'Can't you tell me what we're doing?'

'If I told you, it wouldn't really be a present for you would it?'

'I already told you, I don't need a big fuss for my present. You wearing that little Wonder-Woman teddy from Frederick's of Hollywood with champagne and some kind of chocolate cake will do me just fine.'

Meredeth laughed as she fiddled with the car radio. They'd been on the road for a solid four hours, but thankfully, they were approaching their destination. Esposito, love her of her life, Meredeth learned, was not a good traveler when he was not the driver. She wondered if it was the male ego or the cop in him that was winning the battle for being such a suck. At least he couldn't try and correct her MapQuest directions, since he had no clue where they were heading.

'Mere, I love you, but this is my only day off this week, and we could be doing much better things instead of driving up to Who-Knows-Where, New York. Not to mention my birthday isn't until next Friday.'

'True say but this is kind of a one-time only deal. I didn't have choice on arranging the date, so stop pouting and keep your eyes peeled for Hangar Road.'

Esposito shifted in his seat. 'I'm not pouting,' he mumbled.

'I bet you were a real treat on family road trips.'

'Oh, are you kidding me? I just wanted to read to pass the miles; Lili was the terror. I was a shy kid, took me a while to become all this,' he said, gesturing to himself, then knocked his knuckles against the window. 'Hangar Road, next right. You're really not cluing me in?'

'Not a chance.'

A few minutes later, Esposito snapped out of his funk as he saw they were approaching a military base. He sat up a little straighter as he saw all the buffed-up officers going through a fitness training run past their car and wondered if his jeans and polo shirt weren't so appropriate, if he'd have been better in his NYPD dress blues.

'Hand me my purse, babe.'

Not wanting to question what they were doing, he passed her the swimming-pool sized bag, lifting an eyebrow when she pulled out two laminated ID badges. 'Are you turning into Tabitha Stroud on me?'

She only smiled at him as she drove to the gated entrance. A strapping, square jawed young man in his utility fatigues stopped them, clipboard in hand. Esposito couldn't help noticing how Meredeth's relaxed posture changed into the business-like manner he'd seen her use when she'd come to the precinct for her deposition; he'd also sat up a little straighter, removed his sunglasses out of respect.

'Afternoon, ma'am, sir,' he said in a no-nonsense voice that still carried a southern twang. 'State the nature of your business.'

'I'm Meredeth Coleman, this is Javier Esposito, we have an appointment to see Major Leonard Potter,' she responded in an equally brisk tone and presented him the ID badges.

The officer scanned his clipboard, looked at their ID cards. 'Very good ma'am, if you could pull your vehicle through and to the right hand side, Major Potter will accompany you in your vehicle to your appropriate destination.'

Esposito knew better than to laugh at the man's distinct pronunciation of the letter 'h' in the word 'vehicle'; the momentary distraction having passed, he turned to Meredeth, who'd pulled her sunglasses from her purse and put them on, tied her hair back at the nape of her neck.

'Are we going to play with explosives?' he asked.

'No, my little pyro.'

'Are we-'

He was cut off when another officer, this one a mixed-race man in his late forties approached the car. His skin was the colour of maple syrup, and his wiry black hair was brushed with silver at the temples. He had the tough, battle-worn look Esposito associated with veteran soldiers, but he also looked vaguely familiar. To his utter amazement, Meredeth popped out of the driver's side and gave him a strong handshake before hopping in the backseat while the officer took his place at the wheel.

'Major Leo Potter. You must be the birthday boy.'

Esposito blushed a deep crimson at being called 'boy' when he was both turning thirty-seven and the man addressing him so was an enlisted Air Force officer. 'In a manner of speaking. Javier Esposito.'

'Little Daks here called me up, said she wanted to do something special for you.' Potter gunned the motor of the Nissan and they bulletted their way down various roads on the massive base. 'Couldn't turn down a favour to an old friend.'

'Old friend?'

'The major was one of the pilots on my mother's chopper,' Meredeth explained from the back seat.

