One Shot
“Babe, do you really have to go?” I whined, while my boyfriend was in the other room, putting on his uniform, getting ready to go. His head appeared in the doorway and he spoke. “Miley, for the hundredth time, yes. I have to go serve my country. This is what I signed up for.” He didn’t seem too pleased with the response he gave me either but we both knew it was true. If it wasn’t for him attending West Point, where my dad taught classes, odds are, I never would have met the love of my life, Joe. And even though it sucked that he was going to be away for the next 8 months, at least, I had to accept it because he was going out to defend our country; something his father dreamed of him doing ever since he was a little boy. And if he was able to make his father and his country proud, then I would not allow myself to stand in his way.
*The day Joe leaves*
The day was finally here. Today was the last time I would see Joe for 8 months. A lot could happen in 8 months. Both Joe and I knew that but we chose to ignore it. For the time being at least. When you’re not going to see the person you love for 8 months, you try to block out all the negatives until after you’ve said goodbye. So we just stood in the entryway of the apartment that we shared and held each other. Both of us pretending that Joe going away for 8 months wasn’t tearing us apart on the inside.
Outside, Paul, Joe’s father, was waiting in the car, repeatedly honking the horn and yelling for Joseph to come outside. “I’ll be there in a second!” Joe yelled as loud as he could. The honking stopped and Joe went back to holding me. “Promise me something Joe…” I looked up at him. “Anything.” He whispered. “While you’re there, stay safe. Do whatever you have to to make sure that you and your men are safe.” I knew it sounded bad that I was basically telling Joe it was okay to kill other men as long as it kept him safe and got him home sooner but I
couldn’t help it. He hadn’t even left yet but the thought of his dad’s truck pulling out of my driveway and off into the distance was already killing me inside. “Of course I will, baby. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure
I come home safely. Don’t you worry.” He smiled, gently squeezing my arms. His dad started honking again and we both knew it was really time for him to go. “It looks like that’s my signal to go. I’m going to miss you so much, baby. But I promise, the first time I have a free moment, I’ll call you.” I nodded my head and leaned up and kissed Joe. “Before you go, I have something I want to give you…” I trailed off, before running upstairs, leaving a very confused Joe downstairs, and a very angry Paul, in his car.
As fast as I could, I ran up to my room and found what I was looking for, a very carefully wrapped box with a bow on the top. I grabbed it as quickly as I could and then ran back down the stairs. “This is for you.” I reached out and handed Joe the box, a giant grin on my face. “What’s this?” He asked, sounding very confused. “It’s your Christmas gift… I know it’s March right now, but you’re gonna be gone for at least 8 months and who knows if that will include Christmas. So, just to be safe, I wanted to give it to you now so I know you’ll have it and keep it with you while you’re gone.” I tried my best not to get emotional when I told him that but it was just so hard. I didn’t want him to go. And, even more, I didn’t want him to not be here for Christmas. Ever since we started dating, four years ago, we spent every Christmas together and I didn’t want this year to be any different. Even though Joe assured me that he’d be home, I wasn’t holding my breath on anything. I must have been getting a little emotional because Joe reached out and pulled me into his chest. “Thank you so much baby. If I had known you were getting me something, I would have gotten you a gift. But I promise, as soon as I get back home, I’m gonna give you the best gift ever.” I didn’t get a chance to respond because the honking started up again and Paul was way angrier now. “As much as I don’t want to, I really have to go now. I’ll see you soon. I love you, Miley.” “I love you too, Joe.” We both looked at each other and then “Forever and always.” we whispered. It was something we did whenever we said goodbye. One last time, Joe picked me up, spun me around, kissed me, then set me back down. And with his big arms, thanks to all the training he had done, he picked up his heavy bags containing the stuff he would need for the next 8 months and was on his way out the door and off to war.
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*6 months later*
It’s been 6 months since Joe left and in that time, I’ve only heard from him once. And that was to tell me he was settled in and getting used to being over there, but he still hadn’t had a chance to open his gift. The conversation was brief because you could hear the Sergeant yelling in the background. Since that day, I’d waited and waited for him to call so I could tell him the good news. But with each day that went by and not hearing from him, became another day of me giving up all hope that I would ever hear from him again and he would never
know the news I wanted so badly to share with him. “Miley, you’ve gotta calm down. He’s busy fighting a war and he doesn’t have a lot of free time to make phone calls. I can almost guarantee he hasn’t stopped thinking about you though.” My older brother, Laim, tried to assure me. We were hanging out at my house, talking about Joe and how much I missed him. “I know, Liam. It’s just, I can’t help but worry that it’s been so long and I haven’t heard from him.” I felt tears forming in my eyes, preparing to make their way down my face. But before they had a chance to free themselves and come down my face, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” I said, getting on my feet and walking towards the door.
Standing in front of me with tears in their eyes and a piece of paper in their hands was Joe’s parents, Paul and Denise. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened and why they were crying. I opened the door even more, and they walked inside. Without saying a word, I wrapped my arms around both of them and we stood in the entry way of my home, just crying.
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*Christmas Day - Two months later*
It’s been two months since we received the awful news that Joe was killed in action. I’ll never forget the look Denise and Paul had on their faces. It was clear they were hurt. Why wouldn’t they be? They’d lost their only child and didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye. The letter mentioned that as soon as Joe’s body was found, or something of his was recovered, it would be sent to their home immediately. But so far, there was no such luck. It wasn’t easy going to bed at night knowing that Joe was gone and I couldn’t ever get him back. And it was even more bothersome knowing that our son, who was due in this world any day now, would have to grow up without a father. I had plans of telling our boy how even though he wasn’t here, his father was still a hero. Because that was the truth.
“Come on Miles! We were supposed to leave for Church 10 minutes ago.” Liam yelled up the stairs, clearly irritated. I gave myself one last look in the mirror before walking down the stairs. Because it was Christmas, I wanted to be a little more dressy than I had been dressing lately due to my enormous stomach. I went with a tight fitted red sweater, black leggings, and a new pair of Black UGGs, courtesy of Liam. It wasn’t too much, but it wasn’t the sweatpants and hoodies I had been wearing since I found out Joe was killed.
It was nearly impossible for me to sit through Church because there was so much on my mind. This was my first Christmas in four years without Joe sitting by my side, opening gifts with me. I didn’t even want to go over to the Jonas’ household, another tradition, to open gifts because it wouldn’t be the same without Joe. But I didn’t want to be rude. It was Joe’s family’s first Christmas without him as well and we would all have to get through it together.
Z Liam and I were now at the Jonas house, all sitting in the living room, waiting for Denise to put the ham in the oven and then join us so we could all open gifts. Thankfully, it was a big room because there was a lot of us and a lot of gifts. Things were winding down and everyone had one final gift to open. I looked at the pile that was once placed in front of me, and saw a bunch of opened gifts, and wrapping paper. I guess I didn’t have a final gift. Denise walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Miley, sweetie. Your final gift is outside.” My final gift was outside? That seemed a bit odd. What could it possibly be. I nodded my head and lifted myself off the couch, as carefully as possible. Leaving everyone else to open their final gifts, I walked outside, nervous, curious, and excited to find out what my last gift would be. As soon as I opened the door, standing in front of me, uniform on, bags in hand, looking almost exactly how he did when he left 8 months ago except skinnier and more
muscular, was Joe. Immediately, tears started pouring down my eyes.
