Nora is recovering from the bird fiasco in the bed next to Nat. The two get to chatting over their friendship to Sydney. Mav begins the game of dogfight football.

~~~~~~~~

"Should you be out here? Ejection can have some serious effects on the body," Nora raised an eyebrow at the blonde Texan. "Worried you'll get your ass beat?" She grinned.

~~~~~~~~

Nora woke up slowly. She felt sore and stiff. "What the hell happened?" She mumbled. "You ejected. Bird strike," A voice to her left said. "Nat, right?" Nora asked. Natasha nodded. "Yeah. Or, Phoenix. Bob and I ejected as well." She began to play with her IV line. "You'd think birds would know to avoid massive hunks of screeching metal in the air, wouldn't ya?" Nora snorted. "Yeah, well. Birds of a feather and all that,"

Nat frowned. "I don't think that's the saying,"

Nora sighed. "I dunno man. I'm on a lot of painkillers right now, so everything's kinda fuzzy and weird." She sighed heavily again, forcing her eyes to focus on the show playing in the background. "So.." Nat began a few minutes later. "How'd you know Sydney?" Nora hummed as she faced the fellow female pilot. "Syders? We've been friends since we were babies. Our dads were good friends." Nat tutted. "Yeah, she mentioned about hers and your dad. I'm sorry about him, by the way," Nora shrugged. "As much as I appreciate it, I wasn't even born when he died, so I s'pose it's a small blessing." She fingered the itchy blanket. "I don't have anything to remember him by, not like Bradley does,"

Nat sighed softly. "How about you?" Nora asked. "Oh, Sydney was paired with me when her pilot moved away somewhere down south. Now I know that was you," Nora chuckled quietly. "Yeah, my ex husbands job moved us to the asscrack of nowhere," Nat snorted. "Texas? Isn't it like, a huge city?" Nora shook her head. "Not where we lived. There was, obviously, but that was like an hour away by car. He worked from home a lot, so we bought a small countryside house with a few others nearby... made sending my daughter to school harder though. Buses were difficult to find. Poor thing had to change twice to get to school," Nat blinked. "You have a daughter?" Nora nodded, and with a smile, brought up a picture of Fallon. "She's my adopted daughter; technically my niece. But her mom died when she was about three months old, so we took custody,"

Nat made a sympathetic noise. "But yeah, I moved with James to Texas and flew from the naval base there for a while. Sydney came by to visit and stay as often as she could, but when she wasn't deployed, I was. We split up a few weeks ago, and I moved back here to be closer to my godfather, what with him being the only family I have," Nat frowned. "But you have Bradley?" Nora shook her head. "Nope. He said and did some horrid things to me before I moved. So we aren't on speaking terms right now... and I doubt we ever will be,"

~

"So what's the damage, cap-i-tan?" Nora asked. Maverick raised an eyebrow as he picked up her chart. "You were all quite lucky. The only major problems were sprains and bruises." He pointed to Nat. "Nat's bruised some ribs, Bob sprained his wrist, Sydney dislocated her arm and you sprained your ankle." He put the chart down. "You've all got small whiplash, but you've got grade 1 concussion as well."

Nora tutted. "So I'm fit as a fiddle then, eh?" He raised an eyebrow, casting a quick look over Nat's sleeping form. "How's Fallon? She came to visit you with some woman," Nora shifted in the bed. "She's good. She's eleven now. Won a few ice skating contests as well, which is cool." She winced. "Pardon the pun,"

Maverick snorted.

~

"Should you be out here? Ejection can have some serious effects on the body," Nora raised an eyebrow at the blonde Texan. "Worried you'll get your ass beat?" She grinned. "Nah, just playing the concerned gentleman. It's not like you'll win," Jake goaded. Nora raised an eyebrow. "And yet, I've been the only one to out-fly your cocky little ass, Hangman," She patted him on the shoulder. "GAME ON, LADS!"

Nora stripped herself of the t-shirt she wore, leaving her in her black shorts and sports bra. Everyone gathered at the volleyball net, the game commencing. The first serve from Nora was nasty, Jake and Bradley glancing at each other, realising she meant business.

When asked, Sydney and Bob refused to play, both claiming they felt too sore after the ejections.

So, back and forth the game went, Nora, Jake, and Coyote scoring points. Jake, Bradley, and Nat started to catch up until they were at an annoying tie of 5-5.

"This finishes it," Jake declared.

Nora shot a menacing look, at Bradley. Nat chuckled. "Damn, I didn't realise you were this competitive,"

Nora huffed, shaking the anger out. "Yeah... just competitive,"

The serve was up on Bradley's part. He hit it over the net and Jake hurried to bring it back. As it flew over the net, Nora easily swatted the ball back over before Nat saw an opening to sneak past. Nora squeaked as she dove into the sand in order to hit the ball. It bounced over the edge as Nat swatted it back over, Jake jumped into the air and hit it hard across the net, sending it directly past the guys and thus, scoring the win.

"WE WON!" Coyote cried. Nora groaned as she pushed herself up from the sand, Jake extending a hand. "Shit Jesus, landing on your boobs isn't the most comfortable thing," She winced. Nora rolled her eyes when Jake sent a look her way. "I don't need to go to medical, I'm fine. Try landing on your balls, then tell me it don't hurt," She took a few breaths, rubbing her sore chest. Jake hummed.

"Whatever," He walked off, smirking slightly.

Nora shook her head as she walked off as well. She followed him to the car park, where her bike laid nicely against the bollard. Conveniently, Jake's truck was to its left. She leaned against the side as she rifled through her purse, making sure nobody had called.

3 missed calls: Fallon school
5 missed calls: Fallon

Worry shot like a bolt through her heart. "Oh shit," She swore. "Everything ok?" She heard the all-too familiar texan lilt. "No, my daughter's tried ringing me..." She said as she dialled them back. "Hello, this is Maddison speaking," Nora bit her nail. "Hey Maddison, it's Nora, Fallon's mom. I have some missed calls, is everything ok?" Maddison appeared to hand the phone over. "Mom?" Fallon croaked. "Hey baby, what's the matter? Is everything ok?" She asked. "No, I wanna come home," She cried. Nora cast a look around. "Ok. Do we need to go to the emergency room, or straight home honey?"

"I dunno... probably home,"

Nora nodded to herself. "Ok. I'll be there in less than thirty minutes, ok honey? I promise, I'll be super quick," She hung up the call, frantically berating herself for not using her own truck. "Is she ok?" Nora sighed as she glanced up. "I dunno. I was playing fucking volleyball while my kid needed me," She rubbed her head. "God, I'm the worst,"

Jake sighed. "You're not the worst, otherwise you wouldn't feel like this," She sighed. "Where does she go?" He asked. "The middle school off Jefferson." Nora answered. Jake opened his passenger door. "Come on, I'll give you a ride,"