Cyclone stands at the front of the room to address the pilots. Johanna stands next to him, arms crossed and a frown on her face. She was not happy about his decisions regarding this mission. But she was not in the position to say anything that would get her kicked off as well. 

"Captain Mitchell is no longer your instructor. And as of today, there are new mission parameters," Cyclone informs them. Literally, every single person looked straight to Jo after that, but she simply shook her head. 

The mission clock on the screen resets from 2:30 minutes to 4:00. Another change Jo wasn't happy with. 

"Time to target is now 4 minutes. You'll be entering the valley level at reduced speed. Not to exceed 429 knots." 

Everyone looks at each other like with worried and concerned faces, Hangman especially looks concerned. If none of them could make the 2:30 time and be home safely, the 4 minute time would surely end with them more than likely not making it home. 

"Sir, won't we be giving their planes time to intercept," Bob asks the first one to snap out of his shock. 

"Well, lieutenant, you have a fighting chance against enemy aircraft. What are the odds of surviving a head-on collision with a mountain?" Cyclone answers him. 

Javy has to keep in his snicker as he catches Jo rolling her eyes. 

"You'll be attacking the target from a higher altitude, and the cyclone continues, level with the north wall. It will be harder to keep your laser on target, but you will avoid the high-G climb out." Even Warlock is looking wary, observing the looks of the aviators around him. 

"We'll be sitting ducks for those enemy missiles," Fanboy whispers to Payback. 

Suddenly, the screen starts to move, and a beeping comes online. Jo is quick to check the computer before recognizing Maverick’s flight number. She smirks to herself, refusing to look up at Cyclone. 

"Who the hell is that," Cyclone questions as an F-18 appears on screen. 

"Maverick to range control, entering point alpha, confirm green range." Maverick's voice comes over the speakers. Now, Johanna is openly smiling. 

"Maverick, range control, uh green range is confirmed, but I don't see an event scheduled for you, sir," range controls answers back. 

Everyone in the mission room looks excited to see Maverick let go of all restrictions. 

"Well, I'm going anyway," Maverick says back.  

"Nice," Phoenix whispers.  

"Setting time to target, 2 minutes 15 seconds," Maverick says.  

"Two fifteen, that's impossible," Payback says. 

Jo shakes her head. “Not for Maverick, it's not.” Cyclone sets his eyes on her, not pleased with her attitude right now. She was far too happy and excited for this blatant disregard of orders. 

Hangman looks at the screen with a slight smirk, anticipating finally seeing Maverick show his full skillset. 

"Time set for you," range control says

"Here we go," Maverick says, locking it to start. 

Everyone is watching the screen, hardly breathing as they watch Maverick fly the course, navigating tight turns faster than they've ever seen. 

The time is 1:30, and he's already halfway there, as everyone watches in anticipation 

39 seconds on the clock as he approaches the target point. 

"Copy 3,2,1," Maverick counts down as he prepares to enter the inverted climb. 

"Bombs away," as he launches the first missiles. 

The missile hits with 0.16 seconds left on the clock as maverick hits 9.5Gs. 

"Bullseye," Payback calls out as the missile lands. "Holy shit," Coyote says. Jo lets out a laugh of per glee, smiling reaching her eyes for the first time in days. 

Cyclone stares at the screen, showing Maverick has just hit 10Gs

"Damn," Hangman admits. 

But now, all the pilots know that this mission is possible to pull off, which is what they needed. 

And it took everything within Jo, all the discipline and restraint in her body, to not look Cyclone directly in the eyes and say ‘I told you so.’ She had no idea what was going to happen next, but she knew one thing. 

This mission had just been proven possible. 

☽☆☾   ☽☆☾   ☽☆☾

Jo was almost shaking in her shoes from nerves. After Cyclone had dismissed the group, she made a beeline for Javy. 

She was finally going to take everyone's advice. (In reality, she was always going to do it, but Gibbs really got that last bit of nerves to go away.) 

Jake notices her first, as he is facing her way. He quickly finished his conversation before leaving. Javy turns just as Jo gets to him. 

“Hey,” she starts off. 

He blinks at her, a little surprised. It's not like she's made an effort to approach him. The exact opposite, in fact. “Hey, what's up?” 

He almost cringes as the words leave his mouth. 

She smiles anyway. “I'm ready to have that talk if you're still up for it.” It takes everything in her to not start wringing her hands. It was a nervous habit she had developed over the years.

Javy almost falls over before nodding his head, just a little too fast. “Yeah, I mean yes. I'm still up for it. Um, do you want to grab some food and talk? Or just go anywhere that's not here?” 

That gets a laugh out of Jo. “There's this little diner a few blocks away. Meet there in 15 minutes?” 

He nods once again. (God, he's got to stop that.) “I'll see you there, then.” 

Jo nods herself. (They just can't stop.) “Good.” 

And before the silence can get any more awkward, she leaves, letting out a breath as she goes. 

15 minutes later, and they are ordering some food, both of them trying to figure out how to start. 

Javy, wanting to finally have this talk and not let Johanna avoid it any longer, takes the initiative. “The floor is yours, Jo.” 

She half smiles at his wording. 

“I'm willing to give this, us, a shot.” 

Jo can't even look him in the eyes as she says it, too worried that she had pushed him away with all her avoidance. 

If only she had looked up to see Javy's face light up like the 4th of July. There was a spark of happiness in his eyes that hadn't been there since they had encountered each other once again. 

“You're serious? Cause I don't want to pressure you into anything you don't want. I meant it when I said I'd wait.” Oh, if only he knew what those words truly meant to Jo. 

She finally looks up, searching his eyes for any form of lie. She didn't find any. 

“We've got to go slow, okay? Get to actually know each other. And we have to be ready for long distance. I'm based in LA, but I travel for cases all the time.” Jo tells him. She may be ready to give them a go, but that didn't mean she was ready to jump into the deep end. 

Javy nodded, fully understanding. “I was stationed in Lemoore before being recalled for this detachment, so I assume I'll be headed back there after this is over. That's not too far from LA, at least for now.” 

Then Javy got an idea. He held out his hand for Jo to shake. She looks at him in confusion but shakes his hand regardless. 

“Hi, I'm Javy. I'm a pilot with the Navy, and I think you're gorgeous.” 

Jo can't help but burst out laughing. She's still giggling slightly as she responds. 

“Hi, I'm Johanna. I'm an NCIS Special Agent, and I think you're not too bad yourself.” 

Their food came out not too long after they ‘reintroduced’ themselves. They dug in, really, truly beginning to get to know one another. 

After all, they hadn't had much time to talk during their initial meeting. 

Better late than never, am I right?

✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈

Word count: 1,322

So Maverick proved he's a badass, Jo doesn't like Cyclone and we finally got a talk. 

Speaking of a talk… IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING PEOPLE!! THE LOVE AFFAIR HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED!!! 

Now, they are taking things slow, but I promise, you will get a kiss before the end of the book. This is a slow burn people, that has been made abundantly obvious. 

But we are about to hit the BURN of the slow burn, so I will see you for some fun next chapter. 

Bye guys!!