"Babe...did you hang up my uniform last night?"

Luca called out to me from the closet. I froze, not knowing what to say. A tired face stared back in the mirror. I had dark circles under my eyes. Tisha was going to have a field day when she saw me. I secretly wished I could hide away for a little bit longer.

"Babe..." He called out.

I could hear him walking into the bedroom so I turned the faucet on and began to splash water on my face. Babe. He'd never called me that before. It should have warmed my heart and given me goosebumps, not causing my pulse to race and anxiety to coarse.

"There you are." He said, opening the bathroom door.

I stood hunched over, soap covering my hands, wearing nothing but the t-shirt Luca had worn yesterday. My hair was a huge mess secured up high on my head.

"God you're sexy.." He muttered, coming behind me, his hands liberally touching my hips.

I closed my eyes and lathered up my face. This was the first sensation I'd ever felt from him, his hands. Dancing with my eyes closed, they found me in a sea of people. And now they found me desperate to ask questions I couldn't formulate. How did we get here?

"I'm so lucky."

He began to squeeze my ass with a hand and rub my inner thigh with his other. The soap was gone and my face dripped into the sink. I reached for the hand towel and dried off. Luca spun me around and cupped my face. His eyes were alight with desire. I wanted him to keep going, needed him to. But my brain screamed no.

"You'll be late." I managed to say, softly.

My pulse rose as he slid a finger or two closer to my wanting. I bit my bottom lip and looked at him. His lips parted as if to speak, but then he retreated. Leaning against the counter he tugged his shirt on. I silently exhaled. The sexual tension was high.

"You're right. And today I need to be on time. We have upcoming maneuvers again. Next weekend we will be in the field for five days."

Training. I guessed it was more than just weekdays from 9-5. It shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. The perfect excuse to spend a few days apart to get my thoughts in order.

"Thank you for hanging up my uniform.." He said. "Did you happen to look at the notebook inside? It was a bit jumbled up."

Here it was, the perfect out to admit I'd seen the Children's Services documents. Should I take it?

"I kind of dumped everything out and it fell. But I put it back together. I'm sorry if it wasn't in order."

I replied a bit too hurriedly. Luca would know something was up. He was far smarter than that.

"Did you read anything?" He asked.

I refused to look at him and I brushed past into the closet, shedding the only clothing I had on in the process.

"I'll wash that for you." I said, indicating his now crumpled tee on the floor.

"Mila...."

"Why? Why do you want to adopt Leers child?"

💋💋

The air stopped moving and the space between us felt like a million miles. Luca stood stoically, his eyes watching me. I paced slowly in the closet, finding a pair of jeans and an appropriate shirt for work. He had yet to answer me and with each second that ticked by, I got more and more agitated. Maybe he was rethinking even being with me at all.

Finally dressed, I walked past him out into the bedroom and then the living room. He followed, at a distance.

"Mila, I can't lie. I have been thinking of my options. Leer is pending unfavorable actions but it's complicated and I can't talk about it....and her daughter might need to be taken in for a bit."

That was just great. Stephanie was getting herself into trouble, legally. Unfavorable actions meant nothing good. She was incapable of being a mom at the moment for god knows why.

"What has she done?"

I asked him point blank, keeping my emotions in check. He didn't flinch, but instead sat on the couch.

"She has been caught being drunk on duty. It's happened a few times now, and her supervisor is throwing the book at her. It's going to trial services, I'm not supposed to talk about it."

"Does she drink around her daughter?"

"Yes."

"Does she have family? Anyone else who could take her daughter for a while?"

I couldn't stop pacing and I sure as hell wasn't in the mood to sit on the couch. I felt hurt, and angry.

"She doesn't, but Grey does."

His words were laced with pain.

"So where are his parents or family at?!" I shouted.

Tears began to flow again, trickling down my face. I hated that I was so worked up and emotional, especially in front of Luca. He held his face in his hands, exhaling.

