Betrayal of a Marine

Luke Feller is a United States Marine from a long line of Marines. They all held the title honorably and he followed every man in his family before him. He is an engineer but every Marine is also a rifle-man, and Luke is top of his graduating class at marksman ship and hand to hand combat. Usually he works on base as a engineer but sometimes he's pulled out for covert missions. He has a beautiful wife who is his universe and a beautiful baby boy named Aiden. He was only with his little boy for a little while after he was born before he was pulled out for a two year detail over seas. All the information was classified so all his wife new was that he would be gone for two years. A little before he was supposed to return home he makes a surprise early home coming. His wife is so happy he is back, but little does she know that one of the deep dark secretes she has to hide from her husband has turned into a pregnancy.

The Plane ride home had been the longest of his life. He had spent the last two years of his life in war. He didn't even know if he could adjust back to civilian life or if he even wanted too. He had been waiting two years to come home, back to the states to and he was ecstatic to see his wife and how much his little baby boy had grown. The airport was filled with happy families greeting their loved ones who came home from over seas. He had no one to greet him his journey home was a surprise and frankly he was kinda depressing but it would be worth it when he saw the surprised looks on their faces.


The cab slowed to a stop outside his house and he smiled to the cabbie who thanked him for his service and took his fare. He nodded politely and opened the door sliding out with his duffle. As soon as his boots hit the sidewalk he was engulfed in the house, it was exactly how he left it. beat up wooden fence, chipping blue paint and all. Itwas organically a fix-me-upper but being that Wife was in love with at first sight and he loved a good project, so the deed was his.


He smiled at the though and pushed open the wooden gate bags in hand. He strolled up the drive nerves bunching in his stomach and rising to his chest. He momentarily paused rubbing his free hand on the 79' Chevy that looked like it hadn't been touched since he left. This truck was his baby he built it from scratch and to see his wife had kept it for him made his stomach sawrm with butterflies. He chuckled and continued his march up to the door. Swallowing hard he pulled his dog tag chains over his head and used the key that hung with his tags to open the door. Taking a deep breath he stepped inside, and it seemed, back in time. He was created with a loud bang and a loud screech.


"DADDY!!"


 
(Hope you don't mind I started )

Serin was in the middle of doing the dishes when she heard her son yell. Drying her hands on a dish towel, she walked out of the kitchen to see what had happened. "Aiden, wha- LUKE!" Sera gasped. "Oh my- When did- How long- Luke!" Sera threw herself in her husband's arms.


She plastered on the biggest smile she could manage and looked him up and down. All his limbs seemed to be there. He seemed to be there. She couldn't believe it. He hadn't written home in a very long time. A VERY long time. She had assumed- no. She still didn't want to say it. "I- Luke... you... you're home!" She hugged him again, hard. She was in extreme disbelief still. "Honey, why don't you go settle yourself in? I'm sure you missed the place. I'll go whip up something to eat, you must be starved."


Sera moved back into the kitchen. The second she was out of sight, the smile on her face dropped. She leaned over the sink, feeling nauseous from guilt. After all that time not hearing from him, she was POSITIVE he wasn't coming back. She was so sure... She made a mistake. She didn't actually know for sure, so why did she do it? Was it to get back at him for going away for so long? She didn't know. She DID know that he could never know. He could never know she cheated on him.


As far as she was concerned, he WOULDN'T know.

He watched her go and laughed she was always all over the place even though she planned everything to the T. He scooped up Aiden in his arms and the little boy squealed with glee. He kissed his face and twirled him around.


"Hey buddy!" The little boy settled in misty eyed he hugged his fathers neck as hard as he could and Luke took the strangulation with a smile. "Are you happy Daddy's home?" He looked down at the boy. Aiden looked back at him with his mothers eyes and nodded. He wiped his eyes as he kept hugging Luke. Luke rubbed his back keeping years from his own eyes.


"I'm not going anywhere buddy I promise." He kissed her head combing through his sandy blonde hair.

((Sorry, my WiFi quit on me.))


Sera breathed deeply. Food. Okay. Make food. If she just acted normally, he wouldn't catch on. She prepared a meal for her husband, and walked into the living room. She saw her son squeezing the daylights out of Luke. And... and Luke. He looked so happy. She quickly backed into the kitchen again and choked back a sob. She cheated on him. So recently, too.


