5 years - Hannix AU
A/N: Hello☺️! Seems like I'm getting a little better at updating at least a little more frequently, but don't hold me to a specific pace, please😅! Inspiration has been flowing these past few days and I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out. I hope you like it too😌. As always, comments/reblogs/likes/ideas are greatly appreciated and very welcome🥰!
ALSO: Thank you to all of you who have continuously interacted with this story🥰! You guys are the best!!!
Taglist: @carsgeek24 (as requested, my love😉💗) @sweetwhispersofchaos
Warnings: angst, fluff (I'm trying to put as much fluff into the chapters as possible to make up for the angst, I hope it's still bearable😬)
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Chapter Seven
September 16th, 4 years ago…
He wished he had a camera with him. To capture the magnificent sight currently presented to him. The gold and orange rays of sunshine were slowly crawling up the rocks, spreading their warmth as far as possible. From the rocks they jumped onto the walls of the houses in the village. You could feel them warming up the clay if you put your hands flat on the walls. And with that, as if the sunlight acted as its energizer, the village slowly came to life.
The men and elder boys left the houses, farming equipment in hand. Yes, farming equipment. Although this region of Afghanistan was rather sandy and consisted mostly of never-ending deserts, the “high lands” around the rocks had quite some fertile soil. That’s why most of the villages were built there. There weren’t thousands of acres of fertile soil, but it was enough to supply the whole village. Sure, rain wasn’t too common around here, but the Afghan people, as Jake had come to learn over the past year, were pretty creative when it came to providing the village with sufficient supplies.
The women said goodbye to them, sometimes even with small kisses on the forehead or cheeks. And, most importantly, never without the promise of being home for lunch.
Jake sat on the steps in front of their house and faced the rising sun, his arms braced on top of his knees. He just watched, as practically every morning. But this morning was different. Not because something was out of order, but rather because today was a special date. And the reason why he wished he had a camera to capture this view. Today was Lynn’s birthday. Her first birthday.
And he wasn’t home.
If he had a camera, he could snap a pic and put it into a frame to gift his daughter. Although she would still be too small to comprehend the meaning behind his gift, he wished so desperately to be able to do it, nonetheless. Because this view was a metaphor for what he felt when Lynn came into this world. His whole damn world lit up when his princess made her grand entrance. Lynn, together with Nat of course, was his sun. His girls were the reason he kept fighting when his jet fell from the sky. He knew, should he give up, there would just be darkness on the other end of the tunnel. But his girls, back at home, they were the light. And just as beautiful as this sunrise here.
“Hey Jake!”
He didn’t even need to turn around to know who just called his name.
“What is it, Zahra?”
“Ma looks for you. Breakfast is ready.”
The sixteen-year-old girl plopped down onto the steps next to him, smiling brightly at him from the side. Jake smiled back, offering her a fist-bump. She bumped her fist against his, furrowing her brows.
“I still don’t understand why you do that. It’s… what’s the word again? It’s not silly, but…”
“Weird?”, he offered, smirking.
“Yes! Weird, that’s it.”
Jake laughed, shaking his head, and proudly listened to Zahra rattle off numerous reasons why the fist-bump-thing was weird and how many other not-weird-ways-to-greet-each-other there were. Why proudly? Back when the people of this village helped him out of his misery, at least to the best of their abilities, Jake felt this need to give something back for their help. At first, they refused, but then he had an idea. Jake offered to teach the kids, and later the grown-ups, basic English. Isaad presented his idea to the people of the village, explaining how beneficial it would be if the kids understood and spoke English. Especially if the American troops would find their way into the village. First, the men agreed to let Jake teach only the boys, because they were afraid that the Taliban would find out that the girls were taught too. But then Jake was able to convince them of letting him teach both girls and boys. And Zahra was an eager student. She practically soaked up the English language like a sponge. After only a few weeks, she was able to form grammatically correct sentences and speak freely about easy topics. Jake was sure he’d rarely been this proud before in his life. Now, after a year of practice, she was able to speak very freely about different topics and rarely made grammatical mistakes. Sometimes the words didn’t come to her right away, but the ones she knew she used correctly. And while he taught the kids English, they taught him their Afghan dialect. Although he wasn’t quite as fast as Zahra, she was a very patient teacher and spent hours on end going over the words and grammar with him. What he quickly did, was understand. He was able to follow dinner or lunch conversations between the family members and he understood what Isaad was translating when he spoke with someone of the village. Speaking was a different topic. But it came too, with time. The one thing he’d never forget was her reaction when he spoke his first Afghan sentence without a mistake. She’d jumped up from her spot at the kitchen table, squealing like she wanted the walls to burst and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Jake had felt a rush of pure happiness speed through his veins. A very emotional moment that he’d treasure for the rest of his life.
