ROOSTER AND SKYE HAD SOON SUNG TOO MANY SONGS TO COUNT. after going through nearly every song they could think of, they were practically forced away from the piano by the other officers around them. 

skye laughed as she sat back down next to rooster, who had his aviators resting on the top of his head. "how many times are you going to make me do that?" she asked, recalling the last time they'd been at the bar and had become their own jukeboxes. 

"every single time we come here, riot." he replied with a grin. "it's not my fault you're so fun to karaoke with."

she rolled her eyes. "my apologies, then." 

he ordered another beer, but skye insisted she was fine, and instead sat with him to talk. "so what's your favorite movie?" he asked as he took a drink. 

skye shrugged. "that's a really difficult question, roost. um.. i guess one of my favorites is going to have to be red tails."

"a movie that isn't about pilots." he clarified, a smile on his lips.

she shook her head. "wow, okay. um.. maybe six underground? it has ryan reynolds in it, ben hardy, it's pretty good." 

rooster raised a brow. "what's it about?"

"group of people who have faked their own deaths that now try to stop bad guys. in the movie they try to stop the leader of uzbekistan, and they have to blow up all this stuff.. anyway, they don't have names, they just go by the numbers they are, cause there are six of them." she attempted to explain, though she wasn't giving a good description of the plot. 

he nodded. "and who's ben hardy?"

she gasped. "you don't know who that is?"

he shook his head. "no?"

"he played roger taylor in bohemian rhapsody?" skye then gasped. "that's another one of my favorite movies! i also love forrest gump, but that's kind of a given." 

rooster laughed. "who doesn't love forrest gump?"

she nodded, watching as his eyes crinkled with his laugh. "anyway, what movies do you like?" 

he shook his head. "no. tonight i'm asking you questions. tomorrow it's your turn." 

skye rolled her eyes. "okay edward cullen."

"what?" 

"twilight." she explained. "the vampire, edward cullen. he and bella do that; he decides they get to take turns with who gets to ask who questions."

rooster only laughed again. "you've read twilight?"

she gave him a look. "uh.. yeah? what do you expect from me?"

he laughed. "you are full of surprises, mitchell." 

"anyway, screw that. i'm asking you questions." she said, putting her elbows on the bar. "what are some of your hobbies? other than flying." she clarified. 

he smiled at the clarification. "other than flying? um.. i like playing piano, as you know. sometimes i've gone fishing, i like to rent boats. there hasn't been a lot of time for me to develop hobbies other than flying, but i'm sure you know what that's like."

she nodded. "yeah, i do. i play guitar sometimes, i'm not super good at it though."

this made him grin. "you play guitar?"

"not well, but yeah." 

"we should start a band." he suggested. 

skye laughed. "what would we name our band, if we had one?"

he thought about this for a moment. "the riot of the rooster."

"oh my gosh."

"what do you think?"

"it's so awful that i kind of love it." she laughed, ordering a plate of fries from the bar's limited food menu. 

he laughed. "come on, it's funny! okay, um.. what's a good question. uh.. what is your favorite song right now?" 

"after our perfect rendition of it, maybe the pina colada song." she joked. "i think we made rupert holmes proud, for sure. what about you?"

rooster didn't have to think about it before he replied. "great balls of fire, baby!" the nickname slid out of his mouth so effortlessly that skye didn't think he'd thought about it at all, but the smile on his face distracted her from any other thought she'd previously had. "okay, new question. if you could get another tattoo, what would it be?"

skye had almost forgotten that her tattoo was on display again, and she smiled. "um.. that's a good one. honestly i've always considered getting something new but i just don't know what. maybe a song lyric or something? or like.. a disco ball?"

"why a disco ball?" he laughed.

"because they're cool." she replied. "okay, what about you? do you have any tattoos?"

he shook his head. "nope. but i'm not against getting any. i guess i just have no idea what i'd want, you know? it's really daunting. you pick something and it's there for the rest of your life." he pondered for a moment. "hey, we should get matching tattoos."

skye laughed. "woah, how many drinks have you had?"

rooster shook his head. "no, i'm serious. neither of us know what we want, but both of us want tattoos. so, we should get matching tattoos."

"we'd need to figure out what we want first." she reminded him.

"that's a bridge we can cross when we get there."

"okay, sure, rooster." 

they continued on like this for a while, asking various questions about each other and getting caught up on everything that had happened in their lives while they'd been separate. skye didn't know when she started noticing that rooster was getting tipsy, but it soon became obvious to her that he'd had too much.

"roost, come on." she managed to pry the bottle from his hand. "you've had enough." 

he shook his head, reaching his arms out to hug her. "i'm tired." he mumbled.

skye threw her head to look at the ceiling, inwardly cursing. "okay, let's get you home, yeah?" 

rooster nodded his head, reluctantly letting go of her so she could grab his hand, paying their bill before leading him outside. skye eyed his truck, which looked like it had been lifted, and immediately decided that she didn't want to try to pick him up and seat him in it. 