'We ran medical evacuations, get the injured guys out of the mobile field hospitals and back to the rear for full treatment,' Potter explained. 'Jake Downey and I were the pilots, Manny Esperenzo was our door gunner and Freja Dakkars Coleman was our flight nurse.'

Esposito nodded as the light dawned; he remembered where he'd seen the man now. There was a photograph in their living room of Meredeth's mother with her flight crew, standing in front of a helicopter. It had also proudly displayed the call sign AFMC-112 that was identical to Meredeth's tattoo. Taking her hand, he held it tight as Potter continued speaking.

'Daks was one of the best nurses I knew. She never took shit from the guys, especially the ones who knew she was a mother. Anytime they whined about a little pain, all she had to do was play the female card and they shut up pretty quickly. I remember this one time, guy took some shrapnel to the gut and carrying on how he was so tough, didn't even feel it, and Daks just turned to him and said, "Officer Grey, I hear the closest thing a man can get to experiencing the agony of giving birth is getting shot in the gut, right? Well, I pushed an eight-pound baby girl into this world with no pain meds whatsoever, so the next time you say your a big tough guy, I'll stop your morphine drip and you'll get a taste of how a woman in labour feels." Guy didn't have much to say after that.'

'So that's where that sassy mouth of yours comes from. I knew you didn't get it from Constance,' Esposito said to Meredeth, who just grinned.

'She was so proud of being a mother, always talked to the guys we were bringing back about their families and that. One of the guys she helped bring home named his new baby girl after Daks,' Potter went on. 'And of course, when we had ceremonies here, and the like, Little Daks here was all dolled up in her pretty dresses and holding her mommy's hand. Told everyone her Loo-nen-nan mother was the best nurse in the world.'

'I had trouble with my t's when I was little.'

Esposito only shook his head, as a thought occurred. 'Meredeth said there were no survivors on her mother's chopper when she died in ninety-one. How-'

'Daks and Manny were selected for a Special Ops task force and before she'd left on her last tour, I'd told Daks and Constance that if Little Daks ever needed anything from me, she'd have it in a heartbeat, and it appears she's cashing in on that promise.'

The car was stopped outside of a pale blue hangar whose bay doors were opening as they left the Nissan. Two men in their dark blue flight suits approached, each with their helmets tucked under their arms; one was tall and lean with sharp face bones that spoke of Cherokee blood, the other several inches shorter with white-blond hair and bottle green eyes. They gave the major a jaunty salute which Potter returned.

'Meredeth, Javier, these are two of my finest men, Lieutenants Charlie Tyler and Dylan Tyco. Gentlemen, this is Meredeth Coleman, Freja Dakkars Coleman's little girl, and her boyfriend Javier Esposito.' Potter introduced them as they shook hands, then clapped his own together.' Alright, we better get you two suited up. You'll be riding with Tyler, Javier, and Little Daks will be with Lieutenant Tyco.'

'Riding?' Esposito's head whipped over to look at Meredeth, who looked very much like the cat who'd eaten a whole damn flock of canaries. 'Are you fucking serious?'

'I called Leo up a few weeks ago, told him you were into adventure stuff and would it be possible for you to come up for a test flight since your birthday was coming up. He said anything for Daks Coleman's little girl, so...happy birthday you.'

Fifteen minutes later, decked out in flight suits and having snapped some pre-flight pictures, Esposito found himself in the hangar face to face with a beauty of jet. He still couldn't quite wrap his head around it. Meredeth had arranged for him to go on a test flight with actual Air Force pilots in an actual Air Force fighter plane. He watched as she climbed into the navigator's seat behind Tyco, the grin on her face matching his own as the pilot helped her fasten her helmet and gave her a little thump on her protected head.

'You ready to rock this?' Tyler, the tall Cherokee pilot, came up beside him and passed him a helmet.

'Let's kick the tires and light the fires.'

'You've being watching Independance Day, haven't you?' Tyler laughed as they mounted up into the cockpit, hooked in their equipment into the radio so they could communicate with the other plane.

