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autumntouched · 2 years ago

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What do you think made Nat want to be a pilot?

Day 3 of Ode to Phoenix:

The story of why Natasha becomes a Navy pilot is much darker so keeping things light for now and sticking to her first desire to fly.

Also, so sorry in advance! I'm turning these around in less than 24 hours so there won't be much research or editing. Please let me know if there are any glaring/ignorant mistakes. Just a note that this story takes place in pre-9/11 airports when Natasha's parents would have been able to walk them to and pick them up from the gates.

For you @sylviebell

Inspired by real life pilot Beverley Bass featured in the song "Me And The Sky" from the musical Come from Away.

Summary: In the wake of her parents' divorce, a five-year-old Natasha adjusts to having to travel to see her dad and gets a lesson in flying.

Nothing Between Me and the Sky

Natasha presses her face and hands to the glass, watching the bags being loaded onto the plane. She looks for her brand new pink suitcase among them but can’t see it yet. What if it gets left behind?

Luca stumbles into her, and their heads knock together.

“Owee!” she complains, momentarily distracted by her brothers’ shoving match. “Say sorry Luca!”

“Don’t be such a baby, Nasha,” Sebastian taunts. “He barely touched you.”

Natasha looks for Mama to tell Sebastian and Luca to stop, but she’s chasing down Gabby who’s wriggled out of her stroller once again. Sebastian used to be nice. He used to let her play with him and read her his Tintin books. But he hasn’t been that way since Daddy decided he didn’t want to live with them anymore.

Luca will do anything to be on Sebastian’s side, so he sticks his tongue out at her. “Baby! Baby! Nasha is a baby!”

She turns to face them fully, her hands curling into fists. “I’m not a baby!”

“Are too,” Sebastian says, a mean grin spreading across his face. His dark eyes dare her to argue with him.

Natasha’s cheeks and neck heat with anger. “Am not, stupid!”

“Sebastian!” Mama’s back with Gabby on her hip. “You’re supposed to be in charge of your brother and sister. And Natasha, what have I told you about calling people names?”

Their mother glares at all of them, but none of them will break sibling code and point fingers at who started it. Even at five, Natasha knows better than that. “It’s not nice,” she mumbles. She drops to the floor and pulls her knees up to her chest. No one’s nice now that Daddy’s gone, even Mama sometimes. Before she would have given each of them a chance to explain what happened. At least, Mama doesn’t make her apologize. She’s distracted by the gate announcement over the PA.

Gabby kicks her legs and stares down at them with her thumb in her mouth. It’s not fair that she gets to have Mama all to herself while the rest of them go to Colorado to see Daddy.

Natasha crawls over to the window and sits back on her heels. She already misses Mama, even though she misses Daddy too. Her throat hurts like she’s going to cry, but Sebastian will start to make fun of her again if she does so she stares hard at the cart of luggage. What happened to her pink suitcase?

Natasha rests her forehead against the glass and glances over at the American Airlines plane. How does something so big get in the air? It looks heavy.

It’s not long before Mama touches her shoulder and holds up her red Hello Kitty backpack. “My suitcase isn’t on the plane!” Natasha tries to tell her while putting her arms through the straps.

“They’ll put it on, sweetheart, and it’ll be there when you get to Denver. It’s time to board.” She motions Luca over. “Hold your sister’s hand, please.”

Natasha snatches her hand behind her back, still mad at him for stepping on her. “I don’t need to hold his hand. I’m not a baby!”

Luca doesn’t look like he wants to hold hers either and glances pleadingly up at Mama. Gabby kicks Natasha’s shoulder twisting to look out the window. “Airpane!” she shrieks, pointing at the plane. “Airpane.”

Everyone’s hitting her, and Mama doesn’t care. Natasha crosses her arms and marches toward the door that leads to the plane. She wishes she could fly away by herself and never have to see any of them again.

Luca runs up beside her. “Mama says you have to hold my hand,” he grumbles. “Or you’re going to get in trouble.”

“I don’t like you! You didn’t say sorry,” Natasha refuses, keeping her arms crossed. She steps out of the way of a man hurrying to the desk before his duffel bag hits her in the head.

“Mama said—.”

“Mama said,” she repeats. It’s what Sebastian does when he wants to annoy them.

“Stop it, Nasha!”

“You’re going to get in trouble.”

She glares at him. He’s not supposed to tell on her. “You’re going to get in trouble,” she dares him.

Luca frowns, his blue eyes calculating, and then lunges at her. Natasha turns and runs for the gate. He’s right behind her and faster. A tug on her backpack pulls her up short and nearly off her feet. “Stop it, Nasha! You’re going to make Mama mad.”

Before she can turn around, a pretty woman in a blue uniform leans over the desk. “Are you the Trace family?”

“Yes,” Mama says, hurrying up behind them with a crying Gabby kicking in her stroller. “Luca, Natasha, and where—Sebastian!” Sebastian drags his feet to join them. The passengers lining up at the gate are looking at them in mild annoyance. One woman rolls her eyes in disgust.

“I hope they’re not sitting near us,” she complains loudly to the man in a business suit beside her.

Natasha moves closer to Luca. Sebastian must have heard the lady because he steps in front of them, a hard look on his face.

The pretty lady introduces herself as Tanya and tells them she’s going to help them onto the plane once they’ve said goodbye to Mama. Mama hugs and kisses each of them. Natasha hugs her back hard. She doesn’t want to let go. “I love you, Mama!”

“I love you so much, sweetie pie.” Mama cradles her face, her eyes a little shiny like she might cry too. Mama kisses her cheek and draws her in for one last hug. Natasha presses herself into her mother’s softness and inhales the smell of her perfume. It smells like flowers and princesses. “Be good for Daddy and look out for each other, okay?”

