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“And joining us for the legal side of things is Ms. Crissa Seresin.” The admiral’s voice was calm and sure, completely unaware he had just ruined years of careful planning and chosen sacrifices in one simple introduction. Crissa put a small smile on her face and simply nodded in acknowledgement, not betraying anything.
Her husband and his friends were all clustered by the door of the mess when she walked in. She sent them another small smile.
‘You okay?’ Rooster mouthed at her. Her expression warmed at the looks of concern they were all trying to hide from her.
“I’ve been called worse.” She responded dryly, eyebrows quirked in subtle amusement.
Before anyone could respond, the group’s attention shifted to the Chief Petty Officer who stopped just over Crissa’s right shoulder.
“Seresin and Seresin, isn't that crazy?” Crissa braced herself for whatever out of pocket comment was coming. It’d be in bad taste for the aviators to shut it down which left her as the best option.
“Have y’all met before?” He sounded genuinely curious. Or really committed to the bit.
“Once or twice.” She tested the waters with a half smile.
“Well I’m watching you two,” He wagged his finger between Crissa and Jake. “You’re from Texas right?” Jake nodded his affirmation. “Well, I don’t need any funny business and you know how families are in the south.” He started laughing and didn’t notice the entire group freeze as they processed the joke.
Crissa’s eyes widened before she slowly responded.
“Oh I, I wouldn’t know… I married into it.” Suddenly the big secret being revealed was a better option than whatever this was .
“Ah, so I guess I have nothing to worry about.” The man was still chuckling at his jokes. Crissa started smiling again but her eyes looked a little panicked. She glanced quickly between him and Jake trying to process how the man was so very lost between point A and point B. Her husband and the aviators around them were all stifling laughter.
“So where are you from then?”
Crissa blinked a couple of times.
“Uh… well my dad was in the Army so all over,” she recovered quickly, “But my family is across the south.” She braced herself for the next joke.
“They have any funny sayings?” He seemed like such a nice guy and Crissa was about to choose some funny story about her grandfather to smooth things over but the thought popped into her head and was too good to pass up.
“Yeah, they’ve got a couple.” Truth. “But uh, something my grandmother liked to do was mash two sayings together.” Lie. “It’s always more comedic but uh, strangely insightful.” She furrowed her brow in mock seriousness. “You know, like… ‘So close and yet you can’t make a horse drink.’” Perfect execution. She kept her expression earnest waiting for him to clue in on the joke. They could all laugh this off and shake the uncomfortable confusion. A couple of the aviators stifled laughter but Morrison just furrowed his brow and slowly nodded.
“I’ll have to think on that one. You all have a good night.” He still seemed lost in thought as he walked away. Crissa’s eyes flew open in shock.
“You too.” Hangman called, mostly keeping the amusement out of his voice. Crissa turned to him completely stunned. They were locked in a silent staring match for a solid minute before Crissa turned and sank into the nearest chair.
The spell broken, the aviators burst into laughter and crowded around the table she was at. Coyote patted her back as she buried her face in her hands.
After another moment, Crissa brought her head back up to stare helplessly at her extremely amused husband who was slouched into the chair across from her.
“Did- Wha-” Her eyes darted across the table trying to process what had just happened. “He heard the last name, looked at us, and his first thought was incest ?!??!??”
Jake watched her hands dart between her face and her hair before finally scrubbing across her face. All pretext of the smooth lawyer was gone and it amused him even more.
“That just happened!” She looked around the table for confirmation, desperately hoping to not find it.
“Ahhhh, it did.” Bradley was all but wiping tears away as he calmed down from the laughter.
“So close. And yet. You can’t make a horse drink.” Chuckling at the end, Coyote upped the humor with his emphasis. Crissa groaned.
“This is what I’m saying! I’m meaner than people think because I’m so dry they just think I’m being honest!” She sat back in defeat.
“Oh you poor thing.” Javy’s mock sympathy was much more mocking than sympathetic. Crissa flipped him the bird with a grimace.