Princess-prentiss

g | she/her

[dlea203]

thank you💗

Been listening to this song on repeat in the last few days and the lyrics made me realize something...

That it pretty much describes me since summer 2022, when I joined the awesome TopGun-Fandom here on Tumblr. I felt out of place, misunderstood, isolated to a certain point... but then I joined Tumblr and found the courage to actually interact with the creators that were already part of the fandom. Best decision of my fucking life. I've met some of the sweetest, smartest, kindest, most creative people I ever had the privilege of knowing. And I'm so grateful for it.

Here are some thoughts on why I consider it so fitting...

I can feel the sunshine in my life I'm just a little happier by your side

@bradshawsbaby @coraphoenix @maryelizabeth13 @myshipsaresunk @cllsgnphoenix @the-cranck-hobbit @autumntouched @melodiousoblivionao3 @princess-prentiss especially (but many others too!), you guys bring the sunshine to my life! Not only by creating those wonderful, perfect stories about our favorite movie characters, but also by being unbelievably caring and sweet. You make me feel loved, seen and less out of place every day🥰.

Hold my hand when I need you the most

You helped me through my ups and downs in various ways, for example by listening to my rants or my breakdowns or by putting up a new chapter/new story that made my heart dance and forget my problems for a few minutes.

It's your love that is weighted in gold

This line doesn't refer directly to love per se, but mostly to your love and devotion to the characters and stories you create around them. I appreciate your work and passion immensely and take none of it for granted. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for willingly investing so much time. It is truly a gift beyond compare.

The whole point of this post is:

I wanted to say THANK YOU! THANK YOU for everything you do!

You definitely changed my life for the better and I can't ever thank you enough for that💗!

[princess-prentiss]

THANK YOUUUU SM!!! Omg ur so sweet, u have literally made this fandom a million times better just by being in it! 🥰

[princess-prentiss]

All Too Well - Chapter 18

A/N: Well, well, well, its been a little while but we’re back with Jake and Nat for some fluff, a little bit of angst and some family time

After checking Mia was still asleep in their bed, Natasha led Jake back downstairs into the kitchen where her brother was leaning over the counter, on his phone.

Louis looked up at the sound of their footsteps, making eye contact with his sister before shifting his focus to the man he thought had abandoned her. He glanced quickly to where their hands were intertwined, it was her leading him, that gave him some reassurance that she wasn’t completely vulnerable in whatever she was doing with him now.

He straightened up as the pair reached him, raising one eyebrow judgementally earning a murderous glare from his sister.

Nat took a deep breath before starting to talk.

“Jake this is Louis, my older brother, Louis this is Jake,”

Louis cut her off before she could finish, “my niece’s deadbeat dad?”

“Hey man,” Jake said as his brow creased in anger. He had intended to leave this to his wife, he wanted her family to accept him - he would do anything to make her happy, but he wasn’t about to stay silent while someone accused him of neglecting his daughter - even if it was what had technically happened.

Nat landed a light punch on her brother’s arm, “Louis”, she glared at him, “I told you it was completely my fault.”

“But still Tasha, he never reached out, never thought to check on how you were.”

“He tried! I just wasn’t thinking!”

“Tasha…”

“No Louis, you don’t get to criticise him. Me, fine, but you haven’t even given Jake a chance!”

“Fine,” he sighed reluctantly, sticking his hand out for him to shake, “Nice to meet you I guess. But if you ever think of even mistreating my sister or my niece I will find you.”

“Oh my God Louis it’s not 1960 give up the whole speech.” She shoved him without any real weight behind it, clearly happier at how things were turning out.

“Of course, I would never.” Jake, glanced down at his wife before turning back to her brother.

They moved back to the living room, Louis sitting opposite where Jake sat, with Nat leaning against his side as they continued a friendly discussion.

When her parents returned home from work they greeted her brother joyfully, insisting he stayed for dinner while expressing their sympathy for Mia. It wasn’t until later that evening when her brother had left and her parents were busy clearing up in the kitchen with Jake that Nat went to check on her daughter.

Mia was swamped in the sheets of their double bed, her tiny figure almost disappearing between the pillows - Nat dumped Jake’s sweatshirt in the corner of the room before moving to lie next to the girl, still, in the dress, she had been married in.

“Mia, baby,” she said softly stroking the hair back from her daughter’s forehead, “how are you feeling?”

The only response she got was a grumble, leading her to place the back of her hand on the child’s head.

“You do seem a bit warm still,” she commented with a hum.

The door opened slowly and Jake entered the room, clearly trying to be as quiet as possible.

“Hey, Mia,” he said noticing she was awake.

The girl shook her head and buried her face into her mother’s chest.

“Jake she’s still got a fever, can you look in the bathroom there should be something for her there.” She said stroking the back of the girl’s head and pulling her body closer to hers while untucking the heavy weight of the blankets she was cocooned in.

He disappeared into the other room before returning with a small pink bottle.

“Alright Mia, I know it tastes yucky but it will help, I promise.” She said pulling herself upright and bringing her daughter with her so Mia leaned her back against her.

Jake held out a spoonful of the substance, watching as his daughter reluctantly drank it.

“Good Job, baby” His wife soothed, as he returned to the bathroom to change.

As he reappeared he saw his wife try to untangle where his daughter’s hands clung to her, unsuccessfully.

“Mia, baby, I’ve got to get changed, but daddy’s here.”

“No,” she grumbled drowsily into Nat’s dress, “I don’t want daddy, just you.”

That hurt Jake.

“Mia, come on baby, please.” She tried, using a bit more force to try to get out of the bed.

Nat successfully disentangled herself much to her daughter’s discontent, she tried to move as quickly as she could to change and remove the makeup she had done hours earlier. This was certainly far from the wedding night she had been imagining.

When she returned to her bedroom Jake had turned the lights off and was lying in bed, but on the opposite side to Mia, who had managed to move her way to the edge of her side of the bed. He was looking at their daughter and she could see the hurt in his eyes as he did so. She slid under the sheets, Mia instantly clinging onto her as she shuffled her way towards her husband.

It didn’t take long before small snorts once again broke the silence of their breathing.

“Jake, it’s ok, it’s only because she’s sick.”

“I’m no one, Nat. She doesn’t really know me, I’m not someone she trusts, someone she wants to comfort her.”

“No, Jake, your her dad.”

“That’s nothing Nat because I haven’t been there for her!” His whispers grew pained.

“Jake, you are there for her now and she knows it, she trusts you, she loves you. Look, the first time she was sick when I was deployed was hard, I wasn’t there for her and as much as my parents tried to hide it she kept asking for me and I wasn’t there. So the next time she was sick when I was on leave, she didn’t ask for me, she asked for my mom and Jake that was so, so painful for me. It felt like I wasn’t fit to be a mom when I couldn’t even be there when she needed me most, but Jake you’ve been here for her since the moment you found out. She’ll come round, you just need to hang on.”

“Nat.” He said sympathetically, tears of his own self-loathing fresh in his eyes, he moved his arm gently to encircle them, finding its place on her hip.

She moved closer so that her head rested next to his on the pillow, warmth spreading through her as he placed a gentle kiss on the crown of her head before he closed his eyes.

All was well - for now at least.

[princess-prentiss]

Merry Christmas sweetheart🎄💗!

I hope that you get to enjoy some time off to relax and recharge your batteries🥰. You absolutely deserve it!

I can't wait to see what 2023 has in store for you. I hope it'll be a bit calmer and less stressful😅😉. Interacting with you has been absolutely wonderful and I hope that we can continue that in the new year.

Love and hugs from your Swiss girl❤️.

omg thank u, i hope u had a really good Christmas!

ur so thoughtful i hope the new year is everything that you want it to be and more.

so many hugs u actually make me want to cry <3

[princess-prentiss]

Okay listen my love, I know I‘m probably overstepping boundaries here but you have me really worried🥺💗.

Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?

Heyyyy, sorry I know it’s been a while! Life for me is so busy rn with work, school and everything else. I literally have no time left which is so annoying bc I wanna write!

Thank you for taking the time to check in, I hope u are doing well 🥰

[princess-prentiss]

Do you have any good fic recommendations that feature Phoenix (in any relationship or by herself)? I really enjoy your fics, but while you're between updates, I'd love to read something you enjoyed! Thank you!

sorry it’s taken me so long to respond to this! Theres a lot of really great hannix fics on this list (still cannot believe my fic is included on it!)

For any other Phoenix fics I’d recommend literally anything written by @lyndun407 I particularly love The Mission series

This is in no way all of the fics I’ve read and loved with Phoenix in but rather just a few that come to mind. Aside from this if anyone else has any recommendations pls tell me, I’m always looking for new fics to read!

[princess-prentiss]

All Too Well - Chapter 17

Pairing: Natasha “Phoenix” Trace/Jake “Hangman” Seresin 

A/N: soooo I’m aware this is more than a little late, I’m not going to give you a load of excuses but I hope this is worth the wait 

Nat quickly fell asleep after her daughter’s snores started, Jake’s body wrapped around both of them, as though he was trying to shield them from the outside world. After all, it was him that was still awake, even when Mia woke a couple of hours later, moaning, clearly still feeling sick, so he pulled her closer to his chest, holding the bowl for her that they had put on the floor earlier in case of any emergencies.

He whispered softly into her hair, “I got you. It’s gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay.”

At that moment he wished he had a nickname for his daughter like Nat did, anything that would bring her comfort. He looked over at his wife, her face was serene in deep sleep, occasionally her eyebrow would twitch and she would draw in a large sniff, readjusting her limbs, but she lost herself over and over to unconsciousness. He was pulled back into the moment by Mia shivering against his chest, he pulled one of the blankets from the side of the couch over her, it was clear she had a fever and that made him all the more concerned.

When he was ill, he would just down a bottle of cough medicine and go to work as normal - with regular sniffling. When he was with Nat, on the very rare occasion that she would get sick, he turned up to her dorm room with a box of tissues, soup and as much medicine as the pharmacy would let him have. He’d make sure she’d stay in bed and drink some of the soup before encouraging her to sleep, she would always ask him to lie next to her, so she could grip onto his arm using him as a human hot water bottle. And now it was Mia, he would do absolutely anything to stop her from feeling so unwell, but now, as she curled into his chest, he was just grateful he could be there for her.

