THE NEXT DAY, SKYE AND KATIA WERE SORT OF PREPARED TO GIVE THEIR PRESENTATION ON what had gone right and what had gone wrong in fang, rooster, and phoenix's exercise. they'd agreed that skye would do most of the talking, and so she stood in front of the group of pilots with katia on the other side of the board that displayed the moves the pilots had made the day before.

"now, this move is really clever." skye said as it showed them stop and turn, rounding panther and taking him by surprise. "you probably recognize it because havoc and i do it so much." she then shook her head. "but it's pretty risky. if you overuse it, it loses its element of surprise. and if panther was in one of the fifth generation fighters, then.. you're not going straight past him, you're just making a fool of yourself." 

katia nodded. "so, if you're asking me, i would say you just split up about.." she paused the display. "here. rooster moves up to take the shot while phoenix and fang keep him distracted." 

"exactly. then you avoid the potential of them already knowing what you're about to do." skye agreed. "plus, it's a bit less risky."

hangman moved a toothpick in his mouth. "and you know how to fly risky, don't you, riot?"

she ignored him. "what this group did perfectly correctly was effective communication. when fang had an idea, he expressed it to the group and cleared it before carrying it out. that's why they succeeded in the exercise."

panther nodded. "excellent presentation, riot and havoc." he folded his arms across his front before stepping over to them. "now, you're going to demonstrate it." both girls looked at each other. "you've just displayed the way you think this exercise should be fought, so now pick a wingman and get geared up."

skye looked to katia, and they were both thinking the same thing. "rooster." the blonde said. 

he stood up, following them to get their gear over their flight suits. "this'll be a nice redemption." skye joked, excited that she and katia would get to prove themselves after the fiasco that had happened with hangman. 

they were all up in the air in no time, and skye was adjusting to the seats of the new plane, which were less broken in than the previous ones had been. "don't spin out this time, okay, ri?" rooster said on the comms, smiling as she glared over at him. 

"any eyes on panther?" skye asked, hearing katia shift around in her seat.

"nope not- oh, no, yep, he's right there." 

skye laughed, increasing her speed to get away from the admiral. "rooster, what did you guys do yesterday when you were at this point?"

he thought for a moment. "uh.. we were just trying to get him off of our tails for a while."

she nodded. "okay. we're gonna do a lap around and then we're gonna go through what we demonstrated, sound good?"

"yeah, sounds good. i go up and you distract." 

"you betcha." 

skye took a lap around the canyon before doing a spin in the air, steering clear of panther's weapons system as best she could. she then did another flip, looking for rooster out of the corner of her eye. 

"okay, rooster. you ready?" 

"yeah, i'm ready."

she made a sharp turn, listening to katia describe where rooster was moving. he soon was lined up with panther, and let out an excited cheer. 

"great balls of fire!" he shouted happily.

skye laughed, holding up a hand for katia to high five. "and that's how you do it!" she said.

panther was smiling proudly. "excellent work, all three of you. head back to base to analyze."

they took their gear off, all three of them feeling the sweat as more of a reward than anything else. the two days it had been since skye had last flown felt like the longest she'd ever gone without being in a plane, and she had been itching to get back in her f/a-18. 

the three each finished analyzing their performance and then were ready to clock in, tired from the day. "do you two want to go to the hard deck?" katia asked, running a hand through her hair. "jake invited me to go, figure we could all four hang out." 

skye shrugged. "i'm game."

rooster then nodded. "yeah, i'd love to." 

skye drove by katia to the bar, parking their motorcycles next to rooster's truck. jake was already there, and he immediately ordered katia's drink for her. "so, jake," skye began, sitting down by the bar, "how long have you been flying for?"

he shrugged. "about five years now." 

she raised a brow. "did you not start until college?" 

"yeah, never had an opportunity before then." 

she nodded. "well, i'm glad you're here now." 

he smiled as he looked over at katia. "me too." 

"you guys are really cute." skye said, looking at their intertwined hands. 

"so are you guys." jake replied, looking at rooster, who was sitting next to her. 

skye shook her head. "no, we're not together." she looked up at rooster, who was suddenly very invested in the conversation. 

"you're not?" jake asked, looking over at katia, who clearly hadn't told him about the gray area in their relationship. 

"no, no, we're just really close." skye said, though it honestly hurt her to even say it. she found herself thinking more and more about what it would be like to be in a relationship with him, and she asked herself if it would be worth it to admit her feelings to him. of course it would be worth it, though. that was, if he even felt the same. 

rooster stiffened a bit next to her. "yeah." he finally agreed when he noticed jake waiting for him to confirm that they were only friends. "do you want your usual?" he asked, looking down at skye.

she furrowed her brows. "my usual?"

"if you like pina coladas-" he started singing, laughing as she silenced him. 

"no, i think i'm gonna go with something a little stronger tonight." 

he raised a brow. "are you sure? you have to drive home." 

she shrugged. "i'll be fine. i can handle my liquor." 

rooster had been monitoring skye for a while, making sure she was drinking within reason. at one point, when she was probably about three drinks in, she became a bit tipsy. 