Aiden had started preschool a couple months back. With a VERY handsome teacher. Er- generous. She meant generous. Anyways, while she worked, he had offered to watch Aiden for free for a couple hours after school every day. He was so nice. And handsome. After she came back from work, he would stay and talk to her for a while. Then one day, he touched her leg in a flirty way. The next time, they kissed. Then, it quickly moved to something more... adult. She tried to tell herself it was okay, she doubted Luke's coming back. But, now that she thought about it, that was just a story she told herself to keep from feeling guilty.


Now that Luke was home, she couldn't handle her guilty feelings.She wanted to tell him, but how could she? "Hi honey, welcome home after two years of fighting a brutal war, I'm doing fine, also I cheated on you."


Sera sighed. She plastered a smile on her face again and braved the living room. She kissed her husband on the cheek and handed him his food. "Here you go, love." She said, and collapsed on the inside.

He held the sobbing boy and rubbed his back. When his Sera entered the room he looked over and smiled. She handed him the plate and he walked over to the couch. The boy didn't let go as he sat.


"Thank you, love." He smiled at her his eyes skirting over body. Man, he missed her. He had many a night he wished he would wake up next to her. Sometimes he had wanted her so badly, in the worst way. "I'm sorry, I didn't write we were deep in enemy territory and the communications were severed." He reached out to her. All he could tell her was that, the rest was highly classified. "Come here baby girl. I missed you."


 
(Its ok )

Sera teared up for a second, feeling bad, but she passed it off by yawning. "Heh, up late..." She scooted over to sit next to him, and leaned her head on his shoulder. "It's okay.." she said weakly. "I was just afraid... something... happened to you." She buried her face in Luke's shirt to hide her face, her eyes tearing up again.

He rubbed her lower back and leaned his cheek on her head. "I'm so sorry to put you through that." He kissed her head then her temple. "But I'm home now, hopefully for good thus time." He had a few more scars and tattoos, along with a shaved head twenty pounds more muscle and a three month old beard. Other than that though he seemed the same. Aiden turned in his arms and patted Sera on the head.


"Its ok mommy, DADDY is home, you don't have to go in you room and cry anymore." He leaned over and hugged Sera. Luke watched him with a somber expression. He looked over at his beautiful wife and guilt swam in his stomach.

Sera tensed up. "Aiden!" she exclaimed. She turned towards Luke. "It's not- It's okay. I just missed you a lot, that's all." While that was true, it wasn't the whole truth. Sure she missed him, but she also abused his absence. She loved another man and, no matter how brief it was, it was still wrong.


She looked her husband up and down. His body bulged with muscles, and he looked fantastic with a beard(though she would ask him to trim it down a bit). She brushed her fingers along his visible scars and looked him in the eyes for the first time that night. "I really did miss you a lot." she whispered. She pressed her whole body up against his side and snuggled into him. "You're home now."


"MOOOOOOOM!" shrieked a voice. "Roscoe's on the bed!"


Sera called back to her son, "Push him off, honey!" She looked sheepishly at Luke. "We uh, we got a dog. I felt safer with one."

He blinked still holding her against him. "Dogs are good I guess." He chuckled and leaned forward searching for the dog. He wasn't sure how he felt about dogs. He Did know though that he was still kinda jumpy from the jungle and if the dog jumped on him he might hurt it just out of reflex. "Might wanna keep him away from me." He smiled a bit nervously. Aiden jumped down and went to grab the dog wherever he may be.


"Don't worry daddy he'll like you!" Aiden exclaimed before he disappeared. Luke laughed and looked down at Sera. He cupped her face in his strong callous ed hands and leaned in.


"I love you." He whispered and kissed her with every ounce of his being. He had missed her so much, to much to put into words.

Sera's face heated up. Luke's kisses were heavenly. Every moment of missing him, every moment of worrying about him, every moment of seeing his image in Aiden, every moment he was in her thoughts went into this kiss. So much meaning flowed into that kiss. She felt herself relax, and she placed her hands on his cheeks. The last time she kissed someone was-


Sera abruptly pulled away. Her body had tensed again, and she avoided Luke's gaze. Guilt flooded back into her conscience. She sat still, unsure of what to do or say. Finally, she managed, "Sorry, like I said, I was up late. I'm just tired. I'm sorry." It was lame. She knew. She hoped Luke would believe her. It would be harder than she thought to act normal. So much guilt. Her husband was away, fighting for their lives, and she screws another man. What was wrong with her? She needed to tell him. No, she couldn't. That would be worse. She needed to keep it secret. It wouldn't matter to him if he didn't know. Why couldn't she just act normal? "I'm getting something to drink. Want anything?" She asked, looking everywhere but in Luke's direction.

