Chapter Text
It was Christmas time in the Bradshaw-Seresin household and Bradley couldn’t be happier.
Caroline was growing like a weed (a very cute weed) and already saying her first words, overachiever as she was.
Her first word, recorded on Jake’s cellphone during one rare rainy day in San Diego, was “Dada” and Jake and Bradley had joyfully and incessantly argued over who she was referring to.
Yes, their little girl was a genius as they’d tell anyone who’d listen, Bradley thought with a fond smile. The genius in question was currently mouthing on the end of her own sock but hey she couldn’t be perfect all the time he figured.
Jake came over, pressing a kiss to the side of Bradley’s head as he approached the already-full Christmas tree to add another gift.
Bradley grinned when he saw the name tag on it, “for little ol me?” he said with a look of mock-surprise.
“No peeking,” Jake responded, taking a seat on the floor next to Caroline and pulling her sock out of her mouth.
Bradley huffed, “when is everyone getting here again?” he asked.
“Mav’ll be here soon then Chipper and Sundown, then Hollywood and Wolf on tuesday, then Merlin and Slider, and Cyclone and Hondo last,” Jake recited.
Bradley smiled, they’d have a full house for Caroline’s first christmas and it was exactly what he wanted to have her surrounded by people who loved her.
“Great,” he said, leaning back against the couch with a contented sigh.
Mav showed up a few days before Christmas eve to help with the preparations and because he was now high enough up in the leadership chain to give himself some time off.
When the doorbell rang Bradley jumped to get it, scooping up Caroline in his arms on the way over.
“Hey,” Bradley smiled, accepting a warm embrace from Maverick who was holding a much needed and much expensive bottle of wine.
“Hey yourself,” Mav said, patting him on the shoulder once they’d let go. “You look good B,” he said with a smile.
Bradley opened his mouth to reply but Caroline cut him off.
“Av’!” Caroline babbled, reaching her pudgy toddler arms towards Maverick.
Maverick gasped, making a face of exaggerated shock to make her giggle.
“Do we have a talker on our hands?” he exclaimed, reaching over to tickle her much to her excitement.
Bradley grinned proudly. “Yup, little words and everything,” he reported back to Maverick. “Won’t be long until she’s president.”
Maverick patted her on the head, “I’d vote for her,” he said with a chuckle.
“Mav? Is that you?” Jake called from the kitchen.
“Sure is!” Mav called back, heading towards him and handing Caroline back to Bradley.
Bradley went to follow them and put Caroline back in her playpen in the living room where she dug through her various balls and started chewing on a stuffed animal that Bradley thought used to be a dog but was now too beaten up to tell. He shook his head, oh well.
He found Jake and Maverick in the kitchen catching up while Jake cooked.
“You got your husband in here doing all the work Bradley?” Maverick chided with a smirk when Bradley joined him.
Bradley shook his head, “not true,” he retorted, “Jake likes it.”
Jake nodded, “I do,” he said, then pointed his wooden spoon at Bradley, “and your son can’t cook for the life of him,” he added with a smirk. Bradley gasped.
Over the next few days the other members of the aviation family trickled in. Chipper and Sundown were first and Chipper eagerly held the toddler and easily made her laugh. Sundown was a little more hesitant but with some prompting from Mav he got it just fine.
They all made christmas cookies together and Caroline took great joy in licking all the icing off of the cookies and the spoon and Bradley wasn’t one to deny her joy.
The first night they were there, Sundown took over the kitchen duties and showed Jake up big time with his roasted salmon which Jake insisted he needed the recipe for after he got done pouting over the fact that Sundown was a better cook then he was.
Then Hollywood and Wolfman joined them and Bradley had flashbacks to the first few days after Caroline was born when the two men saved his and Jake’s asses. He thanked them with big glasses of wine and the fact that he and Jake were both a lot better at changing diapers now and they wouldn’t need their help.
Finally Merlin and Slider arrived and Merlin and Mav hugged tightly then disappeared to whisper for a while, both pilots having not seen each other for a while due to their classified work.
On Christmas Eve, everyone was gathered in the living room and sprawled out on the living room carpet playing with Caroline when they heard a knock at the door.
Mav got up to get it and let in their final guests - Cyclone and Hondo.
“Hey hey hey,” Hondo greeted when he saw them. Bradley and Jake both got up to say hi and the older pilot smiled as he glanced at the two of them and their daughter. “Lot has changed eh?”
Bradley glanced at Jake and smiled, “yup, welcome in,” he said.
