𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 | 𝘛𝘰𝘱 𝘨𝘶𝘯

𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 || 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬

"𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘪 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘱? 𝘖𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴"

- 𝘈𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘦

𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐇 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐋 by the kitchen counter. She watched her mother pace around preparing a delicious breakfast on the morning of her day off. It was 7am. During this time Delilah would have been settled at day care, and Cassie sitting in a briefing room or in a plane 15,000 feet in the air. However, Cyclone had released an email explaining the aviators would start training later that day.

Cassie's phone dinged with a text message, grasping the attention span of the young four-year-old sat on the stool in front of the phone. "Mumma, you got a message." Delilah alerted her mother to the notification with enthusiasm.

"Thank you baby, I will check that right now." Cassie replied, placing her spatula on the counter by the stove before picking up her phone and reading a message from Maverick.

'For today's training please meet me at the beach at 0900, location can be found below. – Maverick'

Cassie's brow furrowed, why was she going to the beach. And why did Maverick feel he had to sign his name at the end of a message. She knew who it was from. She shook her head at the older man's antics looking at her daughter who watched her with curiosity.

"Uncle Mav is silly Del." Cassie informed Delilah. Delilah giggled as her mother called her parents, informing them about the sudden change of plans. Just as it was all unfolding a single ring of the door bell could be heard. Delilah scrambled to the door as Cassie continued explaining the situation to her parents.

"Del, hold on honey." Cassie called out from the kitchen. She was too late. Delilah had already swung the door open, meeting the gaze of a sorrowful looking Jake Seresin. He had flowers in one hand as the other rested in his back pocket of his jeans. "Hello!" Delilah exclaimed as her mother began to finish the conversation with her parents.

"Hey little bug, who are you?" Jake asked the girl softly, confusion filling his features. "I'm Delilah Kerner." The little girl spoke softly as the man in front of her became even more confused. "Kerner? Like Cassie Kerner?" He muttered as the sound of footsteps could be heard as Cassie made her way to the door.

"Mumma, I opened the door for you" Delilah exclaimed as Cassie was met with the confused face of Jake Seresin on her doorstep. Cassie's eyes widened.

"Jake? What are you dong here?" Cassie asked in disbelief. "I came to apologize....is this your daughter?" Jake asked gesturing to the small girl before him. "You should come in." Cassie said stepping aside moving her daughter with her as Jake entered.

"Del, can you go upstairs and get some clothes on. Grandad and grandma are going to be here to get you soon." Cassie explained to her daughter as Delilah rushed upstairs with a bright smile. Cassie looked back towards Jake before gesturing to the stools by the kitchen counter.

"I know your confused. Thank you for the flowers by the way. I uh.....I'm guessing you know where I live because of Mickey? She questioned. "Yeah...I thought I would say sorry for yesterday, I was being an asshole, and your right. Rooster and Mav didn't deserve my bullshit." Cassie smirked turning the stove off and loading the cooked pancakes on a plate.

"But who is that little girl?" Jake questioned as Cassie shifted to meet his gaze. "That would be my daughter. Before you ask, no, her dad is not in the picture. He never really was." Cassie explains. Jake nods. "I moved here 4 years ago permanently. I needed to be closer to home. And I wanted to build a life for my daughter, a stable one." Cassie adds. "She is really special to me. A mini version of myself." Cassie explains smiling at the thought of her daughter.

"She definitely looks like you. She is really something." Jake compliments. Cassie cracks a smile. "Yeah, she has some spirit. That is something I know for sure." Cassie responds. The sounds of Delilah are heard as she comes tearing down the stairs.

"Mumma, can I have breakfast now?" Delilah asks. Cassie glances at Jake before smiling at her oddly dressed daughter. "Yes Del, you can." Cassie responds. Delilah makes her way onto her favourite stool once more sitting beside Jake. "Mumma makes the best pancakes." Delilah informs the man beside her. Cassie smiles loading some fruit and pancakes onto a plate.

"Del, this nice man is Jake" Cassie gestures to Jake as the young girl grins. "Jake" Delilah repeats looking up at the blond mean before her. "Hey, it's nice to meet you Delilah." Jake greets softly. Cassie's stomach does flips. He sounded like a dad.

"Eat up Del. Can I get you anything Jake?" Cassie asks fiddling with the necklace on her neck. Jake smiles at the woman in front of him. She looked so domestic. "No thanks, I had breakfast. In fact, I should get going so I can get ready for the beach." Jake suggests.

Cassie smiles. "Yeah I should too. I will walk you out." Cassie follows Jake to the porch watching as he turns around. "I hope you know that little girl in there doesn't change my offer on that drink." Jake says. Cassie blushes before cracking a smile. "Good, because I may just take you up on that offer Mr Seresin." Cassie replies.

Jake grins before placing a kiss on the woman's cheek. "I will see you later" Jake adds before opening the door of his truck and climbing inside. Cassie waves to the man before heading inside and closing the door. She lets out a joyful sigh as her back hits the door.

She definitely had feelings.

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Cassie was summoned to the door once more. It was her father. As Cassie opened the front door she was greeted with a smile and outstretched arms.

"Hey dad. Thank you so much for this" Cassie said as her father pulled her in for a hug. "You know we love having her." Ron reminds his daughter pulling away from the embrace.

"Yeah, well I have no clue what Mav is up to." Cassie added causing Ron to chuckle at his friends antics. Delilah ran to the door. "Grandad!" she exclaimed running into Ron's arms as he picked her up. "Hey jelly bean." Ron greets his granddaughter placing a kiss to her forehead.

Cassie smiles watching the pair. "How was your breakfast?" Ron questioned glancing at his granddaughter. "It was good! I met a new person." Delilah explained as Ron glanced at his daughter.

"Really? What was their name?" Ron asked. Delilah took a second recalling the tall man she had met earlier. "Cake" Delilah exclaimed as her mother let out a chuckle. "Cake?" Ron questioned, confusion filling his features.

"It was Jake honey." Cassie reminded her. Ron gave his daughter a taunting look, a smirk present on his face. "Jake huh? I'd love to meet him." Ron added as Cassie felt her cheeks heat up.

"Alright, you better get going don't you think dad? I have to leave in twenty minutes anyway." Cassie reasoned trying to change the subject.

"Alrighty, lets go Del. Your mum is kicking us out." Ron adds as Cassie places a kiss to her daughter's cheek. "Have fun you two. I will see you later." Cassie calls out. Delilah smiles at her mother as she waves her off.

Cassie closed the door behind her grabbing her sports bag consisting of a towel, a change of clothes and a water bottle.

What was Maverick up to?

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𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞:

I told you it would be heart-warming. This is more just a filler chapter. I am making the chapters slightly shorter, I just think it makes it easier to take in. Thank you everyone for voting, as I have said before it motivates me. So, thank you. I hope you guys are enjoying it, if you find any mistakes in the story at all. Let me know. I can miss things sometimes. The next chapter is the famous beach scene. I will see you all next upload. 😊