Code Red

epilogue

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23/01/2005
Redhawk base
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LEO

After all the shit I've been through, keeping a puppy quiet might be one of the most difficult assignments to date.  

I scratch her behind the floppy ears, cooing gently as I did to my baby niece, but she keeps yapping. I stifle a laugh. She's obviously just like her mom, without even knowing it yet.

I remember Nov telling me in The Philippines that she'd always wanted a German Shepherd. What better surprise for my wife's twenty-eighth birthday than to grant that lifelong wish?

North isn't exactly impressed that there will be a dog running around base, but I think even he was swayed by the big gleaming eyes and the swishing tail. I managed to convince him she'll be the best K9 to date.

Tara has been zipping in and out of the cabin all morning, practically tearing up whenever she looks at the pup.

"Nova will be back soon." She says, reentering the cabin for the fortieth time in the past hour and locking the door behind her. I hum, and the dog nips my finger.

"Do you think she'll like it?" I gesture to the puppy before looking back up at Tara, who bursts into laughter.

"You're asking me if Nova Shields-sorry-Nova Hendrix will like the fact you bought her a German Shepherd?" She chuckles, and so do I, because it's a stupid fucking thing of me to even ask.

It's been a nice day so far. I got my head right between my legs as a way to kick off the morning. North then sent her out on some ridiculous errand, just so Marcus could bring in the puppy uninterrupted.

Hearing the name 'Nova Hendrix' will never get old. Our wedding, although probably unconventional, was perfect. Despite the fact I was on a damn crutch at the time.

We flew right out to Vegas, picked up a rental when we touched down and drove into the heart of Sin-City, right to a shitty little chapel. Nov's 'wedding dress' was some old thing we bought for ten dollars in a thrift store en route to our ceremony.

Our witness was a drunken man who'd accidentally stumbled in thinking it was a bar. After the 'I do's', we made our way down the Vegas strip and had drinks bought for us the whole night, courtesy of Nova loudly announcing to everybody we met that we just got married.

She also played a lucky hand of poker. An awful, irresponsible drunken gamble that could've left us with no money.

But instead, it left our pockets $20,000 heavier. 

I think we'd had enough bad experiences in 2003 to last us a lifetime. Was about damn time a random streak of luck passed our way.

It was the best few months of my life. She met my family, accompanied by our very convincing cover story as to how we met. My family thought I was in Queensland, so I simply told them I met Nova there in a little cafe.

Just a teensy, tiny lie.

And I met her family, we used our lucky pot of money to actually fly out to Australia for our final few weeks. Frank Shields might just be the coolest fucker I've ever met.

Explains where my wife gets it from.

My wife.