“Hello? Are you still there?”, Zahra interrupted his train of thoughts.
“Sorry. What did you say?”
Zahra narrowed her eyes, mused at him, before her gaze fell on his right fist that was tightly clasping something. She reached for his hand, gently untangled his fingers, and took a piece of paper out of his hand. A photo. Zahra smiled at him knowingly and a little sad, mirroring his expression.
“You miss her, yeah?”
“Every day, yes.”
Zahra carefully brushed her index finger over the photo.
“What was her name again? Something with an “N”, right?”
“Natasha”, Jake answered absentmindedly, staring at the orange ball that was the sun.
“Right… Natasha. Beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”
“She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met”, Jake agreed, smiling dreamily for a short second before the longing feeling took over again and squeezed his heart tightly inside his chest.
“You never talk about her. Why?”
Jake sighed, dropping his gaze onto the sandy road, mentally steeling himself for this conversation.
“Because it hurts when I talk about her. Or when I think too much about her. I miss her so much, and there’s no chance I get to see her anytime soon. So, I’m trying not to think about her too much or else I’ll go crazy.”
Zahra nodded, understanding. Her gaze rested on the picture of Natasha. Jake’s gaze joined her. It was a picture he’d taken last summer at the beach in San Diego. It’d been a pretty hot day and since Natasha had been 7 months pregnant at the time, they’d had no choice but to go out and spend a few hours at the beach. He’d taken many pictures over the course of the afternoon, but this one was without a doubt his favorite. She was sitting on her knees, her left profile facing him. Her right hand was hugging her baby belly, her left hand braced on her lower back. She was looking down at her belly with the biggest smile on her face. Her hair was up in a cute and kinda messy bun with a few stray locks that framed her face. The lighting made her look like a vision. That photo was one of those once-in-a-lifetime-shots, which was the reason why Jake used to keep it in the chest pocket of his flight suit. Now, he kept it within the tunic he wore. Where it was always safe and with him, just like his girls who were always in his heart. The other picture of them he kept with him in the jet must have burned in the flames…
“And the baby?”
Zahra was, as Jake had come to learn over the past year, a very curious girl and loved to cut straight to the point. He chuckled sadly.
“It’s a girl. She was born on this day last year. Her name is Lynn”, Jake answered, doing his very best to keep the tears at bay.
“You were there when she was born?”
“Yes. It was a long night”, he laughed, gently shaking his head at the memory.
“How long?”
“Almost 20 hours of labor… but Nat was an absolute champ. She did fantastic. We were both a little panicked at first when her water broke on the kitchen floor, but then we looked at each other and we knew – okay, we’re doing this now.”
Zahra chuckled, nodding her head, and focusing back on the picture.
“Then your daughter is one year old today?”
“Yeah, my princess is growing up fast. And I’m not even there to witness it…”
He averted his gaze, looking back at the rising sun. Zahra carefully placed her hand on his arm, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“You will see her again one day. I’m sure.”
Jake looked at her, smiling thankfully. He didn’t need to say it out loud, Zahra’s eyes told him that she knew. They enjoyed the silence for another couple of seconds, when suddenly their names were called: “Zahra! Jake!”
Amira appeared behind them in the doorway, her hands braced on her hips. She scolded them for not coming inside for breakfast and threatened to put them on dish duty for the rest of the month if they didn’t hurry. Jake and Zahra shared a worried look before laughing heartily and hurrying inside to join the family at breakfast.
