A/N:

JenRar: It's about damn time we started posting this!
Drotuno: No kidding. I think we've teased everyone long enough.
JenRar: Teasing's not a bad thing...
Drotuno: *grins* Teasing can be very, very...mmm good. But...it's cruel to tease without some sort of...reward for the trouble.
JenRar: I suppose Sarge counts as a good reward, huh? Does that mean we have to share?
Drotuno: Mmm, Sarge... Wait... What? SHARE? *sighs* I suppose we have to. It's time, I guess.

We know, we know. We've been teasing you guys for a long time. We wanted to make sure this was as good as we could make it for you because it totally became a labor of love for us. We both fell in love with Sarge, and honestly, Jenny kind of wants to be Bella when she grows up. This story started because of a joke Jenny read about a Marine who received a "Dear John" letter like the one Edward received and his response was to send back 50 pictures of hot and sexy women, claiming to not remember which one she was. So Jenny took the idea to Deb, and this fic was born. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed writing it.

There are a few things to note before you start reading...

1: Bella is odd chapters, always, and they were written by Jenny. Which means Edward is even chapters and they were written by Deb.
2: It starts off with Edward stationed in Afghanistan. Now, the time difference is 12 1/2 hours...but to keep us from going insane as we wrote it and make it easier to keep track of for you guys, we went with an even 12 hours. So forgive us the half hour time issue.
3: We took a few liberties for the sake of the story in a fair amount of topics. Neither of us are military wives, so a lot of the military stuff is probably slightly off-and some of it is even flat out WRONG. So again, forgive us those liberties and simply remember it's a fanfic. *grin*
4: A lot of these chapters are very short, so because of that, we will be posting 1-2 chapters each day. Sometimes it will be only 1, but at the beginning, you're almost guaranteed to get 2 a day for a bit.
5. If you haven't read the prequels we each posted for this story, check out our individual accounts. You can find them on Sarge's Girls' Favorite Authors. You don't HAVE to read them, but they are a cute little introduction to each of the characters.
6: The author's note will never be this long again, we promise. So go read! And then please, let us know what you think by reviewing. We want to know if you love our Edward and Bella as much as we do. :)
7: We don't own Edward (unfortunately!), Bella, or the other usual cast of characters, but we do own the plot, the story, and a few random people throughout.

~oOo~

March 3, 2010

Hello, Sergeant Masen!

You don't know me. My name is Bella Swan. I am friends with Alice Whitlock, who is married to Jasper, one of the men in your squad.

I hope you don't mind, but he told Alice, who told me, about your ex. I can't believe she had the gall to break up with you while you're in Afghanistan, fighting for our freedom and theirs...and ask you to send her picture back! Who does that?

Don't get me wrong... You volleyed back well. Gathering 50 pictures from your fellow soldiers of their hot wives, girlfriends, and sisters and then sending them back to your ex with a note that said you were sorry but you didn't remember which one she was so if she would pick hers out and send the rest back? Genius move. I commend you, sir. (Does it make me a bad person that I found that too funny and witty? LOL)

Anyway, as much as I found it amusing, I also was just appalled that someone would do what she did – especially the way she did it. I'm sending you this care package to make sure you know that not every person who writes you is like your ex. This is the first package I've put together myself to send to a soldier directly, so a lot of it is my favorites.

Fantasy in Death is J. D. Robb's latest mystery book. I'm also including the first in that series, Naked in Death, in case you haven't read it. If you haven't read it and you like it, please let me know. I would love to send you the others!

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is a kids' movie, but I loved it, so I hope you will, as well. I also included Sherlock Holmes, which is probably more "guy" friendly.

Alice mentioned you were really into music, so I included a thumb drive of all my favorites – everything from Adele to Radiohead to Lady Antebellum.

The rest is just general stuff I thought you could use. If you would like anything specific, please let me know!

You have my greatest respect and support.

Sincerely,

Bella

~oOo~

A/N #2: Did you find Edward's response to Tanya as funny as Bella did?

We have so many people to thank that this would end up as long as the first A/N, so check our profile for the names of our fantastic betas, pre-readers, and friends who supported us while we got this ready to post. We owe them all so much.