Waking up the next morning to the warm rays of sun hitting my face. I groan at the sudden brightness when I open my eyes. While rolling from my side to my back. I look around my sage green childhood bedroom, my library wall, black and white pictures of planes in picture frames. My eyes wander down to my white comforter. My eyes widen as I see a tan arm draped over my waist, hand resting on my lower stomach. I quickly lift the blanket, seeing that I'm still fully dressed. I let out a sign of relief. Letting go of the blanket, watching as it floats down onto my chest. My tired eyes are unable to figure out who it is by their hand. I follow the arm to a familiar face. His face looks peaceful, if you looked at him recently, you wouldn't be able to tell that we're going on a dangerous mission. There's no pain, no resentment, no worry. He's relaxed.
Slowly, I roll over to my other side, facing the man I've fallen head over heels for. It sounds creepy, but I could picture myself doing this for the rest of my life. Not watching him but, waking up next to him, waiting for him to wake up next to me. I bring my hand up to his face. I run my finger down the middle of his forehead, down his nose, onto his lips and over his chin, and follow his jawline to the side of his face. I cup his face in the palm of my hand, my thumb rubbing back and forth across his cheeks. Noticing his eyelids start to flutter, I retract my hand from the warmth of his cheek, back to my side. A small smile forming makes the corner of his mustache move upright. "Good morning." His voice is full of sleep, it's deep and raspy, and very attractive. "Morning," I manage to squeak out.
Feeling his arm pulling my waist in closer, I shuffle into his chest. Taking a deep breath of his comforting scent. I let out a happy sigh as I wiggle in even closer. I feel a rumble and movement of his chest underneath me. Laughter. Looking up, I find him staring at me with that look. The one I've only seen a person give to their lover. The look of pure happiness, like nothing else but the person in front of them matters. I've only witnessed hardly any people give that look. My mother and father being one example. Jackson and Lisa. And the main character and her lover are interested in the millions of cheesy romance books I've read and movies I've seen. No book or movie will ever prepare you for the amount of love that you feel in that exact moment. My heart is beating a million beats per minute, and my heart will explode. Never once, in all my past relationships, has someone ever looked at me the way Rooster is right now.
"What are you thinking about, beautiful?" Rooster asks, brushing a stray hair away from my face. "Everything.. You.. The mission." I mumble into his chest. "Hey," he says, rubbing up and down my back, "look at me." Lifting my head, my eyes slowly trail up all of his features. Feeling a hand cup my face brings my eyes the rest of the way to his eyes. "I will come home to you and will be together forever."
"Forever," I say with a smile on my face.
...
Rooster and I walk onto the carrier, US Teddy Roosevelt, after finding Phoenix and Bob waiting on the dock. The four of us make our way to the flight deck, waiting for the Teddy Roosevelt to leave the port. We watch as the crew hustles around the deck making sure everything is perfect. Once the carrier has left the dock, we make our way to our assigned cabins to dump off our bags. We then head to the meeting room to discuss what the plan is for today, while we wait for the carrier to be close enough to the target.
Walking in, see our superiors, waiting by a white board in the front. "Good Morning," Warlocks greets. He goes on to tell us that we are to stay out of the way of the crew while we have the day to relax. "Sir?" The voice asks from next to me. "Yes, Lieutenant?" "When are we going to find out who's going on this mission?" A strong voice male voice answers, "Tomorrow." I look over to the origin of the voice, "You are to be here at 0600. Don't be late." Cyclone turns his attention back to Warlock. "Anything else, Captain?" I see Maverick's lips move, but hear nothing. Warlock nods that whatever he's saying before telling us we're dismissed.
I lean closer to Phoenix as we turn to leave, "We should play a round of BS. Remember last time." Phoenix smirks and goes to say something, but she is interrupted by our Captain's voice. "Skylar!" Both Phoenix and I turn around to see Maverick walking over to us. "Skylar, can I talk to you?" I nod, "See you in 10." I tell Phoenix, before she turns to leave the room. Maverick doesn't say anything, just signals for me to follow them. What is with the men in my life, not saying anything after asking to talk?
