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The Reason to
Come Home
Andy Maluhia and Victoria McEntire Every surface in her little home sparkled. Victoria smiled but then immediately frowned. Huffing lightly, she began rearranging the cushions on her sofa. The reason for the manic clean still there in her mind: she was worried about Andy. "What if he doesn't come back?" she said to herself. The wrong then but the right now? God but
I hate this temporal stuff. Andy left the transporter room
assuming that he was to say nothing until the captain said something to
everyone. That was fine with him. All he wanted was to go home.
Approaching what he still thought of as Victoria's quarters, he felt a
bit of the mental heaviness lifting. She was home. Though he did
raise a brow when he stepped inside. She was just as neat and
organized as he was but the place looked like an admiral's inspection
had come through. He let out a low whistle.
The sound brought her head up and she let out a squeal before dashing around her sofa and throwing her arms around him. "You're home!" Victoria squeazed him so hard, she felt her arms shaking with the strain. "I missed you, I was so worried, I didn't know what to do with myself." His arms caught her up by reflex but then Andy
held her close, burying his face in her neck and her hair. He held her
like that a moment then lifted his head to kiss her soundly. "See?
Now this is what makes a Marine come home. I missed you, too,
Victoria."
Grinning up at him, Victoria leaned her chin on his chest. "I cleaned," she said shyly. "I always do when I worry." "I see that,"
Andy said with a chuckle. "Looks like an inspection came through. I'm
sorry I couldn't tell you I was going, Victoria. Did you get my
message?"
"Evy said you'd be back as soon as you could," Victoria said, her cheeks reddening at the thought of what else Evelyn had said. "She also said you told her about the wedding." "Oh yeah, Evy's the queen of doing stupid things. She has this knack of ticking off her commanding officers. Though," Victoria said as she smiled up at her lovely Marine, "most of the time it's because she's in the right and has too big a mouth not to tell them that." "We already had
our own little confrontation and that's all settled," Andy said
mildly. "Besides, you've seen what it takes to get me legitimately
angry. I am very unpleasant when that happens." He had his arm around
her but he sat up slightly when his eye caught sight of something he
didn't expect. "That looks like the glass that got broken, Victoria.
I thought you said it couldn't be fixed."
Following his line of sight, Victoria smiled brightly. "It belonged to Evelyn's great-grandmother, she brought it over and told me to keep it as an engagement present." Blushing a little, she said, "It's not exactly the same, it's much older than mine but you only notice the differences if you know what you're looking for." "I won't look.
Only reason I even noticed is that there seems to be a complete set
now," Andy told her. Looking back at her, he felt more of the headache
melt away. "I love that smile, Victoria. You're beautiful but even
more so when you smile."
Her heart lifted and she beamed brighter at him. "Thank you. You're such a sweet man, I can't believe how lucky I've been." Kissing him gently, she laid her hand on his arm. "Evy said she wants to see swans and doves and pretty flowers at our wedding," she chuckled. "I think she's planning the dress and hen-night already." "Whatever you
want, beautiful," Andy told her. "Now there's also the sort of wedding
my uncle had, though. He and Auntie T'Aris got married on the beach.
Me and Tommy were her escorts."
"Oh now that sounds lovely. Warm sand, rolling waves, clear skies..." Victoria's eyes glazed over as she dreamed of the a perfect day. "It would definitely be big enough to fit all our families," she chuckled. "It's huge," Andy
agreed. "Kauai is the most beautiful of the islands, too. They used
to use it for old motion picture sets. I stay with my Dad when I'm
there. There's all sorts of orchids that grow wild by the house,
especially the kind I gave you."
"Well, that covers the pretty flowers part of Evy's plans. So now all we need are swans and doves." Even in her happiness, there was a twinge of worry but she didn't want to think about it... What happens if... "What will we do if we don't get home?" Andy let out a
sigh. "We will, Victoria. Never's too long to be possible," he said,
hoping it sounded firm enough. Sure, the wrong then but the right
now. Lord but I hope Grace says something before somebody asks me. He
didn't think he'd be that lucky.
