All the color drained from Avril's face.

"What the hell is Count doing here?"

Briggs bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "He's going to make sure I stay out of trouble for the next couple hours, because Huxian volunteered to help you with tonight. He wasn't supposed to be here for another hour though."

Count knocked again. "This is getting embarrassing, Trigger! Open up!"

Briggs picked up a shoe from beside the bed and threw it at the door. "Give me a second, Arthur!"

Finally, after about five minutes, the door opened, and Count, on the other side, had a smart-ass grin on his face.

"Hey, buddy," he said sarcastically. "What'cha been up to?"

"Zip it, Arthur," Briggs growled. He turned to Count's companion and added, "How ya doing, Hux?"

Huxian snapped to attention and offered a salute that was waved off. "I'm well, sir," she replied.

"Cut that out, will you? The war's over."

"Right," Huxian said. "Is the Scrap Queen with you?"

Yeah, hang on." Briggs craned his neck and heard the shower running. "Give her a minute to get decent."

"Decent?" Count repeated. "You just answered the door wearing nothing but your shorts and a robe! Who do you think you are, Ric Flair?"

"Well, I have no shame, so..."

"Yeah, obviously. So can we come in, or are you gonna make us stand in the hallway?"

Briggs stepped aside and showed Count and Huxian into the room with a sarcastic bow. Closing the door behind him, he added, "Would anyone like a drink, or a joint?"

"A joint?" Huxian's brow furrowed. "This isn't Osea; you can get busted."

"If you want to get technical," Count replied. "But the Osean Military controls the city."

"Bingo," Briggs replied. I was kidding about the weed though. Some pretentious prick from Oured told me to be on my best behavior tonight."

"Sounds like Grimm," Count said.

Briggs nodded. "Yup. And there's supposed to be a lot of bigwigs there. Our President, their Princess, a bunch of Senators, brass from both sides; it's going to be a giant shit-show."

"I almost wish I was back in front of that committee at the Hexagon," Huxian said.

Briggs opened a bottle of whiskey and began pouring a generous amount into three glasses. "That committee can suck an AMRAAM."

"The most useless bureaucratic bullshit I have ever dealt with," Count growled. "Grimm has a stick up his ass because none of us could tell him what happened to his brother at the Space Elevator. Not our faults that it's fucking classified Top Secret."

"He didn't get to grilling me about his brother," Briggs said. "He danced around it until I flipped out on him. He let me leave after that."

With the drinks passed out, the three members of Strider Squadron raised a toast and drank. The clock on the wall chimed six, as Avril made her way back into the room, only wearing what seemed to be one of Briggs' shirts. The room was silent until Briggs spoke.

"Wow," he said. "Um... I'm gonna ask if you can wear that to the thing tonight."

"You will not," Huxian replied, elbowing Briggs. "Now shoo, boys. Scrap Queen and I have work to do."

"So if you're kicking us out," Briggs motioned between himself and Count, "Where are we supposed to-"

"Grab your Dress Blues and follow me, buddy," Count said. "We're going two floors down."

"Very bad joke," Briggs replied, grabbing his toiletries & Dress Blues, following Count out to the elevator.

...-_-...

Almost an hour passed, and Briggs and Count, in full Dress Blues, were playing a card game until they had to leave. Count, of course, had to talk. And the topic he chose was Avril.

"So when are you gonna tell her?"

"Tell who what?" Briggs looked up from his cards, distracted.

"You know who," Count replied. "And what. When are you going to tell Avril how you feel?"

"Maybe tonight. I'll see how this shit-show goes."

"You should still tell her, regardless of how tonight goes."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Briggs stood and surveyed his wingman. "When in the hell did you get so insightful?"

Count shrugged. "I don't know. Is it time for us to head down?"

"Yeah."

The two pilots made their way downstairs, drawing the occasional glare from hotel guests and employees. They shrugged off the looks and continued to the ballroom in silence. When they arrived, the first thing Briggs noticed was a band setup in the center of the stage, complete with guitars, a piano, a bass, and drums. Count, on the other hand, noticed something completely different.

"Um... Where the hell is everyone?"

Briggs shrugged. "Maybe we're just early."

"What time is this supposed to start?"

Briggs looked at his watch. "We still have about 45 minutes."

Count shook his head and turned to leave. "I'm going to the bar."

"Don't pre-game too much," Briggs told his wingman. "But while you're getting your drink on, I'll be on the stage, tinkering with one of those guitars."

Count paled. "No, boss. That is not a good idea."

Too late. Briggs was already tuning one of the guitars, and Count, laughing to himself, recognized the riff immediately. He abandoned his quest for booze and joined his wingman on stage, taking a seat at the drums and playing along.

...-_-...

Meanwhile, in Room 1204...

"Huxian, are you absolutely sure that I have to wear these shoes?" Avril stumbled around the room, bumping into things and cursing under her breath. Huxian took a deep breath to keep from laughing and handed Avril a box.

"Try these," Huxian said, getting a good look at Avril for the first time in almost an hour. "Whoa. Trigger is going to be putty in your hands tonight."

Avril blushed. "It's not too much?"

Huxian shook her head. "The way he looks at you? Hell no. Then again, Trigger would be in love with you no matter what you were wearing."

"In what with who?" Avril looked at Huxian like she was crazy.

"You heard me," Huxian replied. "Unless you're a fool, that boy is off the market. He is one hundred percent, prime-time, in love with you."

Avril's face fell slightly. "Then why hasn't he said anything?"

"Most guys are pretty slow to admit things like that. You know Trigger. He can be-"

"A bit of a dumbass," Avril finished. "I know, but he's my dumbass."

"Then give him time. Who knows? He could tell you tonight. Now, come on. We have to get going."

...-_-...

Back downstairs, Briggs and Count were still jamming, much to the chagrin of many of the officers and politicians that were making their way into the ballroom. Some enjoyed the music, but some were not having a good time. One even went so far as to unplug the amplifier.

"Total buzzkill, Senator Barrett," Briggs said. "No love for blink?"

"It's Bartlett," the Senator replied. "I didn't sponsor your Academy application for you to be playing blink-182 in a hotel ballroom, Kid."

"So I guess that's a 'no'?"

Bartlett nodded. "Exactly. Now both of you, get your asses down from there."

Briggs and Count placed their instruments back where they were sitting on the stage and made their way to join the party. Count elbowed Briggs in the ribs and pointed toward the door. When the former looked, his jaw dropped when he saw her. Avril was turning heads left and right, and Briggs was starting to elbow his way through the crowd to get to her.

"Excuse me... Pardon me... Move it or lose it, Captain... Watch where you're swinging your drink, Senator. This uniform ain't cheap... Come on, Airman! Move!"

He made his way through the sea of people to Avril and took in her appearance. He was speechless.

"You like?" Avril asked, somewhat timidly.

Briggs smiled, leaned in so close that only Avril could hear him, and whispered only two words. "Fucking beautiful."

And scene! Sorry for the hiatus, folks. Work and all that. If you're a returning reader, you know how I roll. Drop a review. If you're a first-time reader, drop a fave, a follow, and a review. Next chapter, things will get more interesting. I promise.

(Also, remember what I said earlier in the chapter about a band setup. It's hella important to the next couple of chapters)