Lunch was quiet, but a comfortable kind of quiet. Iceman's cancer was getting worse, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Nova tried to avoid thinking about it, but she also wanted to see him as much as she could without letting herself get upset. She knew he would be gone soon, but she didn't want to cry in front of Sarah and the kids.
Nova's phone pings as she takes a bite of her salad, indicating that she got a text message. She glanced at the screen and sees a text from a random number, so she opens her phone and sees what it says.
Hey Nov, this is Bradley. Do you have plans tonight?
Iceman, who's sitting next to her, leans over her shoulder and reads the message, giving her a big grin. Nova can't hide her obvious blush, and looks at him with a flustered smile.
"What was that?" Sarah asks the two. Tom grabs the phone and further inspects the message, squinting his eyes and starting to type something.
"Bradley just texted m-what are you typing!" Nova leans over to see the phone.
Hey, Bradshaw, this is Iceman! Nova is completely free tonight and would love to see you
"Wait, don't!" She tried to grab her phone from him but it was too late. He sent the message. Nova puts her hands over her face, trying to stop herself from laughing out loud.
Iceman then turns on the camera and takes a selfie of them two, him giving a thumbs up and her leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed. He then sends to the photo to Bradley, and turns the phone towards his wife before Nova can say anything else.
"So you and Bradley? Aww that's adorable, honey!" Sarah says, happy to see the two really know each other now.
"We're not together. We've only been on one date." She says.
Iceman shakes his head and points to the phone. He then puts up two fingers to say that there is a second date now.
"What did your father say about it?" Sarah asks worriedly. Mavericks always been a bit...protective.
Iceman's eyebrows shoot up in question, anticipating hearing about how angry Maverick is about Rooster dating his daughter.
"I mean he's not exactly happy about it...but he's not totally against it. He says Bradley's a good guy. I think he's just scared to be around him."
"The kid's still mad?" Iceman asks, straining his voice. Sarah quietly scolds him for talking, knowing it hurts him.
"Yeah..." Nova sighs. "He's warming up, I think, but he hasn't forgiven Mav."
"He will." Ice says in a much quieter whisper, trying to avoid hurting his throat.
Seeing him like this makes Nova sad, but she tries her best to hide it.
They talk more about Top Gun, Maverick, Nova's career and dating life, the rest of the pilots on the mission, and most importantly Tom's health. Nova walks out of the house with a smile, but as soon as she turns away, tears brim at her eyes.
He doesn't have much time left, and Nova needs Iceman here. The man has been a huge part of her life, more than her own father has at some times. He's helped her through so much and gotten her so far in her career. She's learned so much from him being in Miramar, and from being around him as a child. She's glad Tom approves of Bradley, because if he didn't she probably wouldn't let herself be with him. She also knows her father needs to talk to Ice, but she's sure he will soon if he hasn't already.
She drives away down the windy beachside road, eyeing the cliff her and Rooster had dinner on top of from afar as she passes by. It looks a lot higher from down here. That reminds her, she should probably see if he texted her back.
Nova reaches for her phone as she stops at a red light, but is taken aback when she gets a call from the random number, knowing it's Bradley's. She answers the call with a quick "hello."
"Hey, Nova! I just saw your text, what are you doing right now?" He asks.
"I'm driving home from Kazansky's." She answers.
"How was that?" He asks her with caution, knowing Ice is sick, but not just how sick he is.
"Umm...it was okay. It was good, Ice just...isn't doing well." She hesitantly says, not sure if Bradley knows about the cancer.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Nov." He murmurs through the phone.
"It's fine, everything's fine!" She nervously laughs, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Are you okay?" Her heart stops at his question.
"...No." She says honestly.
It was like Nova finally realized just how upset she was. She had been pretending everything was fine since this mission started, when really she feels like everything's falling apart.
"Do you wanna come over? I mean, I'm staying with some of the guys so I dunno if you wanna see anyone, but we can just chill and order food or something." He plans out.
"Yeah...yeah I'll come over. Who are you staying with?" She asks, really hoping Phoenix will be there.
The two girls have grown closer the last few days, and have gotten along easily. When you're a girl in the Navy, you're surrounded by guys all of the time. Everyone Nova works with is a man, and it's nice to have another woman on base.
"Payback, Fanboy, and Bob." He answers. "I think Phoenix and Omaha are here too."
"Okay. Send me the address and I'll be there in a bit." She says.
Nova goes home and changes into a more comfortable outfit, ditching her denim shorts for athletic ones and throwing on her comfiest Top Gun sweatshirt. She runs a brush through her hair and retouches her concealer, noticing the redness under her eyes from her tears.
