To RAF Mildenhall- Wednesday Fandom time

[solo_sword]

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.]

Comments

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"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.

[solo_sword]

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."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

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."

[solo_sword]

"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.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

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

[solo_sword]

"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."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"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."

[solo_sword]

"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.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"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.

[solo_sword]

"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?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

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.

[solo_sword]

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.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

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."

[solo_sword]

"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.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

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

[solo_sword]

"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.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"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.

[solo_sword]

"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."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

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

[solo_sword]

"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."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"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.

[solo_sword]

"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.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

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.

[solo_sword]

"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.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"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."