THE NEXT DAY, FOR REASONS UNKNOWN TO ANY OF THEM, MAVERICK HAD MANAGED TO GET THE HARD DECK LOWERED. "during the mission," he said, "you're going to be flying at 100 feet. maximum. you'll be pulling 800 knots minimum. you're going to be pulling up so hard, your brains will feel like an elephant is crushing you. today, we're gonna go easy on you. hard deck of 300 feet. you have three minutes to target." 

skye shot a look at katia, who was seated next to her. "holy shit."

they geared up, and everyone did separate runs of the course, following a guided terrain. skye and katia were paired up with hangman, much to their annoyance, and he was doing exactly what they expected him to do; being anything but a team player. 

"c'mon, hangman, we have two minutes to target. you're going to have to slow down." skye said through gritted teeth, following the map of the terrain as best she could.

"careful, ri, you're gonna head into a wall." katia warned her. 

she nodded. "yeah, if this guy will slow the fuck down, we won't have a problem, will we?"

hangman didn't listen, though, and kept moving as fast as he could. inevitably, skye ran into an imaginary wall and rolled her eyes. "we're out." katia sighed.

when skye and katia landed back on the tarmac, skye took her helmet off, holding it to her side with her arm. "what the fuck was that shit?" she asked, marching over to hangman. 

"hey, it's not my fault you guys couldn't keep up." he said through his wicked smirk. 

she seethed. "oh, you fucking asshole. you know why you weren't top of your class? because you can't fucking work with anyone else. you always have to be the one in charge. you can't listen to a single fucking word anyone else says because you think you're better than everyone here."

"hey, hey, what's going on here?" maverick asked, jogging over to them. he looked between his daughter, who was nearly shaking with anger, to hangman, who was still smiling. "both of you take your gear off and head to the break room. we're going to analyze your exercise later." 

skye took another moment to glare at hangman before breaking away, pulling at the velcro of her vest and practically slamming it onto the floor in the locker room. 

"what'd he do?" phoenix asked, looking at her. 

"i lost the exercise because of his bitchass." she replied dryly, putting her gear into her locker. 

she wasn't thinking about the fact that her locker was wide open, and so she was confused when phoenix sat up straighter. "is that what i think it is?" she asked.

"what?" skye asked, turning to look at her locker. sure enough, some things didn't change. in her rush to fly the mission she'd flown immediately after her graduation, she'd never cleaned out her locker. she assumed that the two years that had passed would end with someone having thrown everything in it away. maybe it was just her lucky day.

inside her locker, there was a clipped photo of her, bradley, and katia at about age five (with bradley being closer to nine). they were all holding small f-14 models, grinning from ear to ear at maverick, who had taken the photo. the picture next to it was more recent, from about two or three years prior. 

she was sitting on the piano bench, her knees folded up to her chest as she smiled over at him. rooster was playing said piano, his veins sprouted from straining his voice to yell every single word to the song. 

skye took the photo out of its clip, examining it. she looked so in love with him, so completely mesmerized by everything that he was. she ran her finger across it, brushing off the dust that had started to settle on it. 

phoenix smiled. "skye, it's okay. we can all see how you guys look at each other."

she turned back to look at the other woman, feeling her posture stiffen as the soft smile on her face dropped. "i'm not going to risk a friendship this important to me just because of unrequited feelings, nat."

"you don't know that."

"i don't want to talk about it." she replied, slamming her locker closed and shoving the photos into the pocket of her flight suit. 

skye sat next to katia as maverick provided the analysis on everyone's run. "why are they dead?" he asked after the screen in front of him portrayed phoenix, bob, and coyote's exercise.

"because-" phoenix began.

maverick shook his head, turning to coyote. "no. why are they dead?"

coyote frowned. "i didn't communicate with my team-"

"anything their families will accept at the funeral?" maverick countered.

"no, sir."

he then turned to phoenix. "why did you pull up? you were briefed on the terrain."

"i-"

"don't tell me." maverick said. "tell bob's family." he was soon on to skye, katia, and hangman's run. skye cursed as she watched the screen in front of her show the moment she ran straight into the wall that would've been there had they been in the actual location. "what happened?"

hangman smiled. "i went as fast as i could. sort of like my ass depended on it."

rooster stiffened. "and your wingman's dead." 

"they couldn't keep up." he smirked, looking over to skye and katia.

skye shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek. "you didn't communicate with your team, as usual." she lowered in her seat. "fucking dickhead." she mumbled, though her father's glance over at her betrayed that he'd heard her.

he moved on to rooster, harvard, and yale's practice. rooster had gone slow, but had still been the only person to actually make it to the target. "why are you dead?"

