solo_sword | To RAF Mildenhall- Wednesday Fandom time

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To RAF Mildenhall- Wednesday Fandom time

To say Jaina had some nerves going would be putting it lightly. If you'd told her a week ago that she'd be in England to meet up with her ex who... well, saying he might not be her ex anymore felt like jinxing it so she was really not going to say that. But if you told her she'd be in England to see him, she would have looked at you funny and said it wasn't going to happen.

Yet here she was.

Of course, her portal ended up being early, so Jaina waited as patiently as she could with her bag slung over her shoulder, scanning the crowd like she wouldn't sense him before she saw him.

[For whatshisface.]

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It was just his luck that her portal would be early and he'd be right on time, not wanting to seem as eager as he was to see her after fifteen months, no matter how that last meeting had gone.

When he spotted Jaina, John waved and hurried over, like she wouldn't notice him and his crazy hair from afar.

Yeah, it grew back and he just kept forgetting to cut it again. Regs were easy enough to work around in the Air Force.

Jaina hadn't been expecting the hair. Last time she'd seen him, it had still been short, and it was sad to say that her smile actually grew at seeing it. She couldn't help it, it was just so John.

She'd given up on the butterflies in her stomach. She'd gotten those the entire time they'd been together, she got them now, she was just accepting that it happened, and that it was probably a good thing. "Hi," she greeted him, trying to dampen down the smile even a little and failing completely.

His hand rubbed the back of his neck when he got close enough to stop, not sure of the appropriate greeting here. "Hey," he said, finally deciding to reach for her bag even though she was already proving herself capable of carrying it.

She started to hand it over, but midway through the gesture she realized that she hadn't so much as touched him- Fandom weirdness aside- in three and a half months, and she was tired of waiting. So rather than handing over the bag, she went right for the hug.

Screw it, they deserved it.

Four and a half years on his end, John wasn't rejecting a hug. Instead he was bending down extra to squeeze her tightly, lifting her up off the ground a bit in his enthusiasm. "It's been a long time," he murmured just for her to hear.

"But we're here," she murmured back, and realized she really, really didn't want to let go. And because of that, she warned, "You may be stuck with me like this."

"That's gonna make getting to my place really interesting," he said, laughing lightly and stroking his hand over her hair.

"We'll manage," she said, pulling back enough to really look at him, looking for changes. Of course there was the obvious one, "You grew it back."

He started to tilt his head, not knowing what she meant and then realized with an aww shucks sort of grin and chin duck. "Yeah, I didn't cut it for a while and then just kept it."

She'd so missed that specific smile from him. She didn't know what it was, she just loved seeing it. "Continue to keep it," she said. "It's a good look for you."

"Yeah? I kinda missed it." John wasn't sure what else he could say. He'd missed a lot of other things, but wasn't trying to start anything here, before they'd talked.

She was thinking much the same way, which was why she finally grudgingly loosened her grip on him. "Should we get going?" Now that she'd dislodged herself.

"Yeah, I've got a ride waiting and everything," he said, stealing her bag by the strap and reaching for her hand under the guise of guiding her through the airport. Because it was so crowded and foreign.

Taking his hand and squeezing it, Jaina let him lead her through the airport. Because it was so crowded and foreign. Actually it was because he probably had a better idea of where they were going than she did, and she wanted to get someplace they could really talk. "So where are we headed?" she wondered. "I don't really know anything about where you are right now."

"To the car I borrowed," he replied cheekily. "And then to my flat. Welcome to the United Kingdom, everyone here talks like they're Ben."

"So I should feel right at home," she said lightly. "Does this mean I can't call it an apartment unless I want people glaring at me?"

"That's right," John agreed. "But sometimes the glaring is part of the fun." He'd always enjoyed pushing the buttons of interesting people. "I can give you a tour of Mildenhall in about five minutes and then later I'll show you where I really spend my down time."

Jaina traveled so much that she didn't usually want to even get a tour, figuring she'd see what she needed to see when she needed to see it. But the places John lived were different, like what he showed her told her something about him. "Would you tell me where if I asked?"

"Yes," he said teasingly, leading her away.

A couple hours or so later there'd been a tour of town accompanied by far too much talk about the which side of the road John should be driving on and then a walking tour of the base while John talked about all the different things he'd been getting to fly over the last four years and then answered all her dozens of questions on the topic. Really, they were doing very well at this whole strange meeting up thing.

After showing her around the small yet furnished flat, he'd gotten them drinks and taken a seat so the real staring could begin.

This was the part she'd both been looking forward to and dreading, not wanting this to go wrong. They'd both been through the emotional ringer on this enough, even if it happened at different times and paces, and if this ended up being another disappointment...

So she went for direct. "We haven't been awkward yet and I don't want to start now," Jaina said. "I've missed you in completely insane ways."

That was very direct, but it had him moving closer to her on the couch rather than farther away. "I think I've been pretty clear on how much I agree with that feeling," John added. "But I won't assume I'm the same guy you missed."

"I won't either. I don't know that I'm the same person I was the last time I saw you. It just means we have to get to know each other again. I'm sure it'll be a complete chore," she said with a little smile.

"Sounds like actual work," he said, flaring his nostrils in disgust. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"For now? There is that talking thing that helps with that," she teased. "We ask questions, catch each other up on what's going on with us... It doesn't even hurt."

