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dlea203 · 1 year ago

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5 years - Hannix AU

A/N: Well, I guess you guys have to put up with another update from me (and this story) once again this month... I hope that's not too bad😬😅?

Here's chapter nine (wow, we've come far since I started this story a year ago😯...), I hope you enjoy😌💗!

Taglist: @callsignstingray @sweetwhispersofchaos

Warnings: (brief) discussion of the theme suicide (please, if this triggers you, skip the story about Caroline Seresin!), fluff and angst (as usually;)), possibly unrealistic statements regarding the military (I'm so sorry, but I neither have the energy nor the pretension to be exact in this regard! It goes under creative liberty.)

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Chapter Nine

Someday in March, 2 years ago…

It was only March, but the heat nonetheless built up quickly in the morning already. Especially when they were working on the fields from dawn to night. Jake brushed away some pearls of sweat from his forehead, taking a moment to breathe in deeply and inhale the smell of fresh soil that he’s been preparing for that Lianh could sow the carrot seeds afterwards.

“You lazy, Jake?”, Lianh teased, coming up next to him to take a little break too.

The eldest of the Sayyid children had had some trouble to accept Jake in the beginning. When he learned that Jake would live with them for the foreseeable future, he’d developed sort of a dislike for him. Later, once they were able to, the two had a chat all by themselves, Lianh revealed that he feared Jake was a traitor. That he was just there to check the situation and that the military, or the Taliban, would raid the village because Jake reported lies to them. But Jake was able to win him over quickly after that chat, and since they worked day after day together on the fields, they now got along really well.

“I’m not lazy! I’m taking a break. That’s mandatory when working while it’s this hot”, Jake countered, smiling sheepishly and ruffling Lianh’s hair.

The young man just shook his head, looking the other way, before his amused expression vanished within milliseconds. Jake followed his gaze, but he couldn’t see why Lianh suddenly looked this serious.

“What is it?”

Lianh didn’t have time to answer. Jahan and the other men came running their way, the farming tools lay forgotten all across the fields.

“Get back to the village!”, Jahan shouted in Afghan, worried eyes looking back at the gravel road that led past the fields to the village.

Lianh dropped the bag of carrot seeds and ran ahead of his father. Jake’s muscles took over and followed them, his shovel lay abandoned where he’d been standing not two seconds ago. Jahan grabbed onto Lianh’s arm when he caught up to him. Jake ran next to them in full speed, realizing what was happening.

“They’re coming again?”, he shouted at Jahan.

The other man nodded while keeping a steady pace.

“How much time is left?”

“They’re a few minutes out. Maybe ten or fifteen, I don’t know. Behnam heard their engines.”

*-*

Back in the village, everyone hurried into their houses, closing the doors. Amira helped Aarian onto his chair at the kitchen table and yelled at Ava and Edris to hurry up when she saw them running towards the house. They’d been in class up to the moment when the men returned from the fields, yelling through the village that “they” were coming. The two kids entered the house moments before Jake, immediately sitting down at the table too. Zahra helped Jake get into the wall-closet. Jahan and Lianh had built it shortly after Jake moved in with the family. Zahra hurriedly stuffed his tunic all the way inside the closet and lay her hand onto his heart for a short moment, praying to her god that he’d be safe. Then, she closed the door and looked it over, checking if he was visible. Thankfully not. Hopefully, it would stay that way until they were gone again.

Amira, Lianh and Zahra took their seats at the table, while Jahan grabbed the bag with the protection money and placed it in front of the door. After he swept his gaze one last time over the village, he closed the door and sat down at the table too.

Then, there was silence.

Jake didn’t dare to breathe more than was absolutely mandatory. Neither Aarian nor Ava, who were both rather energetic children, fidgeted the slightest bit at the table. Everyone sat there, unmoving, heads down, staring at the top of the table. It was absolutely silent, and if someone dropped a needle right now, one could have heard it from a mile away.