*-*
But even if he’d talked about it for a few minutes, the painful thought of home didn’t leave his head for the rest of the day. He was uncharacteristically unfocused, which didn’t go unnoticed.
“Jake, what is going on with you?”, Isaad asked when he joined a few other men for a cup of tea in the late afternoon.
“What? Nothing.”
“Yes, of course. And I’m the American president”, Isaad retorted, earning a few laughs from the rest.
“Come on, what is wrong?”, Jahan pressed, gently shoving Jake, as if to give him the literal push over the edge.
Jake took a sip of his tea to buy himself some time. But he knew very well that he wouldn’t get out of the spotlight this easy. The expectant looks from his friends told him so as well. Sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose, he conceded.
“Today’s the first birthday of my daughter.”
While Isaad, Jahan and two other men sucked in a breath, a few others looked confused and waited for Isaad to translate. When he’d done so, they reacted about the same way. Jahan patted Jake’s shoulder this time, an apologetic smile on his face.
“I’m very sorry”, Isaad whispered.
“Yeah, it’s hard right now, but it’s gonna be fine. Hopefully I can go home soon to be there for her next birthday.”
“What’s her name?”, the man with the name Behnam asked.
“Lynn. L-y-n-n”, Jake spelled, “well, her full name is Lynn Helen Seresin.”
“Beautiful name”, Behnam’s neighbor, Hussain, commented, earning a few nods.
“Thank you. She’s a beautiful girl. One of the few things I did right in my life… besides making my wife marry me, obviously”, Jake laughed.
“What’s the name of your wife?”, Cirus asked, adding a spoon of sugar to his tea.
“Natasha Seresin since she became my wife, but her maiden name is Natasha Trace.”
“Natasha… very beautiful name also. She is a beautiful woman, I think?”, Cirus asked, chuckling.
“She is indeed.”
“Jake has a picture”, Jahan jumped in, motioning for Jake to show it to the others.
He carefully took it out of his tunic and showed it to the round. The men eyed it closely, Hussain even whistled through his teeth. Bahiri, the eldest of the village, took it out of Jake’s hand and held it into the light for a better view.
“Very beautiful”, he nodded, handing it back to Jake with a smile.
“Thank you.”
Jake had never talked much about his home or his family. In the past year, he’d used most of his time to get to know the families here in the village and work his ass off so as they wouldn’t regret that they helped him. Besides teaching the kids English, he helped the men with basic repair work on the farming equipment or houses. Whatever was needed. On top of that, he helped with farming the fields as often as he could and lent Amira his hands within the household. There wasn’t much time to talk. And the people had been too busy adjusting to the fact that he was living with them now. They barely knew anything about him, and they rarely asked any questions. But of course, now that some time had passed and the topic had come up, they started to ask those questions. Beside talking about his familial life in San Diego, Jake offered a lot of stories from his time in the Navy. He told them how he’d met his wife, how they fell in love, what missions they’d been on together and which he’d done with his squadron. The men listened attentively, occasionally relying on Isaad and his translation skills. But Jake had gotten really good at explaining things in Afghan, so Isaad’s skills were becoming more irrelevant as time progressed. Slowly but surely, Jake was becoming a part of the village. But, although he was so grateful that they helped him and saw him as one of them, he couldn’t wait for the day where he got the chance to go home. Hopefully, that day would come soon…
*-*
Monday morning 6 a.m. came way too soon for Natasha’s liking. When her alarm went off, she huffed out an exasperated breath, hit the snooze button a little harder than usually and closed her eyes once more. A low chuckle greeted her at that, sending her heartbeat through the roof for a second.
“Still not a morning person”, Jake whispered, his devilish smile on full display.
“And I’ll never become one”, she retorted, scrunching up her nose without opening her eyes.
Jake laughed, before scooting closer to her, and wrapping his arm around her waist. He nuzzled his face into her neck and peppered her skin with little kisses, making her smile.
