IT WAS A FEW MONTHS LATER BEFORE SKYE SAW ROOSTER AGAIN. after getting off of the aircraft carrier with katia and heading back to their shared home, the two women were instantly making plans for their future with the navy.

they had already had multiple offers for squadrons to join, and the number of squadrons that were requesting them to join their ranks had doubled since they had come out top of their class.

of course, the two offers that really mattered were the offer from phoenix and the offer from rooster.

they didn't have much time to debate about where they should go before they were already packing their things and moving back to california. ice had another treatment, and katia wanted to be with him at the hospital. skye refused to let her go by herself.

and so, in a few days, all of their things had been fully moved out of their apartment and they had moved into ice's house. maverick was, allegedly, working in mojave on a new prototype, and was sending his best wishes their way.

katia was much happier when she was back with her father, and the kazansky's had developed a system of keeping him close to his new computer or to his phone, so he could properly convey his thoughts to everyone.

skye fit right in with the family, just as she always had, and found herself throughout the day either telling stories to katia's siblings or playing games with them.

"do you want to play minecraft?" her brother asked, and who was skye to say no to minecraft?

she had been so busy between the move and researching and visiting different squadrons that, honestly, she hadn't had time to stop and think about rooster. thinking about it like that made her feel guilty, but it was true. the man was the furthest thing from her mind as she lived in a sort of waiting period.

the thing about being a pilot was that she didn't feel like herself anymore unless she was around planes. and though iceman had a large collection of plane artifacts, it wasn't the same as actually being in the air.

and skye was itching to get back up there, even though she knew katia's thoughts were understandably focused on her father.

but the issue was that they had absolutely no plans of what squadron to go to. their previous squadron was assigned overseas, and would remain that way for the next five months at least. and so, skye had reasoned that it made more sense to just join a new squadron. but with all of the options, how could they know that their decision was going to be a good one?

skye had been hanging out with katia's siblings in between research about the black aces when katia walked into the room. "hey, are you going?"

"going where?" skye asked, looking up from her computer.

katia sighed. "we've already talked about this." she said as she gestured to the computer. "we've already made a decision, ri."

she nodded. "yeah, i know." she pulled her eyes away from the screen to look back at her. "wait where am i going to?"

"rooster's birthday, it's this week."

skye's brows furrowed. "wait, shit, it's his birthday already? is he having a party or people over?"

katia shrugged. "i don't think he's having anything for it.. we're kind of the only family he has right now."

this made her frown. "then we have to go and surprise him."

"are you sure he'd like a surprise? he knows how to box."

skye laughed at her joke before growing serious again. "i don't want him to be alone for his birthday."

"he won't be. he'll have us." katia smiled.

and so, the two managed to find out through facebook, of all places, where rooster was living in virginia. according to a distant relative of his, he'd already moved back there to work with the golden warriors again.

skye and katia booked a flight there, which lasted about five and a half hours, and then had arrived in virginia. they hadn't invited anyone else really, out of fear of overwhelming him (and the genuine fear of him not wanting to have anyone over), but phoenix and fanboy had insisted that they come, too, and they both met them at the airport.

they were then standing outside rooster's door, looking inside the windows in his door to see if he was home.

"are we gonna knock, or are we just gonna stand here?" skye asked, looking among the group. everyone stepped back to give her room to knock, and she rolled her eyes, wrapping her knuckles on the door.

rooster opened the door, and his brows were furrowed tensely for a moment before he realized who it was. a smile slowly spread to his lips. "what are you guys doing here?"

"happy birthday!" they all cheered in unison, moving in for a group hug.

he laughed. "why are you guys all here?"

"because it's your birthday tomorrow!" phoenix replied, smiling up at him.

"so you guys came all the way out here?"

"duh." fanboy replied, wrapping an arm around him. "show us a tour of your humble abode, my dear chicken."

after rooster had let everyone inside and had given them all drinks, he laughed. "you guys do realize i can't house you here, right? this place is one bedroom."

fanboy shrugged. "we can share."

skye rolled her eyes at him. "we're not planning to stay super long. we just couldn't miss your birthday."

he smiled. "thanks, guys, for coming all the way out here."

"we have presents for you." katia then said, shoving the bags in his direction. "the first one there is a joint gift from all of us."

rooster's brows furrowed as he went to open it. he then almost bent over with laughter, pulling out a man purse. "i thought you were kidding!"

"i said i would get you one!" katia laughed. "i know you don't have a tiny dog, but maybe you can put the rooster stuffed animal skye gave you in it, and then it could go with you on missions."

he rolled his eyes but thanked her anyway, opening up a new shirt from fanboy and a naval aviation shot glass from phoenix. he thanked each of them for the gifts, and then katia stood up. "hey, guys, do you wanna go see what flowers he has planted in his yard?"

"yes." phoenix replied immediately.

fanboy, on the other hand, gave her a look. "what? no, i don't want-"

katia shut him up by grabbing his arm and yanking him out of the room, forcing him to follow her and phoenix outside to give rooster and skye some alone time.

rooster laughed. "what was that about?"

skye laughed. "no idea." she then grabbed the one box he hadn't opened, which was from her. "open it." she said, looking into his eyes for his reaction.

"what is this?" he asked, pulling out a piece of paper. his eyes then widened in realization. "wait, is this..?"

"it's a spotify code." she said. "to your playlist."

rooster smiled. "you finally made it?"

she nodded. "i've had to have something to do over the past few months. i decided to put my skills to the test, and create this piece of art."

he put an arm around her, pulling her in for a hug. "thank you, i'm going to listen to it every day."

"it's only six hours right now." she joked.

"i don't care, i'll listen to it all the time." rooster laughed, setting the box down with the rest of his gifts. "thank you."

skye smiled. "of course!"

"and thank you for being here, i.. i honestly can't remember the last time people came to see me for my birthday." he said. "so it.. it really means a lot to me to have you here."

she hugged him again. "i wouldn't miss it."

rooster smiled, looking down at her. "oh, have you put any more thought into the golden warriors?"

skye blinked before looking back at her feet. "uh.. yeah."

his smile widened. "wait, are you in virginia because you're joining?"

"not.. no, no." she replied, finally meeting his eyes. "katia and i are going to join the black aces."

rooster's brows then furrowed. "phoenix's squadron? what about jake?"

"he's leaving, moving somewhere on the coast."

he shook his head. "but.. why?"

"ice is going to need more than just radiation, roost." she deadpanned. "we don't know how long he has left, and katia.. she wants to stay in california to be as close to him as she can. we can't just move all the way across the country."

his hands rested on her arms. "okay, but.. i can't lose you again, skye. there has to be some way.."

"no." she shook her head. "i can't fly without katia, you know that."

"please, i can't.. i cannot lose you again."

skye felt him rest his forehead on hers. "you're not going to lose me, bradley."

"stay." he whispered, rubbing his nose against hers.

skye sighed before pulling away from him. "i'm sorry."

end of part one.