"Maybe not to you," he half-teased back. "But okay, talking. So, I still like football, and not that fake stuff with actual kicking the people outside of the US watch. I'm talking real, American football with the pigskin ball."

"Tahiri's sport, right," Jaina nodded. "That doesn't tell me much about how you've been doing, though." And that was really what she was concerned with.

"Honestly?" His eyes may have gone a little sad there. "I've been doing good since the transfer, but last year was kind of rough going. Doubt it compares to final battle bad stuff, but certainly not anyone's idea of fun." And definitely not John's.

"One day versus a year... They can't really be compared," she said. She was willing to bet his was worse, actually, and she was really glad he was talking. "Can I ask what happened?"

She could always ask, he just might not always answer as fully as she would hope. "Well, you know how it goes. They send me on missions, I'm gone one or two or ten days and I come back. This apparently isn't something people who might live with you enjoy. Especially when you fail to bring back your best friend." It was the only way he knew how to tell her. The words 'Mitch is dead' still didn't come out of his mouth.

It was entirely possible that in all that time, he'd found another best friend, but Jaina was really afraid she knew who he meant. Which wasn't easy to hear in the slightest, but this wasn't about her. And since she was fully allergic to 'I'm sorry' at times like this, he was just getting another hug.

That was probably the best response he could've hoped for and now intended to not actually let her go. The words seemed to just keep coming once they'd started. "Yeah, so then a few months later getting shot down and stranded in the desert was fun, too. Especially coming home to an empty place. So I'd say I like this new command better. Got a promotion out of it, too."

"Those seem to come out of the worst assignments," she said, rubbing a hand over his back. She wasn't entirely good at comforting, but she was trying. "She left while you were on assignment?" So the coward's way out.

"It doesn't matter now," he said, leaning back just enough to look at her. "There's no changing things that happened."

"Maybe not, but it did happen, and if you're willing to share, I want to know," Jaina told him. "Well, actually I want to know anyway, but I'm not going to push." Definitely not pushing in this conversation.

"I kind of failed at it," he shrugged, realizing the failure there might impact whatever thing this was happening between them now. "Don't get me wrong, I tried as hard as I could, but there was really no good enough -- Not with what I do everyday." John didn't know how to explain that Nancy was worse than he was with waiting for news about potentially dead loved ones.

"I kind of got that from her message," she admitted, and on that front she actually felt sort of bad for Nancy. "Some people just really aren't equipped to handle that sort of job. I've seen it be really hard on my parents, and they met doing dangerous stuff."

"I thought you were disregarding that message?" John replied, honing in on that part with a frown, yes.

"I still heard it, and it was a little on the unforgettable side," she pointed out. "I'm not taking it to heart or anything."

"Good, because anything she said was probably based more on bitterness than fact, especially if she'd been drinking," he said, reaching a hand up to smooth over her hair.

"Yeah, I tried to take that into account after the initial shock. And for what it's worth, I am sorry it didn't work out, in a way. I know you wanted it to." Now that she was here, saying that wasn't hard. She hadn't really known anyone who went through their marriage actually ending, and she could only imagine how rough that had to be.

Okay, color John surprised by Jaina actually sounding sincere about that. "Thanks, that means a lot coming from you. But in the end, maybe it worked out the way it needed to." Given the way no one was happy.

"Life's funny like that sometimes," she said dryly. "You really didn't deserve all that to happen, though. I just wish there was something I could have done to help." You know, instead of making things more complicated. Which was why she understood why she couldn't have helped. They were complicated.

"It was complicated," he shrugged. And she had stayed away mostly, once he asked and got her mad about it. "But now you're here. I kinda haven't gotten over that part."

"I can't get over that you asked," Jaina said. "I really thought I'd end up leaving a message on your voicemail and that would be it."

"So you didn't expect to be sitting this close to me at any point?" John asked, scooting a hair closer.

Her stomach actually did a little flip at that. "Didn't even dream I would be," she said with a smile, finally allowing herself to slide her hand to the back of his neck.

"You almost didn't," he said, looking into her amazing brandy-brown eyes. "But mostly because I had to buy a sofa."

"I think we would have managed just fine," she said, leaning forward and stopping just short of his lips.

John smirked at her hesitation and leaned forward murmuring, "Always making me do all the work," before attempting to kiss her.

Unable to keep the smile off her face, she kissed him back, starting off slow in order to really enjoy it. And to let it sink in that she was actually kissing him again. She really hadn't though it would have happened not long ago.

Them together couldn't possibly be a good idea, but it felt right and John really had missed her, so he took his time remembering how this worked for them.

The fact that it felt right was exactly why Jaina was beginning to think this was a good idea. When a guy could still make you feel sixteen in all the good ways, he was maybe worth holding onto.

And she took the opportunity to slide her hand into his hair. She'd been dying to do that since she saw him.

His grin grew in response to her hand and he pulled back just enough to form words between kisses, having missed her particular brand of enthusiasm. "You--remind me--of this girl--I dated--in college."

There really weren't words for how much she'd missed this. Maybe there were in some language she wasn't fluent in, but she doubted it. "Just a coincidence," she murmured, kissing him again, "Really."

"Nice coincidence," he returned, cupping her face with his hand and sliding his fingers into her hair before leaning ever closer. John was really glad he'd invested in the throw pillows.

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To RAF Mildenhall- Wednesday Fandom time

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