"Mav, tally two. Five o' clock low." Maverick's gaze shifted downward, noticing two fifth generation fighters slowly coming up from below them. He quickly shifted his gaze over to FreeFall.
From her canopy, FreeFall caught Maverick's gaze as he turned his head over to his right then back to her. Leaning up slightly to catch his meaning, Annabelle spotted the source of Maverick's concern. Of course, when they needed everything to go smoothly here, luck would kick them all to the curb. FreeFall watched as Maverick and Rooster moved to put on their masks and lower their visors. Annabelle did the same, trying not to seem too obvious to the bandit planes that she was entirely following Maverick's lead. The last thing they needed was for the bandits to realize that the two F-14s had zero communication between them. Annabelle watched carefully as Maverick tried to gesture to the enemy planes that his comms were down, hoping to trick them into believing they were all on the same team. It did not work.
"Oh shit. His wingman is moving into a weapon's envelope." Annabelle found her nerves increasing as she watched the bandits maneuver into fighting positions. There was no possible way this was going to end well. Without being able to communicate properly with Maverick, there was no way of anticipating the other's move. Not only could they get taken down by the enemy, but they could end up taking each other down too. Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, Maverick accelerated forward, seemingly leaving Annabelle all on her own. But as just one of the enemy fighters trailed after Maverick, FreeFall realized what Mav was doing; he was splitting them up. This she could handle.
"Alright dad. Let's do this." FreeFall pushed her joystick forward, sending her in a downward spiral towards the canyon. The one pro to an F-14 versus a fifth-generation plane? Targeting systems can't get messed up with an analog plane. Annabelle found the guns far easier to avoid than missiles as she bobbed and weaved along the canyon walls. Seeing that they'd be running out of room up ahead, Annabelle took the risk and leveled out just in front of the enemy aircraft. She remembered watching as Maverick pulled entirely up and over Rooster's plane at one point in training. It was one of the coolest moves she'd seen in a while. So, what better time to try it out then in a rundown F-14 while being chased by a fifth-generation fighter jet? FreeFall popped up hard and decelerated slightly to turn the body of her plane entirely up and over the enemy aircraft. Before her opponent even had a chance to fully turn around, they crashed into the mountain side, the plane going up in flame and smoke.
Annabelle would have taken more time to celebrate, but she quickly remembered that Mav and Rooster were out there somewhere too. She popped up high to rest above the canyon, hoping they hadn't drifted off too far to avoid their enemy's aircraft. Panic coursed through her entire being before she finally saw Maverick's rust bucket level out above the canyon a couple miles ahead. As she flew in their direction, Annabelle suddenly heard something that was music to her ears. Static. Static meant radio.
"Mav, I got the radio on!"
"Outstanding. FreeFall, can you hear us?" Annabelle smiled wide as she pulled up next to Maverick's plane.
"Loud and clear, Mav. It's good to hear your voice."
"Rooster, get us in touch with the boat let them know we are on our way."
"I'm on it." Annie chuckled as Maverick changed course towards the carrier's location. She was about to follow and do the same, before her plane suddenly lit up with warning lights, indicating another plane was present somewhere close by. Maverick noticed FreeFall falling behind, almost completely halted in the sky.
"FreeFall, talk to me. What's going on?"
"How much ammo do you have left?"
"None. We're out. Why?" Annabelle motioned her head forward, drawing attention to the enemy aircraft headed straight for her nose.
"I didn't use any of my ammo on the other plane. Get Rooster home. I got this."
"Like hell Annie. We're not leaving you." Annabelle heard Rooster's words, but as she and Maverick looked at one another through their respective canopies, the two of them knew that the opposite would be the case. Maverick had no ammo. He'd be zero help in a dogfight right now, and that wasn't worth risking Rooster. With a short, encouraging nod, Maverick flew on in the opposite direction headed for the carrier.
"Mav, what are you doing? Maverick, turn around! Turn around now!" Annabelle turned off the comms receiver in her helmet, silencing Rooster's voice from her aircraft. The enemy pilot was closing in. Annabelle took a deep breath as she analyzed her options.
"Talk to me, dad. What's the move?" In that moment, Annabelle's life seemed to flash before her eyes. She remembered her time at the naval academy, learning basic flight patterns, dogfighting, jet aerobatics. She remembered all the Facetime's with her dad, him giving her extra advice and tutoring her for exams and flight simulations. She remembered her time at Top Gun, the first time she let her plane fall from the sky, the feeling of complete freedom and like she had finally come into her own. She remembered the training for this detachment, becoming a team with people she either barely knew or barely liked just two and a half weeks earlier. She thought of Bob and the day she almost lost him from the bird strike. She thought of the dogfight round they had done together, in which Maverick came at them headfirst, just like this plane was doing now. And that's when it hit her. If this worked, she'd ask for forgiveness later. But right now, she just needed to survive. So, she was going to do it the best way she knew how.