"do you want to dance?" she asked, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the floor. 

there was no way he could say no to her, not when she was smiling up at him like that. so he put his hands on her waist and held her body close to his, humming along to whatever song was playing. 

soon after that, he moved to the bar, leaning close to penny. "hey, no matter what she bribes you with, do not give her another drink." 

the woman gave him a two fingered salute, nodding. "will do. thank you for looking out for her." 

that made him smile. rooster liked the idea of being able to look after skye, who was so frequently out of control. she didn't need him, it wasn't like that. he knew he wasn't her savior or knight in shining armor, but he selfishly wanted to be the person that was able to take care of her. 

"bradley." she mumbled, her head on his shoulder. 

"hm?" he asked, looking down at her with a smile. "darlin', you've had too much to drink."

skye shook her head, still against his shoulder. "no, no, i'm good." 

he put an arm around her to make sure she didn't fall from her seat. "i know you're good. but you're gonna have to go home." he thought for a second. "i can put your motorcycle in the bed of my truck and give you a ride home, okay? i don't want you driving home like this."

she pouted her lips, and he swore it was the cutest thing he'd ever seen. "i fly planes, bradley, i can drive home. it's just a motorcycle." 

rooster nodded. "yeah, which is ten times harder to drive than a car, okay? you're not driving home." 

skye stopped trying to argue, and he almost thought she was asleep on his shoulder before she laughed. "your name is funny." 

"what do you mean?" he asked, a smile spreading on his lips. 

"brad brad." she said simply. 

"brad.. brad?" rooster raised a brow.

skye nodded. "bradley bradshaw. brad brad." 

he then laughed. "that's maybe the best thing you've ever said, and you won't even remember it." 

she rolled her eyes. "okay, brad brad."

"oh my gosh." he chuckled, moving her head from his shoulder (despite how much he enjoyed having her that close) and helping her to her feet. "let's take you home, okay?" 

she didn't reply, so put a hand on her lower back and led her through the crowd and to katia and jake, who were competing in darts. 

"kat, i'm gonna take her home, she's had too much."

the blonde turned and nodded, thankful that rooster had even thought to check in with her before leaving. "okay, drive safe."

he led skye outside, and helped her up into his truck before grabbing her motorcycle and securing it to the bed of the truck. when he got into the driver's side, skye was already half asleep. he turned his music down so it wouldn't bother her, but if she'd been awake she probably would've flushed to notice that he was playing the fleetwood mac cd she'd picked out for him. 

when rooster pulled into her lot, he first got out her motorcycle and moved it to where he knew she always left it before moving back to his truck. she wasn't fully asleep, but he didn't really have the heart to wake her up. so, he unbuckled her seatbelt and put an arm under her knees and an arm behind her back, picking her up almost effortlessly. 

he carried her to her door, and fumbled around with her set of keys for a moment before finding the correct ones and opening the door. he brought her inside and turned on the lights, eventually finding his way to her bedroom, which was at the very end of the hall, next to katia's. 

rooster set her down on the bed and took off her shoes for her. he looked around the room for a moment before finding a blanket and putting it over her body. he then felt creepy, as if he shouldn't be watching her sleep. he remembered when she'd compared him to edward cullen (yeah, so what, he'd watched some of the twilight movies to understand what she'd been talking about), and almost laughed as he realized he was doing yet another one of the edward cullen things by watching her sleep.

he justified it for himself by saying that he was only there to take care of her, and then found himself smiling at the peaceful look on her face as she slept. he frequently wondered if she'd always been that beautiful, and he'd just always been blind to it. he mentally kicked himself daily for having been distant from her when they were in the naval academy. 

all of that time he could've spent being in her life was gone, and it was his fault. he now was doing everything he could to avoid losing her, which included keeping his feelings for her secret. 

rooster was often very straightforward about his feelings towards people, but the last time he'd had a girlfriend had been in high school, and he truthfully didn't know how to go about admitting something like that to someone he was close to. he also was fully aware of the fact that he was older than her, if only by four years, and that he might rush things.

the last thing he wanted was to scare her off, or to make her get weirded out. he worried that she would be creeped out if he admitted his feelings for her. if she didn't like him back, then she might find it uncomfortable to be friends with him after he put something like that out in the open.

of course, the other part of his mind was screaming at him to just tell her. it was hurting him to be so close to her, yet unable to tell her daily how much he cared about her. he wasn't lying when he told her he'd never felt that way about anyone else before.

but the most rational part of his mind, the part that kept winning all of his mental arguments, told him that he could lose her easily. and, again, if she didn't feel the same way he did, then he might not be able to have hangouts with her, or get to be the person she trusted enough to bring her home when she was drunk and tired. 

rooster was thinking about all of this again as he wrote a note for her, setting it on her bedside table. he leaned down, pressing a kiss to her temple. with that, he turned off the light in her hallway and left, being sure to lock the door behind him. 

he got back in his truck, and ran a hand through his hair. how was he supposed to avoid telling her about his feelings for her when all he wanted to do was shout them from the rooftops? shit, he was down bad.