The girl takes a deep breath in as she looks at herself in the mirror, gearing up to be around other people again today. Nova's social battery runs out fairly easily, and she's hoping to just chill for the rest of the day. Luckily, being around Rooster doesn't take any energy, it's easy.
When Nova arrives to the Navy-occupied neighborhood, she spots Rooster's blue bronco in front of a house with a few other cars. She reaches the front door, giving it a loud knock and waiting for someone to answer. The door swings open, revealing Fanboy.
"Oh, hey Nova! What are you doing here?" He greets her, but is slightly pushed out of the way by Rooster.
"Hey! Come in." He says, putting a hand on her back briefly as she walks inside the house. Payback and Bob are sitting in the couch watching tv, and look up from the screen with bright smiles when they see Nova.
"Whatsup, Mitchell!" Bob says to her. Payback smiles and nods hello.
"Hey guys!" She says hello to them, following Rooster further inside.
"Rooster, you didn't tell me your girlfriend was coming over! I would've made guacamole." Payback grins.
"Oh, shut up." Brad laughs. "You hungry?"
"No, I just had lunch."
"Oh yeah. C'mon let me give you a little tour." He nods his head towards the kitchen.
Nova follows him to the kitchen and dining area, then he shows her the rest of the house.
"And this is mine. It's kinda boring, didn't really have time to decorate." He shows her his assigned bedroom.
The room is pretty bare aside from his different uniforms folded on the dresser, some photos on the desk, and a Navy blue comforter. Nova walks into the space, gravitating towards the three framed pictures.
One photo is of Bradley with his Top Gun graduating class, another is him and his mother. The third photo catches Nova's eye when she recognizes her father. He's standing with her mother next to a piano that Goose is playing. Carole is there, and so is Bradley.
"Whatcha lookin at?" He asks, walking up behind her to glance at the photos.
"That's my dad." She tells him what caught her eye.
"Mhm, and that's mine." He points to his father, who is happily singing with his family. Maverick always said he was a happy guy.
"And that's you?" She double checks, pointing to the little boy in the photo.
"Yep. And you're in there." He points to Charlie's stomach, lightly laughing.
"Wow look at that. Our very first picture together." Nova laughs, but it quickly fades into silence.
No matter how much she thinks about Bradley, she still can't get her mind off of Iceman. All she can think about is that she's gonna lose him, and if this mission fails she might lose Bradley too.
"What's wrong, Nova?" He asks, leaning against the desk and looking into her eyes.
Nova doesn't look back at him, instead she stares at the floor. She doesn't want to start talking about what's upsetting her, because she knows she'll make herself cry.
"I don't...think I can talk about it. I don't know if I can-" Her tears are on the brim of her eyes, and she struggles to keep them from falling.
She feels his hand softly grab her jawline, tilting her head upwards to look at him. It's now that he sees she's starting to cry.
"Come on. Sit down, love." He takes a seat in his bed, bringing her with him.
Nova doesn't fight it, and follows him into the thick blue comforter. She sits up next to him and brings her knees to her chest, resting her head on them. Bradley's hand is on her back, gently rubbing circles along her shoulder blade.
"He's dying." She barely gets the words out before completely breaking down.
Bradley pulls Nova closer to him and she automatically leans into his chest, collapsing into him. She starts to really cry, but tries to contain herself since she only just met Bradley a week ago. He doesn't seem the slightest bit phased at her breakdown, like he knew this would happen. It was as if he saw right through her, and he knew something had been bothering her all day. It was only a matter of time before it got to be too much.
"I don't know what to do." She sighs as he gently rubs her back.
"It's gonna be okay, Nov." Is all he can really say right now. He's never been good at comforting people.
"Look, Bradley." She sits up and stares absent-mindedly at the wall. "I already know I'm gonna lose him."
She continues as he tries to figure out what she's saying.
"If this mission doesn't work out..."
"It will." He interjects.
"But if it doesn't..." Tears continue to spill from her eyes. "I just got you, Bradley, I can't lose you."
He shakes his head.
"We're not losing anyone on this mission. You're not losing me, I promise you. I don't even know if I'm flying yet." He tries to assure her.
"I think it's pretty obvious who's flying. I'm scared, Brad."
"It's okay to be scared." He nods in understanding. "But you couldn't lose me if you tried. I'm not going anywhere."
"Do you swear?" She asks.
Bradley almost laughs at her childish question, but realizes that she's serious. The man doesn't really know what to say, it's a dangerous mission. The possibility of death is through the roof, much higher than the possibility of life. He doesn't want to tell her he might die, but he also knows she's not stupid and doesn't want him to lie to her.
"Nova..."
"Bradley, please." He cocks his head up and looks at her face again.