Annabelle broke right hard, just as the enemy fighter released a missile, sending it straight ahead into nothing. As the fifth gen plane sped right past her, Annabelle turned and accelerated, putting herself in the advantage spot. She released a missile of her own, but as expected, the enemy pilot dodged it with ease as he turned to face Annabelle's position behind him. Annabelle knew she probably should have been fearing for her life right now, but she instead found herself feeling more exhilarated by the challenge presented before her. This felt almost like any other training scenario, only this time, with actual stakes. And she had no intention of losing.
"That's right asshole. I've got big guns too." Sure that the enemy pilot's pride was getting the best of him, he did exactly as Annabelle anticipated, accelerating forward and heading straight for Annabelle's nose once again. He fired off another missile, but Annabelle knew it would never reach her. At the very last minute, Annabelle pulled up into the sky, planning to go as high as she could possibly manage, assuming her attacker would be following behind soon enough. The sound and image of bullets flying past her canopy told FreeFall that he had, just as she'd planned. She climbed higher and higher into the sky, wanting to ensure she left herself plenty of room to eject if necessary.
Not wanting to risk it any longer, Annabelle flipped the switch and put her hands up by her head, then let herself fall. This move could have easily gone the wrong way, but as Annabelle fell, she realized that she had full confidence in her abilities as a pilot. She wasn't scared. She wasn't questioning whether or not she made the right decision. As she fell past the fifth generation plane and jumped to switch her engines and controls back on, she knew that her move, the freefall, had just saved her life. The opposing pilot still made no move to attack as Annabelle locked targets on him with ease and fired her last missile straight into the body of the jet.
"Beat me to it again, FreeFall." At the sound of Hangman's voice coming over her radio, Annabelle turned to search for his whereabouts, finding him pulling up to her left in the open sky.
"Here I was coming to save you, and instead you make me look bad." Annabelle laughed at the fake hurt lacing Hangman's voice, but she was comforted to know that she wasn't being left alone up in the air; that Admiral Simpson had approved air support.
"Nah, Hangman. You look good." Hangman gave a gracious, yet still mildly arrogant smirk in FreeFall's direction to which the latter rolled her eyes. "Go ahead. Say it."
"I am good FreeFall. I'm very good." Had they been on the ground, Annabelle would have nudged him in the arm, but doing so with her plane in the air didn't seem like the appropriate way to do it. Instead, the two flew in tandem back to the carrier.
When the carrier came into sight, Annabelle's heart tightened in her chest. Given the chaos she'd been in the midst of since leaving for the mission, Annabelle hadn't had a real moment to think about the fact that she nearly just died... multiple times. As it all hit her now with part of her home in sight, she felt an extensive wave of relief overcome her. The thought of seeing Bob and Phoenix again when she thought she might not have the chance was enough to nearly send her accelerating towards the carrier's deck. But she kept her speed and altitude in check, not needing to hurt herself now right as she made it back safely. The carrier was an eruption of cheers and excitement as Annabelle's canopy lifted open, allowing Annabelle to stand and stretch her legs before moving down and out of the plane. She gratefully welcomed the various congratulations and hugs and fist bumps to the arm that came her way, but she never stopped moving forward through the crowd to get to the two people she most needed to see.
Natasha was the first to reach Annabelle as she grabbed the other girl roughly and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. The two just stood there amongst the crowds, never wanting to let the other go. It wasn't until Natasha firmly pulled away, only to grip Annie's face and plant a firm kiss on her forehead that the two finally spoke.
"If you ever pull some shit like that on me again, I'll shoot you down myself. You hear me, Kazansky?!" Annabelle laughed at the seriousness lying beneath her friend's words.
"How about a congratulations on now four active duty kills instead?"
"Mav's got five. So I'm not all that impressed." Annabelle laughed as she pulled Natasha in for yet another hug, this one just as fierce as the last. But when she opened her eyes to spot Bob standing over her just behind Natasha, Annabelle's brain shifted gears pretty fast. Annabelle pulled away from Nat and moved to swerve around her, to which Bob had already bent down slightly in anticipation and lifted Annabelle off the ground as she reached him, her legs wrapping around his waist as she held onto him for dear life. Neither of them spoke. It wasn't necessary at the moment. All either of them needed right now was to feel each other in their arms. To reassure themselves that this moment was real, that Annie had made it back safely and she was in Bob's arms now, and he was in hers. And neither of them had any intention of ever letting go.
