Shadows of the Past

Many Questions, Few Answers

The next time y/n came up as a topic of conversation was the next time the group got together which was 2 weeks later much to the annoyance of everyone who had been waiting on the edge of their seats to find out who this mysterious woman was that seemed to have tamed  Jake "Hangman" Seresin, and what he could've done that saw the two no longer together. Rooster was among the last to arrive to the designated meeting spot which was again the Hard Deck. This meeting was much more casual, no looming mission to be spoken of only a group of aviators meeting to enjoy each other's company. As soon as Rooster approached the pool table they had crowded around the questions started,
"Who was she?"
"Where did they meet?"
"How do you know her?"
"Hangman was married??"
"Why do the two of you seem so close?"
Rooster sighed as he pulled his sunglasses from his face, tucking them safely into the pocket of his Hawaiian shirt before perching on a barstool beside Bob,
"You guys should be asking Hangman about y/n, not me. I won't go into details because that's not my place, but I'll tell you alittle of the backstory if you guys can keep it to yourselves."
He was met with a solitary nod from each of the individuals around him, all of them moving closer to he able to hear his words in his slightly hushed tone.
"Her name is Y/n Seresin, call sign Shadow. She's 25 now, they were married when she was 19 and Jake was 23. They met during the summer they asked Hangman and I to help with a few training sessions when Shadow was still at TOPGUN."
The others looked at him in expectantly waiting for him to continue, Phoenix utilized the pause to ask a burning question,
"She's a TOPGUN graduate too?"
Bradley nodded before continuing,
"She is. She doesn't fly missions since a few years ago though, she works at TOPGUN now but behind the scenes helping pull the maintenance on the Jets or help with training occasionally. The students often approach her to talk to when their having a hard time coping with the pressure they feel during the program."
The group looked around at each other, questions evident in all of their expressions and Fanboy was the one to break the silence this time,
"That still doesn't answer the question of how you know her, or why the two of you seem to be close?"
"That's because I was the witness to their spur of the moment marriage. They decided to take a spontaneous trip to Texas where she's from to be married in the courthouse of her home town. Neither of them wanted a big production and since I was a mutual friend of them both by this point, they asked me to be their witness and I agreed."
"They were married for about 3 years, happiest I've ever seen them both. When they split up she kept his last name instead of taking her maiden name back. She and I keep in touch every few weeks. She lives here in town and I visit a few times a year. "
Bob was next to ask a question,
"Why did they split?"
Rooster took a long drink from the beer in his hand and his expression as much as he tried not to let it show harbored a years old hurt,
"That's a question for Hangman or Shadow, it's not my place to tell what happened between them.

Just before the next question could be asked a smooth voice sounded from just behind Rooster,
"And here I thought you were supposed to be the best of the best, yet here you are crowded together and cackling like a bunch of hens tossing around the drama of the past."
The owner of the voice moved around from behind the sandy haired man, revealing none other than Y/n.