THE DRIVE TO ICEMAN'S HOUSE WAS ENTIRELY FULL OF CARPOOL KARAOKE IN THE CAR THAT SKYE AND KATIA WERE RENTING. after spending years with just their motorcycles, they decided that a car would be helpful for trips like this that they might need to bring bags to.

katia had explained on the drive that she didn't want her parents or family to know about her crush on phoenix. skye understood completely, of course, and assured her that she wouldn't say anything. katia simply needed to figure everything out for herself before she told her family, and she got that.

they arrived at ice's house in no time, and had barely closed their car doors before katia's siblings raided them both with hugs and questions. "how's top gun?" "what are you two flying?" "what are those?"

skye laughed as she attempted to answer each question, watching katia carefully exclude herself from the conversation and walk into the house.

when they were both inside, they were greeted by sarah, who was always so excited to see them. "how have you been?" she asked her daughter, pulling her into a tight hug before giving skye a similar hug. "is maverick being fair to you?"

katia chuckled. "oh yeah."

ice was sitting in his chair in the corner silently, as he was most days now. there was a bright smile on his face, though, as he looked at the two women.

"hey, dad." katia smiled, walking over to give him a hug. he stood up, quickly enveloping her. "i've missed you."

skye could tell just from his eyes that he wanted so badly to repeat the sentiment, and that it hurt him to be unable to. he signed the words out, though, a smile still on his lips.

ice had learned as much sign language as he could, since he couldn't always be around his computer or phone to relay his thoughts. his entire family, skye included, had then taught themselves sign language, too, hoping to be able to still talk to him.

"it's like.. flight signals." he had once signed with a proud smile.

"so, what all do you have for me to look through?" katia asked as she pulled away from the hug, looking between her mother and father.

sarah smiled. "come here, i have it all in boxes in the other room." she led them to their now vacant room that had once belonged to katia. "some of it is yours, too, skye."

there were multiple boxes laid out on the bed and floor, each of them full of either classwork and papers or stuffed animals and little knick knacks that katia had collected over the years.

"oh, we also found some of your dad's things." sarah said, putting a hand on katia's shoulder. "he wants you to have some of it as a gift for graduating top of your class." this made both young women laugh. "some of it is maverick's, too."

skye was then all ears, and she and katia thanked sarah as she brought in a cardboard box full of various items that had once belonged to ice. skye sat in the one free spot on katia's old bed to browse that box while the blonde sat on the floor, going through a box of her old essays.

"look at this." skye said with a smile, holding over a polaroid. it was both of their fathers when they were their age, smiles on their faces as they stood in front of an f-14. it was a couple of months before they had been born.

katia smiled. "look at them. they look so young."

"we don't call him slay for nothing." skye reminded her as she looked at their father's waists in their flight suits. "waist on fleek."

"that's gross." the blonde argued.

skye browsed through the various patches in the box, smiling as she took out a collection of top gun related patches and pins. "these are so fucking cool."

they had managed to get a lot of cleaning done in the next couple of hours, only stopping to take a break for dinner. most of the boxes had soon been removed, and they were both down to the last box of ice and mav's old things.

this box, they soon realized, was mainly full of photos. there were ones of ice holding young katia, back when he still had bleached tips in his hair. there were others of maverick with a boyish smirk on his face as he watched skye carry around a model of an f-14 tomcat, pretending to make it fly.

all of the pictures seemed to get more and more adorable, and they were getting to the bottom of the box when katia pulled out a photo and handed it to skye. her brows furrowed as she took it from her, but then she chuckled in realization.

it was rooster about six or so years ago posing for his naval academy yearbook esque photo. it must've been after he grew his mustache out, she thought, since he'd never had it during high school. his brows were furrowed in concentration the way they always were, and his face looked so serious that she almost wanted to laugh. there wasn't a smile on his face, yet his eyes kept the sparkle in them that she'd grown to find so comforting.

skye had been sitting there for a minute just looking at the photo when ice appeared behind her and katia. "find anything good?" the lady in his phone asked, scaring the shit out of both of them.

"yeah," katia replied, "some really great pictures of you and mav."

he nodded, reaching out for the picture in skye's hands. she handed it to him, and he smiled at it before reaching for his phone. "your father kept this in his wallet for so long." he typed out. "i think he still has a copy of it at his hangar, right next to a picture of you like this. he was so proud of you both."

skye smiled. "it's a really good picture."

ice gave her a knowing look, his eyes shifting between her and katia. "do you have feelings for rooster?" he typed out, waiting to let the voice in his phone speak.

"no." skye replied immediately.

