THEY WERE SOON DOWN TO ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT AT TOP GUN. SKYE, AS MUCH AS SHE openly admitted to being sick and tired of it, was genuinely terrified for what life would be like when she wasn't at top gun any longer. specifically, she was terrified of leaving rooster. 

she'd only just recently gotten her friend back, and she didn't know if she could handle losing him again. but the days were passing quickly, and she was running out of time with him. as he'd said, they were just friends. and friends had no obligation to see each other, right?

skye was lucky enough to have been close in proximity to katia for her whole life, but she figured that if they'd gone to different colleges or had different careers.. they wouldn't have had to see each other every day. they'd still be best friends no matter how much time had passed since they'd seen each other last. 

but with rooster, things felt different. the last time they'd been separated for a long period of time, they'd lost contact completely. and with him mad at her dad, she didn't think she'd be seeing him over the holidays, either. 

"riot, focus up." katia said, bringing her out of her trance. "we've gotta win this thing." 

they were attempting to work in an air to surface exercise where they would drop ordnance on land targets, testing their speed and precision in comparison to what they'd entered the program with. 

"yeah, sorry. i'm focusing." skye replied as she guided their jet through the preset hurdles in the course. they were speeding in front of payback and fanboy, who were competing with them in the task. 

fanboy groaned on the comms. "we gotta speed up, payback."

"yeah, i know." he replied, growing frustrated.

they gained speed on skye and katia, but they were already doing a spin in the air and dropping their fake bomb onto the target with help from katia's targeting system. "bullseye!" she cheered. 

skye spun around. "woo hoo!" she said, watching as fanboy and payback also landed on the target. "good job you guys!" 

the two women landed their plan on the tarmac, and were about to plan a trip to texas roadhouse to celebrate when hondo, a man that they hadn't really gotten to talk to much in their experience at top gun, jogged over to them. 

"hey, hondo, what's up?" skye asked, stopping mid stride to face him. 

he frowned. "there's a call for you, havoc." hondo said, and both girls looked at each other before turning back to him. "it's your dad." 

skye sat outside of panther's office as katia listened to him give her what appeared to be a run down of the news, and allowed her to use the phone to contact her mother. skye stood immediately when the door opened, her eyes scanning katia's face. 

"the cancer's back." she said solemnly. "it's been going undetected, and he's about to go into radiation."

"oh my gosh." skye didn't know what to do or say, so she silently wrapped an arm around her best friend's shoulders. "we can make it to california in five hours if we leave right now." 

katia shook her head. "no, i can't make you leave."

"if you want to go see him, i'm not going to make you go alone." skye insisted. 

"we have four days until we graduate. we can't be gone for two of them." katia replied.

"this is more important." 

"more important than the plaque?"

"you are more important to me than anything." skye deadpanned.

katia smiled. "if you want to go, it would really mean a lot having you there." 

"you'd get there faster in my truck." rooster said from behind them, startling them both. "sorry, i overheard the last part of that. i don't need to go, if you don't want me to. you can just borrow my keys."

katia shook her head. "no, i actually.. i think it would be nice for you to come, too."

he put a hand on her shoulder. "what all do you need to pack?"

she shrugged. "i'll grab the first pair of clothes i find and a toothbrush and then i'm ready to go." 

rooster nodded. "okay. i'll grab some stuff and go straight to your place." 

he kept to his word, and the three were quickly headed to california. katia remained on the phone with either her mother or one of her younger siblings for a majority of the drive, which was otherwise silent. no one really knew what to say. 

iceman always seemed so immortal. growing up, skye had always seen him as completely unbreakable. the first time he'd been diagnosed with his throat cancer, she genuinely hadn't believed it. he was unmovable, unbeatable. and then, suddenly, he was more fragile than she'd ever seen him. 

and him getting cancer again had always been katia's greatest fear. and it wasn't fair. it wasn't fucking fair that this was happening, that it was happening now, right after what jake had done. 

they arrived to the hospital at the exact time they'd expected, and the three immediately rushed out of the truck and into the building. "what's your name?" the woman at the front desk asked.

"kazansky." katia breathed out. "my father is tom kazansky, i was told he was going to be staying here overnight after his radiation treatment." 

the woman checked a computer in front of her before nodding. a nurse soon approached, leading the three of them to his room. sarah immediately rushed over to them, wrapping her arms around katia. 

"it's not looking good." she said, and it looked like she'd been crying. "the cancer has gone undetected for too long, they think, and the radiation wasn't as effective."

katia shook her head. "so what's going on?"

"it.. it damaged his vocal chords." her mother frowned. "they don't think he's going to be able.. they think he won't be able to talk anymore."

"what?" all three fighter pilots asked in unison, looking between each other. 

it didn't feel real. it was like the ground was sinking beneath them. the man they'd looked up to for so long wasn't going to be able to tell them stories about his time with their fathers, or about his experiences and missions, or tell them jokes. 

skye and rooster gave katia some time with her family, and were sitting together in the hallway. "it doesn't feel real." skye spoke her thoughts aloud, seeing rooster turning to her in her peripheral vision. "he just.. he's always seemed unbeatable. he's always been so strong, and.." she shook her head. "i don't know what to do."

he wordlessly opened his arms, feeling her fall into them. he rubbed her back, letting his cheek rest on the top of her head. "he's still strong. he's just taken a bit of a setback here." 

"you're right. i just don't know what.. what to do if he doesn't make it." she admitted.

"he's gonna make it." rooster assured her, holding her closer. "he has to." 

"what if he can't talk anymore?" 

"then he'll still smile the same way. and we'll find a way for him to still be able to talk to us." rooster said.

skye managed a laugh. "like stephen hawking?" 

"uh.. i mean, kind of?" he laughed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "i'm really scared to graduate." 

she looked at the ground. "me too. i'm really scared that we won't get to see each other again." 

"what do you mean? of course we're going to see each other again." 

she frowned. "i mean.. when we get sent out to our different squadrons. it could be years before we get a chance to see each other again, and i can't go that long without seeing you." she admitted, looking up into his eyes. 

"i've told you that you're my favorite person, right?" he asked, watching as she nodded. "and there's no way i'm letting my favorite person leave me for years. we're going to see each other, skye. i promise." 

this made her smile. "we graduate in three days." 

rooster laughed. "they grow up so fast, don't they?" he pulled her closer to him as she laughed. "is your dad coming to graduation?" 

she nodded. "yeah. he and katia's family saved a full row to watch. that's why dad's stayed in mojave. he likes being a test pilot, but he truthfully just liked being close enough that he can come to our graduation." 

"he's gonna be really proud of you."

"he's proud of you, too, you know." she reminded him.

he nodded. "yeah, i guess. but i mean.. you and katia. you're going to be top of the class, i know it."

skye rolled her eyes. "and how exactly do you know that, bradley?"

"because you're the two best pilots i've ever met in my entire life. and you're going to make sure everyone else knows it." 

she moved closer into his arms. "i'm going to miss you."

he held her tightly. "i'm going to miss you, too."