Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you

[dharmalady]

Juliet Scott was married for five years. Three of them were good. She was young, Damien was too. They were in love and carefree; had fun and had a lot of sex, traveled to a lot of places. She'd been on track to start med school but when she met Damien, she wanted him instead, and she thought she'd always choose him over everything.

Until she got pregnant.

He stuck around for a few months but then, conveniently his job took him away and the stretches of time between being home and being gone were longer. He was never a bad dad to Mia, not once, but it was like a chore to be home, to be a husband and civilian again. Juliet missed him but she tried to talk to him about it and it was a fight, every time. He had a job, he had missions, he couldn't just give that up. So she decided a year and a half ago to not make him choose anymore. She sent him divorce papers, certified mail, with a letter explaining to him that she was tired of feeling like she and Mia weren't a priority. Like he didn't want to be there when he was back in the states. She wasn't surprised when she got the signed paperwork back with no note in response.

She and Mia have been solo ever since, the two of them moving to Miami to be closer to Juliet's sister. Med school finally happens, and now Juliet's an intern and Mia is five. It's been hard, harder than Juliet ever thought she'd have to do on her own, but she's doing it. She's never told Damien he can't be a part of Mia's life, she's never tried to keep him away from her. When she moves, she makes sure someone in his branch of the military, wherever he is, gets her address. She's not even angry at him anymore, just sad that it ended this way between them.

Comments

[inthewar]

He's still holding Mia in his lap, kissing the top of her head as he looks up at Juliet.

"Pepperoni? You like that, too?"

[dharmalady]

"Yeah, we're all good," she says before ordering via an app on her phone. And that night they eat pizza and watch movies before Mia falls asleep in her daddy's lap, her head tucked against his shoulder.

[inthewar]

Damien's so comfortable with his little girl in his arms, draping her little blanket around her so she's warm and comfortable, too. He kisses her, not moving at all while she sleeps. But when the movie ends, he carefully gets up, moving slow so he doesn't jostle her, and then he carries her to bed, tucking her in, putting her new plush cow beside her in bed.

"I love you, baby girl," he whispers to her, stroking her little cheek before pulling back and letting her sleep.

[dharmalady]

Juliet's waiting for him when he comes back, and now she has a drink, alcohol, gesturing to the bottle. "Help yourself," she says before taking a sip.

"You know. You love her so damn much. And she loves you more. So why are you afraid to be here?"

[inthewar]

He's quiet, sipping at his drink. "It's easy to do this when I'm not here very long," he admits, knowing how bad that sounds. "She can't see all my fucking flaws."

[dharmalady]

"Well. Guess you're the lucky one in all of this. You're the good guy. You come, deliver presents, love her and leave and then I'm the bad guy. The enforcer." She doesn't even sound upset, she's accepted it. She just wants to make him face it sometimes. "I'd love a fucking break sometimes, you know?"

[inthewar]

"No. I'm the fucking bad guy. She'll figure that out soon enough," he says, downing his entire glass quickly now.

[dharmalady]

"Not if you actually made an effort, Damien. She's young enough that if you did more now, she'd never think twice about anything else," Juliet points out. "She doesn't give a shit about anything other than you. What you do for her which is make her feel loved and happy."

[inthewar]

He looks down, not ready to meet her eyes. "I fucked all of this up, I know it."

[dharmalady]

"So you're gonna keep fucking it up? For what?"

[inthewar]

"No. I don't wanna leave her again," he says quietly.

[dharmalady]

She's so damn surprised when he says that, that she doesn't say anything at all for a second. "....What?"

[inthewar]

"I don't...I don't have anything fucking figured out yet. I just don't think I can leave her again. And you're right. I'll keep fucking it up if I leave again."

[dharmalady]

Juliet finishes the rest of her drink and then stands. "If you really mean this? You'll figure it out," she tells him. "Goodnight, Damien."

Sometime around three in the morning a storm rolls through with loud thunder, and Mia wakes up, not going to her mommy's room like she normally would. She knows her daddy is there so she goes to his room, opening the door and whispering. "Daddy? It's too loud outside."

[inthewar]

He sits up a little, slightly disoriented, but then there's another crack of thunder so he realizes what she's talking about now.

"Come here, baby," he urges, holding his arms out to her and then holding her tightly when she's in bed with him. "I won't let anything happen."

[dharmalady]

Mia snuggles down against him, feeling so safe in his arms. "Can I stay with you?" she asks him in the dark.

[inthewar]

"You can always stay with me," he promises her, kissing her forehead.

[dharmalady]

"But you go away," she whispers. "Other daddies at school do, too." She knows other kids who have parents in the military. And she knows something else, too. "Aiden's daddy never came back, and everybody was sad," Mia says with so much fear in her little voice. She doesn't quite get that the man died, just that her friend was never going to see him again.

"Mommy says you'll always come back."

[inthewar]

Because Mia is old enough to really articulate her thoughts and feelings now, Damien can see so clearly how much it's affected her, the way he leaves so much. Hearing that fear in her small voice just makes his heart ache.

"I will, baby. I'll always come back." But he knows as long as he goes on these missions, he can't guarantee it, not at all. So he leans in to whisper to her. "What if I just stay here, always?"

[dharmalady]

"Forever, with me?" she asks him, looking up at him in the dark as one little hand reaches out to touch the scruff on his cheek.

[inthewar]

"Yeah, honey," he smiles, kissing her little hand and trying to figure out how the hell to pull this off. But he can't stand the thought of her worrying about him and thinking he might never come back.

[dharmalady]

"I like that," she says happily, snuggling closer. She's drowsy again, not so afraid of the storm now that she's in her daddy's arms. But she whispers one last thing to him. "Now, you can keep me and mommy safe too."

[inthewar]

He doesn't really know where things stand between him and Juliet, but he'll always do everything he can to protect her, too. "You better believe it, kiddo," Damien smiles, speaking softly and stroking her hair as he tugs her to lay against his chest.

[dharmalady]

Slowly, Mia falls asleep right on top of him, so happy that he's there and that he wants to stay with her now. This is the first year she wished for anything on her birthday, and it was just for her daddy. She fully believes that's why he's staying now, and she's so happy.

The next morning, Juliet goes to wake Mia up for school and there's a brief moment of panic when she isn't in her bed. But then she checks Damien's room and Mia's right there, sleeping against him. She just watches for a few minutes, then takes a deep breath and lets it out softly, walking forward and waking Damien first, gently. "Hey. Time to get her around for school."

[inthewar]

Damien opens his eyes slowly, his head tucked to Mia's. He kisses her head and nods a little, rubbing her back. "Hey, honey. Time to wake up," he breathes out, stroking Mia's hair.