Call Sign Elvis - Top Gun: Maverick

007

When she had awoken in the hospital a few days later, Bradley had been at her bedside. He had given her parents and Uncle Mav a chance to get something to eat and rest, promising to stay with her.  Sarah, Tom, Mav and Bradley all took turns sitting at her beside so that she would have someone there always, and especially when she woke up. 

"Doc says you're gonna be all right - thank God, Shannon, you scared the shit out of all of us! She said if you'd been any closer to the blast-" He choked on his words. He didn't need to continue, they all knew it had been a close call, and just how close a call it had been.

She made him cry with  her next words.  "I think your dad must have been looking out for me."

He chuckled through the tears.  "Yeah, I bet he was."

Now, two years later, getting back up there was the scariest, worst thing that could happen. It wasn't so much the flying part that got to her, it was the coming back down again. You could get up there, be up there, but if you couldn't get back down, and safely, you were stuck. That's when the panic settled in, and the bad things happened. So it was just easier to stay grounded overall. 

She and Bradley sat alone in the dark lounge, awaiting any word of their friends and teammates. 

"Hearing that talk of bird strike over the radio, flashed me right back - it was like I was up there in the cockpit, not safe down here..."

He nodded. "They're lucky."

"Yeah, they are..."

A comfortable silence fell over them, broken soon after by footsteps entering the room. 

Shannon was on her feet in seconds upon seeing Mav.  "How are they?"

"Shaken up. They're gonna be okay but they're gonna keep them overnight for observation, just to be safe."

"Thank God."

"Yeah. I've never lost a wingman," Bradley said. 

"You're lucky. You fly long enough, it'll happen," Mav told him. 

"That's easy for you to say: no wife, no kids, no family.  No one to mourn you when you burn up out there-"

"Bradley, don't, not right now-" Not now of all times. Tensions were running high for all of them right now. But he ignored her and just kept going, and pretty soon the two men were in the middle of another heated argument. 

"Believe me when I tell you that if you think up there you're dead!"

"My Dad believed in you, and I sure as hell am not going to make that same mistake."

Something inside her snapped. "STOP IT! Both of you just stop!" she roared. "Just shut up!"

"Shut up!" Bradley shot back.

A flash of hurt struck across her eyes. She said nothing but the look was enough. Now Mav moved to step between them.

"Enough, please, that's enough. Shannon's right. Enough."

Yeah, more than enough, especially after the day they'd had. 

Shannon grabbed her bag and headed out of the room, happy to leave. Also her phone was buzzing in her pocket, she could feel it, so she was glad for the removal from this situation. 

The worst had happened today - at least that's what she thought before answering the call from her mom. 

"Hey, Mom."

"Shannon, Honey," came Sarah's voice, soft from the other end of the line. In an instant Shannon both knew and denied what was happening. "He's gone, Sweetie."

And something else in her snapped. 

Bradley was just exiting the lounge when a strangled cry sent him right down the hall and to Shannon's side.  "Shan? What is it?" All his anger was gone in an instant - something was wrong.

She had her phone in her hand and a distraught look on her face and she was frozen, unmoving. 

But he knew, he just knew, deep in his gut. He knew because he had gone through the exact same. 

----------------------------------------------

The funeral for Admiral Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky was widely attended, by civilians and service men and women.

An arial salute was given in the form of the Missing Man Formation. It was a lovely service, there was no doubt about it, but also the wish that they hadn't had to have it at all. 

Everything passed by in a daze, every moment. There Shannon stood, with the others, closest to her mom, uniform clad and saluting, when all she wanted to do was throw herself on the casket and sob and scream until she couldn't any longer. And stay there so they could never put him in the ground, never take him away from her, from them, even though he already had been.

Afterwards, she broke away from the others and stood by the fresh headstone, white stone, joining the others in the service cemetery. 

She had been given a few of his belongings: his silver and blue ring, his dog tags, his glasses. But she didn't want those, not if she couldn't have him too, along with them. 

She sensed a presence, not too close, not to far, but just there; Bradley. She didn't need to turn and look to know. 

Neither said anything for a while until she spoke. "The last couple of years I thought getting back up there in the air and flying was the scariest thing, the worst that could happen. No. This is the worst that could happen, and there's not a god damn thing I could do to stop it-" She was crumbling.

He nodded. "Losing your dad, I know exactly what that's like. You take all the time you need, okay. We'll be here if you need us. I'll be here." They'd been fighting lately and now this had happened, and all he wanted was for her to know that he was there and that he was never ever going to leave her, not ever, no matter what happened. 

-------------------------------------------

Despite the loss, they couldn't lose any more time in mission training. They had to value each and every last second. 

The Lieutenants were heading through base when Mav raced past them down the hall.

"Sir?" called Phoenix.  "What's happening?"

"It's Shannon!" he cried, not stopping, or looking back. "She's in a jet!"

The team wasted no time in following him, he leading them all to the control tower. 

"This is, Command. The skies are yours, Elvis."

"Shannon!" Mav shoved his way to the nearest comms.  "Shan, it's me, don't do this-"

"Shan, what are you doing?" Bradley asked. 

"I said I thought this was the scariest thing, but now I've lost Dad, so this doesn't seem so bad. Plus, this way I'll be closer to him, right."

"Shannon-"

"See you back on the ground."

After two years of being grounded, Lieutenant Shannon 'Elvis' Kazansky was suddenly back in the air.

(Yup, going to be some tears this chapter...  Rest in Peace, Ice.

That whole funeral scene was so touching and heartbreaking all at once. I also love that we got to see our big tough male hero Maverick openly cry several times throughout the movie - we love emotional male characters! 

I'm sorry for the sadness -  thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed)