Atlas: A Top Gun: Maverick Fanfiction

Chapter 30: Lose Something, Babe, Risk Something

A/N: I know, I know....a triple update in one day? Well fair readers, as I prepare for midterm season, I can't be focusing on a wedding and chapters for this. So that being said, I'll see you at the end of February or early March—whichever one means I have next chapters done. ALSO: What do you want to see for the wedding? Give me details and thoughts and things you want to happen! And as always, let me know what you think! See you in a month babes xD and don't hate me pls!!

She wasn't too sure about this plan of hers. She knew that all things considered, this could get very nasty with tempers and egos before she even had a chance to announce what she needed to. She knew that it was altogether possible that things could backfire in her face in epic proportions—and she wasn't quite ready for that.

Still, she had taken the time to prepare a dinner—citing that because the mission was a success and things had gone well for them, she wanted to celebrate.

This was going to be anything but.

Furthermore, she knew that inviting her Uncle Pete, brother Bradley, and fiancé Jake to all share a dinner with her could go south anyway. She had no idea what to expect—no idea what any of them would do.

She didn't really remember how mom had broken the news to them. She just knew that she had cried herself to sleep for days afterwards. She remembered that Brad-Brad had been all over the place and had argued and cried and yelled at Uncle Pete and her mom. None of it was fair then.

And none of it was fair now.

But still, she held fast.

She insisted on doing the whole meal on her own—a mixture of barbecue, Italian food, and comfort foods from home. It was a strange amalgamation—but to anyone who knew her, she was doing her best to try and offset the inevitable crash that was coming.

In all fairness, the three of them should've been suspicious. Pete Mitchell knew his niece. He knew her moods and when she wanted something. Food was usually a good offering to signify that she wanted something from him. But no such suspicions existed in his mind when he arrived at the home.

In all fairness, Bradley Bradshaw should've been suspicious. After all, where do you think Kelsey Ryan learned how to do this kinda thing? It was Bradley Bradshaw, who would invite her out to dinners and break news. Like that he was going to Top Gun. Like the fact that he was being deployed. It was his tactic before it was ever hers.

He just didn't see it.

In all fairness, Jake Seresin should've been suspicious. And he was—about the wrong thing. Almost certainly, he figured that his adorable fianceé wanted to move forward with the wedding plans. There was no reason to wait, no reason now that her family was being patched together not to include them in the plans.

And so Jake Seresin assumed that this dinner was about the wedding.

Jake was there before everyone else—naturally—given the fact that he lived there. He set the table and made sure that her centerpiece (a vase full of daisies) was perfectly aligned. The whole thing looked absolutely perfect.

Then Bradley Bradshaw and Pete Mitchell showed up at the same time—the younger having picked up the older one in his jeep.

And standing there in the kitchen, gaze falling on the most important men in her life (minus Ice and Javy of course), Kelsey Ryan wanted nothing more than to turn tail and run. Because running was going to be easier than this right? She could live in a world where she hurt them by running, by leaving them all—