Nova left the Kazanksy's house feeling pretty down. Sarah was a mess, and she tried to help her out in any way she could. She helped move boxes of Tom's stuff, played with the kids, and spoke to Sarah about the whole situation.
Maverick was still at this meeting most likely, or he went home. Nova didn't know.
She didn't want to be alone right now, but she also didn't want to bother Bradley after spending two days with him comforting her, so she headed over to Penny's house. Today was Sunday, the bar was closed, so she thought she'd find her there. She'd hoped at least one of them were home, Penny or Amelia.
Nova knew she'd have to go home tonight. She's been in and out of her house, and she dropped Bowie off at home this morning. He's been staying with Phoenix and Halo since Nova's been at her dad's, but now she has to take care of him, and she has to be at work the next morning. For now though, she wanted to see Penny and Amelia.
The drive from Sarah's to Penny's house was silent. Nova didn't even breathe loud enough for herself to hear, and her radio was off. That was new for her, not listening to music in the car. Normally she can't function without some kind of rhythm in the background, but for these next few minutes she just wanted silence.As she nears the big white house, she sees her father's motorcycle in the driveway and wonders if she should just head home. Then she remembers he just met with the admiral.
After fully pulling her own car into the driveway, she spots Mav and Penny sitting on the front porch steps talking.
She walks over to them with a half smile. Penny greets her, but other than that nobody says much.
"How was the meeting?" Nova asks Maverick, taking a seat on the step below them.
"They permanently grounded me." He sighs, running a hand through his short hair.
"What! Why?"
"I was only on this mission cause Ice wanted me to be. Simpson thinks I haven't prepared the kids enough for the mission, and without Kazansky, there's no one to save my ass from getting fired."
"That's such bullshit. They need you to teach. They need a role model, not an admiral. Simpson doesn't give a shit whether they live or die, because he thinks it's impossible to survive this anyway." Nova says.
"Well, he said I've proved to them that the mission is impossible, and they need to believe it can be flown."
"So show them it can be flown." Nova shrugs, an idea forming in her mind.
"How am I supposed to do that?" He asks cluelessly.
"Fly the course. Prove its possible." She says.
"Nov, I'm grounded. I'm not legally allowed to fly. I don't even have access to government owned planes anymore."
"You could just...sneak a plane. Remember when you took me on that joyride? You can just use your key card and let yourself in." Penny tells him.
Maverick shakes his head. "They took my card cause I'm not permitted on base. I don't have keys to anything anymore."
"I do." Nova says sheepishly.
Maverick slowly turns his head towards her, raising and eyebrow.
"You've got a key to Hangar 1?"
"I've got a key to everything." She smirks. "We'll just get there early tomorrow morning, I can sneak you in. As long as you don't fail the course and embarrass yourself."
"That's illegal, Nova. You could lose your job, or go to prison! I'm not letting you do that."
"I have an engineering degree, I'm never out of a job." She argues back cockily.
"You are if you're in federal prison!"
"C'mon Dad. You really think Simpson would let them put me in prison? They need me."
Maverick looks at his daughter half proud and half scared. "You are way too much like me."
"Is that a yes? You're gonna go fly?" She gets excited.
"Nova, you could lose your career."
"And we could lose Bradley. I've seen Simpson's original mission plan. He's not exactly aiming for survival."
"What's his original plan?"
"Lower speed, higher hard deck. It focuses on blowing up the plant, and nothing else. They wouldn't fly through the canyon, and there's no attack formation for after they hit the target. It's a death mission."
"Maybe you could talk to him, he'd listen to you. Just get him to change his mind, guilt trip him or something." Mav comes up with an alternative plan.
"Guilt trip him? Are you serious, Pete?" Penny says.
"Yes! Just say I'm in love with Lieutenant Bradshaw! I need you to make sure there's a safer plan so him and my best friends don't all die!"
"Yes, I'm sure he'll completely change his whole mission plan and risk losing billions of dollars because I have a crush on one of the pilots. He'd never say no to that." Nova deadpans sarcastically.
"Nova's right. It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission." Penny advises.
"You know what? Fine. I'll fly the damn course." Mav gives in.
"I'll pick you up at six tomorrow morning." Nova decides on a time.
Maverick goes home shortly after that, and Nova decides to too, but Penny convinced her to stay for dinner. She didn't argue, knowing she'd rather be at the Benjamin's than alone at home.
"Amelia!" Penny shouts into the house as her and Nova walk inside.
"Yeah?" Amelia shouts back from her room.
"Come eat dinner. Nova's here!"
Seconds later, Amelia was on her way down the stairs, almost slipping down them in her socks.
"Hey, Nov!" She reaches the kitchen, happy to see the other girl.
