Little Bird

11

 Bob's PoV

When Nic finished telling the others her story, she wouldn't look up. Tears had begun to fall down her face. Without thinking too much I lifted her chin and cupped her face, wiping her tears away. "I'm sorry that this all has happened to you Little Bird, but know that we are all here for you. No matter what."

Her gaze looked around the room at the others and she let out a small laugh before bringing her gaze back to mine. "Thank you Bob. That means the world to me." with that she brought her hand to mine and turned her face into my palm.

This girl has captured my mind. Normally, I don't let myself get close to people during missions. Keeping to myself is just the way I've always gone about life in the Navy, but Nicole 'Dove' Bradshaw has somehow gotten me to throw all my old ways out. It's been nice to be around naval pilots who aren't entitled or cocky, but this group of people are different. They still pick on each other, but it's good fun. They share stories but they're never trying to one up each other.

I decided to move on to a hopefully less painful subject, "I'm sorry you went through all of that. Are you still close with Iceman?"

Nic gives me a small smile, pulling our hands away from her face, but not letting my hand go, "Yeah. I talk to Ice every few days to make sure he is doing well, things like that. He is still my biggest supporter behind Bradley."

"Maybe Rooster has a right to be upset with Mav. Have you asked him what the fight was about?" Phoenix chimed in.

"Every time I try to bring it up, he tells me it's nothing, then won't say anything more about it." Nic says, letting out a frustrated sigh.

After a few seconds of silence Nic speaks up again, "Well now that I've aired out all my family's dirty laundry, how about we watch a movie?"

Everyone agreed, but then had the issue of what to watch.

Fanboy and Phoenix wanted to watch the newest marvel movie, but Payback wanted to watch Inception. Finally having enough with the arguing I stepped in.

"Why don't we let Dove decide what we watch? She is the one who just aired out her whole life story which by the way is not an easy thing to do."

Everyone thinks about it for a few seconds before agreeing. So I turn towards Nic, "Well little bird, what do you wanna watch?"

That is how we ended up watching tangled. About half an hour into the movie Nic laid her head on my shoulder, laughing at the movie. About an hour into the movie, Nic was asleep.

As the movie comes to an End, Phoenix looks over and sees Nic asleep so she walks the other two to the door, leaving me with Nic.

I slowly work my way to standing, trying not to wake Nic. I turn and pick her up off the couch, carrying her towards her room. I lay her on her bed and walk towards her bathroom, grabbing a makeup wipe before heading back into her room.

When I get back to her room she is awake and looking at me. I send her a smile as I kneel by her bed and gently start removing her mascara.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that today. I don't normally let people see me that angry." She says in a soft voice.

"It's okay little bird. Everyone has their limits, Hangman just really pushed you over yours today." With that I give her a kiss on the forehead, and leave her room.

Once in the main area of the house I see Phoenix.

"She is tucked into bed, makeup has been removed. Do you guys need anything from me before I leave?" I ask, stopping at their counter.