“How’d you survive the academy, flight school and all your deployments as a non-morning-person?”
“Guess I’m a surprise box”, she answered sleepily, pulling his arm tighter around her.
Jake chuckled again, pressing one last kiss to her cheek, before attacking her sides with his hands, tickling her. She immediately shrieked in shock.
“No, Jake! … Stop! … Stop!”
She tried to squirm away from him, but he kept her where she was, still tickling her.
“Jake, please!”
He had mercy on her but pulled her on top of him to kiss her properly. Straddling his hips, she sighed into the kiss, finally opening her eyes to look at him. He brushed a lock of hair behind her right ear, looking at her in wonder. Sometimes he still couldn’t believe that she’d agreed to marry him. And that she had taken him back, even though he’d been away for five years.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”, she asked, searching his eyes.
“I’m not looking at you like that.”
“Yes, you are”, she chuckled, “do I have something on my face?”
“Besides unmatched beauty?”
She rolled her eyes at his cheesiness, shaking her head.
“I’m trying to make earnest conversation here, Jake. So please don’t behave like a child. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I was just thinking… Over there in Afghanistan, I was wondering if the things I know about you are still true”, he answered hesitantly, tightening his grip on her hips.
Natasha furrowed her brows, cocking her head slightly to the side.
“Why that?”
He shrugged, averting his gaze, but she made him look at her again.
“A lot can change in five years. I thought… that maybe, well… I don’t know.”
“What did you think?”
“No, it’s dumb. Forget it.”
“Jake, what did you think?”
Her gaze was as insistent as her voice, letting him know that he wasn’t getting out of this this easily.
“I thought that… you discovered new things about yourself in the meantime, maybe with a different partner too… that the things you liked or disliked aren’t the same anymore as before Afghanistan.”
She sucked in a breath, spiking his insecurity even more.
“I said it’s dumb. Please forget I ever said that. I-I just… I’m sorry.”
He tried to push her off and climb out of bed to go bury himself somewhere in the backyard, but she didn’t move.
“Jake, I…”, she started, cupping his cheeks, and looking deep into his eyes, “I never had someone else.”
Now it was his turn to suck in a breath. He definitely hadn’t expected that answer. Not because he knew that she hadn’t been happy with him and would’ve jump at the first opportunity to find someone else, but because he knew what an amazing woman she was and how many men would gladly take his place if presented the opportunity. Although he’d always wished she would wait for him when he’d been in Afghanistan, he'd known that he couldn’t ask her to. He would never have. She more than deserved to be happy, and if he wasn’t able to make her happy for whatever reason, he couldn’t trap her in this marriage. He’d half expected to come here and find her with a new man at her side, maybe even already married.
“You didn’t?!”
She furrowed her brows again before pulling them up.
“I’m sorry, what? Are you mad I didn’t?”
“No! No, of course not, I just – “
He stared at her, disbelieving and slightly dumbfounded, before grabbing her face and smashing his lips on hers. She gasped into his mouth but gladly accepted the kiss.
“You waited for me, baby? All those years?”, he asked in a whispering tone, still disbelievingly.
She smiled at him, tears welling up in her eyes at the hell that were the last five years.
“Oh Jake… I thought you were dead. They told me you died in a crash. I didn’t wait for you, I was grieving – mourning you, like a wife who loved her husband wholeheartedly, does.”
A tear made its way down her cheek, getting caught in the corner of her mouth that was stretched into a sad smile.
“So, tell me – who should have wanted me, hmm? Who should have wanted a grieving woman as their partner?”
He chuckled, gently brushing the wet path of her tear away from her cheek with his thumb.
“Well, let’s see… how about that one neighbor that used to look over his fence whenever you went jogging?”
“Vincent?”, Natasha laughed.
“Mhmm.”
She gently swatted his arm before shaking her head, still laughing.
“You know what? I actually expected him to shoot his shot when it was evident you wouldn’t return. But he never showed up, not even brought any flowers over. I’m not sure how I would’ve reacted if he came over though… probably not very friendly. I think I would’ve told him off. Or I would’ve held Lynn in his face, telling him that that little girl has just lost her father and he comes over to flirt with her mother… I don’t know, I surely wasn’t in a good place back then.”