Natasha nods and squeezes tighter. When she lets go, Natasha blows a kiss goodbye to Gabby and takes Luca’s hand. They follow Tanya and Sebastian down the gangway to the plane. She looks back over her shoulder to see Mama waving to them until the people lining up behind them block her view.

While they wait at the front of the plane for the flight attendant to seat them, Natasha peaks into the cockpit and is surprised to see someone with shoulder length blonde hair bent over a clipboard.

“Are you a girl?” she asks in surprise. She’s never seen a girl fly a plane before!

The woman turns, a large smile on her face. “I am,” she says with a funny twang in her voice. “Are you flying with me today?”

“I think so,” Natasha says shyly. She looks around at all the buttons and knobs. There are so many. She wonders how the woman knows which ones to press. “Is that how you fly the plane?” she asks, pointing to the black yoke in front of the pilot.

“Want to come take a look? Be my co-pilot for a little?”

Natasha nods eagerly. She lets go of Luca’s hand so she can step into the doorway that leads to the tiny, mysterious room. The woman waves her closer. “I’m Captain Bass. What’s my co-pilot’s name?”

“Captain Natasha.”

That makes Captain Bass smile and deepens the laugh lines around her eyes. She looks very nice and brave. “A pleasure to be flyin’ with you today, Captain Natasha. Want to see how we’re going to take off?”

Natasha nods eagerly, resting her hand on the chair so she can lean forward to see all the things the captain points out to her. The actual co-pilot is a girl too! They let her touch some of the buttons and tell her about the big engines that will help them get in the air.

“See this, Captain Natasha?” asks Captain Bass, pointing to the yoke. “This is what steers the plane. When the plane’s going fast enough, we’ll pull back on this here to lift us off the ground. And when we’re ready to land, we push forward. Want to practice?”

Natasha nods eagerly.

The pilot gets out of her seat, and Natasha’s heart skips excitedly. Could she really get to see what it’s like to fly a plane? To look through the window and see the sky and the clouds in front of her? “Can I?”

“Up you go,” Captain Bass says, and Natasha climbs reverently into her chair. She can feel how important it is, the sense of weight it holds to be at the helm of something so powerful. A thrill rushes through her as she settles into the captain’s imprint and imagines herself being tall enough to look through the windshield. One day she’ll know what all of the panels and controls mean and how to use them to send something so heavy soaring high enough to make the world below look like a landscape of toys. She could fly other girls to see their daddies or mommies.

The pilot crouches beside her and shows her how to hold the yoke, and Natasha can hardly believe that something so small moves something so big.

Captain Bass holds up a headset. “And this is what I use to communicate with air traffic control. They’re the ones who know everything that’s going on and keep us all safe. One of the most important things about becoming a pilot is learning to be a good listener because you need a whole team of people to help you do your job well. Are you a good listener?”

“I’m a good listener,” Natasha promises, staring seriously into the pilot’s kind eyes. They’re as blue and clear as the sky. Natasha hopes she grows up to be just like her one day. It feels like this woman could do anything.

Captain Bass smiles and reaches into her bag. “Then looks like you’ve earned your wings, Captain Natasha. These mean you’re a pilot now too.” She hands Natasha gold wings like the ones on her chest and helps her out of the chair. “Maybe your parents can help you put these on.”

“My parents aren’t here,” Natasha says sadly, looking longingly at her new wings.

Understanding passes over the captain’s face. “Maybe we can see if Miss Paula can help you put those on, then.”

“I’d love to,” Miss Paula says. Natasha looks up to find another nice looking woman waiting for her in the doorway. The flight attendant takes the wings and pins them to her sweater, careful not to stick Natasha’s skin. “If you need anything during the flight, sweetie, you just let me know, okay? Let’s get you seated with your brothers.” She puts a hand on her shoulder to steer her down the aisle.

“One more thing,” Captain Bass says. She extends her hand and Natasha shakes it like a grown up. “Good to have you aboard, Captain Natasha. Thanks for your help getting everyone safely to their destination today.”

Natasha smiles proudly and touches the wings on her chest. She waves goodbye to the pilots before Miss Paula leads her to her brothers’ row and helps her put her backpack under the seat and buckle up between them.

“Where did you get those?” Luca asks, pointing to her wings.

Natasha sits up straight just like Captain Bass. “The pilot’s a girl like me! She made me a pilot too.”

He frowns and argues knowingly, “You’re too little to fly a plane.”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

Sebastian looks up from his book. “It’s just pretend, Luc. Leave her alone.”

“It’s not pretend,” Natasha insists. “I am too a pilot! I just flew the plane.”

Luca laughs at her and shakes his head. Her oldest brother shrugs, bored. “Okay, whatever. Just stop arguing about it. Why are you being so annoying?”

She bites her lip and looks down to hide how much that hurts. She doesn’t like when Sebastian is annoyed with her. Luca looks at her haughtily and mouths, “Are not.” Then he pulls out some of his coloring books and ignores her. With no one to play with, Natasha cranes her neck to look out the window over Sebastian’s shoulder.

The airport and Bay slide by as they taxi from the gate. She knows Captain Bass wouldn’t leave without her suitcase so it must have made it onto the plane. When the plane pauses on the runway, Natasha closes her eyes and imagines the cockpit. As the plane gathers speed, she pretends she’s there, hands on the controls with the open sky in front of her. And when the nose lifts off the ground, she’s the one pulling back aiming the plane to the clouds.

Ode to Phoenix Masterlist

#natasha trace fic #phoenix fic #phoenix headcanons #natasha trace headcanons #monica barbaro #ode to phoenix #natasha phoenix trace #28 days of phoenix #talk to me #i love your notes

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