"okay, roost, we're taking the motorcycle." she told him, putting on her helmet and giving him the extra one that she had, for once, attached to the back. "you're lucky i have this for you." she told him, putting it on his head and helping him latch the strap under his chin. 

she then sat down on the bike, doing her best to help him sit down behind her. rooster wrapped his calloused hands around her waist, and skye tried not to let the breath escape her body as he did so. 

"hold on, okay? don't, uh.. don't fall off." she said, patting his hands for a moment before starting the bike. almost as soon as they were on the road, his head had fallen onto her back, and she almost wanted to be annoyed but she instead just laughed to herself. 

when they got back to the apartment, skye helped him to his feet and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to walk him inside. "i don't know where your apartment is, so you get to stay with me and kat tonight." she told him, leading him to the couch.

"thank you, skye." he said, to which she hummed in response. "skye?" she looked over as he grabbed her hand. "i'm glad i have you back in my life." his words were slurred together, but the meaning was still sincere enough to make her smile.

then as soon as rooster's head hit the couch, he seemed to be passed out asleep. skye chuckled as she looked down at him, shaking her head. he looked more peaceful when he slept, she thought. the constantly focused wrinkles of his face were relaxed, and it looked like the constant weight on his shoulders had been lifted. 

"hey, uh, kat?" skye asked quietly, calling her on the phone. "i have a, um.. i have a bradley bradshaw passed out drunk on our couch. what am i supposed to do with him?"

katia arrived soon after, shaking her head at the sight of the lieutenant on their sofa. "what is your plan?"

skye shrugged. "i mean my first course of action was to get him a blanket." 

they tucked the blanket in on both sides, hoping it would keep rooster warm as he began to lightly snore. the two women then sat on the floor in front of the sofa, trying to keep their voices low enough that they wouldn't wake him. 

"how did your date go?" skye asked.

"it was good!" katia smiled. "yeah, um, it's official. he asked me to be his girlfriend."

skye smiled, wrapping her arms around her friend. "that's amazing! i'm so happy for you."

she nodded. "yeah, i'm really excited! what did you think of him?"

she shrugged. "i mean, i didn't really get to talk to him much. but he seems to really like you, so hopefully i'll get to know him better as you guys hang out more."

"yeah!" katia agreed. "yeah, he's really great. he's funny, he's nice."

skye smiled again. "that's really amazing, kat, i'm so happy for you."

katia, desperate to then get the conversation off of herself, smirked. "how was your date?"

"not a date." she repeated for the umpteenth time. "but, i had a really good time."

"yeah?"

"yeah! we got to do some juke boxing, you know. then we just asked each other questions, and we kind of just.. updated each other on our lives since he graduated." skye explained.

katia nodded. "so it was a date."

"it was not." skye glared at her. "but hangman did try to ask me on one."

"what?" katia gasped. "oh my gosh, ew."

"that's what i thought!" skye laughed. "i told him no, obviously. then rooster was there in time to save me." 

the other girl nodded, a knowing smile on her face. "that's good, then. and it seems you returned the favor?" she looked over at rooster, whose mouth had opened, increasing the sound of his snores.

"i guess so. i hadn't kept count of how many drinks he'd had.. i guess he hadn't either." skye turned back to her friend. "i hope jake didn't mind you leaving early."

katia shook her head. "the bar was about to close anyway. besides, i'd much rather help you babysit." 

skye laughed. "it's really nice having him back."

"yeah?"

"yeah." she nodded. "he just.. he's a breath of fresh air, you know? like you always get me, you always know what i'm thinking and feeling and it's great to have someone else who's kind of.. kind of the same." 

katia smiled. "yeah, that makes sense." 

"and i don't know. i guess i didn't know how much i'd missed him because i was too busy being mad at him. but now i'm just.. thankful that he's finally back." skye looked back at katia. "what?" she asked, trying to analyze the look on her face.

"if i tell you, you'll throw another sock at me." 

skye raised her hands to show that they were empty. "i am sockless. speak your truth, katia dear." 

she laughed. "yes, honey. i think.. i think maybe you should consider the idea that you might be good with rooster."

"this again-"

"i'm serious." katia said. "i genuinely don't think i've seen you as happy in our lives as i saw you when you were sitting next to him on that piano bench. and i might be wrong. i'm not telling you to rush into it, i'm just telling you to consider it." 

skye shook her head, smiling to herself. "you're unbelievable, you know that?"

"what do you mean?" katia laughed.

"you know what i mean." she smirked, nudging her with her elbow.

"just consider it!" 

skye covered her ears with her hands so she could pretend to not hear her, laughing as katia tackled her to the ground, all the while rooster snored in the background.