Chapter Text
As the team gathers at the common room one last time after the mission, Maverick walks in with a smirk on his face. "Celebratory games and drinks at the Hard Deck, on me."
Jake, who happens to be sitting right next to Natasha on the couch, his arm draped around her shoulder, turns to face Maverick with a smile. "Are you sure? The last time drinks were on you we had to throw you out." Natasha lets out a little laugh as does everyone else, leaning a little into Jake.
"It's on the house, I think." Maverick pauses, scanning the room. "But I expect to see you all there, that's an order." And he leaves the room with a dramatic flourish.
Natasha steals a glance at Jake, who's still on about chewing that damn toothpick. A bad habit he would never shake, but a nervous tick while he maintained a cocky exterior only she knew about. Hangman looks around the room, "So, who needs a ride?" A couple of hands go up, and Phoenix hands him a set of keys as he makes his way to the car, with Rooster, Coyote, Phoenix in tow.
"I call shotgun." Rooster calls out even before anyone says anything, climbing into the passenger seat.
Jake gives Natasha an apologetic smile and she shakes her head, signalling to him that she was going to be fine. She climbs into back next to Coyote, sitting behind the driver's seat, behind Jake while Coyote would be behind Rooster. Jake turns around, giving Natasha one last look before he turns the engine and reverses out of the parking lot.
The drive to the Hard Deck is a short one from base, but the ten minutes it would normally take seemed to stretch out forever as Natasha grips on to the seat for her deal life, swallowing hard and sucking in her breath occasionally. It wasn't that her husband was a bad driver, or that this was dangerous driving of any kind, it was just that she felt so sick she could throw up at any time. But she holds it in, not wanting to show signs of weaknesses, taking slow steady breaths as those around her chatter and get into a conversation about something she can't quite catch on, because she's trying to focus on not throwing up. Hangman asks, "Phoenix, what do you think?" And when she doesn't give an answer, Rooster and Coyote tease her about it, but she couldn't care less, as Hangman tells them to let her off.
When Jake pulls into the parking lot of the Hard Deck, Natasha's the first one out, racing for the bathroom at the back end of the bar, where she hurls her guts out, until she has nothing left to hurl and is dry heaving over the cool porcelain. Letting out a sigh, she pulls herself off the bathroom floor, making her way to the sink to rinse the bitter taste of bile out from her mouth.
She takes a moment to calm herself down, as someone knocks on the door of the bathroom. "Go away," she manages to choke out, in the steadiest voice possible all the while shaking.
"Hey, it's me," comes a familiar voice from the other end, which convinces her to open the door and let him in. He takes in the sight of her, her hands shaking, and her brows sweaty, as alarm bells go off in his head. Stepping into the bathroom and locking the door behind him, Jake comes face to face with Natasha, who puts on a brave smile for him. "You okay?"
She shakes her head. "You tell me cowboy. I just hurled my guts out, because your child couldn't handle your driving."
Jake smirks as he gives her a cocky smile, "So now it's my child, huh?"
Natasha rolls her eyes. "Whatever."
Jake holds out the keys, which she takes and puts into her pocket, leaning her head on his chest and letting out a sigh. "We'll leave when you want to, okay?" He asks as he kisses the top of her head, unlocking the bathroom door. "I'll give you a minute." And he winks and walks out, and she waits a while before doing the same.
Phoenix walks into the room and everyone turns to stare, as Hangman gives her a wink and she feels a blush creeping up her cheeks.
"Well if it ain't Phoenix," Hangman smirks, as he recites the same line he did when she had walked in earlier that year before the mission. It's like they had a script of some sort that he just memorised, and they did. Except this time, none of them would treat one another like assholes, because the bonding over a difficult mission had made the pilots realise they were more alike than they thought.
Rooster looks between Hangman and Phoenix as she approaches the group and sticks herself right next to Hangman. "Didn't know you were carsick Trace. I would expect better from a pilot."