He just watched her thinking she was acting strange, but then again he was pretty much a stranger at least this point. Maybe she didn't even want to kiss him. He swallows and nods looking up at her. "Yeah, something to drink." He tried his best to smile but when she averted her eyes he decided to just keep his hands to himself. He didn't want her to be uncomfortable. He watched her leave and leaned forward rubbing his temples.


There was a giant racket and Aiden screeched. Luke didn't think he just reacted. He was off the couch and rounding the corner to the kitchen in minutes. His heart pounded in his ears and his muscles tightened. A mutt of a dog was jumping all over Aiden making him squeak. The dog knocked him over. Luke lunged gripping the mutts collar ripping him away from Aiden. The dog yelped and continued whining as he kept tightening his collar around his throat.

Sera heard a commotion and sprinted into the room it was emitted from. "Oh my God, Luke, put him down!" she gasped as she saw Roscoe gulping for air. "What happened?" she questioned as she took in the scene surrounding her. Luke explained. "Wait, what? Roscoe never does that..." she said, confused. "It's probably because he smelled you on Aiden and didn't recognize the scent. C'mere, boy." Sera called to Roscoe. Roscoe skulked towards her. "I'll just put him out back."


She took Roscoe outside. She couldn't get the picture out of her head. Luke was choking her dog. He had just been frightened by something, possibly Aiden tugging on his tail again. Luke had overreacted, he had just come from war, she understood that. But after he had pulled Roscoe off Aiden, he kept choking him. There was enough time to realize what he was doing, but he just kept holding on. The Luke she knew before the war would never hurt anything intentionally. What happened?


Sera sighed. It hadn't even been a day, but she was already extremely emotionally exhausted. She sighed. She needed to stay outside for a bit. She watched the sun set as she stood alone, leaning on the back wall of the house. She began to cry.

Luke blinked and looked at Aiden. The little boy was teary eyed. "Daddy why did you hurt my puppy?" He wobbled over and hugged his leg. "I'm sorry if you don't like him." Luke kneeled down and gathered the boy in his arms.


"No I like him, I'm sorry I thought he was hurting you buddy. I just reacted." Aiden nodded into his shirt and hugged his neck. Luke picked him up and walked him out side to where Sera was. When he saw she was crying he let Aiden run off with the dog. He was hesitant but he just let him go.


"I'm sorry I thought he was hurting Aiden, I just moved without thinking." He looked down at he boots. "I'm not gonna hurt you guys if that's what you're worried about, I'd never."

Sera jumped when Luke spoke. She didn't realize he had walked up to her. While he talked, she dried her eyes and listened. "I'm not worried about that... I'm sorry. I think I just got overloaded, emotionally wise. Today's been... A lot." Seeing her husband after two years HAD impacted her quite a bit. "I'm sorry. I'm sure this weird feeling will blown over soon. Ahh, what time is it?" She asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Almost seven." He looked over at her. "And I understand I'lltry my best not to give you a heart attack." He smiled bittersweetly. He looked over st Aiden saying with the dog. He felt bad for reacting the way he did and hurting his little boys best friend. He hoped the distance she was giving him would blow over. He hated the silence.

Sera looked down. She felt bad. She hoped that she could start to forget about it soon. Luke didn't deserve to suffer from her mistake. She wanted to hug and kiss and be with him, but she couldn't bring herself to. So many people got by with cheating right under their partner's noses. Why couldn't she, when her partner wasn't even home for two years? Probably because they weren't unhappy together. She was just...lonely. She shook her head. "I should get Aiden ready for bed. He needs a bath." Sera said quietly.

"Can I help?" He looked over at his little boy. "I really missed him." His mind slipped off to over seas. He had only thought of them. He'd be knee deep in mud and sweating bullets and he would be thinking of them. He just thought it'd be different when he got home. He must of her hurt a lot. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry if me kissing you made you uncomfortable. I know I've been gone a while and I'm sorry I will keep my hands to myself. At least till you're comfortable with me." He smiled and walked over to Aiden. He scooped him up and kissed his head telling him it was bath time.

