Chapter 2

Gansey:

Gansey closed his eyes as he listened to the supervisor of his new division call out, "Hey, shut the fuck up! You're supposed to be listening to passdown! Since you weren't paying attention in the first place, maybe you'll pay attention to your new Divo?" He paused, letting that sink in. The shop erupted in protest, and Gansey could only smile. "Oh, stop your bitching. That's not going to change anything. Your new Divo comes from some town in Virginia or West Virginia or something of the such, just like your wonderful night check sup who incidentally slammed him into the flight deck. His head is fine now, so, give him your actually undivided attention, and welcome Mr. Gansey to the Line Shack."

Groans rang from the compartment he stood outside of. They were silenced as he entered the room, his politician's smile as Ronan liked to put it firmly in place. The few females in the room had expressions of surprise and appreciation pushing their eyebrows towards their hairlines. The boys, the majority of the group, had looks like they had raging boners going on, on their faces.

He scanned over the group quickly, his smile widening. "Good afternoon, everyone. I trust the boat isn't treating you too terribly?" Finishing his sweep of the room, his eyes caught on Blue looking at him over her shoulder. It took all he was worth to tear his eyes from hers, and even still, he couldn't help glancing at her every few moments. "My name is Richard Gansey. I'm a Lieutenant, as I'm sure you can all clearly see. I'm from Henrietta, Virginia, as AE1 has already told you." He paused, running through the checklist of things he'd been meaning to tell them. "I was just transferred over from VFA-68. I was the Line Divo there as well, so I hope to see exactly how different things are run for a helo squadron. I'll be here often to get PC training and to learn the rotary wing ways."

Blue rolled her eyes, turning from whatever paperwork she'd been working on to give him her full attention.

Swallowing, he looked back over to AE1. "I think that's all I've got for now."

Shrugging, the first class started again. "There you have it. Mr. Gansey in a nutshell. Any questions before he leaves?"

The question was out of an airman's mouth before AE1 had finished speaking."Are you related to President Gansey?"

He sighed inwardly. Somewhere in his mind, he knew that question would be asked. "She is my mother."

"Why did you join the Navy then if your mother is the President?"

Something stirred within him. That same feeling he used to get when he thought of his search for Glendower. The excitement, the need, the yearning for more knowledge. Blue watched him closely, her eyes telling him not to go into detail. She knew he would if she'd let him.

Dragging back down the urge to tell the story of his search, he simply said, "I'm looking for something. Well, something else now. I originally joined because I was looking for someone, but I've found that person recently, so it's only a something now."

The group crowed. Blue's eyes sparkled with hope. He could only reassure her with a smile.

"So, this something, is it like when you found the tomb of the Welsh king Glendower?"

Giddy surprise grew in his stomach. He hadn't expected anyone to know of that particular find, and from Blue's face, she hadn't known they had known either. They glanced at each other. With a growing smile, Gansey said, "Yes."

As the word left his mouth, a voice called over the 1MC. "Watch out in all starboard catwalks, landing helo 623. Starboard catwalks, helo 623. Launch the alert 30, SAR, side number 619. Launch the alert 30, SAR, side number 619."

The shop exploded into action. Gansey jumped aside as Blue tore passed him, her coworkers close on her heels.

Blue:

Bolting down the passage, calling "Make a hole!" as she hurtled over door stops, Blue shoulder checked a green shirt bolting the opposite way. She flinched as the audible crack rang through her ears and pain shot across her shoulder.

There was a flash of sunlight dotted shadow beneath dappled green leaves across her vision. The whisper of Latin on the wind drowned out every other sound around her. Summer was thick in her nose, and fruit sweet on her tongue as fingers traced simple, scorching patterns across her skin.

She nearly stumbled to a halt in the middle of the passage way, but instead, she gritted her teeth. She pushed off the ground harder, tearing open the hatch to the catwalk and scrambling towards the spot, blinking away the memory. "Chocks and chains! Brownies, maintainers, someone, get me chocks and chains! Now!" she shouted, but her voice dipped away into silence as she spotted a silhouette she knew almost as well as Gansey's.

Stopping in her tracks, she watched as he landed her helo, pausing as he waited for the chainers to show up. Waiting for a lull in his hand signals, Blue shot forward, wrapping her arms around his middle.

