Chapter 1: Coming Home

November 23, 2018 (Black Friday)

"Hey babe," a familiar gruff voice answered the phone after the second ring. I could tell he had been waiting for me to call him.

A smile immediately appeared on my face as I heard my husband speaking. We had been married for about four months now and I still felt gleeful whenever I reminded myself that I was a married woman. Everything about the changed lifestyle of mine felt new even though Eden and I had been living together since our wedding. We were inseparable and we brought each other so much happiness that it scared me at times because sometimes I wondered if the day would come when the two of us would no longer be a perfect pair. It was difficult to imagine though. The two of us had clicked the first time we met and I didn't know if it would be possible for us to to no longer be in love.

"Hey," I replied back and I knew that my good mood could be heard from the way I spoke. I was happy to hear Eden's voice. While I was in Michigan over the past few days, I had been busy helping my sister, Jasmine with her new baby so I hadn't been able to call him. But now, I was back in New York and on my way home from the airport. I finally had the time to talk to him. "I missed hearing your voice."

"Me too. I wish I went with you. I really wanted to see the baby, you know?"

I felt bad when I heard the disappointment in his voice. "Don't be too sad. I made sure to take lots of pictures and videos of her," I said cheerfully referring to Andrea, the newborn baby.

"Good. I can't wait to see them," he said before adding, "And I can't wait to see you."

"Our first Thanksgiving as a married couple and we couldn't even spend it together, huh?"

"It is unfortunate, but we can spend all of tomorrow together. We'll make it up to each other," he said and his words were suggestive.

"Oh, really?" I asked.

"Yes, really. Don't you worry. I'll keep you in bed all day."

"Oh yeah?" I laughed. "What if I don't want to be in bed all day?" I asked him to be challenging, but to be truthful, I did want to be in bed with him all day whether we would be making love, cuddling, or watching movies. He didn't go to the station every single day so of course he had off days. Once a week, he would go to the gym to do some extra workouts that he didn't get the chance to do at work. Once I demanded to know what else he was doing because he would come home so late, but he told me he had been with some of his military friends. I couldn't say anything to that. What could I say? I want you to stop meeting your friends and come home early so you can be with me? No. That would be selfish and extremely annoying.

"Woah woah woah there!" my friend Leah shouted from the driver's seat when she heard me asking Eden what would happen if I didn't want to be in bed all day. "Stop. I think I'm pretty sure where this conversation is going and I don't want to hear it. I'm so not interested in hearing about your sex lives."

"What did Leah say?" Eden asked, obviously unable to hear what my friend yelled.

My face reddened as I told him, "She says she doesn't want to hear about our sex lives."

Eden laughed. "Well, I guess we'll have to stop talking about it then. For now."

"Hmm. I guess so…" I trailed off as I looked out the window. "Eden, it looks pretty hectic out there. It must be a busy day at the station."

"Yeah, we've been called in and out a few times today," he said like it was no big deal.

"Be careful."

"I always am," he assured me. "You're not planning on going Black Friday shopping, are you?"

"Definitely not. You know that I never go Black Friday shopping."

"I know...I just...wanted to make sure that you weren't going to be out there today. It can get dangerous," he said and I could hear the worry in his voice. It made me wonder what kind of crazy things he saw so far today.

"Yeah, I understand."

"We don't want your pretty face to get injured, do we?"

"Eden!" I exclaimed.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Stop doing that. You know I hate it when you say stuff like that."

"Which means that I should say it more often," he replied with a chuckle. "What's so bad about it anyway? It's my way of telling my wife how beautiful she is."

My face felt warmer than usual and I knew I was blushing deeply. I could never get used to Eden's compliments. I had never been one to receive them as I grew up. Well, I had, but they were compliments on my school grades, not on my looks so I wasn't accustomed to them and Eden would take advantage of that and shoot me a compliment when I least expected it. It made me blush every time. I knew he secretly enjoyed making me turn into a tomato. He thought it was cute, but I definitely didn't think that. It wasn't freaking cute at all. It was really embarrassing. Blushing had always been a part of my life and so I had learned to accept it, but if I could do something about it, I would.

"Eden," I whined.

"All right, all right. I'll stop now," he said to my relief. He then switched the subject. "So how did your mother react to me not being there with you?"

"She was a bit displeased at first, but I explained to her the circumstances and she understood why you weren't able to come," I told him honestly.

Eden had to cover one of his fellow firefighters' shifts and with the busy week of Thanksgiving approaching, every member of the department was needed. They had a big role. That was why he hadn't been able to come along with me to visit my family in Michigan.

"I was planning on giving her a call tomorrow."

"That sounds like a really good idea. She would be delighted," I said with a nod although I knew he couldn't see me. I could already imagine my mom pretending as if she didn't think it was a big deal receiving a phone call from her son-in-law when in fact she was loving it a lot. She was still a bit unwelcoming towards him because she hadn't wanted me to marry a 'man like him', but he and I were married now. He was a part of our family. She had to open up to him sooner or later. There was nothing else she could do.