Following Maverick up to the flight deck and over to the railing. "Bri and I would spend hours out here, just talking." I say breaking the silence. "I used to do the same thing with Goose and Ice." I smile looking out at the blue ocean, no land in sight. "Here." I look over at Maverick and see a pair of dog tags hanging from his hands. He must have seen my confused look because he further explained, "They're your dad's," he says, taking my hand away from the railing and dropping them in. I run my finger over the bumps of the engraved metal dog tag.
Adm. Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky
Tears start to form in the corner of my eyes, "They told us that these were in his casket. How did you get them?"
"He gave them to me, asking that I would give them to you. These aren't the real thing because those are in his casket. But he pulled them off his neck the night he gave them to me." I subconsciously continue rubbing up and down the dog tag. "Put them with hers." I snap out of my gaze and turn back to Maverick. "How?"
"Your dad told me." I roll my eyes, even on death he could keep a secret.
I reach up for the zipper for that pocket that is over my heart and pull out her dog tags. One dog tag rests on a chain the size of my fist.
Lt. BriAnna 'Cheese' Anderson
Breaking apart the keychain, I slip Dad's tags with hers. Fanning them out for I could read them both. "I know what you're going to say, Mav."
"Okay, what's that?" He asks. "You think I should let them go. Throw them into the ocean. But I can't," my eyes leave the two tags in my hands, "These pieces of metal are the only thing I have left of these two." Maverick looks at me, his face is serious. "Does she distract you?" I shake my head. "Does having her with you keep your mind at peace after what happened?" I nod. "Then keep her, keep them both." I smile, leaning into Mav's shoulder.
We stand in silence, listening to the carrier break through wave after wave. "I have to go. I have a meeting with the Admirals." He says, retracting his arm back to his side. "Good luck." He mumbles a thanks before leaving me alone. A shiver runs through my body, I wrap my flight suit tighter around me, conserving body heat. "You with me Bri Cheese?" I say give the dog tags one last squeeze before stuffing them into my flight suit pocket. I can do this.
Leaving the windy flight deck behind as I open the door to the much warmer carrier. I make my way to our little break room to play some cards and drink some warm coffee.
...
After going up a few flights of stairs, making left after right turns and, going downstairs, we make it to the meeting room in the middle of the carrier, kind-of winded, I may add. We're greeted by both Cyclone and Warlock, along with our Captain. "It has been an honor flying with you. Each one of you represents the best of the best. This is a very specific mission. My choice is a reflection of that and nothing more." He says, looking around at each of us. His eyes linger on Rooster and I longer than everyone else.
"Choose your two foxtrot teams." Cyclone says. "Payback and Fanboy." He looks around the room. "Phoenix and Bob." I lean forward a bit and give them a quiet congratulation. "And your wing man." Cyclone says as I return to my upright, standing state. I watch as Maverick eyes move between Hangman, Rooster and I. "Rooster." I let out a sigh, not sure if it is a grateful sigh or if it was one of disappointment. "The rest of you will stand by the carrier for any reserve role that’s required."
Turning towards Rooster, I wrap my arms around the shock person in front of me, "Will do great." I whisper in his ear before pulling away to officially congratulate the two foxtrot teams. The first team I run into is a very nervous Fanboy and an ill looking Payback. "Payback, are you alright?" I say getting closer. Seeing that he has lots of sweat dripping down his face. There's a look of panic in his eyes, and his breathing isn't consistent-like he's on the verge of a panic attack. Payback shakes his head. I immediately rush over to him. Reminding him that he needs to breathe. "In..." I take a deep breath in with him, "and Out..." I release my breath. "Again." We repeat that until his breathing was supposed to even out, but it never did. "I... cant... fly... like... this..." He says in between his uneasy breathing. "You're okay." I call for a med team to come over. They start to take his blood pressure, they read out the extremely high numbers. The med team make Payback, lay down on his back. I was about to stand up to give the team some room when Payback grabs my hand. "Fly for me..." I shake my head no, "I can't." He gives me a pleading look, "Why me? What not Hangman?" He slowly tells me that he's the only one he trusts in his plane with his RIO. He takes a deep breath before continuing, "I know about the accident, Skylar." I look at him shocked. Only my family, her family, our Top Gun family and instructors, know about the details about the crash. Dad made sure of it. "I know you're scared to fly doubles again, but please Sky." Payback reaches into his pocket and pulls out a picture. He looks at the picture for a minute before handing it to me. It's a picture of Payback, a beautiful female, and a little girl, no older than three. The little girl has the biggest smile on her face while she's hugging uniformed Payback. Looking between the little girl and the older female, I see the resemblance. I also see Payback in that little girl.
"That's my girlfriend and daughter." I look up at him. "Only Fanboy and the instructors know about them. Please, Skylar, if I go on this mission. I'll never go home to her." Home. The same word that Rooster and I told each other. We would come home to each other. Knowing that Payback promised his little girl that he would come home to her made it ten times harder to say no.
"Skylar, you're flying with Fanboy." I turn to the voice behind me. "Maverick, I haven't flown doubles since the crash."
"I know, but that's an order." I shake my head, "With all due respect, Mav. It's up to Fanboy if he wants to be my RIO." Maverick nodded agreeing with me before turning to Fanboy and asking him if he is okay with me flying. A part of me hopes he'll say no. I have no idea if I can even fly a dual F-18.
"Before you make that decision, I need to tell you something." I say looking at Fanboy. He nods and I leave Payback's side. We head outside, I lead him to the place Bri and I used to sit, the bridge. "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere private." I tell him, still leading the way. Opening the door to the bridge. The wind blows straight into my face. Making sure he's still behind me, I sit down, my legs hanging down in-between the railing and the deck. I signal him to sit next to me. "My old RIO and I used to sit here for hours just watching the aircraft take off and land." "You had a RIO?" I slowly nod, "She was killed during a regular flight routine." I take a deep shaky breath before continuing a story I thought was behind me and I never have to tell again.
Flashback:
We were doing the early morning flight route, making sure everything was right and normal. Bri loved the early morning flights, she wanted to see the sunrise. It was her favorite part. "Good morning, Bri Cheese." My tired morning voice called out "Good Morning Sky!" She always said in a cheery voice. She was naturally the happiest and bubbliest person I ever met. She had found my all career forced ass at the academy, and she just glued herself to me. Not that I complained- I did all the time at first.
Everything was going perfect, Bri was gushing and going on and on about how this sunrise is the prettiest she's ever seen. Until we saw an enemy aircraft fly across enemy lines. We immediately broke away from the sunrise and followed closely behind. "Command this is Charlie 4, we have an unidentified enemy aircraft in the reign. Send back up planes immediately to our location." I say into my mask. "Coordinates sent, Sky." I hear from the back seat. "Roger that, Charlie 4. We have your coordinates and are sending back up now."
"Command, do we have permission to engage?"
"Yes, get them the hell out of here!" My Captain yelled into comms. "Yes, Sir." I turn and follow the plane.
"You with me Bri Cheese?" I ask, slowly increasing my speed. I hear the familiar giggle out of my backseater, "Always Sky. Let's turn and burn."
"Yes Ma'am." We both chuckled as I increased our speed to catch up to the enemy aircraft. "Talk to me Bri Cheese? Where is he?" I hear the swishing of her flight suit rubbing together, a sound I've grown to find comfort in hearing. Her flight suit pants were always a size too big.
"Never complained though, said she likes them better that way." I said, turning to Fanboy, who has a small smile on his face. So, I continue.