“J-J-Joe? What are you doing here?” I stuttered to get the words out, not believing what I saw in front of me. “I’m home, baby. For good.” He was smiling, clearly very proud of his news. “B-b-but… Your mom and dad got a
letter telling us that you were killed in action. You’re not alive anymore, they sent us some remains of yours. You’ve been dead for months now.” I was so confused and didn’t know what to believe. Was Joe dead or was he really standing here in front of me? Taking me in his arms, and rubbing my back comfortingly, Joe held me tight. “It was all a mistake. They sent the letter out to the wrong family. Not once, in the entire 8 months that I was gone did I suffer an injury. I was perfectly fine the whole time, and now, because of that, I get to be home
again with you, forever.” His words hit me like a ton of bricks. So he wasn’t gone. He was perfectly fine and now he was going to stay with me forever. Pulling away, Joe looked me in the eyes and kissed me on the lips. I kissed back with all the passion and emotion I could. He looked right from my eyes, to my stomach and I felt a giant lump form in my throat. Oh no, he probably never opened that box I gave him and now he’s gonna get the wrong idea. He’s going to think I cheated on him while he was gone. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled something out. Judging by the size and texture of it, I knew what it was - Joe’s Christmas gift; my first ever sonogram of our little boy. Except we didn’t know he was a boy at the time, but still. That meant, Joe knew the news. He held it up and then looked back from the sonogram to my stomach. “So… What do you think?” I asked, anxious to know how he felt about this whole thing. “I think this is the most amazing gift I could ever ask for. Everyday while I was at war,
I looked at the picture and held it near me. I kept it in my pocket as a good luck charm. And I know it might seem like I didn’t care because of my lack of calling but, trust me, I did care, more than anything else in the world. I
wanted to call you every day but I just couldn‘t bring myself to do it. I knew if I heard your voice, I would become too distracted and think of you and our baby, and not what I was supposed to be doing. It might sound a bit harsh, but I promise, you were on my mind every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day. I really hope you don’t hate me because of my lack of calling and making it seem like I didn‘t care or want to be with you. Because I wanted to be with you every single day, but I couldn’t, not until I finished what I had to do.” Joe’s words were all I needed to be reassured that he did care and everything was going to be okay.
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*3 Years Later - Christmas Day*
“Joe, come on! We’re already super late. If you don’t hurry up, we’ll never get a good seat.” I whined. “It’s not my fault our son takes after you and takes forever to get ready.” Joe joked, from upstairs. “He’s 3, Joseph. It can’t
possibly take that long to get him ready. Just pick out an outfit for him, put him in it, and get down here!” I hated coming across bossy but I hated it even more when I was late to something. It was a tough process, but Joe somehow managed to get Cody and himself ready as well as drive us to Church and find a spot just before Mass started.
*At the Jonas House*
Back at the house, things were going as they normally would. Denise was in the kitchen and the rest of us were in the living room waiting for her to finish doing what she had to before we could open gifts. I felt bad that I wasn’t helping her out but whenever I asked her, she always refused and told me she had everything under control. I didn’t want to seem like I was pushing her so I just let her do what she wanted to and waited in the room with Joe, Cody, and the rest of Joe’s family. Finally, Denise came out of the kitchen, taking her spot
next to Paul and the opening of gifts began.
Everyone was down to one present and we were going to all open them at the same time except I looked down and noticed I had no more gifts to open. It wasn’t a big deal though, I didn’t mind watching everyone else open their gifts. As everyone was focusing on opening their gifts, Joe leaned in to me and whispered “Your final gift is outside. Come on.” I looked around and saw how happy Cody was playing with all of his new toys and I felt a little bad about leaving him. “He’ll be fine, I promise. Please, come with me.” Joe begged. How could I say no to a cute face like his. It just wasn’t possible. I reached my hand towards Joe and he helped me up and led me outside.
Winter was definitely here and you could tell as soon as you walked outside due to the freezing cold and the pure white blankets of snow on the ground. I looked around and everything seemed to be normal. I didn’t really know what the purpose of us coming outside was. When I turned around to ask Joe was going on, I noticed he was kneeling on one knee, with a red box in his hands, stretched out towards me. “Merry Christmas.” He whispered, before rising back up and walking towards me. “Is that what I think it is?” I asked, unable to believe it. “It is, if you want it to be.” I nodded my head up and down so fast, I’m shocked it didn’t fall off. Joe opened the box and I almost gasped. It was the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen in my life. “Will you marry me?” “Of course I will!” I shrieked, so excited. Joe picked me up and spun me around. Joe, Cody, and I were going to be a real family. Nothing could get in the way of this amazing Christmas miracle.
