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wexhappyxfew · 14 days

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guide and guard

(a/n): the silver bullets girls before heading off on the schweinfurt-regensburg mission (and their chaotic early-morning discussions). also featuring annie x brady (if you squint... haha) as well as the general camaraderie of the silver bullets crew! :) please enjoy! this was a fun one that i've had on the brain for a while! :D

"30 more minutes of this fog and I'm gonna lose my mind." Carrie admonished through their comms system, her voice crackling over into Annie's ears, snippy and quick, with a bit of a kick behind it, "20 past six in the morning and it feels like it's midday."

"What the fuck is up with your internal clock?" Kennedy called back through comms, "Are you….God, what's it called, nocturnal, yeah, you nocturnal, Lieutenant? Oughta let the world know about that one."

"Alright, alright…." Francis called as Annie snickered in the cockpit, "nocturnal or not, the sun's barely risen, Carrie, how you think it's already midday?"

"Just feel like it, you don't feel it?"

"'fraid not." Francis called back.

"I'm still trying to work that coffee into my system, it feels like it's three am or something," Vivian said, stifling a yawn out to follow, "if it were midday, you'd be bouncing off the walls, Lieutenant."

"That's actually not entirely accurate, Ratcliff, but I appreciate your enthusiasm," Carrie called, "I'm just saying, this bombsight's ready to get her target, and drop those bombs. Sitting on a foggy tarmac ain't gonna do a thing."

"Hey, shit like this rolls in off of Lake Michigan and you thank God you're in your house and not outside. Kid brother said he saw a ghost one time." Margie called through the comms, munching on something from above - probably peanuts, she always had those things shoved in a pocket somewhere.

"A ghost?" questioned Judy, "That ain't a thing, Margie-"

"Oh yes it," Margie said quickly back, as a string of sighs echoed over the comms, "I swear to you all. Listen, listen, ghost, a deer, whatever, creepy as all get-out. He swore to it though."

"Should I even ask how old you were?" Francis said, leaning back against her co-pilot seat, eyes shut, attempting to nap, but listening to the symphony of the conversation running about.

"15, Lieutenant," Margie answered, "Jem was 6 - but hey, listen, that's not the point. The point is this fog is spooky shit and you start trying to fly in it, you'll disappear like…man, what - hey Viv, what was that pilot's name-"

"Amelia Earhart?" Viv offered, "Margie, you said 6-"

"6 I tell you!" Margie said, "But yeah, yeah, Earhart - I'm glad they grounded us here. Don't gotta risk our necks flying in a soup like this."

"With Bradshaw though, I'd trust her to fly us to hell and back if I'm being honest," Bessie called, "nothing a little fog'll do to Bradshaw, isn't that right, Annie?"

"Quite an ambitious thing to say, Bes, but I'll take the compliment." Annie called back, a few chuckles ringing over the comms at her words.

"You hear that? Lieutenant Bradshaw taking a compliment. Never thought I'd live to see the day, Lieutenant." Paulina called and the comms broke into chuckles.

"Hey, Bucky told Bradshaw she was a good pilot the other day and all she did was nod at him and pat his back, so," Marianne started, "I'd consider that the Lieutenant has bested Bucky Egan himself."

"Gotta admit, Lieutenant," Margie called over comms, "that was pretty damn funny."

"Humility never hurt a soul." Annie called back and the chuckles that broke out through comms were far more entertaining then they'd be in days.

"Neither does humbling," Carrie called, "well-"

"Hey, Margie, I think I see your ghost now!" Judy called.

"Judy! I thought you were on my side at least!" Margie said, with a chuckle, as Judy giggled again.

"Nah, that's just Brady," Kennedy called, "what the hell does he want?" Carrie snickered over the radio and Francis cracked an eye.

"He's come to see his lady." Francis said with a smirk over the radio. Annie's cheeks flamed and her eyes grew wide and she shoved Francis' shoulder, laughter echoing over the comms.

"He's just a friend." murmured Annie, trying to distract herself from her cheeks and the thought of Brady coming towards Silver Bullets, and for what reason, she didn't know.

"Howdy-do, Lieutenant Brady, what can I help you with?" Margie's voice echoed over the radio, "Or actually better yet - can you help us? Are we wheels up yet?" Whatever the response was no one heard, except for Margie's snort of laughter and a slap on the knee.

"Lieutenant Bradshaw!" Margie called, "Lieutenant Brady is in dire need of your assistance!" Annie watched as Francis snickered - to which Annie shoved her shoulder again and she slid past the top turret which Margie had swiftly removed herself from and dropped below, landing beside Margie, before crouching and seeing Brady's head just past the open latch.

"Hey," Annie said, and Brady, grinning, nodded to her.

"How's it going?" he asked her and she briefly caught Margie staring her down, Bessie and Carrie peaking out from the nose, curiously watching her.

"Good, good, what's up?" Annie said, before her mind seemed to recalculate a few things and she nodded at him, "Here, let's talk outside."

"What? And have us miss out on all this, Lieutenant?" Margie whispered to her as she sat on the edge of the latch. Annie gave her a look, to which Margie promptly laughed at, and then she disappeared, jumping down onto the tarmac. Looking up, in the incredibly dense fog that she could barely see much farther than in front of her with, she found Brady there.

"Whatever Margie said, I'm not a part of it," Annie said, with her hands up, as if in surrender, "that's just Margie for you." Brady chuckled and then nodded to her.