"You're right, of course you are." Victoria mentally scolded herself for even entertaining the thought. In a sure and convinced voice, she said, "It will be a beautiful wedding at home with all our family around us." "Your dad going to lecture me?" Andy asked, his nose crinkling in
amusement.
"Probably not, he's actually kind of laid back. My Mum though..." Victoria laughed as she thought of the way her mother had chewed out Joe. "Oh yeah, she'll eat you alive, but still fall in love with you." "I'm a Marine. I think I can take it," he said with a wink.
"You're going to have to dance with me, you know."
"Dance? Nonononono," Victoria shook her head vigorously. "I don't dance. I've got two left feet, I'll embarrass you, everyone will laugh... nope, we'll just find you a replacement partner for such things. Moria's a lovely dancer. Or Evelyn, she's surprisingly light on her feet for a Marine..." Andy fixed her with a tolerantly amused grin. "There is no
substituting you for anyone, my dear," he said brightly after a quick
kiss on her nose. "Would you settle for what my uncle did for T'Aris?
They danced for her--him and his siblings. In my case, I'd have to
drag in some more cousins but there's plenty of them."
Victoria wrinkled her nose, rubbing at it with the tip of her fingers. She considered his words and tried to imagine her large Marine dancing; it made her smile. "I'd like that." Returning his gesture by kissing him on his nose, she said, "I'll dance with you but only in private." "Fine, I can live with that but isn't it one of those traditional
things where the bride dances with her father?" Andy asked. "Well,
Z-Man's cousin Arwen did but we don't. You never know."
Cringing, Victoria shuddered. "And then there's the whole 'kissing the bride' tradition." "Wear some flowers that make people sneeze?" Andy offered. "Or
get my grandmother to fend them all off. Nobody messes with her. Not
even me."
"I'll use her as a Human shield then," she giggled. "Not that anyone but you would want to kiss me." Biting her lip, she blushed. "Sorry, I wasn't going to say that sort of thing out loud, was I?" "No worries, Victoria," Andy said with a one armed hug. He gave
her a wink and added, "They can all eat their hearts out because I'm
the guy who's got the beautiful bride."
"And I already know that I've got one green eyed monster glaring at me because of my handsome, charming, warm and loving groom-to-be." She cuddled into his side as a small smile brought a rose tint to her nose and cheeks. "And d'you know what? She can stuff it because you're mine." "Well, you'll excuse me for being inhospitable but if she shows
up, I'm letting somebody feed her to the sharks," Andy said wryly.
"She hasn't been back here to bother you, has she?"
"Nope, the only visitors I've had was James ages ago and Evy who left about half an hour before you came home. She brought the glass, we had some wine and then she said she needed to run an errand. Actually, she told me to tell you that her homework assignment would be completed by the time you got back." Victoria puckered her lips and raised her eyebrows, silently asking what that had meant. Andy couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. By the time he got
it under control, his grin was as wide as it could be. "Don't ask me
and I won't lie," he said brightly. "Just think of it as one of those
disclaimers they put at the end of holomovies: No animals were harmed
in the making of this movie."
"Hmph, no animals indeed." Narrowing her eyes, she managed to glare at him for all of five seconds before her own grin burst over her face. "As long as the assignment was thorough and doesn't land my cousin in the Brig or the 'animal' in my Sick Bay, I don't want to know." "No, no, no--the teacher was very thorough in instructions," Andy
said as innocently as he could. "I wouldn't put you in a spot like
that."
"Oh dear me, now I have this image of Evy in a school uniform and you as her teacher," Victoria shuddered. "Wearing a mortar board and robes." Andy's face wrinkled. "Ah, not me. Think more along the line of
the evilest drill instructor they ever had at the Academy, complete
with whistle." He winked at her again.
Victoria snorted in a highly unlady-like way. "Now the image is just getting worse and worse. Please stop adding fuel to this fire, I have far too vivid an imagination." "Fine but it's still funny." He was still smiling at her,
though. He reached to settle his hand under her chin. "You're good
for me, Victoria. If I didn't have you, I think I'd be reading and
writing reports. Those'll still get done but this is my reason to come
home."
Her smile was shy and full of humility. "I love you and I'm glad I told you about it." "You," he said as he wrapped his arms around her, "will always be
my reason to come home."
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