*The day Joe leaves*
The day was finally here. Today was the last time I would see Joe for 8 months. A lot could happen in 8 months. Both Joe and I knew that but we chose to ignore it. For the time being at least. When you’re not going to see the person you love for 8 months, you try to block out all the negatives until after you’ve said goodbye. So we just stood in the entryway of the apartment that we shared and held each other. Both of us pretending that Joe going away for 8 months wasn’t tearing us apart on the inside.
Outside, Paul, Joe’s father, was waiting in the car, repeatedly honking the horn and yelling for Joseph to come outside. “I’ll be there in a second!” Joe yelled as loud as he could. The honking stopped and Joe went back to holding me. “Promise me something Joe…” I looked up at him. “Anything.” He whispered. “While you’re there, stay safe. Do whatever you have to to make sure that you and your men are safe.” I knew it sounded bad that I was basically telling Joe it was okay to kill other men as long as it kept him safe and got him home sooner but I
couldn’t help it. He hadn’t even left yet but the thought of his dad’s truck pulling out of my driveway and off into the distance was already killing me inside. “Of course I will, baby. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure
I come home safely. Don’t you worry.” He smiled, gently squeezing my arms. His dad started honking again and we both knew it was really time for him to go. “It looks like that’s my signal to go. I’m going to miss you so much, baby. But I promise, the first time I have a free moment, I’ll call you.” I nodded my head and leaned up and kissed Joe. “Before you go, I have something I want to give you…” I trailed off, before running upstairs, leaving a very confused Joe downstairs, and a very angry Paul, in his car.
As fast as I could, I ran up to my room and found what I was looking for, a very carefully wrapped box with a bow on the top. I grabbed it as quickly as I could and then ran back down the stairs. “This is for you.” I reached out and handed Joe the box, a giant grin on my face. “What’s this?” He asked, sounding very confused. “It’s your Christmas gift… I know it’s March right now, but you’re gonna be gone for at least 8 months and who knows if that will include Christmas. So, just to be safe, I wanted to give it to you now so I know you’ll have it and keep it with you while you’re gone.” I tried my best not to get emotional when I told him that but it was just so hard. I didn’t want him to go. And, even more, I didn’t want him to not be here for Christmas. Ever since we started dating, four years ago, we spent every Christmas together and I didn’t want this year to be any different. Even though Joe assured me that he’d be home, I wasn’t holding my breath on anything. I must have been getting a little emotional because Joe reached out and pulled me into his chest. “Thank you so much baby. If I had known you were getting me something, I would have gotten you a gift. But I promise, as soon as I get back home, I’m gonna give you the best gift ever.” I didn’t get a chance to respond because the honking started up again and Paul was way angrier now. “As much as I don’t want to, I really have to go now. I’ll see you soon. I love you, Miley.” “I love you too, Joe.” We both looked at each other and then “Forever and always.” we whispered. It was something we did whenever we said goodbye. One last time, Joe picked me up, spun me around, kissed me, then set me back down. And with his big arms, thanks to all the training he had done, he picked up his heavy bags containing the stuff he would need for the next 8 months and was on his way out the door and off to war.
