Life has always seemed slightly adrift where Lara had been concerned. Every plan had a fall back, which fell through and kept falling. Somehow, Lt. Lara "lockdown" Mitchell found a way to keep things under lock.
Top Gun: Maverick
HANGMAN
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Lara checked her phone, 16 missed calls from her dad. A couple from Penny, too. Even Warlock.
It must be bad.
—
The look on Maverick's face was enough to turn Lara's stomach inside out.
She knew.
But they never expected the pain to hurt so much.
The Mitchell's were so used to heartbreak and loss. But it didn't make it any easier. They wished it would, but it didn't. It never would.
Lara had left Maverick about forty minutes ago, promising she would be okay to deal with the news.
"Love you, Pops." She called as she left.
Penny was there, which was almost like a sigh of relief for Lara - she knew Penny would try and balance Maverick.
She couldn't help but stare at the training picture before her. Top Gun. The ultimate team. Iceman, Maverick, Goose. Men she adored. Men she loved. And out of all of them, Maverick was the most lost. She knew she had to pull him through now, now he had no green cards left. That was ok. She was ok. He would be ok.
Lara had been ignoring the mountain of calls. She knew the news had reached the Navy, done its rounds.
She knew how hard Maverick would be taking the news. Equally, he knew how hard it must be for her. The pair were better together, but neither knew how to voice that. They loved each other through thick and thin. They were each others best friend. But she needed her own thoughts, her own memories, her own mind.
She needed peace - just for five minutes.
Her world never seemed easy. 'Easy'. She wasn't sure what easy meant any longer. She wanted to understand. But, she also understood that no one knew what easy meant. Everyone was busy trying to bide their way to an easy life - their version of an easy life.
"There you are..." she heard a voice as she sat in the dim lights of the training room.
Truthfully, she had wanted to find some form of comfort that would embrace her like the warmth Ice offered every time he set eyes on her. She had hoped that by returning to the base where they spent many an hour together going over the manuals in the early days, that the feeling would greet her again.
But in reality, the thought and memory only made her feel worse.
"You're a tough one to find."
"Purposely so" she replied, sniffling away as she furiously began to wipe her tears with the smallest remaining part of the sleeve.
"Don't wipe your eyes just for me." He called.
"Don't be so silly - it was just a bit of water."
He chuckled. A tissue was presented to her, "here." Hangman stated as he waited for the girl to successfully retrieve. "Figured it would be the most useful thing to bring, not that I expected you to cry but you know... go figure."
