Chapter 7

After the eventful night that was Carter showing up out of the blue, the Floyd Family had an equally as eventful morning. 

Once everyone in the house was awake and eating breakfast, the real question came out. 

"What are you doing here Carter? How did you even find us? We didn't give anyone the address!" Malina asks her best friend. 

Carter shrugs his shoulders. "We just wrapped up a case not far from here. And you did tell me you would be in this part of California. I just tracked your phone for your location." 

Mal and Bob both opened their mouths to complain about the invasion of privacy and misuse of government resources before Carter continued. "And before you say anything, you shared your location with me the last time we met up and never unshared it. I literally just used 'find my friend', no government resources were used." 

You see, Carter wasn't just Malina's best friend. He was also an FBI Special Agent. He floated where he was needed and had, apparently, finished a case nearby. 

The problem is, Carter had been reprimanded on multiple occasions for using his access to FBI resources for his own use, mostly to find friends or family. But Malina is always quick to remind him of these incidents so he doesn't do it again. 

As Mal and Carter continue to bicker about him randomly showing up with absolutely zero warning, Bob gets a message from Maverick. 

'No training today. Meet me at the Hard Deck beach at 10 am. Don't be late.' 

Interrupting the still arguing pair, Bob shows his wife the message. They both shrug before looking at Carter. 

The man in question had just stuffed half a pancake into his mouth. "What?" was the muffled question. 

Bob rolls his eyes before walking over to the dogs and clipping on their leashes. Malina waits until Carter has finally swallowed the poor pancake. 

"How do you feel about a beach day?"

☽☆☾   ☽☆☾   ☽☆☾

The three adults and two dogs pulled up to the beach about ten minutes before the scheduled meeting time. 

Bob went ahead to meet the rest of his team as Carter assisted Mal with the dogs. Though, Mal did go inside the bar to check with Penny that her dogs were OK to be in the bar if they got too overheated. 

Maverick had appeared in that time to explain what they were doing on the beach instead of in their jets. It was a team building exercise Maverick liked to call 'Dogfight Football'. 

Before the game got started, Maverick spotted Malina and waved her over. The dogs were off their leashes and bound over to the group, excited for so many new people. Phoenix was the first on the ground, happily receiving the kisses from the dogs and giving plenty of pats. 

"Hi everyone. This is my best friend Carter," Mal introduces the new face before anyone can ask. 

Carter waves. "Call me Cal. Most people do." 

Phoenix makes eye contact with Malina before mouthing "this one?" referring to their initial conversation a few days ago. Mal nods her head, leading Phoenix to shrug. She'd have to see as the day went on. 

"Anyone else have more surprise people showing up?" Fanboy asked the group. Between Malina, Hangman's girls, and now this Carter 'Cal' guy, he didn't know how many more people he could take. 

Bob laughed lightly. "We should be good. Cal surprised us too, so you're not alone." 

The man shrugged. "Sorry, I just wanted to visit my best friend and her hubby since I finally had time. Sue me." His hands were up in surrender. 

That got the group laughing. Once it died down, Hangman needed to make an announcement. 

"Just an FYI, Reyna and Mari will be showing up at some point. The women from the other day. Just so no one is surprised." 

And because they all wanted to know, Phoenix took the leap and asked the question. "Who exactly are these women to you, Bagman? That girl didn't want to let you go." 

Hangman sighed, knowing this was coming sooner or later. "Reyna is my fiancé. Mari is her younger sister." 

And since no one was expecting that answer, everyone yelled out, "fiancé?!" 

Hangman simply raised an eyebrow, refusing to answer any more questions while Coyote laughed. Clearly, being Jake's best friend had its perks. They couldn't pry any info out of him either. 

Maverick, looking at the time, decided it was finally game time. "Alright everyone, split into teams. The game is about to start." 

With that, the most chaotic game of football commenced. All the men, minus Bob, had their shirts off within the first ten minutes. Blue and red foam footballs flew every which way. 

Carter and Malina had hooked the dogs back up so they didn't go running into the fray. They couldn't understand what was happening. It appeared to be offense and defense at the same time. 

At one point Maverick had the ball, and then suddenly Hangman had it. Rooster and Phoenix scored touchdowns for their respective teams at the same time. Coyote gets the ball from Rooster before running it across the beach and scoring again. 

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on who you ask, Reyna and Maribel show up right as Rooster and Coyote chest bump. And a weird shimmy dance was done, one the girls aren't sure they could forget if they tried. (They didn't try very hard, to be honest.) 

Since Mal and Reyna had bumped into each other already, Rey dragged Mari over to her. "Hey Lina, long time no see." The two women let out laughs. "Hi Reyna." 

Mal looks at the teenage girl next to her. "You must be Mari. I ran into your sister yesterday." 

Mari smiles at her, though it doesn't reach her eyes. "Yea that's me. She did mention that, though I don't think she mentioned a name." 

"Technically it's Malina but most people call me Mal or Lina. And this is my best friend Carter, though most people call him Cal." She fills the girl in. 

Mari laughs. "Mal and Cal?" 

The best friends smirk. "Not the first time we've heard that one, won't be the last," Carter comments. 

Risky had been sniffing Mari before recognizing Reyna and immediately going to her for pets. "Hi boy, you're full of energy today, huh?" 

