Work Text:
10 Year Ago
This was your moment. To many it wouldn’t seem like a big accomplishment but to you, it was a step towards your fully becoming an adult. Your friends had already gotten their own place, so to them this wasn’t anything new.
You had finished furnishing your apartment to style and liking a few days prior and now you were waiting for your friends to arrive for your first time hosting wine night.
It had been something you planned just the day before so you anticipated your friends to run late. What you hadn’t anticipated was for you to wait for two hours and nobody arriving or calling you.
You pack up in various to go boxes the cheeses, meats, fruits, and crackers that you had laid out. You go to your makeshift guest room and office and take out a few thank you cards.
Taping the cards to the boxes, you head outside and leave them at each door of your neighbors on your floor. You knock gently on the last door and gingerly place the box on the small table next to the door.
Heading back to your apartment, you feel the tears of rejection and abandonment surface. You leave the kitchen as is and go straight to bed.
You’re awoken 45 minutes later by knocking at your door followed by voices. You look to see who it is before opening and you vaguely recognize your neighbor from across the hall.
“Hey! I just got home and wanted to welcome you to the building. I’m Natasha,” she says as she holds out a bag for you. Candles and decorative flowers were visible from the top of the bag.
“I don’t live here but still wanted to say welcome,” the guy in a Hawaiian shirt tells you and hands you a small envelope. “Bradley.”
Your tears are renewed as you accept the gifts and introduce yourself. “Would you like to come in?” You ask and they nod and enter. You decide to give them a tour, even though the layout of the apartment across the hall is identical.
After polishing off, three bottles of wine, you listen to Natasha and Bradley tell stories of their college adventures. They had both also applied for the Naval Academy and we’re waiting to hear back if they had been accepted.
There was something calming and comforting about the two of them that made you forget for a moment that your friends had left you alone earlier.
“This is the best last minute hangout I’ve ever had. We should do it again,” Natasha tells you. You all exchange phone numbers and all social media possible before they take their leave.
Little did you know that this small gesture from them would change the course of your life.
6 Years Ago
The dictionary defines "mediator" as a person who attempts to make people involved in a conflict come to an agreement. What the dictionary, or any other book really, tells you is that friendships you thought would be there forever end when you play mediator for two friends.
It was a dark time in your life: your parents going through a bitter divorce, secrets coming to light, your anxiety and depression starting to develop. On top of that, you had the stress of work causing panic attacks.
When Cassandra and Isabella came to blows over how they viewed their friendship, both came to you to vent. You already had too much on your plate emotionally, so you made it clear to both that you would not be taking sides. You assured them both of your love for each and encouraged to take time and cool down to talk again at another opportunity when emotions were not running high.
Cassandra was the only one to understand where you were coming from and did her best to not involve you.
Isabella on the other hand… She kept bringing it up every time you would meet up with her. Deep down, you had a feeling that she expected you to automatically side with her because you met her before ever being friends with Cassandra.
After the last brunch you had with her, you met up with Natasha. “I’m so exhausted Nat and I hate complaining to you but I don’t know what else to do for my sanity.”
“Want me to strap her to my F-18 on my next flight?” She asks causing your to laugh.
“You’re the best! Ugh why did you have to be so good at being a pilot? Can you sneak my into the Navy?”
“Yeah it doesn’t work lie that! But after my deployment I was called to Top Gun.”
You can’t help the shriek you emit and you hug her. “That’s amazing!! I know you’ve been working hard!”
“Rooster is also going.”
“Rooster..? You mean Bradley!? He finally is getting to go?” Your wide smile told her how happy you were for the two of them.
Then reality hits you. “We won’t have our weekly pizza nights. Ugh look at me trying to make it about me when we should be celebrating you!”
“You’ll be okay without me. You got this.”
“You’re my newest friend and the one that believes the most in me,” you say a bit sadly. “Cassandra is moving to Nebraska. She got offered a job with better pay over there.”
Nat gives you a hug. “I’m always a call away. Anytime you feel alone, look up and find me in the sky.”
You return the hug knowing she means the words. “You’re the best Phoenix. Prove all those boys are idiots at Top Gun.”
4 Years Ago
It was the call you dreaded to make to Natasha. To say that she did really get a great first impression of your fiancé, only to have him prove her right hurt after you believed he would be your future. You did your best to not break down but you only lasted three weeks until you called her for support.