"They are in North Carolina."

North Carolina. From the paper work. But why was he filling it out then? Why not them?

"Mila, I get it! I get this is shitty! I feel like I am losing you....and I only just fell..." He cut himself off abruptly and stood up.

I quieted down, and stopped pacing. Luca had his arms folded across his chest and he watched me with equal parts anger and pain. He wasn't telling me the full story. It just didn't make sense.

"I have to go." He finally said. "It's getting late...we can talk after you get off."

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" I asked.

He gathered his bag and put his boots then top on, rolling up the sleeves. His biceps and forearms flexed at the movements.

"What else can I say right now? You are clearly pissed off...and this situation is complicated."

"Fine. I got it."

He pulled me to him for a hug, roughly. I could tell I was being a brat and it was irritating him. It wasn't planned though. I hated acting like this, but didn't know what else to do.

"I'll come by after you get off at the Exchange."

I didn't respond but watched him walk out, a piece of me leaving with him.

💋💋

Work was busy. Customers swarmed the store, buying up all sorts of wares. Tisha and I were on check stands, next to each other. She flirted with a group of marines buying junk food and I hurriedly checked out a lone guy dressed in civilian clothes. My mind was clearly elsewhere. Fumbling with the packets of pens he was buying, my hands were having trouble finding the bar codes.

"They're on the top." The marine said.

"What?"

I blankly looked at the man. He had sapphire eyes with lines next to them, he was middle aged but handsome.

"The bar codes. They are on the top." He repeated, waiting for me to catch up. "Seems like a weird spot for them, but what do I know?"

Glancing back down, I saw exactly what he meant. Quickly scanning, I placed them into a bag. This was embarrassing. Usually I wasn't this off.

"That's a lot of pens. Are you a teacher?" I asked, an attempt to deflect from my slowness.

"You could say that, of sorts. I command the 3d Littoral Combat Team. Marines can certainly act like kids." He laughed.

3rd Littoral Combat Team, that was Luca's unit. I wasn't sure what came over me, but I blurted out a weird question.

"Do you let marines underneath you drink on duty? Even if they are female and well liked?"

Once the words left my mouth I instantly regretted it. His face changed immediately. Gone was the friendly older marine off duty and here was the angry commander.

"Who told you about a female marine drinking on duty?"

"I...I was just wondering hypothetically...I'm friends with some marines.."

"Thank you." He curtly replied, taking his receipt and bag.

I couldn't say anything else because he abruptly left. Surely he wouldn't be able to guess who had talked to me about Leer. I was a nobody on the base, just some local civilian working a lower level job. I consoled myself with the thoughts. Everything would be fine.

The rest of the day was busy and I put the worry of the commander out of my mind. Besides, Luca moving was enough to think on. North Carolina. Could I see myself moving there? Working there? Possibly helping him take care of his dead best friends child? It was a big Lifetime movie plot...or a really bad Hallmark movie. One without a happy ending.

Tisha interrupted my brooding as I struggled to close up my till.

"Girl....you need to get a drink with me and tell me what exactly is going on."

"Huh?" I asked, slamming the locked counter so it would engage.

"You. Me. Drinks. Spill it."

I sighed.

"It's a long story. And Luca is supposed to meet me outside after we get off, maybe tomorrow?"

"Yeah yeah, we can do tomorrow....but you need to talk it out, whatever it is. Don't let shit fester. That's what got my ex and I in trouble."

I turned off my check stand light and handed her the register key.

"I thought you got divorced because he cheated on you?"

She snorted, "Yes, that's why we divorced. But the trouble started because we failed to communicate. It's a sure fire way to kill a relationship. So...talk."

Maybe she was right.

I said bye and headed out the front entrance of the Exchange to the parking lot. I saw my Jeep but didn't see Luca's.

Where was he?

**This story is only found on Wattpad. If found on another site, it was stolen. Thank you for reading.💋**