Promise Me // Bradley Bradshaw x OC

Five.

"You're all dismissed except Rooster. Go," Maverick said as he pointed to the door.

One by one, everyone started leaving, and Phoenix looked back at me with a worried look. I was worried she was going to tell Jordan what had happened before I even got the chance to.

I sat down back in one of the chairs again slouched down, my elbow resting on the rest as I had my hand covering my mouth. I didn't even look at Maverick. I didn't want to.

"What was that?" He asked, looking at me. "Rooster."

"I don't know," I said honestly. "Nobody knows, or should know, other than Jordan, so I'm not sure how he knew or found out. But I didn't tell him."

"How do you feel about him and now everyone else knowing?"

I shrugged, looking away from him after a few seconds of eye contact. "Whatever. I don't really care. I just want to be done with this mission and go home."

"Jordan is probably worried for you-"

"Don't say her name." I said as I looked back at him again. "Don't say her name. Don't talk to her. I don't want her ever knowing you."

The room went silent again as he sat down next to me, and to my surprise, I didn't move away from him.

"I didn't know you were going to be one of the graduates they called back until I got here," He said, and I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. "I know you're always going to resent me for what happened, but you have to trust me."

"My dad made the same mistake," I said quietly as I hung my head. "I don't want to make it, too."

"I'm going to teach you how to survive this mission and how to come home, but Rooster, believe me, you can't think up there. Don't think, just do. You're not going to have time to think, and if you do, you're dead," Maverick said as I finally looked up at him again.

"You'll really teach us how to come home safe?" I said as I chewed on the inside of my cheek nervously. "Because I have a wife, and now a kid on the way. I'm scared."

I could feel my voice cracking, and I didn't want to show any sign of defeat because I didn't want him to think I couldn't do this mission like Hangman was insisting, but I had too much to lose.

Maverick pulled me and put his hands on my shoulders, and I looked up at him, trying to blink back any tears that were attempting to come.

"It's fine to be scared, but you have to trust me when I tell you that you can't think up there," He said as he pulled me in for a hug, to my surprise, I hugged him back just as tightly. "I'm sorry, Rooster. Nothing I say or do isn't going to make the situation better or bring your dad back. Believe me, I miss him, too."

"I miss him every day," I said as we hugged. "And I hate that I'm putting Jordan through the worry of another mission, but the Navy is where I want to be...even if you did pull my papers and set me back a couple years," I laughed nervously. "Do you want to meet her?"

"If you're willing to let me," Maverick said as we pulled away from the hug. "How do you think she'll feel?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "She's tried to get me to talk to you before, and I wouldn't, so I'm not sure what she'll say now..."

Once we had left the debrief room, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked down at the messages Jordan had sent throughout the day. I smiled at the pictures of the ultrasound she had sent me in disbelief that our baby was going to be here in just a couple months.

We got into my jeep, and I immediately called Jordan. I wasn't sure how she was going to react.

"Hey, baby," I smiled when she answered. "Have you eaten yet?"

"No, I was waiting to see when you were gonna be done for the day," She said as I heard the talking of a tv show in the background. "Why? What do you have in mind?"

I looked over at Maverick who then gave me a nod of assurance that everything was alright, and opened my mouth to speak.

"I was wanting to know if you wanted to meet Mav. He wants to meet you," I started to explain. "Something happened today, which I'll tell you about later, and we had a long talk...and I asked if he wanted to meet you."

It was silent for a couple seconds, and I couldn't tell if she was shocked we had made up, nervous for what I was going to tell her, or a mix of both.

"Yeah, I'd love to," When I noticed a hint of a smile in her voice, I was relieved. "Is he coming here?"

"Is anyone home?" I asked. "We could go somewhere. Whatever you're feeling up to."

"No, nobody's here, but I've been here all day and I want to leave the house," She giggled, to which I smiled. "I'll change clothes, and I'll bring the pictures from the appointment today."

"Yes, please, I've been dying to hear about it, and I was so upset I had to miss the first one since we've been home," I said as I started up my Jeep, which Maverick took as a sign that she wanted to meet and smiled at me. "I'll be home soon with Mav to pick you up. Don't worry, he'll get in the back."

"Okay," She laughed. "I'll see you soon!"

"I love you."

"And I love you, Bradshaw."

The line disconnected, and I looked over at Maverick with a big smile on my face.

"She said she'd love to meet you, but you'll have to ride in the back," I laughed. "Sorry, dude."

"Hey, no need to apologize. I've been looking forward to meeting her since I found out you two started dating. How long ago was it?"

"She'll be 26 in a few months, so almost 8 years," I said loudly over the whipping of the wind and my Jeep. "It's been a long time, but an amazing 8 years!"

"I can't wait to finally meet her."