He can read the raw anxiety on her face, her expression laced with fear. Seeing her like this makes him easily decide that he'd do anything for her. He'd come back home alive for her, and only for her.
"I swear." He gives in. Bradley doesn't make promises he can't keep, but this might be a tough one.
Nova wraps her arms around his neck, pulling herself into him for a hug. All she really wants in this moment is to be close to him.
"C'mere." He mumbles, pulling her to lay on top of him.
She rests her head on his chest and moves her arms to his torso, fully engulfing herself in his bed.
The two of them stay like this for a while, eventually turning on the tv. When Bradley asks what she wants to watch, Nova automatically tells him Gilmore Girls and they lay in his bed watching it together. They've moved closer and closer together as the sun set outside the window. The lower the sun went, the closer Bradley held her to him.
There's a soft knock on Bradley's bedroom door, turning both of their heads away from the tv.
"Yeah?" Bradley answers the person behind the wall.
Bob swings the door open and looks down at the two laying in bed together. His eyes widen slightly at their position, and then squint when he sees Nova's expression. She looks sad, tired even.
"Hey...dinners ready if you guys are hungry." He rocks back and forth on his heals.
"Yeah, yeah." They mumble, climbing out of Bradley's bed.
"Is everything...okay with you guys?" Bob cautiously asks.
Bradley and Nova look at each other, and then look back at Bob. Nova nods to assure that she's fine.
"Is Phoenix here?" Nova asks Bob, feeling the need to be around another woman.
The three of them walk out of the room and down the hallway to the kitchen.
"Yeah, she's been wanting to see you. We just didn't know if you guys were..." Bob says, not finishing his sentence.
"If we were what?" Brad asks him accusingly.
"You know." He shrugs.
"Fucking!" Coyote answers with a thumbs up as they enter the kitchen.
"We were not-"
"Nova Mitchell!" Phoenix enters the conversation, greeting Nova with excitement.
"Natasha Trace!" Nova tells back with the same enthusiasm.
"Fancy seeing you here." Natasha murmurs, pulling her in for a hug.
"Alright people, let's eat." Payback makes himself a plate and everyone follows.
They group eats dinner together spread out around the kitchen, living room, and dining area. All twelve of the pilots on the mission ended up coming, and Nova really liked to be around this group. Everyone got along, everyone laughed, and everyone had a good time. It's safe to say that team bonding was a great idea. Nova felt safe around Bradley and the other aviatiors. She felt as if they were all one big family, when she only just met them all. Bradley also liked the group, and he really loved having Nova around. He wanted to be around her all the time, even if they were just laying in bed and watching tv.
Brad takes a bite of his food, leaning against the kitchen counter. He looks at Nova, who's sitting on top of the island countertop laughing at something Halo said. She looks so pretty when she's smiling, and he's glad to see her happy in this moment. She looks so beautiful in the kitchen light, her dark hair fanning around her and perfectly framing her face. Bradley is entranced in just the sight of her smiling, and he can't take his eyes off her. Nova's gaze shifts to Bradley, locking eyes with him and smiling at the man. He's so distracted by her, he barely feels Phoenix elbow him.
"Hmm?" Brad abruptly turns his head to his right.
"I see that look, Bradshaw." She smirks.
"What look?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.
"You are in looooove." She elbows him again playfully.
"Shut up. I just met her." He laughs.
"No, seriously." They lock eyes. Her expression turns knowingly.
Bradley thinks to himself for a second, re-evaluating his mind and wondering how he really feels.
"Seriously...what?" He rephrases.
"Do you love her?" Phoenix asks, getting deep with him for once.
"...yeah-yeah I think I do." He finally nods in confirmation.
"I knew it." She grins widely.
The rest of the evening goes by pretty quickly, and everyone slowly starts to call it a night after a few group conversations and some playful bickering.
"I should probably go home, we've got an early morning." Nova decides after Hangman and Coyote are the last to leave out the front door. Bob heads to his room and Payback is throwing away plastic cups that were left behind in the kitchen.
"Why don't you just stay?" Rooster offers, surprising her.
"Oh...I don't know if that's a good idea, Bradley." She's hesitant to let herself spend the night with the man.
"Why not? You can stay with me. Whatever you're comfortable with." He tells her.
"It's not that I'm not comfortable with it, I just feel like it's a little soon for that." She fidgets with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.
"Oh, I didn't mean like...that. I mean I would, I just can tell you're still kind of upset. I'd hate for you to be alone right now."
"I'll stay." She agrees.
"Good. Now c'mon, Mitchell, let's get some sleep." He grabs her hand and starts walking to his bedroom with her trailing behind him.