Until they heard the engines of the jeeps roar outside as they entered the village. The Taliban protection money collectors got out and collected one money bag after another. Usually, a procedure without too much conflict potential. But sometimes they would randomly go into the houses to count whether the amount of money corresponding to the number of residents was in the bag. No one ever knew which house they would go into, so the Sayyid's hid Jake in the closet each time the collectors came.

They were lucky this time, their house wasn’t inspected. After about thirty nerve-wracking minutes, the engines roared again and then the Taliban were gone. Amira squeezed and kissed her husband’s hand before he got up and carefully opened the door to check if they really were gone. When he was sure, he stepped aside to let Edris and Ava pass and watched them run back to the school. Amira dished up teacups and carefully poured the already prepared tea, sighing in relief. Zahra opened up the closet and immediately wrapped her arms around Jake when he was out again.

“It’s okay, I’m good”, he assured her.

Zahra had become something like a substitute daughter to him. They had gotten incredibly close, even though Zahra was already 18 years old by now. But she had taken to him so incredibly easy when he “joined” the Sayyid’s, that they’d developed a special bond. He hoped that he could develop a similar bond with his own daughter someday…

“My heart didn’t stop racing”, Zahra babbled, looking at him with big eyes, “it made bum-bum-bum and… and I was sure they come to us this time, b-but no–“

“Zahra, it’s fine. Nothing happened and they’re gone, they won’t come back any time soon. It’s okay.”

Jake put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her to sit down at the table. He sat down next to her and smiled thankfully at Amira before taking a sip of the tea. Amira squeezed his shoulder when she sat down and ordered her daughter to drink some tea too.

“I was sure they would come to us too this time”, Amira said in Afghan, shaking her head.

Jake nodded. The Sayyid’s house hasn’t been inspected in a while now, it would’ve made sense if they came this time. But they were lucky once again. He didn’t know how many guardian angels he had up there exactly, but he was grateful for each and every one.

*-*

Over the course of the year, they weren’t inspected once, and the collectors came several times. Each time, Jake thanked his sister and all his guardian angels who kept him safe. They really did fantastic. Other than that, nothing exciting happened.

Spring vanished; summer came. It was even more unbearable to work on the fields in these days, but Jake didn’t complain. He could be off far worse than this. And working with the people from the village who had become close friends by now was quite fun, actually. They laughed a lot and they had many little festivities, as in birthday parties for the kids and grown-ups or just general little “barbeques”. It made the whole situation less serious and easier to live through. But nonetheless, he wished for nothing more than to go home. The pain of homesickness and missing his girls had dulled in the meantime, but not decreased a bit. It was there, nagging at his soul and heart, day in day out. He seemed to look at the picture of her more often these days, at least according to Zahra.

“It’s gonna tear if you keep taking it out so often”, she remarked one evening when they were taking a walk around the village.

They did that as often as they could, to clear their heads, and to end the day. Jake nodded, looking at the ground and kicking a little gravel stone away.

“I know, I know. It’s not gonna get me home sooner if I keep looking at it... but I can’t help but wonder what she’s doing right now. How she is, how her life is. How Lynn is… you know?”

“I understand”, Zahra clarified, hooking her arm through his.

“I hope she still lives in the house we bought”, Jake stated, staring ahead at the orange ball sitting perched on the horizon.

“Your house is big, right? Bigger than ours?”

“Yeah, much bigger. It’s made of stone and wood, with white walls inside and out and with a yellow front door.”

“Yellow like the sun?”, Zahra laughed.

“No, lighter. We have white curtains in front of the windows for more privacy–“

“What are curtains?”

“Curtains are made of fabric and hang inside a house in front of or on the windows. Thin, white curtains are called day curtains, they hang all day in front of the windows and protect the inhabitants of the house from prying eyes from the outside. If you have large windows, then you actually always hang day curtains. Thicker, usually colored curtains are for the night, so that it is easier to sleep.”

Zahra listened attentively. Jake sometimes forgot how simple life was in these regions of the world. Over the past time, he had to explain quite a few things to her (and the whole Sayyid family), things that he considered normal but were completely uncommon here. On the other hand, the Sayyid’s had to explain a lot of aspects of their culture to him, which was very educational for him. In general, Jake had learnt a lot during his time here. He knew he’d cherish that for the rest of his life.

“Why do you think she doesn’t live there anymore?”

Jake hesitated. It was a good question, indeed, one where he wasn’t sure if he wanted to indulge too much into its (possible) answer. Zahra tugged on the sleeve of his tunic, impatiently awaiting his answer.

“You know, maybe she sold it after I didn’t come home. Maybe she moved away from San Diego to a whole different place… Maybe she still lives there but has a new partner, or she has a new partner and moved away with him… I don’t know.”

“You think she replaced you?”, Zahra asked, her eyes almost popping out of her head.

“I don’t know! I… I don’t want to think that, but it’s possible”, Jake huffed, his shoulders dropping a little.

“I don’t think so”, Zahra countered, shaking her head.

“I wouldn’t blame her, you know? It’s hard, being alone. Even though she has Lynn, it’s hard… I want her to be happy, and if another man makes her happy, then I won’t – you know, I won’t break that. If I ever come home and she has someone else, I won’t destroy that. That would be selfish, and I have no right to be selfish with her. I love her too much for that and I put her through too much…”

“You would give her up?”

Zahra’s voice had become timid, unsure, and incredulous. Jake looked at her with pain in his eyes and a few tears in the corner of them.

“No. I would release her, as you should when you love someone who has moved on.”

*-*

Thursday morning, around 9.30 a.m.. Jake nervously kneaded his fingers as he stood in the arrivals waiting section at the airport in San Diego. He’d been switching between pacing back and forth and standing still with his arms crossed across his chest for the past twenty minutes, making more than a few heads turn in his direction. Before Afghanistan, it had been a rarity that he was this nervous. He’d taken great pride in the fact that he’d been able to stay calm and collected even when a situation proved to be extremely tricky. But ever since Afghanistan, everything was new. He was slowly discovering the parts of his character that had been changed. But, to his credit, this could be qualified as a nerve-wracking situation indeed. Seeing your parents again for the first time since you’d been declared dead five years ago does allow you to be nervous, right? Especially considering everything that had happened between him and his parents since his sister had left this earth…

*-*

Caroline Seresin was a beautiful young woman with a promising future. Angellike blonde locks, the same eyes as her little brother and she was certainly just as smart as him, if not smarter. But they were a little different regarding their personalities. Jake was more selfish and confident when it came to butting heads with their parents. Caroline didn’t want to break too many dishes, trying her best to keep the family together. Which was useless, as their parents weren’t only married to each other but to their company too. They were rarely around and if they were, they were mainly interested in the academic results their children achieved. So, Caroline attended her fair share of parties and night-out’s, just like Jake too.

In high school, she’d discovered her talent in arts through her arts teacher, Mr. Mulroney. Mr. Mulroney had even recommended her for an arts scholarship at Siena Heights University in Michigan. She wanted to study arts and arts history, dreamed of having her own gallery one day. But Nancy and Jeff had other plans. Caroline, as their first born, was supposed to study economics and business studies to take over their company once they were sure she was ready. When Caroline told them about her arts scholarship, they laughed her in the face and forbade her to pursue such a “silly” career. Caroline had been in tears, screaming at her parents that she’d do whatever she wanted to. But her parents had all the power. She was forced to begin her studies in economics and business studies in Austin right after high school. Caroline secretly attended classes in arts and arts history though, where the teachers quickly discovered her talent too and recommended her to change the university to properly pursue these studies. Nancy and Jeff found out what their daughter did behind their backs when her grades at the summer exams were as bad as they could be. Caroline confessed what she’d done, once again begging her parents to not force her to do something she doesn’t want. But they remained stubborn and furious, even locking her into her room over the summer so that she would prepare herself for the re-exams. On top of that, they forbade her to see her boyfriend, Emilio. Emilio came from a rather poor home; his parents were farmers and had five children. He just about managed to finish high school, not due to lack of intelligence but because he really didn’t have time to study. Whenever he came home from school, Emilio had to help his parents on the farm, care for his younger siblings and help to manage the household. The Seresin’s respected him for that, but they also feared that he’d keep Caroline from pursuing a career by distracting her and by dragging her into his family business. So, they forbade their relationship. Caroline was devastated and fell into a deep depression.