Natasha looks up at Jake, who places a hand in the middle of her back, hoping no one notices, "We all have our things that we deal with, leave her alone." And nothing else is spoken of what happened in the car, instead the boys switch to talking about football, the only time they stop is when they challenge one another to a game of pool.
Jake and Natasha eye one another the whole time, as their fingers brush every time they swap a bottle of beer. She pretends to drink it, and then switches it with his, as he finishes the drinks for both of them. And this routine continues, into four or five beers, and she’s worried that by the end of the night he would be too drunk to drive home, but doesn’t say a word, resisting the urge to shove her hands into her pockets.
Maverick approaches the group, handing each one of them an ice cold beer, as he spins a volleyball in his hand. A beach volleyball game, because that's tradition. And Maverick was not one to shy away from tradition. The pilots pick their teams, Hangman and Phoenix, Coyote and Bob, Fanboy and Payback, Omaha and Fritz, Harvard and Yale, Rooster and Maverick.
Jake gives Natasha a look, and she shrugs, as the pack of boys throw off their shirts one by one, slashing a rack of abs. Jake does the same, blowing a kiss her way as he does. "If you need to tap out at any time, let me know, don't hold on for the sake of winning." He says as she takes her top off, revealing a bikini top underneath for a second he forgets how to breathe and just stares, and of course she notices and smirks. “You look hot by the way.” She sends a glare his way as he shrugs it off, “I’m allowed to say that, because I get you in my bed almost every night.” She rolls her eyes.
While the others are warming up and huddling up with their teams, Phoenix and Hangman do the same, discussing strategy. Rooster's tall, Maverick is not, so he'll be up front spiking, so when they play them Hangman is going up front and Phoenix is hanging back to catch anything that hits beyond that. Payback and Fanboy play defensive, so to throw them off they play defence and wait for them to attack, because that's clearly not their strong suit. Coyote is big on attacking, Hangman will attack back but Bob is a wild card and they don't know how he plays, so Phoenix's fast reflex and adaptability will deal with that. The rest should be easy to beat, and with their competitive nature, the two would be unstoppable, usually, aside from the added element taking a toll on Natasha's body.
"You sure you okay? Babe, you literally just threw up like half an hour ago." Jake says, his team huddle getting awfully close to stealing a kiss. He steals one anyway and hopes no one notices as they’re too busy going over their own strategy.
As it turns out, Phoenix and Hangman are quite the dream team when they want to work together, which they do in the match, which goes from friendly to competitive really quickly the moment the math starts up. Rooster and Hangman are equally matched in skill, but Hangman is a lot quicker. And while Maverick has the speed, his height disadvantages him, causing Hangman to score against them quite a number of times as he spikes the ball over and neither of them dives for it. Phoenix hangs at the back, trying not to tire herself out too much in the first match, setting as many as possible to Hangman and for him to score. And they win, by a mile, in the end, as the two embrace one another, as Jake tries to hold on for Natasha as long as he can without raising suspicion and Natasha does it in an attempt at comfort and catching her breathe. He guides her to the beach chair, making her sit and running back to the bar to fetch her a glass of water, which he makes her drink.
She rolls her eyes, obeying anyway. “I’m not a child Hangman, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” she protests.
He takes a seat next to her in the sand, his head resting on her lap. “I know. But it doesn’t hurt to have someone do something nice for you once in a while does it, Phoenix?”
“Oh Seresin, you spoil me,” comes her snarky reply.
But he surprises her when he says, “Only the best for the best,” and she feels a little guilty for mocking his chivalry.
Three long matches later, and Phoenix and Hangman are crowned the official winners of the friendly match. They, of course, take it competitively and Natasha rolls her eyes as Jake gloats. He surprises everyone when he plants a kiss on her cheek, but no one says anything about it, because they just assume it’s some cowboy manners, and while it is partly true, they would never find out why.
As the team relaxes by the beach and watches the sunset, Natasha leans into Jake, as his hand goes around her waist. He kisses the side of her temple, undoing her braid and running his fingers through her hair. In his other hand, he holds a bottle of beer, which he occasionally sips, swapping between his and the one next to her.