-

Nat felt someone shaking her arm, bringing her back to consciousness abruptly. She groaned and tried to shake the person’s hand off of her arm, burying her face into the couch pillow it rested on.

“Tash.” The voice said, clearly annoyed at her ignorance.

She groaned again but moved her head around to look at whoever was disturbing her sleep. She had expected Jake or her dad but she certainly had not expected the grinning face of her older brother, looking down at her.

She looked up in shock, before quickly detangling herself from the pile of her husband and daughter’s limbs on the couch and throwing herself at him.

“Oof, Tash.” He huffed, as the air was knocked out of his lungs.

“Louis! What are you doing here?” She exclaimed into his shoulder, from where her arms were thrown around his neck.

“Mom told me you were on leave, and I wanted to see you before you got deployed again,” he explained, pulling back to look her in the eye “she didn’t tell me about him though.”

He cocked an eyebrow, smirking at her which led her to shove him playfully.

“Is he the baby daddy?”

“Ugh, I cannot believe you just said that.”

“What? Baby daddy? So it’s true then?”

“First of all she’s six, and this isn’t some teen drama show so seriously stop calling him that.”

“But I’m not wrong.”

“No, you’re not.” She said with a sign, pushing her hair back over her head with one hand.

She moved to untangle her legs from where they were up on the couch beside her, walking to the kitchen, motioning for her brother to follow as to not disturb the sleeping child and her father in the next room.

“Nice outfit.” He said smirking as they entered the other room.

“Oh what,” she looked down at herself, realizing she was still wearing her dress from early only with her new husband’s sweatshirt over the top, “thanks.” She continued, too tired to make some clever retort.

“So,” Louis leaned his arms on the kitchen counter, looking over it at her, “why’s he here.”

She sighed, meeting her brother’s gaze.

“Because I finally told him about Mia.”

“Christ Nat, you mean he didn’t know?” He exclaimed, weary of his volume. “I always thought it was his choice, but you mean you didn’t even tell him?”

“Yes, yes, I know, I’m a terrible person.” She said moving around the worktop to stand next to him, leaning her back against the surface.

“That was a kind of shitty thing to do.” He paused looking at her honestly.

“Thanks, Lo, you’re meant to be on my side in this.” She rolled her eyes, half joking but the reality of her brother’s words hurt her, she regretted her choice now, but at the moment she had thought that she was doing the right thing to protect her daughter.

Silence hung in the air between them as both of them stood taking in the reality of the other person’s words.

“What did dad say?” He looked at her with a grin that she associated more with her brother than the cold look it had replaced.

“He took it surprisingly well.” She allowed a small grin to appear on her face.

“And Mia likes him?”

“She loves him, she did even before I told her who he is. I only regret they haven’t had more time together.”

“That was your choice, Nat. I may not know why, but you’re my sister and I trust you, but this is pushing the boundaries of that trust.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m not the one that needs your apology.”

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to make it up to him. I’ve said it more times than I can count,” she recounted the way he looked at her as though he was mourning the death of a loved one every time she brought up the first years of their daughter’s life, “But I can’t control time, and that’s what he really wants. A chance to have been there her whole life, to have seen her first steps, to have been there for her first word. A part of him will always resent me because of it.”

There had been so many milestones she had missed with Mia, but she couldn’t imagine not having been there for any, the thought devastated her, she couldn’t imagine how hard it was for Jake.

Louis turned around to her, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into him. He was taller than her, allowing her to bury her face into her brother’s shoulder, refusing to let the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes fall on the red of his t-shirt.

Today was meant to be one of the happiest days of her life she thought bitterly, subduing a chuckle that would surely confuse her brother, and yet here she was feeling sorry for herself because of something she decided at 21.

She pulled back gently from the embrace, shooting him a grateful smile before turning to walk back into the other room.

“Jake.” She shook his shoulder gently to try to wake him.

His arms were wrapped around Mia tightly, holding her to his chest as she scrunched her hands into his dress shirt. The pair of them looked peaceful and a part of her regretted her decision to wake them.

He looked up at her groggily, as though he was questioning her.

“Can you move Mia to our bed?”

He nodded, slowly gaining consciousness as he moved to stand, taking the young girl in his arms, keeping her tucked to his chest with one arm while the other moved to hold her under her legs.

Natasha followed them upstairs and watched from the door of their bedroom as he pulled the covers back from their bed while still balancing the girl in his arms before placing her gently on the bed and tucking her in.

He turned back to her when he was sure his daughter was going to stay asleep, looking her up and down as she lent against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest. She was his wife, he thought, letting a smug grin appear on her face.

She saw the way he looked over her body then the way the smug smile painted itself on his complexion. As much as she wanted to indulge in what she was sure he was thinking about, they had more pressing measures at hand.

“My brother’s here.”

His brain blanked, that was not in the plan.

[princess-prentiss]

Hey sweetheart :)

Just wanted to check in and ask how you‘re doing. You okay? Haven‘t heard from you in a while🥺.

Have a lovely day🥰

ur literally so sweet!

tbt my life is pretty hectic rn, it’s college app season and I decided it would be fun to apply to unis in three different countries (it’s not)

I’ve rewritten the next chapter of all too well about three times bc I cant decide which I like best but it will be up soon when I decide lmao

I hope u have a great weekend!

[princess-prentiss]

🍃🌺🌙If you receive this you make somebody happy. Go and send this to ten of your followers who make you happy or somebody you think needs cheering up. If you get it back even better🌙🌺🍃

awww @dlea203 can I literally send this back to u, ur literally the sweetest 😭

[princess-prentiss]

All Too Well - Chapter 16

Pairing: Natasha “Phoenix” Trace/Jake “Hangman” Seresin

A/N: heyyy I'm back thank u for all the support I really needed it tbt, but the family fluff is also much needed hehe

Neither of them wanted an actual wedding.

Sure Jake was normally the type to advertise as much of life as possible, but his relationship with Nat was something so private, so special because it was just the two of them, and Mia, he didn’t need a big wedding for the rest of the world to see that.

It was her that had suggested the plan; tell her parents they were going on a lunch date and then go to city hall. Nobody even needed to know.

Having the house to themselves in the morning after her parents left for work and Mia for school, they got ready separately. Jake ducked into the bathroom to change while she stayed in their room, applying a light layer of makeup in front of the mirror.

He waited for her downstairs, pacing back and forth in the kitchen.

Watching as the tight fabric of her dress rose up and down with each step she took down the stairs, he stopped his pacing and fixated on her instead. It was like all the air had been taken from his lungs, physically stopping him from surviving without her. Her dress was black, with the straps hanging off of her shoulders, leaving her neck clear bar the golden chain of her necklace, her hair was pulled back with only a few strands remaining around her face, framing it in a way that made him want to rest his hands on her cheeks and kiss her until the end of time.

She reached the bottom of the stairs, looking him up and down appreciatively, the blue of his shirt contrasted with the green in his eyes nicely.

He moved to meet her, holding out his hand, which she took, with him then bringing it to his lips and gently touching them to her knuckles.

“You look stunning.”

She replied breathlessly, “I can’t wait to marry you.”

-

The drive to the city hall was quiet. Her hand held his over the middle console of his truck, her fingers weaving their way between his, running her thumb over the top of his knuckles as he drove.

She wasn’t nervous, this was Jake she was marrying, and all in all, it was just another piece of paper to sign. Given that it may be a piece of paper defining her as someone’s wife for the first time, but still, the prospect intrigued her, being legally tied to another person for the rest of her life. There was no one she would rather it be than the man that somehow managed to both accept and forgive her for keeping his daughter from him for six years all while still loving her.

-

The wedding was quiet.

He waited for her at the end of the aisle after leaving her with a kiss at the door, but the minute they spent apart was still far too long for him. A part of him wondered if they were getting into this too quickly, his parent’s marriage was only a contract after all, and he wanted to be nothing like them. But then this was Nat, the woman he had been in love with for nearly a third of his life, who had managed to raise Mia so well and still love him even though he wasn’t there for her.

And then it was clear, if he was going to do one thing in his life, it would be dedicating it all to her, and if she wanted it to be legally recognised, then he would do it in a heartbeat.

She reached him in front of the registrar, quickly moving her hand to grip his, squeezing it before looking into his eyes.

There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her.

They weren’t the type to write their own vows or have anything special. Marriage was simply another form to fill in, in the hundreds they had completed as a part of their careers. The ceremony was quick and simple and as soon as they signed their names on the dotted line they left the building, only stopping as he pulled her into a kiss at the top of the stone steps by the entrance, swinging around and dipping her before kissing her as he had seen in old westerns his grandfather had used to play on repeat.

“Jake!” She exclaimed in between giggles, her happiness was infectious and soon he was laughing too, pulling on her hand to lead her down the street.

-

Their lunch after was quiet. He had made reservations the day before for some restaurant in downtown San Diego that she had wanted to try but hadn’t had a reason to before. But most of their time waiting for their extortionately expensive food was spent filling out more forms, but this time they had the navy seal at the top. Their hands were intertwined under the white linen of the tablecloth as they both stated their new relationship, and their desire for joint housing. But they wouldn’t touch Mia’s custody status until they had discussed it with her parents, and the navy had at least recognised their marriage.

“I love you Mrs Seresin.” He told her as she led the way back onto the street, their joined hands swinging between them.

“And I love you, Mr Trace.”

They had already agreed that neither of them wanted to change their names, it was too complicated and then there was the debate on whose name they would take, he wasn’t particularly attached to any reminder of his father but then she said that Mr Trace was her father so they found themselves stuck. So they reached an easier solution. But then there was the question of Mia.

-

“Shit”

She drew back from where they were making out over the middle console of his truck, looking down at the sound of her phone swearing at the caller before hastily putting it to her ear.

Jake was more than a bit annoyed at his time with his new wife being interrupted, but as he listened to her conversation he found his anger dissipating as her tone turned worried.

