Page 37 of Pallas & Kawehi

Wolf tipped his head to the side. "Then maybe this is the right time for something like this to happen, Pallas. If she doesn't know that you're not him, you should find out now."

Pallas wasn't sure he agreed with Wolf's view of the situation. "Or maybe it's proving that I'm not him by coming back and making up for the broken promise."

"Maybe." Wolf's smile was one he'd never seen before. "You better give her a call before you pack. Do you want me to drop you off at your apartment?"

"Yes, thanks." Pallas smiled back at him. "I'll take you up on that offer."

Wolf took out his keys and tossed them back into his hand. "Let's go."

KAWEHI

Getting ready to go into work, Kawehi looked around at her bedroom and winced at the ridiculous mess that she'd made. "I wear the same thing to work almost every day. What's wrong with me?"

The answer sprung into her head easily.

She wanted to dress up in case Pallas came by.

"Silly," she grumbled at herself. "Silly, stupid girl."

She looked up at the clock on her wall and realized that she didn't have time to put the extra clothes away if she wanted to get in early enough to verify the schedules for the next two weeks and send in their timecards to her aunt, she had to get moving.

Just as she reached her door, her phone rang, and she quickly fished it out of her purse.

A quick glance at the screen said that it was Domenico.

"Dom? Hi!" She knew her voice sounded a little breathless, but she couldn't help it. It was a rush to see Dom's name on her phone, even better to hear his voice. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you."

"I have to go on... I have to do something for work."

Something for work.

"Are you going to be okay?" She sat down on her top step and concentrated on breathing. "Dom?"

"Yeah. Yes." She heard a laugh in his voice, but it sounded tight. Awkward. "I'll be fine, but I won't be able to take you to the beach tomorrow."

"Oh no. Of course not." She almost choked on her words. "I'm just... You're going to be okay."

"Yeah, Kawehi. I'm just doing something for work. I won't be on island, but I'll be with my team. We've got each other’s backs."

"Yeah. Sure. Of course you do."

The call went silent on both ends before she managed to say something.

"I'm sorry, Dom. I don't know how to do this. I'm sure there's a good thing to say. Like Maile did some theater stuff and they said, 'break a leg,' but I'm sure that's not the same thing for Marines."

"No," he chuckled softly. "That's probably the last thing we need to do."

"I know. I'm-"

"No need to be sorry. I just wanted to let you know that I won't be around for a little bit."

"Okay." Her skin felt clammy. Her heartbeat felt erratic. "I just want you to take care of yourself. Okay? I want to know that you're being safe. Oh god, that sounds stupid, doesn't it? It's not like you're going to try to get hurt. I just-"

"Breathe, baby. Breathe. I'm going to be okay. I'm going to come back. I just wanted to let you know before I get on the transport that I'm going to be away."

Okay. Oh god. Why was she such a mess?

She opened her mouth to say something and almost begged him to come back.

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