Blondie- A Jake 'Hangman' Seresin fanfiction

Chapter 9

They reached Texas at around 3am and checked into one of the many hotels surrounding the airport to get some sleep and get changed before the family gathering later in the day. Georgie, who liked to wear skirts as often as she could when she wasn't in uniform, wore a yellow dress, short but not so short that Jake's family would think she was a slut, and let her blonde hair hang loose.

They got a taxi from the hotel to the house that Jake had grown up in- a four-bed detached house that lay down a single-track road, surrounded by a sizeable garden. A large red truck not too dissimilar to Jake's own was parked next to a 4x4 on the driveway, and he sighed when he saw it from the back seat of the taxi.

"Jasper is already here, then," he muttered.

"You had to expect your brother to be at a family gathering," Georgie reasoned.

"Just- don't get offended if he's rude to you, okay? That's just who he is."

"Me? Offended?" she smiled, pulling out a tip for the driver.

"Okay, good point. If you've coped with me, you can probably cope with him."

Georgie took his hand and they approached the front door together.

"Jakey!" a woman called out, swinging the door open.

"Mom," he grinned, leaning forward to hug her. "This is Georgie."

"Hi Georgie! Are you a hugger?"

"Yes, ma'am," Georgie smiled.

"Welcome to our home," Jake's mom said, reaching out to hug Georgie as well. "And please, call me Carol. Do come inside." She held the door open for them and they stepped inside.

"I'm just in the middle of cooking at the moment, but the others are all in here," Carol continued, leading them towards what looked like a dining room, and poking her head inside. "Jake's here, everyone," she announced. "Go on in, I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." She winked at Georgie before turning away.

Georgie stood in the doorway as she watched Jake embrace his dad, and exchange nods with his brother. Finally, they turned to acknowledge her. "And what is your name?" Jake's dad asked rather bluntly.

"My name is Georgiana, but most people just call me Georgie."

"Nice to meet you, Georgie- please sit down. What is it you do?"

"I'm also a pilot," she explained, sitting down next to Jake.

"Are you any good?" Jasper broke in, speaking to her for the first time.

Georgie shrugged. "I'd like to think so."

"She beats me often enough," Jake added. "And we both just got assigned to the navy's top squadron."

"I'm Sofia," piped up a brunette woman who was sat next to Jasper, jiggling a small child on her lap. "You pilots all have callsigns, right? What's your callsign?"

"Blondie."

"What, like Debbie Harry?" Jasper asked.

"Uh-huh. Basically, at my first assignment, me and this girl with black hair were both new on the same day. Guess how the super creative pilots told us apart."

"So what did they call the other girl? Black hair?"

"Nope. Phoenix."

Jake looked over at her incredulously. "You're telling me that the same group of idiots who christened you Blondie also came up with Phoenix for Natasha?"

"Only because she survived a crash in the first week."

He sat up straighter, smirking. "Phoenix crashed in the first week?"

"It's no good teasing her about it, I've been bringing it up for four years, it's not really funny anymore."

"So, uh-" Jake's dad cleared his throat, "how long have you two been together?"

"Two years, four months," Jake replied easily.

Jasper coughed incredulously. "Two years? You used to bring girls home after one date!"

"Well, I only come home twice a year. And we've been all over the country in different squadrons to each other. We could only see each other if we were stationed at the same air base or happened to be in the same state for whatever reason."

"And where is it you're stationed now?" Jake's dad asked.

"Miramar." Jake told him. "South California."

"California," Sofia sighed. "I wanna go to California. How come we never go on holiday, Jas?"

Jasper ignored his wife, instead asking Jake. "What're you hanging about at, anyway? By the time me and Soph had been together that long, we'd been married nearly a year and we had a kid. Or don't you fancy putting a ring on it? I don't blame you, really- it's embarrassing to marry a woman who's better at your job than you are."

Jake barely had time to take in a breath for his reply when Carol appeared in the doorway. "Buck and Betty are here. Ben, would you fire up the barbeque?"

Jake grabbed Georgie's hand and pulled her up from where she was sat. "Come meet my aunt and uncle," he insisted, leading her away from his brother and his questions.