Jake cupped her cheeks, pressing his forehead against hers.
“I’m sorry, darlin’. I’m sorry for making you go through that”, he whispered, taking a deep breath afterwards.
She shook her head, kissing him.
“No, don’t! Baby, you came back to me! You came back home; to Lynn and me. That is more than I ever could have asked for.”
Natasha brushed her thumb over his cheek, enjoying the feeling of his skin under hers.
“I love you, Jake Seresin. I always have and always will. But I will not let you out of my sight for the foreseeable future, my beloved husband”, she said, chuckling and pointing at him with her finger.
He chuckled too, kissing said pointer finger.
“Don’t worry, Misses Seresin. I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.”
*-*
Hand in hand, their daughter a few strides in front of them, they strolled up to the kindergarten building. More than a few curious looks from other parents followed them on their way to the front door. Jake’s grip tightened a tiny bit when they entered the foyer and followed Lynn to her place in the wardrobe space. But Natasha smiled at him and as fast as his worries arose, they disappeared again. Jake crouched down in front of Lynn, took her little backpack, and proudly watched her untie her shoes, all the while keeping up the conversation they started before. Natasha stood a little bit aside, watching them, when the kindergarten teacher, Ms. Janine Robinson, walked up to her.
“Misses Seresin, it’s good to see you again! It’s been a while. How are you?”
“I’m very good, thank you. How are you?”
“Good too. It’s gonna be a busy day, but I’m sure you know how it is.”
Ms. Robinson crossed her arms over her chest, setting eyes on Lynn and Jake for the first time.
“Oh, I see a new face! May I ask who that is?”, she asked carefully, eyeing Jake up and down.
“That’s Jake Seresin; my husband and Lynn’s father.”
Ms. Robinson turned her head sharply, her eyes widening and her mouth just so staying shut.
“Your husband?! But I thought you told me… I mean… didn’t you say that he died?”
“That’s what I thought for the past five years. But apparently, I was wrong, and so was the Navy.”
“Are you sure?”
Natasha raised an eyebrow at that, fixing Miss Robinson with a daring glare.
“I think I’m very well able to recognize my husband and the father of my daughter, but thank you for your concerns, Janine.”
The young teacher immediately averted her gaze for a second, looking down at her shoes in shame.
“I’m sorry, that was inappropriate. It’s just, you know… I’ve seen a couple of movies and reports where someone returned after a long time, but it wasn’t the person that originally left and the families were fooled, because so much time has passed and stuff – “
“I know what you mean, but trust me, he’s the real Jake Seresin.”
Natasha snorted.
“I’ve spent the last five years memorizing every last detail I know about him. I can confirm, without a doubt, that that man is the man I married.”
Ms. Robinson nodded, watching Jake’s interaction with Lynn with great interest.
“And Lynn is taking it well?”
“Yes, why?”
“Oh, you know, I’ve talked to her about her father a few times over the last year… I was surprised how much she knew about him since she never met him consciously. But she told me a lot about him, and that she knows that he’s with the angels.”
Natasha nodded.
“When the Navy told me that he’d died, Lynn was just over two months old. I realized pretty soon that I had to make a decision… either I tell her the truth about her father and who he was from the start, or I lie to her and make up excuses until she’s old enough to know the truth.”
Ms. Robinson nodded understandingly, following Natasha’s explanation attentively.
“I went for the first route, obviously. I wanted her to know who her father was. I wanted her to know where she came from. That she’d been born into a home full of love, into arms who’d be there for her for the rest of her life. And that those weren’t just my arms… Jake loved her from the first moment that he knew of her, just like me. He was so on board, it was frightening”, she chuckled, shaking her head.
”I sometimes even questioned if the same man that I married still lived with me.”
Janine laughed, not tearing her eyes away from how Lynn dragged her father straight into the main room of the kindergarten to show him where she liked to play.
