Taco Bell

Kat sighed, throwing her messenger bag over her shoulder, and headed out towards her college classes. Another week and Sean would be home. Oh, please don’t let anything happen to him. Why did her husband have to be sent off to the worst possible area the military had to offer? Afghanistan. What was she suppose to if with herself if something happened to him? She was only 26; far too young to be a widow, and there was no way she would recover, or ever function again if something happened to him. Hell, she couldn’t function now.

Shaking her head, she banished any thoughts of Sean’s early demise from her head. After he’d left, she’d gone into a bit of a trance. Just going through the motions, not really aware of what was going on. She got her work done; good grades on her assignments, she didn’t party, rarely touched alcohol. And while this went without saying, she also hadn’t touched a man. Things were lonely, but she wanted him. No substitutes would possibly be able to work. Kat wanted Sean, and she wanted him now. But that wasn’t going to happen.

Opening the door to the small apartment, she closed it behind her, double checking to make sure it was locked. Satisfied that, if anyone got in, it wouldn’t be because of her incompetence, Katarina turned around, and walked down the one flight of stairs, and out the apartment building she and Sean had bought a while ago. It was small, but not cramped and close enough to the college that she could walk. Kat wasn’t worried about being attacked on the way though; Sean had taught her some self defense after he’d gotten back from his training. Turned out that if she actually practiced, and knew some mad skills, she could kick some ass.

Ignoring the September chill, she walked to her first class.

To no surprise, the day passed in a blurr; some guy hit on her at lunch, and she’d reverted to her usual response; flipping the guy off with one hand, and waving her wedding ring finger with the other.

Her last class, psychology. The last hurdle. Then she could go home, do her work, curl up on the couch with her poodle and a glass of wine, and cry herself to sleep.

Barely hearing her professor calling her name when the bell rang, she hardly had time to process it before she started packing her things; “Mrs. Mars. A moment, please.”

Looking up, she seemed dazed for a moment; not really comprehending. Wipe the bangs of her long thick red hair back out of her blue eyes. Why would Professor Heller need her? Surely she wasn’t having an issues; there wasn’t any possibility of behavioral problems.

When she got all her stuff gathered together, she stepped down the plain black steps in the elevated classroom. Waiting until she was a good distance from her, Katarina spoke; “Yes Ma’am?”

“I just wanted to make sure you didn’t daze your way out of here. You seemed very out of sorts, even by your standards. You have a visitor.”

The tone was what made her suspicious. Her heart lept in her throat; she was setting herself up for some major disappointment; however, even that didn’t seem to stop her;

Turning, her dream for the past… well, she didn’t want to even think about how long it had been. Either way, he was standing right there.

It was like a scene from a movie; Her professor said something, but Katarina couldn’t hear it. There he was; Sean. In flesh and blood. Everything froze; her bag slipped down her shoulder and off her arm, landing with a dull thud. With a gasp, she ran the very short distance from herself to him.

He opened his arms, welcoming her. Jumping into his arms, she kissed him passionately, and oh dear sweet Mary, did it feel good to feel his arms around her again; he held her, supporting her body against his own. Sean kissed her back just as possessively; her arms were loosely wrapped around his neck, as his once oh-so-sexy longish brown hair had been cut. Damn. But it still looked sexy as hell.

Dropping down, she hugged him, burying her head against his chest; She could feel the had muscles of his body through his Marines uniform. Looking up at him, she smiled broadly, for quiet possibly the first time since his deployment. He looked down back at her with those incredibly dark and intelligent brown eyes, giving her a silent promise to make up for every lonely night she’d had since he’d gone.

Professor Heller was gone. What the hell? Never mind. She didn’t care.

He dropped his head to her ear, whispering; ”Oh, the things I’m going to do to you when we get home; but first…” when he stopped, she looked up; what the hell? Finishing his statement, it was not at all what she was expecting, “can we go stop by that Taco Bell?”