When Nancy and Jeff were away on a business trip for three days, Caroline committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol. Jake found her body and her suicide notes in her room after she neither attended lunch nor dinner with him.

To my beloved brother

I’m sorry that I’m leaving you like this. You deserve better, I know. But I can’t take this anymore. Our parents don’t see me the way I am and want to model me into something I’m not. That alone is as bad as can be. But the worst part is, I’ve lost myself because of it. I’ve lost sight of what I am, and I’ve lost the feeling of being myself. The world surrounding me has lost all its colors. I feel like a shell, hollow on the inside and with no will to live anymore.

I’m sorry Jake. I’m sorry that I’m failing you. But I can’t fight anymore.

I love you. Take care of yourself and don’t hate them too much. I hope you’ll find a way to forgive them. And me.

You will be forever in my heart.

Your Caroline

To Mom and Dad

I forgive you. And I love you.

Your Caroline

Jake had been sixteen years old at that time. He’d started crying and screaming for Hillary, their maid, to call an ambulance and the police. But they couldn’t save her. One of the police officers was kind enough to call Nancy and Jeff, since Jake wasn’t able to. He couldn’t talk to his parents after this. The police questioned him and Hillary, and investigated Caroline’s room, but the case was crystal clear.

“It’s just to make sure that no third party is involved”, the young officer had offered as an explanation.

Jake had wanted to punch him. He’d just found his sister’s body, he was traumatized. He didn’t want to hear such words. He wanted to be alone, to be allowed to grief his sister who’d made the harshest decision she could’ve made. He was angry and hurt, but most of all, he was shocked. Shocked that he hadn’t seen it coming, that he hadn’t been able to prevent her from doing it. Jake knew how much she’d suffered. He knew how much she’d missed Emilio, how much she’d hurt because of their parents and what they said and did… He’d known from the beginning, and he hasn’t done anything about it. To be fair, he’d thought his 20-year-old sister would be able to work this out with their parents on her own. But he should’ve been there for her, he should’ve offered her his shoulder to lean and cry on.

He hadn't, and now she was gone.

As he came to learn later, it would take a lot of time, an impressive number of therapy sessions and some deep talks with his girlfriend and later-on-wife to get that guilt out of his system.

*-*

The glass doors repeatedly slid open without revealing his parents. Jake grew really antsy, fearing they hadn’t caught the plane they wanted and forgot to text Natasha about it. He was about to pull his phone out of his pocket to call his wife when the doors slid open once again and he finally laid eyes on his parents for the first time in five years.

Nancy immediately waved at him when she spotted him and increased her pace, leaving Jeff behind with their luggage. She almost ran by the time she got to Jake, opening her arms and flinging herself at her son who caught her with ease. She immediately started to sob into the collar of his shirt when her arms closed around his neck. Jake wrapped his arms tightly around his mother, enjoying the first moment of being this close again.

“Hi Mama”, Jake whispered, desperately trying to keep his feelings in check while they were still out in public.

But that was a losing game. Although he’d put a great distance between himself and his parents when Caroline died, they’d grown closer again through his marriage with Natasha and especially through the birth of Lynn.

They hugged for several moments, reveling in the hug, and inhaling the scent of each other. Jake was propelled back straight into his childhood when he’d last shared a hug with his mother. And that caused even more tears to spring into his eyes.

“I can’t believe this”, Nancy sobbed when she pulled back to cup Jake’s cheeks.

