When Kristen & Bradley
Bradshaw became parents.

KRISTEN GAVE BIRTH TO THEIR FIRST CHILD, Aiden Tom Bradshaw. Then, a couple years later, there was another; Chloe Carole Bradshaw. They'd thought it was enough, two kids were hectic enough for their working household — already juggling two major careers plus the ascent into the school system for their kids. Their middle names were small tokens, rarely ever used in the household or daily life but just those small momentos to remind the kids of the grandparents they'd never meet.

But then, of course, there was a third miracle a couple more years later and, Nicole Bradshaw was born.

"COME ON MY LITTLE SNOWBALLS! Just take a nice photo for grams!" Sarah panted, ripping Chloe and Nicole apart from their fight over their action figures, "Grams, Nicki won't leave my stuff alone!"

Aiden yelled as he ran down the stairs, his phone in hand, "Maybe if you weren't so annoying then Nic would-"

"Argue with me more, Aiden. I dare you," She stood, her mind escaping the figures now onto insulting her brother, "I'll tell Dad and he won't bring you to the Tarmac tomorrow!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"If we're too young to go, then so are you!" She crossed her arms, Nicole now standing short beside her with crossed arms alike to her older sister, "Yeah!"

"Go back to fighting," He spat, "I'm 4 years older than you Chlo. Accept it."

"Hey, hey, hey, why do I hear yelling!" Their favourite Uncle, Pete Mitchell or as they too called him, Maverick had walked into the door, "Aiden, I hope you're not giving your sisters a hard time again."

"Come on!" Aiden groaned, his father piling in the door aswell, sliding his arm around him, "Lighten up, they're jealous 'cus your mom has rules about flying."

"Nice one," Maverick rolled his eyes, Bradley correcting himself, "Rules in place to ensure safety, kids."

"I'll tell mom about our joyride the other day," Chloe leant backward, Bradley running over to scoop her up, "You wouldn't dare!"

"God, you sound like Aiden," Nicole rolled her eyes as she looked at her father, "Actually, I'd argue Aiden sounds like me."

"Hello to you Mr Bradshaw," Sarah Kazanksy intervened, though she was still grinning from the sight of her beaming grandchildren.

"Afternoon, Mrs Kazansky," He greeted her back, "Any chance you know where my wife is? I thought she was headed home an hour ago."

"She called the house 15 minutes ago in a panic," Sarah gulped, pulling him to the side, "Kris is running a bit late with the therapist. She's real worked up about becoming an instructor, Bradley. I'm starting to worry."

Bradley pouted, "Ever since Admiral Beau called her she hasn't been able to sleep properly. Remember how she couldn't sleep when she got too hot?"

"Mhm," Maverick and Sarah nodded, Bradley continuing, "Its only happened once or twice... the heat thing... but she said she was talking it out."

"Is it really a good idea for her to be an instructor?" Sarah questioned, as she always had.

Maverick nodded in an instant, "She's been doing really good, Sarah. Kristen hasn't had trouble out there since that mission. My god, she's really shown everyone how much of an incredible pilot she is."

"Her rank shows it," Bradley added.

Maverick insisted at Sarah's concerned face, "I'm sure hearing that she's gonna teach these kids is tugging at her heart strings a lot more than her, herself flying."

"Kris can't shake that mentality," Bradley admitted, "She feels safer on deployment when she's doing difficult stuff. She's afraid of losing someone, still. T-that's all."

"How couldn't she be? My little girl has been through enough," Sarah gulped. Bradley insisted, however, "She got promoted to Captain like a year ago, Kristen's a force out there."

"A force with a broken heart in a couple places, fused back together with engine fuel," Sarah facepalmed herself, "I'm worried she's going to get too invested."

"Teaching those kids a few years back was the best thing I ever did to move on, I think this is just the thing to kick off her new rank," Maverick was almost pleading with Sarah.

"Mommy!" Nicole had yelled from the ground amongst the tension, seeing her mother's shadow in the door frame as it flung open.

The blonde was smiling in the frame, walking in to greet her family with hugs and kisses, "What're you three doing standing around? Teaching Mav about the new, better fossils of his kind?"

"Still with the fossils?" Maverick scrunched his face, "Really?"

"Uncle Mav is a fossil!" Chloe giggled from the floor, and Aiden had run down the stairs. Maverick lifted his brows, "So is grandma Kazansky!"

Her glare was deathly.

"Hey darlin," Bradley kissed his wife's cheek, feeling her wrap her arms around him. He whispered amongst the chaos of the kids, Maverick and Sarah that had ensued, "You okay?"

"Doing just fine, hon," She repeated, standing on her tip toe to now kiss his forehead. Her three kids came running at the sight of her blonde hair. While you couldn't tell before, it was clear the residual anxiety had melted from her face the second she'd held her children.

