FIREBALL

EPILOGUE

phoenix, bob and rooster sat in falcon's office, nerves bubbling in each of them.

"you have been heavily recommended to me by sergeant jackson, and after the recent loss of terrier, bulldog, and ghost, i'm sorely tempted to let you in. your records are all exemplary, flawless even. the recent mission has only furthered my inclination to allow you to join my team. fireball thinks you'll suit, but i want to hear it from you three. are you a good fit for my squadron?"

------

thalia waited outside the office with bated breath for her friends to come out. it felt like they'd been in there for hours by the time the trio walked out, followed by falcon.

"your friends here are incredible in the files, sergeant." he paused, and thalia held back a scream. "i look forward to seeing what they each bring to the team."

it took a moment for his words to sink in, but once they did, she leapt at them, pulling them into a hug.

"i fucking knew it," she whispered. "i knew they'd let you in."

--------- FOUR YEARS LATER -------

the hard deck was already full by the time thalia pulled up on her now-slightly-battered harley. her fiance had sent her a message that her drink was waiting next to him, so she took her time strolling in.

her presence caught the eye of jake sersin, and he immediately ran over and picked her up into a hug. "good to see you, jackson."

"you saw me six months ago, sersin. miss me that much?" thalia teased, before smiling gently at the older man. "i missed you too, mate."

he lead her over to the booth her old teammates were sat at, and she leant down to kiss her fiance on the cheek and picked up her bottle of cider from next to him. "hi, bobby," she murmured, before getting lost in a tangle of limbs as everyone piled on top of her, the only discernible person being bradley, wearing a brightly coloured hawaiian shirt. 

a year ago, thalia had joined the navy SEALs, missing the ground combat of the marines, but wanting a change of scenery to what the marines dealt with, so she was guided in the direction of the SEALs by her old admiral, falcon.

bob, natasha and bradley still flew for the dark souls, and when the quartet were all home at the same time, they'd make sure to meet up as much as possible. it was flying for the dark souls that bob and thalia grew feelings, and after dating for three years, bob had popped the question  six months ago.

because of the SEALs frequent detachments, the whole team had trouble meeting up too often, so thalia had requested some time off to spend with her found family. everyone had kept in touch after the special mission, no-one bearing any ill-will towards thalia for her decisions of crewmates. bob had made it very clear that anyone who did would have to deal with him, to which thalia had corrected him, changing his threat that she would deal with them, something that jake had joked was far more threatening. 

penny and pete mitchell were the last to arrive, penny sporting a rather large baby bump, gathering the attention of most of the boys arguing who would be the best uncle. it was in that chaos penny and pete turned to thalia and bradley.

"thalia, bradley, you two are both very important to us, and it was you guys who made it so we were able to start this family, and it would be a great honour to us if you would be the godparents?"

a tear fell from bradley's eye as thalia threw her arms around the married couple. "i'm gonna be the best godparent ever to this little girl."

bradley gasped in fake-hurt. "that's where you're wrong, jackson. i'm going to be the best godparent ever, and i think it's going to be a boy."

the two started a fake argument, with dramatics galore, as the group around them laughed at the pair, who were as closely bonded as siblings. pete finally stepped in when they started mock-punching each other.

"children, children, calm down," he teased, and bradley gasped, clutching his heart, and thalia wiped a non-existent tear from her cheek.

"you wound me, old man," she cried, falling dramatically backwards. bob caught her, and set her upright. "my knight in shining armour," the recently-turned-purple haired woman exclaimed.

"always for you, darlin'," he smirked, and thalia blushed at his thick accent.

"so we don't have to watch this vomit-inducing scene anymore, we'll tell you what the baby is." pete laughed at the offended expressions on his ex-students faces.

"no- pete. don't you mean babies..."

jake let out a girlish squeal. "twins?!"

pete nodded, in shock from the feminine sound that had escaped the usually masculine pilot.

"one of each," penny revealed. 

thalia and bradley immediately turned on each other again, leaving the rest of the group in fits of laughter. 

maverick and penny watched the group fondly, and penny pulled out her old polaroid camera, snapping a quick photo of the scene. "one for the christmas cards," she whispered to bob, who had seen it happen.

the crew parted that night once again, the bond of their extremely mismatched family as strong as ever. the final song that played before they left was 'great balls of fire', and everyone sung along and danced as bradley played the piano enthusiastically.

it was a scene that they would always remember, even as they grew old, their meeting at the hard deck, exactly four years to the day after the mission ended. they carried on the meet-ups until the last member of their group joined the rest in the stars, and every last one ended the same:

you shake my nerves and you rattle my brain,
too much love drives a man insane,
you broke my will,
oh, what a thrill
goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!

974 words- well crew, that's a wrap! i loved writing this so much, and I hope you enjoyed reading it! this is my first published work that'll stay published- mostly because it's completed lol... i was really sad finishing this, even though it only took four days, because i've never had the drive to finish a book like i have with this one. if you liked it, leave a comment and vote- any help is appreciated really! it gives me so much motivation seeing people enjoy my work, so i'd like to say, thank you for reading!- C xox