Real. Together again after six weeks apart.
"Missed you," Mara said finally, her voice muffled against his shoulder.
"Missed you too." Logan pulled back just enough to kiss her. Deep and thorough and not caring about the people walking past them. When they broke apart, both were breathing hard. "Let's get out of here."
They made it to Mara's truck before the questions started.
Where had he been? What had the deployment been like?
Was he really okay or was he just saying that?
Logan answered what he could, keeping operational details vague, focusing on the parts that mattered.
The team was safe. The mission was successful.
He was home now and that's what counted.
"Where are we going?" Logan asked as Mara drove away from the airport. "L'Abri S?r?"
"Eventually. But I thought we could stop somewhere first." Mara glanced at him, a small smile playing at her lips. "There's a place I want to show you."
She drove them deeper into the bayou, past the turnoff to L'Abri S?r, down roads that got progressively smaller and less maintained. Finally, she pulled off onto what was barely more than a dirt track and parked beside a small cabin that looked like it had been there for a hundred years.
"What is this?" Logan asked.
"This is where I stayed after Tallie got me out.
Before L'Abri S?r existed. Before I knew what I was going to do with my life.
" Mara got out of the truck and Logan followed.
"The woman who owned it let me live here for almost a year.
Gave me space to heal. To figure things out.
She died five years ago and left it to me in her will. "
Logan looked at the cabin. Small. Weathered. But well-maintained. Surrounded by cypress trees and Spanish moss. The kind of place where you could disappear from the world for a while.
"I've never brought anyone here," Mara continued. "This has always been just mine. My private space. But I want to share it with you." She took his hand. "I thought maybe we could stay here for a few days. Before we leave for our vacation. Just us. No team. No work. Just time to reconnect."
Logan squeezed her hand. "I'd like that."
The cabin was simple inside. One room with a bed, a small kitchen area, a woodstove for heat.
No television. No internet. Just books and quiet and the sound of the bayou outside.
Mara had clearly been preparing for this.
There was food in the small refrigerator.
Fresh sheets on the bed. Candles on the windowsill
"I know it's not much," Mara said, suddenly uncertain. "We can go to L'Abri S?r if you'd rather—"
Logan kissed her, cutting off the words. "It's perfect. You're perfect. This is exactly what I need."
They spent the afternoon just being together.
Sitting on the small porch watching the water.
Talking about everything and nothing. Making love slowly in the small bed with the windows open and the sounds of the bayou filtering in.
Cooking a simple dinner together in the tiny kitchen.
Existing in a space that was just theirs, separate from their teams and their work and all the complications of their lives.
As the sun set, they sat on the porch with glasses of whiskey Mara had brought. Logan had his arm around her shoulders and she was tucked against his side, both of them content in the easy silence that came from months of learning each other's rhythms.
"I was scared," Mara said quietly. "The whole time you were gone.
Every day without hearing from you. Every time Quinn would mention troop movements in Afghanistan.
Every news report about operations in the region.
" She turned to look at him. "I know that's part of the deal.
I know you can't always communicate. But knowing it doesn't make it easier. "
"I know. I felt the same way when you were in Iraq. When you were missing." Logan's arm tightened around her. "We signed up for dangerous work. Both of us. That's not going to change."
"I don't want it to change. I love what I do. I know you love what you do." Mara was quiet for a moment. "But I also love you. And the idea of losing you terrifies me in a way that nothing else does."
"I'm not going anywhere. Not if I can help it." Logan kissed the top of her head. "I've got too much to come home to now. Too much worth surviving for."
"Promise me you'll be careful. I know you can't promise you'll always come home. I know the work doesn't allow for that. But promise me you'll try."
"I promise. Same goes for you. Promise me you won't take unnecessary risks. That you'll come home to me."
"I promise."
They sat there as the last light faded from the sky and the bayou came alive with night sounds.
Crickets and frogs and the occasional splash of something moving through the water.
Logan thought about how different his life was now compared to a year ago.
Before Mosul. Before Mara. Before he'd understood that there was more to life than just the mission.
"Tell me about the vacation," he said. "Where are we going?"
Mara smiled. "I was thinking the Caribbean. There's a small island that doesn't get many tourists. Private beaches. Good food. Places to dive if you want. Or we can just sit on the beach and do nothing."
"Doing nothing sounds pretty good right now."