Kalliope 》Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter 14

Before they could leave for the Hard Deck, Bradley pulled Cecelia aside. He knew he had to explain at the least the basics of what happened before someone else told her tonight. At least here at home, he could keep her as calm as possible instead of her breaking down in the middle of the bar.

"I need to tell you about what happened on the mission," he began, not doing a very good job at keeping his cool. Cecelia was already worrying, despite the fact that he was standing right in front of her alive and unharmed.

"The short version is I ran out of my defense flares and Mav sacrificed himself to save me." Cecelia opened her mouth to clarify that Maverick was still alive, but before she could ask, Bradley cut her off. "Please let me get this all out. Maverick is alive, since I know that's what you were about to ask. And before you get mad at me, I couldn't leave him." She had a sinking feeling in her stomach, an inkling of what had happened running through her mind.

Taking a deep breath, holding Cecelia's hands, he continued. "I went back for him, against orders. My plane was shot down and I had to eject. Mav and I stole an enemy plane and flew back to the carrier, but were intercepted on our way. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, we were close to dying. Hangman saved our asses at the last second." He said all of this while looking Cecelia directly in the eyes. He could see her beginning to shake, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I," she paused for a moment. "I know you are here in front of me, but to hear that you almost weren't, I can't process right now." She was taking deep breaths, trying not to work herself up into a panic. If she had even a small part of her that wasn't focusing on that at the moment, she would have completely understood why Bradley had made the decisions he did. But she couldn't grapple with that when trying to grasp that he had quite literally almost died.

Bradley stays quiet, letting her process while staying alert in case she needs help. After a moment, he elaborates a little bit, knowing she needs more of his reasoning to come to terms with all of the information. "I may have been incredibly mad at him, but he is one of the only links I have left to my parents. No matter what he did with pulling my papers, he was the best father figure I had. I couldn't accept that he was dead, for me of all things. Not after everything that has happened in the past few weeks."

Cecelia was quiet for a few more minutes before she began to speak. "I understand. I do. It's just hard to wrap my head around. I never want you to feel like you have to choose, but it feels like you chose him over me, which I know you didn't do. I just need some time to come to terms with everything." She added something before he had a chance to refute what she had just said. "And I'm not mad. I'm glad he saved you and I'm glad you saved him. And I will be giving Hangman the biggest hug of his life later tonight for saving you as well."

The last part of her sentence made Bradley chuckle a little bit. "I think Phoenix might have beat you to that earlier, but you'll have to take that up with her."

Before they could completely move on from the topic, he assured her of one more thing. "I wanted you to hear it from me versus someone else. And this way, you had time to process before we went out. I love you, more than anything, and that will never change."

She cuddled into his side, letting him know all was forgiven, despite her not being mad with him in the first place. "I love you too."

☽☆☾ ☽☆☾ ☽☆☾

The group of five finally make their way to the beach just in front of the Hard Deck before making it inside. And no surprise that most people are already on their second or third drink. It was a successful mission and they don't have to be on base the next day, so the plan is to get drunk.