“She was always supposed to know who he was and what he and I had. On some nights, when she wouldn’t go down without crying for an hour because he wasn’t there, I wondered whether I really made the right choice… whether I caused her more pain by telling her the truth… but then I looked at old pics of our time before Lynn and I saw where she got her green eyes and big smile from, and I just… I just couldn’t lie.”
“I get that”, Ms. Robinson answered, gently touching Natasha’s arm, “I’m glad that it’s going well. How long has he been back?”
“He came home Saturday noon. I had our friends over for one of our monthly gatherings. You can imagine the chaos that followed when he suddenly appeared at the door, looking as if he’d never been gone…”
“Oh, yeah, I can picture that!”, Ms. Robinson laughed, nodding her head.
Natasha chuckled, checking her watch when the bell went off. Ms. Robinson did so too, gasping in surprise.
“Oh, I swear, time is running faster these days! I have to get the kids gathered together… I’m very sorry to leave this conversation hanging in the air, Misses Seresin. Would you excuse me?”
“Sure. Have a good day.”
Natasha watched her run off to the entrance, welcoming the last kids that were brought by their parents. Then, she peaked her head around the corner into the main room, chuckling to herself at the scene presented to her. Lynn was proudly showing Jake all her drawings, going over them with him in an almost analytic way. Natasha walked up to them, weaving her fingers through Lynn’s light curls, that were tied into a ponytail.
“Hi baby. Are you showing daddy all your drawings?”
“Yes, mommy!”
“They’re beautiful, princess. You should make more, you’re talented. Maybe you become a famous painter one day”, Jake said, wiggling his eyebrows.
“You think so?”
“Mhmm.”
“Woah, okay, there’s still a lot of time until then. For now, daddy and I have to say goodbye, sweetheart. We’re gonna pick you up in the afternoon, okay?”
“Can’t you stay?”
“No, and you know why. But you’re a big girl, you’ll be fine. Right?”
Natasha crouched down and adjusted Lynn’s hair tie, cupping her cheek.
“I love you, baby. Give me a kiss, yeah?”
Lynn kissed her on the lips, before throwing her arms around Natasha’s neck and squeezing her tightly.
“Love you too, mommy.”
Then, she turned to Jake and flew into his arms, giggling at him pressing a loud kiss on her cheek.
“I love you so much, princess. Be nice and behave, can you do that for me?”
“Yes, daddy. Love you.”
When Ms. Robinson walked in with the rest of the kids, that was their cue to leave. They walked to the door, looking back once more to watch Lynn take a seat on her chair in the circle, waving at them before engaging in a conversation with the girl sitting next to her.
“She’s such a big girl already”, Jake whispered in awe.
Natasha nodded, taking his hand in hers and looking at him for a second before looking back at Lynn.
“Our little princess.”
*-*
After they left the kindergarten, they drove straight into the city center, heading for the town hall. Although they’d only called this morning, they had managed to get a spontaneous appointment with the civil registrar in order to sort of “reorganize” Jake’s life from a legal point of view. He’d been considered dead for the past five years, not only from a familial and military point of view, but also legally. They needed to set Natasha’s civil status back to “married” and made sure that Jake was still correctly listed as Lynn’s biological and legal father. A lot of paperwork, but the civil registrar was a nice and funny guy, which made the hours fly by quickly.
*-*
“What would you say if I took you out for a lunch date?”, Jake asked, when they left the town hall hand in hand.
“A lunch date?”
“Precisely.”
“I’d say, I’m starving and if you don’t get me food within the next half hour, I will become your worst nightmare.”
Jake laughed, kissing her cheek.
“Lunch date it is.”
Although it’d been a while, he still remembered their favorite restaurant for lunch dates. Stealing glances at each other over the edge of their menus was still a thing, too. To celebrate their reunion, they enjoyed a glass of wine. They did some small talk here and there, nothing too deep. Well, at least until they finished their main courses. The waiter had just picked up their plates and promised to be back with the dessert menu, when Natasha cleared her throat, picking at a breadcrumb.
