Damn Dress: A Love Story Ch. 10

"I love you, Brandon. And you're the only one I--," she whispered, until his sudden kiss stole the rest of the words out of her mouth.

Usually making love to Sienna was fast, hurried, needy, like there was no tomorrow. But tonight, after four months of tormented separation, he wanted to savor every second, every kiss and every touch. Brandon took his time making love to her. He couldn't take his eyes off her face. He wanted to remember every look of ecstasy that crossed her features. He knew this time around...he couldn't live without her. He had to make this work, no matter what. For his sake. For his daughter's sake. He loved this woman too much to ever let go again. Age be damned, pride be damned or any other obstacle that came their way. He was all in and he would fight for the three of them for the rest of his life.

*********************

Sienna lay deep in thought, after their physical reunion together. She was mentally counting down the time when he'd have to leave. She hated this feeling. She welcomed Brandon's interruption from her awful thoughts.

"Have you thought of any names for her?" Brandon asked, lightly grazing his fingertips over Sienna's shoulder.

"Hmm, I was thinking maybe I'll let you name her...if you want to," Sienna answered, staring at his profile in the dark.

A huge smile spread across Brandon's face. Of course he wanted to. He kissed Sienna's forehead, "Thank you baby, I'd love to."

Brandon lay there thinking about his daughter's name. A name that he would cherish for the rest of his life. He looked back over at Sienna, and she had quickly fallen asleep. He loved her. Plain and simple, as old as time. And there wasn't a single thing he wouldn't do for her or his daughter. He had resigned himself to believe years ago that he would never have an ACTUAL family. He never saw himself as a dad. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he could handle the responsibility. But at the end of this journey, in April, there will be a small piece of himself and Sienna that he will be able to hold. To love. And will love him back.

Brandon didn't mean to do it, because he didn't want to disturb her, but he pulled Sienna tightly against his body. She opened her sleepy eyes for a few seconds, but then she closed them back. Once she was close enough to where he could feel her heartbeat, he relaxed and closed his eyes. He figured it was his imagination, but he could have sworn he felt a third, tiny faint heartbeat as well. That calmed him even more and sent him crashing down into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Brandon was awakened by his noisy alarm clock. He wanted to throw that shit against the wall. It was screeching at him, almost mocking him and his short time he had left with Sienna. He finally turned over and the clock read seven thirty. Fuck. He had to be on base by nine. Before he could fall back to sleep, the delicious smell of cooking was wafting through the bedroom. He slowly got up, stretched and pulled on some loose fitting dark gray sweat pants. He marched to the bathroom to take a piss, wash his face, and brush his teeth. When he started heading down the hallway, the smell of food became more prevalent, and the sound of something sizzling filled the air. When he turned the corner, he saw Sienna scurrying around the kitchen. She had her back to him, so she didn't notice him casually leaning up against the wall, watching her every move.

Sienna wanted to make sure Brandon had a magnificent 'going away' breakfast. She was happy he hadn't heard her leave this morning to go to the grocery store. He had hardly anything in his refrigerator, but since he ate most of his meals at her father's house, she guessed he really didn't need anything.

She had just finished with the last pancake when she felt his arms glide around her full waist. A smile immediately spread across her face.

"Good morning, baby," she heard him whisper by her ear, and then lightly nibble on her earlobe.

She turned around in his arms, rose up on her tiptoes, and kissed him. "Good morning," she said, when she finally pulled her mouth away from his.

"Damn Sienna, I should leave more often," Brandon joked, staring at the massive breakfast she set before him. He sat down at the kitchen table and stared at her as she brought plate after plate over to him.

"Don't joke about that. I don't want you to go, or I at least wish Darren was going with you." She looked back over at Brandon, and he was quiet. She wondered if he was nervous.

"Are you scared?" Sienna asked, walking over to him. He looked up at her with an incredulous look. "No," he said, but then closed his eyes.

"What's wrong Brandon?"

"Nothing. I mean, I don't know. I just don't want to go. I want to be here with you," he sighed. "But don't worry about it, I'll be fine. Let's eat," he said, digging into his food.