Penny and Maverick cuddle at the back, as Penny’s lips curl into a smile. She can see that the two of them are so clearly in love, no matter how much they tried to hide it. She suspected something was up when they were first in the bar before the mission, but she thought maybe that was just a thing friends did to relieve stress, but here on the beach, in the light of the sunset, she could see it so clearly, the way she relaxed around him, the way he took care of her, the way their fingers would just touch a little, and perhaps the biggest tell of all, the way they looked at one another and their gaze lingered longer than usual.
But the boys around never seemed to notice, and perhaps it was true that girls are simply more observant than boys and pick up most things that boys don’t. Or maybe some part of them knew and it was something they just didn’t want to question.
After sunset, the team files back into the bar, picking a table to sit at, as they laugh the night away, and question after question of get to know one another games ensues.
“If you could kiss any one person from our team, who would it be?”
They go around the room, giving their answers, a couple of them say Rooster, Rooster jokingly says Hangman, Hangman looks at Phoenix with a glint in his eye before saying Phoenix and Phoenix gives him a smile before saying Hangman as well.
And the team looks between them, Rooster with a knowing smirk on his face as he suggests, “Why not do it now?”
Hangman and Phoenix look between one another, as Hangman shrugs, “Why not.”
And they kiss, for the first time in front of their friends, only because it’s a dare, but it’s clear they both enjoy the kiss a little too much, because wolf whistles and clapping can be heard and they pull away, as Phoenix tucks the loose strands of hair behind her ear nervously and Hangman reaches over the bar counter for a toothpick to put in his mouth and chew.
“So, how was it?” Rooster asks with a small smirk. Hangman smirks back but remains tight lipped about it.
The group turns towards Phoenix, and she flashes a smile at Hangman, “It was not bad, but I’ve had better.”
They cheer, obviously excited by the insulting and banter between the two, but Phoenix flashes an apologetic smile, along with a look that said, ‘I will make this up to you later.’, as Hangman gives her one back, ‘You want better? Oh, I’ll show you better baby.’
“So, what are your plans after this?” Maverick asks, cutting the fun out of the equation.
Phoenix starts first. “I was thinking of becoming an instructor at Top Gun.”
“Oh, are you now?” Hangman looks at her, confused, because they’ve never actually discussed this.
Phoenix shrugs, “It just seemed like a good option, it stable, I’m not up in the air all the time, and it’s perfect if I’m thinking of settling down or whatever,” she steals a glance at Hangman before continuing, “And I’m not putting my life on the line as much.”
Hangman sinks into his seat a little when he realises the reason she was putting her career on hold was for him and instantly feels bad about it. “I think I still wanna be in the skies, but I might try and pull less dangerous shit.”
“Like going after a fifth gen in an F18 to save Mav and Rooster?” Coyote chimes in and everyone chuckles.
Hangman shrugs, “I’ve realised life is short and I wanna live it, if not for myself, for the ones around me who you know, have always been so supportive of my career.” He looks over at Phoenix and she gives him a reassuring smile, knowing the only one who has supported his career would have to be her, his strained relationship with his parents meant that he never saw them much, and even if he did they would always be picking on his flaws, their only child who disappointed them by enlisting in the military and never looking back.
Hangman gets a resounding applause from the group and Phoenix almost rolls her eyes at it, but smiles sweetly at him, her smile telling him a thousand words, which summed up to ‘You’re lucky I love you, because you’re a cocky asshole’. He grins back, as the others share what they want to do, mostly dangerous missions, having gained firsthand experience from Maverick this round. Maverick looks at Phoenix and Hangman when the rest are done, giving them a small smile, as if he’s put the pieces together.
“You know what team, the next time we meet up, we should bring along our significant other,” Maverick says with a smirk, as Phoenix and Hangman side eye one another.
‘He knows,’ She glares at him, ‘He couldn’t possibly.’ He glares back. ‘Wanna bet on it?’ She challenges and he gives her a ‘Why not.’
The night comes to an end as the team mumbles excuse after excuse and files out of the bar, into their own cars to get back home. Maverick gives Phoenix and Hangman one last look before he head out onto his bike, probably to his weird trailer house thing.