“I… I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything, but you know that I’ve not been blessed with the ability to be patient. And we won’t have much time to ourselves in the next few days or weeks. I took off work today, but tomorrow I have to go back, and you’ll surely have to report to base within this week to get things sorted out… we’ll have to call your parents, my parents, my brothers – they’ll probably all want to visit us as soon as possible! It’s gonna be a lot of stress–“
“Nat, what is it?”
She sighed, taking a deep breath. Hesitantly, she met his gaze, pursing her lips.
“When will you tell me what happened to you?”
His face fell and he moved slightly back, letting go of her hands on the table. His hands disappeared into his lap and his gaze switched over to the window. Natasha sat up straighter, desperation washing over her face.
“Jake, I – please, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to–“
“I already told you, Nat, I can’t just… I can’t just talk about that on a lunch date. It’s–“
“But you can tell me anything, Jake, I promise!”
“This has nothing to do with you! Nat…”
Jake sighed, squeezing his eyes shut, focusing on his breathing for a moment, before looking at her again.
“It’s not that I can’t tell you. But it’s… it’s so much, and so much of it is ugly and heavy. I don’t want to burden you with it. You’re working almost full-time, there’s Lynn, our friends, our families, the house… You have so much on your plate already, I can’t put this on your shoulders too just like that.”
“Jake, you don’t have to worry about me, I can handle it.”
Jake shook his head, pulled out his wallet and waved the waiter over. Out of politeness, Natasha kept quiet, but inside, she was raging. Her husband knew how much she hated it when he babied her, when he tried to play the macho.
They left the restaurant in a hurry, heading straight for their car in the parking lot. But there, Natasha crossed her arms over her chest, planting her feet and staring him down.
“You know perfectly well what I can handle. So don’t worry about that.”
“Yes, I do worry about that. And yes, I know what you can handle, but this is another caliber–“
“Do not treat me like a child, Jake Seresin! I’m your goddamn wife! We vowed to treat each other as equal partners in this marriage, so live up to that!”
“I’m not treating you like a child! I’m trying to protect you from knowing what I’ve been through, because I want you to be able to sleep at night!”, he shouted, standing mere inches from her and fixing her with a hard glare.
She gasped slightly at that. Seeing naked fear flickering in his eyes made her insides squirming. Jake tried getting his breathing back under control, turning away and rubbing his hands over his face. She stood frozen where she was, processing what just happened. Slowly, he turned back around and walked up to her, cupping her cheeks tenderly. There were tears in his eyes, making her heart drop into her stomach.
“You don’t want to know what I’ve seen, Nat. Trust me, you don’t. I’m just trying to protect you, I swear, that’s all I’m doing”, he whispered, barely keeping his tears at bay.
She grabbed his wrists, pressing her forehead against his.
“I want to help you. Please, Jake, let me help you. Let me help you carry this burden. Please”, she whispered, choking on a sob.
He sighed, deeper than she’d ever heard him sigh. Some of the tears in his eyes escaped, sliding down his cheeks.
“Nat–“
“Please!”
She pulled back slightly and looked deep into his eyes, carefully drying his cheeks with her thumbs. He stared at her, contemplating. He knew she wouldn’t give up and it would only cause more flashbacks for him whenever she brought it up. He knew too, that he needed to talk to someone about it. And who did he trust more than his wife?
“Please Jake. I know how much you suffer; I can see it in your eyes. They don’t hold the same light anymore as they used to. Let me help you, I beg you”, she sobbed.
Jake didn’t want that she cried because of him. She must’ve done enough of that over the past five years. He didn’t want to hurt her, and he knew that he would continue to do so as long as he refused to let her in on the past five years of his life.
“Okay.”
His voice was no more than a whisper. She sucked in a breath, her lips curling into a small smile.
“I will tell you, once the stress of the next few weeks is over. Once we’re settled in, once our families know about me and had the chance of visiting us. I promise you, by my sister’s honor, that I will tell you everything then. Can you live with that?”
She nodded, kissing him deeply.
“I love you, sweetheart”, Jake whispered against her lips.
“I love you, honey”, Natasha whispered back, falling into his arms.
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