“That was Mia’s school,” she said with a sigh, putting her phone back, “Mia’s sick, we need to go pick her up.”

All the thoughts he had just a minute prior were long gone and instead were replaced by concern for his daughter.

Nat watched as his brow furrowed, and it made her melt. The genuine concern he felt for their daughter, a child he didn’t know existed a month ago, was enough to make her want to throw her arms around him and never let go.

-

They pulled up to the school with Nat pulling Jake’s sweatshirt he kept in his truck over her head, trying to smooth down her hair from where he had run his fingers through it mid-make-out. He met her at the front of the truck, his hand held out for her to take which she did gladly, as they walked into the building hand-in-hand.

-

Both of them could tell that Mia wasn’t alright, she resembled almost nothing of the cheerful girl they had dropped at school just this morning. Nat could tell Jake was worried, and of course, she was too, but she was used to how often children got sick by this point, but for Jake, this was the first time his daughter had been any less than herself. She could almost feel the waves of worry coming off his body as he led the way back to his truck, Mia walking with her arms around her waist, her head resting against the sweatshirt she had borrowed from him, leaning a good proportion of her weight on her mother.

Nat sat in the back of his truck, Mia next to her with her head resting on her mother’s chest as she stroked her head soothingly, holding her close. He could see them through the rear-view mirror, the sight of his family making him feel like he belonged for the first time, he had people that cared about him, that he cared about. He never wanted to let them go.

-

When they got home, she quickly ushered Mia out of her car seat and onto the couch, before going to fetch her a glass of water, a blanket and her phoenix. When she returned the sight in front of her made her both want to cry and laugh.

A part of Nat was jealous. Every time Mia had been sick it was her she wanted, not her grandmother or her grandfather but her mommy, and as much as it hurt Nat that her daughter was ill, a warmth spread through her at the thought of being wanted. But now it was obviously Jake she wanted, she couldn’t help but be a little jealous of her new husband, as he sat back on the couch, drawing their daughter into his arms so that her head rested on his chest. Watching as the weight of her eyelids forced them close. A soothing hand going up and down her back, the sunlight reflecting off of the gold band around his ring finger caught Nat’s eye, making a small smile appear on her face.

Nat moved to join her husband and daughter on the couch, reaching for her left hand and intertwining it with hers around her daughter’s back.

It was their secret, together.

[princess-prentiss]

All Too Well - Chapter 15

Pairing: Natasha “Phoenix” Trace/Jake “Hangman” Seresin

A/N: thank u for the love, it literally helps me so much family fluff! well mainly just jake and nat just as a side note: my life is just a tad hectic rn so updates are not going to be as often, but i am not abandoning this 

When Nat put Mia to bed that night, the child realized the presence of the new piece of jewelry on her mother’s finger. Taking her hand with her smaller one and twisted the ring around Nat’s finger, examining the way the light from the lamp on her bedside table reflected off it.

Since they had been home on leave, she and Jake had taken turns in reading the girl her story before bed and tucking her in. The first time Jake had done it by himself, he had walked back across the corridor to her room silently, entering the room and grabbing her into a fierce hug, softly crying into her hair as she rubbed soothing circles on his back. He had taken to fatherhood so well, Nat thought, it had taken her a while to adapt to having someone that depended entirely on her when Mia was born, but she quickly realized that she wouldn’t give it up for anything.

By the middle of their leave, they had received their new orders, both of them would be at Lemoore, and so would Bob. Jake was infinitely grateful for the opportunity to be at the same base as her. Still, at the same time, he didn’t know how he was going to cope with being also far away from her, they had been sharing a bed for the past week and he had gotten used to the feeling of her sleeping next to her, to her tangling her fingers in his hair and running them through softly late at night when she thought he was asleep.

And then there was the slight issue of Mia. He wasn’t sure how Nat had survived being away from their daughter, but now he knew about her existence, the mere thought of being away from her had his heart torn into pieces.

He recalled one morning when Mia was getting ready for school, how she had asked him to do her hair, he stalled his response, the only time he had done anything with long hair had been years ago with Nat, and then that had only been putting it up in a ponytail for her when she was too busy throwing up to do it herself. So he had to call Nat out from her shower to do their daughter’s hair, watching on feeling as though every day he was discovering more and more that he had missed out on. As soon as Mia had gone to school, he turned to Nat asking her to teach him how to braid her hair, she nodded immediately, almost looking guilty as she sat on the floor in front of him sat on the couch, showing him how to take the strands of hair she offered to him and weave them under each other.

It took a few attempts but he was getting there. If he had to stay away for Mia for so long, would he forget again?

Nat seemed to notice he was getting overly pensive, taking the hair from his hand and tying it gently with the hair tie from around her wrist, she moved to stand before placing herself in his lap, so that she rested on his chest. Turning her head, she placed a soft kiss on his forehead, his skin tingling under the touch of her lips with the emotion she tried to put into the single action.

It would be okay because he had her. He had a family.

-

One day, her father had taken him aside while she was busy getting Mia to try to do her homework.

“So Jake,” he started, handing the younger man a brush, he had brought him out to the garage on the premise of cleaning it together, “Have you thought about what you’re going to do when your leave is over?”

Jake lost a little of the colour in his face, he wasn’t exactly expecting the shovel talk from her father, he was both too proud and knew his daughter too well to know that it wasn’t necessary. But this seemed to be his own version of checking what Jake’s intentions were with his daughter.

“I’ve requested to return to Lemoore sir, with Natasha.” He said, bringing some of the southern manners his childhood had been filled with into his response.

“And what of your relationship with my daughter?”

“I hope to continue to date her, sir.”

“And my granddaughter?”

“I wish to see her as often as possible, sir, if you will let me.” He was all too aware that the man he was talking to now had custody over his daughter.

“Jake, as much as we have custody of her, we let Tasha make the majority of the decisions about Mia, and she seems to be stuck on having you in her life. Plus, don’t pretend like we haven’t seen the new ring on her finger.”

Ever since he had given it to her, Nat had been wearing his grandmother’s ring on her left ring finger, and although they had agreed that it wouldn’t mean their engagement, they didn’t do anything to deter others from thinking that.

“Thank you, and thank you for letting me stay in your house.” He responded, Jake knew that one day he wanted to share a house with his family, but for now her parent's house would have to do. Sure he had a couple of properties his grandfather left him, and there were his parent’s properties, but that would involve talking to them. Which wasn’t something he was keen to do.

Her father nodded, accepting the younger man’s new role in his daughter, and granddaughter’s lives.

-

Waking up next to her was something he’d never get used to. Staring at her face, waiting for her to stir, watching as her eyelashes twitched in her sleep, the rise and fall of her chest acting as a rhythmic comfort to him.

He moved a hand to stroke her cheek, marveling in the softness of her skin as the rough skin of his fingers made contact, which seemed to rouse her from her slumber.

“Hey.” She said sleepily, stifling a yawn.

“G’morning.” She had noticed in the academy, and again now, that the mornings seemed to bring out a little more of the southern lilt to his voice. It always seemed to be when he was tired.

And if there was one thing a tired Jake was it was clingy. She remembered in the academy where whenever they ate dinner together with their friends if he sat next to her, he would gradually collapse onto her as the night would progress. It reached the extent to which he was like an oversized teddy bear, and as soon as they reached privacy, he would bury his face in her neck as though he was trying to climb under her skin. It made her heart soar when he started to do this again. He still saw her as a source of comfort after so long.

She couldn’t imagine not waking up next to him. But that was soon going to be her reality.

He pulled her flush against his chest as she examined his face in a daze.

She pulled her head up so it was level with his.

“We shouldn’t.” He said regretfully, anticipating her next move.

“Kiss me.” She whispered hoarsely.

He couldn’t deny her that, tangling a hand in her hair, bringing her head forward so their lips met.

At first, it was tentative, with him trying to maintain some control, but then she wrapped her hands around his neck, so he couldn’t pull back even if he wanted to.

He managed to stop her to take a breath, his brow furrowing as he looked into her eyes.

Breathing heavily, she let all conscious thought leave her brain.

“Marry me.”

It wasn’t what she intended to say, but nevertheless, her mouth formed the words.

“What?”

She watched as her feelings of shock reflected on his face.

“I don’t want to have to live without you again, Jake. I don’t think I can survive. Marry me.”

She seemed to make it more like a statement than a question, demanding it of him.

“But what about” she cut him off before he could finish.

“Look,” she said, taking his face into her hands so she was staring directly into his eyes, “we could apply for joint base housing, we could get custody of Mia, we’d be the first one they’d call if the other one of us got injured. Logistically it makes sense.”

“Nat, I don’t want you to have to get married because of some logical reason.” He took one of her cheeks in his hand, stroking his thumb over it.

“I love you, Jake, this isn’t about logistics, this is about me not wanting to have to live without you ever again, and I thought that was something you wanted too.”

“Jesus Nat!” He exclaimed, angry at the suggestion that he didn’t love her, “Of course I love you, and I do want to be with you, it’s just, we’ve been back together for, what, nearly two weeks?”

“That’s enough for me to know. Jake, I would have married you when I was twenty-one if you had asked. I thought you were going to propose.” She added on bitterly.

“Nat. I would marry you in a heartbeat, and of course, I’ll marry you if that’s what you really want.”

She melted in his arms, burying her face in the space between his neck and shoulder, wrapping her arms around him, and pulling him into her.

“Thank you.” She whispered softly against his neck, grateful that the possibility of losing him had somewhat lessened.

[princess-prentiss]

I Bet You Think About Me

Chapter 1 - The Last Time 

Pairing: Natasha “Phoenix” Trace/Jake “Hangman” Seresin 

A/N: hello and welcome to my newest dive into the lives of Natasha and Jake! I'm planning to have a series of one-shots of the lives across different universes, my asks are open for suggestions, but there is no guarantee of how long it will take me to write each one For those of you reading All Too Well, I am by no means done with it, this is just something that has been in my head pretty much since I started writing that Anyway, for our first chapter, we have an AU of chapter 8 from my ATW universe (TW: major character death)

His heart never left his throat because she never landed back on the flight deck.

He had heard through the comms her shout that they had been hit, Dagger three was going down and there was nothing he could do about it.

