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Chapter eight

I'm standing in my formal white suit, my hat under my arm, when I see Ice approaching.
"So I assume you and Maverick had a talk." He says, putting his arm around my shoulders, a smile on his face. I roll my eyes.
"More like a screaming match." I tell him.
"From what I heard from Viper, it ended well."
"I guess so." I mumble.
"What'd you expect, you're both extremely stubborn." He says with a chuckle.
"Am not." I say.
"Your just like'im y'know." He says, moving to stand in front of me with his hands on my upper arms. I give him a confused look.
He shakes his head with a smile before using his right hand to pull on the three chains around my neck, revealing the dog tags I hid under my uniform. He grabs the tags, moving my own to the side but keeping the other two in his grasp. He grabs one of them, moving it to hold one in each hand, not looking at the names on them yet. He lowers his right hand and slightly raises his left.
"That maneuver you pulled on your first day to get me, was the same one Maverick used on Jester his first day." He says, not looking at me, playing with the first tag in his hand, still not looking at the name. 'Uh oh.' I can feel my heart thumping faster in my chest and my palms start to sweat a little as I try my hardest to keep a calm face so Ice doesn't notice my nerves.
"But the ones you used to avoid maverick, are moves I've pulled countless times before, no one around here has done it, but me. Which means, you had to have learned it from somewhere." He says, glancing from the tags to my face. I try to keep the slight panic on my face hidden.
He glances back at the tag he had been flipping in between his fingers, and shows me the name while also looking at it himself.
"Or someone." He says, an almost smug look on his face, ok it's Ice of course his look was smug. I keep my eyes on the tag where I can see the name clearly.
Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky.

I look back to Ice's face when he drops the tag to the side, picking up the one I know has my name on it. He then moves the second dog tag in front of me, one again playing with it but not looking at the name.
"It really wasn't that difficult to figure out. You fly just like him, have the same attitude, stubbornness, same cheeky grin, you look just like him. Not to mention the unmistakable bond between you and him. It would also make sense of the way you lashed out at him after he did something stupid, like you were scared for him."
He says, doing the same as the first time, moving his gaze from the tag to me as he continues.
"But I guess it makes sense. That a daughter would have her father's tags." He says once again showing me the name as he looks at it too, still smug.

Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell.

Picking up the third, Ice doesn't look at me as he shows me the last tag.
"It's nice to finally meet the real you, little Mitchell." He says, calling me the same nickname he always has since I was a teenager, a smile on his face as he looks from the tag to my face before bringing me into a hug.
"No wonder you're the best pilot here, you learnt from the best." He says grinning.
I smile too as I hug him back.
"I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out." I say as I pull away from the hug.
"So, has Maverick figured it out yet?" Ice asks, moving to stand in his original position with his arm around my shoulders. I huff.
"No, if he did, I think he'd have a few things to say about my flying through jet wash stunt." Ice chuckles with a smile.
"Yeah, you're probably right. If he's already protective of you without knowing, he'll be even more so when he finds out. So, are you gonna tell'em?" He asks as we both spot Maverick who finally decided to show up.
The two of you watch him look around before he spots you and makes his way over. As you keep your eyes on Maverick as he makes his way through the crowd, Ice gently uses the arm that's on your shoulders to hide your dog tags back under your uniform just in time for Maverick to appear in front of you. He smiles at you which you return but just as he's about to say something, Viper gets the groups attention.
"Gentlemen, and lady," he says nodding to me, I nod in return. "I hate to break up the party before it really gets outta hand but there is work to be done. Some of you have to depart immediately. We have a crisis situation." He says before nodding to Jester to read out the listed names.
"Ice, slider. Hollywood, wolfman. Maverick and Y/n."
"Maverick you'll get your RIO when you get to the ship, and if you don't, give me a call, I'll fly with ya." Says Viper, giving Mav a smile and a nod.
"Y/n, you'll be flying solo as always. I expect great things from our first female TopGun trophy winner." Says Viper.
"Yes sir." I reply with the same smirk I wear the first time he asked me about my name being on the plaque. They decided to give me first place for obviously having the most points, but also to Ice and Slider since most of the time I was acting in place of an instructor instead of a student, leaving Maverick to take second.
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24 hours later on the carrier.

We all sit in a briefing room, listening to the commander give us the run down on the situation. I'm sitting between Mav and Ice.
"Gentlemen, this is bullseye. The communication ship SS Layton has become disabled and has wandered into foreign territory. A rescue operation is to begin within the hour. Your mission is to give air support to that rescue. There are MiGs in the area, and tensions are high. If you witness a hostile act, you will return fire. Those MiGs carry the Exocet anti-ship missile. They can fire that missile from 100 miles away. Gentlemen, this is the real thing. This is what you've been trained for. You are America's best. Make us proud."
I look around, I see Ice looking around at the other pilots, occasionally looking at Mav. I look over to Mav next to me and put a hand on his shoulder. This catches his attention and he gives me a reassuring smile but I can see how nervous he is to be back in the air.
I'm walking to my jet beside Maverick when I put my hand on his arm, stopping him. Before I can say anything he pulls me into a tight hug, I hug him back. When we pull away, I glance out at the jets getting ready to launch then back to Maverick.
"Remember, don't think, just do." I tell him. I see a look of determination cross his face before it slowly fades back to fear and worry. As I go to walk away, he pulls me in for one last hug before we have to get in our jets. When I'm settled in mine, I look to my right to see how Mavericks doing, he still looks nervous but less than he did before I talked to him. I give him a nod which he returns then look to my left.
Ice turns to me, still without his mask on yet and mouths the words 'be careful kid', I answer back with, 'I'm a Mitchell' which causes both of us to grin as Ice shakes his head. I turn back to the front and clip my mask on, taking a deep breath and nod to myself.
"Let's do this."

A/n: hope you enjoyed this chapter, I don't know how well the reveal is but hope you enjoyed it anyways.
This is crazy, I didn't think this story would get this many reads, I hope I'm doing alright with the writing.