Swan Song

One

Five am.

Five am.

My lifelong best friend, Bradley Bradshaw, couldn't have wanted to go to the gym any later? Especially because he knew better than anyone else that I'm not a morning person. Shoot, most days I barely felt like a person at all.

I yawned as a knock on my front door kept me from dozing back off and I lazily got up and opened the door to see a bright eyed and bushy tailed Bradley standing on the other side.

"Remind me again why you're going now?" I asked as I grabbed my keys and pulled my sweatshirt on.

"Because it gets busy around six thirty. Come on, O."

"I hate how much of a morning person you are," I grumbled as I climbed into the passenger side of Bradley's Bronco.

"You love it! I'm better than coffee."

I laughed breathily, rolling my eyes as I did so.

"There's absolutely no way that you would ever compare to coffee and I mean that with all of the love in my heart," I muttered with a smirk.

"Oh, so not much then," Bradley teased, playfully nudging me with his elbow.

"That one kind of stung a little bit," I admitted with a hint of a smile dancing on my lips.

"I mean, come on! I've known you practically your entire life and I've never seen you last longer than a month in any relationship."

"That's not true."

It was very true.

"Okay, fine. You lasted six months with Hangman but we all know how that ended."

"It ended shitty," I grumbled. "You know, the only thing keeping me from punching him is that I don't look good in orange."

"Or stripes," Bradley chimed in.

"I mean, he said he wasn't ready for a relationship and then I caught him making out with little miss perfect Kayla Ashford not even six hours later."

"I was mad for you."

I laughed breathily to myself as I remembered Bradley's reaction to when he found out about Hangman. Without a doubt, he was always extremely protective of me and, in a way, filled a role of big bother whenever I had been away from my own brothers.

I had learned to trust Bradley more than just about anybody, which made going from the special detachment mission to living across the street from one another the easiest transition we'd dealt with in a long time.

"Oh! Did I tell you the good news?" I questioned as Bradley parked his bronco in the almost empty parking lot.

"About?"

"Owen is on his way here to North Island!"

"For vacation?"

"No! His entire squadron is doing a three year rotation here," I squealed.

I had two older brothers, Owen and Oliver, and despite our differences, the three of us were all extremely close so the fact that we'd all be in the same place blew my mind.

"I never thought I'd see the day where the three of you would be stationed together."

"It won't be much longer, maybe a year, until Oliver is moved but how wild is it to think that the three of us will be able to spend some time together again?"

"I can't imagine how happy your mom is," Bradley chuckled as we walked into the gym.

"Her and my dad are going nuts over it," I laughed. "He went and got all of the stuff to make ptysie since it's Owen's favorite dessert."

"And ptysie is?" Bradley questioned as we sat and stretched.

"Oh, it's like a steamed dough with whipped cream in the middle. Kind of like a cream puff," I laughed. "My great granny used to make them for dad all of the time when she finally moved here from Poland."

"Spoiled Kazansky brats," he teased.

I playfully rolled my eyes at Bradley's comment.

"Hey, if you're free, maybe you could join us for dinner tonight when he gets in? Mom is making spaghetti from scratch."

"Do you really think I'd miss Mama Kazansky's spaghetti? Because you're an idiot if you'd think otherwise," Bradley replied.

As we finished stretching, he stood up and then offered his hand before pulling me to my feet.

"Leg day," Bradley said as he rubbed his hands together. "What do you want to do first?"

"You know my answer will always be squats," I laughed as I walked towards the squat stand.

"Oh, so you're trying to kill us today?"

I glanced at Bradley with a roll of my eyes before shaking my head.

"You tried to kill us when you dragged me out of my house at five o' clock," I countered with a smile. "Now get over here and spot me."

As Bradley and I worked out, the gym began to fill up and I knew that he hated being in a full gym.

"How about this? If we can go back to your place and go for a run, I'll buy breakfast."

"Ihop?"

"If that's what you want."

"Deal," I laughed as I slipped back into my hoodie and ran out to the parking lot.

Once we had gotten back to our neighborhood, Bradley had pulled back into his driveway and got out and stretched my legs. Once Bradley was out, he put his keys inside before we took off, taking it slow at first as we ran through the neighborhood.

"So are you going to go to the Navy ball? It's coming up quickly."

"In the entire time you've known me, have I ever gone to a formal dance?" I questioned with a raised brow.

"I definitely remember flying in to go to your senior prom with you," he replied, his facial expression mirroring mine.

"Yeah," I laughed breathily. "Except we left after an hour and went to In-N-Out. I wouldn't consider that to be me really attending a formal."

Bradley chuckled knowing that the only time I ever really had my hair and makeup put together was when I was competing. Though nobody else on the team knew except for him, I had been ice skating since I was a child but more specifically ice dance.

I was lucky enough to have been stationed at North Island when I had gotten out of the academy, which was when I had picked skating back up. When we were moved back after the uranium mission, my partner graciously welcomed me back to skate with him and we were gearing up for our second competition since my return.

"Oh, before I forget, Saturday Matt and I have our competition. Wanna join?" I questioned, out of breath as we approached our houses.

"Just send me a text to remind me."

We got to the front of my house and I collapsed onto the grass, my legs now reminiscent of the jello I had eaten the night before.

"You should see it! We've been working so dang hard!"

"Yeah, do you know how hard it's been to keep people from guessing where you're going?"

"I guess I don't care if they find out, I just don't want to deal with anyone, especially Bagman, giving me a hard time about what I do in my spare time."

"I don't blame you there," Bradley replied. "I need water. I'll catch you later for dinner."

"See ya," I said as I stood up and went into my own house to get ready for work.