"On our 9 o'clock, 15 miles, going 630 knots." She yelled at me. I decreased our speed and banked our plane to the left, falling behind the enemy plane. "Too close for missiles going for guns." I line up the radar to the back fins of the plane in front of me. "Firing!" I hit the trigger and watch as bullets hit the back fins, smoke fills the air, and the plane falls towards the oceans. "That's a hit. Enemy aircraft destroyed." I say over comms. I bank right, following instructions and returning to the carrier.
We were almost back to the carrier when I heard my RIO curse, she never swears. And an all too familiar beeping sound. "Skylar bank right!" Without even a second thought, I did as I was told. Not even a half of a second a missile came past leaving the white smoke behind. "Holy Shit!" I radio for command again, saying there's another plane and not so politely asking where the hell my backup was.
The beeping sound appeared in the box of our plane again. Bri told me to bank left. And I again watch the white smoke appear as the missile moves by. "Firing in 3... 2... 1..." And I shot a missile in that direction, hoping and praying that it bought us enough time to either make it back to the carrier or send backup.
"I remember that command said there was nothing they could do. Apparently, the launching pad had been broken." I look over to Fanboy. He hasn't said anything since I started. "All of a sudden the shooting and beeping had stopped. We thought the aircraft had left."
"Where did he go, Bri?" She yelled back that she was looking. The beeping started again. The aircraft that was just firing at us on our nose was now behind us. I was ready to bank left or right depending on the missile, but it never came. I decided to hit the brakes and hope he flies by. Luckily for me, he did. I quickly follow behind, "Firing again!" I yell into comms, but as I sent the middle out. The aircraft in front of me did a weird spinning move. And I flew right past him.
"It happened within a second of that."
Tone started blasting like the most annoying song in the world. Bullets started hitting the back of the plane. So adding to the music already playing. I tried to lose him by bank left and right, but he knew every single move. It's like he was in my head. There was really nothing I could do. Then It happened, he hit my right engine. I did everything by the books. I turned off the fuel line to that engine and extinguished the fire. Then he hit my left engine. I repeated the same steps, but the engine was still spinning, so I tried to restart it.
"That's why you were so upset when Phoenix crashed, it reminded you of your own." Fanboy realized. I nodded.
"Shit!" The engine blew up in flames, and we were forced to eject. "Eject!" I yelled at Bri. "Not without you!" I remember saying I'll be right behind you before reaching back and hitting her eject button. A few seconds after hitting the button, I heard gun shots from above.
"I didn't think anything of it. And ejected. As I floated down to the ocean water, I watch my plane explode." I feel Fanboy place his hand on my shoulder. I take a deep breath before continuing, "After landing in the water. I swam towards Bri, and I found her..." I feel tears sliding down my face. "She was on top of her parachute, struggling to breathe. Those gunshots I heard after I ejected her, one of them hit her in her lower abdomen... She was bleeding out, and there was nothing I could have done. But I swam over to her. Wrapped my upper body around hers and I applied pressure to the wound. A helicopter came a few minutes later, but she had already lost a lot of blood. They pronounced her dead in the way back to the carrier." I wiped the tears that were falling down my face. "After that, my only thought was, I just kill my best friend."
"No, you didn't," Fanboy said beside me. "The enemy aircraft did, they shot her." "But I hit the ejection button. If I had just ejected first, or we had ejected at the same time as she wanted to."
"Then either she would be here telling me this story or both of you wouldn't be here."
"Maybe that would be for the better," I mumble under my breath. "No! Skylar! Think of your parents, think about Maverick, Phoenix. Goodness' sake think about Rooster. Think about how broken they would be without you. You may not think it, but you can literally light up any room you walk into. I don't think I've ever seen a man smile as much as I have Rooster. So please don't think that... They need you. And I need you to fly me around for this mission." A small smile creeps into my face. "You want me to fly you around?" I ask. "Yes, Skylar. Yes."
...
So you finding get to know want happened to Bri. Fanboy is her RIO, I think they'll be great together.
Here's the second chapter I promised.
Til the next chapter, My Loves!