Sera's words were stuck in her throat as she watched Luke carry Aiden inside. He thought it was his fault. Exactly what she didn't want. She sighed. She felt a little dizzy, presumably from losing lots of water whilst crying. She walked inside and felt very weary. Her head still felt light, so she walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Sera peered inside of Aiden's room, and cracked a small smile at Luke struggling with Aiden, who was very opposed to bath time. She decided to lay down for a minute while Luke filled the bath. She didn't wake up until morning.

Luke was long gone by the time she awoke. He was down in the guarge under his '79 Chevy he didn't sleep at all last night at first it was because he wasn't used to a bed, but even when he moved to the floor he still had nightmares. At around 4:30 he gave up altogether and just went down to his work place. If he kept his hands busy he kept his mind off over seas. He had gutted almost the whole engine and was cleaning it. So parts lay everywhere and he was covered in oil and gasoline. He had used an old shirt as a rag but it got dirty quickly so he had used the one he was wearing.

Sera awoke and sat up, confused. Immediately, she clutched her stomach, whispered "Oh, shit...", basically fell off the bed, and scrambled into the bathroom. She felt like the puked her guts out. Well, that explained why she'd been so tired and foggy. She was sick. She bent down to grab the mouthwash from under the sink. Crap, they were out. There might be some in the cabinets in the garage.


Sera peeked in on Aiden as she passed his room, her son still dead asleep. She continued down her path to the garage. Upon opening the door, she was hit hard with the overwhelming smell of gasoline. Her stomach churned, and she grabbed the closest wastebasket she could see. Nothing left to upchuck, she just spit up water and stomach acid. "Uuuugh...." she groaned, gagging from the taste lingering in her mouth.


Sera lifted her head to see Luke staring at her, concerned. "I just...mouthwash...then gasoline..." The odor of the gasoline mixed with the aroma arising from the wastebasket made her feel extremely nauseous still. She just squeaked at Luke and shut the door. Ugh, what was this, the stomach flu? She poured herself a glass of water and sank into an armchair in the living room. She breathed deeply, trying to calm her stomach. Now that there wasn't the disgusting smell of gasoline, she felt better. That was weird, though. Sure, gasoline isn't the most pleasant smell, but it had never bothered her like that before. She guessed it was just because she already wasn't feeling good. Yeah, that was it.

Luke watched her shamble away looking sick as a dog. He stood and found a clean shop towel he wiped off his hands and his abdomen then he walked inside finding her in the living room clutching the arm of the chair with one hand and a glass of water with the other.


He walked over but kept his distance since he had gasoline and oil all over himself. He keeled down so he was eye level and looked at her with worried ice blue eyes.


"You alright Sera?" He asked, even his voice was laced with concern.


"You don't look to good baby." He said softly he hadn't even meant to caller her that, it was solely out of habit.


"I can go get you something if you need." He smiled sweetly.

"I think I'm just sick." Sera explained. "I've been feeling a bit off these past few days, and today it climaxed, I guess."


She gently smiled at Luke, breathing through her mouth, trying not to inhale the scent of gas all over him. It was seeping into her anyways, making her stomach turn slightly. "I'm fine, though. You can go back to working..." she trailed off, noticing the sleepless look Luke was sporting. "Hey, did you sleep at all last night?"

He smiled a bit and shook his head. "I don't usually sleep." He stood again and rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I'm just to restless." He lied with a chuckle. "I'm used to always being busy." He looked down at his shoes. "I hope you feel better though, I'll just get back to work I made a huge mess gutting the Chevy and all that." He smiled at her and went out to the garage. He sat back in his spot. He began working again.

Sera felt bad. She'd done nothing but confuse and trouble him since he'd arrived. He hadn't even adjusted to home life and she already messed it up. She decided she wanted to make breakfast for him. Plugging her nose, she cracked open some eggs, fried some bacon, put some sausage in the oven, toasted some bread, and finally poured some orange juice. She kept having to step outside for fresh air, the various scents upsetting her stomach again and again.


She dug out some nice plates and glasses, and set up silverware. She woke up Aiden, telling him to wash up and get dressed. He appeared, clothed and ready, right as she finished cooking. She set the assortment of food on the table in the middle of the plates. "Aiden, could you please tell your father I cooked breakfast? He's out in the garage. Thank you, dear." Aiden scampered off to find his father, and Sera seated herself.