"Well, I've got to go now. The lieutenant over here says I've talked enough." I could hear the joking manner in his tone of voice. The lieutenant of his squad was named Will and he was a nice guy who treated his teammates like friends rather than his underlings. Although I couldn't see him, it was obvious that Will had been teasing Eden the whole time we were talking on the phone.

"Okay, Eden. Tell him I said hi. I'll see you in the morning."

Like most firefighters, he worked on twenty-four hour shifts. He would be back tomorrow morning.

"Will do," he responded. "I love you."

"Love you too," I said back before I ended the call and placed my cell phone into my purse. When I looked up and glanced at Leah, I saw her rolling her eyes. "What?" I asked.

"You two always annoy the shit out of me with your 'I love you's."

"Don't you and John say that to each other?"

"Of course we do, but not to that extent. Seriously, I hear you guys saying it to each other all the time."

"Is it that bad?" I asked, worried. I hadn't been one to enjoy seeing PDA. I had hated it so much, especially during the days I was single. It was like a huge fat slap in the face letting me know that I was a lonely loser.

"I wouldn't necessarily say it's bad," Leah replied. "I just notice that I hear you two saying those three words more than I hear other couples saying it. Trust me. It's not bad. I'm just joking with you. You know what's funny though?"

"What?"

"Eden is definitely not a man of many words, but when he's with you, he opens up."

"Stop it. You're making me blush!" I complained.

"I'm just telling you the truth. He is always so affectionate with you. I'm jealous."

"Oh, come on. You are lying!" I accused. "How can you be jealous when your boyfriend is the funniest guy in the world?"

"He is funny, isn't he?" Leah asked with a grin. After a moment, she sighed before saying, "I wonder when he's going to propose or if he is ever going to propose."

"Don't worry about it. The day will come," I said to her encouragingly.

She sighed again. "We've been going out way before you and Eden met and we're still not married. What if John doesn't want to get married? What if he wants to keep living like we are right now? Maybe I should have been like you."

I knew what she meant. I had decided I didn't want to move in with Eden until we got married. Being born under conservative parents, I had always believed that I would save myself for marriage and living with Eden before the wedding hadn't seemed right. However, Leah had been living with John for about two years now as boyfriend and girlfriend. Nothing more was happening for them and I could tell she was growing anxious.

A few minutes later, she pulled up in front of the apartment complex I lived in. I closed the trunk and pulled my suitcase to the side of Leah's vehicle. I peered into her open window. "Thanks for picking me up and taking me home," I told her with a smile.

"Of course. Anything for you-" she stopped when she began having a coughing attack.

I glanced at her with worry. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "I think I'm catching a cold. Maybe I should have gotten my flu shot."

"It doesn't always help," I replied.

"True."

"Well, take care of yourself, will you? Go home, eat some soup, take some medicine, and relax in bed."

"Okay, Mom," she said with light sarcasm.

I shook my head as I rolled my eyes.

"See you soon," she said finally returning my smile.

"Bye." I waved.

Usually I would have waited for her car to disappear down the road before going inside, but with the slow traffic, I realized that I would be waiting too long if I stayed outside. It was also getting cold so I decided I would go inside.

Although Eden and I lived on the third floor which wasn't too bad, I struggled to pull my suitcase up the flights of stairs. Our apartment building was fairly old and the elevator had been broken and fixed many times. It was unreliable so I never used it. I just couldn't bring myself to trust it. I finally got to the door and pulled my keys from my purse. The jingling noises that they made alerted Marty, Eden's Golden Retriever that I was home.

Marty began barking from the other side of the door and I chuckled to myself. I knew he was excited because he wasn't the type to bark normally. I could imagine him standing right by the entrance wagging his tail in excitement. I quickly unlocked the door and didn't waste a second to open it. Marty jumped towards me and his paws reached up into the air. I leaned down and wrapped my arms around him as I patted his soft golden fur. As seconds passed by, he became over excited and I felt as if I was going to get knocked over.

"All right. That's enough, Marty," I said. "Sit."

He didn't listen.

"Sit," I motioned as I repeated the word. He understood the command this time and went down pressing his side close to my leg. He was so adorable. "Good boy, Marty. Maybe I'll give you a treat. How does that sound? Do you want a treat?" My voice sounded high-pitched and weird like I was talking to a little child, which seemed to happen often when I talked to Marty.

I could tell he had a sense of what I was saying because his calmness vanished. He began wagging his tail again and ran towards the kitchen where he knew the treats were hidden. I chuckled to myself before rolling my suitcase in and locking the door.

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly and it was getting close to midnight when I turned on the TV. To my surprise, the news was on.

"Breaking news. It has been reported that there is an unknown outbreak of smallpox that seems to be appearing. It is known to our knowledge that the hospitals are starting to be overflown by patients. This is not just a regular flu. Please do take precautions and make sure to protect yourself from your surroundings..."

I started to worry. This reminded me of the time swine flu had caused panic throughout the country in 2009, but this seemed worse because the news reporter mentioned that it was mainly in New York City. I was tempted to call Eden, but I didn't want to bother him. He probably knew about it already since the guys at the station often had the TV on. I decided that if he didn't call me first, it wasn't too bad of a situation. Maybe the hospitals would have it under control by the next morning.