He was frozen in his seat, unable to move even when he felt Javy’s hand on his shoulder, standing on the ladder beside his F18. The others were landing, he could understand that much, but there was a plane missing, and to him, it was the one that mattered most.

He had heard Cyclone’s demands that search and rescue not be deployed and it tore him apart, she could still be alive, they could have ejected and be sat somewhere waiting for him to rescue them.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t even move his hand away from where he held his dog tags in his hand, the reassurance of the cold metal normally brought him some comfort, but now, with the harsh metal of his grandmother’s ring hanging next to them, all he could think about is how he would never get to give it to her.

And oh God, Mia.

He was just getting to a stage with Nat where he thought they might actually be something again, that they could be a proper family with Mia, and now he had to go back to a little girl that didn’t even know he was her father and tell her that her mother would never come back.

He wished it was him that wasn’t going home. He’d give anything for her to be the one sitting on the flight deck, returning to a daughter that had lived six years of her life without him but had a mother who was there for her for everything. He had watched, even in the hospital, the way she just knew what Mia needed, the way she cradled her head and stroked her hair as she hugged her. If it was him not going home she wouldn’t know any different.

He wasn’t aware of anything else until Javy was replaced on the ladder by Maverick, telling him there was nothing else he could do, that he should leave the F18. But he knew that, and that was why he was still sitting there. There was nothing else he could do, what good was moving going to be?

Eventually, someone pulled him out of the F18 and back below deck. He was dragged to the debriefing, zombie-like in state, not really taking anything in, other than that she and Bob had been declared MIA.

He couldn’t face the others after that. Instead, he returned to his room, lying on his bunk staring at the ceiling, only moving to go to the bathroom. At night was the worst, that was when the tears he had been holding back in the daylight managed to trickle their way down his cheeks as he remembered what it felt like to hold her, to wake up next to her. It had been years since he had slept next to her, yet he still cherished the memory of waking with strands of her hair covering his face, inhaling the soft smell of her shampoo as he hugged her tighter to his chest.

-

They docked in the evening, just before sunset. Halo came up to him just before they disembarked, holding out a white envelope with his name written on it in a script he knew all too well. She said nothing, looking at him with a look of pity mixed with her own grief before she moved away again.

He returned to the base housing he had been assigned before the mission, dumping his duffle bag in the entryway to the apartment before slamming himself onto the mattress. There were so many things he could do, and yet he had no idea what to do. By now, he thought, her parents would have been informed of her status. He wondered what they would have told Mia, he longed to be with the girl, to draw her into his arms and hug her tightly, but, as far as she knew he was only one of her mother’s colleagues. That destroyed him all the more.

He sat up on the bed abruptly, pulling the envelope off his bedside table where he had put it when he first arrived back in his room. He opened it with great care as though it would burst into flames if he handled it with anything other than a feather-light touch. But, as far as he knew, these could be her last words to him.

His name was written at the top of the page, in swirling letters; Jake rather than the Hangman the envelope had been addressed with.

Jake, I want you to know I’m so so sorry. I made a choice for you without even telling you what it was all because I was scared because I thought I was doing the best thing. But the truth is, I know now what an amazing dad you would have been, and will be. Please be there for Mia, she needs someone to be there for her. I told my parents if anything was to happen that I’d want you to be involved with her life and I hope you will be. One day, when she’s a little older, tell her about me, please. Tell her about how we met and instantly hated each other, but then we changed, tell her I hope she has a relationship like that, because, the truth is Jake, I always loved you, and I still do. I know it's too late, and that there’s nothing you can do now, but I hope it means something to you. Don’t stop living your life because I’m not there Jake, I want you to have everything you ever wanted and I just wish I was there to see it. Please let Mia know I love her, and that everything I’ve ever done has been for her.

All my love, Your Nat

He had begun to sob before he even finished the first line. It took him more than an hour to reach the end of the letter, having to stop every other word to try to compose himself enough that his eyes could focus on the letters.  

-

It took him two days to gather himself enough to go to her parent's house. He remembered it from when he had visited it with her all those years ago.

Bringing his fist up to the door he knocked once and waited, returning his hands to his pockets while he waited. He wasn’t really sure what he was doing, other than he wanted to see Mia, he wanted his daughter, the last part of her mother that he had. He knew it was selfish of him to consider her that way; he loved her for who she was, but right now, he needed to be close to her mother.

One of her brothers answered the door, looking at him with confusion.

“Wha..” He started before a voice called out behind him.

“Who is it?” He heard muffled within the house, the voice sounded as broken as he felt.

Her brother couldn’t seem to form any words to reply, this led to the shuffling of her father to join him at the front door.

If he was surprised he didn’t show it. Although it was true, grief really was all-consuming, Jake wouldn’t be surprised if his own face didn’t look like a statue by this point.

“Please,” He said rasping, “I need to see Mia.”

Her father nodded, turning and leading him into the house and up the stairs to his daughter's room.

He left him there, standing in the corridor, opposite what he knew used to be her room.

He opened the door softly, looked to the bed in the middle of the room at the sleeping figure, walking over to stand next to the bed. She was clutching the orange ball of fluff in her sleep, which he now knew was meant to be a phoenix. He leaned his back against the wall, sliding down it until he could rest his arms across his knees, burying his head in them.

How the hell was he meant to do this?

-

When she awoke, she looked confused to see him but still climbed off the bed and into his arms, so that she was cradled in his lap, his chin resting on her head.

“Mia, I’m your father.”

She didn’t react, only tightened the grip of her hands around his neck.

“Your mommy loved you so much,” He began to

-

There was no funeral.

She was missing in action, there was nobody to bury. Her parents held a memorial service for her at their house two weeks after she was gone.

He wasn’t coping well.

By the midway point, he had moved to sit on the stairs, away from the chatter about her. He barely noticed someone climbing halfway up the steps to join him, leaning against him, tugging on his arm as she sat next to him.

“Daddy,” She started, “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

He understood completely. Pushing himself to his feet before turning back to pick her up, so that she rested on the side of his hip, he grabbed his keys from the hook beside the door before leaving the building. He would text Nat’s mom later telling them they’d gone out.

They just drove for a while, before he pulled into a car park and got out of his truck, grabbing her hand as they walked over to the edge of the pathway, her gripping onto the railings as they both looked out onto the sea.

It was the last place they had all been together.

-

Mia got older. He got deployed again and again. They started a routine, she would stay with her grandparents but every leave he would come back and pick her up and they would go to that beach. The one that held the memories of the only time they had all been together, happy.

-

After her tenth birthday, her dad had told her to talk to Uncle Bradley, but Uncle Bradley wouldn’t look at her the same as before, none of them would. Her grandparents looked at her as though they were scared of her being swept away by the smallest gust of wind, her grandma’s hugs had become almost suffocating. But she accepted them, out of everyone's they were the most similar to her mom’s.

-

She grew up and moved out to college, which was why he found himself knocking on a tan wood door, waiting awkwardly in the corridor, switching his weight from foot to foot.

Finally, the door opened abruptly, giving way to a green-eyed woman who looked annoyed at first at the disturbance, but then, on seeing who it was, seemed to sag in relief.

She was the spitting image of her mother, despite her eyes, her eyes were the only thing telling him it wasn’t Natasha. The Navy t-shit she was wearing did nothing to stop his hallucinations.

Her hair was a mess, poking out at different angles as though she had just gotten out of bed, he did suppose it was before ten am on a college campus, so he didn’t really know what he expected.

“Happy Birthday Mia.” He said, pulling her into a fierce hug, trying to smooth her hair down with one hand in the way her mother used to.

“Thanks, dad.” She mumbled into his shirt.

She had a mixed relationship with her birthday. Before she turned seven, every birthday was spent with her mother, even when she wasn’t there in person, she always called, her grandma holding out the phone so that she could hear her mother’s comforting words, pretending like she couldn’t hear the guilt in her voice.

Then her mom died a month before her seventh birthday.

She’d never hear the pride in her mother’s voice as she whispered her congratulations while giving her a big hug, tangling her fingers in the tendrils of her hair like how her dad was trying to do for her now.

It wasn’t the same. It never would be.

Now instead of listening to her mom, she got a letter each year. Apart from this one was the last, her dad had told her last year. She didn’t know how to feel about that, on the one hand reading her mother’s neat script every year had only served as a painful reminder to her how much she missed her and how much she’d missed out on with her mom. But then, it also made her hear her mom’s voice in her head, telling her how much she loved her and how proud she was of her.

Her birthdays had turned to torture.

“Mia. Can’t. Breathe.”

She didn’t realise how tightly she had been gripping her dad.

Muttering some apology she pulled back, opening the door far enough for him to follow her into the room as she went to go sit on the edge of her bed, sheets tangled from where she had left them when he knocked on her door.

“I assume you have the last one.” She said glancing up at him.

He looked at her with pity, a look she was more than used to over the years, pulling a white envelope out of his jacket pocket, her name written on the front in the familiar swirl of her mother’s handwriting.

She took the paper from him, turning it over in her hands once before setting it down on her bedside table.

This was their tradition, he would always see her on the morning of her birthday and give her the next envelope he had been safeguarding for her mom, she would store it away until that night when she would read it under the covers pretending that she was six again, hiding from the monsters her mother was reading to her about in her bedtime story.

But the biggest monster was always that she would have to come out from under the covers and go back into a world where she couldn’t pretend her mother was still there.

Her father stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, looking as though he still had more to say.

“There’s something else.” He said, digging back into the pocket of his jacket, and pulling out a small black box.

He moved to sit beside her on the bed, holding the box out for her to take.

“I gave this to your mother on her twenty-first birthday, she told me that she wanted me to give it to you on your twenty-first birthday if anything ever happened to her.”

She opened the box to reveal a golden chain necklace with a single diamond sitting in the middle of the chain. She had a vague recollection of her mother sporting the necklace, smiling at her lovingly. All the memories she had of her mother seemed to be happy. It was like her brain had blocked out any of the bad, and she couldn’t be more grateful.

“Dad.” She said at a loss for words, taking it out of the box and holding it up to further examine it.

