Our Bruised Bodies | Bradley Bradshaw

ACT THREE - PART NINE

And another chapter, here you go. Cheers!

<><><>

6 months after Bradley had left, Grace had decided to leave Guam too.

As a Lieutenant Commander now, it was easier to apply for a different position, but that didn't mean that Slider was happy about having to let her go, but he had always known that she was a carbon copy of Ice and that Slider had lost her trust with the conversation they had before Bradley had to return to the Ford.

Admiral Kerner had told her that there was no reason to leave Guam, for Admiral Teagan was better now and would take over again, ending his sick leave and making Slider able to return stateside for a while, before he would go and join Ice in Pearl Harbour for a while.

Grace acknowledged what he had said but she had known all that beforehand through her little net of helpers, but her decision was made, even though the timing was off. It would have been easier to get a foot into the door, if Teagan would have had enough time to come to like her, or even know who she is but as she had made that decision Grace hadn't known that Teagan would come back just yet and she meant to leave Guam in order to climb the ranks quicker, so that's the plan she would be sticking to. She won't waste any time, because she was sure other people won't either. She won't let herself be held back.

Slider just nodded and wished her good luck, then he let her go.

She had been called back to the Lincoln briefly as some sort of stop in between, her stay consisted of a whole three days before she received new orders. She hadn't had the chance to talk to Jake and all she saw of Natasha in that brief period of time was her cold shoulder. Clearly team Bradley, unaware that there were no teams to be on, but Grace won't waste her energy on telling her that. She had always been more Bradley's friend than hers after all. But Grace did take the opportunity to remind the people she was at Top Gun with, to not forget to keep in touch.

Grace's new deployment was on the USS Baltimore, even further away from Bradley, who was back on the Ford after winning TOPGUN, as Grace predicted he would in one of their very weirdly timed phone calls. The time difference stole them almost every moment they could talk.

One of them was always half asleep when they talked, the other in a rush to get about their day, so it was no wonder their calls got fewer and fewer until they gave up on calling altogether and went to texting which was awful. A torture not to hear each other's voice or to see each other but it was all they had for the time being, not that it was nearly enough.

What other choice did they have but to call it quits again? To put them on hold until they would have the opportunity to be together again. A parley as to say. Until we see each other again. A way of letting go, without having to do so for a final time, because the moment they would be back in each other orbits, it wouldn't matter any longer. They would gravitate towards each other. Pulling each other in. Grace only waited for that.

Sarah Grace Kazansky was suddenly so much busier than she ever thought a Lieutenant Commander was, but she soon figured out that as long as she still refused to give up flying, being a Lieutenant Commander was the combination of being a Lieutenant and a Commander, just as the name already said. She was flying yes, but she also had a tone lode of paperwork to manage. She was their squadron leader after all. It was tyring, but if she wanted those four stars, it was the way to go.

The way to go, the USS Baltimore was perfect for that. If Grace played her cards right, she would be a Captain before she was thirty. The Admiral sailing with them was Beau Simpson callsign Cyclone, who everyone knew wanted her father's stars nearly as badly as she did, so maybe they could agree on something in the future, while the Captain of the Baltimore was an old hardass, whose corps they would have to carry from the carrier one day, because as long as he could still stand and command his ship, he would.