They shook Cyclone’s hand and he had similar remarks.
“Glad you two made it,” he said with a wistful if not slightly guilty smile, undoubtedly thinking about the suicide mission he’d sent them on years ago.
Bradley clapped him on the shoulder, “me too,” he assured him.
They took their places back on the couches again after Cyclone and Hondo placed their gifts underneath the tree and Bradley tucked himself into Jake’s side with a big smile as he watched his family trade stories.
“Yeah, and I said ‘I don’t care what you saw it was not a UFO’ then, the next thing you know I look at the radar and what the fuck do I see but a big ass blob!” Sundown exclaimed, waving his hands in the air while the others burst into fits of laughter.
“Ya know, I’ve seen some weird shit on those fuckin radars man,” Maverick sighed, shaking his head.
“Right! One time we saw this fuckin-” Hollywood started but then Caroline cut him off.
“Fuck!” she babbled happily, grinning.
Jake’s eyes were wide as he looked down at his baby and then he burst into laughter. Bradley did too, tearing up with the force of his giggles and the others followed suit.
“Uck! Fuck!” Caroline cried, clearly loving this new game.
“N-no baby,” Bradley managed to gasp out in between giggles.
“Fuck!” she laughed.
“Oh boy,” Mav said, grinning and shaking his head in exasperation.
“Least we know she’s a Bradshaw,” Wolf pointed out with a chuckle.
“So true,” Bradley wheezed, then he caught Jake’s eye and they both devolved back into helpless giggles.
After the excitement had died down and everyone had been sent off to bed, Bradley cleaned up some last minute things and got Caroline ready for bed.
He’d told her about the idea of Santa Claus coming in the night to give her gifts because he and Jake both agreed that they wanted to give her a magical childhood but now he was sure that she didn’t remember it (or understand it) because she didn’t mention it as he put her to bed.
Oh well, he figured, a quiet toddler is probably a good toddler. Then he went to bed. Oh how wrong he was.
Bradley woke up in the middle of the night to the distinct sound of puking.
“Shit, shit,” he muttered, throwing himself out of bed and towards the direction it’d come from - Caroline’s crib.
He flung the lights on and Jake groaned in protest, still half asleep, but Bradley didn’t care. He raced over to the side of Caroline’s crib to find the toddler shivering, laying in a pile of her own sick, and starting to cry.
“Oh honey,” he exclaimed as he picked her up. Her little face turned red as she started to cry harder, wailing now.
That got Jake up and soon he was at Bradley’s side.
“Shit,” he muttered, his face pale with fear. “What do we do?” he asked frantically.
One answer came to mind immediately. “Go get Mav,” Bradley said, trying to juggle the sobbing toddler as he carefully walked towards the bathroom.
“I know sweetie, I know,” Bradley whispered in an attempt to calm her.
Caroline wasn’t having any of it though. She beat her little fists against Braldey’s chest and wailed and wailed so pitifully it made Bradley’s heart want to snap in half.
He gently lowered himself to the floor with her still cradled in his arms, hoping that the new position would keep him from dropping her while she squirmed. He rubbed her arms and back to try and keep her calm until help arrived.
Internally though, Bradley was freaking out. What did he do? He thought desperately. She shouldn’t be sick, she’d never been sick before. What if she was allergic to something? He thought anxiously. What if it was really bad and they had to take her to hospital?
He was spiraling in his own head when he heard footsteps coming back up the stairs towards the bathroom. Soon the door opened to reveal Jake and Maverick standing there looking disheveled and worried.
Maverick’s instincts took over though and he took charge of the situation.
“Ok,” he said, “Jake grab a thermometer and make sure she doesn’t have a temperature, Bradley get her clothes off and run a bath to clean her off,” he instructed, running a hand through his hair.
“Ok, ok,” Bradley muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. “I can do that.”
Jake returned with a thermometer and crouched in front of Bradley and Caroline. He brushed a caring hand over her blonde hair and said, “Caroline honey, I need you to open your mouth for me.”
She didn’t, she just kept crying and wailing, her hands tangled in the front of Bradley’s shirt.
Jake sent Bradley a desperate look as he weakly clutched the thermometer. Bradley shrugged, unsure of what to do. In the end, Jake just waited until she opened her mouth to sob and then stuck it in there which only made her cry harder but after a moment it beeped and he withdrew it, sighing with relief when he saw that she didn’t have a feverish temperature.
“Ok baby,” Bradley said once Jake was done. She was crying so loudly it was a little painful and he winced when he remembered that she probably had woken up everyone staying at their house.