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*6 months later*
It’s been 6 months since Joe left and in that time, I’ve only heard from him once. And that was to tell me he was settled in and getting used to being over there, but he still hadn’t had a chance to open his gift. The conversation was brief because you could hear the Sergeant yelling in the background. Since that day, I’d waited and waited for him to call so I could tell him the good news. But with each day that went by and not hearing from him, became another day of me giving up all hope that I would ever hear from him again and he would never
know the news I wanted so badly to share with him. “Miley, you’ve gotta calm down. He’s busy fighting a war and he doesn’t have a lot of free time to make phone calls. I can almost guarantee he hasn’t stopped thinking about you though.” My older brother, Laim, tried to assure me. We were hanging out at my house, talking about Joe and how much I missed him. “I know, Liam. It’s just, I can’t help but worry that it’s been so long and I haven’t heard from him.” I felt tears forming in my eyes, preparing to make their way down my face. But before they had a chance to free themselves and come down my face, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” I said, getting on my feet and walking towards the door.
Standing in front of me with tears in their eyes and a piece of paper in their hands was Joe’s parents, Paul and Denise. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened and why they were crying. I opened the door even more, and they walked inside. Without saying a word, I wrapped my arms around both of them and we stood in the entry way of my home, just crying.
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*Christmas Day - Two months later*
It’s been two months since we received the awful news that Joe was killed in action. I’ll never forget the look Denise and Paul had on their faces. It was clear they were hurt. Why wouldn’t they be? They’d lost their only child and didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye. The letter mentioned that as soon as Joe’s body was found, or something of his was recovered, it would be sent to their home immediately. But so far, there was no such luck. It wasn’t easy going to bed at night knowing that Joe was gone and I couldn’t ever get him back. And it was even more bothersome knowing that our son, who was due in this world any day now, would have to grow up without a father. I had plans of telling our boy how even though he wasn’t here, his father was still a hero. Because that was the truth.
“Come on Miles! We were supposed to leave for Church 10 minutes ago.” Liam yelled up the stairs, clearly irritated. I gave myself one last look in the mirror before walking down the stairs. Because it was Christmas, I wanted to be a little more dressy than I had been dressing lately due to my enormous stomach. I went with a tight fitted red sweater, black leggings, and a new pair of Black UGGs, courtesy of Liam. It wasn’t too much, but it wasn’t the sweatpants and hoodies I had been wearing since I found out Joe was killed.
It was nearly impossible for me to sit through Church because there was so much on my mind. This was my first Christmas in four years without Joe sitting by my side, opening gifts with me. I didn’t even want to go over to the Jonas’ household, another tradition, to open gifts because it wouldn’t be the same without Joe. But I didn’t want to be rude. It was Joe’s family’s first Christmas without him as well and we would all have to get through it together.
Z Liam and I were now at the Jonas house, all sitting in the living room, waiting for Denise to put the ham in the oven and then join us so we could all open gifts. Thankfully, it was a big room because there was a lot of us and a lot of gifts. Things were winding down and everyone had one final gift to open. I looked at the pile that was once placed in front of me, and saw a bunch of opened gifts, and wrapping paper. I guess I didn’t have a final gift. Denise walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Miley, sweetie. Your final gift is outside.” My final gift was outside? That seemed a bit odd. What could it possibly be. I nodded my head and lifted myself off the couch, as carefully as possible. Leaving everyone else to open their final gifts, I walked outside, nervous, curious, and excited to find out what my last gift would be. As soon as I opened the door, standing in front of me, uniform on, bags in hand, looking almost exactly how he did when he left 8 months ago except skinnier and more
muscular, was Joe. Immediately, tears started pouring down my eyes.