Seeing him sitting there all vulnerable made Sienna's heart melt...and her pussy tingle. Damn, she loved this man. She really wanted him to finish the breakfast she had worked so hard on, but she kept having to squeeze her legs tightly together, to quell the joyful wave riding up her lower region. Whatever, that's what microwaves are for. She grabbed his hand and led him to the bedroom for round number two.

After Brandon finally got to eat his 'going away' breakfast, they stood outside by the Jeep. Brandon was leaning his back against it, while Sienna had stepped in between his legs and rose up on her tiptoes for another kiss. She felt like she would dissolve as he wrapped his arms around her waist, and then lower to squeeze her ass. She moaned into his mouth.

Brandon broke the kiss first. He leaned his forehead against hers. "Baby," he whispered, "I have to go."

Sienna was dreading those words. Four simple words that held so much meaning. She wished he had the flu too. Had she been smarter and had more time, she would have gotten it from Darren, and purposely passed it to Brandon. Then maybe she'd be feeding him chicken noodle soup instead of watching him leave for a dangerous mission in the middle of...shit, she didn't even know where he was going.

"Please tell me where you're going," she begged, as she clung to his shirt.

Brandon bent down and licked her lips. "No," he said softly, and then unwrapped his hands from her waist.

Sienna finally forced her hands to release his shirt. She had created huge wrinkles around his chest area, but she didn't care. She hated this part.

Brandon quickly kissed her once more, and then opened the Jeep door and hopped inside. He looked down at her and smiled. "By the way, I have the name for our daughter," he said.

Sienna perked up. At least she'd hear a little bit of good news before he had to leave and her day, week, month...however long, would be miserable.

"What is it?"

"Well, I wanted a name that represents both of us. Kinda like that Brangelina shit, you know? So I came up with Siendon. What do you think?"

Sienna didn't mean to do it, but she immediately crinkled her nose. Siendon. Um, he had another thought coming if he actually thought she would name her daughter that horrible name. She choked on the words. Siendon. What the hell?

"Um, hmm...I'm not so sure that would really fit her, you know?" Sienna said in the nicest way she could.

A crooked smile formed at the corners of Brandon's mouth. The expression she tried to hide from him for saying that name was priceless.

"Baby, I was kidding. I thought of names that could match us together, but if Siendon was the best you thought I could do...damn, you have no faith in your man," Brandon laughed.

Sienna exhaled loudly. "Oh my God, I really thought you were serious. Okay, so let's have it. What's the name going to be?" she asked anxiously.

Brandon decided not to keep her in suspense any longer. "Brienna Heather Temple." He stared deep into her eyes to gage her reaction. But he relaxed when he noticed a huge smile spread across her face.

Sienna loved it. Baby Brienna. Perfect.

"Well, Brienna is a mix of our names, and your middle name is a flower. Rose. So I wanted her middle name to be a flower too. At first I thought of Lily, but for our child to run around with the initials B.L.T...didn't sit well with me. I can imagine the sandwich jokes now. So, Heather, the beautiful flower it was. I got mad skills, right?"

Sienna laughed and leaned through the Jeep window to kiss him. "Yes baby, you do. I absolutely love it. I can't wait to tell daddy."

"And to keep it from being too many 'ienna's' in our house, we can call her Brie for short," he said.

"Damn, you really do have this all figured out," Sienna said, amazed.

Brandon leaned through the window and kissed her sweet lips and said bye, before he slowly started to put the Jeep in reverse. Damn, he hated leaving, but he had to. He already missed her as he stared at her in the rearview mirror as he shifted gears and pulled away.

Sienna turned her back. She didn't want to see him turn the corner down the street. She just wanted to go back inside and call her dad, Lori and Tasha to let them know of the baby's....Brienna's name. She was about to walk up the steps when she heard Brandon's Jeep engine growing louder. She turned around to see him heading back down the street and pulling into the driveway.

He hopped out of the Jeep, ran up to her, kissed her again, then knelt down and gently kissed her stomach. When he raised back up, he kissed Sienna one more time. "I forgot to say bye to her," he whispered. Sienna just stared at him in amazement. Just when she thought she couldn't love him any more, he did something like that. Could you die from elation? He patted her on the butt and ran back to his Jeep.