'My girlfriend and I watched it last night.'

'How long you been together?'

'Just over six months. She's the best thing in my life.'

'Nice. I got one just like her at home.'

Esposito looked over to Tyco and Meredeth's jet. 'No, there's no one like her.'

As they lined up on the runway, Tyco's voice crackled over the radio. 'Good afternoon and welcome to Little Daks Airways, this is your flight director Dylan Tyco, call sign Anaconda. We will be performing a variety of manoeuvres today so keep your tray-tables and seat-backs in the upright position.'

'Anaconda recognized, this is Charlie Tyler, call sign Spock. All systems are go. Any questions before we take off?'

'Yeah, is it safe to have my girlfriend flying with a guy nicknamed Anaconda?'

'Oh, don't worry,' Tyler said, knowing his partner could hear everything. 'That's just his wishful thinking.'

'Says the guy named after a Star Trek character and we are clear here. Nothing to do but say good night, Gracie. Meredeth, care to do the honours?'

Esposito looked out the side of the canopy, saw Meredeth give him a little salute. 'Good night, Gracie.'

In a flash, the first plane was down the runway and twelve seconds later they were airborne. From the front seat, Tyler hollered, 'Let's ride, birthday-boy.'

Before Esposito could even open his mouth to respond, he felt his body slam back into the seat from the g's as they sped down the runway. In the blink of an eye, they were in the air, the base growing smaller and smaller as they went up to the desired level, did a few circling passes. Esposito laughed as watched Tyco make like his plane was hitting speed bumps beside them.

'Don't play nice because I'm a girl,' he heard Meredeth tell Tyco, 'show me what she can do.'

'You got it.'

Esposito watched as Tyco tilted the plane, zipping off as they did a spiraling barrel loop. 'We gotta do that,' he told Tyler.

'Yessir.'

The next thing he knew, he was sideways, then spinning as they spun a tight corkscrew in the air. The feeling of it, of being so high up and free was like nothing he'd ever experienced. He'd gone skydiving but that had been straight up and down; this was like roller-coasters gone wild. After they'd done loop-de-loops, flips, nosedives and other assorted tricks, Esposito felt them go into a hover pattern. He hadn't seen Meredeth and Tyco in a few minutes and vaguely wondered where they were; he didn't wonder for very long.

'Anaconda, this is Spock, we are prepared for final conflict.'

'What's final conflict?' he asked, and was roundly ignored.

'Spock what's your tilt?'

'Starboard. On my mark. Three, two, one.'

Once again, Esposito felt himself slam back into the seat as they propelled forward. Now he could see where the other plane had gone - it was right in front of them, heading towards them at the same break-neck speed. For a moment, Esposito thought he should say a Hail Mary, but at the last second his world turned ninety degrees to his right, and watched in amazement as they zipped past the other plane, Meredeth's laughing yell of delight coming through the radio very loud and clearly.

'Well done, Spock, we are now making our final approach to runway four. Be advised, Birthday-Boy's girlfriend is a screamer.'

'Acknowledged, Anaconda and don't you ever think north of your belt buckle?'

They made it safely back to earth, the two pilots who were clearly best friends bickering much in the way Esposito did with Ryan and Castle, continuing their shenanigans even after they'd pulled the jets back into the hangars and had helped their passengers out of the cockpits. Esposito ducked under the nose of the plane to see Meredeth's feet on the last step of the ladder, and because he couldn't help himself, grabbed her around the waist and spun her down to the floor.

'I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I love you. I could not have imagined a better birthday gift than that. Except maybe one,' he added with a glint in his eye.

'You say that now.' Meredeth pulled him in for a kiss, whispered in his ear as best as she could, 'I've got the Wonder-Woman teddy, a bottle of Cristal and chocolate ganache cupcakes at home.'

Esposito blinked, then turned to the pilots to shake their hands. 'Had a great time guys and thanks again, but we've got to head back to the city now.'

R&R&Enjoy.