The Captain's Daughter (Bradley Bradshaw)

Chapter 16

Rooster's POV:

"Maverick is my father, Bradley." I heard her say.

My breath hitched. What did she mean he was her father?

"Isn't your dad dead?" I asked her.

"Yeah that's what I thought too. According to Maverick, when he was back at Top Gun, he and my mom, who was his instructor, "had a night together" and she found out she was pregnant a few months later." She turned around to face me.

I didn't know what to think. She doesn't lie. But I didn't know if I should believe her or not.

"Are you sure your mom didn't get with someone else after him?" I asked.

"I asked if there was anyone else other than my father and she told me no. That when she was with him she knew that was it for her, so she never was with anyone else." She looked at me with watery eyes.

"How did he know then?" I asked her again.

"So I always thought Iceman kept tabs on me for my mom. While that was partially true, we both know how close Maverick and Iceman were. He even said that Commander Kazansky was the one to find me when he got high enough up in ranks. He contacted my mother who worked for the government in Washington to ask how everything was, because he was also at Top Gun with Mav and my mom. And she mentioned she had a daughter." She explained.

"And he just kept tabs on you ever since?" I tilted my head.

"Apparently. Both him and Iceman have. Iceman was his messenger. This whole time, he knew. He knew, Bradley. He didn't bother to reach out even though he's kept tabs on me since I was a little kid. He didn't even bother coming to talk to me." She wiped a tear away.

"Sounds like Maverick. He does things and then is scared of the consequences. That man was a father figure to me up until I turned 18." I shook my head at the memory.

"What do you mean? I thought you hated him for what happened to your dad?" She asked me confused.

I never told her that my papers were pulled. I never wanted her to think I was stupid or something. Or get angry at the fact I should be light years ahead of where I currently am. But mostly, a part of me was glad they were pulled, because I would have never met Katie. And I would actually be quite miserable without her.

"Maverick pulled my papers to the Naval Academy. I never told you, because I didn't want you to think any different of me. And if they were never pulled, I more than likely would have never have met you. And I know if you weren't in my life, I would be very bored and very miserable." I chuckled to lighten the mood.

"I'm sorry he did that. Nothing could ever change my opinion about you, Bradley. While you should be farther ahead in your career, you're so good at what you do now. I'm so proud of you for everything." She climbed into my lap and gave me a hug.

I came to that realization recently. It was when we found out Commander Kazansky died. When I pissed her off and thought I almost lost her. That if those papers were never pulled, I would have never have met her. During that epiphany, I debated on going to talk to Maverick, but there was still so much resentment. Now, that I knew he was my girlfriend's father, I might want to talk to him, and see if everything will fizzle out.

She started crying again and it snapped me back into reality.

"What's wrong, baby?" I cooed in her ear as I rubbed her back.

"I've been lied to. This whole time. By Maverick, because he acted like I was just another pilot when in reality I was so much more to him. By Commander Kazansky, for being the messenger to my father mostly than my mother, and not even bothering to say anything to me about him. By my mother of all people, who said my father was dead, when in reality she used your dad's death as the reason my father is dead. My father is alive, and it took me over 30 years to find out. All because I was the main cause of all these lies. Everyone lied to me because of who I really was." She cried in my arms.

"You don't have to make things work with him, Kat. He just now admitted to you that he is your father. When he didn't even bother to reach out." I told her.

"That's the thing, Brad. He told me today when he was telling me all this that he wanted to be involved. He said to my mom when she told him that he needed a second to process everything, because having a child is a very big step. And by the time he was ready to tell her he was all in, she had left for Washington and didn't say a single word. I could have had a father, Bradley. I could have. My mother kept that from me, because she thought he was gonna say that he wasn't in it. So she just took the liberty to do it herself." She wiped tears away.

"That's so messed up. Something like that, no matter who it is, I feel like she shouldn't have lied to you about it." I said to her.

"I guess she didn't want me finding out why I didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes like her and why I wanted to be a pilot so badly, and why when I do really well when I fly, my ego skyrockets. She didn't want me to know anything about my father, so she went to say he was dead so I wouldn't ask questions." She rolled her eyes.

"Are you gonna talk to him about it?" I asked her.

"I don't even know. Like what do I say? I don't even know what the hell to say, because my whole damn life has been a lie, and I don't even know what the fuck to think. And this mission, like he's the one leading us and training us. If we mess up and one of us dies. If you died I would never ever forgive him. You have your history with him, so it'll just make everything worse if I died now. I really just wanna go to sleep, because we have to get back up in the air tomorrow." She said as she kissed me quickly and laid down.

I turned the light off and curled up next to her. She draped a leg over my stomach and had her arm on my chest and she nuzzled into me. The thought of her died crushed me. I couldn't live with myself if she died. Someone I cared about so much, and her saying the words "if I died" hit me a lot harder this time. It was getting closer and closer to the mission launch, and the thought of one or both of us dying scared the hell out of me. I want to tell Maverick to not let her fly, so that I know she's safe. But I know if he doesn't let me fly I'll never forgive him. I still think he pulled my papers because he thinks I'm not good enough. I'm almost convinced he won't let me fly because of the same reason. If he doesn't let her fly, it'll piss her off more than anyone has ever seen.