Promise Me // Bradley Bradshaw x OC

Thirteen.

A/N: I know y'all aren't ready, but the show must go on. ;)

*** Bradley's POV ***

"I like coming to the beach at night a lot better than during the day. Nobody's here, no flying volleyballs or bugs, and we can be alone together," Jordan sighed contently as she leaned back onto my chest. "I'm going to miss this beach. We've made a lot of memories here."

She was laying in between my legs on my chest, and I was leaning back with my hands in the sand. Three weeks before this moment, I had gotten orders that I was going to be stationed at a naval base in New Zealand for a few years. I didn't want to be without Jordan for that long, so we got married at the courthouse days later and had a small dinner with friends and her family to celebrate. Being married meant she could come with me, and we could live together on base. The wedding was not ideal, but we set aside our feelings about it so we could be together.

"There'll be other beaches in New Zealand, but this one...I feel like we've lived our lives here. We met here, had our first kiss here...hell, how long have we spent just sitting here?" I said as I looped one arm loosely over her hip. "I'm attached to this beach."

We slowly laid back on the blanket, and Jordan snuggled up next to me while I kept my arm around her. For a couple seconds, we made eye contact before I gently kissed her forehead.

"You forgot just recently, too! We got engaged here," She smiled at me as we shared a gentle kiss. "Now we have to leave it all behind. It's like our second home."

"Home is anywhere as long as I'm with you," I said before we shared many kisses. I had flipped us over and pinned her arms over her head while feeling my heart pounding in my ears. "I can't leave my home behind."

Xoxox

I jolted slightly and my eyes shot open. I immediately looked over at Jordan to see if I woke her up, and luckily, I hadn't. We'd been sharing the bed together for almost a week now since I was released from the hospital, and it took quite some time for her to get comfortable enough in a position where she could sleep. She always apologized for taking so long, but I was always patient, and made sure to kiss her forehead every night before she fell asleep.

After the first couple of nights home, I started having dreams that oddly felt so real, but I can never remember any of them happening. It was the same thing with making out on the beach. It seemed like it was our last night in San Diego, and we were recalling all the memories we've made there. In my dream, I could name all of them perfectly, but in real life while I was awake, Jordan was just a stranger who I found myself falling in love with.

She had been so unbelievably patient with me over the last couple of weeks, it was unreal. She visited me every day in the hospital, brought me pictures and labeled everybody in them so I could learn the names of our friends, took me to and attended my doctor's appointments with me, and so much more. It was obvious she was very tired, and it didn't help the fact that she was getting further along in her pregnancy, either.

The clock on the sleep screen of the smart TV on her wall read 7:23 a.m., and now that I was awake thanks to the dream I had, I had a hard time falling asleep again. While I was laying on my side, I glanced down at Jordan, who was facing me, sleeping peacefully with her head semi buried into her pillow. The blanket was pushed down to about her mid-thigh because she got hot overnight, and all that could be heard was the white noise from the fan that was plugged in by her side of the bed and facing her.

Slowly and gently, I reached out and put a hand on her bump, glancing at her to see if she was going to wake up. She hadn't, thankfully, so I left my hand there for a few seconds as my eyes grew watery. One of my other dreams this week was Jordan first telling me she was pregnant. We were so happy, and I had picked her up and kissed her. I don't remember it ever happening, but the confusing part of it all was that all of my dreams had felt so real.