WHEN SKYE AND KATIA WOKE UP, THEY WERE SURPRISED TO see that rooster was still passed out on their couch. "i forgot he was here." skye mumbled as she ran a hand through her hair. she grabbed an aviation coffee mug (one that they'd managed to thrift somehow), filling it with the cold brew coffee in the fridge. "how long do you think it'll take before he wakes up?" 

katia shrugged. "hopefully not too long cause we have work in about two hours." 

while the two women began to prepare for a morning run, rooster groggily woke up. he eyed the trash can by his head as he sat up. "what's this?"

"i wasn't gonna clean your puke." skye told him, wrapping her hair up into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. "how bad's the hangover?"

rooster put a hand to his head. "the movie or the one i'm currently having?" he smiled.

skye rolled her eyes. "the one you're currently.. you know what. no. i hope you're having the worst hangover." 

he laughed. "you don't mean that."

"try me."

she grabbed her water bottle, filling it up before nearly downing the whole thing. "where are you guys going?" rooster asked as he saw katia walk out of her room also wearing athletic wear. "we have to be at base in two hours." he looked at the clock on the wall.

skye shrugged. "morning run."

"wanna come with?" katia added, tossing her hair up. 

he considered his options for a moment before nodding, looking down at his jeans, which were not quite made for running. "go easy on me." 

the three ran throughout the entire neighborhood surrounding their rented house, and rooster was quickly becoming annoyed by his outfit as the girls in front of him moved with ease, clearly having run this route before. 

"how frequently do you guys run?" he asked, catching up to them. 

skye shrugged. "as much as we can, i guess."

he nodded. "i should probably get into the habit, too." they finished the run, and they had arrived back at their house before rooster's brows furrowed. "hey, wait, where's my truck?"

"i wasn't about to haul you into the truck." skye replied.

"so it's still at the hard deck?" he asked. 

"yeah." she grabbed her keys. "i can give you a ride on the motorcycle over there." 

they agreed to meet katia, who was getting a ride with fang, over at base. skye got her uniform on before driving rooster back to the hard deck. his hands were still wrapped around her waist as she drove, but he didn't seem to be clinging to her for dear life like he had been the night before. she assumed it was something to do with him being in a more sober state of mind, but his hands were gentle on her hips.

when she parked next to his truck, rooster fumbled through his pockets. "shit, i think my wallet's inside. mind going in with me?"

skye rolled her eyes. "you're hopeless, bradshaw." nonetheless, she followed him into the bar, smiling as she saw penny benjamin standing behind it cleaning a glass. "hey, penny." 

the woman looked up with a smile. "skye! nice to see you again. what's got you in here so early?"

"rooster here," she nudged him with her shoulder, "seems to have lost his wallet. do you have any in inventory?" 

penny smiled as she handed her a wallet that she'd stored behind the counter. "i was wondering if someone would come back for this." 

skye handed it back to rooster, who rubbed the back of his neck. "thank you, penny, you're a lifesaver." 

she nodded. "anytime, rooster." 

he flipped the wallet in his hands. "i'm gonna head to my place so i can change. see you at base?" he asked, putting a hand on skye's back.

she nodded. "yeah, i'll see you there." she watched as he walked away, putting his sunglasses back on. once he had left, she turned back to penny. "so how have you been?"

"i've been pretty good." she said, going back to cleaning the glasses on the counter. "where's your dad?" 

skye laughed. "that's a great question, actually. um, last i heard he was stationed somewhere in california, i think he's in mojave at the moment." 

"not in iraq? what's he doing?" penny teased. 

"he's a test pilot now, and i think he's enjoying it. i honestly haven't had a chance to talk to him in a while. cell phones are kind of.. frowned upon.. in my line of work." 

penny nodded. "and you're flying too, obviously. what are you in town for? i haven't gotten to see you."

"i guess you've just managed to barely miss me." skye shrugged. "i was here last night actually, i was wondering if you were still working here. um.. yeah, i'm here for top gun."

this made the woman smile. "i'm sure pete's really proud." 

skye smiled. "yeah, i hope he is."