Finally deciding on what she should do, she held it out for him, pulling her hair back out of the way for him to fasten it around her neck, enjoying feeling the weight of the stone against her chest.

She tangled her fingers in the chain, playing with it as she turned back to look at him.

“Thank you.”

Her arms wrapped back around his body, and he allowed his eyes to water as he placed his chin on the top of her head, revealing in the feeling of being as close as possible to the only thing left of the woman he once loved.

Things were far from okay, but there was nothing else they could do.

-

Later that night, Mia let herself cry before she even touched the envelope, when she’d been ten she’d told herself she would stop crying, she was a big girl and big girls didn’t cry. But since she’d left the safety of home the tears had returned. There was something about spending her birthdays away from her childhood bedroom that brought it all back. Her mother had never got to see her college dorm, never got to see her graduate elementary school let alone high school. In her bed at home, she still had memories of her mother reading to her, while here she was a stranger.

Ripping the seal on the envelope before she could change her mind, she pulled out the sheet of paper.

My Mia, Happy Birthday, baby, there are no words to say how proud I am of you. I’m sure whatever you’ve done with your life so far is incredible. This is my last letter to you my Mia, you’re an adult now and I just wish I was there to see it. But, my Mia, I hope you can learn to move on, and live without me. If you’re anything like your father, I know you will have been glorifying these letters, and me, but I want you to know I am far from perfect, you need to embrace who you are without me. I hope your father gave you the necklace; he gave it to me on my twenty-first birthday and I couldn’t have been more surprised, a part of me thought he was going to propose, but then we fell apart and he never got the chance. I hope you have a good relationship with him my Mia, I’m sorry for ever keeping you apart and I won’t go into the reasons why I did it, just know that everything I’ve ever done was for you. I’ll say goodbye now baby. I love you.

All my love Mom

She sobbed silently under the sheets gripping the soft fluff orange fluff of her phoenix, pulling the letter to her chest, wishing that instead, it was her mother that she was hugging.

[princess-prentiss]

All Too Well - Chapter 14

Pairing: Natasha “Phoenix” Trace/Jake “Hangman” Seresin 

A/N: thank you all for the continued support, yes i am aware that i am a day late w updating, i am very sorry, i meant to post this yesterday but i literally had no time anyway i hope ur ready for a tonne of fluff!

Jake eyed Bradley as though he was challenging him.

“Come on then, will have to see your mom first,” Jake spoke to the girl resting on his shoulders

He walked across to the deck area of the Hard Deck, where Nat was sitting at a bench talking with Penny, both of them looked up at the site of Jake and Mia, with Bradley and Amelia not far behind them.

“Someone wants to go in the sea,” Jake said to the women, walking around to where Natasha was sitting and bending slightly so she could help Mia climb off of his shoulders.

She picked up the tote bag from beside where she was sitting and then led her daughter into the bar and towards the bathrooms. Amelia informed her mother that she was going to change as well and then followed them into the bar, leaving Jake, Penny and Bradley to watch the game of volleyball taking place between the other aviators.

The three of them emerged from the bar soon enough, the two girls both clad in swimsuits as Nat walked between them returning to her seat. Mia walked back to his side, grabbing hold of his hand with her infinitely smaller one, looking up at him with an expectant expression.

“Come on!” She exclaimed to all of them, pulling him back onto the sand, “Let’s race, me and Daddy against Amelia and Uncle Bradley.”

Amelia and Bradley looked at each other, in slight shock at the demands of the young girl, but, Bradley supposed, she was Jake’s daughter, what could they expect really?

Mia pulled on Jake’s arm so that he bent down in order for her to whisper in his ear.

“Really?” He said so that the others could hear him, she shushed him in response.

“Yes ma'am.” He responded mock rolling his eyes, before turning slightly so that she could jump on his back.

“Ok,” she spoke as Bradley and Amelia seemed to finish their own discussion, “Ready, set… go!”

-

Natasha watched as they all took off down the beach from her seat on the picnic bench opposite Penny, chuckling as she saw them all reach the water and continue to wade through the water splashing their legs, Mia egging Jake on as he went.

Penny watched the younger woman in front of her as she watched the race.

“He came into the bar once you know,” Penny confessed, “It wasn’t like all of the other times, something seemed up with him, and well none of his friends could seem to get him out of this mood he was in so they gave up. He just sat at the bar for hours, sipping the same glass of whisky until everyone else had gone then he just started crying.”

She looked over at Natasha from where she had been watching the ocean engulf the two men and children. “I tried to ask him what was wrong, he kept going on about a Phoenix that left him. I’m sorry if I haven’t been the most welcoming to you, but that’s something that sticks with you, it was so different from the Jake I was used to, it was just shocking. But then Pete said about Mia, and I get it now, I’d do anything for Amelia.”

“Thank you, Penny.”

-

Later that evening, as they were getting into bed, she brought it up again.

“Penny mentioned that you talked about me to her.” She tried to sound conversational.

His face paled a little as he pulled back the sheets on what they had silently decided would be his side of the bed.

“Er, yeah,” He started unconfidently, “I’m sorry if I said anything bad about you, I didn’t mean it. It was just,” he sighed propping his pillows up to face where she now lay, “It was the anniversary of the day you left me.”

She melted, drawing him in close to her so that his head rested on her chest and she could run her fingers through his hair soothingly, the other hand wrapped around his body.

“Jake, I’m so so sorry.” She said softly into the top of his head.

“I know, Nat, I know.”

-

Their leave began to pass, filled with domesticity. They would wake, arms wrapped around one another, in time to see their daughter onto the school bus before going for a run together. Returning to her parent’s house to shower and then sit around reading whatever books caught their interest, together they completed housework for her parents, his way of trying to pay his way for them letting him stay with them.

Natasha was in charge of sorting their clothes, while he ironed their uniforms, placing them in the drawers of her dresser. She was pleased to find he had somewhat filled his - the duffle bag he had taken on the carrier with him stuffed down the side. She slid a pile of his t-shirts into the drawer, her hand brushing up against the bag, instead of the soft fabric she thought she would feel, the sharp corner of something solid scratched against her hand not quite drawing blood. She withdrew her hand from the space, shaking it as she gritted her teeth in pain.

The pain began to subside after a while, but she was angry at whatever object of Jake’s had managed to damage her hand, pulling the bag out from where it was wedged, she rummaged around in the main section before determining that it was empty and moving to check the pockets. By the second pocket her hand gripped around something, she pulled it out to find herself looking at a little black box.

It was the type that came with expensive jewellery, she knew that much.

Jake came from money. It was something that separated them from the beginning, he was the son of an oil baron, his childhood was filled with private schools and fancy cars, and hers was summarised by the summer camping trips her family used to take, her, her two brothers and her parents. It was the best they could do with a teacher and a nurse’s salary. When whatever they had in the academy had progressed past merely friends or rather enemies with benefits he began to buy her gifts, flowers wouldn’t have survived in the dorms, chocolate wasn’t something he considered enough, so it was jewellery. Which, when she confronted him about it, he said that he knew she wouldn’t be able to wear it with her uniform, but when they were outside of training, his face lit up whenever he saw her wearing anything he had given her.

The necklace he had given her for her twenty-first birthday was no exception. It was more than she could ever have imagined, but for him, he said, it held more emotional value. It was the first necklace he had given to her, and it came with the bonus that it was inconspicuous enough that she could wear it under her uniform without being caught, a singular diamond hanging on a gold chain. She had started wearing it more since the mission, digging it out of the drawer she had hidden it in, she liked the reminder of him.

She turned the box over in one hand, seemingly deciding if she should open it.

“You can open it you know.”

The voice came from behind her, turning around she saw Jake standing in the doorway of the room looking at her with a bemused expression. He walked over to her when she showed no sign of movement, placing the sets of freshly ironed uniforms on the end of the bed as he passed it, before reaching where she stood. Standing close enough to her that she had to look up to see into his eyes. She glanced at them before returning her gaze to the leather of the box, bringing her other hand up so that she could slowly pry apart the two sides.

Inside sat a ring, it was golden, not unlike her necklace, with a diamond set in the middle of the band. It looked slightly worn with age, as though it had been well loved.

Jake had a ring. Her brain simply stopped, looking up at him with all the questions she could possibly imagine, yet none came to mind.

“This is what I meant to give you for your twenty-second birthday.” He stated, looking at her cautiously, trying to gauge her reaction. “I wanted to give you a ring for your twenty-first birthday, but I could find one that suited you, your necklace was a sort of placeholder. I forgot that this existed, it was my grandmother’s, she left it to me when she died. She was the last one of them who truly cared about me, and well I wanted you to have it.”

He didn’t bring up the question that inevitably came with such a ring.

She seemed to regain some of her voice back again as his face fell with her continued silence.

“It’s beautiful Jake.” She breathed, waiting for a beat before continuing not wanting to assume, “I’m sure it will make some woman very happy one day.”

This didn’t seem to be the thing to say though, as the hope that graced his face momentarily at hearing her voice disappeared in an instant.

“Nat,” he spoke, voice strained, “There’s no one else. I don’t want to live in a world where there’s anyone else. The ring is for you. It doesn’t have to mean what I thought it would, all I know is that I will love you for as long as I exist.”

He took the box out of her hand, taking the ring from the tiny black cushion that it sat on before putting the empty box in his pocket. Taking her hands in his, and looking at her questioningly, she nodded once, not breaking eye contact as he slipped the ring onto her finger, before bringing her knuckles up to his lips, kissing the metal that now lay pressed against them. She looked up at him with tears on the surface of her eyes that she swore she would not let fall, instead, she threw her arms around him, pulling him into her body and leaning her head against his shoulder.

[princess-prentiss]

All Too Well - Chapter 13

Pairing: Natasha “Phoenix” Trace/Jake “Hangman” Seresin

A/N: thank u all hugs for everyone well well well chapter 13 what can i say...

“What?” Coyote said from where he stood over Jake’s shoulder, joining the conversation.

“You’ve got to be shitting me, you two have a kid?” Fritz looked between them with a mixture of awe and pure confusion.