Still, there was nothing he could do but push onwards. He flew on autopilot while he got her undressed and into the warm bath, his ears doing their best to keep the shrieks out.
“It’s alright honey, your ok baby, I’m here Caroline, I know you hurt,” he said over and over so many times he lost count, an endless mantra of comfort.
It was late at night and he was tired but he never quit. Mav and Jake stayed close, alternating turns dressing her and holding her and administering kid medicine and taking her temperature.
Finally, hours later, she seemed to be at least somewhat better. Caroline was asleep, snuggled up to Bradley’s chest as he sat in the bathroom with his back propped up against the bathtub and his arms wrapped securely around his daughter. His back was aching from the hard bathroom floor tiles and he knew it would tomorrow but he was too tired to care. Bradley tipped his head back against the tub, letting his eyes slip closed as he held his kid and looked across the bathroom to see Jake in a similar position curled up against the bathroom cabinets. They’d make it.
The next morning dawned bright and early and Caroline seemed to have forgotten all about her sickness. She jumped on Bradley’s chest and he woke up with an “oomph”, blinking his eyes open as he took in the sight of Caroline in his lap and Mav standing in the doorway.
“Hey lovebirds,” he called out, looking unfairly cheerful for so early in the morning.
Jake woke up at the sound of Mav’s voice and sat up with a wince. Bradley groaned as he tried to sit up and his back protested fiercely.
Mav smiled, “Caroline and I have been hanging out this morning since you guys were sleeping,” he said with a wink sent Caroline’s way.
Bradley struggled to his feet, looking down at Caroline clinging to his pajama pant leg.
“And she’s alright?” he asked in awe and quiet hope.
Mav nodded and Caroline mimicked the movement happily.
“Right as rain,” Mav said, “little kids bounce back fast.”
Jake groaned as he stood up and his knees popped painfully. “Damn, I wish,” he remarked.
Maverick gave them both a soft smile, “I’ll get you guys some ibuprofen,” he said as he headed back downstairs. Bradley and Jake followed along behind him.
When they got downstairs they found the other aviators already sitting in the living room by the christmas tree, nursing cups of coffee. Bradley and Jake took a seat on the couch with them.
Slider patted Bradley’s knee as he sat down. “Rough night?” he asked with a sympathetic expression on his face.
Bradley nodded mournfully, “yeah,” he said, accepting the cup of coffee and little red pills that Mav pressed into his hands.
“You're not a Dad until you’ve stayed up all night to take care of a sick kid,” Maverick remarked as he sat down next to him with his own cup of coffee.
“Hmm, that so?” Bradley yawned.
“Yup,” Mav said, gesturing towards Caroline, “and we had plenty of time to learn about Santa while you guys were asleep,” he said.
“Santa!” Caroline cheered from her spot on the floor.
Bradley nodded, “very impressive,” he said with a fond smile pointed towards his daughter.
“Thank you Mav,” Jake said, raising his cup in a toast towards Maverick.
Mav smiled, “anytime.”
They opened presents, most of which were all for Caroline but Bradley didn’t mind.
She got lots of stuffed animals (her favorite), a model F-18, a children’s book about planes, a kid’s veterinarian playset to use on her stuffed animals, and various little kid clothes that everyone cooed over because they were so damn tiny and cute.
Bradley got over his exhaustion long enough to help Caroline set up her veterinary playset and operate on a few animals.
“What’s this one called?” he asked, holding up a new stuffie.
“Dog,” she said back, calmly pretending to cut open the belly of a bunny.
“Yeah, good job,” Bradley smiled.
“I hope this doesn’t teach her that animal violence is ok,” Jake joked, watching as she appeared to amputate the leg off of a stuffed pony.
Bradley laughed, “nah she’s good,” he responded, handing her the fake bandages like the good veterinary assistant he was.
Maverick joined him and Jake on the floor to open his gift from the couple, a tee shirt that read: BEST GRANDPA EVER. He teared up a little bit when he opened it then playfully smacked Bradley on the back and pulled the shirt on over his own sleep shirt.
“Damn right I am,” he whispered proudly, showing it to Caroline.
Bradley grinned, taking Jake’s hand and leaning against Mav’s side as he sipped his coffee and watched his daughter insist that Cyclone had to play stuffed animals with her. The atmosphere was warm and soft, the crisis of last night averted, and with all their family around, Bradley couldn’t help but smile.
“Yes you are,” he said, “and so is everyone else,” he added as he looked up at his family clustered together on the couch opening presents.