His head whipped around, a snarl on his lips. "What the fu-"

"You didn't tell me you were on this ship, asshole!" she shouted, cutting off Ronan's curse with one of her own. "When did you get here?" Jerking away from him with a remembrance of professionalism, she held her hands out for his wands. "Give me those. This isn't your aircraft, and you have one you need to be launching right now."

Keeping his eyes on the pilots, he passed her command with sharp, precise movements. "I think a 'thank you' is in order. I did just catch your bird. And what do you mean 'how long'? I came to pick your sorry asses up."

"So this is your first command?"

"Yes. First command. First deployment."

She rolled that around her mind for a moment, wondering silently if she should tell him about Gansey, but he was already walking away, his mic pressed close to his mouth as he muttered quickly, his hand cupped over the small piece. "Ronan!" He stopped, turning back to face her with an irate scowl. "Do you need my guys to help spread your bird?"

Glancing around him, he found none of his squadron on deck and a move crew already hooking up to the back of his aircraft. His snarl returning, he nodded. "Yes, I'm going to need help until my guys get here. They're slower than Noah and a math problem."

Nodding, she thrust a wand towards the closest green shirt to her. "Go help him. Take everyone with you. Leave a pair of chocks and chains. I've got this bird. If they launch our alert, then leave."

The green jersey nodded sharply, turning and dragging his coworkers towards Ronan's aircraft. Grudgingly, Ronan nodded towards her before swinging up into the cockpit.

Ronan:

'Raven PC to 617 for fuel.'

Rolling his eyes hard enough to hurt, Ronan snatched up the radio. "Raven copies. 617 for fuel." Turning as he finished, he growled. The rest of his shop was either working on the wash or eating. He shrugged into his float coat, shoving his gloves into his side cargo pocket and forcing the radio into his ass pocket. It had been a few months since they'd gotten on the boat, and the radio barely fit now, but he wasn't complaining. He never would if Adam kept grabbing his ass every time they passed in the passageways.

He loped up the stairs to the flight deck, taking long strides towards spot 6. As he walked, he glanced up towards the sky where the moon shone so brightly that she eclipsed near half of the stars in the sky, the rest gleaming feebly beside her.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" the purple jersey asked, his arms hanging loose at his sides as if he wasn't sure where his hands were supposed to go. "It's why I don't mind being on nights for the most part." He turned to the aircraft, bending to heft the fuel nozzle into his hip. "Do you have a start load?"

Turning his eyes back from the sky as not to trip over the treacherous chains that were just waiting to take his legs out at the knees, he muttered, "500." He popped open the compartment door, twisting off the fuel cap.

The fuelie nodded and attached the hose, turning to another purple jersey lounging against the combing. "500," he called, turning two fingers in a circle. The other disappeared, leaving the pair to stand and observe the stars. "How long have you been on nights? I just started about two weeks ago."

Ronan grunted, never one for conversation. "I like it better when there is no moon."

The purple jersey's voice dropped. "That's because you're creepy."

"Fuck you, man," Ronan snapped, "At least I'm not the idiot wearing a purple float coat over a yellow jersey." He paused, staring at the mix of colors. "No, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?" For the first time, he realized that the fuelie hadn't shown him his face the entire time they'd been fueling. Frowning, he glared down at the shorter male.

The fuelie turned to look at him, his eyes half lidded and a smudge darkening his cheek. "I'm more qualified than you."

With only a moment to spare, Ronan dragged Noah into a bone crushing hug, rubbing his knuckles across the top of his head. "Someone is sassy for being brought back from the dead. Fuck you. Were you going to tell us you were on this ship?"

"You didn't tell me either."

"Not the point."

Adam:

Adam rested his head in his hands, taking a deep breath as he stared down at his tray. His stomach roiled, his shoulder ached, his head pounding as Cabeswater banged at the door to his mind. It was always louder, more insistent the more tired he became. Gritting his teeth, he pressed against his forehead.

"Adam? Adam Parrish?" he heard a familiar female voice ask.

The banging quieted, Cabeswater's many voices dropping to excited whispers. Slitting his eyes, he glanced up through his fingers to Blue's curious expression. Tray filled with food, she set her tray down across from him.

"When did you get married? You didn't tell me that you'd gotten married." Her tone was accusing, her glare sharpened to a finer point than when they'd parted ways two years before.

