Anchor ⚓︎ Jake 'Hangman' Seresin

⚓︎ chapter twenty-one ⚓︎

Maverick walked back into the living room where Eleanor sat. He held out a cup of tea to her, which she took, thanking him, and sipped at it. Mint tea to help soothe the nausea she was feeling, as well as calm her overactive nerves.

He took a seat next to her as she held the cup but stared blankly ahead. Every now and then, she would sniffle but other than that, she stayed silent and sipped at her tea.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about?" She asked quietly. "I know I will need to talk to him eventually, but for now, I need time to myself to think this over."

Maverick nodded before walking away to give her a second. He pulled his phone out and sent an individual message to Jake that Eleanor was with him and that she was safe. Jake immediately texted back, thanking him and begging him to tell her that he loved her so much.

Eleanor quickly ran into the bathroom and began throwing up again, Maverick quickly walked in to find her sobbing as she leaned over the toilet. She ran a hand over her forehead as she looked up at him with tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Are you okay?"

She let out a scoff and shook her head. "I know exactly what's wrong with me, Mav," she told him. "It's not just the anxiety that is making me sick." Maverick stayed silent as he waited for her to continue.

"It's also because I'm pregnant."

Maverick felt his stomach tighten before excitement replaced it.  Eleanor was pregnant but the look on her face didn't suggest it was a happy thing.

"Why are you worried about it?" He asked, kneeling beside her.

"Because," she sniffled, "I was pregnant a year ago and lost the baby."

Maverick dropped his head at the thought that Eleanor went through that loss.  He looked back at her to see she was obviously and understandably nervous. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that," he told her.

"The hardest part of it was the fact that Jake's grandma, who I was close with passed away a month later," she told him.  "So experiencing all that loss in such a short time caused my anxiety to skyrocket, which is why this detachment has been making me nervous."

Maverick nodded, understanding what she was saying.  "I won't try to ease your conscience by telling you that this mission isn't that bad because it's pretty dangerous," he told her.  "But I also know that they did bring the best of the best back for it.  They just need a little guidance to get it done."

Eleanor sniffled and smiled gratefully at the older man kneeling next to her.  "Thank you, Mav," she told him.

He nodded before standing back up fully and helping her up as well."Is there anything I can do or get you to make you feel better?" He asked.

"I was going to buy a test to confirm it if you want to do that for me," she asked sheepishly.

The laugh that left Maverick was genuine. "I can do that, it can't be much more awkward than all those times I had to go buy and you stuff for your time of the month when you were younger," he joked, causing Eleanor to laugh.

⚓︎

About twenty minutes later, Maverick had returned with the test and Eleanor had just taken it, letting it sit on the counter in the bathroom.  They both sat out on the couch in silence.  Maverick didn't know why but he was more nervous than Eleanor was.

When her phone buzzed, signaling the test should have the result, she stood and walked back to the bathroom. Mav waited out in the living room to give her privacy for the moment.  Eleanor walked in and looked at the test, her suspicions confirmed by the little plus sign.