Since the night Hanson told them everything about the last eight years, also his reasoning for not being able to inform them up until that night, things had been great. It was good to be friends again but got annoying when Hanson had to go back to being their commanding officer, and the friends had to follow any orders they were given. Most of this was only during the day when they were practicing their dragon training for the big exam. It had been an entire month since Hanson pulled just his six former friends aside to talk to them about everything, and revealed he had not one, but two children with Caylee even though Caleb wasn't his biological son. Hanson still took care of him as if he were. Hanson was an excellent father, always made time for his fiance and kids.

For Aubree, things were still hard to accept. Aubree was trying to let go of Hanson knowing that he had two children and a fiance, she knew she would never have a chance with him and his words from the night of their argument still cut pretty thick because in all the years she had known the guy; they never argued like that. It was times when Aubree saw him holding or kissing Caylee that she almost regretted her decision to stay at Fort Riddari. Aubree felt maybe she would have had an easier time to get over him if she was away from him. At the same time, Aubree chose to stay so she could remain close to her father and friends. Aubree knew she had to move on, Hanson was going to marry Caylee and adopt Caleb in a year. The wedding date was set for January 2nd, 2019. Eleven months away.

It was what Caylee and Hanson wanted, to start the New Year married and have Caleb adopted by his tenth birthday. It was sort of cute in a way but still bothersome to Aubree because Hanson had been right, she missed her chance to tell him how she felt. Heather asked Aubree later on that night after the explanation why Aubree forgave Hanson when he was a complete ass to her regardless of all the reasons. In truth, it wasn't all Aubree's fault. Hanson admitted to having a crush on Aubree too and never said anything, Aubree's answer was that she would rather forgive him and get to be his friend than to lose him completely and never see him again. The others in the group had agreed, they knew she still loved Hanson and wanted to be in his life some way or another.

When the big exam day came, the ten trainees were nervous, but Hanson gave them a real vote of confidence before it began. The exam was a culmination of everything they learned, mixed in with war scenarios. The biggest portion was to evade enemies, and rescue comrades. For this to get accomplished, Hanson arranged the whole of his platoon to act as enemies who took Hanson, Thatcher, Vincent, Ricky, and five others hostage that they needed to rescue. Each rider had to save one person and reach the parade grounds, then do a full check to make sure their comrade was alright and if they weren't, to provide proper first aid. The entire exam took an hour and thirty minutes to get through because it took planning, giving orders, infiltration, fighting, flying, rescuing, and more.

Aubree didn't have a superb time for her exam because as luck had it, she got stuck rescuing Hanson who was guarded by six people and tied up with two guns on him. On top of all that, after getting him saved, she had to dress a fake wound on his arm and wrap his ribs. Thankfully, though, she did perfect and was rewarded with top marks because of it. In a bonus, Aubree also got promoted to a new position, Sergeant. Eli also got promoted to Specialist. Everyone else was still at their rank from BCT graduation. When the exam was over, and they were given a pass or fail, Hanson had the pleasure of awarding them their Gold Wing pins which allowed them to ride their dragons without limits but still had to follow orders from their commanding officer who happened to be Hanson.

It was now they were standing in line before him at parade rest and their dragons behind them while Hanson was about to congratulate them on a job well done.

"Soldiers. It is my esteemed pleasure to congratulate you on your achievements. Not just today of becoming full dragon riders, but also your hard work in Basic and Advanced Training. You have all done exceptionally well and earned the ranks and status you have. Now, I'm sure you're curious about your stationing orders, and I have them for you. You will be stationed here at Fort Riddari, but you do not have to reside here unless you honestly feel like living on the base. If you choose to live off the base, you are required to report here for drill weekend which is the first weekend of every month for training. You are expected to be here by 0500 hours on Fridays, and you will get to leave at 1800 hours on Sundays. Understood?" Hanson stated.

"Sir, yes sir!" the ten soldiers replied firmly to him.

"Excellent then. With that being said, congratulations on becoming full dragon riders and you're free to go," Hanson smiled, "Well, until drill weekend." he added afterward. There was clapping from the crowd, families had been invited to watch the final exam, and it was a sight to see indeed. Now the 22nd Alpha Platoon was on the base and celebrating with the new riders and their families; this was going to be a good day for them all.

(Party)

The relatives of the newly named full riders were spending time with their soldiers. Hanson was with his father, fiance, and two kids. The platoon was hanging out with one another and meeting the new members of the platoon, and also the new riders were getting to meet to meet the man who was Hanson's commanding officer on all of the tours up until Hanson made the rank of Major. The male's name was Gregory Belmore, he was often called Gobber by the soldiers of the Alpha Platoon, and he was the rank of Major still. All of them were in the chow hall, for the time being, enjoying each other's company.

"Forgive my curiosity, Lieutenant Colonel Haddock, but the children mentioned that they were in your platoon. Does that mean they will stay with you?" asked Jayson Ostbarg, Sylvia's father.

"That is correct, Mr. Ostbarg. My platoon lost members on the last tour, and when these ten soldiers were sent here for training, they were five weeks behind everyone else, so it made sense for me to train them and then assign them into my platoon. Wherever this platoon goes, they will as well," Hanson replied with a nod.

"And for the sake of knowing, if should ship out for deployment, do you ship as a platoon or company?" inquired Colden Hofferson, Aubree's Dad.