"Can we go play dogfight football now that you're home?" Aiden pleaded, "Uncle Mav said we'd have to wait for you last time!"

"Actually snowballs, mommy has work to do," Kristen kissed her son's forehead. She turned to her husband who's mouth was just about to open, "Oh don't you dare! Aiden understand things now!"

"None of 'em would understand a thing," He rebutted before she pressed a kiss to his lips, "Hey, don't go. Dad's asking now."

Maverick and Sarah internally laughed, all worried set at ease when they saw the two soulmates entranced by eachother. They ushered the kids into the kitchen, leaving Bradley and Kristen standing in the a hallway.

"God, you really can't get enough of me," She giggled, "How ever will you handle me being gone after stateside?"

"Oh, I bet those Admiral's are gonna be calling you at every chance after you teach this mission," Bradley answered, brushing the hair from her face, "Then you're gonna have to deal with me deployed again."

"Oh no, no, no. That won't do," She shook her head, "Don't you remember when I said I'd chain you to our mailbox?"

"Depends," Bradley hummed, "Would I get food out there or?"

"I'll get the Hard Deck on postmates, Penny can give you pity meals when I'm out," She replied, "But I do love ya, maybe I'd bring the mailbox inside."

"I'd argue that it's no longer a mailbox," Bradley objected, "Come on Optimus Fine, you gotta give me some leeway here."

"Yeah, well Optimus Fine needs to go transform for work tomorrow-"

"Hey, you don't need to transform, you're already the girl of my dreams," He snickered, the two dying from laughter amongst the cringe they'd love to create. Bradley spun her back into his arms, "You promise you're doing okay?"

"Freaking the fuck out on the inside," She answered, "But I'm excited. I feel like this is a good opportunity for me. I think I've been through enough to whip these new graduates into shape for a mission. Plus, I'm a very good leader, if I do say so myself Mr Bradshaw."

"I'd happen to agree, Mrs Bradshaw."

When Captain "Frosty" Kazansky
found her purpose.

"I HEARD SHE'S A REAL HARDASS," One of the Lieutenant's murmured, "Takes no shit, I mean hell, her old man's the Iceman."

"Yeah but she's Frosty," One rebutted, "My friends' uncle, he called her Frostbite. We're gonna get our asses whooped."

"If they've got a legend like her teaching us, what the hell are we getting into?" Another called out, though the murmurs and whispered had stopped at the sight of Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, "Holy shit."

"I appreciate it, kid," Maverick giggled at a couple starry-eyed faces, "Now, I asked the Admirals to step aside for a minute because I absolutely begged to give this introduction. You'll see me around the Tarmac but as a couple of you have heard, you're in for a real treat with your instructor."

Your instructor is a Top Gun graduate with real world experience in every mission aspect you will be expected to master.

Her exploits are legendary and she's considered to be one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced, if not, the finest to this very day.

What she has to teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death.

I give you, Captain Kristen Kazansky.

Callsign, Frosty.

"To my superiors dismay, I refused to take part in this teaching unless I was allowed to give this warning," Kristen took centre stage, addressing her future students head on, "I won't beat around the bush, you're all the best of our new crop. That honor comes with a price, one I personally paid years ago and am still learning to cope with. That doesn't mean-"

Kristen could see a student or two with a smirk, laughing in the back, "Lieutenant, is something funny to you?"

"Like you said, we're the best," He sat up with a devilish smirk, "Pretty sure I'd fly whatever this mission is with my eyes closed."

"The best of your cohort," She corrected, a smile falling on her as she tilted her head, "Let me guess, you've never been told you weren't good enough Lieutenant?"

"Never."

"Prepare for heartbreak," Kristen stepped down from the podium to stand in front of her new students, "I appreciate the confidence, but I won't be letting a pilot out on that mission if I don't know they can work with a team. Can you do that at least Lieutenant?"

"I guess."

"Can you do that Lieutenant?" She insisted, a little louder. The boy nodded with a shocked face, "Yes Captain Kazansky."

"Good," She lifted herself up, "We're gonna start up in the sky in 10. We'll play dogfight."

"Isn't there a manual you're supposed to go through?" Another Lieutenant sat up.

"The manual can't tell you what you need to know for this," Kristen had charged down the centre as she led the way to the Tarmac, "But I can."

Her father's typed words had swirled back into her mind, the one's she'd read the day before she returned for the mission.

YOU'RE MY KID, YOU FLY ICECOLD. NO MISTAKES. THAT'S ALL YOU NEED.

— cloudydior
she a flying ace, she a wifey,
she a mom and she a mf captain.

that, is kristen "frosty" kazansky everyone.

do i drop the prequel? i am attached.