“J-J-Joe? What are you doing here?” I stuttered to get the words out, not believing what I saw in front of me. “I’m home, baby. For good.” He was smiling, clearly very proud of his news. “B-b-but… Your mom and dad got a
letter telling us that you were killed in action. You’re not alive anymore, they sent us some remains of yours. You’ve been dead for months now.” I was so confused and didn’t know what to believe. Was Joe dead or was he really standing here in front of me? Taking me in his arms, and rubbing my back comfortingly, Joe held me tight. “It was all a mistake. They sent the letter out to the wrong family. Not once, in the entire 8 months that I was gone did I suffer an injury. I was perfectly fine the whole time, and now, because of that, I get to be home
again with you, forever.” His words hit me like a ton of bricks. So he wasn’t gone. He was perfectly fine and now he was going to stay with me forever. Pulling away, Joe looked me in the eyes and kissed me on the lips. I kissed back with all the passion and emotion I could. He looked right from my eyes, to my stomach and I felt a giant lump form in my throat. Oh no, he probably never opened that box I gave him and now he’s gonna get the wrong idea. He’s going to think I cheated on him while he was gone. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled something out. Judging by the size and texture of it, I knew what it was - Joe’s Christmas gift; my first ever sonogram of our little boy. Except we didn’t know he was a boy at the time, but still. That meant, Joe knew the news. He held it up and then looked back from the sonogram to my stomach. “So… What do you think?” I asked, anxious to know how he felt about this whole thing. “I think this is the most amazing gift I could ever ask for. Everyday while I was at war,
I looked at the picture and held it near me. I kept it in my pocket as a good luck charm. And I know it might seem like I didn’t care because of my lack of calling but, trust me, I did care, more than anything else in the world. I
wanted to call you every day but I just couldn‘t bring myself to do it. I knew if I heard your voice, I would become too distracted and think of you and our baby, and not what I was supposed to be doing. It might sound a bit harsh, but I promise, you were on my mind every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day. I really hope you don’t hate me because of my lack of calling and making it seem like I didn‘t care or want to be with you. Because I wanted to be with you every single day, but I couldn’t, not until I finished what I had to do.” Joe’s words were all I needed to be reassured that he did care and everything was going to be okay.
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*3 Years Later - Christmas Day*
“Joe, come on! We’re already super late. If you don’t hurry up, we’ll never get a good seat.” I whined. “It’s not my fault our son takes after you and takes forever to get ready.” Joe joked, from upstairs. “He’s 3, Joseph. It can’t
possibly take that long to get him ready. Just pick out an outfit for him, put him in it, and get down here!” I hated coming across bossy but I hated it even more when I was late to something. It was a tough process, but Joe somehow managed to get Cody and himself ready as well as drive us to Church and find a spot just before Mass started.
*At the Jonas House*
Back at the house, things were going as they normally would. Denise was in the kitchen and the rest of us were in the living room waiting for her to finish doing what she had to before we could open gifts. I felt bad that I wasn’t helping her out but whenever I asked her, she always refused and told me she had everything under control. I didn’t want to seem like I was pushing her so I just let her do what she wanted to and waited in the room with Joe, Cody, and the rest of Joe’s family. Finally, Denise came out of the kitchen, taking her spot
next to Paul and the opening of gifts began.
Everyone was down to one present and we were going to all open them at the same time except I looked down and noticed I had no more gifts to open. It wasn’t a big deal though, I didn’t mind watching everyone else open their gifts. As everyone was focusing on opening their gifts, Joe leaned in to me and whispered “Your final gift is outside. Come on.” I looked around and saw how happy Cody was playing with all of his new toys and I felt a little bad about leaving him. “He’ll be fine, I promise. Please, come with me.” Joe begged. How could I say no to a cute face like his. It just wasn’t possible. I reached my hand towards Joe and he helped me up and led me outside.
Winter was definitely here and you could tell as soon as you walked outside due to the freezing cold and the pure white blankets of snow on the ground. I looked around and everything seemed to be normal. I didn’t really know what the purpose of us coming outside was. When I turned around to ask Joe was going on, I noticed he was kneeling on one knee, with a red box in his hands, stretched out towards me. “Merry Christmas.” He whispered, before rising back up and walking towards me. “Is that what I think it is?” I asked, unable to believe it. “It is, if you want it to be.” I nodded my head up and down so fast, I’m shocked it didn’t fall off. Joe opened the box and I almost gasped. It was the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen in my life. “Will you marry me?” “Of course I will!” I shrieked, so excited. Joe picked me up and spun me around. Joe, Cody, and I were going to be a real family. Nothing could get in the way of this amazing Christmas miracle.