ℳ𝒾𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝒩𝓊𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝒽𝓇𝑒𝑒 | Top Gun Maverick

Chapter 9: The moment of the truth

The ceremony was over and eventually, everybody got home. Rooster gave Snow-white a lift back home but when she stepped foot inside, the house felt emptier and colder than usual, even if she lived by herself, she couldn't help but feel something missing.
She got up the stairs and into her room.
She slowly took off her uniform, folding it carefully before putting it away. She was going to put her pyjamas on and call it a day but she needed a distraction. So instead, she put on a pair of blue jeans, a white shirt, her leather jacket and white Adidas.

She ran down the stairs, grabbed her keys and hopped on her motorbike.
She drove around for half an hour with no destination, the wind in her hair made her feel alive again.
She kept on riding until she spotted Penny's bar in the distance and headed towards it.
Once she parked, she saw the sign that read "sorry we're closed". But Emily is not one to give up. She pushed the door slightly to see if it was locked and to her surprise, it was not. So Penny must have been there.

"Hello?" She shouted, hoping to catch her attention.

"Sorry, we're clos- Emily!" Penny popped out of a door that probably lead to the storage room.

"Heya." Emily said sheepishly, knowing damn well she shouldn't have been there, but she didn't know where else to go. "Sorry I know I shouldn't be here but I needed a distraction and..."

"you know what? Why don't you sit down, I'll get you something to drink."

"You sure?"

She simply nodded towards the chair in front of the counter and Emily took that as a confirmation.

"The usual?" Penny asked her, even though she was already preparing it but Emily nodded at her anyway.

"There you go" She handed Em the drink.

"Thank you, Penny. I mean it"

She smiled and left again to sort some things out in the bar.

Emily was resting her head in her hand, eyes closed, trying to think of anything else other than her dad. She couldn't even find the strength to drink because all of her concentration was on Iceman.

"Mind if I sit here?" Someone asked her out of the blue, she looked back to see Maverick.

"Yeah, sure." This time she took a sip of the drink, trying to get some alcohol in her system to get her through the conversation they were about to inevitably have. She didn't want to run away from him this time, nor did she have the will.

"How are you holding up?" He asked sitting down.

She simply gave him a look and took another sip. "I'm sorry, I know how much he meant to you." She told him when he wasn't looking at her.
She meant it. He might have been an asshole but he and Iceman had been friends for decades. It couldn't be easy for him either.

A smile formed briefly on his face but it quickly faded. "I bet you'll be happy to know that I'm not gonna teach you anymore."

"What?" Her head snapped towards him, genuinely surprised. "You can't just leave us."

"It's over for me, they canned me. Without Iceman now I'm...screwed."

"Yeah, my dad always saved your ass when you got in trouble."

He spun around on his stool, he was facing her directly now.

"Are you seriously gonna call him dad?" He sounded mad.

"He is my dad."

"I'm right here!" He shouted.

"Yeah, you're here NOW!" Emily shouted even louder. "You left me when I was five!" He didn't say anything back so she continued. "What do you expect me to do, huh? Want me to call you dad? Iceman is the one that raised me, not you!"
She turned to look at him, his face filled with regret and yet he was still silent. "You know why I wanted to be a pilot so bad? Because I wanted to be like you. You were my hero. Then you left me. And for the longest time I blamed myself, I thought you left because I wasn't enough. I thought I was the problem. But then Iceman came along, and he didn't leave, he stayed. And then I looked up to him. He became my hero whilst you became the villain." Emily's eyes started to water yet again.

"I didn't want to leave you" His voice was quiet.

"Then why did you?" She demanded an answer but he fell silent once again "You were there for Rooster. You went to his baseball games and I'd see you every time, hoping you'd come and say hi to me... but you never did. You just walked away over and over again."

"Emily I was-"

"You were trying to be the father he couldn't have." She finished the sentence for him. "Well, Iceman was mine. He was the father I didn't have." She finished the drink, put the money on the counter and began to leave.

"I didn't have a choice." He shouted to get her attention.

"What?"

"Your mother didn't want me anymore, she said I was reckless. That I wasn't fit to be a father. She told me to keep away from you." He got up from the stool and walked closer to her.

"Don't you dare blame it on her. You're the one that walked away. I know you didn't even want me in the first place, so you just took the opportunity and got rid of the burden."

"Emily I-" He was at a loss of words, his silence telling her that she was right.

"You know I'm right, and she was too. You're a free spirit, Mav. You're not meant to be a father."

"I'm here now. Let me be the father I should have been to you."

"It's a little too late for that."

"I was there." He blurted out and she waited for him to continue. "I was there when you got out of school with Bradley, I was there at every singing competition you had or when you went ice skating for the first time." He smiled at the memories. "I WAS there, Em. But when I realised that you had built a life with Iceman and how happy you were with him, I didn't think you'd want me anymore. I thought you'd be happier if I didn't get involved again."

Emily didn't know what to say. She just looked at him in confusion, disappointment and yet somehow pity.
"That was not your decision to make." She shook her head and headed for the door. As she was about to open it, she stopped and turned back to look at Mav. "I will eventually forgive you, Mav. But I will call you 'dad' the day I die." She turned back around walked out the door, leaving him with Penny.