"sir, he's the only person who made it to the target." skye defended.

maverick shook his head. "why are you, why is your team, dead?" 

"i made it to the target." 

"yes, a minute late. and enemy sams took you out on the way out."

rooster nodded. "so it's a dogfight."

maverick raised a brow. "in an f-18? against fifth generation fighters?"

he smirked. "it's not the plane, it's the pilot."

"exactly!" maverick said, and the entire room became eerily silent. 

rooster's face hardened. "there's more than one way to fly this mission."

"you just don't get it, do you?" hangman asked, turning to look at him. "you see, a man either flies this mission like maverick here, or a man doesn't return. no offense intended." he said, turning to look between skye and katia next to him and phoenix behind him. 

bob leaned forward in his seat. "and yet, somehow, you always manage."

"we're going into war, son." hangman continued. "on a level no man has ever seen, not even him." he looked at maverick before turning back to rooster. "that's no time to be thinking about the past."

rooster's head tilted. "what's that supposed to mean?" 

"rooster.." maverick warned.

"i can't be the only that knows that maverick flew with his old man." hangman said. 

maverick shook his head. "that's enough."

"and that maverick was flying with his old man when he-"

"lieutenant!" 

everything after that was an immediate blur. rooster had stood from his seat, and had immediately charged to hangman. skye saw him push hangman in the chest, but she was already a part of the group trying to hold him back. 

"that's enough!" maverick was yelling.

"you son of a bitch!" rooster said, pointing a finger at hangman. 

"bradley!" skye said, putting a hand on his arm. the look of anger on his face became regret for a moment as he looked down at her, but he stiffened again as he looked at hangman. 

"i'm cool, i'm cool." hangman said, shaking off the hands that were on him. "he's not cut out for this mission."

maverick turned to him. "that's enough."

"you know it." hangman continued to rooster, who was still shaking with anger. "you know i'm right." he moved closer, his gaze flickering from rooster to the woman next to him. "don't you, riot?"

she gritted her teeth. "go fuck yourself."

"that's enough!" maverick repeated. "you're all dismissed." 

when skye turned around, rooster had already left. she sighed, jogging after him. "rooster!" she called. "hey, rooster!" skye rolled her eyes. "bradley!" 

he finally turned around. "i'm sorry, i really don't feel like talking right now."

"bullshit." she deadpanned. "you can't put this conversation off forever, bradley. we need to talk about what's going on between you and my dad." 

rooster shook his head. "it doesn't matter."

"it matters to me!" she exclaimed, not expecting her voice to crack the way it did. "you matter to me. this is.. this is fucking killing me, watching this back and forth between you two. i want to try to help-"

"you can't help, skye." he said, shaking his head. "it doesn't work like that."

skye looked up at him. "you said i was your favorite person. you told me you didn't want to lose me again."

"losing you is better than being a burden to you."

"will you fucking cut it out?" skye said, moving closer to him. "i don't care what happened between you two, i just want you to be my best friend again without resenting him." 

he shook his head. "this doesn't have anything to do with you."

she scoffed. "yeah? cause it sure feels like it does, bradley. it feels like you can't even look at me anymore without seeing him, and i want you to be able to trust me again." 

"just stay out of it, please." he begged, and all frustration and anger had slipped out of his voice. he sounded desperate, like he was pleading with her. "please, stay out of it." 

skye could feel her heart shattering. whatever had happened between him and her father was out of her control, she knew that. but it was tearing her apart having to see it affect both of them so much. "can you just try talking to him about it?"

rooster shook his head, looking at his feet. "it's not going to help anything."

"you don't know that." 

"i know he won't feel any differently than he did two years ago, skye."

she reached into her flight suit and pulled out the two pictures, dropping them into his hands. "this matters to me, bradley." she said, watching as his gaze softened looking at the pictures. "you matter to me. this.. this matters to me. and i don't want us to keep fighting about whatever it is that you're keeping from me."

rooster ran his finger along the photograph, a small smile coming to his lips. he then looked back into her eyes, nodding ever so slightly. "i know. i don't want to be keeping things from you. i just.."

"you want it to stay between you and him, i know." she said.

he chuckled, looking back down. "you always read my mind."

"that's why i'm smarter than you, bradshaw." she teased, smirking as his jaw dropped in offense.

"c'mon, take that back."

"what, you want me to lie?"

he laughed. "oh, you're mean!"