December 25, Visiting Officers Quarters, Capital City Army Base

Matthew, thought about how he and Lexi had confessed how they felt about each other, now over ten years ago. He was concerned about how his permanent return to City K would be taken.

Phillip would be ecstatic. He had for the last few years been trying to convince Matthew to request a posting back to City K. In part, Matthew knew that was due to his cancer, but there was still hurt from Phillip's perspective as to his reaction when Matthew announced he was joining the military rather than JL International. Phillip told him that he wanted nothing to do with him.

While Matthew knew some that was a reaction to something, he had not fully discussed with Phillip it still hurt even to today. For him, it told him as an eighteen-year-old, Phillip questioned his judgement. Despite that hurt, they had been able to repair their relationship almost to the point it was before his announcement.

More importantly Phillip was constantly proud of what he achieved in the military. As soon as his announcement to his appointment as a Colonel Phillip was the first person outside the military on the phone to him. When he was awarded a bravery medal last year, despite the citation being classified Phillip made the effort to travel to the capital to be there supporting him.

For Matthew, sitting quietly and not being able to celebrate Christmas with friends and family was disappointing but he knew that he would deliver most likely the biggest, but somewhat delayed Christmas gift he could deliver to them. His presence, not just for a flying visit but as a permanent post.

He knew his parents would not give a care about that. They left as soon as he graduated High School, disappointed in what he had done and hardly returned home even to be with Phillip through his cancer treatments. They were so stuck in their own world he wondered why they ever had him and Phillip.

Chester, if he and Phillip still had the same feelings for each other would be simply happy as it was something Phillip wanted. The question would be how would Andrew, Steven, Paul and John take it. From what Phillip had told him John joined the police working in what Phillip said was an administrative job. To Matthew that meant that he would likely have an ally in his friends as John would understand his motives and be someone he could talk to.

He just did not know whether Andrew, Steven and Paul would forgive him. But hopefully time has healed the wounds that they felt he had inflicted when he joined the military rather than like their contemporaries and heading to University before joining the family companies. It would be, as he knew a wait and see what happened there.

The interesting thing would be Lexi. He knew all about Lexi, as despite what had happened in her life, the military had always kept an eye on her. When he joined the military, she was listed as his next of kin, and from an early stage he had sort approval for a military marriage, rather than a civilian marriage. That approval had been granted before she married her late husband and from the military's perspective, she was always his intended wife and still was despite her technically invalid marriage.

From what Phillip had told him a couple of months ago she had returned to City K, relocating her fashion business to the town after having studied in France for several years and starting her business there. The one thing he found strange was that when she left the country to study, she left her infant son with Chester and his ex-wife. From the information Phillip had, he had indicated that Lexi after her husband's death was not able to cope, and Chester suggested that she go, and study coming back regularly to see Dominic and returning once she was ready to become his full-time parent. That was where she apparently was.

The idea that she had a son with her late husband, when he first heard about it tore at Matthew's heart. How he wished that Dominic was his son and that Lexi was his wife. The question was though, could he convince Lexi to marry him. He suspected no, but he could only hope. Thinking about Lexi, however made Matthew think about the day he joined the military and what happened subsequent to that.