“It’s good to see you too, Mama”, Jake answered, his voice thick with emotion.

Then he turned to his father who stood a little to the side with their luggage, watching them with love sparkling in his eyes. The Seresin's have shown a lot of humility over the last five years. Jake's (supposed) death has, of course, stirred up a lot of emotions, and it has also been thought-provoking. Nancy and Jeff have questioned themselves even more than they did then after Caroline's death. They recognized the value that family has. And how incredibly important it is to have it be a part of their life. And they realized that they had previously failed to make family the most central point in their lives. After Jake’s death, they changed that. They kept in very regular contact with Natasha, occasionally spending entire weekends with her and Lynn in San Diego. They helped her a lot with Lynn and the household, of course, but they also enjoyed this time. They talked a lot with their daughter-in-law, also about the difficult times and admitted their mistakes. And Natasha heard the other side of the story for the first time. Until now, she had only known in what way and how much Jake had suffered from the situation. But that his parents had suffered just as much and had also blamed themselves and asked questions, that she had not known. How should she have known, they had never gone to Texas, except for the one time when Jake had taken the ring with him. But at that time, she had just met her future in-laws for the first time, they had not yet had such conversations. (She hadn't even known the story behind "Caroline" at that point, and she and Jake had already been together for two years...)

Jake and Jeff shared a hug as well, before Jake suggested they get to the car and drive home so his parents could fresh themselves up before going for lunch at their favorite restaurant in San Diego. His parents were on board immediately. And they were very talkative, which surprised Jake at the same time and was also not surprising. They hadn't talked much in the past, not even before Caroline's death, but now things had happened. But on the way home Jake immediately made it clear that he would not answer any questions about Afghanistan, because he was in no way ready for that, so they talked about other things. Nancy and Jeff said that they had sold the company three years ago and were now basically retired. They traveled a lot, mainly taking cruises or city breaks through Europe. But they still had the ranch in Texas.

"Imagine, even the horses we still have! But we don't take care of them alone, of course. Kelly and Andrew give us a big hand and also use the horses for riding lessons and rides–“

"Kelly Towers?!" Jake frowned.

That his parents employed his ex-girlfriend, of all people, on the ranch was quite surprising, especially since he and Kelly had not exactly parted on very peaceful terms.

"Yes, Kelly. I know you two weren't exactly nice to each other the last time you saw each other, but–“

“‘Not exactly nice’ is putting it nicely. She cheated on me with Trevor when I was away on a four-month deployment and tried to blame me for it.”

“Kelly made some mistakes, that’s true. But she’s married to Andrew now and they have three wonderful boys. You were both young, back then. She changed a lot, she’s grown up. I hope you’ll visit us soon and then you can see for yourself”, Nancy placated.

“I can’t wait”, Jake laughed, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You should give her another chance, dear. Besides, it’s not like you haven’t moved on from that incident, right?”

“I did move on. Did she too? Cause there was a time when I got daily texts and calls from her because she wanted a second chance…”

“No, she’s moved on. She never asks about you, she really doesn’t. But she and Andrew offered their condolences when we got the news that you… well, you know what I mean.”

Jake nodded, choosing to take the out here. He really didn’t want to talk about his ex with his parents after they haven’t seen each other in five years because he was considered dead. Which his parents seemed to understand, because the conversation steered away from Kelly and to Lynn and Natasha. Which was the far more interesting topic anyway…

*-*

The ”big” reunion in the late afternoon when Lynn and Natasha were home too, was lovely all the way and laced with many tears and giggles. Lynn seemed to get some sort of sugar rush from the situation, because she jumped around the living room like a mad woman and entertained the grown-ups until quite late in the evening. At about 9.30 p.m., Jake put an end to it by grabbing her around her hips and throwing her over his shoulder to get her upstairs.

“Goodnight baby”, Natasha waved at her and blew her a kiss through the air.