"Hey, Mils!" Nova smiles at the younger girl. She always saw her as a little sister, ever since Maverick and Penny's last relationship.
Penny makes everyone a plate and they sit together at the dinner table. The three girls eat dinner and talk for the next hour, cheering each other up with jokes and stories. Nights like these were something Nova missed out on as a child. It was always just her and her dad, and maybe Iceman. She was always surrounded by men, and working with the Navy she still is now. It's nice to be around women who are more like her.
A while later, Penny got a call from Maverick so Nova and Amelia decided to hang out and catch up on some stuff. Amelia had a lot of questions about Nova's potential new relationship.
"I mean like how close are we talking? Like have you guys kissed yet?"
"No." Nova giggles at Amelia's question.
"Seriously? Haven't you been on like five dates with him? What's he waiting on?"
"We've been on two dates, Mils, really just one actually. We've hugged a lot if that makes you feel better." Nova tells her, plopping down on their living room couch.
"It does. What about like cuddling, do y'all do that?" Amelia grows curious.
"Yeah, but only when I was crying. And well..."
"Well...?"
"There was this one night I stayed at his place, but it-"
"You what?" Amelia's haw practically dropped.
"Calm down. Nothing happened."
"Not even minor cuddling?"
"Oh no, there was major cuddling. But that's all." Nova thinks back on the night she stayed with Bradley, and how things seemed so much simpler only a week ago.
"Tell me more." Amelia demands.
"Like what?"
"Why do you like him? Is he nice?"
"He's very nice. What's there not to like, you know?"
"I don't know. I've talked to this guy maybe three times in my life, you're gonna have to give me more details."
"He's really sweet, and he's super easy to talk to. I can just talk to him about anything. I dunno, I guess things with him flow easily, like I don't have to try to like him, I just do. He's really funny, he has like the same sense of humor as me. He feels familiar too, like I know we never actually knew each other before but it feels like we have. He feels very...refreshing, I guess."
"Oh god, Nova. You really like him. Like you're in lo-"
"Shut up." Nova laughs.
"What did Mav say about it?" Amelia changes the subject before Nova starts to blush even more.
"He's okay with it...I think. He practically raised Bradley, so I assume it's a bit weird for him."
"But he approves of him, right? I need to know if I'm gonna approve."
Nova laughs again at her comment. "Yes, he approves of him. And you will too, he's a good guy."
"You said the army brat was a good guy."
"Okay, we don't need to talk about him. I've learned from my mistakes."
"Yeah yeah. Tell Bowie I said hi." Amelia grins widely at her basically-sister.
"Proof that I won that relationship. Take notes, kid."
"Are you gonna win this one too?" The girl asks.
"I don't think so. I don't think I want to." Nova's always been known for being a heartbreaker, but she doesn't want that with Bradley. She doesn't want whatever this is to end.
"So this is it for you? You're done being a player?"
"Hey! I am not a player, it just took me a few tries to figure things out. There's nothing wrong with that, and yes, he's it for me."
"Wow." Amelia sighs. "I better be one of your bridesmaids, just saying." She laughs.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
"I'm just saying, when the day comes, can I be in your wedding?" She excitedly asks.
"Oh, one hundred percent." Nova doesn't hesitate to agree. They are sisters, after all. Soon to be step sisters if you ask them.
"Hey, do you think out parents will ever get married? I mean I know their old, but they've been seeing each other nonstop."
"I don't know if they will, if they care to. I'm guessing they won't break up again, though. My dad's been all in love recently."
"Oh, I know. Nov, you're not gonna believe this..."
"What?" She furrows her brows at what Amelia has to say, not sure what she doesn't know.
"I caught him sneaking out of her window the other night." She reveals.
Nova's jaw drops to the floor. "Are you you serious? The window?"
"I'm not even kidding. I don't know if she knows I know, but we did not talk about it."
"Goodness gracious." Nova sighs.
"Great balls of fire." Amelia's train of thought moves to the song Nova saw Bradley perform. They really are all connected in a way.
The two girls laugh at this, continuing their conversation to more and more topics, ultimately settling on their parents. Maverick and Penny's relationship status was an ever changing story for their kids to gossip about. They've always filled each other on on any information about each other's parent. They were a team. The were sisters.
Nova tiredly walked into her house that night, eager to get some sleep before her big day tomorrow.
"Hey, Bowie." Her dog runs to the front door to greet her. "Did you have fun with Aunt Tasha? She pets the dog lovingly.
The next morning, Maverick walked outside at the sound of a car horn honking, nervous for what he was about to do. He waves at his daughter before getting in her passengers seat.
"Good morning, aviator!" She greets him with enthusiasm.
