Chapter 177: New Duty Stations

I’ve submitted requests for you two to get new assignments. Keep an eye on your emails. Doing my damnedest to keep you close, but I can’t guarantee anything. - Dom

Geo ended the video call on his computer and went to his email. He refreshed it twice before the email that he needed populated in his .mil inbox. Opening the attached file, he read it through twice before he printed his new orders on the all-in-one printer.

Using the authorized blue ink, he signed the orders, scanned them back in and sent them to the correct email address. Within a few minutes, he received another email and he followed the link to the website. Completing the form to have his base housing boxed up and shipped to his next duty station did not take long. Just as he knew that the process of packing up his one-bedroom apartment would not take long.

His plan had been to come home for a week and a half and then go back to finish setting up his apartment. He had not even unpacked anything when he flew to Miami. Arriving in Boston on Saturday, he thought he had hit it just right on his flight, with it being one of the last that flew before the lockdown fully hit America.

Memaw had been spending the weekend at his parent’s house and was locked out of her care facility. They would not let her back in. Anthony and Tilly were both okay with that.

Until they remembered that she was basically a toddler with the ability to drink alcohol and read smut books. Technically, she listened to her smut books, usually with the audio turned to full volume. As for drinking alcohol, she pointed out that the nation had taken up a new past time – drinking.

Both the alcohol and the smut books led to interesting phone calls. From what Geo had heard, they also caused interesting moments with Tilly’s virtual classroom, and Anthony’s virtual therapy sessions. After his mom told him about Memaw walking into the kitchen to get more wine with her audio book on full blast. Tilly did not have an at-home office set up yet and was working at the kitchen table.

As Tilly was teaching how to conjugate a verb, Memaw entered with her latest high fae fantasy playing. Turning red as her junior class heard about how to conjugate much more than a verb, Tilly had asked her mother to use her earbuds.

Memaw declared that they were useless and she could not hear anything with them. Tilly tried to turn them on and discovered that the small devices were dead. As she tried to convince her mother to go back to her room for the rest of the school day, only about twenty minutes, her students began discussing the book series. Giving up, she turned off the audiobook, dismissed her class and sat her mother in front of the computer for an impromptu book club.

Geo was thinking about this when his phone lit up with a new message from his mom. He had a few other things that he had to take care of before he could see what his mother wanted. By passing the newest message, he sent a quick text to Porthos. A thumbs up appeared before he heard footsteps on the tile in the hallway.

“What’s up, babe?”

“I got my orders,” Geo handed him the papers that he pulled off the all-in-one printer.

Porthos took the papers warily and skimmed over the official jargon. Geo watched as his new husband stopped and went back to read them again. Reaching out to each other, their fingers linked together as he smiled and lowered the papers.

“The Pentagon?” he asked and Geo nodded. “I thought that they said that if you got the Pentagon, it would not be until late into your contract.”

“Apparently, Colonel Jessica Lancaster has some really good pull. Have you checked your email?”

“No,” Porthos admitted as Geo stood up.

Grasping the short beard on his chin that Porthos was growing out, Geo forced the other man to look at him. Although Porthos was a few inches taller than him, Geo still had his boots on, and they were just about even. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to the other mans. Porthos tossed the papers onto the desk as he wrapped his free arm around Geo and pulled him close.

Releasing his beard, Geo slipped his hand behind Porthos’ head. Both men gave soft moans, as they tilted their heads and deepened the kiss. When they broke apart, Porthos rested his forehead against Geo’s.

“I’m scared,” Porthos admitted.

“Of us all being separated again?”

“That too.” He let out a deep breath, “I’ve lived in the closet all my life. Even when I was in Germany, I was in a relationship with a married couple, but everyone assumed the wife was a pivot.”

“She wasn’t,” Geo said with a little smile.

“No, it was very much me and him just as much as it was me and her. But now…. I don’t want you to think that I’m embarrassed to be married to you, I’m not. I’m just…”

“Scared.”

Nodding, Porthos whispered, “Yeah.”

“I understand,” Geo smiled at him and gave him another light kiss. “I’ve gone through all of that. I just did it in the awkward teenager phase and not the adult soldier phase.”

“Were you this nervous?”

“No, nervous was not an emotion that I would use to describe it. But I nearly killed myself. Please don’t do that.”

“I never knew that.”

Geo smirked, “Not one of my better moments in life. And my family is full of fucking head shrinkers.”

Porthos chuckled. “At least you know what your family is full of.”

“Hey, we’re building our own family. With you, me, Denver, our girl, and our baby. But you and me, we have a few years to build our relationship even stronger.”

“Are you upset that Denver is the one that married Priss?”

“No. Are you?”

“Yes, but no. I wanted it to be me. But she needs someone here with her. She needs someone who will ground her and keep her from spiraling out of control.”

“We all do that,” Geo smiled and pressed his lips against Porthos’. “Before we can move forward, we need to know where you’re going to be.”

Porthos nodded and they broke apart. He sat down in the chair and Geo stood behind him, gently rubbing his shoulders and neck. Opening the email that came from his CO, he took a deep breath before clicking on the attachment.

“Fort Meade, Maryland.” He toggled over and looked at the map. “About an hour outside of DC.”

“How far from here?”

Typing in the address for the Shack, they waited for the directions to pop up. “About six hours.”

“We got this, sweet thing.”

Porthos laughed as Geo’s phone lit up with another message from his mom. “What the hell is the Old Bat Book Club?”

He laughed. “A book club that consists of my Memaw and some of my mom’s current and former students. And maybe our girl.”