It All Worked Out In The End- A Purple Hearts Rewrite

Chapter 8- Deployment

~Cassie's POV~
I woke up the next morning to the bathroom door opening. I opened my eyes and saw it was 4:30am. I rolled over, seeing Luke awake.
"Hey" I groggily said. "How long have you been up?" I asked him.
"Since 3:00 a.m. I went for a run." He said, coming back to the bed, looking in his duffle bag.
I just laughed a bit, "You went for a run at three in the morning? I couldn't sleep."

I sat up and covered myself with his formal, fancy marines jacket he wore at our wedding yesterday. "What?" I said.
Luke looked at me, "You heard me. I... I couldn't sleep at all. So, I went for a run. That's what I do."
I stretched and laughed under my breath, "So, you're that guy? Pretend-it-didn't-happen guy." I said, considering we just had sex like 4 hours ago.
He looked at me annoyed, "I don't know what you want from me. I just have a lot on my mind. Okay?" He asked.

"Alright alright, relax." I said.
Luke scoffed and grabbed his uniform, "We've gotta go to deployment."
"So I'll take you to base." I said, reiterating our plan we had to make for drop off.
He nodded, "Great." He said, unenthusiastically, as if he wasn't the one who made the plans.
We both got ready and packed our bags then I drove us to the base.

Once we got through the gates we eventually got to the area where there were a bunch of buses. It was honestly pretty surreal, seeing this all.
I looked around before eventually bumping into Luke, we then both looked at each other and he grabbed my hand. We held each others hands while walking closer to the buses.

Everyone was mostly crying, sending their loved ones away. I kept scanning the area before Luke started talking and snapped me out of it.
"Hey, Cassie" he started, and I looked up at him, "Anything happens to me, you're my next of kin, okay? You can call my brother. Tell him about our deal. You'll have to make up a story for my dad. But please, my dad cannot know about this. All right?"

He gave me a piece of paper with his brother's name, phone number, and address.
I looked up at him and nodded, "Okay" I said.

Then, another marine passed us and looked at us, then spoke to Luke, "Lance Corporal Morrow, congratulations."
Luke gave a small nod and the marine left.

Then he looked back at me, "Remember, from here on out, we're being watched, all right? Emails, video calls, everything."
I nodded my head and then he kissed my head. I looked up at him. "I... love you" I said.
He looked at me for a second and then nodded. "Yea, love you too..." he said and then went onto the bus.

I watched him board the bus. Then I heard Armando yell, "Hey guys, one more time for the newlyweds!" Then next thing I knew, I was being picking up by 5 marines, bringing me over to Luke. I looked at him, not knowing what to do.
Luke looked at me, "I'm sorry. " he whispered.
Everyone was chanting for us to kiss. So we did.

Once I was finally put down, Frankie hugged me.
"Take care of yourself, okay?" I told him.
Frankie nods, "I want a hit record when I come back, all right?" He chuckles.
Yep. Just for you." I smiled softly.

Then they were all the bus and the doors closed. I watched the bus leave and part of me felt... sad. I honestly didn't know why. But another part of me was a bit scared.

Then Riley came over to me, holding onto my arm. She was crying and sniffled before she spoke. "This doesn't even feel real." She said, while watching the bus leave. She laid her head on my shoulder as we watched them leave.

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