The game behind the new group of four has continued in the most chaotic of ways. More scores were gotten, but no one was really keeping score. 

At one point, Hangman got a touchdown, held the red ball and yelled out in pure excitement and joy. The adrenaline was pumping through his veins, throwing the ball behind him and leading the others to fall down in sync. 

Mari had to roll her eyes and clap in front of her sister's face. "Don't give me that look. I'm allowed to drool over my fiancé." 

Mari gags. "Doesn't mean I need to see it. It's nauseating." 

Mal and Carter laugh. "Here, Risky should be a good distraction for you. Just throw the ball around for him, he'll do most of the work." 

She does just that as Reyna looks to Mal in thanks. 

The adults look back at the game in time to see Maverick leaving, to a mix of boos and taunts, only to witness Bob catching the ball from Hangman and scoring. 

Now it's Mal's turn to scream in joy. "Yea, baby, let's go!" In turn, Carter is now gagging with Reyna laughing. 

The rounds go on for a little while longer, eventually even getting Hondo involved. But the sun is beginning to get low in the sky and the group of aviators and family realize they haven't eaten practically all day. 

Penny is one step ahead, as always. She calls them all in, food ready to be served to the ravenous beach goers. 

They eat outside, since it's still nice out. The aviators get to know the surprise guests a bit more as well. 

Carter comes out swinging with the information that he is FBI, which no one had anticipated. (He doesn't exactly look like someone who would work for the FBI, but he likes to separate work from private life whenever he can.) 

"Just finished a case, my team went back to DC but I had some vacation days to use," he tells Coyote who asked why he stayed in California. 

Reyna brings the biggest shock when she reveals that she and Jake have been together for almost eight years, engaged for two. She gives Jake a kiss on the cheek as Mari comes up behind the man to hang on his shoulders. "My big brother, always the asshole." 

That gets a laugh from everyone, even Reyna as Jake fake laughs. "Ha, ha. You are so funny," he deadpans before gripping her arms so she couldn't get away and standing up. Mari has to quickly monkey onto his back so she doesn't fall and Jake goes running down the beach. 

Their laughter fills the night air, letting Reyna breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe, just maybe, Mari would get through this time without too many hardships. 

Phoenix is the one to bring the conversation back. "You know, you surprise me almost as much as they do," she nodded over at Bob and Mal. Looking right at the couple, she continues. "You are not at all who I pictured Bob to be with. That's a compliment! I love you!"

Jake and Mari make their way back, the teenager still on his back as the group recovers from Phoenix's statement. 

Malina passes around her camera to show some of the shots she got during their day. Quite a few shots of the game were just beautifully lit, she got some shots of Mari and Reyna laughing at something Jake had done. Carter had even got a shot of Mal taking a picture of him. 

(Mal promised to send the photos to Reyna, as she got a lot of shots of a smiling and happy Mari and Jake. She could never have enough photos of them.)

Penny comes over to refill drinks, but Malina refuses another, requesting a glass of water instead. 

Payback notices. "Not one for drinking, Mal?" 

She shrugs, Bob gripping her hand under the table. "I can't drink a lot." 

Coyote, a few drinks deep, lets out a laugh. "Too much of a lightweight?" 

Carter shakes his head, laughing under his breath. He had been there during Mal's drunken stupors, and they were many, many drinks deep for those. 

Malina shakes her head. "No, I'm diabetic." 

That stops everyone in their tracks. Coyote looks somewhere between stunned and apologetic. Before he can apologize, however, Mal holds up her hand. "Don't worry, it's not like I'm embarrassed about it. Just have to watch what I eat and drink. Besides, that's what Nala's for." 

Rooster recovered from the information first. "I did notice she had a Service Dog vest on when we first met on base." 

Bob leaned down to rub Nala's head. "Yea, she's trained to detect and alert Mal if her blood sugar drops or is too high." 

Not wanting him to be left out, Mal also gives Risky some pets. "And this guy here is a therapy dog. Trained to assist in panic and anxiety attacks as well as depressive episodes. I take him to hospitals all the time for some K-9 therapy." 

The group is highly impressed that both dogs are trained for such important tasks. Mari speaks up first. "We could definitely use one of those back home. I know plenty of kids who need some K-9 therapy." 

Risky trotts over to the teen, laying his head into her lap. She laughs lightly, rubbing his snout. "Oh they would be all over you buddy." 

Reyna shares a look with Jake before she makes eye contact with Malina. Mal nods her head in silent communication. 

If Mari needed some K-9 therapy of her own, Mal would be there in a heartbeat. 

The rest of the night passed fairly quietly. The now exhausted team of aviators had to actually get some rest before they got back into their planes the next morning. 

So with a good night to all, everybody went their separate way, looking forward to their beds. 

It was the best night sleep any of them had gotten since this detachment had begun. 


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Word count: 2,075

PHEW!!! That was a lot. I was so looking forward to this chapter, I had so many ideas. I hope you all liked it, and my proper intro into three new OCs. 

Carter 'Cal', Reyna, and Mari are some of my favorite creations and their relationships with their respective people are just too adorable. 

And if you're interested in more Reyna, Mari and Jake, have no fear. We will be touching on them some more in future chapters, as well as some bonus material I already have planned. 

But that's all for now, see you next chapter. Bye guys!!

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