Sighing deeply, relief flushing his cheeks pink, he sat back in his chair, running a hand down his face. "It was a little hard to tell you when I didn't know where you were. You disappeared, Blue, you and Gansey and Noah. You all disappeared. Where did you go, Blue? How did you end up here, of all places?"

Guilt slipped across her expression. "I... I let myself get lost in Cabeswater. I couldn't be in Henrietta any longer, so much had happened. It pulled out my psychic abilities, helped me hone them. You wouldn't believe the adventures I had, Adam, guided by the trees and the trees alone. It was... beautiful." She stared down at her food, mixing cheese into her rice with an air of disinterest. " I wish I could have shared them with all of you. When it finally released me, only a month after I'd entered despite the years I'd spent there, I realized I had to get away. There was a recruiter, and I just... said yes." A sigh slipped between her lips, and she glanced back up at him. "I'm sorry I left you alone. I should have been there to support you and the others."

Adam stared back at his ring, rubbing gently at the shined surface. Blue watched his face closely, cataloging the softening there, the gentle smile, the easy happiness. "I wasn't alone. I had..." He paused, glancing up at her.

A grin cut across her mouth as the blush deepened against his cheeks with his embarrassment. "You had Ronan?" He nodded a reply. "I knew something would happen between the two of you, I didn't think it would be marriage, but I'm happy for you. Did you have a good wedding?"

Adam's mood soured. He could still remember the feel of Ronan's anger wafting over him, his own hatred bubbling deep in his core. "Not entirely. We ended up exchanging vows with a priest as our witness. My mother had found out somehow and told me she was disappointed. My father called us faggots. So, not really pleasant memories." He rubbed his hands against his pants wondering idly exactly how bad he smelled in his week old uniform. That would be something his mother would be disappointed in also. "Our honeymoon was amazing though."

Blue rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, you guys only left your room to get to the airport."

Adam couldn't help the smile that split across his lips. It held the breath of something she'd never seen in him. "Give us some credit. We got out about fifty percent of the time."

Their conversation wore on with them throwing friendly jabs at each other. Laughter filled the mid mess decks, and they continually filled their trays. Sitting back, wiping tears from beneath her eyes, Blue said, "I missed you guys."

Blinking his eyes clear, he asked, "Who else is here?"

Noah:

Sitting on the lip of a tractor, Noah kicked his legs gently, watching Blue as she braced her trainee. The brown jersey stumbled back with the down wash from their aircraft as it hovered over spot. She dragged him forward back onto his feet, pressing her arm into his back and her foot against his forward most foot.

A green jersey, his face strained with concentration, carried a full set of crutch polls passed, the eight feet of the four pairs tipping precariously as he jogged towards spot two. Sweat beaded down his jaw, his floatcoat stained a hunter green along the shoulders and back. Hefting the poles higher against his chest, he disappeared towards his helo, pausing only for a moment as Noah passed through his peripheral vision.

It was later, after Noah and his move crew had stacked each bird beside the other that Adam found him, back in the same spot he'd been while they'd all been shutting down their respective birds. Noah's cranial sat beside him, his bandanna tucked within the sweaty confines. The night breeze, picking up with the speed of the ship, ruffling his blond hair, plucking at the strands that stuck to his forehead. He raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"You're here too it seems," Adam said as way of greeting, standing awkwardly beside the tow tractor. He hadn't been invited to lean against it, and it was a point of pride among the aviation community that you did not touch someone else equipment/aircraft without the express permission of that squadron. Not only that, if something happened to that bird after you had laid your hands on it and it wasn't yours, there could be serious consequences.

Noah nodded, patting the space beside him as invitation. "Yes, and so is Ronan." Adam remained where he stood.

"And Gansey."

"And Blue. The whole gang back together again. It must be fate."

"Fate is very weighty to be throwing it around this late at night."

"Not for us."

They stared at each other silently for a long moment, considering the other. They hadn't left on good terms, none of them had really, but the two of them worse than the others. "Do the others know you're here?"

Noah shook his head. "Only Ronan so far. I fueled his bird earlier."

The only sound between them was that of the rushing wind, and the ocean lapping against the hull of the ship. Blue's voice raised in irritation and anger reminded them that they were, in fact, having a conversation. "Well, if fate thinks we should all be together again, who am I to deny it?" He turned his back on Noah, waving him forward to follow him towards the commotion.