You knew she was deployed in the middle of the Pacific and she really wouldn’t have any signal to hear your message. “I’m so sorry to call you like this… I just… I don’t know what else to do… where else to go… I’m okay I promise. I just… Michael had been cheating with Isabella. I have nobody Nat… I’m so lonely and I.. I hate it. I keep trusting the wrong people…?” You take a long swig from one of the bottles of whiskey you bought.
“Am I not lovable? Is there something wrong with me…? I know I’m not supermodel beautiful… I’m not even beautiful… I’m not even smart enough to know how to make a man happy…” you continue ranting to the emptiness on the other line.
Little did you know that Natasha and Bradley had just arrived at the states and both heard your voicemail. What you had forgotten was that you left her a second message of your drunken rendition of Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable” while packing up Michael’s stuff in your apartment.
The next morning you wake with a hangover and are still too half asleep as you go to make coffee to realize the two pilots sitting in your living room.
“You got the party started without us?” Bradley asks and you scream bloody murder at the fright he gave you.
“What the hell Bradley Nicholas Bradshaw?!”
“We were going to surprise you but then we got your message,” Nat says offering you a cup of coffee with toast and aspirin.
You groan at the pounding in your head and accept the offerings. You then start crying again and tell them everything.
The entire time of their stay, they make you their priority. The three of you head out to go on hikes, go for brunch. They even take you to the shooting range for target practice.
You look at them as they pack up for their respective deployments. Their friendship has helped you through the darkest days you’ve been through. Growing up you thought you knew what friendship was, but know you live and breathe the truth of friendship.
“I was a little bit lost, but I'm not anymore... I was a little bit hurt, but I'm not anymore... I was a little left out, but I'm not anymore... 'Cause the tears fell down, but they don't anymore... I was a little messed up, but I'm not anymore... I was a little locked out, but I'm not anymore... I was a little far gone, but I'm not anymore... Yeah, it's alright now, baby, I got the cure”
The lyrics to the Little Mix song come to mind and you know that no matter the distance your friendship with Natasha would always be the cure to any issue you’re having.
1 Year Ago
After your parents' and Cassandra's deaths two years ago, you made Natasha and Bradley your emergency contacts. In return, both of them added you to their emergency contacts list.
The first call from the Naval base left you scared.
It was a training accident. A bird strike.
You took the immediate next flight out to San Diego to visit Natasha at the hospital. There you met her back-seater. It was during this visit to California, that the Dagger Squad adopted you as their honorary member and gave you your own callsign.
The second call nearly killed you.
Your own friendship with Bradley blossomed out of grief. He understood what it was to lose his parents, one to an accident and another to illness. He knew how and when to comfort you.
Natasha would often tease the two of you of making an adorable couple. Neither you or Bradley had ever broached the subject of dating or even thought to.
Even if he had, after everything you had endured with Michael you knew you needed time to learn to undo the damage with therapy.
Hearing that the plane his instructor and pseudo-dad was in got shot down and then Bradley's was also shot down, you were shaking so much that you dropped the containers with your meals for the week and food splattered all over the floor.
"No no no no! I can't lose them too!" You keep repeating as you make your way over to the base to wait for the USS Abraham Lincoln to return with your favorite people.
A few days later, you hear a knock at the door of Natasha's house. When you see Jake, you hug him so tightly. "Where are they?!" Instead of answering, he takes your hand and leads you to his truck so he can take you to them. "They're all okay. They're being kept for observation. They knew you would raise hell if they left you without saying goodbye."
You spend the night in Natasha's hospital room and take turns visiting Bradley, Bob, and Maverick. It's not until a couple days later that they are released and allowed to go home.
"Yeah, I know you've been losing the fight. You been knocked down a million times. Screaming out, you don't know what to do. That's when I'll be right next to you," Natasha says as she hands you the cup of tea that she brought over. "I know you've been doing better with therapy, but we still need our girl's pizza night. We can sit on the edge of your bed. Tell me all of the fears in your head and I'll sing you your favorite song 'til the pain and all the tears are all gone."
Now
Standing in your white gown, you wait for the doors to open. Your hold on the bouquet tightens as you take in a deep breath.
You turn to look Maverick as he offers you his arm to walk you down the aisle and give you away. "He's excited to see you walking down to him."
The smile you have can't be contained. "I can't wait to see him and be his wife."
Just as you finish speaking, you can hear the notes of the instrumental version of Begin Again can be heard playing.
The doors open and the smile on your fiancé, now soon-to-be husband, matches yours. Maverick gives your arm a small squeeze and you both start walking down the aisle.