Natasha seemed to gain back some of her natural authority, taking charge of the situation, “Coyote close your mouth, you're going to catch flies. Yes, Fritz, we have a daughter, no need to look like that.”

“Yes, mom,” Fritz said, after schooling his expression as she said, retorting with a sly smile.

Both Bradley and Jake chuckled at this as Nat felt a little redness rise to her cheeks, not only in embarrassment but also with pride. She was a mother, and that was something that brought her great joy, not something that she wanted to shy away from.

The door to the briefing room opened again, with Omaha sauntering in, the last of the individual debriefs complete. He moved to join the growing group surrounding Hangman and Phoenix, taking in the shocked expressions on Coyote and Fritz's faces.

“What’s happened?”

“Bagman and Phoenix are finally admitting the existence of their secret love child.” Rooster teased, locking eyes with Nat as she shot him the bird.

“Whoa, wait what?”

“I feel like you're all insulting me,” Jake spoke, getting over the initial fear he felt when Bradley had managed to let slip about Mia, Nat was clearly ok about everyone else knowing, so so was he.

“That’s because, Bagman, my genes are just far too superior.” Nat jabbed back, eyes sparkling as he met them, clearly joking.

“Wait, Bagman’s Mia’s father?” Halo, moved to join the group, “What the hell Nat?”

They all looked around as the door opened once again and Maverick rejoined the group.

“Oh look it’s Grandmav!” Rooster said slyly, Natasha had told him about their encounter with Maverick a couple of days ago and he couldn’t not tease his newly reunited godfather about his new pseudo-grandchild.

“Grandmav? Rooster seriously?” The man’s tone didn’t sound impressed but he was grinning anyway, making his way to where the younger aviators were gathered.

A voice coughed at the front of the room, looking around to see Cyclone standing at the front of the room they all quickly moved back to their seats, standing to attention.

“Good work.” He said in a gruff tone, eyeing them all before dismissing them.

They all exited the room chatting, pestering Natasha and Jake about when they could meet Mia.

“Enough!” Nat spoke loud enough for them to all hear her as they made their way down the corridor, “She is not a zoo animal! You will all get to meet her at some point I’m sure, but I'm not overwhelming her by having you all stare at her asking endless questions.”

They all fell silent, having the decency to look at least a bit guilty.

Maverick caught up with the other aviators from where he had stayed behind to talk to Cyclone, clearly missing the silence imposed on all of them.

“Penny told me to tell you all that there’s a round of drinks on me tonight at the Hard Deck.” He didn’t look annoyed by the fact that he was the one financing their shenanigans, on the contrary, he looked overjoyed that they were all back together again.

He moved round to walk next to Nat, as the others resumed their cheerful discussions of the night ahead of them.

“Penny said you could bring Mia if you want, she’ll set something up on the beach and Amelia will be there too so it's not like she’ll be the only kid.” Natasha raised her eyebrows at Maverick’s definition of a kid but nodded appreciatively all the same.

It would be something she would have to consult Jake on. She wasn’t used to having to share her parenting decisions with anyone else, sure there were her parents, who technically had custody over her daughter, but they were pretty good at letting her be the parent. There was the occasional time when they had fought over minor things, but never to the extent where they had had to use their legal status over her daughter against her. Now, though, there was Jake, who was just learning what being a parent meant, and she was trying her best to involve him more in the decisions she had come to make naturally.

They split off from the rest of the group when they reached the base housing, Maverick and Rooster having already left, they made their way to Jake’s apartment. He unlocked the door and held it open for her, letting her enter first before closing the door behind him.

She looked around the room, eyeing the plain walls, it barely looked like he had been there at all, most of his belongings fitting in the duffle he took with him on the mission then to her parent’s house. There were a few things here and there that he pulled into a bag as she moved to sit on the edge of his bed, watching as he walked around the room.

“Mav said we should bring Mia to the Hard Deck tonight,” she started conversationally while he worked, “We can take her onto the beach and Amelia will be there, it would be a good way for the others to all stop asking questions.”

He looked up over to where she sat, her elbows resting on her knees as she watched him, a strand of her hair escaping its bun and falling to the side of her face as he knew annoyed her. He felt his legs taking him to stand in front of her, standing in-between her legs as she moved back off her elbows, looking up into his face.

“Whatever you want.” He replied at last.

“I’m asking you, you’re her dad, Jake.”

He didn’t respond, instead, he placed his hands on either side of her chin, tilting her head upwards, bringing his head down to kiss her softly.

“Thank you.” He said, drawing his head back but letting his feet stay planted on the floor.

“Jake.”

“I mean it, Nat,” He stated seriously, “Thank you.”

He pressed another kiss to her lips after that, longer than the last so that she found herself wrapping a hand around his neck, pulling him closer.

“I love you.” She whispered between their lips touching.

Neither of them left his room until late in the afternoon.

-

They picked Mia up from school on the way back to her parent’s house. They had had the same living arrangements since the mission, them staying in her room with Mia across the hall, and although Jake loved the feeling of being a part of a family for the first time in decades, he also felt guilty for imposing on Natasha’s parents. He knew it was the most logical solution, both he and Nat would be given new orders in a couple of weeks, and Mia would stay here.

A little thought nagged at his brain that, if they were married, they could apply for joint base housing, then they could have Mia with them, and then they could be together like how he had wished for years.

But it was too soon, there was too much history, and neither of them had custody of Mia.

So he settled for spending what little time they had together as close as possible, and if that meant in his base accommodation, so be it.

-

Once they reached her parents’ house Nat went off with Mia to find a swimsuit for her to wear, while he returned to the room they had been sharing. Some clues that he lived there too were beginning to show, with the picture of him and Javy after flight school graduation finding its way onto her dresser, opposite one of her holding Mia on the same day two years later. There were items of his clothing too, a hoody she had stolen from him hung over the end of the bed, and although she had cleared a drawer for him, his duffle bag stayed open on the floor with the remnants of his packing.

He moved into her bathroom to change, showering quickly before dressing for the beach, finding her in her room as he entered, looking for clothes of her own.

“Hey, sailor.” She said as she passed him at the end of the bed, looping an arm around him, pulling him to face her before pulling him into a kiss.

She pulled back before he could deepen the kiss, memories of mere hours ago ingrained in her memory.

“Come on, Mia’s waiting.” She said in half apology before moving past him to change.

-

They arrived at the beach early enough to see Penny putting up the sun umbrellas on the decking, Jake went to go help her as Nat led Mia into the building.

Maverick was behind the bar, stacking crates, while a blonde-haired girl sat with her back to them, hunched over a textbook.

“Mia!” Maverick exclaimed looking up, causing the girl to turn around and examine them.

“You must be Amelia.” Nat smiled at the girl as she spun around on her bar stool before hopping off it, nodding.

“And you’re Phoenix, right?” She said, unsurely.

“Yep, although Natasha’s fine too.” Nat chuckled.

“I’m Mia,” Mia said behind her mother’s leg, suddenly shy at the appearance of someone somewhat similar in age to her.

“Hi Mia, I’m Amelia, would you like to go build a sandcastle with me?” She questioned, holding out a hand for the girl, who hesitantly took it, looking up at her mother for permission, who nodded.

They walked back out onto the beach hand in hand Natasha watching as her daughter revealed in every word the older girl said.

-

Soon the rest of their detachment had arrived, each of them thanking Penny before going over to where Mia sat on the sand with Amelia and introducing themselves to her.

Laughter was heard across the beach when Bradley arrived, walking over to Mia with Jake and sneaking up behind her and lifting her by one ankle so that she hung upside down when she realised who it was.

“Uncle Bradley!” She exclaimed between giggles.

“I believe this is yours.” He held her out by her ankle towards Jake who grinned even wider.

“Yes, I do believe so.” He said taking her ankle before swinging her round so that she sat on his shoulders.

“Come on daddy, let's play mermaids, Uncle Bradley too!”

“Now this I want to see,” Amelia smirked up at them as they looked at each other in horror.

[princess-prentiss]

All Too Well - Chapter 12

Pairing: Natasha “Phoenix” Trace/Jake “Hangman” Seresin

A/N: all of ur feedback makes me so happy I love u all

I’m sorry if the format of this one is kinda shit but I was an idiot and forgot my laptop, but anyway we get some of the gang back now

It was two days later when they saw him again, it was also the first time either of them had put on their uniforms since the end of the mission. They had been living as a pseudo-family in her parent's house for the past few days, Jake was yet to return to his base housing, trying to hang on to the idea that he mattered to someone else again.

They sat next to each other in the leather chairs of the briefing room, as Cyclone stood at the front of the room, giving a rundown of the overall logistics of how the mission had been carried out, after he had finished they would be called into his office individually and questioned about their actions and any possible transfers they wanted.

-

They had talked about it late one night, sat outside on the porch step, shoulders touching as the last light of the sun began to disappear under the horizon. They were both relatively happy in Lemoore, which Natasha had chosen years ago when she had the opportunity to due to its relative closeness to Mia.

“I don’t think I can be in the same squadron as you.” He had admitted, looking at her guilty, “It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just don’t think I can be near you when we’re flying. Sitting on the tarmac was torture, Nat. All I could hear was your voice after coffin corner, I didn’t know if I’d ever get to see you again, to tell you how sorry I was.”

“Jake,” She moved her hand to rest on his arm, looking into his eyes, “You have nothing to be sorry for, if anyone should be sorry it's me.”

“No Nat, if I had just said before how much I loved you, you never would have questioned it, we’d have everything figured out by now.”

She had nothing left to say at his guilt. Instead, she withered under her own, looking down as though she wished the ground would swallow her whole.

“I still do, you know.”

“What?” Confusion filled her tone.

“Love you.”

He looked at her softly, watching the weight of his words sink in.

“Me too.” She didn’t know what she was doing, but with the admission of the feelings that had been caught in her brain for the past few weeks she felt some of the stress lift from her body.

They faced each other, their heads slowly drawing closer together until their lips touched. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him, deepening the kiss. But at the sound of a car revving its engine she jumped, pulling back.

“Jake.”

“Nat?”

“What are we doing?” She sighed, moving to stand up before turning back to look down on him.