Penny approaches them, with two glasses of water in hand, with a smile adds, “I know you guys are a thing and I suspect Maverick has a faint idea of what’s up, but the rest of them are obnoxious. And you think it’s better if you keep a secret, but I think otherwise, I think you would be a lot happier if you just came out with it, instead of sneaking around, and I think the team would be very happy for you.” She smiles, placing the two glasses on the bar counter, before disappearing into the back.
"You owe me," Natasha says to Jake as she climbs into the driver's seat of the car, refusing to let him drive because of the number of beers he's had all night for the both of them. He doesn’t want to let her drive, not when she should be relaxing in the front seat and trying to get as comfortable as possible and hopes that she won’t throw up again, but he doesn’t protest, because he knows his limits and that he’s definitely not drunk, but it hasn’t been long enough for him to have a normal BAC.
So, he shuts up and lets her drive. “We never agreed to terms of the bet.” She keeps her eyes on the road, but she doesn’t need to turn and look to know that her husband has a wide mirk on his face as he adds, “But I have many creative ways in mind.”
She gives him a small smile, but focuses on the drive, glad that the concentration of the controlling of the car took her mind off the pit churning in her stomach and the increasing queasiness she had felt earlier when he drove. She would have to throw up later when they got home, but she hoped it would stay down for the rest of the car ride.
As they lay next to one another than night, their sweaty skins touching one another, his arm draped around her stomach, feeling the small curve that has started to form to accommodate a growing baby, one that no one could notice from afar but if they looked close enough they could just tell that she was indeed, without a doubt, pregnant.
As he traces her skin with his finger, she pipes up, “You know, maybe Penny is right. We should just come clean with it, no harm done.”
Jake considers her proposition; it would make all the PDA a lot easier if they could just lean into one another all the time and he would be able to ensure that she was safe at all times without seeming too suspicious about it. “You know what?” She turns and faces him, pressing her stomach into his abs, ‘skin to skin contact’ she smirks as he shakes his head and continues, “We should just drop it on them the next time we hang, see how they take it.”
“Good idea, Hangman,” she teases, knowing what the name does to him when they’re both in compromising positions as such.
“You think so, Phoenix?” He asks as he nuzzles her neck, drawing in her scent with a sharp breath.
And as luck would have it, the team meets again in a few month’s time, at Maverick’s garage where they have a barbeque get together of sorts. Hangman and Rooster are put on grill duty. At this point Phoenix and Hangman don’t make a point to hide it, as they are the last to arrive, together, hands intertwined as they walk towards the group. This time there’s no cheering or witty comment about being late from anyone, they just stare, as their gaze travels from Phoenix to Hangman, to their hand holding to Phoenix’s undeniable curve in her stomach, to her jacket (which was in fact her husband’s and had the name Seresin written in block letters at the back).
Maverick is the first to speak, “I guess congratulations are in order?” But there’s an uncertainty in his voice.
Coyote goes next, and a simple, “When?” incites chattering amongst the rest of the Dagger squad.
Natasha looks over at her husband with a smile, “You wanna tell them, Babe?”
“Babe?” Rooster almost chokes on the beer in his hand.
Jake gives Natasha a cocky smile, as he turns to the rest of the group. “Long story short, we started seeing one another shortly after the academy, we dated, got married, been married ever since, about five years now, and there’s a new edition to the pack I guess.”
Maverick looks at them wide eyed, “You guess?” Hangman smirks, as he joins Rooster on the grill, and Phoenix takes a seat between a bewildered Fanboy and Bob, who bombard her with questions.
From the grill, Jake yells over, “Leave my wife alone boys, don’t start asking questions you don’t want to know the answers to.” Natasha shoots him a glare and he quips back, “What? It’s true!”