Lynn waved while simultaneously wiggling around on her father’s shoulder to free herself from his grasp. When she realized, about halfway up the stairs, that she wouldn’t come free anytime soon, she gave up and made herself extra heavy, hanging over Jake’s shoulder like a bag full of potatoes. Nancy, Natasha and Jeff shared a laugh at the table, before changing over onto the couch with their wine glasses, settling into a more comfortable position. They talked, while listening to the noises coming from upstairs, where Jake was fighting bravely to get his daughter to sleep without too many incidents along the way. Lynn definitely took no mercy on him, despite that he’s only been home so shortly.

“She’s not going easy on him, hm?”, Jeff chuckled, when they heard her shout at her dad that she didn’t want to get her hair brushed before bed.

“No”, Natasha laughed, shaking her head and taking a sip of her wine, “and there are two reasons why I’m glad that she’s not… Firstly, he gets to experience full force what I had to deal with all alone over the past five years!”

They laughed heartily for a solid minute, before slowly calming down again. Then, Natasha got a more serious expression.

“But jokes aside, there’s another reason why… I’m glad that she’s not treating him significantly different than me. Because he is her father, there’s no doubt about that and she knows. I taught her that, even though she’ll only ever have me – which is now not true anymore, bless us – she’s supposed to treat mom and dad the same. She’s supposed to respect them the same and she’s supposed to like both the same. At least, most of the time.”

They chuckled at that last part, because obviously that’s not always the case with children.

“I wanted her to know that and I was blessed with an intelligent child, so she understood pretty fast. When he came home on Saturday and we were alone after the others left, I feared that she’d forget what I taught her… that she’d treat him differently, that she’d treat him like he’s made of glass and that she wouldn’t be brave enough to be herself around him… but I worried for nothing.”

“She’s only five years old, don’t forget that. She doesn’t behave all that differently around people yet.”

“Yes and no. When we go out shopping, she’s suddenly very shy when it comes to talking to strangers. She doesn’t like it and she often hides behind my legs in those situations. But when we’re around friends and family, she’s the little rascal she always is. She does have her different personalities. But anyway, as you can see, I don’t have to worry about that when it comes to Jake.”

“I gotta say, our son has always had his way with children. He has something on him that attracts children and makes them trust him easily. We can be glad that he has a good heart and doesn’t misuse that power of his”, Nancy comments and they all chuckle at that.

“That’s true”, Natasha affirmed, looking up at the staircase when Jake came back down.

“How did it go? It sounded like you had some trouble up there”, Natasha asked, an amused smile grazing her lips.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It went perfectly fine, she didn’t throw even a small temper trantrum”, Jake countered, a faux-offended expression on his face while he poured himself a big glass of wine.

“Sure, keep telling yourself that if it makes you sleep at night”, Natasha teased, rolling her eyes.

Jeff and Nancy laughed, enjoying their front row seats at the Seresin family comedy show. It was reassuring, seeing that their son and daughter-in-law haven’t forgotten what made their relationship so good and strong. That they kept going about their life together like Jake had never been away. The “OG-Seresin’s” took each other’s hands and squeezed them as they watched their younger counterparts bicker their way through the rest of the conversation. That they were amongst the luckiest people currently walking the surface of this planet was always in the back of their minds and would likely stay there for the rest of their lives.

*-*

The physical reunion with the Trace’s two weeks later was just as sweet and wonderful as the one with the Seresin’s. Valeria had barely let Jake out of her line of sight, dragging him along for even the smallest runs to various stores across the city. The only time she had to let him go on his own was when he had to report to base, but Maverick had accompanied him there, so she’d been content to let him out of the house unsupervised.