-----
As soon as Annabelle woke the next day, she knew it was far later than her usual wakeup time. The night before was somewhat of a blur. After everyone had finally calmed down following the mission's success, they were all carted back onto a plane headed for North Island. That was immediately followed by a trip to the Hard Deck in which way too many drinks were shared. Annabelle didn't last nearly as long as everyone else though, her exhaustion from the day's events finally catching up with her as she and Bob trekked their way back to base for the night. The two still hadn't spoken a word to each other all night, but remained close throughout the party. If Annabelle wasn't sitting on Bob's lap, he was holding her hand while she stood next to him, or he stood behind her with an arm wrapped around her shoulders while she sat at the bar talking with Nat and Rooster. And when they came home, Annabelle had instantly climbed into Bob's bed without a second thought, knowing he wouldn't have a problem with it tonight of all nights. But now as she turned in the bed to find the parallel side empty, she knew the two of them would have to talk about the events of the mission.
Reluctantly climbing out of the bed, Annabelle made her way to the main living area to find Bob folding his clothes neatly into a couple of suitcases. Annabelle's heart clenched at the sight. She had gotten so used to having him by her side that she had forgotten for just a moment that they'd be parting ways within the next day or two. She unconsciously let out a sniffle at the thought, to which Bob turned around, finally noticing she had walked in the room. Without any hesitation, Bob walked up to Annabelle and enveloped her in his arms, his head resting gently atop hers as it naturally could. Light tears fell from Annabelle's eyes onto Bob's t-shirt, but she did her best not to turn this into a whole scene. She didn't want her last couple of days with Bob to be sad. Not when they had so much to be happy about. She softly began pulling out of Bob's embrace, wiping the excess tears from her cheeks as she did so.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to react like that. It just kind of happened."
"It's okay, Belle. It's understandable given everything that happened yesterday and the less than ideal circumstances now." Annabelle nodded, grateful that Bob understood perfectly as he always did.
"We should probably talk about yesterday, yeah? I know you're probably mad at me and have some things you want to get off your chest." At Belle's words, Bob gave a heartbroken look of confusion. If that was the feeling he had given off, it was not at all what he had intended.
"Belle. Baby, how could you possibly think I'd be mad at you? Was I scared? Absolutely. Belle, I really thought I lost you for a while there. But your job was to make sure we all came home alive. Your job was to protect us. And you did what you felt was necessary to do that. I could never be mad at you for simply doing your job. I knew the risks. We all did."
"I know. But still, I wouldn't blame you for--"
"There's nothing to blame. I was worried, I was scared. But you kept your promise. You came home, Belle. That's all that matters. I don't care about anything else that happened yesterday. Okay?" A shaky yet relieved sigh left Annie's lips at Bob's words. She'd never understand what she did to deserve him, which made the prospect of potentially saying goodbye all the more difficult.
"Okay. I love you, Bobby." Bob stepped even closer to Annabelle to the point of her needing to crane her neck upwards to look at him clearly. He gently gripped her waist with one hand while the other swept a stray tear off her cheek before moving in to cradle her face in his hand.
"I love you, Belle. You can't imagine how much I love you." As Bob leaned down to connect his lips with Belle's, all thoughts left the young couple's minds. It didn't matter that they might be shipped apart in the next day or two. It didn't matter that it could be months, years even before they got to kiss again after leaving North Island. All that mattered was that they were here together now, and they planned to savor every minute of it. They remained close after pulling out of the kiss, trying to decide what the next course of action should be.
"We should go out. You can finish packing later. I just want to spend the day with you." Bob smiled softly at Belle's words, feeling exactly the same way... sort of.
"Or... we could spend the day together here. In the dorm. All day." It took Annabelle a minute to grasp the full meaning of Bob's words, but when she did, she looked up at him in shock, amazed that he had been so bold as to make that first move in a sense. Bob laughed at the reaction, keeping his arms wrapped firmly around Belle's waist, although some of his shyness was creeping back in.
"Or if you want to go out we can do that too. We could finally have that proper beach day you've been talking abo--" Bob found his words cut off by Annabelle's lips being placed on his and he couldn't think of a happier way to be shut up. It also helped that the kiss felt like a resounding yes to his earlier question. Annabelle only confirmed it when she pulled away and smiled slyly up at him.
"No. We can stay in today. All day. What'd you want to do first?"