Richard Quinn / Special to the Star: A family member waits behind the flight line as members of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5 return from a six-month deployment in the Asian Pacific.

Richard Quinn / Special to the Star: Navy utility man Jacob Phelps greets his daughters, Emma, 2, left, and Taylor, 10, after returning from a six-month deployment in the Asian Pacific.

Eli Fimbres waited six months crossing her fingers that her baby could wait, too.

The 22 year-old mother stood alone on a tarmac at Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu Friday holding a red carnation and a little American flag looking for her husband to step out of a plane and back home after half a year overseas with the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 5.

Fimbres, dressed in a short black skirt and floral top that couldn't conceal her pregnancy, had won a lottery allowing her the first kiss among the returning Seabees.

Her husband, E-4 Jesus Fimbres jogged the last few yards smiling before kissing her and holding her for a few long minutes.

Fimbres was among the crowd of families and friends on hand today to welcome home the advance group from the battalion after six months spread out all over bases in the Pacific. The remainder of the battalion returns next week, after serving in Japan, Guam, the Philippines, Thailand and Korea.

It was the first time a single Seabee battalion was used to cover such a vast range of assignments, said Lt. Commander Maria Aguayo, the battalion's executive officer.

With groups as small as a dozen in some cases, the battalion worked on building schools, fixing up airfields and improving water projects across the vast Pacific Theater, Aguayo said.

On Friday they came home for what will only be a nine-month stay before shipping out again for Iraq and Afghanistan.

But for a day at least, all that was forgotten, as wives and husbands, sons and daughters, friends and family embraced their loved ones.

"He was in Iraq the last time, so it wasn't as bad," said Fimbres, as she rested her palm on her pregnant belly.

Her husband, Seabee Jesus Fimbres missed the birth of his first son, Elija, who is almost 2, during his Iraq deployment. His wife didn't want him to miss the birth of their second child.

"He's due June 20th," said Eli Fimbres.

"I was cutting it pretty close there," said her husband with a big smile.

His wife had two close calls already, having to go the hospital because she thought she was going into labor early.

"But he's (the baby) waited," she said.

The happy homecoming is a part of the steady seasons of Navy life, where deployment happens with or without a war. The assignment to bases in the Pacific Theater also is a reminder that along with being deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan the Seabees go all over the world for work.

Melissa Phelps, 27, is used to the routine. Phelps, who herself served in the Navy, waited Friday with her two daughters Taylor, 10, and Emma, 2.

She and her husband, UT3 Jacob Phelps, e-mailed, chatted via computer and made occasional cell phone calls to stay in touch during his six months overseas.

The couple's girls were eager to see their dad, and celebrate Emma's second birthday, which was he missed by two days. As with every deployment, Melissa Phelps said there usually is a little adjustment for the family.

"For like the first two weeks or so," she said.

Perhaps the biggest adjustment might be that the kids have started sleeping with their mom.

But the couple has been through this before and is likely to go through it again, so they've learned not to expect too much and to be ready for some of the friction of readjusting to life together.

For Kate Martinozvich, a 21 year-old with long black hair and big black sunglasses, it hasn't been so easy.

She and her boyfriend, CW2 Jesse Butler, 23, did what most couples do and stayed in touch despite the 17-hour difference with off hours phone calls and e-mails.

"And he wrote me every day," said Martinozvich.

The couple had been apart longer than they'd been together, but that didn't change her mind and the San Pedro massage therapist decided to move to Port Hueneme to be with her man.

He's going to be working training other Seabees at the base so there are no deployments on the horizon for him, she said.

"I don't ever want to do that again," she said.