The Plan // Jake Seresin

Chapter Forty-Eight

Jake Seresin

Jake had been on carriers plenty of times now since joining the Navy, but the beds never got any more comfortable. He always felt like a kid again on the bunk beds, except in a six foot body that definitely needed more space. They were departing from the carrier in the morning for the mission. There was an enemy weapons plant they were taking out that had been brewing issues for weeks, it was a water facility. Jake never really slept before assignments, finding his mind wandering off. He reviewed the flight plans in his head and drifted to other thoughts.

He heard someone get up and leave the sleeping quarters on the ship. Jake glanced and saw with the light in the hallway it was his brother. Jake sat still for a moment, debating on whether to follow him. He was probably just going to the bathroom, but when he didn't come back after a few minutes, Jake suspected that wasn't the case. He climbed down from the top bunk, and he heard Rooster groan when Jake stepped onto his bed.

"Sorry, Roo Boo." Jake teased and he heard Rooster mumble something. "Come on, it's not like beauty sleep is doing you any good with that face."

"Fuck you." Rooster mumbled.

"I know you'd love to, but I'm married and my wife is a knock out." Jake countered back and Rooster gave him the finger. His friend was clearly half awake and pissed Jake had woken him up. 

"Seriously, fuck off, Jake." Rooster said, "Some of us actually want to sleep before flying in a mission."

Jake snickered, if Rooster was using his first name he was actually pissed. He bent down and patted Rooster's head, and he could see in the dim light a pair of narrowed brown eyes on him. "I hope you're nicer to your fiancée." He told Rooster before leaving him. He was pretty sure he heard another slur of curse words as he walked out. He had grabbed his flight jacket to put on over the t-shirt he was sleeping in.

There weren't a ton of places Jeremiah could have run off to in the night. Things like the amenities were closed, the workout room, shops, none of that would be open at 1am. Though Jake was wishing the coffee was. He remembered being fascinated the first time he had ever gone on an aircraft carrier, not realizing it had things like a pharmacy on board or a fucking coffee shop. It made sense, sometimes you could be at sea for months. 

Jake made his way to the bridge, where he found Jere leaning over the railing. Their fighter jets were still under in storage in the hangar deck. They'd be on the flight deck by morning. The bridge was a part of the tower that overlooked that and the sea. His brother was facing the open water, and Jake saw he was vomiting over the edge.

"Hey, you okay?" Jake asked, walking up beside his little brother. Jere's knuckles were white from fisting the railing as he hurled his stomach contents up. "I didn't know you got sea sick."

"It's not that." Jere answered, leaning over. He was shaking, but appeared to be finished throwing up.

"Pregnant?" Jake asked, gasping. "Does Poppy know?"

Jeremiah's blue eyes were on him, not looking as amused. Jake realized then what might be actually going on that wasn't related to just being at sea. "It's anxiety." Jeremiah admitted. "This is my first actual mission really ever. I came into Top Gun not that long after graduation, then after Chef died, I've pretty much just done testing and other shit." He said, "And now I keep thinking if something goes wrong, or I fuck up, I may never see my kids. And I've been thinking a lot about Chef, we were supposed to be doing these things together."