Baby Mav

All The Proof You'll Need

"You could've told me," Maddlyn said under her breath as she followed Maverick out to the tarmac. Maverick looked over at her and it seemed like she was miles away. "You could've told me about Bradley," she said, somehow softer.

"Would you have said yes?" Maverick asked. She looked at him, not entirely sure of the answer.

"I don't know," she whispered. "I mean. . . You saw him, Mav. He could barely look at me. He's still pissed. It's killing me."

"I still don't really understand why you told him it was. . ."

"You know why," she cut him off.

Before Maverick could come up with a better response, she headed towards her plane. After a systems check, the two went off. The team back at the base watched as Maverick's and Maddlyn's planes got to the right location and height.

"You ready?" Maverick asked as he sent a look to Maddlyn.

"What? You scared?"

"Never," he said, sending a wink. And just like that, the two took off. The trainees laughed as they made jokes about Maddlyn never being able to out-fly Maverick.

Rooster knew better. He sat back and watched, waiting for Maddlyn to get the upper hand like she always does.

"Are you children listening?" Maddlyn teased. "I wanna make sure you can hear me as I point out your obvious problem."

"Like she would know," Hangman scoffed, even though she couldn't hear him.

"Yes, Hangman, I know your problem," she said automatically. "You're all too cocky. You think that since you were at the top of your flight group, you're unbeatable. As someone who was once unbeatable and was proven wrong during a mission. . ."

Rooster sucked in a breath when she started talking about the F-18-20 flight. He's never asked her about it. Whenever he tried to talk to Maverick about it, he told him that it wasn't his story to tell.

". . .get over yourself. If you don't, you'll be shot down. Literally."

"Mads," Maverick sighed. "Take it easy."

"What?" Maddlyn scoffed. "Their egos can take a few hits."

"I know," he laughed. "But let's give them some confidence first."

"Nah," she laughed. "Too easy."

As they talked, the trainees got annoyed. Rooster got nervous as they mumbled under their breaths in response to what the two were saying. He knew why she was doing this, they didn't. 

"They know we can hear this, right?" Payback scoffed.

"Yep," Fanboy sighed. "And I doubt they care."

The trainees watched as the two circles, one for Maverick and one for Maddlyn, moved around the map. It didn't take long. They raced each other, but eventually, Maddlyn got Maverick where he usually had the trainees.

"And that, my dear children," she laughed, "is a kill shot."

The trainees groaned and sat down in defeat.

"Well, shit," Payback sighed.

"She's good," Bob said, trying to sound optimistic. The others glared at him but Phoenix patted him on the shoulder.

"Yes, she is."

* * * * *

Maverick and Maddlyn walked down the tarmac, heading back into the training center. They were laughing and joking about something that the trainees couldn't hear.

"Alright, Mav," Maddlyn said once the trainees could hear them, "get on the ground. 400 push-ups. That was the bet."

"I know. I know," Maverick laughed. He sent her a playful smile before getting on the ground. With her arms crossed over her chest, she started counting as he did his push-ups. 

"1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10." As she counted, the trainees walked over.

She smirked when she met their glares. Her smirk faltered when her eyes fell on Rooster. The other trainees watched Maverick with smirks and laughs while Rooster and Maddlyn had their staring contest. Maddlyn finally broke the tension and looked back down at Maverick. She didn't continue counting. Hondo picked up where she left off.

It didn't take long for the trainees to get bored. Once Maverick hit over 100 push-ups, they started to leave. Maddlyn stayed behind but not to watch Maverick; she wanted to talk to him. When he was finally done, he stood up and wiped his hands on his pants.

"Everything okay?" He asked when he saw her with her arms wrapped tightly around herself.

"I don't know if this is a good idea," she mumbled, looking down at her feet. "He's not going to want to listen to me and if he doesn't listen to me, the others won't. And we both remember what happened the last time a group of pilots didn't listen to me. I'm not ready to go through that again. Maybe you could try. . ."

"Maddy," Maverick said quickly as he stepped toward her and gently grabbed her shoulders. "That is not going to happen. Okay? This group is different. They respect you. They'll listen to you."

"Even Bradley?"

"Even Bradley," Maverick nodded. "He'll see how good you are at what you do and will swallow whatever anger he has and get over it."

"I wouldn't be so sure," she mumbled. "Anger. . . Is not easy to let go of."

The two shared a knowing look. "I know," he whispered. "But he can't be mad at you forever."

"Here's hoping."

Maddlyn started to walk off so Maverick jogged and caught up to her. When he did, he wrapped his arm around her waist and led her to the office space they set aside for planning. As they walked past the trainees, they started rumors without even trying to.

"Anyone else get a weird vibe from those two?" Payback asked.

"Weird?" Bob asked, looking around.

"I don't know," Payback shrugged. "Just. . . Weird, ya know? Suspicious. Like something is going on with them."

"It's probably not what you think," Phoenix sighed. "I'm sure he helped her when she was in the program. Like a mentor-mentee kinda relationship. Nothing. . ."

"Creepy."

"You really think something is going on between them?" Bob asked, lowering his voice so only Phoenix could hear him.

"I don't think so," she sighed. "They're just being gross."

"Why?"

Phoenix looked around as the boys made more jokes. She rolled her eyes before looking back at Bob.

"Because they're stupid boys."

Rooster gripped his hands into fists and took slow breaths when they continued laughing and joking. Before he could do something stupid out of anger, he stood up and left.