hard deck ≫ top gun: maverick

V. WHAT'S UP, DOC?

Bradley knew it was out of love for him. Maverick felt responsibility for Nick Bradshaw's death, and since he hadn't been able to protect his best friend, he'd do his damndest to protect his best friend's only son.

Still, it hurt.

To be held back from your dream by someone you love.

"Rooster, can I talk to you for a second?"

The pilots were breaking for lunch, and just as Bradley was about to leave the room, Maverick stopped him.

Bradley's jaw clenched and he turned to Maverick, knowing that he couldn't walk out of the room without being subordinate. "Yes?" he said, through gritted teeth.

"Can't we put this aside? There's bigger things at stake here than what happened years ago --"

"What happened years ago?" Bradley echoed, cutting Maverick off. "What happened years ago is the reason I didn't go on a mission just like this one four years ago already," he said, glaring at the older man.

Maverick's face fell, and he took a step backwards. "You're dismissed."

Bradley left without saying a word. Instead of following his comrades to the cafeteria, however, he took a detour to the sick bay, where a certain doctor was sitting alone in her office, eating her own lunch, which she'd packed from home.

He knocked on her door, smiling at her through the window that looked into her office.

Her mouth twisted into an annoyed smirk, and she set down the sandwich she was eating to let him in.

"What is it this time, Lieutenant? Another scuffle with the class bully?" She teased, sitting back down at her desk.

Rooster propped himself up on the examination table, his booted feet swinging over the side so he could face Dr. Hackett. "Not yet," he said with a chuckle. "Just wanted to drop by and say hi."

"Well," Dr. Hackett said, rolling her eyes. "Hi." She looked up at him with a smirk. "Will that be all? I'm off the clock, so ..."

Bradley chuckled. "So am I."

She sighed and leaned back in her seat, studying him with a smile. "You're not going to leave, are you?"

"I'll leave if you want me to," Bradley replied with a shrug. Something told him that maybe Dr. Hackett didn't want him to leave.

Dr. Hackett simply didn't respond, and instead busied herself with her computer and the paperwork that sat next to it.

"I thought you were off the clock," Bradley said, pointing to the pile of paper.

Dr. Hackett laughed. "There's really no 'off the clock' when you're a doctor."

Bradley nodded in agreement, smiling to himself as he watched Dr. Hackett busy herself with the work. It seemed like every time the two were alone together, Dr. Hackett found some other thing to focus on. She was always looking for a distraction.

"What's it like, being a doctor?" Bradley asked, laying back on the examination table.

Dr. Hackett scoffed, gesturing to the table. "Now I'm going to have to change that paper."

Bradley shrugged. "Let the Navy pay for it."

"Are you just going to sit here and ask me questions?" Dr. Hackett asked.

"If you'll let me," he said, sitting up with a smirk. "I like to get to know my doctors."

Dr. Hackett's face twitched into a smile. "I bet you do, Lieutenant."

"Well? Are you going to answer my question?" Bradley asked.

"Being a doctor?" Dr. Hackett repeated. "It's ... well, it's something different every day, that's for sure. At least on the Navy base. That's what I like about being here. I couldn't be cooped up in an office somewhere as a family health provider or something. I like the change."

Bradley nodded. "That's what I like about my job too. That, and I get to fly super cool planes."

Dr. Hackett laughed. "Yes, I imagine that's a perk."

"What made you want to become a doctor in the first place, if you don't mind me asking?"

Bradley thought his question was a casual, simple one, but based on Dr. Hackett's reaction, it certainly was not.

She dropped her easy-going grin, her eyes turning downwards to the papers on her desk. She finally returned his gaze, a wavering smile filling her face as if she wasn't sure how to act. "Well, I ..." she let out a nervous chuckle. "When I was in high school, I had cancer."

Bradley's face fell and he felt a pit grow in his stomach. "Shit, Doc. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. That's ... awful. I'm sorry."

She grinned. "It's water under the bridge now, Lieutenant. Anyway ... sophomore year, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Not a good time. Everyone else was getting their driver's license, and I was riding in my mom's car to chemo appointments. I survived, obviously, but it wasn't easy. I was really lucky to have a fantastic doctor. One of those rare souls in the medical field that is there for the patients and nothing more. You could tell she cared, you know? She really helped me, in so many ways. I ... I owe a lot to her. After I got better, I decided to follow in her footsteps. Become a doctor. Help people."

"Helping assholes like me is far different than helping teenage girls beat cancer, but ..." Bradley joked. "I get your point."

She smiled. "Well, the work you guys do is important, and I'm the one who makes sure you're healthy enough to do it, so ... I still consider it important." She laughed. "Who knows? Without me, Lieutenant Seresin might have actually broken your nose, and then where would you be?"

"Well, my nose would be crooked, for starters ..." Bradley said, laughing as he leaned back on the examination table once again. As she rattled on about something else, Bradley found himself lost in his mind. A content smile filled his face as he watched the good doctor.

He liked the way she smiled as she talked. He liked how her eyes lit up when she was talking about something she enjoyed. He liked the way she gestured with her hands, adding effects to her story.

He liked the way she teased him, the way she took no shit from anyone, not from the pilots, not from her bosses, and not from the Navy.

Her words of warning, from the first night they had met, echoed in the back of his mind.

"I don't date Navy boys."

But Bradley didn't care.

He found it to be quite enough just to steal her attention for a few moments, to make her laugh, to make her smile. He found it to be quite enough just to know her at all.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ author's note ✫・゜・。.

hey y'all! i think i've gathered a lot more readers since i last updated, so i just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU!!!!! it means the world to me that so many people have taken the time to read my little story. i'm hoping to update much more often now :)

i recently moved and started a new job, so i haven't really had much time for writing.

i hope you enjoyed this chapter! we got to see a bit more of summer and bradley's dynamic, and i'm having a lot of fun writing them. honestly, i feel like their scenes together are the easiest to write out of all my characters. idk, they just have good chemistry in my brain i guess.

again, thank you so much for reading! i hope you enjoyed it, and please vote, comment, and share with your friends :)

new chapter coming SOON!

xx,

madi