I woke up to hear the sound of clothes rustling a few feet away from me. "Marty. Get off the bed. She's sleeping."

I immediately knew Eden was home and that he was ordering the dog to get off the bed. The weight shifted and I knew that he had succeeded getting Marty down.

I opened my eyes squinting because the sunlight was coming through the window. "Eden?" I called.

"Good morning," he greeted me as he turned around. He was changing his clothes. He had his pants on, but hadn't finished putting on his shirt. It was nice to see the familiarness of his muscular back and also his tattoos. I had missed him even if I had only been gone for a few days.

"Where are you going?" I asked. "I thought you were staying home today."

"Change of plans," he stated looking a bit hesitant. "Um, a buddy of mine is having some problems and I promised I would meet him today. I'm sorry, babe."

I sat up and gave him my full attention. "No, it's fine." I didn't bother to ask him who it was because he had a lot of military buddies and most of them he never talked about. He actually never talked about his years of service at all. If I hadn't seen pictures of him, I wouldn't have even believed he was a Marine. I never pressed further because I understood there was a reason why he never talked about it. He saw bad things. It was simple to state it that way, but I didn't know what was going on inside his mind. It was probably way more complicated. "Is he okay?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah," he said avoiding my eyes.

"Don't put your shirt on," I moaned to lighten up the atmosphere.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to get me in bed with you?"

"Sort of?" I said with a laugh. "No. I'm trying to let you know that I don't want you to leave."

He kissed me on the lips quickly before putting on his shirt. "As much as I would like to stay home with my lovely wife, I've got to go."

"I know," I replied. "I'm not gonna stop you."

His blue eyes seemed to glint under the lighting and if it was possible, his eyes were smiling. It sure looked like it anyway. "Thanks for understanding," he said.

I wasn't surprised to hear him say this out of the blue because he often thanked me.

For what?

Well, for understanding. He had told me of the women he had dated in the past. The ones he had met while he served in the Marine Corps. None of them had understood what was expected to date a military man. They only cared about the looks. How cool it was to be dating a Marine. How hot he was. They just wanted to brag to people about it. Eventually, they had left him after getting what they wanted. Some left because they couldn't stand the time being away from him. They weren't independent enough and couldn't stand him leaving for deployment. Some had even cheated on him while he was gone. He had been in a different country dodging bullets and risking his life while his then-girlfriend had been laying in his bed, sleeping with his neighbor. He had started losing trust in women feeling like all of them were deceiving and then he met me. Then he started to learn how to trust again. It was good because sharing trust was important between two people. Little did I know, I was trusting in him a little too much. I had no idea what he would get involved in.

"Did you hear about the outbreak of some type of virus last night? It was on the news," I said to Eden.

He nodded. "Don't worry about it. Just stay home, okay?"

After Eden left, I sat down in the kitchen and poured some cereal and milk. I had a stack of essays to grade and I didn't want to spend time making breakfast. I was about to take my first bite when I heard my phone ringing. I went back into the bedroom and looked at the caller ID. It was John, Leah's boyfriend.

Why is John calling me so early in the morning? I thought as I answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Daisy!" He sounded rushed and scared at the same time.

"John. What's wrong?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"It's Leah. She's... She's sick."

"Sick?" My breath caught in my throat. "What do you mean? How sick is she?"

"I don't know," he said as his voice cracked. "I just-There's something wrong with her. I brought her to the hospital."

"Which one?" I asked him. "I'll be there."

"No, no," he replied, stopping me. "Y-you don't want to be here. It's bad. Real bad. Everyone's sick, even the doctors and nurses. Stay inside and you'll be safe. I just thought I should let you know...about Leah."

It sounded like a goodbye.

"John?"

I heard him coughing. It was terrible and painful sounding.

"John?" I repeated.

More coughing.

There was a beep and I looked down at my screen.

The call had disconnected.

Author's Note: Finally an update! Thank you for the follows/favorites! Also thank you to Cloud Ex-SOLDIER for leaving a long review with some advice on what to change. It was nice to read your feedback! I appreciate it! Hopefully with the help you've given, I'll be able to fix little details here and there to make this fanfic better!

So how was the first chapter? I hope it wasn't too bad... It sort of showed the glimpse into Daisy's life. I never thought it would be so difficult to write about normal everyday people, but it was pretty hard to do for this chapter. Maybe it's because I live such a boring life… Anyway, I need your opinions. Should I just continue where I left off for the next chapter or are you curious to see the background story of my two main characters? I don't really know nor do I prefer a certain idea so maybe you could help me decide.

Thanks for reading! If there are any mistakes with spelling, grammar or punctuation, please let me know! Please continue to follow/favorite and leave reviews.

Btw, if you caught on, Eden is lying because his friend isn't actually in trouble. He's just making an excuse to go for his weekly training for the Division and Daisy has no clue. Not yet.

-Jane