"She might've said something along the lines of that you were just itching to get off of the ground," Brady said, "that you needed someone to talk you off the ledge. I told her that didn't sound like the Annie Bradshaw I knew, but." Brady smirked at her expression and she shook her head with a laugh, watching Brady's eyes through the fog for a moment before nodding.

"That's not what you're really here for though, right?" Annie said, looking at him from underneath her own peak cap, before tilting her head, "Checking up on us?" She watched Brady smile, in that uncontrolled way where he didn't even seem to realize he was looking as happy as a lark, but then he seemed to come around and fess up, and nodded firmly.

"Yeah," he admitted, before chuckling, "I was trying to, I don't know…"

"Find a way around that…. in a way?" Annie said with a small chuckle and he shrugged his shoulders before crossing his arms.

"And also, just to say, it's our longest mission yet, deepest into Germany, so….if you all gotta bail out, just….try and keep your numbers. You don't know what they could do to you if you drop into Germany. As a pilot." And as a woman, Annie thought, but she didn't want to ponder that too hard. Annie watched his face change for a moment as he mulled it over and then nodded.

"But I know you'll all be fine though, Silver Bullets is always ole reliable," Brady said with a smile, looking back towards the plane, before looking to her, his voice growing serious and firm, "best of luck to you, Lieutenant." Annie smiled at him, her heart feeling warm from his tender gesture and she stuck out a gloved hand, to which he shook firmly, his touch lingering a bit longer than what any average handshake would've been.

That's not to say she's complaining though.

"You too." she said, before they dropped hands and she gripped her straps of the webbing and smirked at him, "See ya in Algeria!" And with that, she turned, glancing back over her shoulder with a wave and watched him disappear with that grin into the fog. Her heart pounded a bit, she thought she could've said something better, but she didn't ruminate. Heading back towards the B-17 standing in her foggy, silhouetted beauty, she smiled to herself before she began to hear footsteps somewhere behind her.

"Hey…Annie, wait up." she heard Brady call from behind her. Annie came to a pause near the nose of Silver Bullets, and turned to see Brady coming towards her. She caught his eyes, trying to dissect a bit of that worried haze in his eyes and found him instead, coming up directly to her, and wrapping his arms around her in a hug that engulfed her into his being and knocked her peak cap right off the top of her head, with a plonk onto the ground.

For a moment, she froze there, realizing every inch of him that touched her being, his breath in her ear, his pounding heart against her own chest.

Realization and the weight of everything seemed to kick in and she wrapped her arms around his form and found a brief moment to let herself smile into his touch and his want. The want for human touch in a moment that seemed distant.

Their friendship hadn't really gotten to this level - sure it was dancing, the crosswalk between laughing and flirting (maybe), the smiles, the buying each other drinks (he always did), even those looks that lasted longer than they should've - they had never initiated this. And it made her heart race. In an instance, Brady pulled back and held her by the shoulders, and gazed at her eyes for a moment.

"You okay?" she asked, taking her hands onto his arms and rubbing them gently, smiling slightly, "You scared me for a second there, running up behind me like that."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, smiling at her, and then rubbing her shoulders, "just….figured you needed that. You and I both, ya know." She watched him and then slowly nodded with a small smile.

"Thanks." she said softly and he smiled briefly before looking to her head.

"Shit, sorry," he said, breaking from her touch to reach down to the ground and pull the cap up, before placing it on her head, his fingertips lingering back her ears and cheeks, "sorry about that." Annie smiled and adjusted it slightly on her head before looking at him.

"Don't you worry your pretty little face about that, okay?" Annie said, before patting his shoulder, her face falling a bit as her heart shuttered a few misaligned beats, "Be careful up there, alright?" Brady nodded at her with a smile and then placed a hand on her shoulder and held it there for a moment longer.

"You too. Just….stay safe." he said and she smiled at him with a wide grin, before squeezing his shoulder and stepping away towards the latch to the belly of the B-17.

Annie couldn't force herself to watch him walk away because then a part of her would go with him and she couldn't focus on that now. She had a fort to position over Germany to drop bombs on the enemy.

Pulling herself inside, she heard Carrie yelling about something over the headset, Paulina yelling back, which made her chuckle. Pulling herself back into the cockpit, she saw Francis smugly watching her as she settled into the left side.

"What's that look for?" muttered Annie, strapping herself in and adjusting on the headset.

"-and I swear to you, Dougie was trying his best, but it was damn-near pathetic alright?-" Annie pulled one ear of the headset off as Paulina went to counter and looked to Francis who was still sitting there smug as anything.

"What'd he want, huh?" Francis asked, "C'mon, spill, or else I'll be bothering you as we head up. So, what was it?"

"He just wanted to tell us to be careful. Long mission and all, deep into enemy territory. He was just being nice." Annie offered, "It was sweet of him."

"So was that hug." Francis said with a snicker and Annie shoved her shoulder, before flipping her the bird and shaking her head, "Alright, just kidding, I think we'll be wheels up soon anyway, so, we should wrangle them all in, huh?"

"That's right," Annie said, popping on the two headset ears and adjusting properly, "hey, everyone, listen up. It'll be wheels up soon. Stop arguing about whatever Dougie was pathetically doing, we've got a fort to fly!" Francis looked over at her with a smirk, before nodding and looking ahead.

"When we're set, I'll give everyone a checklist, countdown, alright?" Francis said.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Yes, Lieutenant." Annie looked forward and slowly narrowed her eyes towards the foggy sky.

Guide and guard, she seemed to whisper to herself in her head like a mantra - over and over.