She watched him drive off for the second time, but this time she did wait until he pulled out of the driveway, and down the street past where she could see him. She stared at the empty street just a few moments longer, praying he would come back one more time. But he didn't, so she marched back up the steps and went inside.

**********************

On the fifth day of Brandon's absence, Sienna started to panic. She hadn't heard anything. Sure, he had been gone longer than this before, but for some reason this time was killing her. She begged Darren to tell her where he was. She felt just knowing that bit of information would calm her nerves. But Darren refused, ensuring her that he was fine. That Brandon was tough and he would come back. But the more Darren told her that, the more she was sure he was trying to convince himself.

She tried to do everything to keep busy. In the middle of watching a program on TV, she would start to hyperventilate. She had never panicked this bad before.

When she wasn't having hyperventilating attacks, she had asked her father to move her back into Brandon's house. She wanted to be moved in and settled when he got back. And although her father moved her things into Brandon's place, he insisted that she stay with him until Brandon did return. He also tried to tell her not to worry. But they didn't understand. None of them did. She would die without Brandon. She needed him, and every second, minute, hour of each day was slowly driving her crazy.

Every time her cell phone rang, she jumped and answered it, out of breath, praying that it was him calling to say he was back. But it never was.

Sienna thought hard about Brandon. Their relationship. From the moment she first ran into him when she was eight, until now. She thought about the ways he looked at her, like that night when she was on the dance floor at her birthday party. How sexy he looked in his brooding tall manner. She wondered if she hadn't worn that dress that night, and just wore a pair of jeans and a shirt, would she have sparked that possessive flare in him that caused this crazy whirlwind love affair. Would he have just smiled and waved as she approached? Told her happy birthday and just given her a hug. Would he have still seen her as the girl who had a crush on him? She owed a lot to that tiny dress. It was the catalyst that brought them together. It up'd her game and silently told Brandon she was also playing for keeps.

****************************

"You alright, man?" John whispered to him, tapping him once on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Brandon answered back, bringing his mind back to the task at hand. As always, he was thinking of Sienna and his baby girl. But he needed to concentrate. He and John had been tucked inside this building for six straight days crawling in and out of air vents. Thank God for Sienna and her 'shower therapy', he was finally able to breathe in small spaces. He and John had finally gotten orders to take out their target. In less than a minute the two of them would be barging in and unleashing hell. But their game plan had to be air tight. There was just the two of them, and five of the other. And if that wasn't hard enough, their main target was sleeping on the floor right above them, so this had to be quick and quiet.

He used to love going on missions. But now that he had a family, he dreaded it. He could understand now how some of the family men in his unit felt. When he was younger and dumber, he used to assume that those type of men were pussies. They'd kiss pictures of their wife and kids before they left, or complain about their life insurance policies if they died, what their family would and wouldn't get. Brandon wanted to tell them to shut the hell up and concentrate on the mission. That's what was most important. But now he realized, no it wasn't the most important thing.

Brandon screwed the silencer on the tip of his gun and made sure his Team knife was ready as well. Fifteen seconds. He saw an image of Sienna smiling at him. At that moment he felt sorry for those fuckers, because they were all going down. He WAS going back home, no doubt in his mind.

John tapped his shoulder twice for the signal, and Brandon lowered himself from the vent and quietly into the room...

***************************

By the eleventh day, Sienna began having horrible nightmares. Nightmares of Brienna being born and not knowing her father because he had died in combat. After that night, she tried to sleep as little as possible. By that time, her father had to keep her from driving to base and cursing random people out until she got some answers about Brandon's whereabouts.

She had longed for Brandon for as far back as she could remember. Night and day, her obsession for him never wavered. But deep in the recesses of her mind she did feel that maybe, just maybe, she would never get him. That he would always see her as a 'kid sister' type, and she would be miserable the rest of her life. But luckily, he HAD noticed her in a different way.

