Wild Heart - Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

19. The Return

Finley continued to wait and wonder, wonder and wait. Wait, wonder and worry - that's the way it started, the order it went in, until they blurred together and she felt them all together all at once. 

A couple of long days later, still staying with Penny and Amelia, she was cleaning up her classroom after school when there came a knock at the door.

"Come in," she called, not looking up from the papers she was shuffling on her desk.

"Excuse me, Ms. Austen?"

She was expecting one of her colleagues or students, but the voice did not belong to any of them, but it was familiar. Her head snapped up at the familiar voice - Brad.

Brad's voice.

There he was, in casual clothing, smiling, entering her classroom. And with him, following along behind, also in casual clothes and smiling, was Pete.

"Oh my God-" She raced across the room, nearly taking out several desks and chairs as she did so, closing the distance, flying into Brad's arms, as he was closest.

"You're here, you're both here. You're alive! You're okay - are you okay?" She drew away from the tight hug, her head flicking back and forth between the two men. Both smirked and exchanged a glance. 

"Yeah, Mav saved my life."

"After Bradley saved mine."

 Her eyes widened, her lips forming an 'O' of shock. "Oh-"

"Okay, just hug your boyfriend, Finn," Brad told her, stepping out of the way.  "Don't mind me."

She was thrown by his words, still in shock of seeing them both suddenly standing there in her classroom before her, there with her, home safe and sound. She looked from Pete back to Brad. "B-but-"

"I know, and I'm sorry I was such an ass."

Now she was smiling herself. "You were, but apology accepted."

"Good, I'm glad. Now please just kiss him already. He's losing it."

Pete was not wearing his leather jacket, because she still was, and his aviator glasses were hanging from the front of his shirt. "Hey Sweetheart."

"Hey-" She wasted no time in throwing her arms around him and holding him tight. 

"I was so worried-" Her eyes blurred with tears threatening to fall.

"I know. I was worried too." He drew back, wiping her tears away with his thumbs. "But no need to cry, we're here, we're okay."

From over Pete's shoulder, Brad gave her a double thumbs up in true best friend fashion.

Pete smoothed his hands up and down her arms, covered in the leather of his jacket. "Hey, nice jacket."

Still teary-eyed, she cracked a grin.  "Thanks, it's my boyfriend's." 

"Well he's pretty stylish."

"Yeah, I agree." They embraced again and she savoured the moment. The moment she had been ruminating over for days had finally come, and it was better than she ever could have expected or imagined. It could have turned out completely different, but no need to focus on that, only on how it had actually turned out, and how it had actually turned out was great. 

She knew they couldn't give her too many detail of the mission itself, but they could tell her that it had been a success. The Dagger Squad were celebrating at the Hard Deck that very night.

The three arrived at the bar together. It warmed her heart to see how close Pete and Brad had grown over the course of the mission - something had clearly happened to bring them back together and while she may never know the cause, she thanked whatever it was for doing so. 

"Holy shit-" Fanboy noticed first, Pete and Finley entering the bar together behind Bradley, holding hands. 

"No way!" cried Coyote. Hangman even choked on his beer.

"Nice." Phoenix gave a nod of approval.

"Didn't see that one coming," said Payback. 

"Yeah, neither did I," admitted Bradley.  "But I like it."

"Really, you do?" Finley asked him while Pete went to go get them some drinks. "You can tell me if you don't, you know."

"I know, but, yeah, I do. It'll take a little getting used to, but I can see you're both happy."

"Thanks Brad, I'm glad."

"You're 'Glad, Brad'."

"Yes, yes I am. 'Glad Brad.'" She laughed and hugged him again. 

"See, what did I tell you?" Penny told her, coming over.

"I know, I didn't need to worry. But I don't think I could've gotten through it without you and Amelia."

Penny wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze.  "Anytime, Fin."

Pete came over with their drinks and they found a quiet corner where they could chat while still watching the celebrations taking place. "Well that was my last post, so I am now officially retired," he announced.  

"Congratulations, Captain," she said, touching her glass to his. "How does it feel?"

"Hasn't really settled in yet."

"Understandable.  Well, we clearly have a lot to celebrate tonight."

"We do."

"So I guess you could say you went out with a bang, as usual."

"As usual." He winked and drew her close.

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked him after a few moments of comfortable silence between the two. 

"Honestly, I have no idea. But I'm here with you, and that's all I care about right now." 

"I love you," she finally admitted to him.  "I should have told you before you left, as soon as I realized it, but I didn't, and I was so worried something would happen to you on that mission and I would lose my chance for good."

He pressed his lips to her hair. "I love you too, Sweetheart."

Yup, there it was - that 'Sweetheart' was just for her, and she loved it.

They shared a smooch there in their corner, while the jukebox across the bar started playing Berlin's Take My Breath Away. It was truly a perfect moment.

While the others continued their celebrations, the couple wanted have some celebrations of their own, so they ducked out early - but not before Brad  led everyone in another rendition of Great Balls of Fire in celebration. 

She drove her bike, Pete leaving his back at the bar, ("Penny said it was fine") This time, he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and nuzzled his face into her neck while they drove. They headed back to her place - she could pick up her stuff from Penny's another time. Right now, she was here with her boyfriend, newly retired, back from a successful last mission, and both had just admitted that they loved each other.

Yeah, they had a lot to celebrate, and so let the celebrations continue.

(I'm on a role with updating my stories now that I finally have the time to act on my newfound inspiration! :) I'm sorry it's been so long - I did fall out of inspiration for a while, and I wanted to make this chapter special. Also, I can feel this story winding down and I'm not ready to let it go just yet!

Happy New Year to everyone - hope you had a good holiday season however you celebrate! 

Happy to be back in the groove of things! As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :))