There was no such thing as a three-day weekend here, so the fact that it was Labor Day weekend made no difference to me. I sat in the operations center with my laptop, scouring the internet for the world’s most obnoxious blow-up apple for Morgan’s classroom.

Hastings rolled his eyes every time I sent him on random missions, but he never complained. The guy’s cast had been cut off last week, but he’d been denied his request to replace me down here. Honestly, I couldn’t be pissed. This was my job, and like it or not, deployments were a part of it.

A fact Morgan knew all too well, which didn’t exactly work in my favor. Once I got home and had her back in my arms, it would only be a matter of time before we went through this again. Hell, I’d be up for Lieutenant Commander in two years, so a PCS wasn’t going to be far behind.

I missed both my girls like hell, and we weren’t even halfway through this deployment. Seeing Fin’s face every morning and night was its own special form of torture. I could see her, but I couldn’t hug her, and each time the screen went black hurt my heart more than the last. I’d missed her first day of kindergarten, which was something I’d never thought I’d say.

But she’d had Claire, right?

And Morgan.

Fuck, I missed Morgan. I missed her smile and her laugh. I missed walks on the beach and the moments she’d open up. I missed waking up in the middle of the night with her body wrapped around mine and her head on my chest. Did I miss the sex? I was a guy, and it was the best of my life, so yeah, of course, but I missed the connection more. I would have given up sex for the rest of my life if it meant I could just hold her every day. I’d probably negotiate a few kisses, though. I missed her kisses so much I nearly groaned just thinking about them. She’d never been able to hide her feelings when her mouth was on mine.

The fact that Finley spent her afternoons with Morgan gave me hope. Not that I was using my kid to keep my girlfriend or anything. I wasn’t sure there was anything I could do to actually keep Morgan, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t fighting like hell. I’d meant every word I’d said to her the day I left. I loved her enough to carry us through this. Hell, I loved her enough to carry her through a thousand of these, but I still hated myself for putting her through it. There weren’t enough gifts in the world to make up for the spike in her anxiety attacks.