Swan Song

Two

Following mine and Bradley's workout, I was quick to shower and braid my hair before pulling my flight suit on and heading towards the hangar where I was going to be meeting Hangman before our patrol.

Once I arrived, I ran a flight check and got all of my gear on all before Seresin even showed up. After waiting for him, I climbed into my jet and tried to stay quiet since I hated working with him. The last thing I had wanted or needed was to have his attitude bother me when it was going to be an otherwise perfect day with my brother returning home.

"There you are," I said as we flew above the incoming fleet.

"What are you talking about?" Hangman questioned.

"My brother."

"Your brother is down there?"

"My oldest brother, yeah," I replied. "He's been gone for the last three years."

"Don't you have a brother here already?"

"Yep," I replied, clearly being short with Hangman.

"How does that work?"

"Uh, Oliver was already stationed here then we got moved here after the mission. Now Owen is headed here. Their time was going to overlap by like a year or so but it just ended up working out that I ended up here too," I explained as Hangman and I continued to fly above doing small tricks as entertainment for those on deck each of the ships.

"Your old man must love that."

"That's Admiral Kazansky to you," I replied before looking at my watch. "Let's get back."

"Are you all doing anything special since he's coming home?"

"Why do you care?" I questioned. "Because this is horribly out of character, especially for you, Seresin."

"We're teammates now, aren't we? Why shouldn't I be friendly?"

"You can be friendly all you want but I won't return that same sentiment," I replied.

"There's no way you're still mad over something that happened like, what? Eight years ago?"

"I learned that you can't be trusted, whether it was a personal matter or not, and that's all there is to it."

"You've got to let go of the past, Odette. I was a punk kid back then."

"You were an adult who knew what you were doing. Now I'm done talking about it."

Jake and I both landed back on base before I headed to the unisex locker room. I was quick to wipe my face with some baby wipes and get freshened up before heading home to pick Bradley up from his house across the street.

I hit my horn twice and Bradley came outside in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts— typical Bradley casual wear.

"You're wearing that?" He asked as he spotted me in my flight suit.

"Uhh, I just got off of work?" I replied with a brow raised in question. "Do I need to be dressed like I'm going to the met gala or something?"

"Just thought you'd dress a little nicer for your brothers homecoming."

"That's weird," I replied before heading off of base and towards my parents house.

Once we had arrived, I spotted Oliver's truck and my dads had been parked out front as well so Owen must have already been home.

Bradley and I had been quick to get down and I practically busted the front door down. Once I saw Owen, I ran to him and threw my arms around him.

"Welcome home," I squealed.

"It's good to be back," Owen replied before seeing Bradley and offering his hand. "Rooster, always a pleasure."

"Welcome back, man," Bradley said as he shook Owen's hand.

"Do you two know how good it is to see that you are finally together?"

Bradley and I looked at one another before we both broke into a fit of amused laughter. As much as I loved Bradley, it never extended beyond the borders of friendship and I knew he felt the same. Bradley and I were easily described to be platonic soulmates and it was a title I was proud to have.

"Come on, come eat," my dad ushered us all into the dining room where he and my mom had prepared salad, spaghetti, garlic bread, and dessert.

We all sat down and as my dad sat down, he took note of my flight suit.

"How was your patrol?" He asked.

"Other than the fact that I was stuck with dumbass Jake Seresin, it was fine. We flew above the fleet as it came in."

"That was you?" Owen questioned with a grin. "I thought I had recognized those moves from somewhere."

"It isn't hard to recognize the way a Kazansky flies," I laughed as I served myself. "Ma, this smells so good!"

"It was mostly your fathers doing."

"Well either way, I'm starving and this looks fantastic," I replied.

"Dad mentioned you have a competition this weekend," Oliver chimed in before stuffing a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth.

"Oh yeah? What song are you and Matt skating to?" Owen inquired, glancing at me before focusing on the pile of pasta that sat on his plate.

"Golden Hour," I remarked with a smile. "We've been working so hard on this. You should come if you can."

"I thought that part was obvious," my dad replied with a chuckle. "All of us will be there, little duck."

I exchanged a quick glance with Bradley with a frown. I hated my nicknames of duck and ugly duckling because both nicknames always made me feel less than but because of my name and my love of The Swan Princess when I was a kid, the nicknames that were given to me by my brothers stuck within our entire family.

My parents never referred to me ugly duckling— they left that to my brothers who would get into trouble anytime they used it against me. My dad, however, picked up on duck and duckling, which wasn't much better to me but I learned to tolerate it over the years. I was just grateful it didn't find its way to being my callsign.

"Odette, sweetheart. Did you already have your costume for Saturday?" My mom questioned and I nodded.

"I do! It's a beautiful navy blue and silver dress. You'll love it."

"Why don't you invite your teammates to watch?" Dad questioned as he looked over to me. "I know they'd love to cheer you on!"

"Because Bradley is the only person that knows. I'd hate for Seresin and Machado to give me shit for skating."

"Who cares?" Owen questioned. "I'm sure they've had plenty of time to grow up."

"Yeah," I laughed. "Not likely."

I glanced at Bradley who chuckled at my comment. Even though he and Jake had a decent relationship, he knew I was far from likely to ever have a good relationship with Jake ever again.

"Dette mentioned something about ptysie?" Bradley asked, changing the subject for my sake.

"Want to help me bring it in from the kitchen?" Dad asked and Bradley nodded before following him into the kitchen.

Even though I loved my family, I was grateful for all that Bradley had ever done for me. He was more than my best friend, he was my family.

If only it had stayed that way.