Starlight :||: Duty. Family. Honor. #1

Epilogue

Honor
"Oh no." Was all John had time to say before, I braked, swooping down to the left, dropping rapidly whilst holding control of the plane. John yelled as he was thrown against the frame of the plane. "He's following," He grounded out.

Pushing the lever forward, we shot upwards, the MiG flying straight and I straightened the plan, swooping in to take the shot. The target lock beeped weakly before a repetitive sound resounded. "I've got good tone. Firing!"

The MiG was trying to get away, opening up his engines but he still blew apart. "Scratch four!" John whooped.

"Turning left," I reported and headed back towards the ship, the other two MiGs on my right, swerving right and heading home.

"Remaining MiGs are bugging out," I reported.

There were a whole bunch of cheering and loud screeches through the radio, two planes appearing on either side of me. Glancing out the window at either of them, they had wide grins on their faces.

The ship appeared on the water up ahead. "Mustang, this is Maverick requesting a flyby."

"Negative. The pattern is full." Reported the tower.

Mav's chuckle sounded through the earpiece and I looked to my right. "You know what, Maverick, let's do it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," I glanced at Ice and Slider. "What about you guys, you up for it?"

"Hell yeah."

The three planes all lined up beautifully, with me in the lead, we flew over the ship. "Godamn it!" We heard over the radio and all three of us burst out laughing, banking right as we went back out to sea, preparing to come in for a landing.

The crew was clapping as we pulled the planes up in their respectful docks, shutting down the engines. John lifted up the canopy, cheering down at the crew before turning to me and lifting me out of my seat and embracing me as we stood on the wing. He held me so tight my feet were off the ground.

"Careful, John." I patted his back and he quickly set me on my feet with a confused frown. "I'm carrying precious cargo here." I rubbed my stomach and his entire face changed.

"You're pregnant!?" His voice was drowned out by the cheering of the men who helped us down onto the tarmac.

Ice and Slider were fighting their way through the crowd, getting congratulatory thumps on the back and claps on the tops of their heads. I jumped on Ice, who wrapped his arms around me, burying his face into my neck. "We did it! We won!" I cheered.

"Marry me,"  He said into my hair, still holding me to him.

"What?" I pulled away to look at his face to see if he was serious.

He dipped his head low so I could hear above the celebrating people. "Marry me, Honor Metcalf."

I stared and glanced at Slider who was grinning, completely ignoring the attention and praise around him as he stared at us. "Yes!"

His absolutely overjoyed grin was worth it and I kissed him with excitement. I didn't care about the people around us or the rules and many HR forms we'd have to fill out. I was happy to be alive. Flying for pilots was like cocaine to the crack addict. It was our high and I could still feel the effects. But the happiness this man brought to me was far better and I wanted to lap it up forever.

Maverick appeared through the crowd as Ice put me down. I turned to embrace him. "You did good, Maverick," I spoke into his ear. "Goose would have been proud."

Finally, after wrestling his way through the crowd of cheering crew members, John appeared. "Why didn't you tell us?!" He shouted, gesturing at me. Slider and Mav frowned. "You should have told us you were pregnant."

"You're pregnant?!" Slider and Mav whipped around to gape at me and Ice as he smirked like the proud future papa he was going to be.

"Oh, man," Slider chuckling, embracing his best friend. "Congratulations."

"That's wonderful!" Mav shook me by the arms and hugged me again.

"Hey, Maverick," Ice held his hand out towards him. "You can be my wingman anytime."

"Bullshit," He smiled cheekily. "You can be mine."

Let's just say, there was a lot of hugs, noise, smiles, cheering and handshaking on the deck of the Enterprise that afternoon. I don't think there was ever a greater moment in my life up until that point.

The best moment of my life happened two hours later, after our debrief and we'd showered and changed. Ice and I were visiting the small medic station onboard the ship. Stinger had known about my pregnancy due to my father faxing the forms I'd signed at the base earlier in the week. I'd been assessed by a doctor as mentally competent and declared fit for duty up until the start of the third trimester, then I'd be grounded. But the CAG of the Enterprise had ordered I get a check-up as soon as possible.

The doctor had beamed when we'd told him we wanted an ultrasound for a baby. "I don't get to do this very often," He explained. "We only have a medical ultrasound on board due to the number of sailors we get who slip over and hurt themselves."

Ice stood over me, holding my hand as my belly was scanned. Even though it had only been a week since I'd been my normal toned self, there was now a distinct bump on my midsection. "And there we are. He or she is looking like a very healthy, twelve-week old baby." The doctor smiled, turning the blurry screen towards us. "Unfortunately, I'm not an expert but everything does look to be in order."

The black and white image showed my womb and a tiny bean in the shape of a baby curled at the bottom of it. "Oh my gosh, he's so beautiful."

"When can we find out the gender, I'm hoping for a girl but Honor insists it's a boy."

He smiled at us. "You won't be able to find out the gender until around week eighteen."

Ice grinned down at me as I stared at the screen and pressed a kiss to my cheek. "He is beautiful, my love."

There was a knock at the door before Stinger opened it, walking in followed by John, Slider and Maverick. "Hey! There he is!" Slider clapped Ice on the back, pointing to the screen.

"He's only a little bean!" John exclaimed, squinting at him.

"Alright," Ice clapped his hands. "Who's betting? Boy or girl?"

My head whipped around so fast I thought I might break my neck. "Don't make bets on our baby!" But I was smiling and he grinned.

"It's going to be a girl."

"It's going to be a boy." I countered.

Stinger just laughed. "He looks very strong. What names are you thinking?"

"Well, if it's a girl–"

"Which it will be." Ice pushed.

"We haven't decided. But, if it's alright with Ice, I was thinking of naming our son Nick." Mav turned to me, blinking in astonishment. "After Goose."

My gaze found Ice's who was already looking at Maverick and nodded. A sad smile crossed Mav's lips. "That would be okay, I think. That would be lovely."

Ice looked back down at me. "Nicholas Arthur Kazansky." I smiled in confirmation and he pressed a kiss to my lips.

"Would you like a picture?"

"Yes, please."

He printed it out and I held it up to the light, my eyes on the small shape. "The future of the Metcalf legacy."

"Oh yes," Stinger nodded. "This kid is going to be a freak pilot. He will have flying skills coming out of his ass by the time he's five with you two as parents."

"And grandpapa Mike to babysit," John added.

The room howled and I sat up, sliding forward to jump off the table. "I wouldn't call him that to his face if I were you."

"Yeah, not if you don't want your ass grounded for the rest of your life."