“I don’t know.” He responded, leaving a pause before adding, “But I just want to be with you.”

“Okay.”

“Nat, if you don’t want to be with me you can say.” He said panicking as the thought that they weren’t on the same page intercepted his brain.

“Of course I do, you dummy,” she stepped forward until he had to look straight up to see her eyes, she took his hands in hers, running her thumbs over his knuckles, “There’s just a lot to figure out.”

-

So now as they sat next to one another, there was only one thing that both of them knew for sure.

One-by-one the members of the detachment were called in alphabetical order to Cylone’s office, Jake’s turn fell just before hers, it was over relatively quickly, given all they had to discuss. Him shooting down an enemy jet, saves Rooster and Maverick and still manages to make it back alive.

That in itself was a wonder.

He returned to the briefing room, calling her up to go face the brass, purposely brushing his arm against hers as he left the room.

-

Jake was fairly happy how his debrief had gone, both admirals had seemed satisfied with his actions. He had made his case for staying at Lemoore, not mentioning it was so he could stay near another of their Lieutenants, and so they could both visit their lovechild she had had straight out of the academy. Because they hadn’t decided what they would tell the Navy about that quite yet, as far as Natasha could see, there was no change in the information they needed to know. Neither of them had custody of Mia, she was merely a footnote in Nat’s file, but he wanted the same in his. Mia was their child, his daughter, something so little as a sentence saying that biologically he was responsible for another human being suddenly seemed like a massive deal to him. He was jealous of the time Natasha had with her, but that wasn’t something he could do anything about now, but recognising her as his child, that he could do.

Yet he kept his mouth shut. These were decisions for them to make together, not for him to run his mouth in the heat of the moment and cause negative repercussions for them both in the future. So he made his way back to the briefing room, calling her up next for her debrief, moving his arm so that hers would collide with his, needing to have some sort of contact with her after he managed to keep his emotions in check.

He heard the sound of the leather of the chair next to him sinking as the seat suddenly became occupied, he didn’t have to look round to know who it was.

“I meant to thank you again, you really did save my life out there, and Mav’s.”

Jake nodded once in gruff acceptance, normally he would lap up the praise, especially from someone like Bradley.

A silence fell between them as they both sought the words to hold a conversation, but they were lost, Natasha was the person that drew them both together. She was the reason their rivalry had started, with Bradley so desperate to defend his best friend from the guy who had no idea what she was hiding.

“It’s me that should be thanking you.” Jake started, filling the silence, “She told me about how you were there for her in flight school.”

Last night, they had got onto the topic of Nat’s time after having Mia, how she had joined flight school, a couple of years older than most of her peers due to her time out. But then there was Bradley, who was the same age as her, both a little more experienced in life than the rest of their classmates. She had told him about how when she nights she missed Mia more than usual, how she found it difficult to dry up the endless tears until Bradley had come round to her room, bringing with him a box set of some comedy show they would binge together after they burnt popcorn in the communal microwave. She had told him about how it was the only way she managed to find a way to continue, and not book the first flight back to San Diego.

She also told him about the first time her family had visited her, Bradley had bought a Phoenix toy for Mia, given her mother’s newly Christened callsign. He also learned that that was the ball of orange fluff she still carried with her to this day.

Bradley seemed to look sheepish at that, “I’d do anything for her, you know that.”

Jake did, and he knew Natasha would do anything for him too. He wasn’t jealous of their relationship, Bradley was her best friend, just like Javy was his.

“How’s Mia anyway?” Bradley questioned him.

Before he could answer, Fritz turned around from the seat infront, where he had clearly been eavesdropping, “Who’s Mia?” He said suggestively, raising an eyebrow.

Jake choked at his implication, Bradley looking over at him with a disgusted expression to Fritz.

“Bagman here’s offspring.”

“Damn Rooster, after I was nice to you and everything.” Jake said seeming to gain his full diction back again.

“You’re telling me someone would willingly have your baby.” Fritz spoke, tone full of scepticism.

“Hey! Plenty of women would beg to carry on the Seresin line!”

“Gross Bagman.” Rooster muttered with him as Fritz broke into laughter.

None of them had seemed to notice the door open, and the women in question return to them.

“What are you guys laughing about.”

“Oh, Hangman was just telling us about all the women who’d want to have his kids.” Fritz spoke as Jake paled and a grin appeared on Bradley’s face.

“Is that so Bagman?” She looked over at him with a mock judgemental look on her face.

He gulped, looking nervous as the other three broke out into laughter. Natasha moved to sit in the seat next to Fritz, looking back over her shoulder and her best friend and the father of her child.

“Seriously though dude, who’s Mia?”

“She’s my daughter.” They managed to say at the same time.

“Shit.” Neither of them were sure who said it, but the sentiment was universally felt.

[princess-prentiss]

All Too Well - Chapter 11

Pairing: Natasha “Pheonix” Trace/Jake “Hangman” Seresin

A/N: thank u for all the love anyway we're back with the regularly scheduled fluff (for now heheh) little shorter than i wanted soz

Natasha watched the two people she loved most in the world interact the way they should have been for the past six years, looking at the man she once considered the love of her life, observing how his eyes glistened with tears of joy as he placed tiny kisses all across her daughter’s head and into her hair.

They moved downstairs together after a while, Natasha’s mom making a speedy exit as she said something about having errands to run, which she knew was a lie but was grateful that her mom was giving them a chance to be their own little family for the first time.

“You know baby, your dad used to make these amazing pancakes for me, I bet if you asked him nicely he could make them for us.”

She looked up at Jake over her coffee cup as she took a long sip from it, raising her eyebrow in a challenge.

She remembered once, for a week over summer break during the academy, they had stayed at one of his parent’s houses on Cape Cod for her twenty-first birthday. She had woken up one morning to the sweet smell of something cooking drawing her from their bed. The sight of him, piling up a stack of pancakes, only wearing his boxers and t-shirt from the night before was something she was sure would remain etched in her memory forever.

All through her pregnancy with Mia, she craved pancakes, at first the ones they served on Sundays at the academy would do, but then, as they graduated and she returned home, she found herself searching stores and recipes for anything that would match his. She never could find anything quite the same. He had claimed that it was a secret that his grandma had told him before she died and made him promise to keep the family secret.

But then he had made some comment about her being his family in every way but one that it would be recognized officially. A small bit of hope allowed itself to weave into her brain then.

Was he going to propose?

But then, instead of a ring, he brought out a golden necklace, a single diamond in the middle of the chain. She adored the necklace he gave her, she wore it every day under her academy uniform, until she walked out of his room and simultaneously out of his life.

She kept it in the back of one of the draws of her dresser, rarely worn since, only for events she felt were important. Natasha remembered feeling the weight of the gold chain against her neck as she waved Mia into kindergarten for the first time, twisting it between two of her fingers as she watched her daughter disappear among the swarm of other children. She wore it on the day she finally finished flight school, two years later than she had planned, and with him nowhere to be seen; she had still felt the weight of the promise they had never made close to her chest.

It only made sense to her now, that one of the first things they would share together should be something that played such a significant role in her memory of him.

“Please daddy, please!” She jumped up and down on the spot looking excitedly up at him with wide eyes, starstruck.

The first time she had called him that he had cried. He wouldn’t try to lie. Not about that, he loved his daughter more than anything and wasn’t afraid to say he cried because of how much he loved her.

At first, he had frozen, lying in Nat’s bed as Mia moved to get up, the tears slowly making the way down his cheeks being the only indication that he had heard her, but then everything came back to him at once. He dragged Mia back towards him, pulling her into him tightly, before grabbing her mother’s arm with his other hand, pulling her towards him, so that his arms wrapped around them both. He would never forget it, Natasha was certain she wouldn’t either.

-

They spent the majority of the afternoon on the couch in her parent’s living room. A blanket thrown over them all, as she sat next to Jake her head resting on his chest, legs pulled up beside her as Mia sat in front of her, leaning back onto her, he had an arm around them both.

They sat through three Disney films together, Mia falling asleep against her mother by the halfway point of the second one, soft snores coming from her mouth, as her mother weaved her hands through the child's hair. Jake looked down at his sleeping daughter with adoration in his eyes before raising his gaze to meet hers, he looked so happy at the simple action that she wanted to hug him and cry at the same time, for the time he had missed with his daughter due to her decision.

He seemed to be able to gather what she was thinking, leaning down to place a kiss on the crown of her head, unspeaking, but then was there to say really?

-

Later in the afternoon, they left the house together, for the first time, Natasha sighting the fact that she wanted a walk because she knew Jake was getting restless without the daily run he had when they were shoreside. Mia ran ahead of them, as they fell into step behind her, both of them wanted to feel the warmth of the other’s palm in their hand, but neither one of them knew what it was that they were. Was showing affection in public something they should be doing?

Sure, Jake thought, they had hugged on the ship, but that was after they had both nearly died, and anyway, she hugged everyone then. So he settled for walking beside her, occasionally when his arm swung back and forth with his steps, it managed to brush against hers.

He broke from his contemplation with the noise of Mia’s laughter from where she had rounded the next street corner before them.

“Awww what a sweet doggie!” He heard her exclaim between her giggles.

The first thing he saw was her patting a large golden dog, who seemed to be enjoying the attention given the vigorous wagging of his tail, which seemed to be hitting its owner's leg with every movement. He raised his vision to look at the man behind the dog.

Maverick.

The color instantly drained from his face at the sight of their instructor, turning to the woman beside him in desperation, he would follow her lead, whatever she wanted to do.

-

Natasha panicked a little when she first heard her daughter’s laughter, Mia knew she shouldn’t go near strangers but the allure of the animal caused her daughter to forget that. Her eyes instantly jumped to the man behind the fluffy creature, taken back at the sight of the man she had thought was dead mere days ago.

“Captain.” She said respectfully.

At her address of him, the older man’s eyes shot upwards, drawing his gaze away from where he had been watching the young girl interact with the animal. If he was surprised to see two of his lieutenants, he hid it pretty well.

“Lieutenants.”

They both unconsciously stood a little straighter.

Jake had seemed to regain his voice, “Is that Penny’s dog?” He spoke in confusion.

