automatic stop, bradley bradshaw

twenty.

THE NEXT MORNING, AFTER PACKING ABOUT AS MUCH AS THEIR RESPECTIVE BACKPACKS COULD CARRY, SKYE AND KATIA were ready for the drive to california from nevada. rooster had arrived at their house just on time, and the group all loaded into his truck, leaving katia in the backseat with all of their bags.

"joke's on you, i have all the snacks." she'd joked, but never needed to be asked twice to hand them bottles of water or packages of trail mix.

once, rooster had put his arm behind his back, making a cup with his hand. he explained that he'd heard katia opening up a bag of chips, and he wanted some. "that's the dad move." skye had deadpanned, watching as he sent her a confused look. "every single dad ever does that."

he shrugged, his face void of emotion. "i wouldn't know."

"woah woah woah." both girls exclaimed as he started laughing at his own trauma joke.

"dark humor? at a time like this?"

"jesus h christ.."

the drive was, despite incredibly long, surprisingly fun. katia and skye took turns on aux, stealing rooster's phone and adding new songs to the queue. he was very open to it though, and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of every song, singing along to the ones he knew.

after what felt like much less than a 5 and a half hour drive, they had arrived in mojave. skye was the first out of the truck, grabbing as many bags as she could ("i wasn't raised to be no wimp", she'd said, carrying about five bags in order to make as few trips as possible).

she walked up to the front door of ice's house, knocking three times before awkwardly standing there, waiting for the door to open. ice opened it with a wide smile, spreading his arms out and then wrapping them around her and katia. "sarah!" he called to his wife. "the girls are here!"

he then shook rooster's hand, and immediately began asking all three of them questions about the top gun program.

"is there anyone better than my girls?" he asked, which made skye smile. he had always treated her like a daughter.

katia shook her head. "that would be impossible, dad."

"will there be two kazansky's on the top pilot plaque soon?" he smiled.

"you know it, ice." skye replied, smiling over at katia.

he led them through the house, telling them that they should set their bags down. sarah joined them, and after hugging both girls individually, she began to tell them that they must be tired from driving such a long way, and that they needed to sit down.

katia's two siblings walked into the room also, their faces lighting up at the sight of their sister. skye had never had any siblings, but saw both of them as her long lost brother and sister. they gave both of them hugs and then were all ushered to the living room by their mother.

skye was listening to katia as she told her parents about jake, but she found her eyes slowly traveling over to rooster, who was sitting by himself at a chair. she noticed as his face became slightly surprised, and followed his gaze over to where maverick entered the room.

"dad!" she cheered, getting up immediately and running over to him.

he smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. "how's it going?" he asked, pulling away to look at the patches on the jacket she wore. "how's the program? still suffering without ice and i?"

"only suffering as much as your haircut." she replied, smirking as he laughed.

"touché." he replied, looking over her shoulder at katia and rooster. "it's good to have everyone here."