"yes." katia said just as quickly.

they both shot each other looks, trying to speak to each other telepathically.

ice let out what sounded like a laugh. "that's sweet." he then typed.

skye sighed, dropping her head into her hands. "don't tell my dad, please. i haven't told him yet, and i don't know how he'd feel."

"have you told bradley?" he typed, showing her the screen instead of typing the speech button.

she shook her head. "no."

"i keep telling her to." katia added.

ice nodded before pulling his phone closer. "i think you should."

"but he's my friend, ice. what if he doesn't feel the same way? i don't want to make things awkward, not when he's finally in my life again."

he thought about this for a moment before trying again. "he isn't the kind of person to stop being friends with you because of that." his screen read. "the worst that can happen is that you will be friends, which is what you already are."

"it's not like it's just some crush, though." she said. "like.. like i don't know what i'd do if i lost him, ice. and i didn't know how hard that would be until i did lose him, and then i lost him again and i.. i can't do that again. not now that i love him, and-"

ice and katia's eyebrows both shot up in surprise. "love?" ice mouthed.

skye groaned as she facepalmed. "you know what i mean-"

"you have to tell him now." he typed.

"it's just.. it's so embarrassing." she admitted. skye hadn't ever been in a relationship, not since high school. and her high school relationships hadn't ever lasted past a first date, at least not any that she could recall. she hated the idea of confessing her feelings to someone, it just felt so awkward to even consider.

ice chuckled. "you never know." he typed. "he may feel the same."

skye shook her head, looking back down at the photo of rooster. "this is so stupid." she groaned, her head falling into her hands again. "this is so fucking stupid."

the raise of ice's brows indicated that he didn't know if he approved of her word choice, but his smile let her know that he wasn't upset. "go for it."

"i cannot believe i am getting relationship advice from slay kazansky." she said to no one in particular.

ice continued to type his thoughts, listening to katia and skye talk about their current mission and how impossible it seemed. he assured them that they could do anything they put their minds to, and listened as katia explained the differences in the new training and equipment.

when their conversation ended, katia looked to the clock with a frown. "we should probably head back. we have another early morning tomorrow."

ice, of course, understood completely. he hugged both of them tightly before leading them out of the room. after saying their goodbyes to sarah (and accepting plastic packages of leftovers from her), both women were out of the house and back on the road.

the next day, unknown to them, ice had invited maverick over.

mav had confessed to ice that he was worried about rooster not being ready for the mission. ice, of course, wanted to give him advice about this, as well as hear his perspective on the mission. though his daughter had mentioned that ice couldn't speak anymore, mav hadn't seen him in person since that development.

he sat next to ice and explained everything. he explained how rooster would never forgive him for pulling his application for the naval academy, and how rooster had confessed his feelings for skye, and maverick had denied him.

"i don't know what to do now." maverick admitted. "i just.. i don't want him to hate me."

ice's face remained unreadable throughout all of this, but he slowly turned to his keyboard as maverick finished his thought. "you need to allow the kids to make their own decisions sometimes." he typed.

maverick nodded. "i know. i know. but.. i see him, and i see goose. and i think.. i think about what carole went through. i think about how dangerous both of their lives are anyway. and i just.. i want better for them. i don't want them to get hurt."

the other man nodded in thought before reaching back to his keyboard. "talk to them. see what is best for them, not what you think is best for them."

"the only reason i'm here is because of you." maverick said. "i don't.. i don't know how to teach these kids. i'm a fighter pilot. a naval aviator. it's not what i am.. it's who i am. and how do you teach that? and, even if i could, it's not what he wants. it's not what the navy wants."

ice stood, putting his hands on the other man's shoulders. "the navy needs maverick. the kid needs maverick. that's why i fought for you. that's why you're still here." they embraced, and ice chuckled. "one more thing.. who's the better pilot?"

"this was a nice moment," mav said, "don't ruin it." they both laughed.

in skye and katia's car, they were both blasting whatever metallica song skye had put on aux. "so, are you going to listen to slay?" katia asked, looking over to skye, who was drumming her fingers on the wheel silently.

"what do you mean?" she replied, not looking way from the road as she turned on her turn signal and merged into a different lane.

katia rolled her eyes. "about rooster. you gonna talk to him?"

"oh." skye replied. "i mea.. your dad is right, i know. i guess i just.. i don't know. i guess."

"you guess?" the blonde countered. "either a yes or a no. are you gonna talk to him?"

skye shook her head. "yes, sure! i'll talk to him!"

"i'm holding you to that." katia replied, taking a sip of her coffee.