I Hope You Dance

Chapter 9

The next morning I was rearing to go, ready to kick ass. I was antsy as I waited to go out, my arms crossed over my chest as I wandered around the ready room. "You look anxious." Rooster said from the couch in front of me. "Not anxious, excited." He chuckled. "You're always excited to go up there." I nodded. "You're not wrong." He chuckled. "I know you well, maybe better than you know yourself." I rolled my eyes. "After the last few years, I hardly feel like I know myself." He just looked to me, a sad look on his face. "It's not a bad thing. Rooster, I've never lived alone till now, never been alone in peace. It's like a whole knew adventure." He just smiled at me. My session with Dr. Kleninger was almost enlightening, she reminded me that I have never really been free to just worry about myself and that I'll go through many ups and downs, but ultimately I'll be okay.

~~~

"He really sent me up here with you two." I grumbled and Hangman laughed. "Hey Rooster, mind if I ask you a personal question?" "Would it matter if I did?" No Rooster, no it wouldn't. "What's the deal with you and Maverick? Seems like he's got you a little rattled." Now that I thought about it, he really did. "It's none of your business, now where the hell is he?" I looked around as Maverick's voice came through the comms. "Been here the whole time." How I didn't see him literally under my nose, baffles me. He came around till he was above Rooster. "Holy shit."

"You see me now? Come on, let's get this over with." It took a second before Rooster responded. "Fights on!" Immediately they went into a corkscrew dive and my heart pounded as Hangman and I turned, watching as they went down. "What is with these two?" I shook my head. "There's something there." "Alright, you put us here. How are you going to get yourself out?" "You can bail out anytime." I shook my head. "At this rate, they won't realize they hit the hard deck." I muttered as I watched them descend. "How low do you wanna go Rooster?" "I can go as low as you sir, and that's saying something."

"Do you know anything?" I shook my head. "Not a clue." "What's past is past, for both of us." "You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you?" I started worrying more as they got lower and just as I was about to open my mouth, Hangman beat me to it. "Hard deck is five thousand feet fellas, you are running out of room." "Your strategy is about to run us into the ground." "Stop antagonizing each other and pull up!" I yelled as they got lower, neither stopping as they disappeared behind a mountain. "Rooster!" Hangman and I got the perfect view of their last minute save, Rooster falling in behind Maverick. "Alright, don't think. Just do." Same thing my dad always says.

"Rooster you got him, drop down and take the shot!" Hangman encouraged but he never did. "Alright, you've had your chance." He pulled back, basically gliding over Rooster and falling in behind him to take the shot. "That's a kill." I could see Rooster hang his head as Mav pulled up beside him. "Go see Hondo about your pushups." Suddenly Maverick turned for Hangman and I and we split, Maverick chasing me. "Come on, Magnolia. Show me some of that world class pilot shit your dad tells me about." I chuckled as I rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding him. "You should know about it, he taught you the same pilot shit." I maneuvered but in the end, he got me. Again.

~~~

I joined Rooster for the pushups, my arms weak by the time I finished, Rooster just kept going. "Alright, that's enough." He just kept going as I laid back on the concrete. "Rooster, that's enough man." At this point he was spitting while he struggled, I waved Hondo off. "Thank you Hondo, but I'll take care of him from here." He gave me a small smile and turned and walked away. I moved to my knees next to Rooster and pushed his hair back out of his forehead as he continued his pushups. "Hey." He turned his head slightly, telling me he was listening. "You can keep going, but at least talk to me, hun."

He stopped and sat back, his knees coming up and resting his arms on them. "There's obviously some history between you guys-" "Yeah-" "Let me finish please." I slid closer and wrapped my arm through his, resting my chin on his bicep as I looked up at him. "There's history. Maybe you should talk to him." He just looked away from him as Phoenix walked up. "Breaking the hard deck. Insubordination. Are you trying to get kicked out?" She asked as she crouched down in front of us. "Don't worry about it." I rolled my eyes at his words. "Look, I'm going on this mission. Magnolia is going on this mission. But if you get kicked out, you leave us," She motioned between me and her. "Flying with Hangman. So talk to us. What the hell was that?"