“Yeah,” he responded looking down at the creature in question, “Let’s just say I owe her.”

He chuckled at that, Maverick shooting them both a smile.

“So who’s this?”

“I’m Mia.” The girl spoke, clearly not ignorant to the adult conversation going on over her head.

He looked as though his question hadn’t really been answered, so Natasha decided to help him.

“This is our daughter.”

Of all the things he was expecting, it clearly wasn’t that, but now she was confused.

“Sir, she’s in my file?”

Maverick’s eyes jumped back to the aviator questioning him.

“Ah, I’ve never really been one for reading.”

Both she and Jake laughed at that, because of course he wasn’t.

“So you two are together?” He said looking down at the joined pair of hands between them, Jake hadn’t realized that his hand had jumped into Nat’s at the sight of the man in question.

He looked at her nervously, as though he wanted her to tell him what to say.

“Er, it’s complicated.”

Maverick raised an eyebrow at them both in a mixture of disbelief and subtle judgment, before he turned back to the young girl crouched on the sidewalk, talking in hushed tones to the dog.  

“Well Mia it’s lovely to meet you, I’m Maverick, but you can call me Mav.”

[indynerdgirl]

So, you've found yourself on the good ship Hannix.

And now you're looking for some fic to get your fix. Well, you're in luck! Please enjoy this list of Hannix fic recommendations (in no particular order):

Not A Chance by @myshipsaresunk A Day In The Life by myshipsaresunk From The Ashes by myshipsaresunk The Seresin Family & other Hannix fics by @bradshawsbaby Snapshots by bradshawsbaby The Sound of Silence by WineRed As High As You Can Into The Wild Blue by therethedanceis All Too Well by @princess-prentiss Each Beast Gets Her Burden by @thriceturned Bombs Away by thriceturned Tug of War by @coraphoenix Midnight Air by coraphoenix Bullshit (You Can Be Mine) by ForASecondThereWedWon Trapdoor Prayers by ForASecondThereWedWon I Don't Wanna Give You Up series by @katiesharms The Wedding Bet Date by @happypopcornprincess This is not an exhaustive list by any means, these are just the ones that I've read and enjoyed! I know there's more on AO3 and in the Hannix tag, and while I'm not a FanFiction.net or WattPad person, I bet you could probably find more on those sites as well. I will also leave you with @jakeseresinnix if you want a great blog to follow for all kinds of Hannix content, and a few Hannix playlists! My own Hannix playist bradshawsbaby's playlist myshipsaresunk's playlist for From The Ashes

(hannix mood board by me)

[princess-prentiss]

aaaaaa thank u sm, I have read and loved every other fic on this list they’re all literal masterpieces <3

[princess-prentiss]

All Too Well - Chapter 10

Pairing: Natasha “Phoenix” Trace/Jake “Hangman” Seresin

A/N: i appreciate u all so much, ur kind words are literally the greatest motivation a girl could ask for A whole lotta dialogue is all I gotta say, other than that we seem to be entering fluff territory

Natasha woke surrounded by the comforting smell of her bed sheets, combined with his cologne as one of his arms wrapped around her waist, drawing her closer to his body, while the other one was stretched out on top of the pillows where her head rested on it, cushioned by the un-tensed muscle.

She studied his face, drinking in the features she had once known, now slightly wisened with age, unmoving, simply appreciating the comforting feeling of being this close to him once again.

He moved slightly, shuffling his legs before letting out a contented sigh and returning back to his slumber.

She could see sunlight begin to penetrate the room through the gaps in the curtains, knowing that it would mean the rest of the household would begin to wake too. She set about trying to extract herself from Jake’s grip, if anyone deserved to sleep in it was the pair of them, but she wanted to be there when Mia woke.

Managing to slip out of the sheets with only a small grunt of discontent from her bedmate, she set about quietly making her way into the room opposite. Sitting on the side of her daughter’s bed beside her head, tucking her legs under the sheets, stroking the hair off of her forehead gently as she slept, waiting for her to stir.

Natasha wasn’t sure how long she sat there before the girl began to move, looking up at her with sleep-filled eyes, moving her arms to hug around her mother’s waist as she drank in the look of adoration the older woman shot her.

“Hey, baby.” Love and exhaustion mingled in her voice as she spoke.

“Mommy.”

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, not unlike she had done with the father of the girl next to her just moments prior, reveling in the fact that they were together again.

“Baby,” She dropped her gaze to look her daughter in the eye, “You know how some of your friends have two parents.”

“Yeah,” Mia replied quietly thinking, “Like how Addie has two dads?”

“Exactly.” Natasha nodded, continuing to run her hand over the hair on her daughter’s head as she looked up at her, “Well what if I told you that you could have a dad too?”

“Really?” The girl replied in confusion more than anything.

She chuckled before speaking again, “Yeah baby, you have a dad who really wants to know you.”

“I don’t suppose it would be too bad.” Mia mused, yawning before snuggling her head into her mother’s stomach.

“Good, because I think you’ll really like him.”

The young girl nodded her head before drifting back off to sleep in her mother’s arms.

-

Natasha stayed there for a while, observing the steady movement up and down of her daughter’s chest, signifying that she was still alive. It was only at the sound of footsteps making their way down the corridor that she extracted herself from the bed, moving out into the corridor. She descended the stairs to find her father in the kitchen, his back turned to her.

“Hi, dad.”

He turned around at the sound of her voice.

“Tasha.” He said closing the distance between them before pulling her into a hug.

He drew back, seemingly examining her for any signs of injury.

“And you’re ok?” He questioned.

“I’m fine dad, really.”

“Ok then, care to tell me who else’s boots are by my door.”

She blanked slightly, her face draining of some of its colour.

“Jake’s.” She admitted quietly.

This seemed to anger him, turning to storm back up the stairs to find the man that had caused his daughter and by association, his granddaughter, so much grief, before she managed to grab his arm, stilling his movements.

“It was my fault dad, he didn’t know.”

The anger across his face dissipated and was quickly replaced by a look of pity.

“Tashie.” He seemed to be scrutinizing her.

“I know dad.” The regret was apparent in her voice.

He looked at her a moment more before pulling her into another hug, his hand rubbing soothing circles on her back.

“I’m gonna go back to bed,” she said as she stepped out of their embrace, they had been given a couple of days leave before their final debrief and she couldn’t think of anything better than drifting back to sleep in the arms of the man she had left in her bed.

Her father smiled back at her softly before patting her on the arm once more and turning back to his mug of coffee.

-

Natasha crawled back into the warm sheets of her bed, worming her way towards the source of that warmth, where he lay on his side in the middle of the mattress, resting her head on the arm that was still spread across her pillows.

“Hey, where’d you go.” He said, his voice muffled by sleep, and the pillow that his head was tilted towards.

“I wanted to check on Mia.”

He humphed in acceptance before throwing his arm over her waist and drawing her in closer to him.

“What time is it?” Jake spoke into her hair, inhaling the scent of her shampoo as he spoke.

“A little after six, so we should have another couple of hours at least.”

“Good.” He muttered before his breathing seemed to even out again.

She lay there until she fell back asleep, realizing she couldn’t measure just quite how much she loved him.

-

The next time she woke it was to someone shaking her arm, turning her head to look behind her she saw her daughter sitting on the bed beside her, dressed with her school bag beside her.

“Grandma said to say bye before school,” Mia recited diligently, “She said you could stay in bed all day if you wanted.” She looked a little jealous at that. Natasha couldn’t stand the look on her daughter’s face, she knew it would give her a complex if she didn’t stop, but right now her family was in the same place and she wasn’t about to waste that moment.

“Well,” she replied, slipping out of Jake’s arms and throwing them around her daughter, “Tell Grandma that I said you don’t have to go to school today.” She said through the girl’s laughs as she tickled her.

At the sudden noise, the man behind her woke, opening his eyes sharply, his face full of panic before he took in the sight in front of him and broke into a grin. He watched as the mother of his child managed to get the girl to shriek with laughter, pure joy inhabiting both of their faces.

The commotion managed to draw the attention of her mother, who appeared at the doorway, leaning against its frame, arms crossed looking on with a sly smile.

“Mia, I thought I said to say goodbye not start a tickle war.” The older woman said trying to cover her own happiness with a stern tone but failing to fully achieve it.

“Grandma,” Mia said between her deep breaths as her mother momentarily stopped attacking her, “Mommy said I didn’t have to go to school today!”

“Is that right Natasha?”

“Come on mom!” She groaned, looking at her mother pleadingly.

She raised an eyebrow, looking between the pair of them before nodding her head once in seemly (fake) reluctance.

Turning to make her way back downstairs she shouted over her shoulder, “Good to see you, Jake!”

Jake froze, he had merely been observing the interaction between three generations of Trace women, blending into the background as though he wasn’t there.

Mia turned her head sharply to look at the man on the other side of her mom.

“Jake!” She exclaimed realizing who it was and throwing her body over her mom’s towards him.

He managed to catch her in an impromptu hug as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“How are we, Miss Mia?”

She giggled at his address of her.

“Good,” She said into his neck, “I don’t have to go to school today!”

“So I’ve heard!”

He caught Natasha’s eye over his daughter’s shoulder, grinning at her as her eyes glinted with the same joy he had seen when they’d hugged after Bradley and Mav had made it back to the carrier.

The girl released her grip on him, turning back to look at her mother.

“Mommy why’s Jake here?”

The grin on her face slipped a little at that.

She moved back down the bed to lie beside her daughter, moving a hand to stroke over the hair on her forehead, eyeing Jake over the girl’s body as he lay on the other side of her.

“Well baby, you know how I said you had a dad,” she waited for a second to see the girl nod her head in confusion, running her hand softly over her daughter's head again before she spoke, “Baby, Jake’s your dad.”

She waited for the words she had said to sink in, watching as her daughter processed them.

“Really,” she looked between them before her eyes settled on him, “You’re my dad?”

“Yeah, kid,” he said looking as though he wanted to cry, “Yeah I am.”

She threw her arms back around him, snuggling her face into the white t-shirt he wore.

She mumbled into his chest, just for him to hear.

“I hoped you were.”