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“Are you going to have a litter like Armadillo?”
“Nope. Stopping at three,” Valkyrie joked. “They are getting to know me a little too well at labor and delivery.”
“Did ya’ pass out when Nicolette arrived, too?” Alpo grinned – only to have Valkyrie shove at his head. “Hey! I’m sympathizing! I was sobbing like a baby when Glory had the c-section, and we were done.”
“I think we all cried like a baby.”
“Not me,” Firefly bragged, and Ricochet hesitated.
“Betsy is from your wife’s previous marriage though, right?”
“Yup – so technically – I haven’t passed out, ‘cause I haven’t been there yet.”
“True,” Alpo chuckled, crunching on a piece of ice. “Man, I stink. I need a shower before I go hugging on my wife.”
“I don’t,” Thumper muttered. “Harley likes her man sweaty.”
“Oh gawshhhh,” Alpo muttered. “My sister, bro?! Let me gouge out my eyeballs now at the mental image.”
“Then quit picturing it, dummy,” Firefly grinned. “Mel likes me sweaty, too. I understand, Thumper. Oh dude, I just got it… is that you how you got your call sign? You make Harley’s bed thump on the wall?”
Alpo started making gagging sounds and gave Firefly the finger, while everyone else roared with laughter – including Destiny. Killian glanced up at her, meeting her eyes, and felt his heart warm knowing that she fit right into his world so perfectly.
“Sure, Firefly,” Thumper said, blushing. “You can think that, but the real reason isn’t nearly so grand and doesn’t bear repeating.”
“Bad case of nerves,” Valkyrie volunteered.
“Lame,” Firefly said drolly, and winked at Killian.
“I like Firefly’s theory much better.”
“Ricochet? How’d you get your call sign? Did you pick it?” Valkyrie asked.
“Nahh,” Killian admitted. “I was so nervous the first day of flight training school that I was all over the place and could barely form a coherent thought when the instructors called on me…”
“Who’d you have?”
“’Eraser’Gibbons…” and the other men flinched.
“Ohhhh ‘The Eraser’?!He is tough.”
“No kidding.”
“He told me to calm down and quit bouncing all over the screen in the simulator – and if I didn’t stop ricocheting, he was going to recommend I be moved to a line cook immediately.”
“Oh geez…”
“You know that jerk would do it, too – right?”
“What?” Killian said, hesitating. “He was joking. Right?”
“Nope – Maestro’s first wingman is actually Caboose’s wife. Haven’t you met Officer Ivy Evans? Her call sign wasMaidenbefore he made her disappear.”
“I have,” Destiny chimed in, pausing on her ministrations. “She was a pilot?”
“Yep. Eraser booted her to security for nearly crashing a jet.”
“No waaaay,” Ricochet said, stunned. “She’s never said a thing – and neither did Caboose or Maestro. I had no idea. Oh dang, I’m glad I was able to calm down and show him that I have what it takes. I’m not the greatest cook in the world – at all.”
