How She Came Home

Final Chapter

They planned for almost a year.

It was a year packed with activity, with milestones and achievements and plenty of planning. Rawee had set Freen up with that meeting with Sham Gray, securing Freen a journalist gig for a fashion magazine - something she'd mocked in the past but seemed happy and grateful for now - and Becca had slowly started the transition to move A-Corp back to L.A., giving Irin a hefty pay rise for her to move back with her.

It was a busy year, more than anything, but a good one. If it wasn't for the scar on Freen's abdomen, no one would know what she'd been through by looking at her. 

She'd made small steps in her recovery, and then big ones, until she slept through the night almost every night - save for the odd nightmare - and could slam a cupboard without flinching, without reeling back into a flashback. 

Becca learned to relax, confident that Freen was safe, was doing okay.

Work seemed to be the first big step, with Freen eager to prove herself as a real journalist, and not just a public affairs officer, teasing stories out of soldiers and terrified civilians from the middle of nowhere. 

She was busy and happy with her work, meeting Becca for lunch, animatedly talking about her articles over dinner at night, working closely with Abi, of all people, and able to be in an office full of strangers without feeling the slightest bit of panic at being somewhere so unfamiliar.

Another came when Mind and Nam got married. It was a quick affair, both of them deciding that they didn't want to wait any longer, and didn't need the fanfare of a big wedding. 

Mind called Freen one morning and told her they were eloping that afternoon, the four of them making their way to the registry office, watching as the pair said their vows and slipped rings onto each other's fingers. 

Not that she needed it, but the happiness it brought to witness that special moment only reinforced Becca's decision to marry Freen; she wanted that piece of paper, that ring and that glow of love and happiness as they were pronounced wives.

They moved to L.A. shortly after that, Becca helped get a good buyer for Nam's apartment and gave them the key to her one to get settled in. She didn't need it; she and Freen would be moving into the estate shortly before their own wedding, and witnessing Mind and Nam's lit a fire under them to get a move on with planning their own.

There were arguments and debates over the date, the location, the flowers, the colours, cake flavours and menus, and everything in between. Compromises were the usual outcome as they came to agreements by finding middle grounds. 

The estate's garden was a perfectly lovely place to get married; Becca didn't have to fly everyone to France for it. Just their close friends and family was enough; the entirety of IDF didn't need to be invited so no one felt left out.

Eventually, it was all planned. They each went dress shopping, taking their mom's, Mind and Nam and were reassured that their dresses would go well together. They'd made frequent trips to L.A., tasting cakes and deciding on a lemon one, tailored the menu to their tastes, even though Rawee insisted that dumplings weren't a wedding appetiser.

As the date neared, boxes started piling up in their own home, most of Becca's things being shipped to L.A. with them. 

She knew the estate would need some desperate sprucing up to feel comfortable; the bones of the place were good, and everything was well made and expensive, but surely some of the ghastly paintings could be replaced with something more contemporary, the colour scheme a little more modern.

Rawee had already packed up all of her things, taking some of her favourite pieces with her anyway, leaving the estate ready for them to move in over the coming weeks.