Reporting to base three weeks after he’d come back from the dead seemed like a long time, given the fact that he was still in active duty now that he wasn’t truly dead. But he was allowed to enjoy being home again and finding a rhythm with his family first before having to worry about any duties that he might have regarding the military. (Now) Admiral Simpson officially welcomed him back in the presence of only Maverick and Captain Mercer but he announced that Jake would get a ceremony to officially receive the purple heart he’d already gotten postmortem five years ago. Jake declined. Although he knew that that was rather disrespectful, he didn’t want a big fuss to be made about him and his return. For those present, this seemed a bit unusual at first, as Jake would have been eager to have such a ceremony in the past. But he explained that he, his family and friends had been through enough and wanted to enjoy this circumstance of his homecoming in peace. He felt very honored to have received the Purple Heart, but he didn't want to make a fuss about it. After all, the whole story had already deprived him of far too much time with his loved ones. Of course, the Admiral and the Captain understood.

“I would also like to put in my resignation from active duty, Sir”, Jake announced, speaking directly to Admiral Simpson.

“Is this a complete retirement from the Navy or–“

“No, not completely, Sir. I’d like to step into a reserve position if that is possible. I’m a pilot through and through, Sir, but I’d like to be a constant part of my daughter’s life. And of my wife’s, of course. I’ve spent the better part of my life in active duty, it’s time to make space for the younger ones, Sir.”

“Well said, Lieutenant”, Simpson nodded, reaching out to shake Jake’s hand, “I will notify the administration to handle the paperwork. I take it you will take a job here in San Diego?”

“I intend to, Sir. I haven’t started looking for anything yet and I still have to talk to my wife about it, but I think she’ll be more than okay with me stepping back from active duty.”

The men shared a laugh. Then, Jake was dismissed one final time. Maverick had to stay, though, so Jake said good-bye to him too before calling himself an Uber to get him home to his in-laws who were already waiting for him.

*-*

The Trace’s left with the promise that Jake and Natasha would attend the annual Thanksgiving celebration at the Trace’s this year.

“Everything’s already settled, so you can’t get out of it this easily”, Valeria stated, grinning mischievously, “plus, Nancy and Jeff are invited too, by the way.”

Jake frowned.

“Aren’t they on a cruise around that time? They told me something about the Caribbean and that they’d be far away–“

“I must confess, Nancy lied on my request”, Valeria admitted, laughing.

“Mom!”

“I wanted it to be a surprise, but I wanted you to know now already. So, you really can’t bail on us, mi amor”, she said and patted Natasha’s cheek lovingly.

Natasha pursed her lips while trying her best to keep Lynn from sprinting all across the airport and risking her to get lost in the sea of people. Harry shook his head in amusement and shared a light hug with Jake, before kissing his granddaughter on the forehead and his daughter on her cheek. Then, he grabbed their hand luggage and slowly moved towards the barrier leading to the security check. Valeria hugged her son-in-law in motherly fashion, before smothering her granddaughter in various kisses.

“Bye mi niña, te quiero mucho!”

“Bye abuela!”, Lynn answered and kissed her grandmother on the lips, before being swept off her feet and placed onto his shoulders by her dad.

“Adiós, querida”, Valeria sighed and kissed Natasha on her cheek before wrapping her in a tight hug.

“Adiós mamá, have a safe flight. Will you text me when you landed, please?”

“I will. Te quiero. ¡Adiós!”

With Lynn on his shoulders and his left arm wrapped around Nat’s shoulders, Jake watched his in-laws head towards the security check. He already missed them, if he were honest right now, and he couldn’t wait for Thanksgiving to roll around. He was looking forward to finally see his brothers-in-law and their families again in person, as they hadn’t had the chance up to now. But the phone calls and video chats had been absolutely endearing and made him even more excited for Thanksgiving.

“Shall we go home?”, Natasha asked and tore him out of his thoughts.

“What do you say princess? Does heading home sound like a plan?”

"Can we watch the end of The Lion King when we get home?" asked Lynn from his shoulders, leaning forward so her ponytail hung in front of his face.

“Absolutely”, Jake agreed and heard Lynn squeal in delight while Natasha rolled her eyes next to him, but had an endearing smile on her lips, nonetheless.

#5 years #hannix au #hannix #hangman x phoenix #top gun: maverick #fanfiction #writing

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