The next day of training brought more failures. The aviators were getting closer to making it, but they were still hitting canyon walls or breaking the hard deck. 

Although one team did make it to the target, they made it after the time allotted. 

"Why are you dead?" Maverick asks Rooster.  "You're team leader up there. Why are you, why is your team dead?" 

"Sir, he's the only one that made it to the target," Phoenix defends. 

"A minute late, he gave enemy aircraft time to shoot him down," Maverick shoots back. "He is dead."

"You don't know that," Rooster defends himself. 

"You're not flying fast enough," Hangman says. "You don't have a second to waste." 

The sound of Hangman's voice alone made Johanna grit her teeth. Any more of this guy, and she was ready to punch him. 

"We made it to the target," Rooster continues to defend. 

"And superior enemy aircraft intercepted you on your way out," Maverick starts to get angry.

"Then it's a dog fight," Rooster fires back at him.  

"Against fifth generation fighters?" Maverick questions angrily. 

"Yea, we still have a chance," Rooster says 

Phoenix looks down, and Hangman looks smug, like he knows something no one else does.

"In an F-18," Maverick stresses

"It's not the plane, sir. It's the pilot," Rooster says. (somewhat arrogantly but also making a point)

"Exactly," Maverick says, straight to his face in front of everyone

Rooster looks pissed and upset, not believing Maverick just said that. 

Jo tried to relieve a bit of the tension. “Alright boys, this is not the time or place.” Unfortunately, it didn't work. 

"There's more than one way to fly this mission," Rooster says 

"You really don't get it," Hangman starts. "On this mission, a man flies like Maverick here, or man does not come back. No offense intended," directed at Phoenix. 

"Yet somehow you always manage," Bob defends Phoenix instantly. 

“Keep talking, Lieutenant. I'll show you what this woman can do. And I can promise you, you won't like it.” Jo was practically sneering at the man, unable to believe this was Javy's best friend. 

"Hey, I don't mean to criticize," Hangman continues as if Johanna hadn't spoken, "you're conservative, that's all." 

"Lieutenant," Maverick tries to stop Hangman

"We're going into combat son, on a level no living pilots' ever seen, not even him," looking straight at Maverick, who has a distressed look on his face. "That's no time to be thinking of the past," he says smugly. 

"What's that supposed to mean," Rooster asks, looking pissed off. 

"Lieutenants," Maverick tries again before everything blows out of proportion. 

Johanna tries as well. “Hey, enough. Both of you!” 

"I can't be the only one that knows Maverick flew with his old man," Maverick keeps trying to get Hangman to shut up, “That's enough." 

"Or that Maverick was flying when his old man," and before he can finish, Rooster is on him. 

"Lieutenant, that's enough," Maverick says just as Rooster jumps from his seat to go at Hangman. 

A fight breaks out, everyone going to separate the two men. 

"You son of a bitch," Rooster yells angrily at Hangman.

"I'm cool, I'm cool," Hangman says while shrugging the other pilots off

"That's enough," Maverick says again

"He's not cut out for this mission, and you know it," Hangman finally says, "you know I'm right." 

“Keep running your mouth, Lieutenant, and I'll have you dismissed from this detachment all together.” Johanna threatens him. “This is not what we need for a mission like this.” 

“All of you had better get it together, or no one is coming home from this mission.” 

"You're all dismissed," Maverick says, keeping Jo from attacking herself.

☽☆☾   ☽☆☾   ☽☆☾

Javy was trying to catch Johanna before she left base. Even if it wasn't a good idea, seeing how fired up the woman was after what had just gone down. 

He finally spotted her. “Hey, Jo! Johanna!” 

She either didn't hear him or was ignoring him. (She was 100% ignoring him.) She was walking away from him at a brisk pace, wanting to get off base as quickly as possible. 

Javy wasn't deterred, quickening his own pace to get in front of her. He grabbed her arm, stopping her from continuing forward. But as he opened his mouth to say something, Johanna spun around. 

And boy was she angry. 

“Until you can reign your friend in, I don't want to hear anything from you. If he doesn't fix himself and fast, I'll fix it for him. And neither of you are going to like how I do that.” 

Was it unfair to put all her anger towards Hangman on Javy? Yes. 

Was she too amped up and angry to think clearly? Also yes. 

But did she mean what she said? Yes and no. 

She would definitely fix Hangman if he didn't do it himself. He was going to get himself and others killed if he kept this attitude. 