When Hangman and Rooster bring over the burgers, the team makes room for Hangman to slide in next to Phoenix and he makes a show of it, standing behind her and putting his arm around her shoulders as she leans into him, closing her eyes and letting out a sigh. Leaning over, he kisses the top of her head before finally sliding in next to her but adds a kiss on the lips on top of that, and this time everyone actually swoons. He keeps one hand on her back, as everyone digs in and he puts food on her plate first before helping himself to some.
At some point, Jake feeds Natasha a bite of something, and everyone has had enough of it. “Just because you’ve had to hide her for years doesn’t mean you get to flaunt this in our faces now, Hangman.” Coyote pipes up and everyone laughs. But it gets serious when he asks, “So, how far along are you?”
“Sixteen weeks,” Jake confidently answers with his signature Hangman smirk.
Maverick looks between the two, “Don’t tell me you flew the mission knowing-”
“Yes.” Phoenix cuts him off. “We actually found out the day the bird strike happened.”
Maverick looks like he might pass out any time, and Rooster brings him another beer, as the rest of the Daggers still look like it’s fresh news, as the shocked expressions on their faces continue.
“And you flew anyway?” Coyote asks, with a new rising level of concern that no one had heard before.
Jake looks at Natasha, with an ‘I told you so,’ look in his eyes, as she assures him everything will be fine with a squeeze of a hand. “Military regulations say you can fly up to twenty-eight weeks.” She looks over at him with a small smile, and a ‘how do you know?’, “I did my homework the night she told me,” He looks over at Maverick, “And I know by protocol we should have reported it, and we didn’t, but it all turned out fine didn’t it?”
Everyone lets out an involuntary sigh they didn’t know they were holding in, as the tension turns into a building rising level of excitement.
“So, any name ideas yet?” Rooster is the first to ask.
Jake and Natasha both shrug, not that hadn’t had the time to think up any, but because they’ve had plenty, and they had a few in mind, just not some they were willing to share with anyone in the group yet.
“Give them their space,” Maverick warns, and the Daggers switch conversational topics to their various vocations at the moment.
Phoenix shares a few stories of being an instructor at Top Gun, most of which Hangman had heard, when she came home after a long day and he gave her back rubs while listening to her rant, something he would never get sick of. His heart swells when she tells the story of this one trainer who came in one day to train her class that she was instructing, and he wouldn’t stop flirting with her, because he was that trainer, who by special invitation, had been there that day, and made nonstop heart eyes at her and flirty comments, much to the amusement of the many recruits. The look on their fellow Daggers faces when they finally made the connection and realised that the trainer was indeed Hangman had cause Hangman to burst into laughter, earning him a small smack from Phoenix as he looked over at her with a proud smile.
The rest of the go around sharing stories, as Natasha leans into Jake and he puts his arms around her waist, pulling her in close to him, allowing her to sink comfortably into his embrace, as they soaked up the pleasant company of their squadron mates. He plants a kiss on the top of her head, as his hand flexes against her stomach, and she holds his hand over the one corner of her stomach for a little while before he feels it. He smiles, whispering in her ear, “Was that-” He begins.
“Yep, a little kick.” She smiles back, as the two have their own moment in their own world for a minute.
His face is filled with awe, when it comes again. “Has Baby Dagger ever done that?”
She shakes her head, “Nope, Dagger is just showing off for it’s fellow Daggers today.”
His hand doesn’t leave her stomach for the rest of the night as the other Daggers share a look between one another. “We called the baby Dagger for reasons you don’t wanna know,” Jake says with a smirk, but he eventually elaborates on his cryptic point when everyone shoots him a confused look, but is met with groans to the answer, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why, and considering that they’re all Top Gun graduates, they would be pretty damn smart, but for those that couldn’t figure it out, “We found out that we were pregnant when we were on the mission, Dagger squad, hence, Baby Dagger.”
Phoenix shakes her head at the audacity, and if he wasn’t her loving husband who refused to leave her side the moment they found out she was pregnant and was always so overprotective of her all he time without realising because at some point it just became a natural instinct after that many years of marriage, he would have been dead by her hands.
But she simply smiles at him, and the couple shares a sweet look as the Dagger squad obsesses over the soon to be addition to the Dagger squad.