Sienna also thought about the things she loved about him. His deep voice and thick New England accent. The way he stood up straight from years of training in the military. His sea green eyes that seemed to follow her wherever she was. Those eyes would send chills up her spine, even if she were across the room. The way he was overpowering. It was tiring sometimes for her, but she wouldn't change that about him for anything. The way he dressed, in a simple t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. The way his hair felt as he snuggled beside her in bed, and buried his face into her neck. She thought back on the time when she had tried shaving him, and he kept kissing her, and ended up getting the shaving cream all over her face. That day they had made love right there on the bathroom sink. And his smile...that freaking beautiful smile that melted her heart.

Tonight she would say an extra prayer on top of her normal prayer...just in case God was busy. Just a little prayer asking HIM to bring her man back home soon and safely.

The next morning, Sienna trudged into the kitchen to fix herself a bowl of cereal. Day twelve and still no Brandon. She stood by the kitchen counter eating, while staring out of the window into the backyard.

Her father came in whistling. He walked over to her and kissed her forehead. He grabbed the morning paper and sat down at the kitchen table, blowing off his coffee and reading.

Sienna stared at her father. He seemed in a rather good mood, despite her somber presence.

"You seem chipper today," she said to her father, stuffing another large spoonful of Cap'n Crunch in her mouth.

He took a quick sip of his coffee and blew again. He looked over at her and smiled. "Yep, I sure am," he said, and stared back down at his paper.

"Why?"

Jackson sat his coffee down on the table. He was definitely more excited than he cared to let on. But he didn't want to torture his daughter anymore.

"They just landed back on US soil ten minutes ago. He's back," Jackson said, a wide smile spreading across his features.

Sienna screamed and dropped her bowl of cereal. She ran over to her father and hugged him, almost knocking him out of his chair.

"Thank God!! When can he come home?!" she shouted in her father's ear, still holding on to him.

"Calm down, baby. He can leave base in about three hours. That should give you plenty of time to--," Jackson barely got the rest out, before she tore out of the room. He sighed when he heard the front door open and close. He shook his head and smiled. Now, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. His 'son' was back home safely. He took another sip of his coffee. Yes, he was going to have a good day today.

**********************

Sienna was so excited! Brandon was coming home in three hours.

She had rushed over to his house and immediately started cleaning. She had never really cared much for cleaning up, but since she had been pregnant, she started to become obsessive about it. Perhaps it was that nesting phase those pregnancy books talked about. She had to also cook some food, and she would probably not get through all of it by the time he came, but just as long as the house smelled like someone had been baking, all was good.

She had put on the cutest dress she could find...that would fit her. She had been in the middle of vacuuming, when Tasha dropped off Michael. Now that Darren was better, he and Tasha had been wanting to get out of her place and go on a date, so Sienna had offered to keep Michael for the afternoon. She wanted to cancel on them so bad, but since she had already promised, she figured Brandon wouldn't mind when he showed up. Although she warned Tasha that they had to pick him up in the evening, because she wanted her own little 'date' with Brandon.

Actually, Sienna knew that Brandon liked having Michael around. It gave them a chance to have a child in the house, and they had better start getting used to it. Michael was running back and forth from the living room floor to the kitchen, stealing icing from a cake she was in the process of baking for Brandon, and then back to his video game. She had asked him if it was good, and he just smiled a big snaggle-tooth smile at her and nodded his head. Gosh, he was so adorable.

Sienna stared down at the cake. Truthfully, Brandon didn't even like sweets, but she felt she should do it anyway. He always said that she was sweet enough. 'Cheesy liar,' she thought with a smile.

Sienna jumped when she heard the doorbell ring. Crap, that was sooner than three hours. She didn't stop for a moment to think that Brandon would have used his key. Instead, she darted for the door, icing on her hands, and flung it open, waiting to jump in his arms.

But instead, she came face to face with a stranger. Sort of.

Sienna's smile faded and she lost her breath. She knew exactly who this was. A large, tall white man with graying brown hair and piercing green eyes stood staring down at her. Yes, she knew who this was. She just didn't know how or why he was here. She was sure her mouth was wide open, but damn if she could close it.