KILLEEN, Texas (KWTX) – A Fort Cavazos soldier pulled off a surprise homecoming for his nurse wife after being deployed for nine months to Lithuania and it was a moment that brough everyone to tears.
William Nase, 29, of Killeen, surprised his wife, nurse Nicole Nase, 28, at her work at Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s hospital.
The captain with the First Cavalry Division was waiting on the other side of an elevator door when she stepped off in shock.
“Suprise!” a fellow nurse yelled as Nicole ran and jumped into Will’s arms.
The soldier and the nurse embraced, kissed and cried tears of joy.
“Opened the door to see him there and it was like half a second of an army uniform and then ‘that’s my husband! Oh!” Nicole said.
Will has been planning the surprise since September with the help of his unit and the staff at McLane Children’s hospital.
Nicole’s co-workers were in on the plan and convinced Nicole, who said she doesn’t like to snack at work, to go with them to get some food by taking the elevator.
Will waited with bated breath.
“Definitely a little bit nervous because I’ve been gone for the last nine months,” Will said as he waited in anticipation for the elevator door to open. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other so I’m just excited for her to either run over or fall on the ground. We’ll see what happens.”
Nicole ran and jumped into his arms.
“It was definitely a surreal moment,” Will said. “I have never surprised her coming back home.”
The couple is originally from Georgia and has been married three years but together for nine. Will’s military service has taken them from El Paso to Virginia and now Killeen. Will has been deployed once before but it was a much different situation for Nicole who became a traveling nurse during that time so she could live near family in Florida.
This time because she loves her job so much, she says, she stayed put making the distance a lot tougher.
“I’m just excited to not be in the house by myself,” Nicole smiled. “Because we don’t have any kids yet, and we don’t have any pets yet. It’s just us and our house isn’t huge but it’s different when I’m sitting in the living room and he’s not on the other side in the office playing video games so I can’t just go over and bother him. I have nobody to bother. “
“I have just been living in my little 20-foot box for the last nine months and I’m excited just to be with you in the house and come home to you every day,” Will followed leaning over to give her a kiss.
Captain Nase said now that the surprise homecoming was a success he has more to look forward to back in Texas.
“I’m just excited to be home and just having you and be able to do things with you again, travel with you again. He’s also excited about Mexican food. That’s going to be the first thing I do is go eat Mexican food because they just don’t have it in Europe,” Will said.