"We ship as a company. It would Alpha and Blast platoons, the fifty of us have been together for eight years. Well, except for those we've lost along the way. When groups come to Basic, they are placed in their platoon which they will stay in for the duration of their military career. Now, a soldier can be transferred or switched with another if there is an issue with that soldier and the rest of them. It doesn't happen very often, though." Hanson explained.

"Now, why is it co-ed?" another parent asked, this time it was Kristen Trapp.

"It's usually not, but since this was such a small group, it was easier to stick them all in one place for training. No sense in putting four girls in one barrack and then six guys in another. When they take part in drill weekend, the males and females will be separated." Thatcher interjected with a smile.

"Oh, Hanson, before I forget. I have big news that I think you'll like," Caylee beamed happily as Hanson arched a brow at her.

"For the love of Thor, please don't tell me you're pregnant again," Hanson asked.

"What would make you think that?" Caylee blinked.

"Because I know you, babe. You started off your pregnancy announcement with Hazel as 'I have big news you'll like,' also, you've been sick all week." Hanson replied.

"Huh, you do know me well. But, no. I'm not pregnant, I promise. And what's the big deal if I was, you love kids and said you wanted more?" Caylee inquired.

"We already talked about why I don't want more right now. I've got a possible deployment breathing down my neck, and I hated being away from you when you were pregnant with Hazel in case you forgot the fact that my second tour and third tour were back to back. I don't want to do that again," Hanson sighed.

"Fair enough. Relax then, I'm not pregnant, but I do have other good news. Ready?" Caylee smiled at him. Hanson nodded to her, "Ella and I are being transferred to your company! We're joining Blast platoon!" she announced.

"Don't even joke! Are you really!?" Hanson asked with wide eyes.

"Yes! They know how much you worry about me so since we're both officer ranks now, they are putting me in a spot where I can be with you!" Caylee exclaimed. Hanson hugged her tightly.

"Thank Thor," Hanson sighed out in relief.

"And, I'm commanding officer for Blast too since you lost the original one," Caylee informed lightly.

"Oh, this is great! I hated being away from you, especially after you got shot in the chest couple months back. Gods, you have no idea how worried I was," Hanson held her close.

"I was pretty sure when you found out; I expected to see you there when I woke up and told me you flew Toothless to Afghanistan," Caylee giggled.

"I was very tempted to, Cay," Hanson kissed her cheek.

"You can do that?" Franklin asked.

"Fly my dragon to Afghanistan? Toothless is a Night Fury, fastest dragon around. I would have made it there in seven hours if I wanted to," Hanson told him. "And no, I'm not supposed to do that but, in case you haven't noticed; I don't exactly follow all the rules," he added.

"Better watch yourself, son, don't want to get discharged," Steven chuckled a little patting Hanson's back.

"I won't get discharged, relax, Dad," Hanson told him.

"So what do we get to do after all this?" Taylor asked motioning to the room, but Hanson knew he was referring to the celebration going on.

"Well, it's back to civilian life for a while except for your drill weekends which is just where you come and train for three days to keep your skills sharp and ready in case of deployment," Hanson answered.

"What about you?" Heather inquired.

"Me? I'm the base leader and here seven days a week from 0600 to 1800 hours. Even if I'm not training a group, I have to be here for meetings, calls, and a bunch more. Told you before, I don't have a lot of spare time," Hanson shrugged.

"We can't hang out, can we?" Sawyer frowned a bit.

"We aren't kids anymore, guys. Sure, we're still friends, but I have a lot of responsibilities now. I have the base, my dragon, my family too. Running this base is my job, and if I get deployed then Gobber runs the base in my absence with Aiden," Hanson reminded them.

"You can't like, take personal days off?" Eli asked next.

"Hanson can take off certain days like Caleb and Hazel's birthday. Since the kids and Hanson all have birthdays in February, we celebrate them all on the same day. Hanson can take two days off for the anniversary of his mother's death, and sick days if he sees the medic and puts it on record, or even family emergencies. Like the one time Caleb fell off the playscape at Steven's house, we had to go to the hospital and Hanson was allowed to leave for that," Caylee said now.

"No vacation time either?" Aubree murmured.

"I can always put in for days off, but they don't always get approved. The only time I get off is at the most two weeks, and that's after a deployment ends or leave time from deployment. The rest of it all, I'm right here on base working." Hanson replied to her.

"That kind of sucks man," Grant sighed, "We finally see you again and can't even hang out,"

"You can see me for the kid's birthdays. I'll be home for that; we're celebrating Sunday, February 18th, 2018 at 2 pm right at Dad's house. You're welcome to come for it," Hanson invited with a smile.

"We'll be there. Thank you, Hanson," Sylvia replied.

"So how are the wedding plans coming, son?" Steven looked at Caylee and Hanson now.

"Well, it's eleven months away, so we're just working on small things right now like the guest list, food choices, colors, theme, etc. Which reminds me, we still need to find a place to hold it, baby," Caylee said to her fiance.

"We have time, and if all else fails, we have the base. It's where we met," Hanson chuckled.

"Hilarious. As true as that may be, I don't want to get married on the base," Caylee laughed a little.

"I was teasing, Love. We'll figure it out in time," Hanson smiled and then leaned over to kiss her. "Right now let's just enjoy the civilian life," he laughed, and they all nodded and agreed to that. Finally, Hanson could be done training his friends and actually be friends with them again. Hanson couldn't wait to be a civilian again, at least for a little while.