"Nicky wait. Please" Hangman called running after her

"Leave me alone Seresin"

"Hey" grabbing her elbow, he pulled her into the men's locker room which was next to the bedrooms

"You don't know how to keep promises and you obviously don't know the meaning of don't talk to me anymore or leave me alone" she said trying to leave but he pulled her back pressing her against the wall "Let me go or I'll break your nose."

"If it makes you not mad at me anymore, then be my guest"

"Mad? Mad? That's not even close to what I'm feeling right now"

"I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry"

"You never want to hurt me. You always apologize but you never change. No matter how many chances I give you"

"Nicky please..."

"No Jake. It's over. Give up. I gave up" Hangman was frozen processing what he heard, letting her leave without being stopped this time.

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"I didn't order another one" said Nicky raising an eyebrow

"This one's on me" Penny with a fond look "What happened to make you like this?"

"Bottom line, Jake found a picture of my dad, I told him to keep it a secret and he promised he would. Then he started teasing Brad and broke his promise. He later called me a whore, I punched him, we got into an argument, and now everyone knows Brad and I are siblings" Nicky said at once, and when she stopped for a breath, she saw Penny with a frown.

"Wow" was all she managed to say

"Yeah" Nicky agreed with a sigh "Why are the men in my life complicated and can't understand each other? My brother seems to want to strangle Maverick every time he looks at his face. The guy I'm in love with is an idiot who provokes everyone, didn't trust me, and seems to take pleasure in teasing my brother for an unknown reason, but which must surely be silly"

"And you are in the middle of the three"

"Not anymore. I'm done. If they can't stop acting like that, that's their problem"

The bar door opened causing Penny to look up.

"Speaking of One of the Devils"

"Please tell me it's Mav" Nicky said with her eyes closed like she was praying

"For your luck, and my bad luck, yes it is" She said walking away

Nicky almost cheered. Almost.

"Drinking alone Swan?"  Maverick asked approaching

"Sit down and keep me company" She smirked at him

"Bradley won't like it if he finds out" he said sitting down next to her

"Let him deal with it" she shrugged

Penny returned carrying a bottle of beer for the captain.

Seeing the tension between them, Nicky waited for the woman to move away to attend to other customers.

"Is it going to take long for you to finally get together for good?"

"I could ask the same question about you and.."

"I don't want to talk about Jake" she interrupted

"He likes you"

"He demonstrated it very well"

"Nicky...."

"I don't want to talk about him" she repeated "I don't want to talk about him or Brad"

"What do you want to talk about then?"

"Anything but Tom and Jerry"

"Tom and Jerry?"

"That's what they are. Two fools who just fight and one moment will kill each other"

"Tom and Jerry are friends in the end"

"Their chances of getting along are the same as if I crashed with a plane. Now can we change the subject?"

"Okay" The captain finally agreed taking the first sip of his drink "I went to see Ice"

"How is he?"

Maverick sighed. He didn't need to answer.

"Supernova is trying to get out and he's blocking all her attempts"

"I still don't understand why he brought her back"

"He wants her to fly again"

"That everyone noticed. How many letters did he block?"

"Many"

"Hmm. This is strangely familiar. Just from another angle"

"I thought we weren't going to talk about your brother"

"I wasn't talking about him"

"This matter is related to him. So yes, you are talking about him"

"Shut up"

"I'm still your captain"

"Not off base"

"Right. Out here I'm your godfather"

"Shut up"

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