But did she not want to hear from Javy until then? No, no she didn't. She knew they needed to talk and if she was being honest with herself, she hadn't been able to get over him completely herself. 

Right now, though, Johanna needed to calm herself down before she could even begin to think clearly.

☽☆☾   ☽☆☾   ☽☆☾

Unfortunately, Jo couldn't stop thinking about it. So she did the next best thing. 

She called Kensi. 

Ellie had already given her advice, good advice even if she didn't want to follow it. But Ellie only knew what Jo had told her. She was in DC when everything had gone down. Kensi had been there for it all. The good and the bad, the ups and downs. Most importantly, she was the first person Jo told about Javy. 

Luckily, Kensi picked up pretty quickly. 

“Hey, Jo. How's it going?” 

The woman in question sighed. “It's going. Not well, but it's going.” 

Kensi, still at the office but alone, raised an eyebrow. “You want to tell me about it? Or whatever you're allowed to tell me?” 

And so, Jo basically word-vomited everything. How the mission was damn near impossible to pull off. How there was this one aviator whose arrogance filled any room he was in. How, apparently, there was some bad blood between her co-instructor and one of the pilots. Most importantly, how Javy was on this team and pushing to talk. 

When she finished, Kensi let out her own breath. “Well that's not complicated at all. I can see why it's going badly. But I have a feeling this little rant isn't the real reason you called me.” 

Jo, wanting to avoid the topic, even if it's literally the reason she called, teased her friend instead. “What? I can't just call to get an update? I've been gone for over a week now.” 

Kensi knew her too well to believe that. “Please, you've been texting Deeks pictures of your food every night, just to piss him off. What's really going on?” 

Jo stayed quiet for just a moment too long. And that's how Kensi knew. 

“It's about Javy, isn't it?” 

Jo, despite being a fully grown woman, let out a very childish whine. “I don't know what to do! He wants to talk, but now is not the time. There's too much at stake with this mission, and neither of us can be distracted by a conversation about a relationship that doesn't even exist!” 

“But you want it to. And that's the real issue here.” 

Jo humphs over the phone, causing Kensi to let out a laugh. “Jo, I don't think I've ever seen you as happy as you were telling me about that night. It was unusual enough for you to have a one night stand in the first place. But your face lit up when talking about this guy. And don't tell me you weren't sulking occasionally. There was something about him that kept you wanting more.” 

She knows Kensi is right. But her brain can't stop thinking of all the negatives. “We both have such dangerous jobs. And I know what you're going to say. You and Deeks are doing it. So did Sam and Michelle, and somehow Callan and Anna are making it work.” They both make an unsure sound at that last couple. No one truly knows what's going on with Callan and Anna. 

“But I've seen the negatives of those relationships. I've seen relationships fall apart because of this job. I've seen friends die and leave their loved ones without any closure. I don't think I can do that, Kenz. I can be that shoulder if someone needs it, but I can't go through it myself. Not again.” 

Kensi knew this. She had seen the woman when Jo finally made it to Los Angeles. “But how can you truly live if you don't even try? How many times have you given this exact advice to Callan? He refused to make commitments outside of work for how long? And you see how happy he is with Anna. If someone like Callan, who was raised in this type of world, can find a way to make it work, there is no reason you can't.” 

Jo sniffs a bit, Kensi's words bringing some tears. 

“I love you, Jo. I really do. But you can't let fear of loss rule your life like this. Don't let something that might happen keep you from truly living.” 

She sighs before giving one last note. “What's that movie quote you like? ‘Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.’ If you won't listen to me, listen to yourself.” 

And with that, the two friends hang up and go their separate ways for the night. 

What Kensi had said, combined with Ellie's words, gave Jo a lot to think about. There was still a lot that could go wrong, but what this all really boiled down to was simple. 

Johanna and Javy needed to talk. And she needed to stop pushing it off because she was scared. 

It was time to put on her big girl pants and play the game. 

✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈

Word count: 1,691

This was a lot. Jo doesn't keep her anger in check as well as she would like and it's clouding her thoughts for Javy. 

But Hangman does need to be put in his place and Jo will 100% do it. 

And we got a special appearance from one Miss Kensi Blye, one of my favorite NCIS agents ever. She was spitting straight facts to our girl, who really needed it. 

And yes, I did quite A Cinderella Story. I love that movie so much and that quote has always resonated with me. 

But that's all for now, so see you next chapter. Bye guys!!