TOP GUN: BACK TO MY ROOTS

YOU KNOW EACH OTHER?

as i walked into the bar it was quite obvious something was going on, there were tons of new faces and most of them were in uniforms, you knew penny needed all hands on deck so you got to work asap
after about two hours of working it seemed to die down a little
"hey fawkes!" your head shot up, you had been on edge all night worried you might see him here
luckily, it was only jake
"oh hey jake, what's up" your voice sounded a little shaky, you were party running on adrenaline
"nothing much just wanted yo introduce you to a few pilots that were on my graduating class"
he turned looking at two pilots who were standing behind them
"this here is lieutenant robert floyd, systems officer" he put his arm around bobs shoulders
"well nice to meet you floyd, what's your call sign?" i pushed my hand out to shake his
"oh it's uhm, just bob" he said with a shy smile as he took my hand "well, just bob, they call me fawkes, although i don't actually fly, and you must be.." i turned to the woman behind him
"oh this is-"
"lieutenant trace, callsign pheonix" she cut him off and reached for my hand, she had a firm handshake, i liked this one,
"well, pheonix, it's always nice to have another woman around, especially one who puts bagman here in his place" jake cocked an eyebrow
"oh boy, this will be fun"
"hey hangman, we're playing a round you guys wanna join?" coyote ran up
"oh hey fawkes, how's it hanging" he gave me a high five
"oh just living the dream"
i said with a smile
"that's the whitest shit i've ever heard"
we all laughed
"so what do you say, y'all wanna play some pool?"
"sure!" bob and pheonix walked over to the pool table area but jake stayed behind
"what can i get you jake?" i assumed he stayed to get himself a drink
"oh nothing im okay, actually i wanted to ask if you were okay, you seemed a little jumpy earlier, what's going on?" he seemed genuinely concerned, jake new a lot about my past but i never said anything about bradley, or my dad, or anything about my family in general
"just someone in worried about popping up again, that's all"
"oh? do i need to beat someone up?" he held up his fists
"no you idiot, but maybe if your still here when we close i might ask you to walk me to my car"
"oh don't worry i'll be here all night, let me know if you need anything, i'll just be over there playing pool" he got up and walked over to the group of pilots
you pulled your phone out to looks at the time
10:22 PM
and then a text popped up on your phone

DAD: hmm you were right this place is nice

realizing that text came in about 15 minuets ago you whipped your head around looking for him, only to find him seated at the bar talking to penny
"well i see you two have met" you said walking over to them
penny looked at you confused
"how do you mean? do you know pete?" she pointed at him over her shoulder
"wait, do you two know each other?"
"what yeah? we used to date, back in the day"
"wait a second! are you the "admirals daughter"!?"
"haha yeah that's me" she shrugged
"dad, you never told me you dated penny!"
"wait dad? you have a daughter" she turned to das who was just laughing
"okay okay, Y/N meet penny, the infamous "admirals daughter", penny meet Y/N mitchell my daughter" he smiled at us both
we looked at each other
"okay that's weird"
"your telling me"
i couldn't decide what was weirder, the fact they knew each other or the fact that they were flirting with each other all night
"uh oh looks like someone's got there phone on my bar" i looked over as she pointed the sign out to my dad
"should i do it" she asked me "please do" i smiled at her as she rang the bell, the bar erupted on cheers hangman ran up to me
"so who got it?" he asked excitedly
"oh just some new old timer" i lied, jake was my best friend and i lied to him, i don't want anyone knowing at least not for awhile
"oof sounds good, hey how are you doing? sorry i haven't been able to check in on you more" he said placing a hand on your shoulder
"oh no i'm okay, how has your evening been, made any new friends?"
"who needs new friends when you get reconnect with the old ones?" he yelled slowly walking backwards "we're not your friends bagman" pheonix yelled making us all laugh
"speaking of which, bradshaw! as i live and breath" i froze, luckily jake was far away enough from me that brad didn't realize i was there, he didn't see dad either, i didn't want to look at him, but i did anyways
he looked different,he was stronger, his hair was lighter, and the man had a mustache, not gonna lie he definitely pulled it off, i felt fine realizing that he didn't see me and i would be fine if i stayed out of sight, that was until i realized i was wearing one of his bright red button ups
"boys, break it up" pheonix snapped me out of my thoughts, i looked over to find the two of them giving each other a death stare
i thought to myself
yeah, the would be the kind to hate each other
maybe i would be fine, if brad payed all his attention on jake i'd be fine for the night and not have to deal with him until tomorrow
and then coyote opened his big mouth
"aye rooster, go see if fawkes can get us another round on the old man" luckily he didn't point at me so brad didn't turn around
"fawkes? who is that" brads voice was deeper than i remember it
"oh yeah you gotta meet fawkes, she's the best" jake pointed right at me, my cover was blown
i was a sitting duck, unless...

i ducked under the bar before Bradley could turn around, i knew jake saw this and was hoping he would get the hint
"oh man it looks like she's not over there anymore, maybe she went home early"
thank you jake seresin
"what on earth are you doing down there?"
i looked up to see penny
"don't ask man"
"old boyfriend?"
"worse than that, anyway i could go home early?" i smile at her
"well your dads card was just declined, so it looks like he's over board, if you'd like to go home with him that's okay, plus i think things are dying down anyways so we'll be okay" oh boy, dad was getting thrown overboard his first time here
"thank you penny" i stood up slowly looking around, i didn't even realize the music stopped, and then i heard the sound of the bell
"overboard!" everyone yelled
jake came over with fanboy and they picked up dad and threw him out
i quickly followed
"hey jake penny's letting me go early"
"oh okay, hey what was that earlier?"
"i don't wanna talk about it right now, but i promise everything will make sense, just give it time"
"okay, be safe tonight alright"
"i will, and i'll see you tomorrow!"
"no you won't i have an assignment and you don't work on Monday's"
"i know"
he looked confused, but i felt like i needed to give him something
"okay then" he gave me a hug and went back inside
i slowly walked over to dad
"hey dad" he ignored me, focused on something inside the bar, it was Bradley, he was playing
he used to play all the time at home but the piano hasn't been touched in five years, sense he left
"you saw him right" he was still looking inside
"yeah dad i saw him" i was sad, we used to be a family, now i'm sat here wondering if he would even recognize me when he saw me