Atlas: A Top Gun: Maverick Fanfiction

Chapter 29: The Day She Almost Lost All 3

Kelsey thought that she was going to throw up—and not just because she had just potentially sent off everyone that she loved to their potential deaths. Well, yes, that was it exactly. The night before had been busy, to say the least.

Her first stop had been to see Uncle Pete.

She had found him about to head to Penny's. And so when he saw her, he was reminded of the kid who had just lost her mother. And she knew. She couldn't explain how, but she knew inherently that something was going to go wrong. That someone was going to get hurt. That someone wasn't coming back.

And so Pete Mitchell had just opened up his arms and she had hugged him tightly. The words couldn't be left unsaid, not when he was flying off with them in the morning. Not if she didn't know that she was going to get another chance to tell him.

"You're a really good dad," Kelsey murmured into his shoulder.

Pete flinched at the words. He always did and he always would. Goose would always live rent-free in his mind—that Bradley and Kelsey were Goose's kids. Not his. That it should've been Goose standing here with his own kids, raising them, loving them, knowing them.

"Honey—"

"No, just listen," Kelsey breathed out, pulling away from him. "I really need you to come back tomorrow. And I need you to bring them all back."

Pete felt like he was trying to swallow sandpaper. "I'll do my best."

"No, I need you to promise. That you AND them are coming back." Kelsey insisted, tone instantly becoming just as firm as Carole's had once been.

"I—I promise."

The promise rang around in her head like some sort of chant or haunting melody. Famous last words—or something like that. Nothing was going to make her feel better. No amount of Chris Hemsworth movies, travel plans, blogging, binging tv shows, or eating food was going to just bring them all home magically.

She needed Pete to come home. He was the only father she had ever known in her entire life. He was the one that helped her learn how to ride a bike. He was the one that helped her throw a homemade prom in the backyard with her mom and Brad. He was the one that stuck around and watched dumb 80s movies with her and kept every single damn news article that she was mentioned in.

She needed Bradley to come home. Things were different now. Kelsey liked having her big brother around now. Things had finally started to feel normal between the two of them. Like when they were kids, before mom had gotten sick. Bradley was the person that had been there her entire life. Even when she had nothing, she had her brother. And she didn't ever want that to change.

She needed Javy to come home. She had never had a best friend, not traditionally. It was true, she tended to make friends wherever she went. In college, in her travels, in her service projects—but nothing compared to Javy. It was like having another older brother around when Javy was there. She could talk to him about anything and everything (from sex to the color of napkins or sushi). And she could count on him. There weren't a lot of people she could count on anymore.

She needed Jake to come home. She needed him like she needed air to breathe. She needed him like the planet needed sunlight and oxygen and needed to keep spinning. The simple fact of the matter was that he meant everything to her. She couldn't imagine life without him—and truth be told, if anything happened to him, she would have to just die too. In fact, she had already plotted out dying before him because there was no way in hell she could just move on from him—whether from old age or cancer.