Sincerely, Yours

Chapter 5

Monday morning Ria woke to the sound of her phone buzzing on the table. She didn't even look at it. The phone buzzed a few more times and she groaned before rolling over and grabbing her phone from the nightstand. Morning Tempest, meeting on the beach outside of the Hard Deck at 1 for training. Wear clothes you can move in. Ria blinked a few times before processing that it was a message from Maverick. She looked at the clock, seeing she had 5 hours until she needed to be anywhere, and didn't reply. She threw her phone to the end of the bed and laid back down with a groan. She laid there for half an hour before she actually got up, put some music on, and made herself some tea. She got ready, ate some lunch and soon enough Elliot was knocking at her door. "I'm driving," he said swinging his car keys around as soon as she opened her door. Ria hung her truck keys back up before making sure she had her house keys in her small bag and then locked the door behind her. "Nadia called last night, Vi's getting so big," he told her climbing into the car he affectionately named Bumblebee. Yes, his yellow Camaro is modeled and named after the transformer, complete with the Autobot insignia badges on the outside and in the interior. "I bet," Ria replied, sliding her sunglasses on. His wife and 4-year-old daughter were waiting for him at home back in Colorado. "Why do you think Maverick is having us meet on the beach?" Elliot asks her. "Who knows?" she shrugged, staring out the side window as they pulled out of her driveway.

The aviators all stood in a semi-circle around Maverick and Hondo, both men holding footballs. "What are we doing here Maverick?" Payback asks. "A little bit of a team building exercise. Dogfight football," Maverick said tossing the ball he was holding up in the air. "Two balls, offense, and defense simultaneously," Maverick explained as he caught it. The teams were determined. Both quarterbacks snap at the same time. Both teams scramble. In an instant, it is chaos. Maverick is a quarterback on one team, Bradley on the other. Bradley manages to make a pass. Maverick is sacked. In fact, the opposition seems to care more about sacking the teacher than they do about scoring. Yet, in the midst of the hard hits, it's clear to see something they haven't seen before, the camaraderie between all of them. Hondo made an epic attempt at a touchdown despite half the class clinging to him. Jake looks down at a prone Maverick, relishing a kill. Bradley walks past, stops, and grudgingly helps him up. It is the first remotely friendly moment they've shared since the start of the detachment. Maverick, a little sore, tenderly heads off the field, waving Bob in as his replacement as he sits in one of two low lawn chairs, watching the chaos, mildly amused. He helps himself to a beer from a cooler as he watches the team. He chuckles as he watched Ria manage to trip Bradley and steal the ball before running for the goal. Ria, Callie, and Natasha cheered and came together for a high-five when she scored. Jake helped Bradley off the ground. Another truce of sorts. The aviators have split into two huddles once again, strategizing, and working together. They break for the next play. Both balls snap and the entire class clashes. Anarchy. Mav feels almost at peace.

A shadow falls over Maverick causing him to look up. "Sir." Cyclone is standing just beside Maverick, sunglasses hiding his eyes. He stares at the game, perplexed. "What is this?" he asked. "Dog fight football. Offense and defense at the same time," Mav told him. "And who's winning?" Cyclone asked watching as Javy and Jake jumped and chest-bumped after scoring. "Oh, I think they stopped keeping score a long time ago," Maverick chuckled. "This detachment has training to do, Captain. Every available minute counts," Cyclone said simply. "Yes, sir," Maverick replied. "So why are we out here playing games?" Cyclone asked. "You said to create a team, sir. There's your team," Maverick said, gesturing toward the aviators. Cyclone looks again. Bob had caught the ball thrown by Bradley and the entire group ran to him, chanting his name as Bradley hoisted him up on his shoulders. "The mission has been moved up one week. The last phase of training starts tomorrow." Maverick looks back at the class as Cyclone walks away, Bradley's team is rallying around him.

He gets up and begins walking up the beach behind the pilots, keeping the news to himself, they'd find out tomorrow anyway. "You're good with them." He turns and sees Penny standing by the back door of the Hard Deck, having just walked out after retrieving a water bottle. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're taking to this job. Maybe even enjoying it," she told him. "I've always liked football," Mav told her with a lopsided grin. "That's not what I mean and you know it. If you're not careful you could find yourself getting used to this," Penny told him. Mav considers this and nods, a little uncomfortable with the thought. "You okay?" Penny asks him. "I'm okay, it's just... Time, you know? There's never enough," he told her watching as Jake threw Ria over his shoulder, causing her to demand to be put down. Jake laughed while dropping her into the cold California waters where Ria cursed and splashed him repeatedly. They were soon joined by the rest of them. "That's for sure," Penny replied empathetically, following his gaze to the scene.

The sun was almost down when Ria and the rest of the aviators decided to settle down and start a bonfire. Penny had left with Maverick, leaving the bar open and in the capable hands of Mike, the older gentleman who bartended whenever Penny was out, and Tessa, who picked up serving and bartending as a side job. Elliot and Ria had taken the task of getting the alcohol while the others set up chairs and got the fire started. "You doing ok with everything?" he asks her while they wait for Mike to come back from getting their order from the back fridge for them. "Yeah, you?" she asked. "Yeah, I am, I know you've got my back," he tells her. Ria smiled and squeezed his hand, "Just as I know you have mine." Mike came back and set the 2 cases of beer and case of hard lemonade and one of regular lemonade on the counter. "Here ya go, all good to go, Penny said you paid ahead," he told them and they nodded. Ria left a $20 tip before they each took two of the cases and headed back out to the beach. The fire was going really good when they walked up, the aviators spread out in chairs and on logs, laughing and talking. Someone had gone and got snacks and a table so there was a variety of chips and other snacks on it. Ria and Elliot placed the alcohol and lemonade on the end of the table before each grabbing a drink of choice and joining the others. Bradley saw her sit down and moved from where he was talking with Nat and Bob to sit down beside her. "I'm sorry." Ria raised a brow but didn't turn to him, keeping her gaze on the flickering flames. "I'm sorry for what I said the other day to Hangman. I shouldn't have brought Rhett up like that," he told her and she finally looked at him. "You're right. You shouldn't have brought it up in retaliation, this is the second time in a week. You had no right," she told him. "Whatever stupid rivalry you have with Jake needs to end before one of you gets seriously hurt. I care about you Bradley but I also care about him." A moment of tense silence passed between them. "I apologized to Seresin, we're working on it," he told her. "Good. You're forgiven."