"you take after him a lot." penny said, thinking for a moment. "are you and rooster friends now?"

she shrugged. "we used to be close. dad pissed him off, you know. then he refused to talk to me and katia for a while. but now we're close again, yeah." 

penny nodded. "is katia here too then?"

"yeah, she's my backseater now." 

she smiled. "that's amazing. and how's iceman doing?"

skye always forgot just how much penny knew about everything. every couple of years, maverick would come back for her, and every couple of years he would leave her. skye truly loved the woman, though, and loved her daughter just as much. 

"ice is good, he's.. yeah, he's good." skye smiled. "the cancer got treated, there's still a worry.. a worry about it coming back. but he's currently doing well, at least last we talked to him." 

penny nodded. "and how's your mom?" 

this was when skye cleared her throat, looking down at the patches on her flight suit. "she actually.. she passed away a while back."

"oh, i'm so sorry."

"don't be. it isn't like i had much of a connection to her anyway." skye shrugged. "yeah, it was some sort of medical issue, really unexpected. mav always wanted her to be a part of my life more than she did, and i never even got to meet her before i was standing at her funeral."

penny put a hand on her arm, not quite knowing what to say. "well i'm glad you're here. you're graduating in, what, just a couple months now?"

skye nodded. "yeah, after about a hundred more tests." she joked. "speaking of which, though, i really should head over to base. um, it was really nice to see you again, though, penny."

the woman moved from the counter to wrap her arms around her. "it was nice seeing you again, too." she smiled. 

the two bid each other farewell, and skye headed towards the base, arriving just in time to see rooster get out of his truck, now in his own flight suit. "fancy seeing you here." he joked. 

she rolled her eyes. "small world." 

they met with katia in the conference and discussion room, all quickly sitting into their own seats; skye and katia in the front with rooster right behind them. 

"today," deadzone told them, "you will be working with your typically assigned teams to try to beat myself and your other admirals in midair combat." some of the students fist bumped each other. "tomorrow, some of the teams will be moving around. so make sure to keep your communication between yourselves."

rooster leaned forward. "we got this." he said, holding up two fists, smiling as katia bumped one while skye bumped the other. 

they got in the air, and skye looked out both sides of the canopy. "does anyone see him?" she asked. 

katia put a hand on the canopy, looking behind her shoulder. "i have no eyes on him. rooster?"

he hovered next to them. "i don't see him." 

skye narrowed her eyes, looking in front of her. "he's on our nose."

"what?" 

"he's on our nose. rooster, follow my lead." 

he nodded. "okay."

"break right!" skye and rooster both dove towards the right, missing deadzone, who was about to fly directly at them. "holy shit!" she laughed, doing a flip in the air to level herself back out. "okay what do we do now?"

rooster laughed. "i thought you were supposed to be the one to come up with the ideas!"

"okay, okay, um.."

"might wanna think faster, he's coming back around." katia said, looking behind them.

skye nodded. "yeah, okay. okay. let's uh.. let's hit him with the, uh.. the good old rooster bait."

rooster was silent for a second. "the what?"

"use you as bait."

"i don't wanna be the bait!"

"well i don't see you coming up with bright ideas!" skye increased her speed, lifting the plane up so that rooster was now the only one getting chased by deadzone. "good luck."

he laughed. "thank you, i very much appreciate your concern." he swerved to avoid hitting a mountain, following the valleys of the canyon as he attempted to stay out of firing range. "are you two gonna help, or?"

skye laughed. "yeah, we're on our way." 

their plane then appeared on the other side, behind deadzone. he put up a fight, and they were about to try their stop and swerve tactic when they finally lined up a shot, with help from rooster. "damnit!" deadzone grunted, listening as katia and skye cheered. "you three are good, i'll give you that."

"damn right we are." skye high fived katia and gave rooster a thumbs up. "see you back at the base."