𝕂𝕖𝕖𝕡 ℍ𝕚𝕞 𝕊𝕒𝕗𝕖

Chapter 10. Revelations

"Just, please call me."

It had been a few months since Ava had lost her child. She hated this place and wanted nothing more than to leave. The only issue is every time she was remotely near a plane, she had a panic attack. So it looked like she was stuck here for the time being. Every morning when she woke up, she would pray that everything was just a nightmare and that she'd wake up next to Devon. But once she looked beside her and saw the empty bed, she felt her heart get ripped out of her chest all over again. And so this cycle repeated, until she met him.

__________________________________________

2012:

It had been just over a week since Ava had last seen Rooster, and she was doing everything in her power to avoid him. She only ever left the house to go to work or to buy groceries and would ignore all his calls and texts.

It's not that Ava was angry at Rooster or anything, she was just embarrassed. She had a full blown panic attack in front of him and she didn't know how to explain it to him. She wasn't ready to dump all of her past trauma onto him just yet, especially since they weren't even officially together.

Ava was drawn from her thoughts by the chime of her phone. She took a deep breath before picking it up, knowing who it would be from.

Hey. Been awhile. Can we please talk?

Ava sighed before turning off her phone, leaving Rooster on read once more. She didn't know which one would hurt more; him constantly trying to fix things, or him giving up and the two of them never talking again.

"What do I do, Shark?" She questioned, looking out the window at the sunrise. Hoping that maybe he would give her a sign, but Ava knew better than that.

Ava eventually found the energy to get off the couch and head into the kitchen to make breakfast. She stood over the stove, lost in thought as she flipped her pancakes. She noticed her phone light up in the corner of her eye and when she looked at it, it was another text from him.

If I did something wrong please tell me.

Ava felt tears begin to prick her eyes. Wether she wanted to admit it or not, Ava was falling for Bradley. And this was hurting her more than she wanted to admit.

Once her pancakes were done, she grabbed the syrup from her pantry and went to sit at the table. She was in the middle of scrolling through Instagram, trying to distract herself from all of her feelings when her phone began to buzz. When she looked at the name, she couldn't hold her feelings in anymore.

She felt the tears fall down her face as she stared at the picture on the phone. Ava hesitated for a moment, her finger hovering over the accept call button. After a few seconds, she moved her finger to the decline button as she placed the phone down. When she was done eating, she placed her dishes in the dishwasher and sat down on the couch as she stared out the window.

That's all she ever really did anymore.

-

Hey, you've reached Ava. Sorry I can't come to the phone right now...

Rooster was met with the same voicemail he'd been getting all week. He was pacing around the room as his heart raced. "Ava. Please please please call me back. I just want to talk to you. I'm sorry if I did something to upset you. Just please call me." He ended the call once he was done with his voicemail and plopped down on his bed.

He sighed while looking up at his ceiling, placing his hands behind his head. "Talk to me, dad." He closed his eyes and hoped for any sign that his father could hear him.

When Rooster heard a knock at his door, he jumped up from his bed and rushed to the door. There was a small part of him that was hoping that it was Ava, but he knew better than that. When he opened the door, he was met by Phoenix who was holding something in her hand.

"Still nothing?" She asked to which Rooster just shook his head before motioning for his friend to come in. Phoenix had been watching her friend struggle all week with this, and she wanted nothing more than to help him. So when she noticed something that might answer his questions, she decided to look a little deeper.

"What's that?" Rooster asked, pointing to what was tucked under her arm.

"I have a hunch." Phoenix smiled as she pulled out a photograph of a Top Gun class from earlier years. Rooster just raised an eyebrow at her as she handed him the photo. "I was doing a bit of research on the previous Top Gun classes. Reading about their strategies and what not." Phoenix and Rooster both sat down on his bed, staring intently at the photo.

"When I came across this class, I noticed something about the photo." Phoenix took the photo from Rooster, scanning it for a moment before continuing. "Does she look familiar?" Phoenix pointed to a girl who was near the back with her blonde hair in two braids, smiling with her arm around someone's shoulders. Rooster stared at the photo for a moment before looking at Phoenix with a look of realization.

"Is it?" He asked to which Phoenix shrugged. "The report didn't give any names, just call signs." She answered, standing up and grabbing the photo. "However, they keep these photos, along with all the names and call signs of previous classes, in the foyer."

Before Phoenix could say anything else, Rooster was already grabbing a jacket and heading towards the door. The two of them were practically sprinting towards the main building, and once inside, they immediately began to look for the matching photo.

As Rooster was looking, his eye's landed on the class of 86 photo. He smiled as he traced his dad's face before continuing his search.

"I found it!" Phoenix shouted, Rooster sprinting to her side as the two of them listed off the names.

"Holy shit! Ava 'Skywalker' Carens. Thats our girl." Phoenix said, looking at her friend who had a worried look on his face.

"What happened to her?" He questioned causing Phoenix to raise an eyebrow at him. "She doesn't fly anymore, and had a panic attack when she was even remotely close to a plane. So what happened?" The two of them shared a look before sprinting off towards the research facility. The two of them were going to have their answers, whether Ava liked it or not.

A/N

So Ava didn't tell them but they figured out all thanks to our girl Nat. We love her so much and now our girl Ava is gonna have to deal with the trauma of her past.

Let me know if you have any likes or dislikes and I'll try to add it into my next chapter. And if not, I'll update again in 2 weeks :)

~ Jo