Permission To Fly: A Hangman Fanfiction

chapter 30: happy birthday

Three Years Later

We stayed in Texas for a few years, spending Thanksgivings in San Diego with Mom, Christmases in the desert with Maverick, and Easter's in the UK to visit Cassidy, Louis, and Henry. The rest of the time we made frequent visits to Jake's family. They warmed up to me quickly as they truly got to know me, just as I grew fonder of the ranch he called home growing up. Instead of going out to pubs or shows, Jake and I's date nights when we would visit consisted of mainly horseback rides, the occasional night out at the local bar, and picnics in one of his family's fields.

Maverick and Juliet have such strong personalities, and accents to match. A mix of the British accent they heard all the time as infants, and the southern accent as they got older. At least that's what people have told us, it's hard for Jake and I to hear it. We've been taking in every moment that we could with them, it's been incredible. They even helped me surprise Jake with the news he would be getting a promotion to a 1-star Admiral. It's nice not having a difference in rank between us anymore, we can talk about our jobs more openly.

It's terrifying that we need to be looking into schooling for the twins already. The base had a great daycare option, but I don't know anything about the local elementary schools. "Are we there yet?" Juliet whines from the back seat and I smile, looking over at Jake and then back to the twins.

"Almost, darling. Daddy's going as fast as he can," I reassure her and Jake squeezes my hand that he's been holding, then brings it to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of my hand. He pulls into the driveway leading to his parents' ranch and I notice in the rearview mirror that Juliet starts poking Maverick to wake him up.

In the driveway is a group of cars and I smile, knowing who it is. Jake parks and we both get the kids out of the car, carrying them inside. "Close your eyes," Jake tells them and they squeeze their eyes shut tightly.

"Surprise!" a chorus of voices yells as we walk into the living room, and the look of shock and excitement on the twins' faces elicit pure bliss inside me.

"Happy birthday," I kiss Juliet's cheek and set her down at the same time Jake sets Maverick down. They run to hug everyone standing around. Jake walks over to me and wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me into him.

"How has it been five years since we welcomed them into the world?" Jake mumbles and I sigh. It's gone by so fast.

"I don't know, but I'm glad we could have so many of the people we love with us to celebrate them," I say and take a good look at our friends and family. We're going to San Diego tomorrow for a small vacation, and I can't wait to visit everyone that wasn't able to come here.

Coyote, Payback, Fanboy, and Bob -all currently captains - were all stationed nearby so they came to celebrate the twins, despite only having met them a handful of times. Jake's extended family also came and I'm excited to finally meet some of them.

"Swift," Fanboy greets me with a smile and nod, but I pull him into a tight hug. Jake walks away to catch up with Coyote, Bob, and Payback since they haven't talked in a bit.

"I've missed you so much! How are you?" I ask and he hugs me back just as tight.

"It's only been a few months, and we text all the time, it's not like I'm dead," he jokes, pulling back from the hug with a bright smile. "I'm good though, how are you? How are the little rascals? They have the cutest little accents by the way."

"I'm trying to process how they're already five. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was holding them for the first time. They're doing great though, they love to learn about everything and to read. And I think that I'm going to try and plan a vacation to the UK before they start school so they can go see some of our friends there. I'm even thinking of maybe taking them to Ireland or the European mainland," I smile to him and he nods.