Dogs of War

Chapter 21

"Uilebheist!" The banging on my door combined with Soap's loud Scottish brogue startles me out of a deep sleep and I almost roll out of bed. I groan, the sudden jerking of my leg causing a dull ache to settle within my joints. 

"What?" I call out getting to my feet with a whine of complaint, my heart still attempting to beat through my rib cage, the jolt of adrenaline and fear running through my body a better wake up call than coffee could ever manage.

"Open up."

I don't bother to respond, instead reaching the door I open it up, only for Soap to shove through forcing the door to slam against the wall in his excitement as he gathers me up into his arms, showering me with kisses. 

"Happy Birthday, Mo Uilebheist." His arms tighten around me as he smiles down at me, pleased to have caught me by surprise. "I wasn't sure what to get you, but I hope you like it," he says settling me softly on my feet again. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a little box with a bow. I look up at Soap with a soft smile, wondering what piece of jewellery he could have gotten me on such short notice. I unwrap the box, only to be confronted with a key. Frowning down at the box, I pick the key up delicately before looking at Soap confused. He answered before I could even ask what I was looking at.

"I got permission from Price to give you access to one of the shared vehicles on base so you don't have to keep stealing the key from Ghost. You can come and go as you please."

I feel gratitude flood through me at Soaps thoughtful gift and I fling my arms around his shoulders.

"Thank you, I love it!"

He laughs, wrapping his arms around me and lifting me back off the floor as he spins me around. "Anything for you Mo Uilebheist. But I promised I'd take you to the house tonight so that Lilly can celebrate dinner with you. Otherwise I think the lads are busy today running errands, so they'll be at the house at some point tonight too. I think Shane's lost his marbles. Only realised this morning, so I think he's out shopping right now."

I press a kiss to Soaps lips, savouring the peppermint taste of the tooth paste he'd used before coming to wake me up. "So what you're telling me, is we have the day to ourselves for once?" He groans softly before putting me back down. "As tempting as that is, love, we have a full day ourselves."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I have seven months of time to make up for with you, so we're going to be doing somethings."

"You've planned out the entire day?" I can hear the incredulity in my voice as I look up at Soap stunned that he's gone through all of this effort when he only had two days notice.

"Yep. So get dressed, make sure you're wearing your mask, we'll be out in public." He kisses the top of my head with a smirk. "Can't have anyone seeing that mug of yours now can we?"

I shake my head and smack him on the arm. "That's rude. It's my birthday, you're meant to be nice to me."

"Nope, get dressed. Breakfast is waiting for you."

I get dressed, making sure to shove my gloves and mask into my pocket, my hoody already pulled up over my head as I prepare to follow Soap. He leads me into the mess hall where I stop, eyes wide as I look at the space covered in rose petals with a bouquet of flowers sitting in the centre of our dining table. The mix of flowers are beautiful and I can smell the fragrant perfume even from the doorframe. "Johnny," I say, feeling overwhelmed. "How did you manage to pull this together?"

"Ghost helped. He's surprisingly competent at the last minute gift giving."

I nod in agreement, remembering the gift he'd gotten me last minute at Christmas time the year before.  Soap guides me to the table and encourages me to sit down. He brings out a plate of pancakes and bacon, with additional toppings of fruit and ice cream on side plates. I look down at the food, the smell making my mouth water. In combination with the flowers, my sense of smell was overloaded and I began sneezing.