Nova was very awake for how early it is. Maverick half wishes he was still in bed.
"Morning, honey." He mumbles. "You ready for this?"
"I sure am." She sticks her fist up towards him.
He fist bumps her and they say: "Let's fuck some shit up." at the same time. Like father like daughter.
Nova pulls in to the front gate, scanning her card like normal and letting herself in. Nobody was here this early, which ultimately was her goal. She parked in her usual spot and the two walked into the base.
As they reached Hangar 1, Nova pulled an array of keys out of pocket. Each key was labeled with the room it opened, and when she spotted the key to this particular hangar, she held it up and smiled pridefully at her dad. He just shakes his head and laughs as she unlocks the door and lets him in.
Yesterday, Maverick's plane was removed from the tarmac and conveniently parked in the hangar where Nova did most of her work. They stored planes in here when they were broken, or out of use. In this case, the plane would be stored her until someone else's name was put on the side. Nova was hoping that wouldn't happen.
The man and his daughter walked up to the jet, staring at its beauty from the ground next to it.
"What time does training start?" He asks.
"Seven." Nova answers, looking up at her dad's plane.
"I gotta go do inspections to make sure everything's functioning fine. I'll check on you when I'm done. Just make sure everything's good with your plane." She tells him.
"See ya."
Nova walks out of the hangar, locking it behind her to make sure nobody walks in and sees Maverick. She makes her way to the tarmac to help with preparations, when she sees her coworkers.
"Good morning, Miss Mitchell!" Sam waves at her.
"Morning, Sam! How's it looking over here?" She asks.
"Everything's running smoothly. Just need to fuel the first four up, could you help me out?"
"Yeah, I'll get these two on the right." She points to Coyote and Hangman's planes.
Nova grabs the fuel pump and fills Hangman's gas tank up with ease. When she makes her way over to Coyote's, she sees Jeremiah already doing the job.
"Morning, Jere." She nods at him.
"Good morning." He returns her greeting. "How were your days off?" He asks calmly.
"Good. Sad." She shrugs. He nods in understanding.
"I'm sorry about that. And about your dad, I heard they booted him off the mission?" He expresses his sorrow the best way her can.
"They booted him off of everything actually. He's grounded for life." Nova tells her friend, leaning against the side of the plane as he fills it with gas.
"Damn." His eyes widen and his head shakes. "What's he gonna do about that?"
"What do you mean? He can't do anything." Nova acts oblivious. She's not a great liar.
"Don't tell me you don't have some kind of a plan..." He finishes filling the tank, and they walk off of the busy tarmac together.
"You'll see. It's confidential for now." She smirks.
"Please tell me you snuck him in! It's getting boring around here." He says. How did he know?
"You'll see." She grins, practically running into Bradley as he's walking towards the classroom.
"Shit! Sorry!"
"Sorry!"
"Oh, whatsup, Bradshaw!" Jeremiah softly punches his shoulder.
"Whatsup! Have you guys seen Mav, he's usually here super early." Bradley asks them.
They look between each other for a split second, thinking of the secret Nova just told him. Well, the secret he assumed was true.
"Oh, he's-"
"He's not here." Nova interrupts the guy, not wanting him to spoil the fact that Maverick is grounded.
"What? Why?" Rooster gets confused.
"They kicked him off the mission. Simpson will tell everyone about it before training, after that I don't know what's happening." She is vague on her answer.
"Why would they kick him off? That's such bullshit-"
"We'll catch up later, okay?" She tells him, but he remains cross.
"Yeah...okay."
"Don't worry, I have a plan." Nova reveals secretively.
"Oh dear god..." Rooster assumes the worst.
"It's gonna work out, just trust."
"I'm trusting you, Mitchell." He points at her as he walks in the direction of the classroom.
"This is gonna be entertaining." Jeremiah comments before heading in the opposite direction, back to the tarmac.
"It sure is." She murmurs, walking away from both of them and back to Hangar 1.
When she walks in the room, Nova sees Maverick buckling up his flight gear and getting ready to fly.
"You ready? Class is starting right now, we gotta get you on the tarmac." She says anxiously.
"Yeah, I'm ready." He answers, putting his helmet on.
"You got this dad." She pats his back.
"I dunno, kid. I'm really hoping I don't fuck this all up." He tells her truthfully.
"You're Maverick, remember." She reminds him, hoping he'll understand just how good of a pilot he is. "Don't you feel the need?"
"Oh, I feel the need..." He sits down is his cockpit and tilts his head down at her, buckling his seat belt and starting his driving engine.
"The need." They both say, pausing as Nova opens the garage door.
"For speed!" They say in unison before Maverick drives the plane onto the taxiway, ready to show everyone that this mission is, in fact, possible.