Breiman's Peak

Yakutia, Federation Mainland

February 10th, 431 AC

8:12 PM Local Time

"Y'think we could h- hurry this up? I'm freezing over here," Natalie shivered.

Jay laughed. "Oh, ye of little faith. Trust me when I say that this'll all be worth it." He turned around to face her with a grin. "Besides, it's not even that cold out." He glanced up at the night sky through the pine trees above, watching more and more stars fade into view as the two pilots strode up the winding dirt path.

Natalie rubbed her hands together, using the friction to keep her hands ever so slightly warmer for just a moment. "You're gonna drive me crazy one of these days, you know that?" she said, rolling her eyes with a small smile.

Jay chuckled. "That's implying I haven't already." He took off the brown aviator jacket he was wearing and put it over Natalie, leaning in to briefly kiss her the cheek as he did. "There, feel any warmer now?"

Natalie responded by reaching up and pressing her lips to his, and they stayed there for a nice long while, forgetting all about the cold that they had been so concerned with moments ago. Both of them were happy- truly, undeniably happy. Although Jay had slightly more reason to be. This, however, would soon be rectified. Once they finally broke off from the kiss, Jay continued leading Natalie up the path, which gradually got steeper and steeper as they went. Natalie tried asking once more where Jay was taking them, but just like the last three times she asked, he gave her no concrete answer. Soon enough, though, she would get her answer. As the ground began to level out beneath them, Jay stepped to the side of the path, revealing a break in the treeline, which gave way to a rocky peak. The two gradually approached it, and as Natalie stood on the edge, she looked out into the darkness as far as her eyes would allow. Far below was the rhythmic sound of ocean waves lapping up against the base of the cliffs. Everything was calm as it could possibly be.

"Quite the view, eh?" Jay asked as he sat down, legs dangling over the edge. "I told ya it'd be worth it," he added with a smirk.

"I don't know if I'd go that far. It's a good view and all, but I don't know if it's worth the trek it took to get here. Plus, we still have to go all the way back," Natalie pointed out as she sat down beside him.

"Just you wait. The view's gonna get about a hundred times better iiiiiin…" he trailed off as he looked down at his watch. "About two minutes."

Natalie leaned her head against Jay's shoulder. "So, how do you know about this place anyway?" she asked, hoping to pass the few minutes they had to wait. "You don't strike me as the kind of guy to be into hiking."

"This is where my mom proposed to my dad," he explained, looking up at the sky. "They'd come back here every year for their anniversary, and every once in a while, they'd take me with 'em." The expression on his face darkened. "After my dad disappeared a few years back, though, Mom started coming here a lot more often- reminiscing, I guess." He wrapped his arm around Natalie, pulling her in closer. Feeling her body against his put his mind at ease, at least to a degree. "Enough about that, though," he decided, shaking his head. "We're here to celebrate."

Natalie looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "I wouldn't know. You haven't told me jack about why we're out here freezing our asses off," she teased him.

Jay smiled. "You're not that big on surprises, are you, Nat?" He chuckled, turning to face her. "Close your eyes and hold out your hand," he told her.

She rolled her eyes before obliging. "Jay, if this is all gonna end up being overkill, I swear to god," she said with a smirk.

Jay didn't respond. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out two small pins. They both fit comfortably in the palm of his hand and they were identical in shape- bearing the emblem of Peacekeeping Squadron Violet. He slowly set one down in Natalie's hand and held the one in his hand next to hers.

"Alright, open," he told her.

Natalie paused for a moment as her eyes opened and she saw what sat in her hand. After realizing what the small piece of metal was and what it meant, her heart skipped a beat. She wanted to say something- anything- but she no combination of words would do her thoughts justice.

Jay remained grinning from ear-to-ear. "We made it- together." He looked at Natalie, hoping to see her just as happy as he was, but he couldn't tell what she was thinking. All she had was a blank stare as she looked at the pin in her hand. "Nat?" he finally asked. "You ok?"

Natalie put her free hand to the back of Jay's head and pulled it to hers until their lips locked. Slowly, her hand fell to his cheek and stayed there. Neither of them moved a single centimeter. They'd both been craving this moment for months, even if they didn't fully realize it. Now that they were here, though, there was a deep passion between them that transcended any language. Never before had this kind of love been shared between two people, and it would be a long time before it would ever be shared again. Both of them had gone through their own ordeals and lost so much in their own ways, but they would both do it all over again if it meant that it would lead to this moment.

Finally, the two pilots pulled apart from each other, and Jay saw Natalie with that smile of hers that he loved so dearly- the smile he was hoping to see the whole time. "Does that answer your question?" she asked, leaning back in to briefly kiss him on the cheek.

Jay chuckled. "I suppose it does." Suddenly, he saw a green hue in the corner of his eye and whipped his head back to the enedless stretch of ocean in front of him. "Oh, look, it's starting!"

Natalie followed his eager pointing to the night sky in front of them to be greeted by shimmering green and blue lights blanketing the sky. She'd seen pictures of an aurora borealis countless times, but to watch one with her own eyes felt so… surreal. She seemed to spend her whole life dealing with everything life could throw at her, so to finally have the opportunity to sit and admire the world's natural beauty for once was almost too much for her. It was as if someone was trying to tell her that everything was going to be alright from now on. She looked to the man sitting beside her- the man who completed her. The man who picked up the pieces of the life she thought was going nowhere and made her the person she always wanted to be.

"Alright, alright, I guess this was worth the walk up her," she finally said, smiling as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

Jay laughed. "I told ya so."

"Y'know… for a minute there, I was starting to think you were gonna put a ring in my hand," Natalie admitted.

"Oh? And what would you have said if I did?" he asked- his expression now turning to one of genuine curiosity.

Natalie smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know? Guess you'll have to ask me to find out."

"Heh. I think that'd be pushing Myers's limits a bit," Jay replied. "I can tell we drive him crazy." He looked back out at the northern lights. "Who knows, though, maybe once we're out of the air force we should settle down."

Suddenly, Natalie started laughing. "Y'know, it's funny."

"What is?"

"A few months ago I would've thought it'd be crazy to think about getting out of the air force. Now, here I am, after just getting into one of the most elite squadrons on the planet, and I'm already making plans for retirement."

Jay shrugged. "A lot can change in that time- sometimes for the worse, other times for the better."

"So what do you think, then? Are we jumping the gun on this?"

"Hell no," Jay replied instantly. If there's one thing that's not gonna change, it's the fact that I love you." He leaned in and kissed her. "I promise."

"Good. Because I don't think there's a single person on this earth that makes me feel more complete than you."

Jay let out a content sigh. "Well, I suppose we'd better get back before you get frostbite," he teased her.

Natalie looked from him back out to the ocean and the shimmering lights above. "What's the rush? We can stay a bit longer."

"Oh really? I thought you were freezing out here."

Natalie pressed her lips to his once more. "I was- for a long time. Not anymore, though, and not ever again."