automatic stop, bradley bradshaw

twenty-two.

ROOSTER DIDN'T WANT TO TALK TO SKYE ABOUT IT. WHATEVER HAD HAPPENED BETWEEN him and her father this time, he kept his lips sealed. all he said was that maverick had thought he was bad for her, but she couldn't think of why he'd say something like that. but despite her confusion, she didn't want to press, and rooster didn't want to give further details.

a part of skye wondered if he was just so used to fighting his own battles, and if  that meant he didn't want to confide in her, but then the other part of her suspected that he didn't ever want to make her upset with maverick. even if he was, undeniably, upset with him himself.

but despite all of that, their ride back to nevada went seamlessly. he was able to put aside whatever he had against her father to keep close to skye, which she could only assume was because he'd learned better from last time he'd taken his anger out on her. 

katia demanded to be kept on aux the entire ride to nevada, though, and played, much to everyone's excitement, old country songs. 

the three soon arrived back at the girls' apartment, and it didn't take much convincing to get rooster to come inside and join them in a bill and ted's excellent adventure marathon. when the sun had long gone down, and they'd watched much too many movies, rooster stood, grabbing his aviators from the side table he'd set them on. "i should probably head out." 

skye sent him a confused look. "roost, it's way too late. you should just stay here." 

he seemed at a loss for words. "i uh.. i don't know.."

"we insist." katia replied. "you can take the couch, or you can share-" she shut up when skye jabbed her in the side with her elbow, and the blonde laughed. "you just shouldn't be driving this late." 

rooster looked between the two girls before sighing. "okay." 

he ended up taking the couch, and skye and katia left him to sleep and moved to having a private conversation in katia's room. "so do we have any idea what my dad said to him?" skye was asking. "because he seems so.. on edge. and i've never seen him cry like that, not even when his mom died."

katia shook her head. "i have absolutely no idea. there's only one thing i can think of that would make him that upset." 

"what?" skye asked, her elbows moving to her knees.

"you." 

both girls let this realization sink in, and then skye shook her head. "no. my dad wouldn't bring me up like that, and there's no way he brought me up like that." she sighed. "al he said is that my dad doesn't think he'd good for me, whatever the hell that means. whatever it was that was said, things between them are going to be even worse than before, and-"

"-and you can't date him when he has issues with your dad." katia finished.

skye nodded. "exactly. besides, i don't think it's even going to happen. i mean, think about it, kat. we graduate top gun, and then what? we go back to out separate squadrons. we wouldn't see each other for years, and it just.. it wouldn't work."

she didn't know if she was saying this just to console herself, or if she genuinely believed it, but katia didn't argue with her and just silently rubbed her back. 

"we were only supposed to be at top gun for three months, hav." skye marveled. "the fact that they extended our stay alone is a miracle. i shouldn't push my luck."

they were, in truth, only supposed to endure the typical thirteen weeks at the fight weapons school. due to a series of reasons that none of them knew, though, panther and deadzone had insisted that they still had more to learn. and so, they'd signed on to stay for six months, with the guaranteed christmas break.